Vajrakilaya - A Complete Guide by Garchen Rinpoche - Chapter 2
Return to Buddhism, Vajrakilaya, Vajrakilaya - A Complete Guide by Garchen Rinpoche Table of Contents, Kyabje Garchen Rinpoche
“ (VkGarR)
CHAPTER 2
Teachings Common to All Mantric Paths
Although the present purpose is to engage the practice of Vajrakīla, in general, whether one trains according to the Individual Liberation, Bodhisattva, or Mantric Vehicles, the aim of every Buddhist practice is to cultivate the two types of Bodhicitta. The ultimate fruition is just this and nothing else: to give rise to conventional Bodhicitta — the Four Immeasurables — in one's mindstream and, having done so, to realize Ultimate Bodhicitta, the actual condition of the mind, the nondual wisdom in which self and other are inseparable. All Buddhist practices are simply methods to introduce these two and to cause the yogin to realize them.
Ultimate factual Bodhicitta is the basis of Buddhahood itself; however, it is not subject to cultivation through effort. Therefore, the principal point of the entire spiritual heap of the eighty-four thousand Dharmas boils down to the cultivation of conventional, or fictional, Bodhicitta. One's mind is already the nature of emptiness; what is lacking is compassion. When one generates loving kindness and compassion, all the qualities of the Dharma will be realized from within the mind that is the inseparable union of compassion and emptiness.* 1
As it is said in The Sutra on Emancipation, “Just as the ocean is an exemplar of the Great Vehicle, the water in a cow's hoofprint exemplifies the Smaller Vehicle.”[1] The mind of the Great Vehicle individual is vast like the infinite ocean. His or her immeasurable loving kindness makes no distinction between those who are close and distant. In contrast, with only a narrow focus on oneself, one's kith, and kin, a Small Vehicle individual cannot give rise to vast love and compassion.
When this main point has been understood, every practice one does will have the same meaning and purpose. All spi[[ritual practices come down to this essential point. For one who maintains this understanding, it will be easy to achieve the fruition.
Worldly and Spiritual Systems
Those who obtain a precious human body will meet with both worldly and spiritual systems on this earthly plane. These systems attempt to establish sentient beings in happiness free of suffering. The worldly systems of human beings are focused on obtaining happiness and freedom from suffering for the present life alone. Although they seek to block the sufferings beings experience as results of their actions, they are never completely successful. This is because they cannot uproot the underlying causes of suffering.
On the other hand, authentic spiritual systems establish beings in happiness free of suffering for both present and future lifetimes. By putting a stop to the very causes of suffering, spiritual methods invariably end the results as well. Thus, if one wishes to put a final end to suffering, it is necessary to utilize spiritual methods, no matter how skilled one may be in worldly ones. The myriad sufferings of this world come from the fault of not understanding the methods of authentic spiritual systems for stopping the causes of suffering.
The Three Successive Paths
People can put an end to such causes using both shortcuts and longer paths. In the context of Buddhist teachings, we speak of the three successive paths. As is said in the Hevajra Root Tantra, ”Sentient ones are the very nature of Buddhas. Even so, they are veiled by adventitious stains. When those stains are cleared away, beings are the very essence of Buddhas.“[2] Thus, the three successive paths of individual Liberation, Bodhisattvas, and Secret Mantra are for the purpose of clearing away sentient ones' defilements.
The first two of these are longer paths. In order to practice them, one should act according to the text The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, cultivate precious Bodhicitta, and engage the conduct of the six transcendent perfections. Those six are (1) generosity, (2) ethical discipline, (3) patience, (4) diligence, (5) meditative absorption, and (6) discerning intelligence. Practicing in this way over the course of many lifetimes, one will finally Attain Buddhahood, the state of having fully transcended misery.
In this regard, it is important that practitioners distinguish between virtues accumulated with and without Bodhicitta. When any virtuous action is sealed with Bodhicitta, there will always be a twofold positive result. For example, even the smallest act of generosity sealed with Bodhicitta will finally result in Enlightenment. In addition, one will achieve the precious human form, good companions, wealth, prosperity, and the like in the three higher realms along the way. As a result of the altruistic motivation, one's virtuous accumulations will never be exhausted. Such merits continue to increase until Enlightenment is attained.
Sakya Paṇḍita taught that merit accumulated through Bodhicitta is like the sun — continually shining forth naturally and without effort. On the other hand, merit accumulated with a selfish motivation is like the oil in a butter lamp: once it has burned away, the light dies out. Therefore, it is said that when the time of death comes, the only precious thing one can keep is Bodhicitta.
The short path is the Secret Mantric Vajra Vehicle, which is distinguished from the paths of individual Liberation and the Bodhisattva Vehicle by Empowerment. According to Protector Jigten Sumgön, Secret Mantra Empowerment is the dividing line between Sutra and Tantra. An individual who has trained in Bodhicitta in former lives and who is endowed with great intelligence is one who can, in accord with his or her faculties, become a Buddha by traversing the short path. Receiving Empowerment is the gateway to such practice. Having done so, one can travel the short path by maintaining the mind of Secret Mantra certainty. This is the unwavering belief that every sentient being is a Buddha at the very basis. Such certainty is the foundation on which Secret Mantra practitioners can Attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime and in a single body.
Although it is generally taught that these three paths are suited to different individuals' faculties and intelligence, it is not as though one is fixed in one category or another for the duration of one's life. For example, someone who has great perseverance can become a practitioner of highest faculties even if he or she lacks great discriminating intelligence. In addition, one can understand the three successive paths to manifest within the arc of a single practitioner's lifetime. When one first enters the door of Buddhist practice, the path of individual Liberation is appropriate. Later, one progresses gradually into the paths of Bodhisattvas and mantrins. Likewise, the three successive paths can be said to converge in even a single ritual practice.
In order to understand Empowerment, one should first understand the notion of autonomy.* 2 In general, from the perspective of worldly systems, those who live in free, democratic societies have great independence. However, such places are free only in terms of the provisional, outer perspective. In such lands, the majority of people dwell in ease and happiness, but a minority helplessly experience poverty, hunger, instability, and the like, which they cannot get rid of. Thus, those individuals have no autonomy despite living in free societies. Even those beings who do not experience social and economic perils still face the hardships of aging, illness, death, and being driven uncontrollably to various births in cyclic existence. This is because no matter how many pleasures one may enjoy, until one has obtained autonomy at the very root, one is powerless to not experience sufferings. As such, one is said to be dependent.
From the perspective of the authentic spiritual system that is the Buddha Dharma, autonomy consists in having the freedom to achieve happiness. One accomplishes this by attaining births in the three higher realms of humans, demigods, and gods along the way and, ultimately, by attaining the status of the Buddhas.
This occurs first through having self-control — that is, control over one's own mind. Under the influence of self-grasping, all samsaric sentient beings fall under the power of afflictions. In this way, they uncontrollably accumulate karma, which results in all the diverse sufferings that arise while they continually wander in cyclic existence. Thus, the afflictions of passion, aversion, delusion, and the like should be understood as dependencies. Bound by cherishing an illusory self, beings are dependent on, or under the power of, another. It is not as though anyone else imposes suffering on one; it is simply that under the influence of self-grasping, one cannot avoid afflictions and the sufferings that result from them.
In this regard, Ngülchu Thogme Zangpo says in The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, “All ill-being without exception has come from wanting my own welfare.”[3] So, all suffering manifests from grasping at the notion of a self. From self-grasping arise passion, aversion, and delusion, through which one accumulates the causes of birth in the three lower realms.
On the other hand, The Thirty-Seven Practices says, “The complete Buddhas have been born from the altruistic mind.”[4] This means that all the Buddhas attained the independence of compassion and Bodhicitta by having first liberated themselves from self-grasping. On this basis, they have seen factual, true reality, recognizing the five afflictive poisons — (1) passion, (2) aversion, (3) delusion, (4) pride, and (5) jealousy — to be by nature the five wisdoms.
With the intention of achieving that same kind of autonomy, Dharma practitioners cultivate the altruistic mind. Whenever one has the intention to benefit others, one will naturally guard ethical discipline, which is the cause of attaining human births. Whenever the altruistic mind is present, one will practice generosity, which becomes the cause of attaining wealth and resources. When one has the altruistic mind, one will spontaneously cultivate patience, which frees one from hunger, poverty, and the like. Thus, the first three of the six transcendent perfections — generosity, ethical discipline, and patience — are the natural qualities of loving kindness. They are spontaneously present with a mind of love. They bring about the autonomy that allows one to take births in the three higher realms of gods and humans along the way.
In addition, when one cultivates calm abiding conjoined with love and compassion, one becomes free of self-grasping. This calm abiding is parallel to the fifth transcendent perfection, that of meditative absorption. Then, through the view of special insight, which is the nature of the sixth perfection, discerning intelligence, one will finally attain the status of the Buddhas. In order to achieve calm abiding and special insight, one must have diligence, the fourth perfection, which is said to be like a companion to the other five. Although one may study a lot of Dharma, without diligence, one will be unable to obtain any fruition. Thus, it is through these six transcendent perfections that practitioners of the Bodhisattva Vehicle will attain emancipation gradually, over the course of many lifetimes.
As for the quick path, a distinctive feature of Secret Mantra is that it enables one to attain autonomy of mind through Bodhicitta, which is the direct antidote to self-grasping. This autonomy is of three kinds: outer, inner, and secret.
The form of the principal Deity, the retinue, and the mandala are the natural way of abiding of the Buddhas' kāyas and pure fields. Thus, the outer autonomy, or Empowerment, occurs when these are introduced as bases for stabilizing meditation.
Next, when one emerges victorious over self-grasping through cultivating the altruistic intent, one will attain the autonomy of Bodhicitta. This is the inner autonomy, or Empowerment.
On that basis, one realizes the aggregates (skandhas), elements (dhātus), and sense fields (āyatanas) of the body-mind continuum to have been pure from the very beginning. This attainment of Secret Mantra pure perception is the secret autonomy, or Empowerment.
After having received Empowerment, since those who cultivate Bodhicitta still have propensities on the inner levels of body and speech and on the outer levels of forms and sounds, Deity Yoga is taught as the antidote to such imprints. Thus, self-control of the body is achieved through cultivating the development stages of the yidam Deity, verbal self-control through the Mantra recitation with its radiating out and gathering in of light rays, and mental self-control through Bodhicitta. By these means, one's own three doors of body, speech, and mind will be realized as being inseparable from the pure Deity's Enlightened body, speech, and mind.
In this way, one achieves happiness and freedom from suffering not only for oneself. Rather, having become equal to the Enlightened Ones, the meditator will display the miraculous manifestations of the Buddhas' Three Kāyas until samsara itself has been emptied out. This fulfillment of one's own and others' purpose is what it means to accomplish the fruition of Buddhahood in a single lifetime. The autonomy of Bodhicitta, which is gained through Secret Mantra Empowerment, is just that profound and meaningful.
As for accomplishment of the fruition, tantric texts distinguish between gradual and sudden types. It is said that some individuals attain Liberation gradually through great effort, while others do so all at once, seemingly without needing to progress in stages. This latter type is said to recognize the nature of mind effortlessly in a single instant. However, Protector Jigten Sumgön disputed this, teaching that in actuality, there is no such thing as a sudden type. This is because even those beings of highest faculties who appear to attain Liberation all at once by means of the Secret Mantra are merely demonstrating the effects of having purified the mind's obscurations in former lives through the paths of individual Liberation and the Bodhisattva Vehicle. In this way, everyone can be considered a gradual type.
For example, when children are born, some fortunate ones are joyous and open with smiling faces. Their behavior is naturally loving and generous. Others are ill-tempered or fearful, having thick, afflictive obscurations from the start. The different qualities of their dispositions are obvious in infancy and are signs of their karmic imprints from former lives.
Such differences can also be observed among Dharma practitioners, who are characterized as being of high, middling, or lesser faculties. Some people, even though they listen to Secret Mantra teachings with interest, cannot understand them. However, if they can realize this lack of comprehension to be the result of not having accumulated sufficient virtue in past lifetimes, they will be inspired to cultivate virtuous activities in the present. By doing so, they can continue to progress on the path in stages.
The greatest fortune someone can have is to be endowed with compassion, faith in the Three Jewels, and the wish to enter the door of Secret Mantra. The desire and intention to enter the Vajra Vehicle — the result of having cultivated the altruistic mind to some degree throughout past lifetimes — is a sign of extreme good fortune and is exceedingly precious. Through making effort in accord with that intention and through cultivating the altruistic motivation that is Bodhicitta, in the best case, one will attain the state of Buddhahood. In the middling case, one will temporarily attain birth in the three higher realms, in which the good fortunes of gods and humans are enjoyed. Thus, everyone can, sooner or later, attain the state of Buddhahood. In this regard, all beings are the same. All those who have faith eventually become suitable vessels for the Secret Mantra teachings.
Regardless of the vast or small scope of one's virtuous activities, one's motivation is of primary importance. Pure roots of virtue will come forth from reciting even a single maṇi mantra as long as one's motivation is pure. Motivation is of two types. The first, the one I am constantly repeating in your ears, is Bodhicitta. One should never be parted from the thought, ”Sentient ones extend as far as the limits of space. In order to liberate them all from confused and dreamlike sufferings, I must establish them on the ground of Vajradhara, the essence of mind — the great self-knowing primordial awareness.“ All those who have obtained the precious human body have the causal basis for attaining Buddhahood. However, this knowledge must be introduced to those who have not yet received introduction. In the context of Secret Mantra, this introduction is done by means of Empowerment, which is said to mature the immature. Thus, when receiving Empowerment, one must give rise to a vast motivation, thinking, “Having introduced every sentient one to Ultimate Bodhicitta, I will lead them to the state of the Buddhas. For this purpose, I shall enter the mandala of the Deity.” This is the motivation that is Bodhicitta.
The second motivation is to become a suitable vessel for the teachings of the Secret Mantric Vajra Vehicle. This requires great intelligence and pure perception. The precious human body is possessed of the six constituents of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness, together with the singular basis that is mind. That mind is shared by Buddhas and sentient ones alike. In order to understand Secret Mantra Empowerment, one should consider the example of a flower that has a seed, a bud, and a blossom. The Deity whose Empowerment is to be conferred is like the seed of the flower. The master who confers the Empowerment is like the blossom. The disciple on whom Empowerment is conferred is like the bud of the flower, which is caused to open by the strength of Bodhicitta. Through this example, one can understand the ripening Empowerment as the means whereby the seed takes root in the mind of an immature sentient being, to mature gradually into a fully blossomed flower.
In general, this Secret Mantra perspective is the actual, true condition of the mind. Every sentient one possesses the essence of the Buddhas. This was taught by the Bhagavan Buddha, who said, ”Sentient ones are the very nature of Buddhas.“[5] If one has a mind, one has the cause of Buddhahood. It is through the mind that the Buddhas come into being.
In this way, every wayfaring being of the six classes possesses the cause of Buddhahood. However, since they are under the influence of self-grasping, the result is a bit distant for them. For example, among many seeds, only a few will meet with good soil, warmth, and moisture — all the favorable conditions necessary to sprout. Because of this, few seeds will grow while many will go to waste. Similarly, most sentient beings take birth in the three bad migrations of animals, pretas, and hell denizens. This is because, circumstantially, they do not yet have the fortune to obtain a precious human body, the only birth in which one may encounter and utilize the Secret Mantra teachings.
On the other hand, those fortunate ones who obtain a human body endowed with the freedoms and connections can enter the path of Secret Mantra and attain the spiritual eye. With it, they will cease to perceive this world, the outer container, as ordinary. Since this world is comprised of the five elements, in actuality it is the nature of the great mother-consorts of the five Buddhas. As such, the physical container is entirely comprised of Nirmāṇakāyas of the Buddhas. Likewise, the inner contents, confused sentient ones, have Buddha nature at the very basis. Thus, it is only due to the temporary condition of ignorance that sentient ones experience dreamlike confusion, circumstantially wandering in samsara. At the very ground, all beings' afflictions are the nature of the five wisdoms. Thus, since both the container and contents are fundamentally the very nature of purity, confused appearances arise only temporarily. To overcome such circumstantial appearances, one must cultivate the mindful awareness that spontaneously transforms the five afflictions into the five wisdoms. This awareness is the root of all autonomy. Whenever an Empowerment ritual includes five separate Empowerments, they create auspicious interdependent connections for such awareness to emerge.
In brief, the master who bestows Empowerment is the actually manifest body of the yidam. That is to say, the wisdom Deity himself or herself — the Saṁbhogakāya — is the one who confers Empowerment. That Deity arises from Bodhicitta, which comes from the Buddhas. The Buddhas, in turn, appear from among sentient ones. The ordinary body, speech, and mind of anyone who gives rise to the altruistic motivation and receives ripening Empowerment will transform into the mature state of the pure Deity's body, speech, and mind. First, it is necessary to mature the mind. Then, secondarily, one must mature the speech and body in stages. Whichever sadhanas one practices, at the start, when Taking Refuge, one must cultivate Bodhicitta. In actuality, the cultivation of Bodhicitta even precedes Refuge. Bodhicitta is that which ripens the mind. Through it, one will attain Enlightenment, the royal seat of the Buddhas' Three Kāyas. Having thus freed oneself from suffering, one will become able to show others the means of Liberation.
As for those who request Empowerment, the aggregates, elements, and sense fields of all samsaric sentient ones are pure at the basis. Therefore, anything that appears to be impure is like a dream or an illusion. Receiving Secret Mantra Empowerment enables one to settle the point that phenomena are fundamentally pure and give rise to certainty about that purity. Then, on the basis of Empowerment, practitioners must receive ”liberating instructions,“ the point-by-point guidance that explains the correct means of practice.
The quick path — the Secret Mantric Vajra Vehicle — is referred to as secret not because it is something to be concealed or covered up but because its meaning cannot be fathomed. This is the case for ordinary beings of the six classes, who experience the sufferings of the three lower realms due to the afflictions of the three poisons. This is like when water, which is inherently crystal clear, accidentally becomes tainted by impure substances. However, when the water is purified and returned to its natural state, it is suitable for drinking and bathing. Similarly, the fundamental Buddha nature is pure at the very basis. This quality of the mind is referred to in the Dzogchen tradition as ”pure from the beginning.“ In the context of mahāmudrā, it is called “primordial purity.” These two terms have the same meaning. Whenever the afflictive poisons meet with Bodhicitta, they are transformed into the five wisdoms, just as wood changes into flame when fuel meets with fire. In this way, sentient ones can transform into Buddhas. The fact that suffering beings can attain the status of the Buddhas is not something that needs to be kept hidden; it simply is not readily understandable.
In this regard, the Bhagavan Buddha said, ”Sentient ones are the very nature of Buddhas. Even so, they are veiled by adventitious stains.“[6] Such adventitious defilements are easy to understand. Sentient beings are merely temporarily obscured by self-grasping and afflictions. If the mind were impure from the beginning, then it couldn't be purified through practice. When this is understood, it causes one to take courage and think, “Oh! All my impurities are merely extrinsic and transient!”
What are the adventitious defilements of the mind? They are the ongoing ignorance that is referred to in The Aspiration of Samantabhadra with the following words: “Co-emergent ignorance is a distracted, unaware consciousness. Thoroughly conceptualizing ignorance is to grasp at self and other as two.”[7]
Co-emergent ignorance is one's failure to examine the mind with the mind. It manifests concurrently with the notion of an “I.” People think, “As long as things are all right with me, then everything is fine. If things are not going well for me, nothing is fine.” This mindset, in which the self is of primary importance, is co-emergent ignorance.
Then, as for the mind of thoroughly conceptualizing ignorance, when various outwardly appearing forms arise, one has the notion, “That is other; this is me.” By failing to examine the inner mind, one falls into dualistic perceptions of self and other. From the start, this manifests as the distinction between male and female, which is observed among all humans, animals, and flora throughout this worldly realm. When pure, this distinction is the nature of method and wisdom. When impure, it gives rise to manifold dualistic perceptions. By recognizing this habit in one's own mind, one can understand the dualistic grasping in the minds of all sentient beings of the Three Realms.
It is said that these two kinds of ignorance have been present throughout beginingless samsara. Thus, it is impossible to say when they began. But, in actual fact, ignorance is not continuous. When the phenomena of one lifetime have been exhausted and a person falls unconscious at death, the moment he or she awakens from that unconsciousness, that individual arrives in the first bardo, or intermediate state, experiencing the dharmakāya. This interruption in the continuity of ignorance happens for every sentient being and is the sign that all beings possess Buddha nature. If one recognizes the dharmakāya at that juncture, the recognition itself is the very attainment of the status of Buddhahood in the first bardo.
Thus, if one understands every sentient being to be a Buddha at the basis, the various belief systems, distinctions, and biases found in this worldly realm — such as the idea, “I am Buddhist; he is not” — become meaningless. By knowing the mind itself to be the causal basis of Buddhahood, one's mind becomes open and spacious. One experiences deliverance merely through hearing this. One feels joy just knowing this fundamental truth, which is the basis for the pure perception of the Vajra Vehicle.
Since the power of the development stages lies in the purification of perceived impurity, the final fruition of their practice is the attainment of pure perception. This does not mean that one should project a notion of purity onto phenomena that are tainted. Rather, from the perspective of the Vajra Vehicle, primordial purity is the recognition of things as they truly are. In the song titled Lotus Melody of Eighteen Perfections, Drigung Dharmarāja said, ”Understanding appearance-existence to be the Deities' forms is the perfection of Secret Mantra's development stages.“[8]
Whoever has such an outlook of perceiving all sentient beings as pure at the very basis will attain the Deity's attributes. The greater one's pure perception, the more it is to one's own advantage. Someone who truly has pure outlook will see all things as pure — including those things that are impure. Conversely, like a jaundiced person who sees a conch as being yellow in color, someone with an impure perception conditioned by self-grasping will perceive everything as corrupted — even that which is pure.[9] The distinction between these two views lies in the greater or lesser scope of one's wisdom. It is in this context of Secret Mantra pure perception that one can begin to understand the practice of Vajrakīla.
There are those who say Secret Mantra teachings should not be propagated but should be kept hidden. In one sense, this accords with the intent of Guru Rinpoche, who concealed his tantric teachings as treasures, commanding that they not be propagated during his era. On the other hand, Guru Rinpoche specified that the occasion of their propagation would be the time of dregs, when humanity would face great tribulation. He clearly prophesied that at such a time, when the blessing of other Buddhist spi[[ritual practices will have declined due to not having been well maintained, the blessing power of his treasures would remain undiminished.
For this reason, beings of this present time of dregs should utilize the Secret Mantra teachings and practices of the Earlier System. Their accomplishment is within reach; it is attainable. Now is the time for methods of accomplishment such as Vajrakīla and Yamāntaka to be put to use.
Even so, it is said that there are two types of beings to whom it is unsuitable to reveal the teachings of the Secret Mantric Vajra Vehicle. The first type of unfit vessels for the teachings are those who cannot give rise to Bodhicitta. This is because those who lack Bodhicitta will be completely unable to comprehend the Secret Mantra. Therefore, it is essential to train in conventional Bodhicitta from the beginning. This is done by means of the preliminary practices, which include the four mind-changing contemplations:
(1) the difficult-to-obtain precious human body, (2) death and impermanence, (3) karmic causes and effects, and (4) the faults of cyclic existence. It is taught that through training the mind in these ways and through practicing the uncommon preliminaries of Refuge and so forth, one will become able to comprehend the profound meaning of Secret Mantra teachings.
The second type of unfit vessels are those who lack great discriminating intelligence. Although they may be very learned, such people still give rise to perverted views of Secret Mantra. In this regard, Rāga Asya's Aspiration for the Pure Field of Great Bliss says, “A greater misdeed than killing the Three Realms' sentient ones is to denigrate Bodhisattvas.”[10]
It is said that perverted views of gurus and virtuous friends send one to the hell realms. What does this mean? Perverted concepts are the nature of hostility. The afflictions of hostility, animosity, and hatred are the root causes of hell-realm phenomena. For this reason, it is taught that to reveal the Secret Mantra teachings to those who hold perverted views is unacceptable.
Among Buddhist practitioners, perverted views can also manifest as sectarian bias. Even though one may be very devoted to one's own lineage, it is important to train in cultivating an impartial, pure perception of all traditions. Otherwise, if one holds the view “only my tradition is right; others have it wrong,” such thinking shows one does not know how to practice Dharma. Although one may engage spi[[ritual practices, if they are done based on such concepts of attachment and aversion, one's ”Dharma“ will become a cause of falling to the lower realms. To maintain perverted views will corrupt the mind no matter how pure one's spiritual lineage may be. For this reason, true practitioners will always respect different lineages, thinking, “Other traditions are as good as mine. The inner meaning is the same!”
Earlier and Latter Mantric Systems
The entirety of the four great Indian Buddhist philosophical tenet systems can be subsumed within the single point that is practice. The Bhagavan Buddha taught the two paths of the causal Vehicle of Characteristics and the resultant Vajra Vehicle as the practical methods for Liberation from samsaric sufferings. In the Causal Vehicle, it is taught that one cannot Attain Buddhahood without having gathered the accumulations of merit and wisdom for three limitless kalpas. This is because one's accumulation of karma and afflictions since time without beginning is so profound and because the ignorance underlying it naturally lacks existence and cannot be seen.
For countless lifetimes, one has had no opportunity to encounter the Buddhas, to listen to their Dharma, or to practice it. Because of this, one continually accumulates a mixture of virtue and misdeeds. It is only due to one's virtuous habits throughout this limitless stretch of time that some degree of wisdom-intelligence and compassion arise, bringing one into contact with the Buddhas and their teachings. Through their kind influence, one can encounter the Fruition Vehicle of Secret Mantra, whereby the attainment of Buddhahood becomes possible in a single lifetime. Such accomplishment is based on the Buddha nature that is inherent in the mind of every sentient being.
As for this resultant Vajra Vehicle, there are two traditions of Secret Mantra in Tibet.[11] Although the fruitions of their practices are the same, there is some difference in their modes of practice. Specifically, the Latter Systems, or Sarma, embrace the four classes of Tantra, which are elaborate and extensive and suit those individuals of highest faculties. On the other hand, the Earlier System of Secret Mantra, or Nyingma, is the blessing-practice lineage of Guru Rinpoche, who taught the four branches of approach and accomplishment based on direct experience. The sadhanas of the Earlier System are very abridged. They are the methods whereby one can easily yet effectively practice the branches of approach and accomplishment simultaneously in a single liturgy. As this present text is a treasure, or terma, of the Earlier System, its practitioners should have some understanding of the four branches of approach and accomplishment, which will be presented in the teachings on Mantra recitation.
This method of accomplishing Vajrakīla is derived from the Eight Sadhana Teachings, which were first practiced by the eight great knowledge holders of India. These teachings were collectively entrusted to Guru Rinpoche as the Tantra of the Gathering of Sugatas of the Eight Sadhana Teachings.[12] Guru Rinpoche, who was also the principal holder of the Vajrakīla transmission, established the Eight Sadhana Teachings in Tibet, where they became the basis of the mahāyoga transmissions of the nine successive vehicles of the Earlier System.
Among the Eight Sadhana Teachings, there are nine sadhana sections with nine different mandalas. Since all of them are complete within any single one, through entering just one mandala, one enters them all. Among the nine, the mandala of Kīla Activity is located in the northern direction. As Vajrakīla is the embodiment of all the Buddhas' activities, his is called “the mandala of Enlightened activities.”
Because the development stage yogas are extremely profound and difficult to comprehend, one may think there is no benefit in practicing them unless their complete meaning has been understood. However, this is not at all the case. Even when one does not have a great understanding of the words of a teaching, if one simply tries to put into practice whatever has been understood as it is being taught, the mind will naturally become relaxed, open, and clear. Even when one's comprehension is not good, since the qualities of Dharma are already naturally present in the mind, the meaning will eventually dawn from within. For this reason, it is very effective to meditate as one is receiving the teachings. When the mind becomes open and relaxed, one reaches a sort of spontaneous understanding in which it is not necessary for the meaning to be explained by anyone else. This is particularly so in the context of group accomplishment retreats. Since the Deities actually assemble in the practice mandala, practitioners' minds naturally become open and clear. Thus, regardless of whether one is a being of high, middling, or lesser faculties, practicing Deity Yoga brings great benefit.
Words from Guru Rinpoche on Deity Yoga
The following words of Guru Rinpoche from the Tantra known as The Union of Sun and Moon summarize the intent of Deity Yoga. It would be good to write them down and to remind oneself of them every time one meditates on the Deity.
[[First]], [[one]] familiarizes the [[Deity]]'s [[aspect]]s. When those [[aspect]]s [[arise]] in the [[mind]], [[ordinary]] [[thought]]s are [[destroy]]ed. In between, [[one]] familiarizes [[divine]] [[pride]]. When that [[pride]] has [[become]] stable, [[one]] [[attain]]s [[autonomy]]. Finally, [[one]] familiarizes the [[Deity]]'s [[blessings]]. Through the [[potency]] of those [[blessings]], others' [[appearance]]s are [[transform]]ed.[13]
Each of us has a little bit of discriminating intelligence and compassion at the basis. If, on top of that, one meditates on the appearance of the Deity — his or her aspects — one will forget the ordinary body. Even when the visualization is not clear, it is said that merely to recollect the Deity is of great benefit. In this regard, the realization narrative of Avalokita known as The Lotus King Tantra says, “The body of Guardian Avalokita is that in whom every Buddha is gathered. By one's visualizing or just recalling him, the immediate misdeeds are cleansed.”[14] In this regard, to see in the mind a mere picture of the yidam is not of much benefit; the point of visualizing the form of the Deity is to recall and come to embody his or her attributes.
In The Precious Treasure of Sakya Paṇḍita's Fine Explanations, the body is referred to as “a container for the ocean of sufferings.”[15] One should consider that all the activities of this lifetime are dedicated to nothing other than looking after the body's needs — feeding, clothing, housing, and caring for it. Since body and mind are conjoined, whenever some harm befalls the body, the mind experiences ill-being. This suffering arises due to the mind's cherishing of the body. If one is pricked with a needle, one experiences pain. Even though it is the body that gets pricked, the pricking sensation occurs in the mind. Similarly, it is by means of the body that the mind experiences heat, cold, hunger, thirst, and the like.
Because one believes the body to be real, one has great attachment to it. This attachment engenders physical propensities in the mind. As a result of such attachment and propensities, one continues to experience physical sufferings even in the bardo, the intermediate state between death in one life and birth in the next. If one looks within and reflects on how physical pain and suffering can be experienced even after the body has been cast off, one will see that the body and mind are conjoined. Since one can experience either bondage or Liberation on the basis of the body, the precious human form is extremely powerful. If one's practice becomes separated from Bodhicitta, the body becomes like a demon to the yogin. However, if one can practice Secret Mantra methods conjoined with Bodhicitta, one can Attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime and in a single body. If, in this way, the body manifests as a Deity, it is extremely beneficial for the practitioner. Thus, whether the body becomes a hindrance or a benefit depends on the presence or absence of Bodhicitta.
One's present body of flesh and blood has been created by past karmic imprints. Whenever one cultivates great love for the Deity, a habit of the Deity is imprinted on the mind. When the Deity's form manifests, it appears within the mind itself. That mind abides like a mirror that continuously reflects the positive or negative karmic habits one has established. When the imprint of the Deity is stable in one's mind, it becomes a cause to arise in the Deity's form in the bardo.
Although one cannot see one's karmic propensities at present, tomorrow when one's consciousness enters the bardo, they will become manifest. For this reason, one should in this lifetime establish positive karmic imprints of oneself as the Deity, clearly and one-pointedly habituating to the Deity's form. This can be accomplished by looking at paintings or statues and then causing the Deity's image to arise in the mind's eye, recalling him or her with love and affection. As one trains in this way, sometimes the Deity will arise on its own in various forms, large and small. As one again and again cultivates the visualization, it will gradually become clear. It is fitting that just as the Deity's form can suddenly manifest clearly, sometimes it just as suddenly vanishes like a rainbow.
If one accumulates Mantra recitations with a mind of great love for the Deity, one will eventually reach a state in which one never forgets the yidam, even when one is not actively visualizing his or her form. Then, whenever one sees an image of the Deity, love will spontaneously arise and one will feel great delight. Even though the image is not the actual Deity, one will regard the representation of the yidam's form as something precious and will want to offer it great respect. This is a sign of having forged a connection with the Deity.
Then, whenever one experiences some difficulty or fear, the first thought will be of the Deity. For example, at the first sign of peril we Tibetans often call out, ”Venerable Tārā!“ or the name of any other Deity or guru in whom we have faith. This is an exceedingly good habit. By one's recollecting the Deity or the guru and calling him or her by name, blessings will immediately enter one's mind and will most definitely provide protection. The point is that with or without visualization, mere recollection of the Deity is sufficient. The most important thing is to bring the Deity to mind again and again. This will cause ordinary concepts to disintegrate and ordinary physical propensities to be forgotten. Always recalling the Deity, one will come to realize that one's mind and the Deity's Mind are nondual.
Later, if the stages of development should really arise with vivid, rainbowlike clarity, one will understand that they have come about through nothing other than mind. When one investigates minutely, although the mind itself is free of form, shape, or color, it is like a mirror in which the Deity is being reflected. If, in this way, one recalls the Deity at all times, he or she will truly become stable. This can reverse all the habits and conditioning related to the body. When ordinary concepts are torn down, one forgets the body. Once the body has been forgotten, every physical propensity is cast off like ragged clothing. In this way, the mind is purified.
I myself have some experience of this. Since I had never done any development stage training at all when I was a small child, if I needed to visualize the form of the Deity on a large scale, I would imagine it filling the building I was in, such that the Deity's head would reach the ceiling. If I had to visualize many Deities at once, I felt ill at ease because they would not all fit comfortably in the limited space.
However, after I had visualized the Deity and mantra strand again and again and had gained a bit of familiarity, sometimes the Deity would suddenly appear without my being aware of the building at all. That is to say, once some of my inner grasping at the body had been purified, outer grasping at the building and the like had also fallen away and become absent. Then, when I would close my eyes, there would be no thought of the building being present or absent.
This illustrates how the development stage practices can gradually purify all grasping. To feel uncomfortable when visualizing a large Deity because it does not fit inside the building is a sign of impurity. It indicates that the mind is unaccustomed to the stages of development. After becoming habituated, if one closes one's eyes, then whatever one thinks of can more or less be seen without manipulation or doubt. Sometimes the appearance arises. Even when it does not, one need only have love for the Deity.
The point is that even if one has no time to practice rituals, one should still train in the development stages by closing one's eyes and again and again recalling with affection the Deity's form. If one does that, sometimes the body of the Deity will arise easily like a rainbow. This appearance is the natural expression of one's own mind. Sometimes the Deity's form will just as suddenly disappear. This is the union of development and completion. Understanding this, one will be devoid of grasping at perceived objects and their characteristics. That is to say, when there is no grasping at the appearances of divine forms, there will be no disappointment at their disappearance. Such are the benefits that can be experienced through training in the development stages — the methods for transforming ordinary concepts.
In addition to reflecting on the benefits, one should also consider the faults of not refining away propensities through these means. If, for example, one dies while experiencing this sort of grasping at an outer structure, such a mental imprint could condition rebirth as a mollusk that carries the house of a shell wherever it goes. In this way, one should understand Guru Rinpoche's words about destroying ordinary thoughts through familiarizing the Deity's aspects.
In order to support such training, it is good to study texts about the recollection of purity. Praising the signs of the Deity, such texts focus on the symbolic meaning of the Deity's physical appearance, ornaments, and implements, which symbolize the ten transcendent perfections and the like. It is good for sādhakas to have some understanding of this.
There are manifest benefits that emerge from familiarizing the stages of development. For example, if one experiences a lot of pain and physical illness, in the best case, one's disease will be cleared away. If not, at least the symptoms will be minimized. Although I have many sicknesses, I do not seek much medical intervention. This is due to the qualities of the development stage yogas, which disrupt the habit of identifying with the gross body of flesh and blood.
In the future, physical obscurations will become purified through these means. Now, although one has outer physical illnesses, if one grasps at them, those outer illnesses will be conjoined with inner suffering, making the hardship even greater. Because Deity Yoga diminishes grasping, it brings manifest benefit to those who practice it.
Next, Guru Rinpoche's statement continues with the words, “In between, one familiarizes divine pride. When that pride has become stable, one attains autonomy.”
With regard to Deity Yoga, many people give rise to doubts, thinking, “If I meditate on the Deity, am I actually the Deity? Since the Deity is not really me, it must be something false.” These sorts of apprehensions are completely mistaken. Others think they must be convinced that “I am the Deity!” This is also not right, since there will be no benefit from a Deity practice rooted in grasping at an “I.”
In order to avoid these extremes, one should first investigate whether or not the Deity is really oneself. This question is definitively resolved by Buddha nature. In this regard, the words of the disclosure in the subsequent Rites of the Vajrakīla Text read, “From the start we've been inseparable…” What this means is that since time without beginning, the cause — one's mind that is the Buddha nature — has been the same as the mind of Vajraku[[māra. Even so, that mind is veiled by adventitious stains. Those stains are only self-grasping and afflictions. Apart from them, the basis that is the mind of oneself and the Deity is one.
This mind that is Buddha nature is singular. Due to the fault of self-grasping, the yidam's qualities have not yet become manifest. However, the moment one gives rise to Bodhicitta, the altruistic motivation, that is the actual mind of the Deity. Thus, one can resolve for oneself the question of whether or not one is truly the Deity. Since the yidam's mind is the unification of emptiness and compassion, if one gives rise to an instant of altruistic intent, one possesses the yidam's mind in that instant. Even though one may have no understanding of the development stage yogas, one still becomes the actual Deity. It is necessary to generate belief in that. In order to believe in the Buddha nature — the Buddhas' command — one must truly have faith in Bodhicitta. This is the best sort of divine pride, whereby autonomy will truly be attained.
The issue of autonomy, or self-control, can also be understood in the following way: When one is never separated from love and compassion, one will not fall under the power of afflictions. Being no longer controlled by afflictions, one will not accumulate karma. The very nature of love and compassion is generosity, ethical discipline, and patience. On the basis of these three, one will circumstantially attain births in the three higher realms. Then, through concentration and discerning intelligence, one will ultimately attain the status of the Buddhas. In order to cultivate each of these perfections, diligence is required.
This is the meaning of the words of the Refuge vow ceremony, whose text states that as a result of having taken the vow, one will ultimately attain the status of the Buddhas and will experience the ease and happiness of the three higher realms along the way. The causes of these attainments are loving kindness and compassion. Even if one had all the wealth and enjoyments in the world, tomorrow at the moment of death, they would be of no benefit and, in fact, would only be harmful. Conversely, when the Buddha nature that is one's mind becomes conjoined with love and compassion, one will truly attain great autonomy. The central autonomy is not to fall under the sway of afflictions.
For example, if one gets angry at a friend and then recalls the fault of anger, one will give rise to patience and, by doing so, avoid accumulating karma. Conversely, if one falls under the power of anger, then one's practice is lost, resulting in negative karmic accumulation. Therefore, one should understand that to generate altruistic intent liberates self-grasping. When self-grasping is liberated, the six afflictions are invariably liberated.
Guru Rinpoche's quote concludes with the words, “Finally, one familiarizes the Deity's blessings. Through the potency of those blessings, others' appearances are transformed.”
How should one understand the Deity's blessings? Yeshe Tsogyal once asked Guru Rinpoche, “There are so many Deities. From whence have they come?” Since they have arisen from Bodhicitta, Guru Rinpoche replied, “That which is called the 'Deity' is Bodhicitta.”[16] This means that the altruistic intent is the very life force of the yidam. It is only through Bodhicitta that one transforms into the Deity. The dividing line between samsara and Nirvana is Bodhicitta.
Thus, when one makes the aspiration, “May all men attain the status of Avalokita; may all women attain the status of Ārya Tārā,” the focus is not on people's outer bodies. Rather, one is praying that the qualities of the Deities' Bodhicitta be developed in the inner minds of beings. If one has powerful love and compassion, it will accomplish one's own purpose — the status of Buddhahood — and will also accomplish the purpose of others, bringing benefit to sentient ones. For example, if a guru — a virtuous friend — has qualities, he or she will possess loving kindness and compassion for disciples. If the guru lacks these, though he or she may have a connection with disciples, those disciples will not experience benefit from that connection. Only one who has love and compassion will bring about delight in the minds of humans and nonhumans.
To give another example, dogs and cats always follow those who care for them with love. Since this is the case on a small scale, if one can cultivate love and compassion for all sentient beings, it will make offerings to all the Buddhas and will simultaneously purify all beings' obscurations. Therefore, one should reflect on the great power of loving kindness and compassion — the Deity's blessings — to transform others' appearances.
The King of Aspirations for the Conduct of Samantabhadra refers to “the force of all-pervading love.”[17] Anyone who aspires to pervade all the Buddhas and all sentient ones must have love and compassion. Since one's present qualities of love are too weak, they must be strengthened and increased. One must practice the methods whereby precious, supreme Bodhicitta can arise where it has not yet arisen, can be protected from decline where it has arisen, and can further and further increase. These three refer to the progressive Stages of the Paths of individual Liberation, the Bodhisattva Vehicle, and the Secret Mantric Vehicle. By teaching the methods of emancipation from the sufferings of the three lower realms, the path of individual Liberation causes Bodhicitta to emerge where it has not yet arisen. Through the Bodhisattvas' conduct of the six transcendent perfections and the repeated cultivation of Bodhicitta, that which has arisen does not decline. Finally, through pure perception, practitioners of the Secret Mantra cause Bodhicitta to increase ever further.
Sometimes practitioners become discouraged, thinking sentient beings are so numerous, they are inexhaustible and cannot all be freed. Whenever this occurs, one should recall that all beings have Buddha nature. However great their confusion, it is merely an adventitious defilement; it is not ultimately real. This is the meaning of the words, “there's no real object of compassionate aid” in the generation of Bodhicitta from the Yamāntaka Practice Manual.[18] When this point has been well understood, the Bodhisattva will give rise to a heroic and greatly courageous mind.
Purifying Propensities through Deity Yoga
It is only on the basis of this heroic mind that a practice of Deity Yoga can flourish. Through meditating on the Deity, one purifies the inner physical propensities accumulated since time without beginning. As a result, imprints regarding outer forms will be cleansed. Through Mantra recitation, one purifies the inner propensities of speech. As a result, imprints related to outer sounds will be cleansed. Finally, through continually cultivating Bodhicitta, one purifies self-grasping. In this way, even an hour of sadhana practice clears away obscurations of body, speech, and mind. In addition, by remaining inseparable from the clear appearance of the yidam, one becomes impervious to harm from any demonic forces, spells, or obstructors.
On the other hand, those who lack this sort of method of accomplishment reinforce propensities of samsaric activities day and night without interruption. On the basis of material forms, sounds, and mental afflictions, beings continually accumulate karmic imprints. Reflecting on this, one should develop an appreciation for the development stages, which are of benefit in this life, in the bardo, and in future lives.
For those who cherish such practices, group accomplishment retreats offer opportunities to engage sadhanas intensively for a period of time. With regard to their benefits, The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas states,
When [[one]] has abandoned [[evil]] [[land]]s, [[affliction]]s [[gradually]] [[wane]]. When [[one]] is without distraction, [[virtuous practice]] [[waxes]] on its own. When [[one]] is [[clear]]-sighted, [[certain]]ty in [[Dharma]] is [[born]]. Keeping to solitude is the [[Bodhisattva's practice]].[19]
The benefit of remaining in solitude is that one becomes clear-sighted. Thus, as the text says, ”certainty in Dharma is born.“ It is for the purpose of becoming clear-sighted that people remain physically and mentally isolated in retreat.
Some will think a group practice like the Vajrakīla secret accomplishment is not an actual retreat because instead of being alone, one is in a gathering of many people. Although this is a different sort of retreat, it is still a retreat. In spite of the size of the gathering, one's body is isolated from frivolity because one has temporarily renounced ordinary beings' worldly activities, which are focused on the concerns of this life. As one diligently pursues Mantra recitation alone, one's speech is isolated. Not following after thoughts of past, present, or future but remaining with awareness single pointedly focused on the Deity and mantra, one's mind is isolated. In this way, the three isolations are complete within the group accomplishment retreat. The benefit of this is that the mind becomes clear.
It is good to investigate the difference between clarity and the lack thereof. When one is preoccupied with worldly samsaric pursuits — continually following past thoughts and anticipating the future — countless thoughts and emotions come to mind. These are mere concepts rooted in confusion. They are the strong views arisen from grasping at perceived objects and their defining characteristics. As an antidote to these, one visualizes appearing forms as the Deity, transforms sounds into mantra, and turns the mind to love and compassion. Every view arisen from grasping at perceived objects and their characteristics should be cleared away. In order to achieve this, the core point is to purify self-grasping through love and compassion.
Grasping at physical propensities is refined away through the clear appearance of the Deity. Grasping at sounds is purified by the recited mantra. Because it is extremely effective to practice in this way, the benefits of Deity Yoga have been elaborated in the Tantras. It is said that by meditating again and again on the shape or aspects of the Deity, one refines away grasping at the ordinary body of flesh and blood. Thus, the gross physical form is forgotten.
When actually engaging the practice, some students have become fearful, thinking they will lose their bodies or speech if they cultivate the stages of development. But to lose the body is the best sensation! One should lose the body! All the propensities of samsara without beginning have arisen from body-based self-grasping. When the body is lost, the imprints of the Deities' kāyas and pure fields will spontaneously appear. These are signs of the destruction of ordinary concepts — the maturation of that which was immature. If one practices, signs such as these will arise. Merely to meditate on the Deity's aspects has this sort of power.
Everything I have just explained is based on a single line from The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas: “When one is clear-sighted, certainty in Dharma is born.”[20] Every Dharma teaching without exception is subsumed within this line.
This last point about the benefits of the Deity and mantra can be found in the texts known as The Exposition on the Great Accomplishment of Vajrakīla from a Thousand Perspectives,[21] which is the speech of Guru Rinpoche, and The Thorough Explanation of the Eight Sadhana Teachings.[22] In brief, the meaning is that by repeatedly meditating on the Deity, one will forget body-based propensities.
Attainment of Buddhahood through Deity Yoga
People generally think Buddhahood is something far distant. But this is not so. All the Buddhas emerge from sentient beings. For example, Buddha Śākyamuni was once the son of Śuddhodana; Ārya Tārā was once a princess. As mentioned previously, the Tibetan term for Buddha is sanggye — sang meaning “cleared away” and gye meaning “expanded.” That is, when dualistic grasping has been cleared away, the mind expands, merging into the space of the dharmakāya. Some may wonder what happens or where one goes when Enlightenment is attained. The answer is that one's mind, free of any reference point, utterly pervades the sphere of phenomena.
Through cultivating the stages of development and completion, those of highest faculties will, like Milarepa, become Buddhas in their very lifetimes, manifesting the dharmakāya in the first bardo. If one is unable to Attain Buddhahood at that first juncture, then it is possible to do so in the second bardo. At the moment of waking from sleep, one generally has disordered thoughts such as “Where am I? Who am I?” So, from the first moment of conscious awareness, there is a sense of self. However, through training in the development stage yogas, one continually recalls the Deity with a mind of great love, reciting his or her mantra and seeing an approximation of his or her form in the mind. As a result, at the moment of waking, one will recall and transform into the Deity and the mantra, purifying the propensities of body and speech.
By having trained in this way, those of middling faculties will be liberated into the Saṁbhogakāya in the second bardo. That is to say, as soon as one thinks, ”Now I have died,“ through the power of love, the thought of the Deity will immediately arise in one's mind. Thus, the mind will transform into whichever Deity one has practiced. In that very instant, the mind will have been subdued by the Deity. This is because the mirrorlike mind becomes free of self-grasping the moment one recalls the Deity. Thus, the inherent qualities of the Buddha nature are made manifest in that moment. The individual who is free of dualistic grasping himself or herself will transform into the Deity. Even a person with dualistic grasping will become like a small child seated on the lap of his or her parent, the yidam Deity. Such are the benefits of meditating again and again on the Deity's form and mantra.
Even those of lesser faculties who are not liberated into the dharmakāya or Saṁbhogakāya must in any case become Buddhas as Nirmāṇakāyas in the third bardo due to having obtained Empowerment in the Secret Mantric Vajra Vehicle. These are some of the ways in which Buddhas actually manifest from among sentient beings.
Finally, even for those who do not have such accomplishment at the time of death, there is still great blessing from having made a connection with these practices. For example, it is said that if one receives a tantric Empowerment yet does not practice at all in that life, one will again receive Empowerment after seven lifetimes and will then become able to engage the practice.
Introduction to Visualizing the Deity
Those who aspire to accomplish the transformation of ordinary body, speech, and mind should first learn about the practice of Deity Yoga. By studying and understanding Secret Mantra development and completion, one will establish a basis for practicing them. In this regard, it is not necessary to limit one's study to texts specific to Vajrakīla. Instead, it is sufficient to focus on any text that explains Deity Yoga. Since all Deities are the same in essence, if one understands development and completion for one Deity, one will understand them for all. Nevertheless, if one is particularly interested in Vajrakīla Practice, one should focus on texts of the Earlier System — rather than the Latter — as there are some differences in the methods of meditation.
Each sadhana can have different descriptions of a single Deity's appearance, ornaments, implements, and the like. Thus, one should visualize according to whatever is written in the particular text one is practicing. Since there are many different treasure revealers who have taught many different practices of even the same Deity, if one relies on thangkas and other images, one should make certain that they accurately depict the Deity described in one's own sadhana.
It is said that the form of the Deity is the union of clarity and emptiness, as is the Immeasurable Palace. The more one trains in the development stages, the clearer the forms of the Deity, retinue, and mandala become. That clarity is empty in essence, like a rainbow with no material substance at which to grasp. These insubstantial forms of the mandala and Deities parallel this world and the beings therein. Hearing this, some give rise to doubts, thinking, “Both the container and contents are real — solid and unyielding. They seem to me to have the nature of stability and permanence.”
However, in actuality, the entire container and everything therein are an aggregated mass of atomic particles. Every single day, the component parts of this mass erode, being subject to dispersion. This is well understood by scientists. Suspended in empty space, this earthly realm can be struck by an asteroid and smashed to bits in a single instant. It can be destroyed at any moment due to myriad conditions. In actual fact, container and contents lack inherent existence, just as Lord Buddha taught. They are adventitious, illusory phenomena.
In order to introduce this truth, it is taught in the development stage yogas that meditators should first imagine empty space. Therein, all the phenomena of samsara and Nirvana are transient, fleeting, and illusory. Like rainbows, they suddenly appear and — just as suddenly — disappear. The outer worldly container is an example of this. As for the inner sentient contents, their bodies are simply microcosms of the container. That is to say, the entire world is mirrored in a single individual's body.
When learning to visualize oneself as the Deity, one will encounter conditioned physical imprints. Ordinarily, one thinks that this body of flesh and blood is one's own. However, this is not the case. The body is merely like a temporary dwelling. Thus, it is said in The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, ”Consciousness, the guest, will cast aside the guesthouse of the body.“[23] So, the body does not belong to oneself; it is like a worn-out costume that must be discarded at the time of death. Since the body is not one's own, the mind is of principal importance. When the Deity emerges in the mind, one understands the mind to be the creator of the Deity. This is the first experience of the development stages' effectiveness.
Since there are so many different sorts of individuals with different dispositions, some types are better suited to the practice of the development stage yogas. In particular, those with untamed, restless thoughts and clinging to concrete experiences of embodiment absolutely require the stages of development.
In the past, when my root gurus would offer instructions on Deity Yoga, they taught that practitioners should first investigate the degree of grasping at their own bodies. People who have great clinging to the body of flesh, blood, and bones and who strongly identify with their bodies as being very substantial — as though they were truly existent — should particularly engage the development stage practices. Those with rigid, unyielding concepts about the gross physical form will especially benefit from the progressive trainings of Deity Yoga. This will allow such types to gradually realize the aggregates, elements, and sense fields as being divine in nature.
Others, through habits established in former lives, do not really think much about their bodies as being existent or nonexistent. When I was a small child first receiving instruction in Deity Yoga, my guru asked me, “How do you conceive of your body?” I answered, “I don't really think about it. It's not as though I have a body, and it's not as though I don't.” He told me this is the best sort of view of embodiment. An individual with this kind of experience should give rise to the complete form of the Deity all of a sudden, without thinking that the gross body is existent or not. Because such types have good habits from the past, they should emphasize the completion-stage yogas, focusing principally on the concentration being, who will be described later.
It is common for those who are unaccustomed to visualization to have difficulty imagining the Deity's body. In order to train in the development stages, one should set up an image of the Deity and study it while giving [[rise to a mind of great faith. Merely to look at an image and recognize the Deity to be Vajraku[[māra by his color, ornaments, and implements is an inconceivably great merit. Repeatedly viewing the Deity's image will cause his form to appear in the mind's eye, just like a picture one is drawing. The mind is like an empty mirror; the Deity image is like a reflection in that mirror. Since the self is a mere construct, when one continually thinks of the Deity — the naturally manifest shape of Bodhicitta — one's mind will emerge as the Deity.
One should trace the body of the Deity from the crown protuberance down to the lotus beneath his feet, visualizing the crown ornament, the dress, and accoutrements one by one. This should be done repeatedly. When one closes one's eyes, these images will arise vaguely in short glimpses. When they first appear, it will seem like they are facing oneself — as though one's own body were separate from the Deity.
But where do they actually abide? If one can forget the material body, it becomes like an empty vase, inside which the Deity is produced by the mind. Gradually, one will come to recognize that the image is actually oneself. One will know that one's mind inhabits the visualized form of the Deity. In this way, the body of flesh and blood is forgotten. Once this has been established, one can train by imagining the form of the Deity becoming as large as Mount Meru, filling the billionfold universe, or becoming as tiny as a mustard seed. Since the mind alone is the creator of these phenomena, such development stage trainings are easy to accomplish.
As long as one has a body, one is subject to self-grasping. In other words, clinging to the “I” is an inherent feature of embodiment. Whenever there is self-grasping, there are propensities. Even so, if one does not part from the clear appearance of the Deity while in one's embodied state, one will become able to recall the Deity and instantaneously to receive his or her blessing in the bardo of dharmatā. Since only a mental body appears in the bardo, one can easily manifest as the Deity, whose form vividly arises the moment it is brought to mind. The instant that resplendent blessing is received, there will be neither self-grasping nor propensities.
This distinction between the embodied state and the unembodied state, especially, should be clearly understood through individually discriminating intelligence. When the mind is unencumbered by physical form, it easily emerges in the shape of whatever is imagined. Thus, the moment one visualizes the Deity, the mind will transform into the Deity. Such ability comes from having trained in the stages of development. If one contemplates this, one will understand the benefit and power of Deity Yoga. Regardless of one's current level of proficiency in visualization, one should have confidence that even an unclear, momentary glimpse brings about benefits that cannot be conceived.
General Introduction to the Stages of Development
Since we human beings are subject to birth and death, the development stage yogas are for the purpose of mastering the birth phase of becoming, while the completion stage is related to the death phase of becoming.
Although there are many different types of development stage yogas, it is not necessary to consider each of them as being distinct. The four main types are taught in accord with the four modes of birth within the six classes of beings: womb birth, egg birth, birth from warmth and moisture, and miraculous birth. These are also related to the four classes of Tantra: action, conduct, yoga, and unsurpassed Yoga Tantra, respectively.
The more extensive development stage yogas are referred to as “the five-step development of manifest Enlightenment” and are said to purify womb births. The four-step vajra development purifies egg births. The three-step samādhi, or concentration, development purifies births through warmth and moisture, such as insect births. Finally, the fourth mode involves a single step and is known as “the development through instantaneous surge.” It purifies miraculous births, such as those of gods born from flowers, as well as of demons, rākṣasas, pretas, and hell beings. Therefore, the four types of development stage yogas block rebirths via the four modes.
A yogin should first become familiar with the five-step mode of development. By doing so, he or she becomes capable of blocking the doors to inferior types of birth in the six realms. Having trained in the pure perception of container and contents, one will perceive one's future parents as yidam Deities. Thus, free of ordinary appearances, the sādhaka will perceive him- or herself as the HŪ syllable and so forth. Through mere recollection, transformation is achieved. With such pure perception, consciousness transforms into the Deity; oneself and one's parents actually become pure Deities capable of acting for the welfare of sentient ones. In this way, even though, according to outer appearances, one may take rebirth in the worldly realm of human beings under the influence of karma, one will obtain a precious human body of pleasing form in a noble family line.
After one has a general understanding and experience of the most elaborate stages of development, one can then gradually simplify the style of practice, engaging four and then three steps of development stages. Finally, one will become very familiar with the Deity, the sadhana recitation will be committed to memory, and one will know by heart the accompanying melodies. At that juncture, in accord with miraculous birth, the Deity will spontaneously appear in the mind as soon as one gives rise to the notion “I must benefit sentient ones.” His or her body can easily be imagined so large that it fills all of space or as tiny as the minutest conceivable form. This sort of mental agility is endowed with great potency. Thus, when one has become habituated to the causes that are the development stages of Secret Mantra, one will finally attain, in an instant, the result — miraculous birth in accord with unsurpassed Yoga Tantra.
With regard to profound, miraculous birth that occurs in an instant, it is said in the supplemental verses to Gongchig: The Single Intent, the Sacred Dharma, “The sudden approach to the Deity is a profound key point.”[24] This refers to realization manifesting in the instant of recollection. Although this method of knowing things to be as they truly are is taught in accord with unsurpassed Yoga Tantra for those of highest faculties, it is also easy for beginners. In order to practice it, one must first arouse compassion for sentient ones, then cause the Deity's complete form to appear suddenly in the mind. On the basis of that clear appearance, one should give rise to faith and love. When I was small, I also trained in this method, which is well suited to novices. This means of instantaneous engagement is the union of development and completion in which one realizes the beginningless inseparability of oneself and the Deity.
It is also on this basis that the practitioner can realize the Saṁbhogakāya in the bardo. When one dies and falls into unconsciousness, the mind separates from the body. If one immediately recalls the Deity the moment one reemerges into awareness — even if the visualization is unclear — the mind will merge into the heart of the actual yidam in a single instant. This occurs due to the sādhaka's great love for the yidam Deity.
Otherwise, if even the slightest other concept arises between unconsciousness and the recollection of the Deity, the innate mind becomes obscured, giving [[rise to the imprints of one's previous embodied life. Lacking autonomy, one will thus follow whichever karma and habits are most prominent and will encounter difficulties. Under the influence of delusive karma and propensities, one misperceives negative births as good circumstances, conditioning rebirth in the bad migrations of animals or other inferior life forms.
For these reasons, it is taught that in order to gauge one's ability to attain Enlightenment in the second bardo, one should look at what happens at the moment of waking from sleep. If one can immediately recall the Deity at the moment of waking, one can determine that one will be able to attain Enlightenment in the second bardo. Thus, it is extremely important to become habituated to this recollection.
In order to understand the meaning of the development stages, one must know that all visualized phenomena are present as adventitious, transient events. In the completion stage, these phenomena disintegrate. Beings habitually grasp at the outer container that is this world and its inner sentient contents as being real and inherently existent. However, if one practices this union of development and completion again and again, such grasping will also fall apart.
When it does fall apart, what sort of felt experience arises? When the generated Immeasurable Palace and so forth are deconstructed in the completion stage, how does it feel? For example, if one thinks of this building and then closes one's eyes, it can feel as though the building is no longer present.
How is it if one does not train in this way? As I described before, when one sits inside a room and visualizes the Deity, if the visualized form becomes too large, one will have the perception that the Deity's crown has reached the ceiling. This is a sign that one continues to grasp at appearances as being real. In this way, training in the development stages is extremely beneficial for destroying the mind's grasping.
If one can clearly visualize the stages of development in the mind, it will benefit one's activities and support the accomplishment of the common siddhis along the way. However, even without siddhis, it is important to practice until such clear appearance is finally achieved. The development stage visualizations transform the mind's various gross and subtle thoughts. In this regard, the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo said in the Maṇi Kabum, “The transformation of ordinary thoughts is named 'the stages of development.' ”[25] These words are very meaningful. By recalling the pure, clear appearance of the Deity and the emanating out and gathering back of light rays, one transforms the impure into the pure. At that juncture, it will be easy to transform the pure into the view that is emptiness, wherein propensities cannot be established. Finally, the mind's grasping at phenomena as being real and true will be destroyed. This destruction of all grasping is the point of the uncommon siddhi. These are the ways in which the development stages purify the mind's obscurations.
Whenever one has a perception of something as being true, one should train first by giving [[rise to doubt about whether or not it is actually true. From that, one should think that one's grasping at that phenomenon as real is itself incorrect. In this way, by continually disrupting one's belief in the validity of one's own perceptions, one becomes familiarized with the illusory nature of appearances. Although one can carry on daily activities while abiding in this awareness, it becomes no longer possible to interact with worldly phenomena in the same ways as ordinary beings.
One should contemplate well and then train in these different methods of engaging the development stages during meditation sessions and also during daily activities.
General Introduction to the Completion Stage
In the contexts of action and conduct Tantra, both development and completion are a bit extensive. In the contexts of Yoga Tantra and the unsurpassed Yoga Tantra class to which Vajrakīla belongs, once one has become habituated to the more elaborate development and completion, it is suitable to begin practicing them with less and less elaboration.
While one is asleep, the earthly container and contents perceived in dreams are entirely fabricated by the mind. Appearing like a movie on a screen, the dream space one inhabits is a creation of collective karma and imprints. Once one has a conceptual understanding of the composite, impermanent nature of phenomena, then one engages the development stage yogas in order to realize the ultimate meaning. One should meditate on this planet Earth as being the complete and pure mandala of the Deity, even if the visualization is merely approximate. Insubstantial like cumulus clouds, the visualization is the illusory union of clarity and emptiness.
Then, when one trains in the completion stage, all outer appearances dissolve gradually, like clouds vanishing or fog dispersing. The entire mandala is gathered into the father-mother consorts in union. The mother consort then dissolves into the heruka,* 3 who is gathered into the seed syllable at the heart, which also disappears. In this way, one slowly gathers the visualization together in progressive stages like the petals of a flower closing. Finally, having dissolved into the dharmakāya, one abides in empty awareness.
For the Vajrakīla practitioner who understands the actual condition of the mind, there is an abbreviated completion stage: the visualized, rainbowlike mandala of the Deity suddenly dissolves without a trace as one places the mind in the view. These examples illustrate the variability of the methods for practicing the completion stage depending on one's degree of habituation to the nature of mind. The final point of the completion stage is to arrive at the view, the fact of emptiness, the inseparability of self and other. Since it will be impossible to cultivate the completion stage while being unacquainted with the view, it is important to familiarize it. In this regard, The Sutra on Emancipation says, “More meaningful than to revive all sentient ones who fill the Three Realms is to enter absorption one time.”[26] Such are the benefits of cultivating meditative states according to the Greater and Smaller Vehicles.
When one has become habituated to this practice, even though the appearances of the worldly container and sentient contents are outwardly visible, whenever one leaves them aside and closes one's eyes, since the mind has become free of grasping, one cannot tell whether one is indoors or out. During a group retreat, the notion of individual sādhakas in the assembly breaks down and all merge into nondual wisdom-awareness. By training in the rainbowlike development stages and the gathering-in of completion, even though the entire world remains manifestly present, the moment one merely closes one's eyes, it is as though nothing at all exists. This is a sign that clinging to things as real is being reversed. On this basis, the sādhaka may begin training in the gathering-in of the principal and mandala in a single instant.
Practitioners must understand that these outer phases of completion-stage meditation have a great connection to the inner dissolution of the physical elements at the time of death. This is the import of the completion stage's gathering phase, which parallels the death phase of becoming. At the time of death, there are three junctures. These are the junctures of (1) the luminosity of deep sleep, (2) equilibrium, and (3) death. Since the mind itself is deathless, it continues beyond these junctures.
Because sleep and death are parallel experiences, one dies a small death every night. By training in dream yoga, one will come to understand the stages of dying precisely. As one falls asleep, the dissolutions of earth, water, fire, and wind are experienced, each one being consumed by the next. Finally, falling unconscious into the deep sleep state, one experiences the unconsciousness of dying. If one really wishes to train in the completion stage, one should train in dream yoga.
When one's karmically destined life span is exhausted, this same process will be experienced in dying. However, unlike sleep, one will not reemerge from this dissolution. The outer five elements will each dissolve — earth into water, water into fire, and fire into wind. As wind dissolves into space-consciousness, the body will become devoid of warmth like a lamp that has run out of oil. Then, one will fall unconscious. Finally, the consciousness will transfer from the body. Even though the corpse is left behind like a withered flower, it is no longer sustained by the five elements, whose inner essences have gathered into one another. Finally, the essences themselves are exhausted.
After the consciousness has left the body, it follows the course of karmic winds. For those who have cultivated Bodhicitta, it is driven by the winds of Bodhicitta, causing the forms and spheres of pure Buddha realms to appear. For those whose karma is rooted in dualistic grasping at self and others, thoughts of desire and aversion will drive the karmic winds, causing rebirth among the six classes of wayfarers. In this way, the winds of autonomy are known as ”wisdom winds“ and those of dependency are called ”afflictive winds.“ These different manifestations of wind energies can be understood as follows: Those who know how to practice are able to recognize strong thoughts and afflictions as they arise. Because their discriminating intelligence perceives thoughts as thoughts, they disintegrate like waves merging back into the ocean. This state of autonomy causes the wisdom winds to guide the bardo consciousness to the pure Buddha realms or to a birth in the human realm in which one can act for the welfare of others. This is how Nirmāṇakāya emanations manifest.
Conversely, when one habitually falls under the influence of arising afflictions, one accumulates karma of body and speech, which drives karmic winds. As a result, many hardships and sufferings are experienced throughout one's life. These are exceeded only by the sufferings that come after death. In this way, sādhakas should understand the distinction between wisdom winds and karmic winds.
In general, the completion stage is spoken of in terms of knowing the actual condition of the mind. Even so, some people give rise to doubts, thinking that no matter how much one cultivates the completion stage, this planet Earth still remains. Such doubts are utterly mistaken. Like a bubble on the surface of water, this earthly realm is continually subject to destruction. There are tens of thousands of planets — as many as the stars in space. Each night, countless numbers of them along with all the life forms that dwell thereon are smashed to dust and carried away by winds. If one contemplates this, one will understand how impermanent this world — suspended in empty space — actually is. The inner body is similarly impermanent. And since the body is host to hundreds of thousands of microorganisms, the body isn't just oneself alone. This is why it is called an aggregate; it is a composite phenomenon. As long as something is composite, it is impermanent.
Tomorrow, when one's body has died, one's consciousness will not even perceive planet Earth. Driven by karmic winds, consciousness will have departed into empty space like an airplane from which the land is no longer visible. Thus, consciousness will wander throughout the three planes. As for the aggregates, even though there will no longer be any form, one will still have sensation, cognition, formatives, and consciousness. Since these will be present, one will continue to experience sufferings like those of one's embodied life. Such is the state of dependency of beings in the bardo.
There are those who receive these instructions on development and completion and think that they apply only to meditation sessions — that they are not for continuous use. Such thinking is mistaken. As development and completion are directly related to the stages of conception, birth, and dying, they should be practiced each morning as one wakes and each night as one falls asleep. In the best case, they will eventually become integrated into each moment of one's daily experience.
When waking in the morning, one awakens into the daytime stages of development. It is said that all daytime appearances are like dreams. In order to stabilize this understanding, one should think in the following way: “When I was conceived into my mother's womb, it was as though I fell into a dream that lasted until I took birth in this worldly realm. Similarly, all my present experiences of this life are the illusory, dreamlike phenomena of one single day. Tomorrow, after I have died, this entire life will seem to have been a dream. I will think, 'Yesterday I arrived in the human realm. Today I have reached the bardo.' ”
By training in this way, one will become truly able to perceive this life as a dream. This is the purpose of dream yoga and of the yogas of development and completion — to experience each of these junctures as the illusory phenomena of a single day.
At this point, disciples have generally received many diverse Practice Instructions from various teachers in different places. This is like having gone to market and bought a lot of food. In order to be nourished, though, one must actually prepare and eat the food. Otherwise, it becomes rotten and goes to waste, and on top of that, one still feels hungry! Similarly, the instructions one has received must be put into practice in order to obtain the results. To participate in an accomplishment retreat is like actually eating the food and tasting its flavor.
One can give rise to some degree of conceptual understanding when language is used to explain the teachings, but if one fails to apply the methods through continual practice, mere knowledge will not bring much benefit. In this regard, we speak of the triad of understanding, experience, and realization. First, one must comprehend the meaning of the teachings. Then, one must gain experience of them by cultivating meditation again and again. Finally, with realization emerges profound belief.
For example, it is taught that afflictions are primordial awareness. Once this has been understood, one cultivates the mindful awareness that recognizes thoughts as they arise. Meditating with each new thought, one can experience directly how thoughts arise and disappear one after the next. Through habituating to this experience, one gains realization, knowing with confidence that afflictions are empty. Since thoughts and emotions are immediately neutralized by awareness, they cannot have any effect. In this way, all the teachings must be integrated through these three stages of understanding, experience, and realization. The secret accomplishment retreat is a very powerful means of doing so.
Because one's normal day-to-day life is quite comfortable and, by contrast, retreats are inconvenient, sometimes students perceive retreat to be a hardship. However, the comforts one experiences in this life are only the fleeting results of virtuous karma gathered in former lifetimes. When the pleasures of this life result in distraction from Dharma practice, it is a manifestation of the māra of the son of the gods. That is to say, within this human realm, some experience comforts like those of the gods. This is something practitioners must be heedful of. By considering the causes that have given rise to one's present comfort and by contemplating its temporary nature, one will be inspired to persevere in practice.
Due to distraction, it is difficult to perceive one's thoughts and afflictions. Through practice in retreat, the mind settles down and one can begin to see those afflictions that were not seen before. So, when beginning serious Dharma practice, one is confronted with the difficulty of seeing one's own faults. At this juncture, since one feels worse and more afflicted, insight can seem to be a greater hardship than the ignorance of not seeing. However, as one becomes habituated to the practice, one finds there is no happiness without it. In this way, one's habits gradually change.
Sometimes practitioners also experience illness in retreat. By understanding illness and pain as opportunities to purify latencies that have always been present, one comes to appreciate the ripening power of practice. Considering this, one will feel motivated to persevere with diligence.
Sādhakas should also reflect on how — during the course of a human life — so much time is wasted in sleep, which is the nature of ignorance. The night sessions during the secret accomplishment retreat help to purify the obscurations of such laziness. For this reason, it is very important that practitioners maintain the night sessions. Whenever a dull mind of drowsiness manifests, one can dispel it by developing anger at sleepiness and contemplating all the useless hours one has wasted in sleep. In addition, one can expel the breath strongly, remove a layer of clothing to keep the body cool, or circumambulate the mandala. By sleeping less and less each night, eventually the body will require only five or six hours per night. Otherwise, if one places no limits on sleep, the body will demand more and more of it. Some people sleep day in and day out like animals. Once such habits are established, it becomes very difficult to reverse them later in life.
Even in Tibet, where the conditions are much harsher than those in the West, I found that I never became the least bit fatigued during great accomplishment retreats. There, the weather is unimaginably cold and uncomfortable, with no conveniences like indoor heating. Since the monks and I did such retreats a number of times under harsh conditions, we were accustomed to it. Now, having come to the West, we have grown used to comforts such as air conditioning and heating. The memories of what it was like in Tibet have faded, so now we feel tired even doing a single retreat under the best conditions!
Whenever sādhakas feel discouraged by the hardships of practice, it is good to take a long view, thinking, ”Now is my opportunity to practice. If I fail to do so today, what will I do later when I encounter difficulties? What will I do at the time of death?“ When experiencing the slight privations of the present, one should place those difficulties within the larger context of past and future experiences. One should reflect on how important it is to practice now for the sake of future lifetimes, since the conditions one will face later in this life and in subsequent lives are uncertain.
As the main focus of the accomplishment retreat is the practice of Deity Yoga, one should understand that however many instructions one receives, however many different practices one does, all Deities are of a singular nature. All-Wisdom Deities are subsumed within whichever Deity one practices. All Deity Yogas lead to a single fruition, which is the purification of physical, verbal, and mental obscurations. One is thus ripened into the pure body, speech, and mind of the Deity. When one continually visualizes the present, impure aggregate of flesh and blood — this composite phenomenon — as being like a rainbow, it ripens into the yidam Deity, the Saṁbhogakāya. Diverse Nirmāṇakāyas who can act for the sake of sentient ones emerge from that. Since the group accomplishment retreat leads to this sort of fruition, it is extremely worthwhile.
In fact, Guru Rinpoche taught that to take part in such a retreat for seven days is of greater benefit than seven years of solitary practice. How is this so? In a group accomplishment retreat, there are gathered many people of diverse high, middling, and lesser faculties. Since the ground of their mind is singular and since the physical aggregates, elements, and sense fields of beings are also the same, if practitioners assemble and cultivate Bodhicitta, connect with the yidam, and recite mantra together, their merits are multiplied exponentially. When an assembly includes individuals who are well habituated to approach and accomplishment, each member of the group receives the same force of blessing as do those experienced meditators. If there is even one person in the assembly who has great qualities, everyone present will reap the benefit of that person's meditation. Furthermore, if one hundred people gather together in an accomplishment retreat, each individual participant accumulates the merit of the virtuous physical and verbal conduct of all one hundred. This is due to the qualities of Bodhicitta. Therefore, one need not think, “Since I am only a new practitioner, I cannot really participate in accomplishment retreats.”
Another reason why such group retreats are so efficacious is that if sādhakas come together in a retreat for a short period of time, they support one another in exerting themselves and maintaining single pointed focus free of distraction. Conversely, when one is in long-term solitary retreat, there is a great risk of becoming distracted, sleeping a lot, and taking it easy.
After having gained the experience of the accomplishment retreat, at night when one lies down to sleep, in the best case, one should play a recording of the mantra and fall asleep recalling the retreat experience. Then, hearing the sound of the mantra in one's dream state, one will awaken into the appearance of the accomplishment retreat. This is a sign that one's propensities are being reversed. When the appearances of the Deity and mantra arise in the mind, one will become manifestly able to accomplish them within the pure fields.
In order to engage this training, one should wake up naturally, without the aid of an alarm. When falling asleep with the intention to wake at a certain hour, one will usually wake within a minute or two of the designated time.
If through the power of the mantra's sound, one can recall the Deity at the moment of waking from sleep, it is certain that one will Attain Buddhahood into the Saṁbhogakāya in the second bardo. This was taught by my own guru, Khenpo Münsel.
Similarly, if one again and again gives rise to the mirrorlike mind of rigpa, it will be accomplished. One will attain mastery over whichever created habits one trains in. In this regard, one should look at the propensity that first arises at the moment of waking from sleep. If the thought of “I” appears, that self-grasping will obscure the mind. On the other hand, if the appearance of the Deity arises based on the sound of the mantra, one need not have any doubt. The most important fruition of the accomplishment retreat is the destruction of self-grasping that occurs through visualizing the Deity and reciting his or her mantra. It is of vital importance to practice these points and to carry forward the positive habits laid down during the accomplishment retreat.
As a support to the practice of Deity Yoga, practitioners should understand the nine benefits of Mantra recitation that were explained by Guru Rinpoche.
The first benefit — the perception of mantra as the actual Deity — is the principal one. It can be understood in a number of ways. Since the mantra is the name of the Deity, with each recitation, one calls out to him or to her. Thus, the recitation is like calling a companion on the phone, creating a connection between the Deity and the sādhaka. In this way, mantra is a means of meeting and becoming acquainted with the Deity. Through meeting repeatedly, a bond of love and compassion is cultivated and a friendship stabilized. By remaining close for a lifetime, the sādhaka and yidam mingle and become one in mind and activities.
In addition, some ritual texts of the Latter System refer to the different sorts of ḍākiṇīs: mantra-born and field-born. That is to say, some are manifestly born within this human realm, while others spontaneously arise from mantra itself. From each mantra that is recited with the force of Bodhicitta, one illusory, rainbowlike Saṁbhogakāya form manifests. From each one of those Deities emanate ten more wisdom Deities, and from each of those emanate ten more, making a hundred, and so on. In this way, one should visualize that millions of primary, secondary, and tertiary emanations stream forth by means of the recitation.
For example, in the mantra OṀ MAṆI PADME HŪ, each syllable is a seed syllable representing one of the teachers of the six classes of beings. Thus, the divine, illusory forms of those guides manifest with each recitation, pervading the six realms. The scope of their emanations, capabilities, and activities is directly related to the sādhaka's motivation — to the vastness of his or her development of Bodhicitta.
When one has the wish to benefit every sentient being of the Three Realms, a single mantra can instantaneously pervade the pure Buddha Fields as well as the suffering hearts of all beings. This occurs on the level of the ultimate factual truth that is dharmatā. Of course, on the conventional fictional level of dualistic views, there exist innumerable Buddhas and innumerable sentient ones. However, on the ultimate level, in which both self and other lack inherent existence, all these manifold appearances are but miraculous displays of the mind. One should understand mantra as Deity in these ways.
The second benefit is the perception of mantra as offering. Generally, people continually think, “I need this. I want that.” However, by cultivating faith, love, and the wish to benefit others, one can antidote such habits of desire, avarice, and greed through the practice of offering.
With each Mantra recitation, one makes offering to all the Buddhas. A person who has given rise to Bodhicitta as well as trusting, lucid, and aspiring faith will naturally want to practice generosity, thinking, “How wonderful it would be if I could make offerings to the pure Buddha Fields!” Likewise, one will wish to make offerings to lamas and monasteries and to support pūjas and the like. Even though he or she may not be endowed with great material resources, a person who has such wishes will eventually become able to make actual offerings to the Buddha Fields through imagining vast offerings. In the future, having purified the mind's obscurations and the propensities of avarice and greed through this merit, one will experience results that resemble the cause — perfect wealth and common accomplishments.
Even though one may think, “I have no wealth or resources at all,” one can still supplicate to become able to make offerings. The nature of Bodhicitta is such that when one supplicates in this way, one's own aspiration will enter the mindstreams of various kinds of sentient ones, so that those who do have such resources will be inspired to practice generosity and to make offerings. This is because the basis that is Bodhicitta is singular; the mind of all beings has but one basis. So, even if one cannot personally practice vast generosity, such results can still occur. This is how all the pure Buddha Fields have come into existence — through the qualities of aspiration, love, and Bodhicitta. One who understands the unified basis of Bodhicitta will be able to see this at work.
In order to become generous, one should think about the obstacles to generosity. One way in which people's miserliness manifests is in the reluctance to pay taxes. This is something practitioners should consider. If a dollar is paid in taxes, the government uses that money to improve the conditions in the country. For as long as beings are enriched by those improvements, one will continue to reap the benefit of one's generosity. When this is understood, there is no need to have an attitude of stinginess. If, say, one aspired to do something that could benefit the entire country, one could not find a suitable means of reaching everyone. However, merely paying taxes allows one to act in the service of the entire nation and everyone therein! Not only that, one serves all those around the world who receive aid from one's country.
In this way, practitioners should consider every expenditure to be the practice of generosity. For example, when someone who has the Buddhist view stays in a hotel, that person can reflect with gratitude on having a place to stay and can pay the bill with the aspiration that the hotel will flourish through his or her generosity. With this sort of good motivation, every expenditure becomes virtue.
Even when one loses wealth and possessions to others, one can be grateful, thinking that karmic debts are being exhausted through the retribution. By understanding the mindset of offering and generosity, one can practice the skillful means that dispel all suffering of loss.
Someone who doesn't understand this point encounters a double loss: Since one must pay the bill anyway, one loses their precious wealth in the moment. Then, in the long run, one accumulates only stinginess, having lost out on the opportunity to gain merit through practicing generosity with joy.
Thus, in order to purify bad rebirths in disadvantaged conditions due to the karmic accumulation of avarice and greed, one must make offerings to the Three Jewels above and practice generosity for the impoverished below. When meditating on the emanating out and gathering-back of light rays during the Mantra recitation, one should imagine that the revolving mantra strand radiates rays of light. At the tip of each light ray is an offering goddess. Each of them further emanates ten goddesses, who each emanate ten more, and so on until space is filled with elaborate offerings to the innumerable pure Buddha Fields of the materials found in this world. By conjoining recitation with the force that is Bodhicitta, one can accomplish actual vast offerings to the Buddhas.
This is not a mere fabrication; the space constituent is naturally pervaded by the force of the five elements' richness. However, those who lack merit cannot access this wealth. For example, when people are enjoying a delicious picnic, all around there are countless insects on the verge of starvation who have no power to receive the bounty of the food that is right there! This is solely due to the faults of avarice and greed, which come from self-grasping. Considering this, one can see that the fully ripened effect of actions is truly inconceivable. Though coexisting in the same space and time, some experience the delights of the higher realms while others experience the torture of the pretas' realm. Since there is not the slightest difference between the minds of those insects and our own minds, it is appropriate to give rise to trepidation about one's own karmic accumulation. These are some of the points sādhakas should consider regarding the perception of mantra as offering.
The third benefit is the perception of mantra as dispelling obscurations. Whenever one recites mantra with compassion for all sentient beings of the six classes, light rays and emanations that are the nature of compassion spontaneously radiate outward. These rays of love and compassion touch all sentient ones, purifying their obscurations, karmic habits, sufferings, and the self-grasping that is their cause — melting them like the sun's rays on fallen snow. To whatever degree one has compassion, one will possess a corresponding power to benefit beings.
This is how even the Deities, who are the nondual union of emptiness and compassion, come into being. They are the physical expressions of love and compassion for all sentient ones of the six classes — for example, pretas, who endure hunger and thirst, and hell beings, who suffer extremes of pain, heat, cold, and the like. So, if one wishes to cultivate Deity Yoga, the important point is to give rise to love and compassion for suffering sentient ones. The root of their suffering is self-grasping, through which they give rise to afflictions and engage actions, which create imprints in the mind. Such imprints are continually reflected back to them as their inner experiences of suffering. For example, the natural reflection of aversion is the projection of the hell realms. Thus, self-appearances are all reflections of the phenomena of one's own mind.
For one who has not yet realized the actual natural state of the mind — one who cannot see phenomena as they truly are — even if that person were to travel to the pure Buddha Fields, he or she would perceive them as hell realms. Conversely, for one who has the mindset of perceiving things as they truly are — one who understands the natural expressions of Bodhicitta — even the hells will appear as pure fields. This illustrates how self-appearances are mere reflections of one's own phenomena.
From the ultimate perspective, if one cultivates the mind wishing to benefit others, it tears down one's own and others' self-grasping. When through the Mantra recitation, sentient ones are pervaded by Bodhicitta, they will all transform into the Deity.
From the conventional perspective, the rainfall, sun, moon, flora, and fauna — all of these are truly the spontaneous manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that have come into existence through aspirations and through the force of love. Everything that brings benefit to beings has its root in Bodhicitta. For someone who knows how to view these things, they are unmistaken divine manifestations in this worldly realm — Nirmāṇakāyas that bring actual benefit. They appear for the purpose of increasing beings' gratitude and trust. Thus, the dispelling of obscurations should be understood as the ability to benefit mothers — sentient ones of the six classes — in ways great and small.
The fourth benefit is the perception of mantra as siddhis, or actual accomplishments. During every Empowerment, sādhakas supplicate the vajra master to bestow accomplishments, such as the eight great common siddhis and the supreme siddhi. What does this mean? By meditating again and again on the mantra strand, one gives rise to an abiding love for the Deity. Due to the power of love, the practitioner becomes free of the ego. Freedom from self is the nature of bliss. In this way, when one can no longer forget the Deity, one experiences the bliss of selflessness. Siddhis should be understood, then, as the emergence of selflessness in the mind.
On the basis of selflessness, one receives the Deity's blessings in the form of light rays that bestow the Buddhas' Enlightened body, speech, and mind. Since they are the nature of the five elements, the light rays also grant the accomplishment of longevity. Because the mind is the basis of the actual accomplishment of the Deity, one first realizes the Deity's appearance. Then, in the bardo, one will attain the Deity's complete attributes, thus accomplishing all of his or her abilities.
Having actually experienced the potent capacity of those blessings, one will become able to transmit them to others. Then, whenever the pure Deity's form arises in one's mind, there will be direct benefit to beings. In this regard, the scriptures say, “Finally, one familiarizes the Deity's blessings. Through the potency of those blessings, others' appearances are transformed.”[27] Mantra as siddhis should be understood in this way.
Some people think that the actual accomplishment of the Deity will result in his or her outward physical manifestation. This is a greatly mistaken idea. Rather, when one closes one's eyes and suddenly thinks of the Deity, he or she can appear in great and small forms — momentarily arising and just as suddenly disappearing. This is a sign of the siddhi of the Deity. Likewise, when one's love for all other sentient beings is stable and one's patience can withstand any degree of harm by them, these are the true signs of accomplishment.
Fifth is the perception of mantra as blessing. In terms of the visualization that accompanies the approach mantra, this is described with the words, “Every blessing of body, speech, and mind comes like rainfall as white OṀ, red ĀḤ, and blue HŪ, merging ceaselessly into my three places.” But the actual blessing is this: By focusing on the revolving mantra conjoined with samādhi, the mind becomes devoid of self-grasping. Thus, the Deity's Bodhicitta and one's own mindstream inseparably mingle, like milk poured into tea. The Deity's love reaches one's mind, increasing one's capacity for love and compassion. This, in turn, enriches discriminating intelligence, which enables one to abandon harming others and to give rise to the mind wishing to accomplish beings' benefit. Because mantra carries the blessings of the Deity's Mindstream, one should understand mantra as blessing.
The sixth benefit is the perception of mantra as the mandala. A sādhaka trains in the daily ritual practice of the Deity, beginning with Refuge and Bodhicitta and going step by step through the development and completion stages of the sadhana. Later, through continued practice, the union of development and completion is habituated. Finally, one will reach the point at which one can suddenly give rise to the entire Deity and mandala in an instant of recollection. The mandala and the Deity will have become indistinguishable like the sun and its rays. At that juncture, it is not necessary to recite the liturgy, since to chant the mantra even once will invoke the complete mandala of Deities.
Thus, the outer container will be perceived as the nature of the Deity's mandala; the inner sentient contents will be recognized in their pure aspect at the very basis. In this way, the intent of great accomplishment will be realized. Such spontaneous manifestation of pure appearance is the meaning of mantra as the mandala.
Closely related to this is that mantra can function as homa, or the fire pūja. In this context, the outer container is to the body as the inner contents are to the mind. Since many hundreds of thousands of microorganisms dwell in and on the human body, one should think that the macrocosm of the container and contents is complete within the microcosm of one's own body-mind continuum. Thus, when the digestive fire extracts nutrition from the food one has consumed, it becomes a fire pūja, whereby one makes offering to the mandala of Deities. This accords with Lord Milarepa's instruction on food and drink as being the Gaṇacakra.
S[[eventh]] is the perception of mantra as Enlightened activities, which have both common and supreme aspects. The common siddhis manifest as the ability to benefit self and others through the recitation of mantra and the ability to accomplish whichever of the Four Activities — pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, or destructive — one may practice. If, for example, one meditates on the revolving mantra while experiencing physical pain, the pain can be pacified. One can visualize that the light rays arisen from the mantra manifest in the aspect of flames at the place of pain or illness. Meditating on selflessness by imagining that the entire body has become a heap of flames brings actual benefit for all physical illnesses. Even if one has a karmic malady that must be experienced, although it may not be completely healed by this method, at least one's pain will be greatly diminished. In this way, obscurations will also be purified. Conversely, if one grasps at the thought of illness, one can worsen whatever physical problems are present and can even give rise to sickness where none exists. When the mind is focused on pain, the wind energies gather in that place of pain. Wherever the wind energies gather, the blood pools, creating stagnation and giving [[rise to disorders.
Because of this, skillful ones have compassionately taught the methods of meditating on the Deity, the mantra, and the mind-wind energies that pervade the body. For example, I have a friend, a lama, who can recite mantra over metal or stone for a few minutes and have it become as hot as a branding iron, which can then be used to heal people.[28] In the past, he has helped me greatly by touching such consecrated implements to my body. Mantra-born accomplishments such as this, clairvoyance, and various other miracles are examples of the common siddhis of Enlightened activities.
Eighth is the perception of mantra as dharmatā. First, practitioners must train in recognizing the innate purity of all impure perceptions. When there is no longer any such thing as impure appearance, the union of appearance-emptiness is realized. Just like rainbows in space, phenomena appear in spite of their emptiness and are empty in spite of their appearances. As it says in the Heart Sutra, ”Form is empty; emptiness is yet form.“[29] This awareness is utterly free of dualistic grasping. Although diverse appearances manifest, they utterly lack a separate, independent existence.
Audible sounds should be understood in a similar way. Ordinary sounds produce grasping thoughts of attachment and aversion; however, because mantra is the nature of sound-emptiness, it scatters diverse thoughts, sufferings, and afflictions. When one recites the mantra while meditating free of thought, the empty nature of mind is revealed. Since the mantra can suspend thoughts and introduce the nature of mind as dharmatā, the mantra itself is considered to be dharmatā. These qualities are known through actually engaging the practice.
Finally, because Mantra recitation brings about whatever siddhis and activities one could want and because it is capable of accomplishing the purposes of self and others, the ninth benefit is the perception of mantra as a wish-fulfilling jewel. Especially, as mentioned before, one should have the perception of mantra as siddhis. In order to attain the status of the Buddhas, it is necessary to accomplish the Deity. To do this, one should visualize only the Deity's form and recite the mantra again and again. One must mingle one's mind with the Deity via the first three branches of approach and accomplishment. Then, having become inseparable from the Deity by meditating on the mantra strand, one can engage whatever activities are necessary. This nonduality of the sādhaka and Deity in the context of great accomplishment is the supreme siddhi, the attainment of the Buddha's state. The all-knowing Longchen Rabjam taught that if one becomes inseparable from the Deity through approach and accomplishment, all activities will naturally and spontaneously follow.
In addition, among the representations of the wish-granting Enlightened body, speech, and mind, those of the Buddhas' speech are of principal importance. As was prophesied by Lord Buddha, “In the future dregs of time, I shall come in written shapes.”[30] Thus, since letters are the actual Buddha, it is taught that they are very precious.
In this regard, it is said that a prayer wheel is the mantra strand made materially manifest. All virtues of body, speech, and mind are made complete in the prayer wheel. To turn the wheel with the hand is a substitute for offering prostration and circumambulation of holy sites. It is also a substitute for the verbal recitation of mantra. If, for example, a prayer wheel contains one hundred million mantras, with each revolution of the wheel, one hundred million emanated mantra-born Deities stream forth like rainfall, pervading everywhere. As for the mind, it is necessary to have vigilant mindful awareness to maintain the constant revolving of the wheel. Since the prayer wheel stabilizes concentration, its benefits are exactly the same as those of the mantra strand.
Thus, Guru Rinpoche taught that to whatever extent one turns the prayer wheel, the three incessant things are present: “Ceaseless offerings are made to all the Buddhas. Sentient ones' obscurations are ceaselessly purified. Actual accomplishments for oneself are without cease.”[31]
These three come about through the power of samādhi. Since all the Buddhas' blessings are like a continual rainfall, simultaneously dissolving into oneself and others, the two objectives are spontaneously accomplished. With regard to incessant actual accomplishments, to whatever degree one generates faith, love, and compassion, one experiences a corresponding purification of the obscuration of self-grasping. This is the actual accomplishment of the Deity. While provisionally one attains the common accomplishments of births in the higher realms and so forth, ultimately one will attain the status of the Buddhas, the supreme accomplishment. Such siddhis are the direct and actual benefits of the mantra wheel.
As an incentive to practice and as an encouragement to faith, when going about, sitting, or waking from sleep, one should recall these nine benefits of mantra, which are the sublime speech of Guru Rinpoche.
Skip Notes
- 1 Although fictional Bodhicitta is an inconceivably great virtue, since it is rooted in dualistic grasping, it manifests on the level of deluded truth. Hence, this false reality is called “completely fictional” (kündzob). In contrast, so-called Ultimate Bodhicitta is nondual awareness, the superior fact rooted in unobscured truth. Thus, it is referred to as ”factual“ or “superfactual” (döndam).
- 2 The Tibetan term for ”Empowerment“ is wang, which simply means ”power.“ The term for ”autonomy“ is rangwang, which literally means ”self-power.“ The term for ”dependence“ is zhenwang, or “other-power.” In this regard, Secret Mantra Empowerment becomes a means whereby one attains independence, autonomy, or self-control, with the Enlightened mind having fully mastered body and speech rather than mind being under the sway of self-grasping.
” (VkGarR)
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