Extensive
Vajrayogini Commentary in the Tradition of Je Pabhongka
Vajrayogini Commentar y (from Pabongka Rinpoche’s text) By Most Venerable Lobsang Nyima Translated by Slava
Vajrayogini Commentar y (from Pabongka Rinpoche’s text) By Most Venerable Lobsang Nyima Translated by Slava
Dharamsala, June 19, 1992 (You must have the attitude that) the only way for me is to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. And I’ll attain it through practicing this very practice. So what does t his practice belong to? To which tradition? It belongs to t he Buddhist tradition. In this tradition you have the g reat vehicle and the small vehicle. It belongs to the great vehicle. Within the great vehicle you have vajra vehicle and sutra vehicle. It belongs to vajra vehicle. Within Vajra vehicle you have action tantra, performance tantra, yoga t antra, and anuttara yoga t antra. It belongs to anuttara yoga tantra. Within anuttara yoga tantra, you have father tantra and mother t antra. It belongs to mother tantra. Within mother tantra, you have different different types of mother tantra. It belongs to the tantra of Chakrasamvara. Within Within the tantra of Chakrasamvara, it belongs to yumkar. There are two types: yabkar and yumkar. Yab means father, and yum means mother. Kar means words, so it’s precepts or teachings of mother. So it’s the tradition of Vajrayogini, or it’s also called Narokhachnga. Its tradition has two parts: generation stage and completion stage. What What we’re going to explain now is generation stage. So generation stage is divided into eleven parts, eleven types of yoga. First is the yoga of sleep. Then the yoga of rising from sleep. Then the yoga of tasting nectar. Then the yoga without signs. Generation of oneself as the deity. Then guru yoga. So immeasurables, guru yoga, and generating oneself as the deity are the same thing. Then yoga of purifying sentient beings, receivreceiving blessings of viras and virinis, verbal and mental recitation. Then Then yoga of inconceivability, then yoga of daily actions. First you have to know it well, and then you can begin practicing. Q.What’s the Tibetan word for inconceivability? A.Sems.ke.ni.kya.pa. It means “which cannot be pervaded by mind.” Kya.pa means pervasion. In yoga of inconceivability, you have common and uncommon.
1. YOGA OF SLEEP In yoga of sleep, you have... actually, it’s divided in two. Yoga of sleep with intellectual activity, (or) conceptualizing, and without conceptual activit y. So actually yoga of sleep with conceptual activity refers to the practice of generation stage. Without Without conceptual activity refers to the practice of completion stage. If you have high intellectual capacity, you can practice the yoga without intellectual activity. So this yoga of sleep w ith intellectual ac tivity. Imagine yourself, yourself, you think that you are this deity Vajrayogini. Then your abode is these two reality sources. Cho jung means reality source or source of dharma. And you have a
four-petalled four-petalled lotus w ithin these reality sources, not above them, but within. So, it’s like a phurba. Q.Like two phurbas. A.Uh huh. And the lotus is in the middle of them, for example, you have this picture, and the lotus is here, in the middle. So when you go to sleep you imagine yourself as being Vajrayogini, in the center of this lotus w ith four petals. And then on the eastern petal you imagine your root guru in the form of Buddha Vajradharma. And you imagine that you sleep putting your head on his lap. His appearance is like that of Vajradhara, with vajra and bell, but he is of red color, and without consort. Q. So Sangye Dorje Cho’s sitting on the eastern petal and you’re Vajrayogini with your head in his lap. A.You sort of lie down, and put your head on his lap. There is a lion throne beneath this lotus, so it is supported by lions. Eight lions, two for each of the four directions. You can imagine that it has eight petals, not four, but eight. So it doesn’t matter. You can imagine that it has four or eight. In the middle, you have a sun seat. In the middle of this reality source, you have a throne supported by eight lions. Above this throne, you have a lotus which has either eight or four petals. In the middle of this lotus you have a sun seat. It’s a variegated lotus. In the four main directions, east, west, south, and north, the petals are red. On the northeast, it is black. Southwest will be green. Southeast and northwest are yellow. Q.East is facing you, no? A.No, no, because it’s self generation. East is the direction where you face. So if you imagine four petals, then all the petals will be red. The sun seat is red with a slightly yellowish tinge. You can imagine it having the color of the sun. Not orange. Red, but having slight yellow. Or you can imagine it having the color of the sun. There are two types of sleep, deep sleep and light sleep. If you imagine this sun seat as being warm, then you’ll have deep sleep. If you imagine it as having hot light emanating, then your sleep will be light. Actually, everything has the nature of light here, yourself, and this lotus seat, and your guru and so forth, but it’s just a question of the power of this light. Some people have disease, and they cannot sleep well, and experience various sufferings. Then Then you try to imagine that it’s it’s warm. But if you think that deep sleep obstructs your meditation, sort of makes your consciousness consciousness dull, then you try to imagine that it’s light and hot.
each session. If not, then at least one time during one session. (Slava:) I just asked Rinpoche if he could give lung for the tsog offering. (Rinpoche gives the lung) Q.So, when Rinpoche comes to Dharamsala next year? A.Rinpoche doesn’t know. Probably he will come back quite quickly. There are many lamas from whom you can als o recive teachings. Q. Request him to come back soon.
When you do this self generation, do do you do everything in English, or do you look at the English but recite in Tibetan? A.I only have English. You read and recite both in English? Of course except for mantras. (discussion about that) Why Rinpoche asked that was that if you would recite in Tibetan, he could say, you recite from this place until this place, and so forth. If you don’t perform this receiving empowerments during the second session, then you should recite all this stuff until when you say that, “I “I am staying within the blessing fire of five mudras, or colors”, or whatever it is. So you stay within this fire, and after it, you usually follow this text of taking empowerment. But here, if you don’t take this empowerment, then you don’t recite it, and immediately you recite, “And my head is adorned with Vairochana-heruka, together with yum”. Actual Actual ly, Rinpoche Ri npoche says that of course it’s not necessary to meditate on body mandala, but you won’t get too much blessings if you don’t meditate on body mandala, because here you receive blessings from external dakinis, and you also bless your inner channels and so forth. So of course, it’s better to do it. Here, at the time of checking meditation, before the time of purifying migrators, if you don’t take thwese four empowerments, then at this point, you you have to say that “I am staying within this blazing fire of wisdom, and my crown is adorned with...” you have to say this verse. “My crown is adorned with Vairochana-Heruka together with the mother. Yuo have to say it, if you don’t perform the four initiations. And after it, then you proceed through the yoga of purifying migrators, then the yoga of receiving the blessings of heroes and heroines, until until the place where you put on the armor. Then you don’t grant the empowerments; you omit it. Then you make offerings to self generation. Q.In place of putting on the armour. A.Yes, so, in this place, you simply say that my crown is adorned with vairochana-Heruka. Then you proceed through the whole stuff, and you omit only one: granting empowerment and adorning the crown, because you omit empowerment, and your crown has been adorned already. Then you proceed to offerings to self-generation. self-generation. So Rinpoche prays that in future, it will be more. You don’t know Tibetan, and Rinpoche doesn’t know English, so it is difficult. Rinpoche says that even if you have some doubts about it, even if you can’t can’t understand all the words of this (?), still it would be good to do the whole sadhana. And generate generate strong faith that this is t he path that leads you to Buddhahood, and to do it in such a way, not to (worry) about all t he details. If you can, of course, it’s another thing. As for these extensive praises, if you cannot recite these praises, it’s OK. When you stay in retreat, it’s very good if you can offer torma and tsog during
So you lie on this sun disk and your head is on the lama’s lap, and you lie on your right side with your left hand on your left leg. Q.Are we holding any implements? A.You have all the ornaments: earrings, crown, necklace, etc., but no hand implements. And also no clothes. Just all the ornaments. Everything else is the same, just no hand implements. And when you do prostrations, you don’t have any hand implements. You sleep with strong, one-pointed faith in your lama, and think about being with your lama in this and future lives, with very, very strong faith in him. While you are asleep, asleep, you are still think ing that this is your lama who is able to liberate you from sufferings. When you fall asleep and when you wake, you think this is the person who cares for you and is able to save you, and you have faith in him and pray to him. If you can, it’s better to sleep facing west. So if you sleep in lion posture, if your face is turned west, then your crown will face north, back east, feet south. Also when you do retreat, when you meditate on Vajrayogini, you should think that she’s in the west. So that’s why when you sleep of meditate, you should face west. But if you can’t, it’s OK. Just imagine that you face there. (Slava: And I asked Rinpoche why here if your crown is turned toward your guru who sits on the east, it will follow that you face north and not west, but he says the place where you turn your head you imagine to be east. It’s not east in external reality. So there are two types of reality. When you make fire offerings, you imagine this place to be east, for example.) Q. So is Rinpoche saying the pure realm of Vajrayogini is in the west? A.Yes. A.Yes.
(battery (batter y changed here)
So you imagine your house is this reality source and this lotus, and it’s absolutely pure. Such a visualization you have to do only when you go to sleep. When you arise from sleep you also imagine you’re again on this lotus, and all the places are pure realms. Don’t do this visualization when you eat, when you go places, or so forth. It’s only for going to sleep and awakening from sleep. If you it every night, it can bring results. But if you do it one day, then forget about it, then do it some time in the future again, it’s not the right way to do it. You have to do it constantly. So in retreat or not, whether you sleep lying or sitting or so forth, you always should perform this dream yoga this way. This conceptual dream yoga is for generation stage, for people with small capacities. It’s for people who like to sleep a lot. You can think that you get a lot of profit. You can practice and sleep at the same time. It’s also Dharma, so you don’t have to prostrate, you don’t have to recite mantras. There was a mahasiddha whose name was Nyimtompa, and he was sleeping all day and all night, and he achieved the highest levels of completion completion
stage. He went to this place where they served chang, and told the woman that he’ll give her money later. But she said, “No, tell me exactly when”. He said after sunset. And he drank all his chang. (And the sun didn’t set.) So, about how to go to sleep, the proper motivation.
2. RISING FROM SLEEP Then when you rise from sleep, don’t get up immediately. Think first, what am I doing? I am practicing conceptual yoga of sleep.And where am I? In this pure field, in this reality source, on this lotus petal, and I am sleeping in th e lap of my lama. And having very strong faith in your lama, you slowly get up, imagining yourself to be Vajrayogini, with all the ornaments, but without hand implements. In Tantra, you have three types of dakinis, dakinis of three places. These refer to the mandala of the body, the mandala of the speech, and the mandala of the mind. When you arise from sleep, you imagine that you’re awakened from the clear light of sleep by the sounds of damaru or bells, etc. which are made by the dakinis and viras of these three places. As soon as you are awakened, think you are awakened by the sound of mantra recited by the viras and dakinis of the three places, and the sounds of damaru, etc. Then you think that I am sleeping in the lap of my guru, and he cares for me and I have faith in him. Then you think my abode is a pure realm. And then, having faith in your guru, you slowly get up. You get up and make three prostrations to your lama, not just visualized, but actually. Then you imagine your lama, whose body color is red, becomes smaller, smaller, smaller, and becomes the size of an egg of a small bird, red color. Then it enters your head through your crown, through the (brahmarandra) crown, and comes to the level of your heart, and it meets with your mind. Don’t imagine that it dissolves. It’s still there. You still imagine that you’re Vajrayogini, with your lama in your heart. Then when you put on your clothes, you shouldn’t imagine that you put on dirt y clothes. So first you bless them by saying three times OM AH HUM, and when you put them on, you think that you’re offering them to your lama. Again, you get big profit. For example, if you simply wear some clothes, then you don’t get any merit, but here you imagine that you offer thim to your lama, again you collect merit. Also when you eat extremely good food, if you imagine that you offer to your lama, again you collect merit. Q.Did Rinpoche say something earlier about everything absorbing like breath on a mirror? A.No, he said that the lama becomes smaller to the size of a bird’s egg, like when you blow on the mirror, the (vapor) becomes smaller. Q.So he’s still in my heart? A.Yes.
know in Yamantaka, you have a root mantra, then heart mantra, and close to heart mantra. But here in Vajrayogini, you don’t have a root mantra; you don’t have it at all. You only have heart mantra a nd close to heart mantra. But this first one: OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE, is the close to heart mantra, and the last one, BENZA VAIROCHANIYE, will be the heart mantra. This which is in the middle, is neither heart mantra, nor close to heart mantra, nor root mantra. But still, this mantra performs the function of all t he three, root mantra, heart mantra, and close to heart mantra. Rinpoche recited this mantra 100,000 times 110 times, but he did it simply because he had strong faith. He cannot explain the meaning of each letter, and so forth. There are not too many peope who can explain the meaning of it. What Rinpoche said before, when you recite these mantras, you very quickly get blessings of Vajrayogini. Also it says in this text that if you recite this three HUM mantra, it would be as if you recited all the mantras of Tara, Saraswati, of (Loquen), of Dukar, this goddess of white umbrella, and also of (Sordjun). In such a way, you recite the mantras of a ll the dakinis, because all of them are dakinis, by the way. So Rinpoche says, if you know it then you’ll generate faith. So probably we will meet each other again, but Rinpoche is just thinking about it. He would like to continue. But in brief, when you do this first session, you have to proceed through mantra recitation, then Vajrasattva, then you again arise in the form of t he deity, in order to continue this meditation between sessions. First you dissolve everything into emptiness and arise in the form of the deity, and you have to do just brief verses of auspiciousness and brief praise. Then in t he beginning of t he second session, it’s very good if you can recite verses of refuge. You don’t necessarily have to do Vajrasattva, and also you don’t have to offer extensive mandala; you can just recite “sa zhi po kyi.” And when you recite this PHAIM, after which you receive initiation, you also don’t have to do that. So actually in the sadhana, there are two PHAIMs. First is when you emanate light rays, and then something dissolves into you, that’s, you need it, but as for the second one, when you perform this initiation, you don’t need it during the second session. So again, you collect mantras. Then again, you make dissolution, and everything like the first session. In the third session, again, you don’t do Vajrasattva recitation; you don’t do extensive mandala offerings; everything as in the beginning of the second session. By the way, inthe first two sessions, you also have to do this protection of oneself. So you do it, and after it, you do extensive torma offerings and extensive prayers, and so forth, everything there. So you say that Khandarohi emanates from your heart, blesses the substances of tormas, and so forth. And if you don’t have any other work, then you go to sleep and rising from sleep.
Buddhas, in whom all the Buddhas are condensed within, for example, OM; all the Buddhas are condensed within HUM; all the Buddhas are condensed within PHAT. And so, when you have this mantra, when you divide it into three parts, for example OM, HUM, PHAT for each of these three parts. For example there will be one OM, one HUM, and one PHAT related to OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE, then BENZA VARNANIYE, again, one OM, one HUM, and one PHAT. And again BENZA VAIROCHANIYE, you have one OM, one HUM, and one PHAT which is related to this. And in this way, the first mantra was related to Dharmakaya, the second to Sambhogakaya, and the last to Nirmnakaya. By reciting this mantra, the meaning of t his mantra, you can generate faith in Vajrayogini, because she is the condensation of the nature of all the Buddhas. You can understand it from these words, like, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE HUM PHAT, which means all the Buddha dakinis. (Translating word by word): This mind of all the Buddhas, which is mind of great bliss, which proceeds through the space of suchness, or the true nature, I mean, this mind. It means that it cognizes emptiness, so that it proceeds through the space of true nature of phenomena. This (khandro), khandro actually means going through the sky. Of all the Buddhas, this goer through the sky of all the Buddhas means this blissful mind which cognizes emptiness. It’s truth body or (dorje ma), means vajra of the enlightened mind. The meaning of the second mantra (BENZA VERNANIYE). OM BENZA VERNANIYE HUM PHAT. VARNA means extreme praise or (rik), or caste, or color, or to liberate, also verses, also mouth, something which expresses. So it has many meanings, this VARNA. And because its appearance is having an aspect of the sound which expresses the meaning of Dharma for disciples of Vajra of exalted mind, or this truth body, or vajra of exalted wisdom. Because it expresses meaning to disciples of the vajra of exalted w isdom, which is wisdom of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness, because it expresses this meaning to this disciple, it’s called “expressing vajra”. (Ju je) means something which expresses, like for example, you have the three baskets, they are called (ju je sum) (sum means three). They are like the three advices of samadhi, wisdom, and morality. So this vajra which expresses, (ju je means sound), is Sambhogakaya or Vajra of speech of Buddha. Then is OM BENZA VAIROCHANIYE HUM PHAT. Because it appears to disciples as having an aspect of form body, because this vajra of exalted wisdom, which is the wisdom of inseparability of bliss and emptiness, because this vajra appears to disciples as having the aspect of form body, Nirmanakaya, this Vairochana is either Nirmanakaya , or vajra of the body. So first, you have vajra of mind, or Dharmakaya,then vajra of speech, or Sambhogakaya, then vajra of the body, or Nirmanakaya. Also, in brief, it performs the function of heart mantra, close to heart mantras, and root mantras of Vajrayogini, who has the nature inseparable from the three vajras of body, speech, and mind of all the Buddhas. And so Rinpoche says that, you
Q.And I’m Vajrayogini getting dressed. A. Yes. So also when you drink tea or eat food, you say, OM AH HUM Three times and eat. The more food you eat, the better, because the more merits you can have, offering to your lama. Q.Which color is your lama in your heart? A.Red colored body, and the light which emanates is also red. Don’t try to think too much about details. We’ll stop here. And what Rinpoche explained just now, try to practice it. And even if we don’t have time to finish all the things, you can ask some other lama, or when Rinpoche comes again, you can ask him. But the main point is that you should practice what he says.
22 June, 1992 As in worldly activities, when you are going to do something, first you have the attitude to do it. For example, you wake up in the morning and you think that I have to do such and such work. In the same way, you have to have proper attitude before practicing dharma. There are many different types of sentient beings, and they have different types of bodies, but the best type of body is human body. It’s not enough just to have this body. It’s like having a piece of gold. If you use it properly, then it can bring some results, but if you throw it out, then there is no benefit to it. There’s nothing special about achieving worldly goals. The practice of Dharma starts with the attitude to achieve certain results in future life, to have the attitude that I have attained this human body wigh liberties and endowments, such as being born in a Buddhist country, with complete organs, and being able to receive Dharma teachings, etc. You have to use it properly; you have to think not about this life but about future lives. One of the best ways of practicing Dharma is the pract ice of Vajrayogini, because all the Buddhist teachings are complete within this practice. This practice is divided into two parts: generation stage and completion stage. In generation stage you have eleven types of yoga. First sleep yoga, then arising from sleep, then tasting nectar, yoga of immeasurables, fifth is guru yoga, sixth is yoga of generating oneself as a deity, seventh is yoga of purifying sentient beings, eighth is receiving blessings of heroes and heroines, ninth is yoga of unification of verbal and mental recitations, tenth is yoga of non-pervasion of mind, and yoga of daily act ivities-eleventh one. This means what you do when you arise from the state of equipoise: what you do, how you eat, how to wash yourself, etc. The whole generation stage of Vajrayogini is condensed in these eleven kinds of yoga.
Yesterday we were talking about yoga of sleep, and I said it was divided in two, conceptual yoga of sleep, and non-conceptual. Conceptual yoga of sleep refers to generation stage, and non-conceptual refers to completion stage. People with low capacity practice conceptual yoga of sleep. You imagine that everything around you, the place where you stay, is pure Buddhafields, and there are two reality sources, and in the middle of these reality sources you have a lion throne which supports a four or eight petalled lotus, on which you have a sun-disk, and you in the form of Vajrayogini, with all the ornaments, but without hand implements, you lie on this sun disk, putting your head on the feet of your guru, who sits on the northern petal. Yesterday, Rinpoche said eastern petal, but that means east is always in the direction where your head is located, when you practice. From this point of view, you can say it is the eastern petal, but actually it is the northern petal. You imagine that you’re putting your head on the northern petal, yeah? You face west. If you can actually do it, it is good. Otherwise, you just have to imagine. So again, you sleep on your right side, putting your right hand under your head, and you put that on the feet of your lama in the form of Vajradharma, and you think he cares for you and he is very kind to you, and that you remain faithful to him. When you arise from sleep, you should think that the place where you sleep is a pure Buddhafield, and you sleep in this reality source on this lotus, and so forth, and you put your head on the lap of your guru. What causes you to arise is heroes and heroines in space who recite mantras, ring bells, play damarus, and so forth. And you should get up with that image. The first was conceptual yoga of sleep. Now is non-conceptual yoga of sleep. You have to imagine yourself as Vajrayogini, with the syllable BAM in your heart. And a light emanates from the BAM and purifies all your body. Then it emanates further and purifies the whole place where you stay. Then it goes further a nd purifies the whole universe, with living beings inside of it. Then all of them turn into li ght, and this light, like steam on a mirror, melts and gathers into your body, and your body also melts from upper part and lower part, melts into syllable BAM, which melts into the half moon, that turns into liquor (you can say tigle), and the tigle turns into nada. You can say the nada is like the end of a needle. And then it completely dissolves. At this point you think that all phenomena are empty of t rue existance. Light emanates from this nada, above the syllable BAM, and gathers into it. You also melt into BAM, BAM melts into this tigle, tigle melts into nada, and so forth. When light emanates from your heart... Q. That’s at the beginning? Not from the BAM, but from the nada? A.Actually, nada refers to BAM, so you can say it emanates from BAM, but from that part of BAM which is nada. When everything dissolves, becomes void, then you think all phenomena are empty of true existance, and with this view, with this very thought, you fall asleep.
means speech, so it can be praises, or simply mantra. In Tibetan, mantra means (nga), or sometimes (nga) means praise. What does it mean? (Slava:) VAIROCHANA means Vairochana, but what does YE mean? (asking Rinpoche) Actually, here in this text, it says that the three OMs stand for Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya. That’s not too easy to translate. It is not explained too clearly. Q.Maybe if he doesn’t know it, it’s not important. A.Then why did you ask? (laughing) Q.I’m asking because Lama Yeshe used to go on and on about how incredibly special was this mantra, and innumerable benefits to reciting the mantra would rain (on you) , and then he’d never say anything (about it). (Slava): But it’s very easy, OM, OM, OM SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE”... (more discussion in English) They say that OM, OM, OM means body, speech, and mind. HUM, HUM, HUM, again, means body, speech, and mind, and PHAT, PHAT, PHAT, also means body, speech, and mind. So first, the three OMs refer to the body, speech, and mind of Dharmakaya. So Rinpoche just tr ied to erase what he said before. So, the first three OMs exemplify the body, speech, and mind of Dharmakaya. Forget what he said about vajra of the body, and so forth. Then the three HUMs exemplify the body, speech,and mind of Sambhogakaya, and the three PHATs exemplify the body, speech, and mind of Nirmanakaya. Here, the truth body is divided into two, nature truth body, and wisdom truth body. For the wisdom truth body, you put in different deities, like Samantabhadra, for example. So this deity will have its omniscient mind, it will have speech, and it will have body. So Rinpoche can’t explain too much now. Go to the Dialectic School. They will tell you everything. (laughing) Rinpoche said that it is difficult to explain for people who didn’t study dialectics, because, just for an example, there is omniscient which cognizes ultimate truth, and there is omniscient mind which cognizes conventional truth. If something is omniscient mind, it has to cognize all the truth. So, omniscient mind which cognizes ultimate truth a lso has to cognize conventional truth. And visa versa. But still they say that the omniscient mind which cognizes ultimate truth is not the same mind which cognizes conventional truth, and visa versa. So in the same way here, I mean, Rinpoche says it will take time to debate about it, and so forth. So, actually, for instance, there is Buddha Sakyamuni which we know, Nirmanakaya, there is Buddha Sakyamuni which abides in Akanishta heaven, Sambhogakaya, and omniscient mind of Buddha Sakyamuni and the emptiness of this omniscient mind is the wisdom truth body and the nature truth body. Of course, if you studied all this, then it would be easy. So in general, all the three sets exemplify the body, speech, and mind of
A.Generation stage, yes. And then the next one is those dakinis who abide in the 24 holy places, yes? These are middle external messengers. And these dakinis are supposed to have cognition of completion stage. Q.When you say generation stage, do you mean... A.Kye rim. Q.That they’re able to visualize the deity and the mandala... A.Yes, what Rinpoche explained. Also cognition of generation stage is when you don’t have to use any means, like first you purify, and so forth, when you don’t need any artificial means, when your mind can go through the whole generation stage, effortlessly, by its own power. Like, for example, now when you think that, ‘I am Vajrayogini,” you have to apply a lot of effort. And as soon as you have some external distraction, immediately yo lose it, but to gain some cognition of generation stage means you can effortlessly see yourself as Vajrayogini, and to proceed through all the various mental activities from within this very state of visualizing oneself as Vajrayogini, effortlessly. Q.So basically this means a person who has developed shine. A.If this person can meditate for three or four hours, of course he or she has to develop shine. Q.Can you explain the meaning of the Vajrayogini mantra? A.Usually, you have three vajras, with different deities, three vajras, of body, speech, and mind. So, usually OM exemplifies the vajra of the body, then HUM, vajra of speech, and PHAT, the vajra of mind. But each vajra in its turn, also has body, speech, and mind. So here, the first three OMs exemplify the body, speech, and mind of the vajra of the body. Q.The first OM... A.The first three OMs. OM, OM, OM. Q.The first three OMs... A.Exemplify the body, speech, and mind of the vajra of the body. Q.Which deity? A.Actually, it has to be Vairochana. Vairochana is vajra of the body. Then Amitabha is vajra of the speech, and Akshobhya is vajra of the mind. And all of them have also body, speech, and mind. So, here, the first three OMs exemplify the body, speech, and mind of the vajra of the body, that’s Vairochana. Q.And SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE means? A.So SARVA means all, BUDDHA means Buddha, DAKINI means dakini, yes? So all the Buddha dakinis, enlightened dakinis. So BENZA VARNANIYE means vajra...(rab) means extreme, (nga)
Q.The light from the nada is red? A.The syllable BAM, the light, the nada, all are red. Then you recollect this voidness again and again. Then when you arise from this sleep, you should imagine one of two examples. Say you have very, very clean water, with nothing inside, and then you don’t even know from where, one small fish jumps out from this water. Or you can imagine, or think of a clear sky, and also, you don’t know from where, one cloud arises. So in the same way, within this void state, within the mind which observes voidness of all phenomena, you arise in the form of Vajrayogini. So these are conceptual and nonconceptual ways of sleeping and arising from sleep. And no matter whether you practice the first or second one, you should think that there are only two ways to die: either to fall asleep and then not to get up again, or to die and not to fall asleep again. So when you arise from sleep, you think, “It’s very good that I could arise from sleep, because of the kindness of the three jewels, and the kindness of my gurus, I’m still alive, so to make this attainment full of meaning, I should perform only meaningful actions.” Then when you dress yourself, you imagine yourself to be Vajrayogini. If you do conceptual yoga, you have your guru in your heart. So when you put on your clothes, first you purify them by saying three times OM AH HUM, and you can think either that you offer these clothes to Vajrayogini, or to your guru, and you put on those clothes. There are also two t ypes of yoga of rising from sleep, conceptual and non-conceptual. Conceptual is when you imagine you are awakened by the dakas, etc., and non-conceptual is when within this void state, within this mind which meditates on emptiness, you arise in the form of Vajrayogini. You should arise with the attitude that now you have the ability to practice Dharma, and so you will practice Dharma until you are dead, and that you will practice Dharma during this year, during this month, during this day, and just now. Now we approach the third stage, which is the st age of tasting nectar. What is very important about the first two stages: when you arise from sleep, to have the proper attitude, that you have this ability to practice Dharma, and probably you have it only just now. You don’t know what will be in the future, and so you have to practice Dharma just now.
3. TASTING NECTAR So, this third stage of tasting nectar. If you can, get pills, dutzi pills, nectar pills, which are blessed by lamas, and which contain five meats and five nectars. Then put these pills in the inner offering, which can be just tea. You put this pill into a cup w ith tea, and then you can bless it using the extensive way of blessing, or you can just recite three times, OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM. And then to taste it using the left ring finger. If you can
get these nectar pills, it’s OK, and if they’re blessed by a high lama, it’s even better, but if not, then you can simply put tea in a cup for inner offerings. I will explain later, with more details the visualization you use when you bless the offering. You can either use a capala, or, even if you don’t have any tea, you can simply imagine that you take in your right hand this capala with nectar. And you should imagine these three letters, OM AH HUM, and if you put lines between them, it will be like a reality source, if you look at it from above. You do it, of course, counter clockwise, because it’s mother tantra. Then when you taste this nectar, you think that it’s not just tea or something, but that it’s the nectar which has the nature of bliss and voidness. You imagine that this nectar melts into the syl lable BAM, which is in your heart. If you have actual inner offering, you can just make this gesture around it, and then take it, but if not, then you can actually touch your finger to your palm, like this: OM AH HUM, and then taste it. And then again, the nectar melts into the syllable BAM in your heart. Then this nectar comes from the syllable and pervades throughout your whole body, and you think that you eliminate all of the defilements and bad karmas which were accumulated from beginningless time by using this nectar of bliss and voidness. So actually this has connection with the practice of the three purifications, which refers to the yoga of Chakrasamvara. When you imagine yourself as Vajrayogini, it’s referred to as purity of the body, when you taste nectar, it’s referred to as purity of speech, and when the nectar melts into the syllable BAM, which is one’s own mind, and the wisdom of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness at the same time is referred to as the purity of the mind. It’s also called the three joys or three doors. Q.Are you actually holding the skullcup in your hand? A.If you can get a cup, and if you can get inner offering, it’s OK, if not you can just use your hand, or if you have some glass, you can also use that. Imagine that there’s nectar, and just go OM AH HUM, and then taste it. If you do it every day continuously without any interruption, then the benefits of the practice are that you will not have any obstacles in practicing Dharma, you’ll not have many diseases, your hairs will not become white too soon (that means you will not become old too soon), your lifespan will be longer. So we’ve finished the first three yogas, the yoga of sleep, of rising from sleep, of tasting nectar, and now the fourth one is yoga of immeasurables.
4. YOGA OF IMMEASURABLES In the yoga of immeasurables, you have three parts. The first one is taking refuge, the second one is generating bodhicitta mind, and the third one is Vajrasattva practice. For taking refuge, you need three things: the objects of refuge, the person who takes refuge, and the refuge itself. As for the objects
Vajrayogini again with the whole mandala. And with the whole mandala, Rinpoche says it’s better to do it this way, because even between sessions, it’s better to have protection wheel. Not only to visualize oneself as Vajrayogini. Q.The whole protection wheel, between each session? A.Yes. The whole supporting and supported mandala. Q.Can I ask, what really is divine pride? Is it just visualizing this form and thinking, “This is me?”, is it just the thought that this is me, or is it something more than that? A.You have to think, “I am Vajrayogini.” That is all. Q.So how does one meditate on divine pride and clear appearance at the time of generatin stage? In generation stage, we’re supposed to be developing divine pride and clear appearance of oneselve as the deity. How does one do that? A.You should think, “I am Vajrayogini.” it is like divine pride. And then you think, “I have such and such ornaments, and such and such clothes, khatvanga, and so forth.” In such a way you visualize clear appearance. And I just asked Rinpoche, because some people say that divine pride is more importance than clear appearance, and some people say that you can develop divine pride only after clear appearance, but Rinpoche says it doesn’t matter. Clear appearance can induce divine pride, divine pride can induce clear appearance, and so there is not any order here, like this has to be first, and so forth. Q.When meditating on emptiness, do you visualize or t ry to recreate that experience that you come to when you’ve done your analysis outside of this sadhana, or do you go through the analysis at that time with analy tical meditation? A.You can do both. Either you can recollect this experience you have gained from post meditation sessions, in between sessions, or, if you can, you can use analytica l meditation, reason and so forth, at this very point in the session itself. Q.In this messengers, there was the external messenger; that was the lowest one, and that’s not clear. A.Here this lowest external messenger is not just this cognition at the t ime of generation stage, but it’s a woman who has this cognition of generation stage. Because, before Rinpoche said it was (top), so I have translated it as that. Q.Any woman who has this realization. A.Yes. Q.So which level of realization, is it cognition of generation?
4 July, 1992 (Slava and Rinpoche talking in Tibetan) Q.What was that? A.I just asked about mandala offerings, and whether it is possible to make preliminary practices by reliance on this Vajrayogini practice, and Rinpoche says yes, you can do by relying on Vajrayogini practice. Q.You mean like offering the mandala to Vajrayogini, and doing prostrations to Vajrayogini? A.Yes.Because on other traditions, like in Nyigma, and other traditions, they used to just take one deity, and begin from the beginning to t he end, just one deit y. QIf we’re doing the Vajrayogini retreat, and we’re doing three or four sessions a day, should we in the morning do the mong sadhana, and in the other sessions do the medium sadhana? And then do the torma offering at the last session together with the medium length sadhana? A.The first session, if you do three sessions, in the morning stage, you should proceed through the whole generation stage through mantra recitation. Then, when you have finished collecting mantras, then you should recite the 100-syllable mantra. After that, you immediately do dissolution, when the threerealms dissolve into three types of light; you know this, yes? After it, yo arise in the form of Vajrayogini again, and put on this armor. And then you make verses of dedication and auspiciousness. In this practice, you can also dissolve protection wheels. Because if you dissolve all the three realms, formless realm, form realm, and desire realm, there is no place for protection wheels. Q.And then second and third session? You do the medium length sadhana? A.Rinpoche already said. Yes. So here, you begin at the beginning. You recite just two verses of (?), and one verse of auspiciousness. And at this place you finish it. You don’t do extensive prayers here. At the second session, you not only make shorter the end, but you make shorter the end as well. At the third session, you also make a brief beginning to the session, but you make an extensive end of it. You make extensive prayers of auspiciousness, torma offerings, and so forth. You asked something about arising again at the end in the form of Vajrayogini, what did you ask? Q.`About having divine pride. A.You have to meditate on divine pride, but not the divine pride that is related to any of the three bodies. So Rinpoche said that here you, first you dissolve everything into voidness, and then you arise again in the form of
of refuge, you shouldn’t visualize them too high, or too low, because that wouldn’t be so respectful. Visualize them a little bit higher than you, so that when you look at them, just rising your eyes a little, you can see all the objects of refuge. They should be the distance of two arms’ span. But there’s no strict rule, so if you want to visualize them a little bit far ther away from or a little bit closer, then you can do it. First you imagine these objects of refuge, first a throne which is very very big, which is supported by eight lions. But if you don’t imagine anything beneath these lions, then the lions just sort of hang on in the sky, so you must imagine first a white cloud. Then these lions stand on this cloud and support this big throne. Then you imagine also a big lotus on this throne. This lotus has four petals. In the middle of this lotus sits your guru Dorje Cho. Then, on the front petal, you imagine Vajrayogini surrounded by the Yidams of the four classes of tantra. Then on the right petal, (right means not from yourself, but it will be from your left, right from Dorje Cho, but left from yourself) on t he right petal, you imagine Buddha Sakyamuni surrounded by Buddhas in Sambhogakaya form and in Nirmanakaya form, like the thir ty-five Buddhas of confession, Buddha Amitayus, and so forth, all different types of Buddhas. Then on the petal behind Dorje Cho, you imagine the jewel of Dharma, which is represented by scriptures. The actual jewel of Dharma is the truth of cessation and the truth of true path in the mental continuum of arya beings, but of course you cannot imagine them; they are invisible, so you just imagine them in the form of religious texts. Q.So we imagine a pile of texts? A.Yes, on the back petal. Then on the petal to the left of Dorje Cho, and to the right from yourself, you imagine Manjushri surrounded by Vajrasattva, sravakas, pratyakabuddhas, viras, dakinis, and so forth. Then in front of the front petal, you imagine this protector of the tantra of Vajrayogini, which is called Lord of Cemeteries, with yum, yab-yum. And so all the other petals are surrounded by different kinds of Mahakala, of Yamas, etc. (names various deities) If you imagine this four-petalled lotus, on a throne supported by eight lions, in the center of this lotus, you imagine Lama Vajradharma surrounded by the lamas of the lineage of Vajrayogini, but also surrounded by your own root gurus and teachers, people who taught you lam rim, people who taught you Dharma words, and so forth. Then on the front petal, you imagine Vajrayogini surrounded by Yidams of the four classes of tantra. On the right of Vajradharma, you imagine Buddha Sakyamuni surrounded by sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya forms of Buddha, and on the left of Vajradharma, you imagine Manjushri surrounded by bodhisattvas such as Vajrapani, Avalokiteshwar, and so forth, and surrounded by sravakas and pratyakabuddhas, on the back you imagine the scriptures which represent Dharma, and so the s ound of Dharma arises from them. And then, the lotus is surrounded, in the front by the Lord of Cemeteries, with yum, and everything is surrounded by protectors such as Yama, Mahakala, and so forth. Don’t imagine the deities are as drawn on
thankas, etc, but as you would meet them, as actual beings, which you actually see. That was about the objects of refuge. Now about the person who goes for refuge. Don’t think that you take refuge only for yourself, that you are the only person who takes refuge. You should imagine that you are surrounded by all the six ty pes of beings, Hell-beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, demi-gods, and gods. Also don’t imagine hell-beings or animals and so forth as having the form of animals or hell-beings. You should imagine all them having the form of humans, because it can be slightly inconvenient if you imagine them having the form of donkeys and so forth, because donkeys don’t know how to take refuge, and it will be strange. So you imagine yourself in the middle of this big c rowd of all types of beings, and you imagine all of the male beings are on your left. Q.Right. A.No, left, because it’s mother tantra. (discussion) So, it’s easier to imagine this way. Simply, you imagine your father of this life on the right, and your mother of this life on the left, and in front of you, you imagine all the six ty pes of sentient beings and your friends, they are also included. You are sort of surrounded by all the six t ypes of sentient beings, but in front, you have your friends, and behind yourself you have your enemies, and different beings who harm you, and so forth. You should have compassion for them, not be angr y with them, and so forth. Q. Usually it’s described as the enemies in back and the friends in front. A.That’s to make it more convenient for your mind, because if your enemies in front of you, then you get angry with them. So not to be angry, you put them behind. But actually, you can imagine them in front of you, you can even put them on your left, just to make your meditation more convenient. So it’s very important to practice Buddha’s teachings in accordance with your mind, to practice those teachings which fit with your mind. And you don’t have to practice t hose teachings which are not convenient to your mind. That’s why if you imagine your enemies in front of you, it’s not so good, so it’s better to put them behind. So what is actual refuge? There are two aspects to it. First you should imagine that you are surrounded by all sorts of sentient beings, and all of them are suffering, either are suffering, or had suffered, or it is definite that they are going to suffer. For example, humans have sufferings of birth, sickness, aging, and death, hungry ghosts have sufferings of hunger and t hirst, animals have sufferings of eating each other, hell beings have sufferings of hot and cold, demi-gods have sufferings of jealousy, and so forth. So you think about them, and you have compassion for them, and you have fear; you fear to experience this suffering. It’s the first cause of taking refuge.And then the second one, you think that the three jewels have the
omitting any of the virtues you have accumulated, you should offer all your virtues as well as all the vir tues of others. The results of it will be limitless. For example, if you dedicate the virtue from giving, for example by giving riches, these riches which are gained from giving, you will experience the result of giving riches until you attain Buddhahood, all the lives. So it’s very important. As an example, if you put just one drop of water in to a big ocean, this drop of water which is mixed with the whole ocean will exist as long as the ocean exists. In the same way, all these virtues which are accumlated by us, if we dedicate them, they will exist w ithout omitting any of them, until we attain Buddhahood. So it was said by Buddha Sakyamuni at the time he taught sutras, “Like this drop of water which was placed in the ocean will not be exhausted (as long as) the ocean exists, in the same way, these virtues which you have accumulated, if they are dedicated, will exist until you attain the state of Buddhahood. That’s why it is so important to make proper dedication. It’s very important to tame your mind as well. You should try to tame your mind as well as you can. Of course, at this time of degeneration, it is difficult to practice dharma properly and not to have downfalls, but still you have to try to do it as well as you can. Try to practice only virtuous stuff, to practice dharma, and not to do any bad things. So, we just covered roughly, in brief, all the eleven yogas of generation stage. Of course, we couldn’t go into all the details. There are more extensive practices of completion stage, but now we could just cover two types of completion stage. In the future, when we can meet each other, and Rinpoche gets time, Rinpoche will be able to explain more. Not necessarily only this practice, but in the future when we ca n meet each other again, then whatever Rinpoche knows and can explain, he will explain. It wouldn’t be so bad if you would study a little bit while I am gone (laughs). Q.When you offer tsog, what do yo do with the fruit peels and papers, etc.? A.If they are blessed, then you cannot eat this skin, then you have to put them in a clean place. But if you first buy apples, and then you bless only apples without the skin, then you can throw out the skin without any doubts. Burning is actually the best. Q.Burning the wrappers? A.No, not only the wrappers, everything. Everything that is left over, you can burn. Q.So, we make the mandala offering now to end the teaching?
And they are satisfied with this bliss, but it doesn’t mean that all of them sort of....(laughs). So all the jnanasattvas, which many deities have in their hearts, are satisfied with uncontaminated great bliss. Because, for example, not all the guests of offerings have jnanasattvas in their heart, for example, the six classes of beings, many of them don’t have it, because they are ordinar beings, and so forth. But those who have this jnanasattva, are satisfied with uncontaminated great bliss. Viras and dakinis are satisfied with Vajra song and dance (lu gar). So here vajra song refers to the melodious pleasantg song when you offer this singing, and these different mudras when you do it like this is what is meant by Vajra dance. So they are satisfied by this. So this male practitioners who offer tsog are called either heroes or yogis. Then the female are called either heroines or yoginis. And it is said that the yogis and yoginis are satisfied with drinks and food. And the bhutas, the spirits of elements, of earth, fire, and so forth, they are satisfied with leftover tsog. Here, Rinpoche says that there are different types of spirits of elements. Some of them have more power, some of them have less power, and some of them cannot be satisfied with these offerings which are offered. So, they can be satisfied only with this leftover tsog. It’s very important not to throw out, and to be very careful with respect to the substances which are offered. Because even a crumb, if it falls down and you step on it, it will be a downfal, you know (bompo), you know a tertiary downfall. It’s not a downfal, you know in secret mantra, there are vows, and it is one of these. So you have to be very, very careful with these substances. And don’t discard leftover tsog, but put it in a high place. Offering tsog is the best way to compensate for the transgression of any committments; it’s a great benefit of it. Because it is considered to be the best way to restore vows. Even though, it cannot purify t ransgressions, for example, of the fourteen root downfalls, still it can diminish the power of these transgressions slightly. It’s also considered to be the best way of pacify ing obstacles.It puts strong imprints for getting insights of completion stage in your mental comtinuum. So, it’s very important to practice this pure vision, so when you imagine this (aspect?) as being pure, not having ordinary appearance. You should think that your body is the body of the deity, your speech is the speech of the deity, and your mind is the mind of the deity. Although you probably cannot imagine yourself clearly as the deity, still you should train yourself in the aspirational aspect of it, the wish to b e a deity, just to imagine that you are a deity. So it is very beneficial to practice clear appearance, sort-of pure appearance. And then whether you accumulate a lot of merits at the time of practice or not, it’s very important to do proper dedication at the end. You should use any of the three types of dedication which are considered to be the best t ypes of dedication. One is you dedicate all the merits you have accumulated for the long-time existance of Buddhadharma. The second one is in order for you to attain buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. The third is to be cared for by your spiritual friend, that means your teacher, in all your lives. Without
ability to protect them from th is suffering, to save or release them from this suffering. If you take actual refuge, you always have to have these two things. In order to take actual refuge, you have to have two causes. One is fear of your sufferings and the sufferings of other sentient beings, and the other is faith in the ability of the three jewels to save yourself and other beings from this suffering. And then with such an attitude, you recite the verses of refuge. (recites) You recite it, and you imagine that all the sentient beings that surround you also recite it. Then you imagine that all the objects of refuge, because of great compassion to you and other sentient beings, they emanate rays of light. All the objects, lama Vajradharma, Buddha Sakyamuni, and so forth, all of them, emanate this light, this big sun, and it pervades yourself and all the sentient beings as well. Then you imagine that nectar descends from these rays of light, either as water descending down a wet thread, or you imagine that the rays are like tubes, and the nectar descends through these tubes. So you and all the sentient beings receive blessings of the body, speech, and mind of the three jewels through this nectar, and this nectar enters the bodies of yourself and of all the sentient beings. Q. It enters all the sentient beings? A.It fills the bodies. Light and nectar fills t he bodies of yourself and all sentient beings, and you imagine that it purifies all defilements, all the bad deeds, all the things that create obstacles and illness in your mental continuum, and in the mental continuum of all sentient beings. You think that you and all sentient beings receive all the blessings of body, speech, and mind of the objects of refuge. The third one, you think that you are placed beneath the feet of the jewels of refuge. This means that whenever you need it, the three jewels will protect you. So in such a way, you have these three divisions, three stages of taking refuge. First one is when nectar emanates from their hearts and purifies. This one is called purification, that’s when nectar and light purify all the defilements of yourself and all sentient beings. And the second one is taking the blessings; you visualize that you receive the blessings of all the three jewels. And the third one is like placement, literally it’s like placement... Q. Placed under the care and protection. A.Yeah, this one. It’s like the three necessities of going for refuge, in order to purify all the defilements, in order to receive all the blessings, and in order to be protected, whenever you need to be. So with the objects of refuge, the person who is taking refuge, and the way of taking refuge, and try to make firm in your mind. Q.So oneself, and all the sentient beings around are al l being purified together? So the light’s going to everybody..(tape changed)
A....it will not be the Dharma of the Great Vehicle, thinking only about yourself, so you think that I and all sentient beings receive blessings, purify defilements, and are placed under the protection of the three jewels. Q.Does it relate with each verse, like when you say you go for refuge to the sacred Gurus, then you visualize from the Gurus on this lotus they’re sending this light, and when you say to the Buddhas, then the Buddhas on this lotus, they’re sending this light, and when you say the Dharma, then the texts are sending this light? A.If you recite “Lama la kyab su chio, sangye la kyab su chio”, etc. in this way, then you don’t have much time for visualizing this light and nectar from all the lamas, then immediately from all the Buddhas, and so forth, it becomes difficult. If you like to do it this way, then first you should recite “Lama la kyab su chio, lama la kyab su chio, lama la kyab su chio”, many times. Then, you imagine this light. Then the same for Buddhas and so forth. But you can recite it in such a way that they all fall together. Q.So the way the verse is written here, then we should imagine coming from everybody together. A.If it’s more convenient for your mind. If you can imagine, then for example you first say, “Lama la kyab su chio”; then imagine that light and nectar emanates from lamas, and purifies defilements, and you receive blessings of body, speech, and mind from lamas, and you get qualities of body, speech and mind of lamas. Then you do the same for Buddhas, and Dharma, and so forth. But it’s more convenient for the mind to do all the things simultaneously. You can whatever is more convenient for your mind. When you recite verses of refuge many times, then for example, you can recite only “Lama la kyab su chio” many times, and while reciting, you can imagine that light and nectar emanates from lamas, and purifies all defilements which were accumulated because of non-proper relations with lamas, and receive blessings of lamas, and everything that refers to lamas, and then the same with Buddhas, and so forth. But if you don’t have time, then you do it simultaneously. So now we are finished with refuge, and the next one will be generation of Bodhicitta mind (recites verses in Tibetan). So here, you think that all the sentiient beings were or are your mothers, and and that they were very kind to you, and that you have to repay their kindness. They need help, and the person who is able to give them that help is yourself, and if you simply, for example, give them clothes or food, it’s not enough, it’s not actual repayment for their kindness. What they actually need, what’s the most important thing for them, is to be released from their sufferings, and you think that if you don’t become a Buddha yourself, you cannot release them from sufferings. That’s why first you have to become a Buddha first, and then help them. And so with such an attitude, you generate Bodicitta mind.
you need for sure, this alcohol and meat. Meat is called (bala), and alcohol is called (manda). If you don’t offer them, it wil not be tsog offerings; you have to have them. So you put bala on the left and manda on the right. Manda is chang. Bala will be food, so food to the left, and manda is chang, to the right. Q.Our left and right or the deity’s? A.Food will be right to the deity, and chang will be left to the deity. If you can, you can offer all the other offerings, like flower offerings and so forth. All the male persons who offer tsog are called viras, heroes, and all the female persons who offer tsog are called pamos, heroines. And this gathering of heroes and heroines is called (tsog khor), circle of tsog. But if you only male practitioners who offer tsog, it will be called a feast of heros. If only female, it will be cal led tsog cycle. (tsog khor is tsog cycle; sometimes they translate it that way in English) At the time of t sog offerings, the heroes have to be to the right of the deity, and the heroines to the left of the deity, and they shouldn’t be mixed. The heroes offer the food, and the heroines offer drinks. That’s why they are called class of food and class of drinks. At the time of offering tsog, from the time of blessing the offering substances until the time of offering the left over tsog, you are not allowed to talk too much; you are allowed to talk only about dharma. Your objects of tsog offerings should be all the three jewels, and the viras, dakinis, and so forth, like, for instance, you imagine a mandala of different deities, and so forth. So you imagine inner offerings, when you do this, and you should imagine the same pictures. So the main figure is Buddha vd. Beneath him, you imagine the lineage of lamas. To the right, you imagine Buddha Sakyamuni. To the right of him, you imagine Manjushri, which is surrounded by dakas, dakinis, and so forth and (ginga) sangha. To the left is Avalokishwar, beneath whom you imagine six classes of beings, and then to the upper part, you imagine Vajrapani, beneath whom you imagine all the interfering spirits. Rinpoche just repeated in more detail. So, you have beneath Manjushri, all the different dakas, dakinis, protectors, dieties of doors, and so forth. And to the left again, this Avalokishwar with al the classes of sentient beings in the form of humans. Then beneath him, you imagine Buddha Sakyamuni, surrounded by Yidams of all the Buddhas, like for example, 35 Buddhas of confession, and so forth, and Yidams of the four classes of Tantra. And beneath him, you imagine Vajrapani, beneath whom you imagine all the different types of interfering spirits and bad spirits and spirits that cause hindrances, and so forth. When tsog is offered, there have to be six t ypes of satisfact ions. When you eat food, for example, and feel satisfied. Six types of satisfaction. First one is that (recipients) of tsog offerings are satisfied with the tsog and the offerings. Actually, not all the deities, but deities of the mandala, they are satisfied with tsog and w ith offerings. Then, you imagine that the deities of the body mandala are satisfied with the bliss of descending and emitting. (Bak) means when the bodhicitta descends and (dzak) means when it comes out, but here it doesn’t mean that it necessarily has to come out; it is simply this name.
white bodhicitta here, predominantly, just a little bit of red bodhicitta. And both male and female have mostly red bodhicitta here, with just a little bit of white bodhicitta. It is the same. And the way of descending of these joys is also the same. But Rinpoche says he doesn’t know it too well to explain. So, we’ve finished all these things, protecting oneself and protecting the external environment. The next yoga is yoga of daily actions.
11. THE YOGA OF DAILY ACTIONS And here you have many divisions, like how to eat, how to put clothes, and so forth, also how to offer tsog. Everything is referred to as yoga of daily actions, because it’s not during the meditation period; it’s when you arise from the meditation period. It’s called (tunya) period. As for yoga of food, and how to eat, it’s explained extensively in Chakrasamvara tantra. So you can do it according to Chakrasamvara tantra. But if you do it in brief, you recite these verses which Rinpoche recited just now. Say OM AH HUM, three times, and imagine that the food is tsog offerings. Or you can make it in the way of making fire offerings. So either you bless either by reciting three times, OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM, you bless this food. Then you imagine that your two hands are like two, when you offer fire offerings ceremony, there are two special things, you know, one to put oil, and another to take oil. They are called (ganza) and (zalu) these two things. So you imagine your two hands as being ganza and zalu, these two things to offer fire offerings. Then you imagine your mouth as being stove, for fire offerings. And you imagine your lama within your heart, either in the aspect of Hero vd or as Vajrayogini. And then you eat food in the way of fire offering. So the middle way of blessing is when you say, “HA HO HRI, HA HO HRI, HA HO HRI.” Then these defects of color, small, taste, and ability, all of them are destroyed, and everything becomes (?), and recites OM AH HUM, three times, to make them extensive and bless them. You invite all the Buddhas of all the directions in the aspect of deities of Chakrasamvara mandala, they enter your body, you say OM, and you who has the nature of three vajras, having appeared clearly as my lama, AH, this great nectar of uncontaminated wisdom, HUM, without moving from the state of bodhicitta, displayed in order to satisfy deities in my heart, OM, OH, HUM, MAHA SUKHA. All the deities enter my body and are satisfied. And whether you eat something or drink tea or eat biscuits, you should imagine that you offer it either to yourself or to Vajrayogini within your heart; it’s very, very good. And the more you eat, the more merits you collect. Tsog means collection. Not the more you eat, but if you eat when you eat, you collect merits. Then is tsog offerings. If you can offer different biscuits or different fruits at the time of offerig, it’s very good. If not, it’s not too important. But there are two things which
With such an attitude you recite those verses, that “I’ll become a perfect Buddha, then I’ll release from sufferings, liberate all the sentient beings, and in order to do it, I’ll practice the (?) of Vajrayogini.” You still imagine the ob jects of refuge; they are still there. But you don’t need any emanation of light rays, of nectar, and so forth. Next, you ask the jewels of refuge to give their blessings to you and too all the other sentient beings, recite these verses. And then you imagine that light emanates from all the objects of refuge, pervades yourself and sentient beings, purifies the defilements of all the sentient beings, then the sentient beings melt into light, and attain Buddhahood in this very life, and go to pure Buddhafields. But you imagine that all the sentient beings attain melt into light, attain Buddhahood, and go to Buddhafields, but you are still here, but in the form of Neljorma. Beginning from arising from sleep, you are in the form of Vajrayogini. Here you simply think that all the sentient beings attained Buddhahood and went to pure realms; you do not think about yourself at all, you do not think about your form or anything else. You just think about the sentient beings who attained Buddhahood and went to pure realms. Q.So in this part when oneself is taking refuge... A.It’s referred to as special generation of bodhicitta mind, so this practice is included within generation of bodhicitta mind. Q.When oneself was taking refuge before, was oneself in one’s ordinary form or in the form of Vajrayogini? A.No, no...from the time of waking up. Q. Because later in the sadhana, it says “In an instant I become venerable Vajrayogini.” A.At the time of taking refuge and generating bodhicitta mind, you actually have pride of being a deity and clear appearance, but at this time you don’t have pride of being a deity, but you do have clear appearance, so you’re in the form of Vajrayogini, but you don’t have pride of being a deity, because if you’re already a Buddha, then you don’t need to take refuge. So reduce pride, but don’t reduce clear appearance. The same way with the practice of Vajrasattva purification and recitation, you don’t have to have this pride because if you are real Vajrayogini, then you don’t have any defilements to be purified. So you have to be skillful and well practiced on this path. There is a certain time when you have to be the worst being in the Universe, (and think) “I have a lot of defilements”, and sometimes you have to reduce it, and think that I am a real Buddha. It depends on the situation, when you should do it. For example, at this time, if you think of yourself as being Buddha, it helps you to generate pride, but it prevents you from purifying your defilements. At this time, it’s just a wish, or attitude, when you imagine yourself as being a deity. If you actually were already a deity, then you wouldn’t have to change your
mental attitude, and so forth, but still it’s in the wishing stage. Now we’re at the stage of dissolving the objects of refuge. So first you imagine that all the sentient beings receive blessings of the objects of refuge, melt into light and went to pure realms. Then you imagine that the jewel of Buddha, which is represented on this lotus by Gurus and by Sakyamuni Buddha, melts into light of blue color, and then melts into your heart. Then on the back petal you have the jewel of Dharma. So this jewel of Dharma melts into red light and melts into your throat. Then on this left from Guru Vajradharma, you have the jewel of Sangha, which is represented by Man jushri surrounded by bodisattvas, sravakas, and pratyadabuddhas. It melts into white light, and this white li ght melts into your crown, because it refers to the body. And then you imagine that in such a way you receive blessings of all the objects of refuge. Then you imagine that you also melt into light, dissolve from the upper part and the lower part. You dissolve into the syllable BAM, the syllable BAM dissolves into the upper part, the upper part dissolves into the crescent moon, the moon dissolves into bindu, the bindu dissolves into nada, and the nada dissolves into nothing. (draws a picture) And this nada has three cur ves. So again in such a way, this Buddha jewel dissolves into your heart, and in such a way, you receive blessings of the mind, then Dharma jewel dissolves into the throat, and you receive blessings of speech, then Sangha jewel dissolves into your crown, and you receive blessings of body, the you also melt into light, and dissolve from the upper part and the lower part into the syllable BAM, and dissolves into its upper part, the upper part dissolves into this crescent moon, the crescent moon bindu, bindu into nada, and nada into nothing. So when the nada dissolves into emptiness, what you are thinking about has four aspects. First you think that all dharmas have the nature of emptiness. Appearance is purified into emptiness. That’s the first one. Then you think that the actual nature, the true existance of things is non true existance. That’s the second one. And the subject which experiences this emptiness is great bliss, this mind of great bliss. And the fourth one is pride of Dharmakaya, pride of being body of reality. That means that the subject, which is mind of great bliss, and the object, which is emptiness, is me. It’s called pride of Dharmakaya. First was Dharmakaya. Then you have Sambhogakaya. Sambhogakaya is like in a cinema, before the pictures begin, you have just light. Here you imagine this red light in the form of an egg. Its size can be whatever you like; it can be the size of an egg or of your arm span. You can imagine whatever size you like, but this is better (egg-sized). And you think that Vajrayogini of Sambhogakaya is me, while observing this egg. Then this red egg changes its shape, and hands and head and feet of Vajrayogini arise from it, slowly, slowly, slowly, and eventually it changes into
Q.(About Vajrayogini arising with or without hand implements) A.In the Sakya tradition, she has ornaments, but doesn’t have hand implements. In the Gelug tradition, she has everything. So, because Rinpoche is Gelug, she has everything. It doesn’t matter; you can do it any way. Q.When making offerings to the self generation, and you do the secret offering, in the sadhana, they talk about from the father, there’s red bodhicitta, and from the mother, there’s white bodhicitta. A.It’s not the sadhana, it’s the translation of the sadhana. Q.Are you sure? It’s in several translations. (Slava reading): From the mother is red lotus with white bodhicitta, from the father is a white vajra with red... (tape over) ...Yes, it’s right. Q.So this is correct? A.No, Rinpoche says first part is right: the second part, I didn’t ask. (tea break) Actually, there are two types of making offerings to the self-generation. Either Vajrayogini turns into Yab Chakrasamvara, and enters into union with Vajrayogini, or you imagine that the khatvanga of Vajrayogini turns into Chakrasamvara, and enters into union with her. So, the first way is better for men, and the second way is better for women. And if you transform into Chakrasamvara, you simply imagine that you transform your chest and sexual organs, and that’s it. But the implements are the same, just two hands, and so forth. So, again, the sexual organs of Vajrayogini transform into the sexual organs of Chakrasamvara, and this chest also, becomes male, and transforms. But you have to bless the sexual organs, so here, for instance, from a white HUM, there arises a white vajra, on the tip of which you have another letter, BYA. It’s in order to prevent the semen from going outside. That’s for Yab. As for Yum, again, you imagine that from red AH arises a red lotus, on which middle or stamen you imagine another letter, DYA. This letter you imagine to prevent this red substance of a woman from going out. That’s why you imagine this letter. But this is probably enough. In brief, whether you are a male or a female, when you meditate on inducing 16 joys for white bodhicitta and 12 joys for red bodhicitta, it is the same, whether it is for male or female, everything is the same. When it is said that you are not allowed to send out this white bodhicitta, it is also the same for male and female, because you imagine yourself, for example, a female as male deity, or being in union with. But as for actually, not in your visualization, but actually, if you are a female, you are not allowed to send out red bodhicitta, and if you are a male, white bodhicitta. But again, it’s not too easily, and it’s done by turning back this one wind called (tour se), downward voiding wind. So it’s not too easy, to work with winds and so forth. And actually, it’s the same, as for structure, it’s the same. For example, both male and female have
the next one is protecting the environment. And then you should recite these mantras, you must know them. (OM SUMBHANI SUMBHA, HUM, HUM, PHAT, etc.) When you recite the first and third one, you have to recite two times and snap your fingers two times. As for all the other times, you do it just one time. Why? Because for example, it will be east, yes? Why do you have to recite it two t imes? Because when you recite it the first time, it refers to the east. Second time refers to the upper direction. Then you recite, this will be the north, just one time. Then when you do it in this way, one is referred to the west. Again you recite it two times, because it refers to the western direction and the lower direction. Then here, just one time, and then counter clockwise. Then on the four intermediate directions, you do it clockwise. Q.So you do it tw ice clockwise and once counterclockwise?
Vajrayogini. For example when you see somebody from a long distance, then you cannot recognize him. But slowly when they approach you, then you see his feet, his hands, and when they approach you quite closely, then you see that this is this very person. Here, then you imagine this egg turning into Vajrayogini, not from a distance, but as a matter of just recognizing it. First just hand implements, and so forth, and gradually you recognize it as being Vajrayogini. Q.Like a lens out of focus ... A.Yeah. Then you think that this Vajrayogini of Nirmanakaya is me, and again you place pride. And from this time on, except for just a few instances, you try always to have this pride of being Vajrayogini, whether during meditation session or post meditation.
A.One counterclockwise and one clockwise. Q.Do you recite the mantra twice, or just snap your fingers twice? A.If you snap your fingers twice, you recite the mantra also twice. If you snap your fingers once, you recite the mantra also once. You recite the mantra twice and snap your fingers twice only two times, east and west. Because, for example, one time is for west and the other is for lower direction. And when you recite these mantras, you have to imagine that there are different deities in each direction, but I don’t remember what the names were. So when you recite these mantras, you don’t have to imagine these deities themselves, but you think that this nature, you imagine mantras which refer to each of t hese deities. You imagine that they have the nature of these deities, but their form, aspect, is different mantras. And you imagine limitless rays of light emanate from these mantras, and make completely non-existant, and throw far away all the hindrances, all the interfering spirits, and so forth. Here, at this time, black light emanates (from the east). Then, from the north, is green. From west, and lower direction, is red. South is yellow. And then, the color of the deities of the intermediate directions, of south-east, half of it is black, because it refers to the east, and half of it is yellow, because it refers to the south. In the same way, you imagine that the light rays which emanate from the mantra garland are also half-yellow, half-black, and the mantra garland is also halfyellow, half-black. Q.So, we’re putting these mnantra garlands in the space around us, like a fence? A.Not like a fence; they are small mantras. In the same way, when you put it in the intermediate directions, for example, here half the mantra garland will be black, half yellow, here, half yello, half red, here, half red, half green, here, half green, half black. And the color of this (up) is black and this (down) is red. And you should imagine that the light rays which emanate from these mantras are so strong that the various bad spirits cannot stand it. They cannot even look at it, it is so strong. And you should imagine that Vajrayogini herself recites these mantras, and the sound is very strong, like thunderbolts.
June 23, 1992 Q.(When you take refuge, do you visualize Guru Chakrasamvara or Dorje Cho (Vajradharma)? A.Actually they are the same. In this commentary, it is Vajradharma, but in other commentaries, they have Chakrasamvara. The main thing is that the figure in the middle of the lotus is in nature with your own lama, but it can have different aspects. It can be Vajradhara, it can be Vajradharma, it can be Chakrasamvara. It’s like when you have different golden things, but the nature of all these things is the gold. We recite these verses to make a proper attitude, and there four verses refer to taking refuge and generating the bodhicitta mind of the great vehicle. Whenever you do some practice or receive teachings of the great vehicle, first you recite these verses, which refer to taking refuge and generating bodhicitta of the great vehicle. The first line is (sangye cho dang tsog kyi chog nam la). So here Sangye means the jewel of Buddha, cho means the jewel of Dharma, tsog means Sangha. They refer to resultant refuge. There are two t ypes of refuge, causal and resultant refuge. Resultant refuge means the things you are going to attain, that you are striving for; you are going to attain the st ate of the three jewels. The next line, (Jang chub bardu dag ni kyab su chi), means “I go for refuge to them until I attain Buddhahood”, which means you take refuge in them until you become Enlightened, until you become a Buddha. And there are two ways of reciting the third line: either you can say (Dag gi jin s og gyi pay so nam gyi), or you can say (Dag gi jin sog gyi pa te da gyi). The first one means “by the virtue of my giving and so forth”, or you can say simply “by giving and so forth”. Slightly different way of reciting. “And so forth” means that all the virtue can be collected into three types: virtues which are generated from giving, from moral discipline, and from meditation. Here, for
example, Rinpoche can say “by the virtue of my explaining Dharma”, and you can say, “by the virtue of my listening to Dharma.” By the virtue of your listening to Dharma in the present, and also all t he virtues you have accumulated in past t imes, and all the virtues you will accumulate in future times, by all these v irtues. Then the fourth line, “I’ll attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings”. That means that you dedicate all the virtues to the attainment of Buddhahood for the sake of all the sentient beings. So you recite those verses, thinking about it depending on different act ivities that you perform. For example, if you make offerings, you dedicate the virtues of making offerings in the present, all the offerings that you made in the past, and al l the offerings that you are going to make in the future, you dedicate this vir tue to attain Buddhahood for the sa ke of sentient beings. The same thing you do when reciting religious texts, or if you make prostrations, and so forth. (This isn’t in the text, but Rinpoche was just explaining.) Last time we stopped at the place where we dissolved all of the objects of refuge into yourself, then you also dissolved into BAM, BAM dissolved into nada, and everything dissolved into emptiness. So all the phenomena qualify as emptiness, and mind which experiences emptiness is mind of great bliss, and the union of these two is the union of bliss and emptiness, and it’s me. You should think that this union of bliss and emptiness, this mind, is me. At this time, you generate pride of being Dharmakaya, wisdom truth body. The wisdom of inseparability of bliss and emptiness can serve as a basis for generating oneself as a deity, because this very body made of flesh and bones cannot serve as a basis for it, as a main cause for it. That is, you can generate into a deity from within the state of wisdom of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness, and you cannot transform this coarse body made of fl esh and bones into a deity. Q.Can you ask what is bliss?
Then you imagine that you arise instantaneously from within the empty state in the form of Vajrayogini, and with all the supporting and supported mandala. Then you can think ‘”This is me.” You can simply have pride of being Vajrayogini, but you son’t have to meditate on it like you meditated on the path of the three bodies: “I am this Dharmakaya, I am this Sambhogakaya, I am this Nirmanakaya.” You simply think that ‘ “I am Vajrayogini.” Then you have to put on the armor. As Rinpoche explained before, the light of different colors emanates from different letters at your navel and so forth, as before, and just turns into this blue, white, red, and yellow. And just as you put on clothes. Q.In these armors, it has names of deities... A.No, it is just their nature; the syllables are t he nature of deities. That is why I said that it’s a mistaken translation. Because its nature is this deity, but its aspect is these syllables. (some discussion about dzog rim, which I couldn’t understand from the tape.) (tape 15, toward the end of side 1) Actually mental and verbal recitation count as one. But here, between these two recitations, you put the first completion stage. Why do you have to meditate on completion stage after verbal recitation? Because you have to withdraw the winds within your heart. For example, when you meditate on these two joy swirls, you already withdraw them. Then after it, at the time of mental recitation, you have to withdraw them even further, just to the level of this mantra garland. So you do it gradually. First these two joy swirls, and then to the level of the mantra garland w ithin these reality sources. So it makes it easy to do it. Anyway, you have to withdraw these winds. Winds and minds always have to go together, so if you put your meditation on the joy swirls, the winds also will be put here. That is the first completion stage.
A.For example, if you are cold, and then the sun arises, and you feel warm, then you experience a sort of bliss. Or, if the sun is too hot, then you go into some cool place, like this.
Then you have to go further to put your meditation (winds respect?) on this mantra garland, so that you go further, like this onhe. And Rinpoche says that it puts very good imprints if you practice it this way.
Q.So that’s what they mean when they speak of the union of bliss and emptiness?
Q.In this verbal and mental recitation, in the verbal recitation time, we’re counting the mantra, like we have to count 100,000, or something like that. In the mental recitation,...
A.Now it’s enough just to think about bliss, but actually great bliss which they are talking about in Anuttaratantra, which exists only in Anuttaratantra, is like the fourth of these four joys: joy, great joy, immeasurable (extreme) joy, and inate joy. This inate joy is great bliss. The only way to attain this great bliss is to meditate first on generation stage, and then on completion stage. What you are doing here, just using different examples, you think you have great bliss, but it isn’t great bliss, of course. You just simulate it. Then, this very mind of wisdom of inseparability of bliss and emptiness, takes an aspect of an enjoyment body, Sambhogakaya, this red egg of light, of any size you like. So first you place your pride, when you emanate
A.Rinpoche said that it’s enough to do it just one or three times. You can do it one or two times, but you don’t have to count. You should do this mental recitation while you hold your breath, which has been stopped. When you become distracted, you can breathe out, and again do it. You don’t have to count. Q.Do you think about the sound of the mantra? A.You think only about the form of these letters, not about the sound, as in action tantra. First, when you put on this armor, it’s called protecting oneself. And then
So in such a way, you are still in the form of Vajrayogini, but you dissolve the joy swirls into emptiness. And then, you imagine that instantaneously the whole internal mandala, the body mandala appears within yourself, all the 37 deities.
10. YOGA OF INCONCEIVABILITY Then the yoga of inconceivability. You imagine that the formless realm dissolves into blue light, and, in the aspect of blue light, it dissolves into your head, from your crown to this place. But it doesn’t mean that you change the color of your skin; it simply dissolves. Then, 17 places of the form realm, all of them dissolve into red color which dissolves into you from your throat to your tail. Waist, I mean. And then the whole desire realm dissolves into the upper part of your body. And at the time of dissolution of the desire realm, all the vajra fence, and everything also dissolves into white light and dissolves into the lower part of your body. Everything, all the reality sources, even the lotus and sun disk and moon disk, all dissolves into this light and dissolves into yourself. So eventually, you are left alone. You have your body, but you don’t have any supporting mandala. So then you imagine that you also, from upper part and lower part, you dissolve into these reality sources within yourself, and the reality sources dissolve into 32 deities, and the 32 deities dissolve into four deities, four into one, one into the reality source within her heart, and these reality sources into the mantra garland with moon disk, the mantra garland into the syllable BAM, the syllable BAM into its upper part, upper part into crescent moon, crescent moon into tigle, tigle into nada, nada into its upper part, and eventually everything dissolves into emptiness, and nothing is left. You should think that this mind which observes this emptiness is the mind of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness. You should think that this very emptiness is the emptiness of the true existance of all phenomena. The mind, which is the subject which cognizes emptiness, is blissful mind. And the wisdom of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness, this blissful mind, is me. It is like the meditation on t aking Dharmakaya, the truth body, as the path, but here, you don’t have to meditate on pride of being Dharmakaya. All the other meditation is the same, with regards to subject and object, and so forth. Here you have to think that the mind of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness is truth body. You don’t have to think that I am this truth body, or that this truth body is me. So here is the same as when you meditate on the pride of Dharmakaya, when you take this path of truth body. But the only difference is that here you don’t think’ “This is me.”
as Sambhogakaya, you think that I am Sambhogakaya. Then this egg t urns into Vajrayogini, with legs, arms and so forth, and it’s the emanation body or Nirmanakaya, and again you place your pride into being Nirmanakaya. You think that I am Nirmanakaya. So this is just in brief. In order to be able to practice generation stage, first you have to accumulate enough merits, which give you power to meditate on generation stage. The best way of accumulate merit depends on the field of the accumulation of merit, and the best field to accumulate merits is your lama. So in order to accumulate merits depending on your lama, you have to make offerings to your lama. In order to make offerings to your lama, you have to have these offering substances. They have to be blessed. So what follows now is blessing of offering substances, of inner offerings. So again, in order to be able to practice generation stage, you have to accumulate merit, in order to accumulate merit, you have to make offerings to your lama, in order to make offerings to your lama, you have to bless offerings, and in order to bless offerings, first you have to bless inner offering, which you use to bless other offering substances. In order to bless inner offering, you have to have either capala, or you can use the small bowls that are used for water offerings. Or you can use some glass, or you can use the bowl that monks and nuns have. Q.Begging bowl? A. Yes, you can use the begging bowl, just wash it, to put the tea. If not, you can use the glass; it doesn’t matter. Then you should put the nectar pill, (which) contains five meats and five nectars, if you have it, or if you can get it. About this begging bowl: In Tibet there were some people who were staying in retreat, and they didn’t have many dishes, and they could use only their own begging bowl. But here, of course, you have many... Q.We have many capalas for sale in McLeod Ganj! A.In Tibet, there were many people who didn’t have bowls for water and so forth, for example they drink tea, and then make their offerings. So when you make this blessing of inner offerings, they are actually ca lled (drubzi), “basis of accomplishment”. This thing you put in front of yourself to be blessed, this capala, or something, is called (drubzi), “basis of accomplishment”. And you have to perform four procedures. First is cleaning or cleansing, then purifying, then generating, then blessing. What does it mean, cleansing? There are many different spirits which you cannot see (some of them don’t have forms at all), but which can create obstacles to offerings. They are gathered near this basis of accomplishment.
If you don’t clean them away, then when you make these offerings or taste these offerings, then you have obstacles. So first you have to clean away these spirits. You clean them away using three things. You do it through substances, mantras, and samadhis (single pointed concentration). Here you have only two things, only mantras and samadhis. You don’t have substances, because these inner offerings haven’t been blessed yet, so you cannot use them. Here you use only mantras and samadhis. Rinpoche just recited this mantra: (OM Khandarohi, HUM HUM PHAT). As for samadhi or concentration, it means what you visualize, what you concentrate on. You visualize a double reality source in your heart, then you visualize a moon disk in the middle of the reality source, then you visualize the syllable BAM on top of this moon disk, and then you visualize Khandarohi, this wrathful dak ini, emanating from the nada, from the tip of the nada, from this place, the very, very, very tip of the nada. And there are three ways of cleansing away these obstacles. One, you emanate just one Khandarohi from the tip of this nada, and it comes to this place of inner offerings. And all the interfering spirits are fr ightened by it, and they escape very quickly, just like big crowd. You know, there are many of them, and all of them, they very quickly go away. That’s one way. Another way is that you emanate ten Khandarohis, which refer to the ten directions: the four main directions, the four intermediate directions, and then zenith and nadir, up and down. So you emanate these ten Khandarohis which go into the ten directions, and clean away all the obstacles. And the third way is you can emanate a lot of Khandarohis, as much as you can, and they perform the same work. So it depends on what you like. Q.But each time, the Khandarohis go over to the place where your inner offering is. A.If you emanate many Khandarohis, then they don’t have to go to the inner offering. They go everywhere. The same with ten Khandarohis. They go everywhere, not only to the site of the inner offering. And even if you just emanate one Khandarohi, it doesn’t have to go to the inner offering. It’s enough to imagine that it comes out from your body. And as soon as those interfering spirits see it, they are so frightened because it is so terrible, they fly away. It is like they are small birds, and there is one big bird which eats the small birds, and as soon as they see it, they immediately fly away. In the same way, it doesn’t have to go to the inner offerings. It’s enough just to appear. So you clean away those obstacles using two procedures, reciting this mantra, and having this samadhi, meditating on the emanation of Khandarohi. Q.This Khandarohi, she’s red colored? A.Yes, red. This Khandarohi is called (Tunjema). She is red. And there’s another dakini called (Sukjema) which is yellow.
come as small as the end of a needle, and as small as the end of your hair, and smaller, smaller, smaller, and eventually dissolve into emptiness. And at this point, you should meditate on this emptiness and you don’t have to hold your breath, just breathe normally. This is what is called second completion stage. Q.At the end, they disappeared? A.Yes, and you think about emptiness, where they disappeared. And you have to concentrate on this emptiness as long as you can. In such a way, you can do it every day. If you don’t have time, you should do at least fi rst and second generation stage at least one time. If you have time, you should meditate on the nine-fold breath, and imagine that the reality sources go down, and you meditate on these joy swirls. You hold your breath one tine. Then again, you meditate on these joy swirls, but the second time, you don’t have to imagine that these joy swirls go down, because they have already descended. You can do it three or seven times. Then you do it also a few times (?). First you do first first completion, then mental recitation. Then you do second completion stage, also a few times. So depending on your time, you can make a few times, first completion stage, then a few times mental recitation, then a few times second completion stage. Rinpoche said that if you meditate on this completion stage every day, it puts very good imprints on your mind. And if you can do it three times, it’s very good. The best time for doing it is when you have very clear mind, before dawn, about three or four o’clock, and at the time after the sunset but before it becomes completely dark, somewhere in between, when there is st ill a little light. These two periods are the best. But if you have eaten a lot of food, you have to digest your food a little bit. (tape is bad here #14, beginning side 1) Q.So we don’t have to do the whole sadhana in the morning? A.Yes, but it’s up to you. Rinpoche simply said that morning is the best time. Before dawn. You shouldn’t think about convenience. For example, I said that in winter time, dawn is not too early, sometimes six or seven, but Rinpoche said that it’s not good to, because if yo really practice, you have to be very determined, to practice every day. Don’t just practice when it’s convenient. But whatever you do, the best time is before dawn. So you should go to bed about 10:00, not too late, but get up at 3:00 or 4:00. Then you have a very fresh mind. For example, His Holiness goes to bed at about 9:00 at night, but he gets up at 3:00. But you have to do look at your situation, and so forth, because we are not independent; we are under the power of other circumstances, people and so forth, so it might be difficult for you to go to bed or get up. For example, for Rinpoche, it is also difficult, because sometimes he goes to bed very late. But if you stay in retreat, you are your own (?), so you can go to bed early, or if you feel very fresh in the night, you can do it in the nighttime. It is up to you.
And so you don’t have to apply too many efforts, for example, trying to hold your breath as long as you can. Here, again, while observing these letters, you have to hold your breath, not to breathe in or out. But if it becomes difficult for you, you can slowly breathe out. At the beginning, you will be able to observe just one round of these letters, and slowly, when you become more skillful, you will be able to observe two times of three times, and so forth, holding breath.
So the second part is purification. First was cleansing away of interfering spirits, and the second part is purification into emptiness. Here you recite: OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SHUDDHO HAM. And then you say (tongpa nyi tu kiro se) “everything becomes emptiness”. And you imagine that this place of inner offering, this capala, becomes smaller, smaller, smaller, and then turns into emptiness, dissolves into emptiness.
And also Rinpoche said that you don’t have to breathe too strongly, and also you shouldn’t try to stop your breath, and not to breathe in or out. If it becomes difficult for you, better breathe out. Also, after you breathe out, again you should stop your breath for a little while, if it’s convenient for you . If not, it’s not necessary. You should do everything slowly, and your body should be completely relaxed. This way of breathing also has to be completely relaxed.
And the meaning of the mantra: OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SHUDDHO HAM is that all the dharmas are empty of being established by their own nature, from within t hemselves. So when you recite this mantra, you imagine that these inner offerings, this basis of accomplishment, becomes smaller, smaller, smaller, and turns into emptiness, and observing it, you think that all the dharmas are empty of being established by themselves, of true existance. Some people say “and this emptiness is me” when they translate this mantra, but it doesn’t fit. You have to think that this mind (emptiness here is an object; subject is your mind) which cognizes emptiness has one taste with this emptiness, is sort of mixed with this emptiness. And this is me, you can think. You should think that this mind which cognizes emptiness and emptiness, being inseparable, is me. So this inseparability, this union of these two is me. You can think that, for example, the table cannot be you, you cannot be table, because it is an object. But the mind which cognizes the the table can be the basis of imputation of the person, which is you. In the same way, emptiness itself cannot be you, you cannot be emptiness, but this mind which cognizes emptiness can be t he basis of imputation of this person which cognizes emptiness, which is you.
Q.With the mantra syllables, is one of the points to get a clear mental picture of each of the syllables? (Slava:) That’s what I don’t understand. I just asked Rinpoche, and Rinpoche gives an example of seeing somebody, but... Q.So you don’t necessarily get a clear mental picture of each of the syl lables. A.Try to do it as clearly as possible. Q.One other quick question. When you’re doing the squeezing to bring the downward winds up, do you hold that also, that squeezing? A.No, you simply hold your anus, just mentally. At the time of ascending this lower wind, you have to actually close your lower door, but when you stop your breathing and think about the joy swirls and mental recitation, you don’t have to still hold it closed. This is what is known as mental recitation. Then you imagine that these two reality sources ascend to the level of your heart within the central channel. And then leave this visualization; don’t think about them at all. You neither have to dissolve them nor think about them. They are somewhere, but you don’t think about them. Then you imagine a white joy swirl at the upper end of t he central channel, here. And then it goes turning counterclockwise, it goes down to the level of the heart. At the same time, a red joy swirl goes up from the level of the lower end of the central channel. And in the central channel, at the level of your nipples, but behind, closer to your spinal cord, you imagine that they mix and turn together. They mix together, and their color becomes pink. Then you imagine that they become smaller, smaller, smaller.Actually the size of these two joy swirls is like a barley grain. Q.The original size? A.Yes, the original size is like (negdru), the grain from which you make tsampa. And then they mix together, and become smaller, smaller, and be-
So you can have two bases of imputation, if you like. For example, first the mind which cognizes emptiness can serve as the basis of imputation of that person, in this case yourself. Or the collection of these two: the mind which cognizes emptiness and emptiness itself, the collection of these two, also can serve as the basis of imputation of th is person who cognizes emptiness. Emptiness itself c annot be, because for example, a table cannot serve as the basis of imputation for a person. So here, this part is called purification into emptiness. What do you purify? You purify two things: ordinary appearance, and grasping onto ordinary appearance. So by imagining these inner offerings turning into emptiness, dissolving and turning into emptiness, you purify ordinary appearance. And thinking about non-true existance of phenomena, of this inner offering, by thinking about emptiness, you purify grasping. (tape turned over) (Slava): I just asked about what does it mean ordinary appearance, because some people say that in secret mantra, ordinary appearance means simply just true existance, so you purify that grasping at true appearance. But I don’t trust those people, so I asked Rinpoche whether it is true or not. He also said that it’s not only this. So here in the time of secret mantra, ordinary
appearance is purification only on the path of mantra, not on the path of sutra. Here, for example, ordinary appearance of these inner offerings will be this metal cup, or glass, this tea, and s o forth, which is s ort of common, which is ordinary, which is usual. And you purify it; you try to purify all the appearance into pure fields of Buddha. It’s what you don’t do in sutra vehicle. Q.You purify into? A.You have to purify all the appearance into the pure realms of Buddha. Q.So you’re talking about purification, into two things, ordinary appearance, and grasping ordinary appearance. You say the method of purifying grasping of ordinary appearance is th inking about emptiness. And what was the method of purifying ordinary appearance? A.Dissolving into emptiness. Q.What was the definition of ordinary appearance? A.Ordinary appearance is that which is common, the same. What we see now is ordinary appearance. You purify it into emptiness, and then you arise in the form of Vajrayogini, you emanate this celestial mansion, and so forth, and you turn all your appearance into pure Buddhafields. (Slava) I just asked what is the necessity of transforming, for example, this table into a pure Buddhafield; why do you have to do it? Because I said that Buddha also can see this table; he sees it for sure. But Rinpoche says that he sees it as pure, he doesn’t see it as impure, but we see it as impure. So to change this attitude, to purify this ordinary appearance. Q.One would have to see everything around us as a pure realm, and all the objects in it are the objects of the pure realm, every single sentient being, every living being, we would have to see as a Buddha or deity, and every time that we’re not doing that, we’re having ordinary appearance. A.When you purify ordinary appearance and grasping at ordinary appearance, it doesn’t mean that you imagine that all the sentient beings are Buddhas, and that all the impure realms are pure realms. It also doesn’t mean that impure things transform into pure things, or sentient beings t ransform into Buddhas. The only thing you have in your mind, the only thing you see is pure Buddhafields and Buddhas, with dakinis, viras, and all this stuff. It doesn’t mean that you think that all the sentient beings are Buddhas, that all the impure realms are pure realms, you don’t think in this way. Q.So when you’re walking down the street in McLeod Ganj, you’re walking through a pure land, and whatever being you meet is a ... A.No. (laughs) Q.So then what is your perception when you’re walking down the street in McLeod Ganj?
together. If it becomes difficult for you to hold your breath, then you should slowly exhale. This is the first completion stage. Then follows mental recitation. Then you imagine again the upper wind goes in through your third eye, then goes down, and the lower wind also ascends. And you imagine when something’s wrong with your stomach and you want to send wind. To fart? And you try not to do it, you have to hold your anus. In the same way you have to hold your anus, in this way. And you imagine that this lower wind ascends. And again you imagine that these two winds dissolve into the mantra garland. Then, in the previous concentration, you primarily concentrated on these four joy swirls. Now, you concentrate mostly on the mantra garland and syllable BAM, and you think that your mind is this very syllable BAM. This very syllable BAM is your mind. And you have to concentrate on these two things, syllable BAM and mantra garland. And you observe a form of these syllables, “OM, OM, OM SARVA BUDDHA, etc.” And I just asked Rinpoche if you have to do it gradually or simultaneously... Q.Are they moving or are you moving? A.That is what I just asked Rinpoche. (Oen: (translating): Once you visualize the mantra garland which is around the syllable BAM, which is one with your mind, then Rinpoche said you put your mind on each of t he syllables... (Slava) No, no, no... (Oen:) without having to turn, you see them one at a t ime... (Slava:) No, you don’t see, you have to observe them. but you cannot observe them simultaneously, Rinpoche says. What I asked Rinpoche was whether you have to do it like written letters, first one, then another, and so forth. Rinpoche says it’s also not like this. It’s like when you sit and look at many people, but without turning your eyes. (demonstrates) Q.You just know that they’re there. A.Yes, you just think about it mentally. Q.Is he looking at syllables or goddesses? A.No, there are not any goddesses there. It is finished already. They are gone. Because the syllable BAM is consciousness, it doesn’t have to look at these syllables. It just thinks about them. But actually, you just have all these syllables around it, and you just think, the syllable BAM th inks, because it is your mind, so it thinks about those syllables, “OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE, and so forth.”
do it the second time, you imagine that they go further, for example, behind your house. Then when you do it the third time, you imagine that they go very, very far from yourself, somewhere in space. And you do the same for the other breaths. Because we are at the beginners’ level, we have to use our hands to close our nostrils. For example, when you breathe in through your right nostril, you use your hand to close your left nostril. And it doesn’t matter at all whether you do it this way, or this way. When you breathe out again, you have to close your left nostril, if you breathe out through your right nostri l. When you become more skilful at this type of breath, you will not necessarily have to use your hand. When you perform the third set of t his breath, when they enter the central channel and go out your third eye, they go in through your two nostrils, and they gou out also through your two nostrils, but you imagine that they go out through your third eye. So you imagine that wind comes in through your central channel and goes down to the place where those two reality sources are, at the level of your heart. So this wind goes down, and those reality sources also go down, through your cantral channes, to the level of your navel. And then you imagine that you’ve closed your anus, and the lower wind comes up. And you don’t need to think too much about what is the region of this lower wind and how it comes up; you don’t have to think about it. You should think that the lower wind goes up, just a little bit; just a little bit of t his wind ascends. In some versions, they try to press these two winds at the level of the navel, but here, you don’t have to do it, because it is a very dangerous thing. It’s better to imagine that this upper wind and lower wind dissolve into the mantra garland which is located on the moon disk within these reality sources. And then holding breath without breathing at all. You should concentrate on the four joy swirls at the four corners, and on their turning counter clockwise. Q.So you have the four joy swirls turning counter clockwise, and then? A.You hold it. So actually here, you stop your breath after having inhaled. Oh I forgot to translate that also having inhaled, you also imagine that you are swallowing your saliva. Very slowly, not strongly, but slowly and gently, you imagine that you breathe in, and imagine that the upper wind comes down and s o forth. And after it, you stop your breath. So actually, you stop your breath after having inhaled. Q.When you inhale, you swallow saliva, and then you stop inhaling. A.Yes. And when you swallow saliva, inhale and imagine that the wind and reality sources go down simultaneously. If it’s difficult for you to concentrate on the turning of four joy swirls, you can first concentrate only on the turning of one, then concentrate on anoter one, just to observe them gradually. And then to concentrate on four of them
A.When you go to McLeod Ganj, you can think that the path to McLeod Ganj is made of lapis lazuli, and and all these cows are dakinis, and all the houses are celestial mansions, but it doesn’t mean that that in reality they are pure things. And if you think that I am a Buddha, I am a dakini, it doesn’t mean that you actually are a dakini. Of course not. The more you think about it, the more you try to clear away this ordinary appearance, the more you meditate upon it, the closer you approach Buddhahood. If you really become a Buddha, then of course you will see only pure things. But until that t ime, it will only be imagination. Q.So what did we decide was ordinary appearance? A.Rinpoche said that there is not any particular definition of ordinary appearance. He just said ordinary or common. Everything that appears now to our mind is ordinary appearance. There is not any particular definition of this ordinary appearance, but you can think t hat we are ordinary beings. What appears to us is ordinary appearance, until we attain meditative equipoise, which is attained only beginning with the path of seeing, when you become an Arya being. So, for example you can think of it this way. You have the bowl with inner offerings. You think that this is nectar, but does it appear to you as nectar? Of course not. It doesn’t appear as nectar. Until you reach a certain high state, when you can actually transform it into nectar, and it actually appears to you as nectar, then you can say that you don’t have ordinary appearance with respect to this object. You become Arya when you attain the path of seeing. There are two paths of seeing, meditative equipoise, and post-meditation period. A bodhisattva on the path of seeing, at the t ime of meditative equipoise on emptiness, the only thing that appears to him is just emptiness. So at this time, you can say that he or she doesn’t have ordinary appearance. But at the post-meditation period, again he will see all the ordinary objects, and again it will be ordinary appearance. So until you attain Buddhood, you still have this ordinary appearance in your mental continuum, except in these periods of meditative equipoise on emptiness, direct cognition of emptiness. When you offer tsog, for example, there are these biscuits and these nectars, and so forth, and you say OM AH HUM. You just think that they transform into nectar, but you still see them as just biscuits and this stuff. When you can actually transform into nectar, when you see this nectar and it appears to you as nectar, then you can say that you purify this ordinary appearance of this, for example, tsog. Q.When you use the word “see”, do you mean that you see it with your eye consciousness as nectar? A.It is the mind which cognizes, for example, chili actually can turn into nectar, and tastes this nectar. You simply think that, for example, tea is nectar, for example; you wish it to be nectar. You don’t actually cognize any nectar, and you don’t taste anything besides tea, or alcohol. So this mind even doesn’t
cognize it as nectar. It is just mental consciousness, which is conceptual, mental consciousness, which simply wishes it to be nectar. But you have nothing to do with your mental consciousness, with your tongue consciousness, etc., just conceptual mental consciousness, which projects it as being nectar. And only when you become a Buddha, when you purify this ordinary appearance, you can turn it into nectar, what you taste will be nectar, what you see wil l be nectar. So you can think “I am a deity, I am a Buddha”, and you can meditate a lot on it, but you are still not an actual deity. So that is what is meant by ordinary appearance. So ask yourself whether or not you have something which would not be referred to as ordinary appearance. (laughing) Do you have some pure appearance? A.Not much. You can imagine yourself on a lotus as Vajrayogini, but when you look at yourself again, you still are this very person. (still laughing) There is g reat benefit to meditating on yourself as being Vajrayogini, training and refining your mind, but the only appearance and the only grasping you have is ordinary appearance and grasping at ordinary appearance. So actually you can say, for example, if somebody purified ordinary appearance and grasping at ordinary appearance, he doesn’t necessarily have to be a Buddha, because at the time of the fifth stage, of union, according to Guhyasamaja Tantra. This union is the union of clear light and illusory body. So when you attain pure illusory body means that you attain an actual body of this deity. Even beginning with the stage of clear light you don’t have ordinary appearance and grasping at ordinary appearance. Q. At the beginning of t he stage of clear light? A.(Slava) I’ll have to ask, but at the stage of clear light you experience voidness directly, so in this time you already don’t have any appearance and grasping at ordinary appearance. Then from within this state, you proceed to the next state, the union of clear light and the pure illusory body. At this st ate, you will also not have any grasping at ordinary appearance. But you have yet to become a Buddha. And Rinpoche says that it is like washing clothes. First you just wash away the rough stains, and then more and more subtle. So you get more and more qualities while proceeding on the path. For example, at the time of verbal realization, you don’t have to recite mantras anymore, because your speech becomes a mantra. When you breathe out HUM, when you breathe in it’s OM, probably, when you hold it, it’s AH. (Slava: that’s probably not most important). And then, at the time of pure illusory body, which you attain at the time of union, you don’t need to make any more circumambulations, you don’t have to make offerings, because you are already a deity. But you have yet to become a Buddha.
What is meant by the level of the heart is between the two nipples. So here you imagine the two reality s ources within the central channel, together with (tape over) joy swirls. And within them is the moon disk, upon which stands the syllable BAM, surrounded by the mantra garland. Q.In the center of the heart. A.In the center of the heart, in the center of the middle channel, in the center of the two reality sources. So here, at the time of mental recitation, you have to perform the seven point posture of Vairochana. At the time of verbal recitation, if you can do it, it’s OK; if not, it’s also OK. It’s better to sit in the seven point posture. But here, at the time of mental recitation, it’s very important to sit in t his posture. And then you have to practice the nine-fold breath. Then you imagine, first, that all the blessings of all the Buddhas, in the form of red light, enter your right nostril, and go through the right energy channel, go down in the form of red light. And then you imagine that this right energy channel enters the left energy channel, like this. You don’t think about the central channel at this point; you just think that the rig ht energy channel enters the left energy channel, slightly below the navel. And you imagine that this red light pushes out all your attachments related to desire and attachment. They go up through the left energy channel in the form of black light, and go out through your left nostri l. Q.They go up the left channel in the form of black lig ht? A.In the form of black light, and go out the left nostril also in the form of black light. And you do it three times. Then you imagine, again all t he blessings of all t he Buddhas, again in the form of red light enter your left nostril, and again go down, and here you imagine that the left energy channel enters the right channel, again as before, beneath your navel. And again, it goes down in the form of red light. And again you imagine that this red light pushes out all your defilements relating to hatred. And they go up through the right energy channel in the form of black light, and go out, also in the form of black light. Then you imagine that all the blessings of all t he Buddhas, again in the form of red light, enters your two nostrils, and go down. And here, you imagine that these two energy channels enter your central channel, here at the level beneath the navel. And you should imagine that all the wind that you breathe in goes through these two channels and enters the central channel, and nothing is left. It goes down in the form of red light and pushes out all your defilements referring to ignorance, which go out again in the form of black light. They go up through the central channel, and you imagine that, because the end of the central channel is here, at the level of the third eye, you imagine that they go out through the third eye. You do it three times for each type of breath. So you have nine full breaths. And when you do this breathing three times, for example, for attachment, you imagine that these defilements, in the form of black light, go out somewhere near yourself. Then, when you
is for the purpose of others. When you purify the defilements of all the sentient beings, you perform the purpose of others, and when you receive all the blessings, you do it for your own purpose. You shouldn’t have any doubts as to whether you made offerings to all t he Buddhas, and place sentient beings in the state of Vajrayogini, or whether you actually attain blessings of all the Buddhas. You shouldn’t have any doubts about that; you should have strong convinced faith that you have actually received the blessings. The ability of b to perform different deeds is not like our own ability. For example, in order to do something, we have to apply effort, either with actions of our speech or actions of our body. But the Buddhas can do anything they like, merely by the intention to do it. So this is what is referred to as verbal recitation. And another one is mental recitation. There are two ways of meditating on completion stage and mental recitation. First, you do verbal recitation, then mental recitation, and then you meditate on completion stage. And another way that is taught in oral instructions, the best way, is first to finish verbal recitation, then to meditate on completion stage, then to meditate on mental recitation and then to meditate on other completion stage. So you have two types of completion stages here. It’s an uncommon feature of Vajrayogini tradition that you can meditate on completion stage at the time of generation stage. To do this, you imagine yourself in the form of Vajrayogini as before. Before you had a body mandala. Now you have to dissolve this body mandala. In order to do this, you imagine yourself as Vajrayogini, and then you imagine that the whole body mandala dissolves into light, and slowly, from the edges of the mandala, they dissolve into reality sources, the reality sources dissolve into moon disk, the moon disk dissolves into the syllable BAM, and the syllable BAM dissolves into emptiness. At this point, you should med on your body as being completely empty. Externally, you have the form of Vajrayogini, but inside, she is completely empty. Then you should imagine the energy channels. You have three channels; two begin here at the nostrils, as Rinpoche explained yesterday, and the other begins at the level of the third eye of the deity, because you imagine yourself as a deity. If this deity is a male, then you imagine that it’s a right eye, and it’s drawn that way in pictures, as a right eye turned up. If it’s female, then you imagine that it’s a left eye. So the right and left energy channels and the middle channel mix together here in t his eye, and they go together to your crown, and from there, they go straight down. So at the time of completion stage, you don’t have to think about knots. You should think about them as straight as arrows, completely straight. The three channels end at the sexual organ. (Slava):I just asked Rinpoche if it’s at the upper part of the sexual organ or the lower part of the sexual organ, but he said that it doesn’t matter. It’s just at that very sexual organ, this very hole.
Actually, it’s probably better to study what’s appropriate to your mind right now, and what Rinpoche’s talking about now, it’s too early, all this clear light and so forth. You cannot proceed to this stage quickly, not without other steps. It’s too early. It’s like when you’re in some unknown place; you can doubt about things which happen there. These things about clear light and so forth are unknown, and you can have some doubts, so it’s better not to touch it now. Better to study gradually, and then when you have the whole picture, you can put things together. But now it’s too early. So it was first cleansing, then purification, and now it’s generation. What you generate is not this capala, or the substance within the c apala, because you have already purified it into voidness. So in this place where you had the capala before, which was purified into voidness, you imagine a syllable YAM, of blue color. And this YAM, you imagine, it will lie, not stand, it will lie down. And this tigle will be turned towards yourself. It’s not like this, not like this, but lies flat. Then it is not fixed, you imagine it, like in cinema, first you have a sort-of blue something, and then it turns into a picture. So this YAM is first moving, and then turns into a mandala of wind, which has the shape of a bowl. Q.Wait. The first thing that comes is the YAM? A. Right. Then this YAM turns into a mandala of wind, which has the shape of a bowl. Q.So it’s three-dimensional? A.You know they sell in McLeod Ganj, these capalas for inner offering. (draws) Q.(showing picture) This is supposed to be a w ind mandala with flags. (discussion) A.When it turns into a wind mandala you don’t have YAM anymore. Then you imagine lying on top of it a red syllable RAM, with its top facing you in the same way as the YAM. It begins moving and turns into a triangular fire mandala, which has a red color. Unlike other tantras, in which you imagine OM, AH, HUM, and which have the color white, red and blue, here you just imagine three AH, AH, AH in these places, and Rinpoche says he doesn’t know exactly which color they have to be. Probably, Rinpoche says, you can imagine this one as being white, this one is red, and this one is blue. Since it is mother tantra, you have to visualize counter clockwise, so this one (lower point which faces you) will be white, this (upper right) will be red, and this one (upper left) will be blue. They are generated, and immediately they turn into three human heads, which have teeth and hair. (the tape ran out at this point, and this is from notes) Above the fire mandala is AH standing, not lying like the previous syllables, and it turns into a big capala, with the narrow part (forehead) turned
toward you.
A.It enters through right and goes out through left.
Five nectars:
Direction East North West South
Syllable OM KAM AM TAM
Substance excrement brain bodhicitta blood
Color green white yellow
Rays of light from BAM cause the wind to blow, the fire to blaze, and the substances to melt. An upside-down khatvanga above the skullcup melts into the substances. Light from white HUM and deities of the vajra body melt into a white HUM, and melt into the capala. Light from the red AH, deities of vajra speech, melt into red a AH, and melt into the capala. Same with blue OM. When the contents are boiled, they are purified. When the khatvanga falls into the capala, it transforms the contents into nectar. When the vowels fall into the nectar, it increases. You recite OM, AH, HUM three times to make the blessings firm.
Then you imagine the left channel enters the right channel, and you imagine that all the blessings of all the Buddhas enter through your left nostril, goes down, and you purify all the negativities that have to do with hatred. And it goes out through this (right) nostr il again. Then you imagine that these two channels enter the central channel at the level of the navel. And again you breathe in all the blessings of all t he Buddhas through the two nostrils. They enter the central channel in the form of light, and all the defilements referring to ignorance go out through this place (brow). You simply imagine that you breathe them out, although of course, it is not a place to breathe in or out, but it is the end of the central channel. Then you imagine within your heart t wo reality sources, with a moon disk, upon which st ands a syllable BAM, which is surrounded counter clockwise with this mantra garland. Then you imagine that they go down to the level of your navel. Then you try to put together your upper breath and lower breath, and you stop your breath, and imagine four joy swirls turning. Then when it becomes difficult for you to hold your breath, you simply breathe out. And while imagining that it comes down, you should swallow your saliva, without any sound.
(from here on, the tape is working) When you generate these three letters, first you imagine just a garland with all the Sanskrit letters, both vowels and consonants, and all of them condense into one white OM. Then you imagine a red garland of these letters, and all of them turn into a red AH. And blue into blue. Q.So each time it’s all the alphabet in the white, in the red, in the blue. A.Yeah, all the alphabet.
24 June, 1992 (Shows capala which he has with him) It’s made of metal, but of course it’s not... It’s wind mandala. Q.It’s half circle. And the fire mandala, the triangle above it. A. It’s sort of blazing, this fire mandala, and there are three human heads which are generated from three AHs, and there are flags on the wind mandala. You can imagine that these two flags originate from the two corners. You don’t need the two vases here. It’s such a shape to indicate that the fire blazes. Then you generate AH inside of it, and from that comes the capala. It’s not the best shape of c apala. This part (forehead) should be smaller. Q.When you take the nectar, then you hold that in your hand? A.(demonstrates): “OM, AH, HUM”, in a triangle around it. When you offer it to deities, for example, then you should turn the forehead in the direction of the deity. If you offer to yourself, then you turn the
3 July, 1992 So again, we have to think of right motivation, that you are going to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, and in order to do it quicker, you receive explanation for this practice of Vajrayogini, and will practice it. Yesterday, Rinpoche explained how to recite mantras in the correct way. Actually, there are many other things to tell about, but there are too many. One that he started yesterday is that you imagine in the heart of the main deity in the body mandala, two reality sources, within which you imagine a moon disk, upon which you imagine a moon disk surrounding a sylable BAM. Light rays emanate from the mantra garland, moon disk, and syllable BAM, purify your negativities, and then go further and purify the negativities of all sentient beings, purify them into the enlightened state, and they take the form of Vajrayoginis, and they gather back to the syllable BAM, mantra garland, and so forth. You then imagine that light rays emanate from all the syllables, make offerings to all the Buddhas of all the times and directions, and they sort of touch their hearts, and they give you blessings of their body, speech, and mind. You receive blessings and power and ability of their body in the form of Vajrayoginis, and of their speech in the form of mantra syllables and just in the form of Sanskrit alphabet in general, vowels and consonents, and then blessings and power and ability of their mind in the form of hand implements of Vajrayogini, which are capala and curved knife and the syllable BAM. And they dissolve into the mantra garland and syllable BAM. In such way, you perform two purposes. One is for one’s own purposes and the other
If you do it for half an hour or one hour, then you can think about Lam Rim while reciting these mantras. Actually, you shouldn’t allow your mind to be distracted to different objects when you recite this mantra, but if you feel you would like to switch objects, then it is better to turn you mind toward a virtuous object, to meditate on lam rim. So first, you meditate on the performance of two meanings. Making offerings to the Buddhas, and purifying sentient beings means to perform others’ meaning, and when their blessings gather back to your heart means to perform one’s own meaning. When you feel that your mind is about to become distracted, you can sw itch to meditating on lam rim. Actually, it’s very good, because it’s not only good meditation, but in that way you can proceed on the common path as well.
forehead toward yourself. If you offer to a deity in front, then the forehead should be turned toward the deity. When you offer it to deities in front, not only capala, but whole stuff will be turned. (demonstrates) For example, one of the corners of the fire mandala, if you offer it to deities, it will face them; if you offer it to yourself, it will face you.
You should think from the very beginning of lam rim, about reliance on the spiritual guide, or about the riches and freedoms of human rebirth, or about sufferings of the three lower realms, about taking refuge, about karma, then about sufferings of higher rebirths as well, then generation of bodhicitta mind, about all the steps of bodhicitta, then about how to establish samatha and vipassana, and so forth. And again, at the next session, you have to do the same thing. First you make this visualization with lights, and then when you feel that you are about to become distracted, then again you think about reliance on your spiritual guide. And you can think about all the details, about advantages of relying on him, about disadvantages of not relying on him, on how to rely on him, and all these things, and gradually, gradually proceed through the whole lam rim.
A.In the same way the five types of meat are the meat of horse, the meat of dog, elephant, cow, and human, they also exist in the bodies of sentient beings, and they don’t exist in trees and rocks, and so forth.
Whether you perform what is called serv icable retreat, or merely retreat on Vajrayogini, you should offer tsog every day. Not necessarily extensively, but in brief.
A.It will be the same, from your point of view, from my point of view, from the lama’s point of view.
Q.In the retreat, you have to offer tsog every day? A.Yes. When you imangine yourself, you don’t imagine the body mandala. You imagine that your body is completely empty inside. Rinpoche gave as an example the placenta that goes around a baby, and he says that if you blow it up, it will have the same form as a baby. Then you imagine three channels, right channel, left channel, and middle channel. Two channel begin here, in the two nostrils, and the middle channel begins here (between eyebrows), and goes down. Then you make the nine rounds of breathing. You imagine that your right channel enters your left channel. Usually they enter the middle channel, but here, the right channel enters the left channel, so that it is within the left channel. And you imagnie that you breathe in all the blessings of al l the Buddhas, in the form of light, and go through the channel, and you purify all the negative thoughts all the negativities which refer to attachment and desire. And it goes in this nostril and goes out. You do it three times. Q.Which nostris?
Q.Why is it (called) inner offering? A.Because human excrements, white and red bodhicitta, and brains or marrow (brains and marrow are one, so it is five) exist only w ithin the bodies of sentient beings. So it is nothing special. Q. (inaudible)
So if you offer to yourself, you hold it this way. For example, when you cook food for yourself, you have to taste it first, whether the food is well cooked or not, and in this way, it is easier. (demonstrates) You recite these verses (recites). If you offer it to root gurus, you do it this way, you use two fingers. Because it’s mother tantra, you turn it three times counter clockwise, for example in Jigje, it will be three times clockwise. Q.Counterclockwise from the lama’s point of view or from your point of view?
If you offer to the root gurus, you offer from this level (top of head), and if you offer to the lineage gurus, it will be from this level, from the forehead, and if you imagine the root and lineage gurus above your head, then you turn the forehead of the capala towards yourself. If you imagine them in front, then the forehead of the capala has to face them. From this level, you offer to the guru from whom you received the initiation, and you see this guru as inseparable from Vajradharma. Then from this level, you offer to Vajrayogini and Naropa and so forth. Then you offer to Vajrayogini, so again if you offer to Vajrayogini in front, the capala has to face in front. If you to yourself as Vajrayogini, this capala has to face yourself in the form of Vajrayogini. From this very level, you make offerings to the Yidams of the four classes of Tantra, then you offer to the protectors from the level of the naval. Then, also from the level of the navel, you make offerings to the viras and dakinis. Then from the level of your knee, you make offerings to the rulers of the place, who abide in this place from beginningless time, you know, these different deities and spirits. And then you say that you have offered this inner offering to the rulers of the place and all the sentient beings in the form of deities, so although all the sentient beings don’t have the form of deities, you just imagine them having deities forms.
Q. From the level of the knee? A.Yeah, from the level of the knee. Q.Only one knee, I mean in other practices, you do one from the left k nee to all sentient beings, and one from the right knee ... Q.I have a kind of a general question about these eleven yogas. If I’m not doing Vajrayogini as my regular practice, can I apply these yogas to my regular Yidam? A.If you’re doing the practice of Jigje, or Yamantaka, for example, you would rather fall asleep thinking that you are Yamantaka and not Vajrayogini, and do all the other practices in the same way. It’s the same, only in different forms. And also when you arise from sleep, you think that you arise in the form of Vajrabhairava, and when you take nectar, and also offer clothes to Vajrabhairava. In the same way, you take three () of the path, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya, all in the form of Jigje. Actually, it’s difficult if you try to practice many different yidams together. It’s better first to choose just one main y idam; you should practice it the whole day, and just to make brief sadhanas of other yidams, if you receive initiation of other deities. It’s not good to practice yidams in this way, take this one, practice a little bit, then throw out, then take another, then throw out, and so forth. And so you cannot actually hold any of them. So what you should do is just hold one tightly. And if you can then hold others at the same time, it’s OK, if not, then you have to pick one til you’re dead. All of them are very good, for example, Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, Kalachakra, but you should choose just one and do all these yogas in the form of just one deity. For example, it would be strange if I were to fall asleep in the form of Vajrayogini, and then arise in the form of Yamantaka, offer clothes to somebody else. I’d get confused. Q. But aren’t there Tibetans who do the three-year retreat of one deity and after that they do the three-year retreat of another deity, and so on like that? A.Rinpoche says yes, in Tibet they do those things, but there also one proverb. They say Tibetans practicing one hundred deities cannot accomplish even one, but Indians practicing one deity can accomplish one hundred. Q.So wouldn’t it be possible that would we engage in a three year retreat on Yamantaka, which removes obstacles, and then later in the life, we would do the three year Vajrayogini retreat. A.Actually, if you have faith in your Yidam, you can eliminate obstacles to your lifespan, eliminate diseases, and to make different rituals and practices, just realize on this very yidam. But still, even if you use Yamantaka to eliminate obstacles, use White Tara to extend your life span, you have to take just one yidam, and then as a branch of this practice, you can practice other yidams to eliminate obstacles, to extend your lifespan, but still, your yidam
be difficult, so you should do one round in this way, and then to put your fingers together in this way (index together with middle finger), and to do it as usually. Actually, you use the second finger but it is referred to as the fourth finger, because they are joined. As for your visualization, you should meditate within the clarity and pride of being Vajrayogini. Then you imagine the mantra garland which surrounds the syllable BAM, standing on the moon disk between the two reality sources, either within the heart of the central figure of the body mandala, or, if you can’t do it because it’s too subtle, too small, then you can turn the whole body mandala into letters. Then you will have the syllable BAM surrounded by 32 letters counter clockwise standing on the moon disk w ithin the two reality sources in your heart. This syllable BAM and mantra garland have the nature of red light. While reciting this mantra, you should imagine that this light emanates from the syllable BAM and mantra garland in your heart, fills the whole reality source, and then fills the body of yourself in the form of Vajrayogini.and purifies all your negativities that you have accumulated from beginningless time. You shouldn’t have any doubts about it, thinking, “I am already a Buddha, Vajrayogini, and why do I have to purify defilements?” Just don’t think about it. And then, it goes further and enters the bodies of all t he sentient beings, and purifies their negativities, and they immediately become Buddhas, in the aspect of Vajrayogini. And they recite this mantra together with you, “OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA”, and so forth. Then these light rays gather back to your heart, but these sentient beings who were turned onto Vajrayoginis, they still stay there and recite the mantras. Then again light rays emanate from our heart and make offerings to all the Buddhas of a ll the directions, and the qualities of their bodies turn into the form of limitless Vajrayoginis, which are as big as Mt. Meru, and as small as a mustard seed. They gather back to your heart, and the qualities of their speech turns into different syllables, like, OM, OM, OM, and KA, KHA, GA, and so forth, different syllables of the Sanskrit alphabet, and again, in this form, they melt into your heart. Then the qualities of the mind of al l the Buddhas, in the form of syllables BAM and khatvangas and capalas, gather back to your heart. And then again, you do the same procedures. You do all these things while reciting this mantra. Again these light rays emanate from your heart, and again they purify all your negativities and the negativities of all the sentient beings. You should imagine as many sentient beings as you can. And again, these sentient beings recite these mantras, and light rays come back, and again on the ends of these light rays, you imagine offering deities which make offerings to all the Buddhas, and the qualities of the body, speech and mind of all the Buddhas, in different aspect like khatvangas, again they gather back to your heart. And again, you do the same procedure, so you do it while reciting these mantras, slowly, slowly, without any hurry.
it. Then he has to (accomplish?) it, he has to perform (?). Then, he has to put it on his eyebrow, and go to a place where there are many people, like the market. And then, he is supposed to meet Vajrayogini there, in the form of a human. And if he meets her, then this sindhura w ill go by itself to the eyebrows of this Vajrayogini. Then he has to pray to her faithfully. Then, without leaving this body, he’ll go the realm of dakini. You also have to check yourself in the mirror when you go to the market, to see whether you have the sindura on yourself or not, because, for example, you could meet some woman, like some nun, for example, who also has this sindhura. And you could think that t his is your sindhura which has gone to her eyebrow. But probably this nun has also just accomplished this retreat, and is also searching. So in order not to be mistaken, you have to check yourself. You have to look at yourself in the mirror. Then the person who has the smallest capacit y. Again he has to perform extensive or servicable retreat on Vajrayogini, and recite mantra, and have faith, and so forth, but won’t be able to go to the realm of dakinis in this lifetime. But at the time of death, all the signs, red appearance, white appearance, and so forth will appear, and the process of death will not be difficult for him. He’ll not be frightened, and so forth. And then, at the time of of death, he’ll have some visions of Vajrayogini and deities of her mandala. Then when enters bardo, they’ll meet him there, with banners and so forth, and take him to the pure realm of dakinis.
should be the same. So as far as I understand Rinpoche (Slava), it doesn’t have to be three years that, three years another deity, it’s not this way. So you still have to have one deity, and either do everything just realize one deity, or use different yidams, but practicing one as a main. It takes a lot of t ime. (Sazhi po kyi...etc.) So we finished the lessons of inner offering yesterday. Now Rinpoche will explain lessons of outer offering. So first you bless the inner offerings, in order to use these offerings, mostly in order to clean away obstacles, and also to make offerings to lamas and so forth. The next stage is to bless outer offerings. Why do you do it? In order to make outer offerings to gurus. So these blessed outer offerings will be used to offer to gurus, to lamas after you have finished Vajrasattva recitation, the next stage after Vajrasattva recitation. So here you bless them using three procedures, so now you can use substances. Blessing inner offerings, you couldn’t use substances, but here you use inner offerings as substances for cleansing away hindering spirits, then you use the mantra of Khandarohi, that will be mantra, and the third is sa madhi, so you emanate Khandarohis which frighten t hose interfering spirits, like before. Q. Mantra which fr ightens... A. No, Khandarohi, they frighten those hindering spirits, and they go away. Q.What about samadhi?
The person very, very, very small capacities will not go to the realm of dakinis even in the bardo state, but he’ll go there after a few rebirths.
A.Samadhi here refers to concentration. Concentration means your v isualization, on what you are concentrating.
So, in order to recite this mantra, the best is to have beads made of bodhi seeds, seeds of bodhi tree (with holes on the side).
Q.So we’re doing the same thing with the outer offering that we did with the inner offering.
Q.Actually, they’re from palm trees, and they’re marked with a triangle. And you have to have nine threads, twisted together. When you twist them together, you should roll them toward yourself, not toward the outside. And it has to be spun by a girl of 10 or 11 years. If you have 111 beads, it is the best, because if you count 111 as 100 when you count mantras, then you will not have to make compensation after it, because the compensation of 100 is 10, and the compensation of 10 is 1. You should hold it in your left hand. (tape over) (demonstrating how to hold mala): There are four activities, pacification, increase, power, and wrath. If you do it for activit ies of pacification, you do it t his way (beads over index finger), (beads over middle finger) for activities of increase, (beads over ring finger) for activities of power, (beads over little finger) for activities of wrath. Here, you mostly perform activities of power, so you have to do it like this (over ring finger). For people who are not accustomed to doing it this way, it can
A.Yes, but for inner offerings, you didn’t use substances. Here because the inner offerings are already blessed, you can use them as substances to purify the outer offerings. In the same way, you bless these offerings through four procedures, same as inner offerings. First cleaning, then purification into emptiness, then generation, and blessing. In the same way, you do the same procedures with outer offerings. You also first clean away hindrances, then purify them into emptiness, generate them, and bless them. So first it’s cleaning away obstacles. You use mantra, visualization, and substances to clean them. They are the same, for offering substances, you use the same procedures as for cleaning away obstacles for inner offerings. So you recite this “OM Khandaroi, HUM HUM PHAT”, and you visualize these Khandarohis, but you use substances here. And also purification into emptiness, the same. You recite this mantra “OM SVABHAVA, etc.” So then you have the same procedure for purifying them into emptiness, because you are using the same types of offerings: seven plus music, so you have eight. And then you imagine that they dissolve into emptiness, the same as for inner offerings.
Then again, as with inner offerings, they could be arranged to the left of you or behind you, but you generate now, this third stage, you have to imagine them in front of you. The same as for inner offerings yesterday. For example, this capala could stand somewhere to the left of you, but but the capala that you generate, the third of the four stages, has to be in front of you. So here you imagine eight syllables KAM. KAM is the first syllable of the word capala. So you imagine eight syllables KAM, and they move and turn into eight capalas. So these syllables will be white, and turn into eight capalas which are white outside and red inside. Then you imagine eight syllables HUM of blue color inside these capalas. They also don’t stay there a long time. As you imagined eight HUMs s imultaneously, so also these eight t ypes of offerings which arise from HUM, you imagine them simultaneously, not first one, then second, and so forth, but all of them simultaneously. And you recite these verses of offering, you also also say “from eight HUMs arise eight types of offerings.” (you have to get it in English). So also, you don’t have a list of them. Q.This outer offering, is this to oneself, or to...? A.The offering is to lamas, and you imagine lamas in front of you, so you begin from the left. Since it is mother tantra, you begin the offerings from the left. If it’s father tantra, you make offerings from the right. Q.So it’s from the deity’s left? A.Yes. What is offerings in the front in mother tantra will be offerings to yourself in father tantra, and what is offerings in the front in father tantra will be offerings to yourself in mother tantra. And you also imagine these capalas with a ll these different types of offerings very very big. And when you offer music, you ring a bell, and so forth, but here you imagine different kinds of musical instruments within the capala. That’s why you have to imagine eight capalas, not seven, but eight. Although their aspects are eight kinds of offerings, but their nature is the same, wisdom of the inseparability of bliss and emptiness. And this is the same for torma, for inner offerings, for outer offerings, their aspects are different, but their nature is one and the same, and the nature of secret and the nature of outer offerings will a lso be the same. So these offerings have the same nature of inseparability of bliss and emptiness. Then their aspects, there is different types of offerings, and their activity, that is to satisfy the five senses, to serve as the object for the five senses. And so here you have eight types of offerings. Except for the first two, you don’t count them, starting with pupe, with flowers, flowers are offerings to the head. That refers to the senses of the body, the body sense consciousness. You offer flowers to inspire body sense power. This body sense power is generated upon tactile objects, but here you consider six types of powers. So first you offer flowers in order to satisfy bodily sense powers. Then, you
The three heads exemplify the white, red, and black appearances, and the damaru exemplifies tummo. As for this five spoked vajra, actually there are eight spokes, and there are two spokes within this vajra. The upper spoke, which is within it, symbolizes Yab, and the lower spoke which is within it symbolizes Yum. And the four spokes symbolize five dakinis. Then the dried skull symbolizes the mandala of the body. The wet human head symbolizes the mandala of speech. And the freshly cut one symbolizes the mandala of the mind. The multiplied vajra beneath the three the heads symbolizes eight deities which are four goddesses of the doors and four goddesses of the intermediate directions. It is drawn this way, but actually, it is a double vajra, not half. Then the vase symbolizes the divine palace. The half vajra at the end of the khatvanga symbolizes the protection wheel. So also you can say that the whole khatvanga symbolizes the body, the damaru and bell stand for speech, and the tr iple banner stands for the mind. You should engage in mantra recitation if you cannot meditate clearly on Vajrayogini, and so forth. So when you are tired and have to take a rest, then you should collect mantras. It is not good to make the main part of your practice mantra recitation, and not to think about anything else. In perfect times, if you make a servicable retreat, then you could recite the mantra just 100,000 times, but in these times of degeneration, you have to do it 400,000 times, together with (kal kun). Kal kun means, for example, if you recite a mantra 100,000 times, then kal kun wi ll be 10,000 extra. So for 10,000, you are supposed to do 1,000, for 1,000, for 100, 10, and for 10, 1. So if you said the mantra 400,000 times, then the compensation will be 40,000, but this compensation also has to have compensation, so that will be 4,000. And this compensation requires 400, and they require 40, and they require 4. So that’s what you need for what is called servicable retreat. And after it, you have to make fire puja. So if you perform great nyimpa, or retreat practices, the mantra of t hree OMs has 32 syllables. So you have to recite the mantra 3,200,000 t imes, and you have to count the compensation mantras in the same way. If you perform extensive great retreat, you have to make it 10,000,000. If the person who performs this Vajrayogini practice has very, very good qualities - good qualities refers to a person with higher c apacity, but now such persons are very rare. If such a person recites the number of mantras he promised during initiation, and recites the self-generation text every day, beginning with the day he received initiation, and also performs tsog offerings on the 10th and the 25th of t he lunar month, then he’ll go to the land of dakinis without leaving this body. A person of middle capacities has to perform an extensive nyimpa, or retreat practice, which consists of reciting 10,000,000 mantras with compensation plus fire offerings one million times. Then, he has to find this (lingales) tree, and it has to be cut in a certain way. Then he has to put sindhura inside
power of excitation or dullness. Then if you can do it for some time, then you can slowly begin to establish the path of clarity, imagining the hand implements, eyes, ornaments of Vajrayogini, and so forth. You shouldn’t allow your mind to fall under the power of agitation, and again, you should do it very slowly. You should always have two factors, mindfulness, and memory. With mindfulness, you should check whether you fall under the power of either agitation or dullness, and with memory, you don’t allow yourself to fall under this power. So with one, you check, and with the other, you protect yourself. And this is the way of establishing calm abiding. Q.You check with power, and with (sheshin) you don’t allow yourself to? A.(Sheshin) is just mindfulness, means to check whether you are under the power of agitation or dullness. And memory is to protect yourself, or to prevent yourself from fallng under that power. So just in brief. But in Lam Rim Chenmo, it is explained extensively, this way of establishing calm abiding is explained extensively, because you have many many things, like ten powers, like six collections, like five faults, like eight antidotes, and so forth, many, many things. And so, when you can establish t hese two parts, abiding and clarity, within this state, you should collect the mantras. Because if you do it with agitation, and so forth, it is not too helpful, just to collect these mantras. Q.Before when Rinpoche was demonstrating the head of Vajrayogini, it was not facing the skullcup, it was facing forward, and what did you say about the eyes? A.It’s like it is shown on thankas. You shouldn’t have it too high or too low, but you can see it, just a little bit lower or higher. Q.It says here the face is all the way to the skullcup. A.Not the whole face. It looks like it, but it isn’t. Q.The eyes are looking at the skullcup? A.She partakes of the stuff from the skullcup, but doesn’t look at it. As for statues, they put the khatvanga straight, because if you put it in this way, then it could fall. But you have to imagine that it’s this way (over the shoulder). And also it has a damaru and ... She has a khatvanga which consists of a five-spoked vajra, and three human heads, one which is dry, one which is wet, and one which is just cut. Then a multiplied vajra, what is it called, plus a bumpa. And here is a small small mistake, (showing picture) because the bell and damaru are attached to the khatvanga in the middle of the bumpa, not beneath the bumpa. Here they are attached to it under the bumpa. And they should be on the level of the middle of the bumpa. But Rinpoche says that even if it’s under the bumpa, it’s also OK. Then there are these three, damaru, bell, and bannner. Q.Is there a complete vajra on top? A.On top is a complete five-spoked vajra. It exemplifies five wisdoms.
offer incense, in order to satisfy nose sense power. Then aloke (in this tantra, they say dipe) you offer lamps in order to satisfy eye sense power. Then ghande, perfume, in order to satisfy mental sense power, because you put it on this place (at the heart), and mind is like at this place. And then you offer food in order to satisfy tongue sense power, and offerings of music in order to satisfy ear sense power. In such a way, these offerings generate great bliss in the objects of the offerings, the deities to whom you make these offerings. Uncommon great bliss. Unlike us, for example when we are offered flowers, we generate bliss, but it will be contaminated bliss, but here when we offer flowers, for example, to the body sense power of the objects of offerings. Then upon this body sense power, these objects of offerings can generate bliss of body, of sensory consciousness. Then upon this bliss of sensory consciousness, they can develop bliss of mental consciousness, which will be uncontaminated bliss, but Rinpoche says we can leave that for now. It is just questions about the three types of causes for generating any ty pe of consciousness.We’ll never finish it if you... Then you bless them by putting the Sanskrit name of each kind of offering between OM and AH HUM. You say OM (argham) AH HUM, then OM (padyam) AH HUM, and so forth, and in such a way you bless these offerings. Here is just blessings of offerings, but when you actually offer these offerings, then you can imagine as much capalas w ith different offerings as you can. For example when you offer argham, you can imagine limitless numbers of capalas with argham, and so forth. Now when you bless, say, these flowers, you imagine just one capala with flowers, but when you offer it, you imagine limitless, limitless, and you imagine various types of flowers, or things made of flowers, so you can imagine flags made of flowers, banners made of flowers, lots of them, filling the whole space. When you offer water, and you recite these verses of offering water, you imagine offering all the water of the universe, all the rivers, all the oceans, and so forth, all the water of the universe. The same with flowers, you imagine them as limitless, any kind of flowers you can imagine. The same for incense, and so forth. When you bless these offerings, unlike other tantras, you don’t have to imagine these three letters above each of the offerings. You just think, when you recite these three letters, for example OM ARGHAM AH HUM, you think that HUM purifies, AH transforms them, and OM makes t hem limitless, inexhaustable. But you don’t have to imagine those three letters fal ling into each capala, and so forth. Although Rinpoche says he didn’t see it in any text, but if you like, if it suits your mind, you can imagine OM, AH, HUM, again, above each capala, different colors, but turned upside down. For instance, it will be like this: OM will be upside down, AH upside down, and so forth. Then again it emanates light. You imagine OM first, above it is AH, and above that is HUM. And you can imagine them in the normal position, as you write them, or being turned upside-down. So OM purifies substances, AH transforms them, and HUM
increases them. And first you imagine t hat white light emanates from OM, the same procedure as always. If it suits your mind you can do it. A.They have the same mudras as offerings, when you bless them, and when you offer them. The motions which connect them can be slightly different, because when you bless them, you don’t have to emanate those deities and so forth.
mandala, about those 32 deities which encircle the five deities within us, so we have 37 deities, four dakinis plus the main figure, which is Vajrayogini. Then you again think in reverse order, so you think first about the 32 deities, then again about this big Vajrayogini which stands within the reality sources which are surrounded by cemetaries, and so forth, and which are surrounded by fire, which is surrounded by the vajra fence, in which you have many, many arrows. And whenever you imagine reality sources, you always have to think about those four joy swirls on the four directions, except for front and back.
Q.So you just do the mudra part, like this, without going through the other part?
Q.Did Rinpoche also mention the armour? Do we have to think about that also?
Q.Do you do the mudras with the blessing?
A.Yes.
A.Yes.
So the t hird of the immeasurables is recitation and meditation on Vajrasattva. So, as Rinpoche explained before, it is the same as before.
Q.This picture shows the joy swirls going all the way down. Do they go like that?
Q.Before, he said that you could imagine Dorje Sempa here (crown), or here (heart), or pervading your body, and I can’t imagine how you can do purification with Dorje Sempa pervading your body.
A.You have for example a big joy swirl. Beneath it, you have smaller and smaller. Rinpoche doesn’t know exactly, and it doesn’t say in the books, but he thinks that you can imagine many, many joy swirls standing one above the other. The upper are big, and the lower are smaller. And in such a way, you have four rows, and in the bottom, they all meet. Rinpoche doesn’t know exactly. So, you have one big Vajrayogini, and within her heart you have the body mandala, with the main figure, which is als o Vajrayogini. And within the heart of this small figure, which is the main within the mandala of 37 deities, you have to imagine two reality sources, with moon disk, upon which stands the syllable BAM, which is surrounded counter clockwise with the mantra garland, which is “OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE”, and so forth. But these letters and the syllable BAM, and the moon disk are too small, because you imagine them within the main figure of the body mandala, so they are very, very small. So if it’s difficult for you to imagine them this way, then imagine the 37 deities of the body mandala, all of them turn into letters. So the 32 deities turn into the 32 letters of this mantra, “OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE”, and five deities, the four dakinis plus the main Vajrayogini in the center, they turn into the syllable BAM, with nada, tigle, and crescent moon. Reciting mantras is not the most important thing in this sadhana. What is more important is to be able to imagine clearly Vajrayogini with these deities. So tr y to meditate clearly on this mantra garland and Vajrayogini without distraction to your mind. And even if you cannot imagine, for example, eyeballs and teeth of Vajrayogini, still if you can imagine just a red body w ithout all the details, and to place your mind in such a way, and to keep it meditating firmly, it is what is called (necha), part of abiding. Rinpoche will explain.
A.This means simply self-generation. So you imagine your mind as a white HUM, white HUM turns into a five-spoked vajra with a white HUM in the center, then light rays emanate from it, pervade all the universe, perform the two functions, then you get it back, then you are generated in the form of Vajrasatta. So it is just the same, self generation. Now Rinpoche will explain just one method, with Vajrasattva on the crown. Rinpoche will explain just one way, because with Vajrayogini, and Demchok, and Jigje, you always have Vajrasattva done in this way. So first you imagine that above your head, not touching your head, but a small distance, you imagine a lotus, which has thousands of petals. All of them are white, and the lotus also is white. This lotus arises from the syllable BAM. Then, in the middle of this lotus, you have a syllable AH. It stays just one second, then it immediately turns into a moon disk. Q.Above the lotus. A.Uh, huh. It stands above the lotus, but it immediately turns into a moon disk. Usually, all these letters from which offerings, moons, etc. are generated, they stay just one second, and immediately turn into the offering substances. So you have a lotus with many, many petals, and within it you have a moon disk. All of them are white. So you imagine there is only white: lotus, moon disk, syllable HUM, vajra from which Vajrasattva emanates, then Vajrasattva himself, not his clothes, but just his body is white. And to make it easier, you can imagine it as being white, but with slight difference. One shade of clothes, one shade of petals, slightly, slightly different. So you imagine the syllable BAM, from which arises a lotus. On top of t his lotus you imagine a syllable AH, from which arises moon disk. On this moondisk you imagine a syllable HUM, from which
In meditation, there are two parts. One is cal led the part of abiding, and the other is called the par t of clar ity. And so, you have to imagine this red body of Vajrayogini, without necessarily all the details, and to t ry to fix your mind in such a meditation, and not to let your mind fall asleep or under the
9. THE YOGA OF VERBAL AND MENTAL RECITATION Here, as soon as you have finished these praises, you shouldn’t immediately recite the next verses of verbal recitation and then recite this mantra. You should sit peacefully and to think about yourself as being Vajrayogini. If you think about yourself as having an ordinary form, it is not too helpful, because you will have many doubts and so forth, but you should think again, to imagine your root guru in front of yourself, and the blessings of all the Buddhas, in the form of light, dissolve into your root guru, and then your root guru dissolves into light and dissolves into the syllable BAM into yourself. In such a way, your mind and the mind of your guru become inseparable, of one nature. And then within such a state of mind, thinking about yourself as having one and the same nature as your guru, you can think about yourself as being Vajra Dakini, and after it, you recite this mantra. In such a way, you receive the blessings of all the Buddhas, because first all the blessings are gathered into your lama, and then your lama dissolves into your mind, because the syllable BAM purifies your mind. So when you think in such a way about receiving the blessings of all the Buddhas, you shouldn’t think that you are here, and that all the Buddhas are somewhere else. You shouldn’t have any doubts as to whether you can really receive all the blessings of all the Buddhas or not. As an example, you can think in this way. You have this aggregate of form in this body, and you didn’t bring this aggregate of form from your previous life. Its nature is white and red substances which you gained from your father and mother. These small white and red substances being mixed, they turned into this big body. And slowly, slowly, you thought about, for example, this is my leg, this is my hand, this is my body, and so forth. When you get the blessings of all the Buddhas, slowly they can grow, in the same way. And you shouldn’t think that, yes, I have gotten these blessings but it is just a play of my mind. It is just my mind. You shouldn’t think that way at all. You should think that I am the actual Vajrayogini. If you can visualize yourself clearly as being Vajrayogini, it’s very good. If not, then try to observe the whole mandala with Vajrayogini inside, beginning with the external mandala. First this vajra ground and vajra fence, then these eight cemetaries, then two reality sources, then yourself as Vajrayogini standing within these reality s ources.You press Kalaratri and Bhairava with your feet. And then you begin with your feet, and think about your stomach and your chest, and then you think also about these different bone ornaments that you wear here, and about your hands, and you hold a capala and curved knife in your hands. You shouldn’t hold the capala here and look somewhere else. You should look like this (demonstrates). And within this capala, you have two substances, blood and intestines. Because blood sy mbolizes clear light and intestines symbolizes illusory body. And in order to proceed through this path of secret mantra, you have to use both of them. So then you think about your head, about your crown ornament, with the small figure of Vairochana up there. Then you think about your internal mandala, your body
arises a five-pointed vajra, with HUM in the center. From this HUM emanates light rays back and forth, then this vajra turns into Vajrasattva, white in color, having six ornaments and holding vajra and bell, embracing his yum, Dorje Nyima, who holds knife and capala. And she has five ornaments, and Vajrasattva has six. They have head ornaments, necklaces, bracelets on hands and legs, and earr ings, plus Vajrasattva has other ornaments on his hands. Q.Ashes. A.Yes, he has it, but the yum doesn’t have. Ashes from when you burn corpses. So like all the other deities, Vajrasattva has an OM on the crown of his head, having the nature of vajra body, then having the nature of vajra speech, red AH, then blue HUM, which has the nature of vajra mind. And the same with YUM, also. Each of them has three syllables. The OM is somewhere within these ornaments, but still, because they are made of light, you can still see them. You have white moon disk in the heart of the yab upon which stands HUM, which is encircled clockwise, clockwise, by the garland of the mantra of Heruka Vajrasattva. This is the pledge deity, samayasattva. Then you invite the wisdom deity, Jnanasattva, limitless Vajrasattvas yab-yum in space. You invite them, and they turn into just one Vajrasattva, which sits on your head. DZA means that you invite them on your head, then HUM, they enter your body, then BAM, the Jnanasattva and Samayasattva mix, and HO, they become inseparable. So first, DZA, you just imagine them on your crown, then HUM,like when you put two books, like this. Q. Like what? A.(demonstrates) Q.Ah, like shuffling cards. BAM, they become one, and HO, you cannot evermore separate. So then you imagine the generation of the pledge deity, that’s when you generate Vajrasattva. Then inviting of wisdom deity. Then third stage is receiving initiation. Light rays emanate from the heart of Vajrasattva, you invite Buddhas of five families. You don’t necessarily have to imagine they are limitless, just imagine five Buddhas of five families. Each of them holds a vase with nectar, and you ask them to grant empowerment, and they pour this nect ar on the crown of your head, and fills all the body of Vajrasattva, and the excess of this water comes up from the crown and turns into Akshobhya with a consort. Rinpoche:(in English) Drink tea. (end of tape) (tea break) Q.When the wisdom beings return, and also requesting initiation, it’s mainly the yab and not the yum.
A.The same as with other deities, first you generate pledge deities, then you invite wisdom deities, then you receive initiation. Here is made by Vajrasattva, of course, same as Chakrasamvara and Yamantaka as well. So then you recite mantra. First you imagine that light rays emanate from the syllable HUM and this mantra garland in the heart of Vajrasattva, then fill the whole body of Vajrasattva, then go outside and purify all the sentient beings of the whole universe, and make offerings to all the Buddhas. And then the ends of this li ght are like hooks, and they draw all the blessings of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Then this light goes back to the HUM and mantra garland. Then you imagine that this light is gathered to the mantra garland and the HUM in the heart of Vajrasattva. Then you get a lot of light in this mantra garland, and the syllable HUM is like a cloud, and then nectar begins dropping from this mantra garland and the syllable HUM, like rain from the cloud. It goes from Vajrasattva’s heart down to the place of union of the yab and yum, to the moon disk, and then enters your body through your crown, and fills all your body, from the upper to the lower parts. In such a way you purify all your defilements; now your body is all white. But you imagine that this nectar comes down and purifies all your body, and all your diseases and defilements come out from your body, and your body becomes completely white. And I asked Rinpoche if you have to imagine all these insects and this stuff, and he said no, because it can be slightly inconvenient. Of course you can, but you can also just imagine that this nectar purifies your body. Q.(about meditating on channels) A.You might rather obstruct your meditation if you meditate on these channels. Q.The Vajrasattva above one’s head, the nectar is coming from the mantra in his heart. Is it going through his central channel, and out his body? A.It comes from the place of union of the yab and yum, and it goes through the moon disk and lotus. You can imagine that it’s like sand, and the nectar comes through the moon disk like water through sand. This nectar is descending down. Now you imagine that nectar fills you from your bottom part til your upper part, and fil ls your whole body til your ears, eyes, and so forth. And I asked Rinpoche if your body has already been filled with nectar before, there is no place for nectar to come. But Rinpoche says don’t think about it this way. Forget about the first meditation, and that way there is a place for nectar to come. Then the third procedure, you imagine all your defilements accumulated from beginningless time in the form of a black spot in the place of your heart. And again you imagine nectar comes from the place of union of Vajrasattva yab yum, and again it enters your body. When it touches this black spot, it simply becomes nonexistant; it doesn’t go in any direction, it just disappears. So having these three visualizations, you can accumulate this mantra. If you are not going to accumulate (bhum?), then you just do it seven times, but Rinpoche says it is good to accumulate the whole
actual deitises of the 24 external places, it doesn’t matter. They can be very far from you. They very quickly can come and give you blessings, and again bless your channels and bodhicittas and winds, and they will act like friends, like helpers in your practice. So next is offerings. When you make offerings, you shouldn’t think that you have just a few deities. You shouldn’t visualize just a few deities, or think whether they are pure or impure, to have doubts about it. You should visualize everything as a Buddha field, as being absolutely pure. And these objects of the five desires are limitless, so these offerings are limitless. Although they can have different aspects, such as the five objects of desire or the eight auspicious signs, and so forth, but they have just one nature, which is the wisdom of the indivisibility of bliss and emptiness. Q.They, meaning the offerings? A.Yes. So the next is the praises, which consist of eight verses in Sanskrit. When you recite them, you relate them to your own guru, who is the actual Vajradakini. And whether you make offerings, or whether you make circumambulations, you should recite these verses thinking about your root guru, who is actual Vajradakini. And also you can offer these praises to yourself, thinking about yourself as having the nature of Heruka and all the heroes and heroines. And you should also think that all the external places, like mountains and rivers and so forth, have the nature of Heruka, and all the sentient beings within them also have the nature of Heruka. So if you recite these verses, you will easily attain the blessings of all the Buddhas of all the three times and all the ten directions, which means all the Buddhas which can exist. And you can recite it also in Tibetan, it’s not necessary to be in Sanskrit. And there are also many other benefits of it, like when you for example think t hat you are the real Chakrasamvara, and have the nature of Chakrasamvara, and offer praises to yourself, and to your guru, there are limitless benefits. So when you think that you are the real Chakrasamvara, and offer these praises to yourself, you shouldn’t have any doubts about whether you are the actual Chakrasamvara or not. You shouldn’t have any doubt about whether receive these blessings or not, because it is stated in the Chakrasamvara tantra as well that if you recite these verses, that you will attain the blessings of Chakrasamvara, of heroes, of heroines, and so forth. Q.Here we have only the eight verses of praise to the mother, so do we visualize ourselves as Chakrasamvara or as Vajrayogini? A.If you can, visualize yourself as Chakrasamvara yab-yum. If you cannot, then visualize yourself as Vajrayogini. It doesn’t make any difference at all. The next one is mantra recitation. We’ve finished offerings, we’ve finished praises, and now it’s mantra recitation.
All the sentient beings are equal in wishing to have only happiness and not wishing to have any kind of sadness. To be happy means to be free from suffering. There are two different kinds of sufferings, sufferings of body, and sufferings of mind. It is possible to cure diseases of the body by external means, if you are sick, take some medicine, or if you are hot, go to some cool place, or if you are freezing, put on some warm clothes. But in order to pacify sufferings of the mind, you have to pacify different delusions, like anger, attachment, ignorance, and so forth. And the only way to do it is through practicing dharma. In order to be free from the sufferings of lower migrations, and to have the happiness of being born in high states, you have to practice dharma. In order to pacify all the types of sufferings, like sufferings of change, pervasive sufferings, and sufferings of sufferings, again you have to practice dharma. In order to pacify not only your own sufferings and the sufferings of other sentient beings, you also have to practice dharma. The person who strives to attain higher rebirth in future lives is called a person of small capacity, a small person. A person who is striving to attain liberation from all the sufferings for oneself, is called a person of middle capacity. And a person who is striving to liberate not only oneself but all the other persons is a person of higher capacity. This dharma which we are starting now and tr yng to accomplish is t he dharma which is taught for a person of great capacity. And in order to practice and accomplish this dharma which is taught for a person of great capacity, you have to have great thoughts in your mind. The person for whom Mahayana teachings are taught has to have such a thought that I must necessarily have to attain the state of Buddhahood in order to liberate all sentient beings. And this is the only way for me to be. And these teachings refer also to Tantric teachings. They are taught to such a person who not only would like to attain the state of Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, but also would like to attain very quickly. Whether you recite mantras or receive initiations or make servicable retreat, whatever activities of secret mantra you perform, you have to have these thoughts in your mind. I have to attain the state of Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, and I have to attain it very quickly, and these teachings which provide it, which give an ability to do it are Tantric teachings. And with such a thought, you should enter the practice. So you have to have such a motivation. Yesterday, Rinpoche explained body mandala, and when you put 37 deities within your heart, and in order do it, in order to visualize it, you have two thoughts. The third thought you have to have is that the 37 deities which you visualize within your heart level have the nature of these channels and the bodhicitta within these channels. And another thought is that they are the actual deities of the 24 external places, like Jalandhara, and some other places. So if you think that these deities are then actual channels and bodhicittas within these channels, who have the nature of this bodhicittas and channels, it makes your channels, your white and red bodhicittas and winds servicable for further practices. If you think that these deities within your heart are the
100,000. So it’s important to go in the same order, ad not to try to hold the previous meditation and try to make it fit with the next meditation, because it can be difficult. Here your deity is not flesh, and not so obstructed as our body, and you don’t have to think of yourself as being a deity in this way. Q.When we’re doing the Vajrasattva above our head, oneself is in Vajrayogini form? A.In this place, when you meditate on Vajrasattva, you can think of yourself in ordinary form, not as Vajrayogini, because it’s difficult to combine clear appearance of being a deity, and at the same time not to have pride of being a deity, to think that you have defilements and so forth. When you think of yourself in ordinary form, it’s much easier to think that you have defilements, you have anger, and pride, and so forth. So Rinpoche gave jenang of three wrathful beings together, how do you say, Hayagriva, Vajrapani, and Garuda, in the morning, and now he has a slight fever, so we’d better stop here.
Vajrayogini Initiation25 June, 1992 (This is what I could get of the translation during the initiation itself) ...It’s not enough to strive for benefits for this life, we have to strive for benefits for future lives, and in order to do that, you have to practice Dharma. These teachings of Vajrayogini belong to Buddhist teachings, and within Buddhist teachings, they belong to the Great Vehicle, within the Great Vehicle, they belong to the teachings of Vajrayana, and in order to practice these Vajrayogini teachings, you need a very vast attitude. You have to have a very strong wish not only to liberate yourself, but also all the other sentient beings. With such an attitude, you should receive initiation. It’s possible to attain Buddhahood through practicing any of the two vehicles, the perfection vehicle and the secret mantra vehicle. But if you practice perfection vehicle, you can attain Buddhahood only after three countless eons. If you practice secret mantra, you can attain Buddhahood much more quickly. There are four classes of tantra, and these teachings of Vajrayogini belong to Annutarayoga Tantra. If you practice Annutarayoga Tantra, you can attain Buddhahood in this very life. These teachings are easy to practice, because this mandala is not too extensive, Vajrayogini, doesn’t have too many hand implements, and so forth. It belongs to mother tantra. Within mother tantra, it belongs to Chakrasamvara tantra. Within Chakrasamvara tantra, there are two divisions, word of mother and word of father. It belongs to word of mother. Practicing mother tantra and Chakrasamvara tantra, you can very quickly attain the blessings of the deity, but practicing Vajrayogini, this word of mother, you can attain blessings in the quickest way. So with such an attitude, you should receive initiation.
There is more to say, but Rinpoche says he doesn’t have time to talk too much. But just a few words. The activities of this life don’t have any meaning, don’t have any essence. If you strive for benefits of this life, it’s meaningless. So again, you ahould strive for benefits of future lives. If you attain init iation, and just continue ordinary activities, there is not any help from it. So you should practice Dharma in this life, beause you don’t know where you are going to go after you are dead. You have to practice Dharma just now. In order to practice tantra, you have to receive initiation, because it empowers you to practice the path of secret mantra. So with such an attitude, you should receive initiation. The source of these teachings is the tantra of Chakrasamvara. If I am right, it has 50 or 51 chapters, and this belongs to one chapter of this tantra. These teachings came from Naropa, and thie blessings of this lineage came to the root guru of Rinpoche without any interruption. The initiation begins with verses of request. So you see your lama as inseparable from Vajrayogini, and you make the verses of request, which Rinpoche just said. In brief, you see your lama as inseparable from Vajrayogini, and ask to receive blessings to receive initiation from him. (reciting mantras, three times) Now follows the request about your family and your wish. Rinpoche asks to what family you belong, and you reply, “I belong to the fortunate family of bodhisattvas.” “What are you searching for?” “I am searching for great bliss.” “Why do you search for bliss?” “In order to attain Buddhahood.” You have to answer in Tibetan. Just in a few words, for generation of bodhicitta mind. There are two types of bodhicitta mind, ultimate bodhicitta mind and conventional bodhicitta mind. Conventional bodhicitta mind c an be generated only as a result of seven precepts of cause and result of precepts of exchanging self for others. Here we cannot actually do it. Here we have to wish or to think that we have generated bodhicitta mind in our mental continuum. And this conventional bodhicitta mind is exemplified by a moon disk in your heart. There is als o ultimate bodhicitta mind, which means direct cognition of emptiness. This exists only beginning with the first st age of the bodhisattva level of the path of seeing. Of course we are not on this path yet. So we can just imagine that we have this cognition of emptiness. And Rinpoche said something more about what does it mean emptiness. It is exemplified by the white five-spoked vajra standing upon this moon disk. (mantra) Rinpoche said a mantra which means generating the mind of al l yogas. You have to imagine that the recitation of the mantra has touched your heart, and it makes your generation of ultimate and conventional bodhicitta mind firm, and stops any doubts that you are not receiving the initiation, because in secret mantra, most of the things depend on a very strong wish or aspiration. You also shouldn’t have any doubts about your ability to receive this initiation.
the differences between sutra and mantra, which is called (). The riches are completely pure, as pure environment, pure riches, and so forth. Then you imagine that (?), the vajra goddess of taste. You emanate many of them from your heart, and they make inner offerings to yourself. And you recite the mantra “OM, OM, OM SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE...”, and here you don’t have to make any mudras, just to use this inner offering in the capala. Then you imagine that the vajra goddesses of taste gather back to your heart. Then you make secret offerings, so this khatvanga turns into your Yab, which is Chakrasamvara, and you enter into union with him. It will be secret. And when you think that this mind of great bliss which is generated within my mental consciousness, cognizes emptiness, it will be offerings of suchness. Then the next branch is offerings of praises. So, in order to praise yourself, you emanate limitless goddesses from your heart, which will praise yourself. So there are eight verses of praise. You imagine that the eight goddesses which you emanate from your heart praise you, reciting these verses. And you also should think that you have generated uncontaminated great bliss in your mental continuum because of these praises. Q.Why are the praises in Sanskrit at this point? A.It doesn’t matter. Otherwise it’s just translation from Sanskrit into Tibetan. Q.But otherwise, it’s in English. Q.So actually, it is said that at the time of self generation, it’s better to pronounce it in Sanskrit, and at the time of tsog offering, you also recite those verses, but in Tibetan. There is also the yoga of inconceivability, and it’s divided into two parts, common and uncommon. Rinpoche will explain only common, because uncommon is to be explained only to three persons, not more. So there is a jewel, the shape of the jewel. It’s made of eight pieces, the jewel on the crown. So it’s not like a wheel, but it’s sort of round, and raised. This wheel is made of bones, and within the wheel is a jewel. And within the jewel, is a very, very small Heruka Vairochana, yab-yum. It is like when you put together your palms(?), like this. Q.How many spokes? A.It’s not called spokes, but (?). Nine.
(end tape)
2 July, 1992 (Looking at pictures of Vajrayogini) Different pictures are painted different ways, and some of the faces are very nice, and some of them are ugly. It is not the fault of the deity. It depends on the painter. (Sengye cho dang...)
Yum as my crown ornament.” So if you do Vajrayogini retreat, you have to know about this point, because all the people who perform this retreat have to know about it. Probably we can go through offerings and praises today. Here the person you’re making offerings to is yourself in the form of Vajrayogini. So you emanate offering goddesses from your heart, and they offer offerings to yourself, and then get it back to your heart. If you don’t perform self-initiation, then these offerings which were blessed at the beginning of the sadhana, you have to offer these very blessed offerings to yourself. If you perform this self initiation, then you offer these offerings which were blessed at the beginning of the sadhana, probably to the protectors or somebody, when you performed this self-initiation. So here, you have to bless these offerings again, if you have performed self-initiation. So here, just a few more words about taking initiation. Say there’s a king who has five sons, and he doesn’t know which of these five sons wil l become a king after him. So first he gathers them together, and puts his crown on the head of the son who he would like to be king after him. Also, a king might have only one son. Then it’s definite that that son will become a king after him. So, in the same way, if you were determined to belong to this family of Vairochana before, then you don’t have to perform this initiation, to imagine Vairochana on your crown. If you were not determined before, but you are determined only at this time, like at the time when the king puts his crown ornament on the head of his son, you have to perform this initiation, and imagine this excess of nectar on the head becomes Vairochana Heruka. That’s just an example. It doesn’t refer to the time of initiation, when you put this flower, and your lama says you belong to this family or that family. It doesn’t refer to this one. It simply refers to your way of thinking, because Vajrayogini refers to the Akshobhya family. So here, you imagine limitless goddesses, all the eight offering goddesses, and goddesses of t he five senses. So you emanate these deities from your heart, and they make offerings to yourself, and then you imagine that they gather back to your heart. And if you perform mudras, because you are offering to yourself, you make this mudra. Before, when you made offerings to front generation, you made this mudra, because you emanated deities in front. So this mudra, it exemplifies offerings. This mudra exemplifies sending forth goddesses. So if you make offerings to yourself, then you do it like this. If you make offerings to a deity in front, you do it like this. And you imagine that limitless goddesses come forth from your heart. Then you pronounce the names of the offerings like argham, and so forth, and make these mudras, and then you gather them back to your heart, making this mudra. And you should imagine that you generate uncontaminated great bliss in your mental continuum when you are offering these offerings. Here you meditate on yourself as Vajrayogini, and you make offerings to yourself as Vajrayogini, and you think that you have generated uncontaminated great bliss. This is one of
Then you imagine that when Rinpoche touched your head, with this vajra, and he tells you that now you enter the family of yoginis. It’s called the pleasure of secrecy, and you shouldn’t disclose these secrets to beings who haven’t entered the family of Vajrayogini and who don’t have any faith. So actually, you have to be very serious with respect to secrecy, when you have promised to keep it secret. There are four main causes of attaining the (results) of secret mantra. The first is irreversable faith in your guru, yidams, and so forth. Then wisdom without doubt, means that you shouldn’t have any doubts with regard to your practice, for example, doubts whether it is proper for you to receive initiation, to practice, and so forth. So you shouldn’t have any doubts. Then thare is one-pointed mind. This is not referring to samadhi, to concentration, but to taking one-pointedly your own yidam, and seeing it as a condensation of all the y idams, of all the Buddhas, whether you practice Yamantaka, whether you practice Demchog, and so forth. Then the fourth one is keeping secrecy. And so you shouldn’t disclose the secrets to non-suitable vessels, to people who are not ripened yet to practice and to receive. And if you do, then all your practice will be just (useless). The main figure in the mandala emanates a replica of it, which is also the same shape and so forth. And Neljorma gives you a vajra. You take this vajra and she leads you into the mandala. Now you will be taking bodhisattvaa vows and vows of secret mantra. The basis for taking bodhisattva vows is refuge. Then when you take bodhisattva vows, it is not enough to keep these vows purely; you also have to collect merits, so you have to practice confession and collecting merits. The best way of collecting merits is rejoicing, because by rejoicing, you can increase limitlessly your own virtue, whether you rejoice in your own virtue or you rejoice in others’ virtue. So now you will recite these verses. (bodhisattva vows) Then you consider that you have generated pure bodhisattva vows. Then after, you have to take secret mantra vows, fourteen main vows and eight secondary vows, and also nineteen vows related to five Buddha families. Here you don’t have to list all of them. Just recite these verses and think that you have generated and taken all of these vows. (reciting vows) When you say vows of mother tantra, it’s not vows, but just pledges of mother tantra. So there are fourteen pledges of general tantra, and eight pledges of mother tantra, so altogether it will be twenty-two. Then it’s generating of inner dak ini, inviting and dissolving of outer dakini, and cognizing of secret dakini. In order to generate the dakini within yourself, first you also have to generate as a dakini. So you have to imagine your lama inseparable from Vajrayogini stands in front of you. Then light rays emanate from the heart of your lama, and they purify all the negativities, all the defiliments you’ve accumulated, and also they purify your body, your aggregate of form. In this aggregate of form, your body dissolves into light, into emptiness. Then from (this), from EH, EH, arises two reality sources. In the middle of these reality sources is a moon disk, on which stands a syl lable
BAM, which is surrounded by the three OM mantra (OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE...) counterclockwise. Then light emanates from the syllable BAM, purifies all the defilements of sentient beings, and then gathers back. Then this BAM turns into Vajrayogini, so you are generated as Vajrayogini. At your navel, you visualize two reality sources. Then, in the middle of these reality sources, from the syllable AH, arises a moon disk, upon which stands a syllable BAM, a red syllable. (Then you ask your lama) to bless to give you siddhis, attainments, of all the qualities of the three jewels. Rinpoche, when he says this mantra, imagine that a small Vajrayogini, of this size, emanates from his heart, and goes into your mouth, dancing, and and melts into the syllable BAM. And you imagine that everything changes, and this syllable BAM changes into an eight-petalled lotus, with a sun disk on it, with a red Vajrayogini standing on it, with all the hand implements, and so forth. It’s what is meant by generating of inner dakini, you generate within this reality source in your naval. This fire (is the fire) of wisdom. It does not hurt you, it is not a fire which can hurt you because it is fire of wisdom. And whatever deity, you imagine that all of them stand like within a naval fire. So you think that Vajrayogini stands within this fire within your heart. The next one is putting on armor. The inner dakini doesn’t need this armor, because if you protect yourself, as a dakini, then the inner dakini will also be protected. So you have to put this armor in order to protect yourself from the hindrances to the attainment of siddhis. When Rinpoche recites these verses, you have to imagine that in different places in your body, like naval, and heart, and throat, and so forth you imagine moon disks. Then you imagine on the moon disk on your naval, you imagine two red syllables, OM and BAM, which have the nature of Dorje Pamo, Vajravarahi. Then at the level of your heart, you imagine again on this moon disk, two blue syllables, HAM and YOM, which have the nature of Shin Jema, (Yamini). Then at the level of your mouth, you imagine HRIM and MOM, of white color, which have the nature of Mom Jema (Mohani). Then at the level of your forehead, you imagine HRIM, HRIM, of yellow color, which have the nature of Kyo Jema (Samstrasani). Then, here (crown), you imagine two HUMs, of green color, which have the nature of Tag Jema (Samstrasani). Then, in all the branches, the eight major joints, here and here, you imagine smoke colored two PHATs, which have the nature of Tsen Dikay (Chandika). You don’t only imagine these letters, but you imagine that light emanates from these letters. It’s like you put on a sweater of different colors. So for example, you imagine that red light emanates from OM and BAM, at the level of the navel, and it pervades all the body below the navel. Then at the level of the
Vajravarahi, and he said that it is the same. Vajravarahi is pig, it means Pig dakini, because pig is ignorance. Vajrayogini is the deity of wisdom, of cognition of emptiness, and cognition of emptiness destroys ignorance. So that is why she is given this name. Q.The two of them are the same? A.Yes. Here there are five families: Vairochana, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Amogasiddhi, and Akshobhya. Such deities as Tara refer to the family of Amoghasiddhi, and deities such as Avalokiteshwar refer to the family of padma, or Amitabha. Such deities as Dorje Namgyelma refers to the famiy of Vairochana. And all the deities refer to one of these five families. So here, Dorje Neljorlma refers to the Akshobhya family. But here you visualize Vairochana on her crown. Why? Because Vairochana refers to the purest kind of form, and exemplifies method. Vajrayogini exemplifies wisdom. So here, wisdom is combined with method. Here, when you meditate on Vairochana Heruka, these are the signs of his being Vairochana. He has a white-colored body. And he doesn’t hold a vajra and a bell. He holds a wheel in his right hand, and a bell in his left hand. And the signs of his being Heruka are that he has a vajra a nd crescent moon in his crown. And he has six mudras, different ornaments, and his Yum has five types of ornaments. She is similar to him, and Rinpoche says that probably means that she has the same hand implements. You imagine him sitting within the jewel which you meditate on your crown. You are in the form of Vajrayogini, and you have a jewel on your crown, and he sits in the empty place within the middle of this jewel, with his Yum. Q.You have a jewel on your crown? A.Yes. Q.When did that happen? A.You imagine a wheel here, a wheel made of bones. And in the middle of this wheel made of bones, you imagine a small jewel, within which is Vairochana Heruka. Q.Was that always there, or is that just appearing now? A.Yes, it’s always there. But Rinpoche says you can either perform this initiation or not; it’s up to you. But even if you don’t perform this initiation, still you have to imagine Vairochana Heruka on your crown. If you perform this initiation, the excess of this nectar forms Vairochana Heruka, with Yum, on your crown. If not, then you simply imagine that you have it on your crown. So, if you perform the initiation, you have to say these verses, “I, in the form of Dorje Neljorma, who stands within the fire of wisdom”, if not, you simply say, “I am standing within this fire of wisdom, with Vairochana Heruka Yab
Then the next one is wearing the armour. At this time, you have to imagine many moon disks. In your navel, then in your heart, in your throat (in the sadhana, it says in the mouth, but it means in the throat), what’s it called, adam’s apple? And it says also all the branch es, all the joints. It says there are eight big joints (showing on body, wrists, shoulders, hips, and ankles). Q.When you’re meditating for four hours, do you meditate on this part too? A.Yes, you meditate on the whole mandala, including the armor. And so you imagine these two syllables. The first refers to Yab, and the second refers to Yum. And you imagine them as if, if you would have flesh and skin, they would be between the flesh and skin, but you are in the form of Neljorma, which has neither skin nor flesh. You imagine them as if they were within the glass, so you cannot touch them. And then light rays emanate from each of the two syllables, for example, here it is red, and you imagine that the blue HAM YOM emanates from this part of your body. All the joints, that means all the branches, all your arms and legs, are smoke colored. This is what is known as wearing armour. It’s like wearing armour, so that you can’t be harmed by an arrow. You wear it in the same manner, to protect yourself. Q.This is like a ring of light that goes outside the body?
heart, you imagine blue light from HAM and YOM, and it pervades all your body til your throat. And so forth. Light of respective color emanates from those two letters in different places. The same for hands and legs. That was the generation of inner dakini. Now is sort of descending of outer dakini. Limitless light rays emanate from the heart of your guru, then invite limitless buddhas in the form of dakini. Then also, dakinis, limitless Vajrayoginis emanate from the heart of the guru, and all of them dissolve into yourself. You have to imagine it while Rinpoche will play instruments. (reciting mantras, bell and damaru) So then this next is recognizing the secret dakini. So you imagine the central channel which begins in the middle of your eyebrows, and goes directly in the middle of your head and goes to your secret place. Its thickness is like an arrow, not too thick. Then you imagine that a white joy swirl, swirling counter-clockwise, from your secret place through t he central channel, to the level of your heart. Then you feel that all your body and mind are pervaded by bliss. Then a red joy swirl comes from your eyebrows, through the central channel, too, to the level of your heart and you think that all appearances are empty. Then they mix together in a certain way very quickly, and they dissolve into emptiness. This very emptiness is the secret dakini. And your mind which perceives this emptiness, it means to recognize the secret dakini.
A.Actually, it’s like clothes that are made of light. It’s neither your body nor your skin. It’s like external clothes, and you wear it to protect yourself from hindrances to meditating on yourself as a deity.
(There are) three vajra queens, secret, inner, and outer. So outer means limitless dakinis who are invited into your body, inner is the dak ini within your navel, and secret is the wisdom inseparability of bliss and emptiness.
So the t hird branch is not only wearing armour, but (wang kor gitab), when you meditate on the deities on your crown is what is called (wang kor gitab). It’s something that is added to receiving initiation. It’s not necessary to meditate on this. Here it is divided into two, receiving initiation, and this gitab, this lord of the family on your crown. If you do them, you have to do both of them. You cannot just receive initiation and then not meditate on this lord. Either you don’t do both of them, or you have to do both of them.
...you offer flowers to Rinpoche. Then, when Rinpoche says the second mantra, you when you say second mantra, you imagine that Rinpoche (means Vajrayogini) offers flowers to yourself, puts them on your head. (mantras)
So then you invite the empowering deities, which are the 62 deities of Chakrasamvara, and then the deities of the four doors remove hindrances, the viras sing songs, and so forth. And then the four deities of the heart, which refer to the four elements, they perform initiation, together with Vajravarahi, they perform an initiation. They come and pour water on your crown, and that fills your whole body, and you think that you attain initiation and purify all your defilements. The excess of this water, which is called gitab, comes up through your crown and turns into Vairochana Heruka, who is white, but is like Vajradhara. Q.Who is actually pouring the water? A.You imagine (these four) and the main one, who is Vajravarahi. (Slava): I just asked Rinpoche whether it is the same Vajrayogini and
So you are able to receive initiation. So the last par t is seeing this mandala. So Rinpoche will recite one mantra, sort-of pushing you to see this mandala. (mantras) That was outer and inner entering into the mandala. And now, before you receive initiation, you have to offer mandala. (mandala offering) (He says that) Vajrayogini has different qualities, and you ask her to give you blessings to receive all the qualities she has. (repeating mantras) You receive initiation in the form of Vajrayogini, so you imagine yourselves in front of the mandala of Vajrayogini. So you stand on the sun disk, which is placed on the lotus, which is placed on the lion throne. Above yourself, you have umbrellas. Then on the right and to the left, you have victory banners. They are slightly different. To the right has drawings of lion and so forth, three animals. To the left doesn’t have any drawings, but they are shaped the same. And you are surrounded by limitless offerings.
You are in the form of Vajrayogini as well; you are Vajrayogini. Then light rays emanate from the heart of your guru and dakini. They invite empowering deities, who are the sixty-four deities of the mandala of Chakrasamvara, and they perform different functions, for example the five goddesses of offering, they make offerings, then the protectors protect different doors of the mandala and so forth. Rinpoche didn’t give the whole list.
A.They bless the channels, winds, and drops, and it because of the blessing of internal messengers by external messengers, this mind of great bliss, which cognizes emptiness, gets more power to cognize emptiness, is sort of blessed this way, and becomes more powerful.
...yum of Chakrasamvara, so you taste it, and you think that you generate great bliss in your mind. ...its nature is Heruka, and its aspect is (?).
A.You don’t have to think about this blissful mind which cognizes emptiness, because you don’t have this blissful mind. You receive this blessing in order to have it. So you should just think about these blessings. That due to the power of these blessings, you will induce this blissful mind. That these blessings will induce this blissful mind.
When Rinpoche says DZA HUM BAM HO, all the empowering deities dissolve into ... the syllable BAM in your heart. (mantras) Then you ask the attention of guru Vajrayogini, and promise to take (her) as a Yidam until you attain Buddhahood, and promise to recite this mantra as much as you can, either one round of beads, or twenty-one, or at least seven. Not less than seven times.
26 June, 1992 Rinpoche again said that when you recite these verses, you try to get proper motivation, that by the virtue of listening to Dharma and other virtues, by the power of it you are going to attain Buddhahood.
5. GURU YOGA So yesterday, we finished four yogas: sleep, arising from sleep, tasting nectar, and four immeasurables. The fifth one is Guru Yoga. So what does the word “guru” mean in these two words? The guru is the person from whom you received dharma teachings, and you should see him as having one and the same nature w ith the Buddha. Whether you practice Chakrasamvara, Guhyasamaja, Yamantaka, Avalokiteshwar, or Manjushri, all of them are inseparable from your root guru from whom you received these teachings. When you can really see your guru as a real Buddha, when you have a nonartificial feeling of your guru as a real Buddha, that is what is meant by guru yoga. To see your guru as being one with a real Buddha, as being a real Buddha. Can you see your guru in such a way? A.No. (laughs) It’s OK, because even for Rinpoche, even for people who practice for a long time, it’s also difficult. It doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. So Rinpoche just tells you what it says in these books, but it doesn’t mean that he has these experiences. It is difficult to have this attitude, to see al l your dharma teachers as real Buddhas. So it’s better to take just one who you feel is most kind to you, and who you consider to be most important to you, and to whom you
Q.So at this point, one should be absorbed in a state of bliss and emptiness?
Q.The lowest external messenger is your self-generation? A.Just meditating on oneself in the form of Vajrayogini is just a sort of imputed lower messenger. It’s not really a lower external messenger. The real lower external messenger is this cognition on the path of generation stage, which is gained by meditating of oneself as a deity. I just asked Rinpoche what it means insights of generation stage. It means first first you complete taking the first two bodies as a path, dharmakaya, and sambhogakaya. Then you generate yourself as Vajrayogini, and you can clearly meditate on the mandala. Then you can gather this mandala into the internal mandala, and so forth. And when you are able to meditate for four hours clearly without any distraction, without doing anything else, on this mandala, supporting and supported mandala, is what is known as gaining cognition at the t ime of generation stage. Q.This mandala that is in our heart, with 37 deities, is there any size for those deities. Are they very small, or any particular size? A.As Rinpoche said before, at first you can meditate on them as any size, not too big, not too small, but as you like. But then, when you get more ability, you can meditate on yourself as being very big, but internal deities very small, or yourself as being very small, but internal deities very big. Like do you remember this, looking through a needle? Or both can be small or both can be big. But at the beginning stage, if you imagine yourself as normal size, then you can imagine the deities of the body mandala standing on a moon disk or sun disk of this size. Of course, it’s made of light, not made of wood. So you can meditate as you like, whatever is suitable to your mind. But what is important is that every day you meditate on these deities as having one and the same size, until you make your meditation firm. You shouldn’t meditate one day having the deities small, and another day having the deities big. It’s like changing deities, for example, today I meditate onity, tomorrow on another deity. So it’s like this. So at the time of body mandala, what is called (dam chok), it’s meaning is completed here, what is meant by (khorla dhompa), its meaning is completed here, at the time of meditating on body mandala.
emanate through this needle. And the ends of it have the aspects of hooks. and they invite all the enlightened beings, all of them, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, 62 deities of the Chakrasamvara mandala, and so forth, in the aspect of viras and dakinis and so forth all of them. And all of them gather into the supporting and supported mandala of Vajrayogini, with deities of the body mandala in heart. Q.So, and then? A.You invite them, yes? And they have different aspects. Then they gather into just one supporting and supported mandala of Vajrayogini, and with deities of body mandala in her heart. Then you say DZA, HUM, BAM, HO, yes? At the time of DZA, the supported mandala stands above you. Then HUM, it’s like here, it starts to mix. Then BAM, it mixes completely. Then HO is when you never can separate them again. So DZA is like they stand one above another. HUM is like when you put together two books with many pages, Rinpoche showed you before (shuffling). BAM is like when you put water into milk, and at first it’s not completely mixed. HO is when you can never separate them. So you have three external messengers here. The lowest one is the the space on which you meditate, the Vajrayogini in which form you imagine yourself. It’s the lower external messenger. Then middle external messenger is the dakinis which abide in the 24 external places. And the best one is the external dakinis which abide in Buddha fields. Then these channels which you have in your bodies, which go either through your eyes or your ears, or your hands and so forth, are called internal messengers, and they are the lowest. Both channels and kam. And these 24 channels and the red and white bodhicitta which abides within these channels in your heart are middle internal messengers, not the highest one, but not the lowest one. And the best inner messengers are the central channel, and the tigle and spring drop which abide in this channel. The direct cognition of voidness is the best secret messenger. Conceptual cognition of voidness through the meaning generality is the middle secret messenger. Actually these are the first two secret messengers. The subject which cognizes the object, which is emptiness, is not a s imple mind, but has to be the mind of great bliss. And the lowest secret messenger is just the mind which is neither the mind of great bliss, or the mind which cognizes emptiness, but just t he mind which w ishes to cognize emptiness, just aspirational mind. So, what is called the mixing of the three messengers is you invite the three external messengers. These three messengers dissolve into your three internal messengers, which are your channels and bo dhicittas. They dissolve into them in such a way that they bless them, your channels and bodhicittas. This induces, or sort of generates the blissful mind that cognizes emptiness. In such a way you mix the three messengers, external, internal, and secret. Q.They bless and induce?
have this natural feeling, can see him as a real Buddha. Take him as a main, and consider all your other dharma teachers as his emanations. In such a way, it will be easy to consider all of them to be Buddhas. And here, because we’re talking about the practice of Vajrayogini, it is best to consider as a main figure the person from whom you received Vajrayogini initiation the first time. So you consider him as having the nature of your root guru, and having the aspect of Lama Vajradharma. In essence, he is your guru, in aspect Guru Vajradharma. So why do you have to consider this person as your root guru and having an aspect of Vajradharma? Because based on it you can accumulate merit, by making offerings to him, by making prostrations to him, you can accumulate merit. And why do you have to visualize Vajradharma as your guru, and not something else like Yamantaka, or Vajrayogini, or other dakinis and heroes and so forth? Because this is the best field for accumulating merit, your own guru. Because if you consider Vajradharma as having the nature of your own guru, you’ll accumulate blessings quicker, and these blessings will multiply, become bigger. So in lam rim, it said about relying on a spiritual guide, so Rinpoche wil l not explain it now. He’ll just explain how to practice guru yoga. Before, in visualizing the field of refuge, in the same way should imagine your guru in the space in front of you, at the distance of an arm’s length. You sit so t hat if you slightly raise your eyes, you can see all the objects of refuge. So, you imagine in front of you a divine mansion, having four walls, four doors, like when you visualize the mandala. Having in front tapuk, what is tapuk? Q. Doorways? A.Actually tapuk is the place where you have to come down from the horse. Ta means horse, and buk means to descend. Q.Dismounting platform. Yes, and you imagine all these things having the nature of being established from within the nature of exalted wisdom, having the nature of exalted wisdom. So it has the nature of light. It’s not like this wall, made of stones, and so forth. It’s not made of stone. It does not have any obstructions. It’s like a cloud of light in the space in front of you. You see it as being adorned with a lot of different jewels, a lot of ornaments, and so forth, this divine mansion, and having a jewel at the top. So the same thing as when you visualize the divine mandala. And then you imagine in the center of this mansion is a throne which is supported by eight lions. You imagine a multi-colored lotus on this throne, then a moon disk, above which stands a light sun-disk. And then, sitting on the throne, you imagine your own guru, who has the nature of your own guru and the aspect of Vajradharma. So then you imagine, the same as in your sadhana. First you imagine this divine mansion, and then t his throne, and your
own guru having the aspect of Buddha Vajradharma. And actually, Buddha Vajradharma is similar to Buddha Vajradhara, but there are only two differences. First, Buddha Vajradhara has a blue colored body, and Vajradharma has red color. And the other difference is that Buddha Vajradharma has bone ornaments and Buddha Vajradhara doesn’t. The other things are the same. Both have vajra and bell; everything else is t he same. So then you imagine t he lineage of gurus. What does it mean lineage of gurus? It means lineage of gurus through whom this transmission came to your own root guru, and to you. So there are two ways of visualising. First, is when you imagine all of them sitting above each other, the whole lineage of gurus above Guru Vajradharma. It’s in order to make firm relations with the lineage of gurus, with your guru, in order for these relations not to be broken. Then, another way is when you imagine them all being condensed within one root guru. It’s in order to make speedier the receiving of blessings from them. The third one is to imagine them as surrounding your root guru counterclockwise. It’s in order to expand your riches, your wealth. In this tradition, you imagine all the lineage of lamas beginning with Vajradhara sitting counter-clockwise on small thrones surrounding the main figure. As their names are listed in the sadhana, you have first Guru Vajradharma, then Vajradakini, then Naropa, and so forth, in the same way you imagine them surrounding Guru Vajradharma. And it’s not only to increase wealth but also to increase your entourage. (Do you have this word? It means people to whom you teach dharma) In such a way, the teachings of dharma will increase. So then you imagine in the center is Guru Vajradharma. Then in front of him, you imagine, as it’s listed in the sadhana, in front of him is Vajradakini. And then you imagine all the other gurus, including Naropa, which surround Vajradharma, as having t he aspect of Hero Vajradharma. Q.Can you say which is the one that’s facing Vajradharma, is it Vajradhara? No, Vajradharma. And all of them are red. Vajradakini is also red, and Hero Vajradharma is also red. Q.It says all the lineage gurus from Buddha Vajradhara to my root guru. Does that mean that the front of your root guru is Vajradhara? No, the front guru Vajradhara means that Vajradhara is the main one who transmitted all the lineages. Q.No, but is he seated in front? A.No, it’s still Vajradharma. Q.Wait a minute, it says “beginning in front and circling counter clockwise, all the lineage gurus from Buddha Vajradhara to my root guru.” So does that mean you have Vajradharma in the center and the others all circling around. A.You have two Buddhas Vajradharma. One is in the middle, and the other is in front of you. So this figure in the middle, which is Guru Vajradharma,
wind, but each one of these predominates in eight of the channels. For example, eight of the channels have predominantly white bodhicitta, with just a little red bodhicitta a nd a little wind, etc. If you omit the three OMs, the three HUMs, and the three PHATs, there are 24 syllables left in the mantra. These 24 become the deities of the mind, speech,and body mandala. The wind channels become the first eight syllables of the mantra, and these syllables become the eight heroines of mind. The second and third sets of eight are similar. Eight are for red bodhicitta, and these are the next eight syllables, which become the eight heroines of speech. Either you imagine that the bodhichittas and winds dissolve into letters and then become deities, of that they are transformed into letters, and then become deities. The third eight letters become the body mandala. The last set of eight letters become eight channels, four to the four doors (tongue, navel, sex organ, and anus), and four intermediates (brow, ears, eyes, and nostrils). These channels dissolve into the last eight letters, which become the eight goddesses of doors and intermediate. There are a total of 37 deities in the heart. All are forms of Vajrayogini, and all are standing on Bhairava and Kalaratri. The colors of the four inside ones are red, white, green, and yellow. Inviting the wisdom beings and mixing the three messengers, from the sphere of reality:(end of notes)) (tape 12) bodhisattvas, and they dissolve into yourself, and they with the invitation of the wisdom beings. You divide them from the sphere of reality. So in either tradition of t his (?) of these deities, you have to recite something, that I invite such and such deities from the sphere of reality, but here you just recite the syllable PHEM, and reciting it you invite them. (discussion on physical posture) (You have to sit with feet together, with hands touching thumbs and forefingers, and other fingers spread. The mudra starts from the left knee) So you have to turn it three times counter clockwise, three times clockwise, and three times counter clockwise. Sakya lamas call it the gesture of wonderful illusion, and Je Rinpoche called it the blazing mudra. (tea break) So first t hree times counter clockwise, then three times clockwise, then again three more times counter clockwise. Q.My walls are thin, and I have to do my practice very quietly, even mentally. Is this OK? A.If you are in a monastery, or some place where you might disturb people, you can do it quietly, but if you are alone, and if you can do it, you can do it with such force that if there is some crow there, it will scare it away. So then light rays emanate from the syllable BAM in your heart, and
A.You should imagine just one part of the central channel, and this kam, here the kam element refers to the white and red bodhicitta, which you have in the central channel, this tigle and spring drop. One is red bodhicitta, and the other is white bodhicitta. So this part of the central channel plus this kam element, they turn into crescent moon, tigle, and nada, and these three turn into Vajrayogini. So in such a way, you transform your channels and elements into Vajrayogini. One part of central channel means that you don’t turn your whole central channel into Vajrayogini, you transform just a part of it into Vajrayogini. So you can imagine that part of t he central channel that you have in the level of the heart knot is the part that you transform into Vajrayogini. The whole central channel which extends from the crown of your head to the secret place doesn’t turn into Vajrayogini, only the central channel at the level of the heart knot. So then you have six knots in the region of your heart, three knots slightly above, and three knots slightly below, and there is a space between them. And within this place, you have four other channels which are joined w ith the central channel, in the heart. (drawing picture) So if you look at it from the upper part, here is the central channel, and here are the four other channels which are called Sankhorma, on the east, on the south is Chinma, on the west is Dunma (du means desire), the lowest is Tumma. You have it in the Chakrasamvara mandala. So you transform the syllables of the four elements into the four dakinis. So again, first you have to dissolve channels and these drops, channels and this kam, bodhicitta, into these syllables, and then you have to transform these syllables into the four dakinis. So first Rinpoche says what these two, red and white bodhicitta, this spring drop and this tig le mix. And all of them have just very, very subtle atoms of each of the four elements, and so here you imagine that this mixture of red and white bodhicitta, within this mixture, for example, elements of wind dissolve into the syllable YAM, and this YAM dissolves into the respective dakini. In the same way, atoms of the element fire dissolve into the syllable RAM, and the syllable RAM dissolves into the respective dakini, and so forth. And here the four elements come. As for channels, you imagine that just small parts of these four channels again dissolve into the respective four elements, just small par ts of each of these four channels dissolve into each of the four syllables, which turn into the four dakinis, and so forth. In such a way, you have five deities. But you have to have 32 more. So each of the four channels here, it’s split into two more, each of them. In such a way, you have eight heart channels, and these are called four heart channels. (Tape gets bad here)(tape 11, side b) (from notes:) (Each of the eight channels branches into three, so the total is 24. In each of the channels, you have red bodhicitta and white bodhicitta, and
you consider as your root guru, yeah? Then, another Buddha Vajradharma, which is in front and slightly down, because the whole lineage of gurus is slightly down. You consider him to be the (founder) of the lineage through which these teachings were transmitted. So you have two Vajradharmas. Q.But it says that all of them are in the aspect of Hero Vajradharma. A.Not all of them. First the main figure has the aspect of Buddha Vajradharma. Then the figure in front has the aspect of Buddha Vajradharma. Then Vajradakini. Then all the figures beginning with Naropa, have the aspect of Hero Vajradharma. So you have three aspects here, Buddha Vajradharma, Hero Vajradharma, and Vajrayogini. Q.So then when you emanate goddesses, you’re going to have to emanate one god, right? (laughs. No answer) (tape over) So the last one in this circle which surrounds your root guru is the root guru of your root guru. So you have the main figure, and in front of him you have another Buddha Vajradharma. To the left of this small Vajradharma, you have Vajrayogini; to the right, you have the root guru of your root guru, because it’s the end of the circle. So you imagine th is group of gurus in front of the main figure looks at you, and the ones behind the main figure also look toward you, but as for the right and left groups, they look at the main figure. Q.Is it more of a square than a circle? A.No, it’s a circle. You don’t have to worry that the lamas behind the main figure don’t see you, because it’s like red glass. They don’t obstruct each other from seeing. So they still look at you, although they’re behind the throne. They are very, very kind to you. Because you are this lineage, this tradition, and so the lamas of this tradition are very, very, very kind to you. And all the lamas have the syllable OM at their crown, AH at their throat, and HUM at their heart. Then light also from Vajrayogini. All the lamas have the syllable HUM in their hearts. So light rays emanate from these HUMs in the hearts of a ll the lamas, and they have the aspect of hooks, their ends have the aspect of hooks. They touch all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of all the ten directions, and they withdraw limitless Buddhas, bodhisattvas, heroes, and dakinis from the hearts of these gurus and bodhisattvas, and absorb them. There are many Buddhas, bodhisattvas, etc., but you imagine them all as having the aspect of only Guru Vajradharma and Hero Vajradharma. In such a way, being invoked, they dissolve into the hearts of each lama. For example when all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas dissolve into the the heart of your root guru, of Vajrayogini, of Naropa, and so forth, you see your root guru, and all the others as having the nature of all the Buddhas. So in such a way you generate this field of merit. Then you have to accumulate merit. Then you should make the sevenlimbed practice. The first one is prostrations. Then offerings. Then confession. Then rejoicing. Then taking refuge. Then generating bodhicitta mind.
Then dedication. Seven, yeah? It has a slightly different name; it is not just the seven-pointed practice, but it’s the same as the seven-limbed practice you know. What does it mean, the seven-limbed practice? So here you have all the same, but two are different: asking to turn the wheel of dharma, and not to leave samsara. So here you don’t use these. And except that you take refuge and generate bodhicitta mind. So these seven with asking to turn the wheel of dharma and not to leave samsara are called t he seven-limbed practice, seven branches. These, with taking refuge and generating bodhicitta are called dn ngamda, seven purities. When you use the seven-limbed practice, it refers to the objects of refuge in the form of the Nirmanakaya, but when you use this seven purities, the objects of refuge are in the form of Sambhogakaya. All the lamas in this field of refuge are in the form of Sambhogakaya. And Sambhogakaya has what is called five certainties, within which there are two certainties. One is certainty of dharma. It means they teach only dharma of great vehicle, so that’s why you don’t have to ask them to turn the wheel of dharma. And the other certainty is the certainty of time. That means they abide helping sentient beings until the end of samsara. So you don’t have to ask them not to leave samsara, because they are always there. (break) Q.(about ornaments of Buddha Vajradharma, whether they’re made of bone) A.Probably the bracelets are made of bone, but as for necklace and earrings, they’re just made of precious substances. So probably the bracelets are made of bone, but it’s hard to say (from looking at a picture), because they are of the same shape. So here in this picture, for example, at least these ones can be bone ornaments, but you can’t say for sure. (looking at another picture) So Neljorma has bone ornaments, but they don’t necessarily have to have this very shape. Vajradharma has and Vajradhara doesn’t have bone ornaments. (Rinpoche recites verses of prostration) The verse that Rinpoche just recited has to do with the limb of prostration. If you can ac tually prostrate, it’s good, but if not, then you just have to imagine that you make prostration, and that you are surrounded by limitless sentient beings which also make prostrations. Then when you recite these verses, it is praises which you express through speech. If you can’t actually prostrate, just put your palms together. Here you make three prostrations. Either you make a full prostration, or you just put your palms together. Then when you express these praises through your mouth, it’s prostrations of speech, and when you prostrations of your mind is faith in your lama. And so here when you recite the first line, “By the kindness of your guru, the highest attainment, the great bliss of enlightenment, can be attained instantaneously.” But that doesn’t mean that it’s really the case. So why do you say “by whose kindness the state of great bliss c an be attained instanta-
in your heart, inside which you imagine a moon disk upon which lies a sun disk, upon which you imagine a syllable BAM, which is surrounded counter clockwise by this three-om mantra, “OM, OM, OM, SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE,” etc. Q.Here it says only moon. A.But Rinpoche says sun: a moon, upon which you imagine a sun as well. So here, you also have a syllable BAM, which consists also of crescent moon, tigle, and nada. So the crescent moon, tigle, and nada, these three turn into Vajrayogini, and then the syllable BAM, the main part of it, turns into YA, RA, LA, WA, syllables of four elements, which turn into four dakinis, referred to as four elements: Khandroma, Lama, Sochema, and Tungjema, these four. Then, also it’s surrounded by 32 letters of the three-OM mantra, then 24 of these letters turn into the eight deities of the mandala of the mind, eight deities of the mandala of t he speech, and eight deities of the mandala of the body. And either eight letters, which are “HUM, HUM, HUM, PHAT, PHAT, PHAT, and SOHA,” these eight turn into eight deities which are called four (goma) and (tsamas), I’m not sure of the Sanskrit names for them. Four goddesses of doors (go-ma) and four goddesses of intermediate directions (tsa-ma). So, you transform all these letters into different deities. But how do you transform the elements of your body into these deities? First you have to know that you have a drop of white bodhicitta, which is very small, just like a white seed, in your heart, which you attained from your father. It’s called the spring drop. And you have a drop of red bodhicitta, which you attained from you mother, which you have in your navel. It’s called simply tigle. Then these white and red drops have to mix, have to be mixed together, and to dissolve into the crescent moon, tigle, and nada of the syllable BAM, and this one turns into Vajrayogini, who will be the main figure of the mandala. Q.So they mix together, and then they do what? A.Dissolve into crescent moon, tigle, and nada. So then Rinpoche says that the syllable BAM turns into four syllables YA, RA, LA, and WA, and these four syllables of elements, and these four turn into four dakinis. But this is just syllables. In order for you to turn the elements of your body into the four dakinis, you have to transform the various subtle atoms of each of the elements, of earth, fire, and so forth, into this YA, RA, LA, WA, these four syllables. And these four syllables have to be transformed into four dakinis. So here how do you transform your channels and the elements of your body into Vajrayogini? You have this crescent moon, tigle, and nada, yes? Then you transform one part of the central channel, this kam element, which is not one of the four elements, into the crescent moon, tigle, and nada, and they turn into Vajrayogini. Q.Could you say that again from the beginning?
and purify all the defilemants of each sentient being. Then again all the sentient beings attain the stage of Vajrayogini, and then everything gathers back. Or if you do it more extensively, you can imagine that on the ends of these light rays, the 62 deities of the mandala of Chakrasamvara, and again they perform full initiation upon every sentient being, the sentient beings purify all their defilements, and the sentient beings attain the stage of Vajrayogini, and they gather back. Q.So what’s gathering back, the sentient beings, Vajrayogini, or oneself? A.Yes, Vajrayoginis are gathering back. You can either emanate only red light, or you can emanate three types of light, white, blue, and red, or can emanate five types of light, white, blue, red, yellow, and green. Or you can imagine at the end of each ray is Chakrasamvara with yum, Vajrayogini, and they sit on the head of every sentient being, enter into union, and then from their secret place, comes nectar which purifies all defilements and puts all sentient beings in t he state of Vajrayogini. So the beings referred to are t he six classes of beings. So you purify them, you put them in the pure state, you make the impure pure. So that is why it is called the yoga of puriying migrators. The next one is called the yoga of heroes and heroines.
8. YOGA OF HEROES AND HEROINES This yoga is divided into three parts, body mandala, mixing three messengers, or inviting these w isdom beings, jnanasattvas, and then the third one is wearing armour. So here, body mandala doesn’t mean just to place some external deities within one’s body. You have many parts of your body, and you turn the different parts of your body into different deities; that is what is meant by body mandala. It’s like, for example, if you have a deity drawn on a piece of cloth, it’s called a cloth mandala, for example. Or if it’s made of sand, it’s called a sand mandala. Or if it’s made of silver. it’s called a silver statue. Of gold, it’s called a gold statue. Here you turn parts of your body into a deity. That’s why it’s called a body mandala. So there are actually three ways of meditating on body mandala. The most rough one is to imagine the different organs such as eyes and ears, as a deity. Such a way of meditating on body mandala, you have in Guhyasamaja. Then, you have inner ends of your channels and external ends of your channels. This means that for example your channels begin here, in the heart center, and go to external parts of you body. And so, to meditate on the deities on the external parts of these channels, is more subtle, but it’s not that subtle. And so in such a way of meditating, you have Chakrasamvara of (Dripupa?) tradition. And so in t he Vajrayogini tradition, you have a way of meditating on the deities in the internal ends of the channels. This is the most subtle way of meditating on the body mandala. Here, you imagine these deities in your heart. You imagine two reality sources
neously”? Of course it doesn’t mean that as soon as you pray to him immediately you attain the state of great bliss. It means that by practicing guru yoga, you can attain Buddhahood in this very l ife. If you look at human life from the point of view of hungry ghosts or from the point of view of long lived deities, the life of humans is just like one moment; it’s really short. So that’s why it’s just instantaneously, in one moment. So it helps a lot when you do these three prostrations. Having great faith, that’s prostrations of your mind, and expressing these verses of praise, prostrations of speech, and making actual prostrations with your body, prostration of your body. And then you should imagine that you emanate countless replicas of your own body of t his life, and prostrate to your guru, and also you imagine that you prostrate to him with al l the bodies of past lives as well. Why do you do it? Because in previous lives, while being an ox or wolf or s ome other animal, you accumulated lots of bad karmas, doing bad deeds. By prostrating this way, you purify all the defilements that accumulated by doing these non-virtuous deeds of previoius lives. You imagine them as having the aspect of only human, because, for example, it will be difficult for a dog to prostrate. Q.So all t he previous lives around you in human form and yourself in human form? A.You imagine yourself as Vajrayogini, without divine pride and without and implements, but as for all the other sentient beings, you imagine them only in the form of humans, not in the form of Vajrayogini. Because if you imagine all the sentient beings in the form of deities, they will not have to purify their defilements. So you imagine that you prostrate with limitless bodies of al l your previous lives, and limitless replicas of this life’s body. And you think, as when you do the practice of Vajrasattva, that you amass a lot of blessings from them, and they purify all your defilements, all of them. So the visualization is the same as for Vajrasattva, and you imagine yourself as being purified and receiving blessings at the time you take refuge. When you do the prostrations, if you don’t put five points of your body on the ground, it won’t be a full prostration, so here you have to use your forehead, two palms, and two knees. When you prostrate, you should put your palms not in this way, but in this way (thumbs tucked in). You should place them first on your body first in this place, the ushnisha. That serves as a cause for attaining ushnisha. You don’t necessarily have to put them here (forehead), but there is one hair here, on the Buddha, that curl, and when you touch it, it serves as a cause for attaining that. It’s like three lines here (throat), it’s not for attaining externally the three lines, but it serves as a c ause for attaining Buddha speech, as well. When you put it here (heart), it is a cause of attaining the seven, eight, how is that called? Eternity knot at the heart. But also of attaining the qualities of Buddha’s omnicient mind.
Q.So Rinpoche is saying that at Buddha’s heart he has this eternity knot? A.Yes, but that doesn’t mean that you can see it. Because ordinary sentient beings can’t see it. We cannot see it, but people who attain the path of seeing, that is Aryas, they can abide in the form on Sambhogakaya, and they can see it. But still they cannot see it if something is obstructed. It’s like a glass, they see Buddha’s body, and they see different signs behind the glass. When you put your palms on the ground, you shouldn’t put it in this way. Buddha has like a frog, a web (between the fingers). So to symbolize the c ause of attaining it, you should put it in this way (fingers together). Because we have empty places here, but Buddha doesn’t have. So in order to attain it, you have to do it in this way. Also when you do full prostrations or half prostrations, you should touch the ground with your forehead, because if not, it will serve as a cause of being reborn in a hell. So as soon as you touch it, you should get right up. And you don’t have to (bending arms over head when head is on the ground). You just put your head down and immediately get up. It’s better if you do full prostrations, but if you do half prostrations, it’s still OK, because the space that is covered with your body when you prostrate isn’t just flat space, but is like the golden base of the universe. If you count from this place to the golden base of the universe, there are 80,000 yujanas. So when you count all the atoms of these 80,000 yujanas, for example, you can multiply one prostration by all the atoms which are covered by your body, not just flat, but also going up to the golden base. And it will serve as a cause for taking rebirth as a Chakravart in that number of times. By using a precious human body, each moment can serve as cause for taking rebirth many times. So that’s why it’s so precious. (tape over) For example in lam rim, they say there are four types of great meaning, of auspiciousness of the human body. One is ultimate, one is temporary, another is daily, and the other is momentary. For example when Atisha came to Tibet, he didn’t teach them Tantra, he taught them common path, for example, he taught a lot about prostrations. It was he who said about the atoms and rebirth as a Chakravartin. And so then some Tibetans asked him, “There are many people who make prostrations, and so there should be quite a few Chakravartins in the future, then why is it that there aren’t so many?” And he said that there is great benefit to doing this, but all these roots of vir tue are destroyed by anger and wrong view. So then as soon as you touch the ground, you have to get up immediately again. For example, in Bodh Gaya, some people make prostrations, and because it’s difficult, because they make many prostrations, they sort of lie on the ground, but that’s not right. You have to immediately get up. Why? Because immediately getting up sy mbolizes arising from the sufferings of lower rebirth, and very quickly being liberated from these sufferings. Q.(About using pads for the hands as cause to be reborn as a snake.)
you have a river, you have water, and in this water, you have a naga. In each river, you have a naga. And in the space above the river, you have a cloud. The tenth is this cemetery itself, so it is ten. (cemeteries, trees, directonal protectors, field protectors, mountains, fires, stupas, rivers, nagas, and clouds?) In the middle of these cemeteries, you imagine two syllables, EH,EH. One is turned to yourself, like in a mirror, one is turned to yourself, and the other is reversed. Then they change completely and turn into two reality sources. Within these reality sources, you imagine a lotus, upon which you imagine a sun disk, upon which you imagine yourself in the form of Vajrayogini of red color, your left is bent and right is extended, as it is written in this text. You have a capala, and a knife, and so forth. And she stands within the fire of wisdom. This is the fire of wisdom (showing picture). Here it is sort of two dimensional, but when you imagine it three dimensional, you imagine that you are surrounded completely by this fire. Q.So this fire is inside the cho jung? A.Yes. So this fire doesn’t frighten Neljorma, doesn’t frighten Vajrayogini, because its nature is light. And in t his way, you make collection of oneself as a deity, and you meditate on divine pride of being Nirmanakaya Vajrayogini. So we finished the yoga of generating oneself as a deity, and the next one is the yoga of purifying migrators.
7. YOGA OF PURIFYING MIGRATORS So again you imagine two reality sources within the heart of yourself visualized as Vajrayogini. In the middle of them, you imagine a moon disk upon which stands the syllable BAM, which is surrounded counter clockwise with the mantra “OM, OM, OM SARVA BUDDHA DAKINIYE”, etc. Then light rays emanate from the sylable BAM, mantra garland, and moon disk, this light fills your body, then goes further, and fills the whole universe, purifies the whole universe and the beings inside it, the universe turns into reality sources, and the beings inside it attain the state of Vajrayogini, and take an aspect of Vajrayogini. Then everything gathers back to the syllable BAM, mantra garland, and moon disk. So why is it called the yoga of purifying migrators is because these light rays emanate from this reality source, and they purify all the defilements of sentient beings, and they place them within the pure fields of Buddha. Everything turns into the pure fields and the reality sources, and the beings within these pure fields purify all t heir defilements, and they attain the stage of Vajrayogini. So if you do it more extensively, you can imagine on the end of each light ray, limitless Vajrayoginis, and perform full initiation on each sentient being,
pure realm of the Dakinis. There is such a place. There is a pure realm of dakinis, and they describe it in some texts. And in the same way, in order to go to India, you didn’t have to see it first before going. In the same way, you don’t have to see it first. (Prayer in Tibetan) This is the prayer of Vajrayogini, saying please lead me to the pure realm, me and all the sentient beings. And give me all the blessings and attainments. So there are many positive qualities of the pure realms of the dakinis, and in the future, if Rinpoche has some time, he will explain it. If you know all the qualities, then you will have some wish to go there.
1 July, 1992 So yesterday we finished the yoga of generation of oneself as a deity. Just to remind you in brief, you visualize the syllable BAM, and the moon disk with mantra garland beneath it. And you decide to take rebirth on this. And so the syllable BAM enters the moon disk with mantra garland. Then light rays emanated from the mantra garland to t he moon disk and syllable BAM, purify the defilements of all sentient beings, and at this very moment all of them become Buddhas. Then everything gathers back, and as reality sources and sentient beings in the form of Vajrayogini. Then everything, moon disk, mantra garland, and syllable BAM, change completely, and turn into the supporting and supported mandala of Vajrayogini. And also Rinpoche said about this mandala, you visualize vajra ground, vajra fence, vajra ceiling, vajra tent, and everything is surrounded by fire which turns counter clockwise, within which you have many, many, many arrows which go in every direction. So you have to imagine that it’s very big. The upper part of this tent touches the heaven Akanishtha, and the lower part touches the ground of the universe. You don’t necessarily have to imagnine yourself as very big, but this protection wheel, which is this vajra tent and vajra ground and so forth, you have to imagine as being very very big. And within this protection wheel, you imagine eight cemeteries, four in the four main directions, and four cemeteries in the four intermediate directions. And in each cemetery, you have ten different things; Rinpoche will count it now. In each cemetery, you have trees, you have protectors, and so forth. You have eight trees, one tree in each cemetery. In the lower part of these trees, you have eight directional protectors. And in the upper part of the tree, you have the field protectors. So these (shingkhyono?), field protectors, for example these protectors of direction, you have in all the directions, but as for protectors of places, just can be the protectors of for example, India, or some other countries. Then you have eight mountains, one mountain in each cemetery. And the lower part of each mountain, you have fire. In the upper part of each mountain, you have a stupa. In the left part of each mountain,
A.Rinpoche doesn’t know. (laughs) As far as this way or that way, Rinpoche doesn’t know, but his teachers have told him to get up quickly. So the next branch is of offerings. So in order to make offerings, you have to emanate goddesses. So you imagine yourself as Vajrayogini, with the syllable BAM in your heart. Then you have a nada above the syllable BAM, and from the upper tip of the nada, you emanate these offering deities. And you should emanate as many offering goddesses as you can. So here you emanate limitless goddesses, but they have only actually eight aspects. You have argham and padyam, argham will be offerings for the mouth. Then this goddess who is offering the water has a white color. Next you have padyam, the offering for the feet. This goddess also has a white color. Then pupe, metog-ma, this goddess who offers flowers also has a white color. Then dupe, goddess of incense has a smoke color. Then the goddess of light is light colored, the color of fire, orange. As for the goddess of light, she has an orange color. The goddess of perfume is green colored. Then the goddess who offers food and the goddess who offers music, they both have many colors, like in Kalachakra, they have many colors. And all of them are very beautiful. And because it’s annuttarayoga tantra, you can imagine them with two or four hands. In the three lower tantras, you can imagine them as having only two hands. And also Rinpoche says it is not necessary to imagine them as having only this color; you can imagine them as having any color you like. Then there are also six goddesses which refer to the six senses. The goddess of form has a white color. Then the goddess of sound has a blue color. Of smell, has a yellow color. And of taste has a red color. And of sensation, tactile, has a green color. Then this offering goddess of the sphere of reality, dharmadhatu, she has a white color, and she is holding a reality source in her hands. They are called rigma, these goddesses. Rig means knowledge, and ma means female. Knowledge goddesses. And so you imagine not just eight or fourteen, but limitless goddesses. And also you imagine different types of offerings, like victory banners, like conches, like umbrellas, and so forth, many, many types of offerings. And when you make inner offerings, you emanate countless of the vajra goddesses of taste, in order to make inner offerings. And then when you offer secret offerings, you emanate countless mudras, or yums. And so when you offer them yums, they come in union with this yum, and they generate this bliss, and with the might of this bliss they cognize emptiness, that is what is known as offerings of suchness. So when you offer whatever offerings you offer, you think that these offerings have generated uncontaminated mind of great bliss. So in such a way, you complete four offerings, inner, outer, secret, and offerings of suchness.
June 27, 1992 So yesterday we covered two of the seven branches, prostrations and offerings. The seven branches are prostrations, offerings, confession, generating bodhicitta mind, taking refuge, dedication and rejoicing. Actually there are eight types of offerings: argham, padyam, pupe, dhupe, and so forth. If you don’t count music, and if you don’t count the first two, argham and padyam, it will be what they call nyirchonga (?), sort of the five objects of using or the five senses. That’s why they call them objects of close use. And all those eight types of offerings are called five ty pes of using, plus two of offerings, plus music. Then there are the five objects which are mirror, or forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects. And the sixth one is the reality source. Two reality sources. (demonstrating mudras). It symbolizes a t riangle. (demonstrating adarshe mudra) It’s like a mirror, like a handle, and so forth. (wini mudra) It’s like playing a vina. (ghende mudra) Perfume for the chest. (rase mudra) It’s for offerings of food. (sparshe) Offerings of clothes. Whether you actually have them or not, still you have to imagine t hat these offerings are limitless. So then you have to think that you please these objects of refuge, and in such a way they generate uncontaminated bliss in their mental continuums. It’s very important to think this way. So although if you make food offerings to Buddha or not, he’ll not become hungry. And whether you make offerings to these Buddhas or not, it doesn’t mean that they wi ll not experience joy or generate uncontaminated great bliss if you do not make offerings to them. But in order to put some seeds or imprints on your own mental continuum, you have to think that they experience joy, and that they experience uncontaminated great bliss. These are called outer offerings. They are called external offerings because they don’t refer to our own aggregates. External offerings don’t belong to our mental continuum or to the mental continuum of sentient beings. That’s why they are called external. The offerings of the five nectars and five meats, they belong to the mental continuum of sentient beings. That’s why they are called internal. And I just asked Rinpoche, for example, meat doesn’t have anything to do with consciousness, so why is it said they belong to the mental continuum? Because you feel sensation through your flesh. Because it is your flesh, it influences your mental continuum. But things like sounds don’t necessarily belong to your mental continuum; if something happens to them, you don’t necessarily feel it. For example, if somebody beats you on your head, you will experience unpleasant sensations, and if somebody just beats this bed, then you will experience nothing. So that’s why it belongs to the mental continuum of sentient beings. So when you say “OM GURU BENZA DHARMA SAPARIWARA OM AH HUM”, by these verses you offer inner offerings. Then when you emanate limitless young beautiful goddesses from your heart, they enter into union with these objects of refuge it’s called secret offerings. Why secret? Because this union man and woman is considered to be secret. That’s why
many reality sources. Then you can either imagine all the places turn in into reality sources, or you can imagine all of them just one big reality source, and all the sentient beings become Vajrayogini. Then all of them gather back, and then reality source, moon disk, mantra garland, plus syllable BAM, all of them turn into the supporting and supported mandala of Vajrayogini. Supporting means divine mansion (...unintelligible), and the deity who st ands in it is supported by it. (The tape is bad here, so I might have missed a bit) (from notes): (The vajra ground consists of 64 vajras ly ing around in a circle, with one big crossed one in the middle. With one between each of the 64, there are 64 more standing. This is the vajra fence. Above that, there are 64 more, lying in a circle at the top of the fence, and they form a sort of vajra ceiling. All the space between is filled with small vajras, so that if you touch it, it feels very smooth. There are 64 more vajras at the top, leaning in, like an umbrella, and also below the vajra ground, so that the top and bottom form sort of a rounded egg shape. Inside, resting on the vajra ground, and extending as high as the ceiling at the top of the vajra fence, are the two reality sources, with lotus and sun disk inside. Outside the reality sources, resting on the vajra ground, are the eight cemetaries. The whole thing is surrounded by flames, and extends from the ground of the universe up to Akanishta. This is called the protection wheel. It looks like a big Vajra egg from the outside, and is surrounded by flames and arrows. The arrows are iron, facing in all directions,and in fire, to protect from the fire deity. It looks like fire, but is in fact t he nature of exalted wisdom. Within this is the reality source with the eight cemeteries, and within that one arises as Vajrayogini, on a lotus and sun disk, with her right foot on Kalaratri, and her left foot on Bhairava. In the west is the land of dakinis, and the main figure is Heruka Yab Yum.) (Question about the dakini realms): A.For example, we are sitting in this house, and somebody else who looks from outside can see us. In the same way when you loosen this tightness, you see something, but Rinpoche doesn’t know what. But he didn’t see either by himself or in books what it looks like. Q.Later they have this prayer, you know, come and take me there, but I’m not sure... A.It’s like you know there’s some pure field of dakinis. So for example, when you stayed in America, you heard that there was such a person as Dalai Lama, who stayed in india, and this Tibetan dharma is really good, and you decided to go to India, did you see India at that time or not? Q.Actually somebody brought me to see h im. A.But you didn’t know what you would actually see. In the same way, when you pray to attain Buddhahood, you do not know what it is actually. But you just pray to attain this state. In the same way, you pray to attain the
only thing you have to meditate on: the pride of being the syllable BAM, which has the nature of the mind of the indivisibility of bliss and emptiness, and the aspect of the syllable BAM. And you don’t have to meditate on the four features, as you meditated at the time of Dharmakaya. So in such a way, you meditate on the syllable BAM, and then you imagine two syllables EH, which are the sources of this reality s ource. They are turned to two different sides. One is like you usually write it, and the other is like in the mirror. And they don’t stay too long; they keep turning, and they turn into two reality sources, red triangular reality sources, within which you imagine a syllable AH. It also doesn’t abide too long. Immediately, it turns into a moon disk. It is actually white, but it has a sort of reddish color. And then you imagine at the edges of this moondisk, the three OM mantra (OM, OM, OM, BENZA GURU DAKINIYE....), turning counterclockwise. Yourself is the syllable BAM, yes, and this syllable BAM, which is yourself, looks at this moon disk. So it stays above these reality sources. And you wish to take rebirth on this moon disk, because this white colored moon disk is a sign of white bodhicitta, which you gain from your father, and this reddish color symbolizes red bodhicitta, which you gain from your mother. So this BAM yig, this syllable BAM wishes to take birth, and enters this moon disk. Q.What is the color’s ... A.For example, this is white, but it has a little bit yellow color, and this is yellow, but has a little bit of red color. In the same way, this moon disk is white, but has a little bit of red color. So it is not actually red. How to say, a little bit red, a shade of red, like your face. It’s like those people who stay in the bardo state. When they are going to take rebirth, they look in the place where the red and white bodhicitta are joined, and they generate this wish to take birth. It is the same. So this mantra garland is red, and the syllable BAM is also red. So it enters this moon disk and stands on this moon disk. In such a way you have the syllable BAM in the middle which is surrounded counter clockwise by the mantra. Both of them are red. Then, limitless rays of light, very strong red light. It is not said in the text whether it has to be red or not, but Rinpoche says that you can visualize this as being red. So this red light emanates from this mantra garland, and syllable BAM, and pervades all the directions of the whole universe, and is purifies all the defilements of all the sentient beings, and they immediately attain Buddhahood and they attain the state of Vajrayogini. Then all of them turn into light, and this light gathers back into the syllable BAM and mantra garland, and then turn into Vajrayogini, whose divine mansion is the reality source itself. So then in the text it says that l ight rays of three colors, white, red, and blue, emanate from the syllable mantra garland and the moon disk, and they pervade all the ten directions of the whole universe. And all the vessels, that means all the inanimate nature, which is not sentient beings, turn into reality sources. And all the sentient beings turn into Vajrayoginis. So there are many many many Vajrayoginis, and many many
it’s called secret. And then when you think that these objects of refuge have entered into union with these mudras, they have generated uncontaminated great bliss, and with this mind of uncontaminated bliss, they cognize emptiness. That’s what is called by offerings of suchness. This very cognition of emptiness is uncontaminated. I just asked how they are related to each other, the secret offerings and offerings of suchness. So you can say that secret offerings serve as a cause for offerings of suchness. And this very cognition of emptiness arose in an uncontaminated mind of g reat bliss caused by the union with these goddess is what is called t he offerings of suchness. Q.In suchness offering, should oneself meditate on emptiness, or just the objects of refuge? A.Just imagine the objects of refuge cognize emptiness by this mind of great bliss. Q.So you say the great bliss was the cause of the emptiness? A.Secret offerings serve as a cause of suchness. Why? Because first you offer these goddesses. And they enter into union with them. If they don’t enter into union with them, they cannot cognize suchness with this mind of g reat bliss, because they have to generate this mind of g reat bliss. Q.Can Rinpoche demonstrate the mudras for the eight offerings? A.(demonstrates) (some not translated) All these offering goddesses can have four hands, so that is why they’re different from lower tantras. For example when you offer water, this goddess holds the vase of water with the two lower hands, and washes the feet with the two upper hands. The same way, when you offer flowers, they hold the flowers with the two lower hands, and they throw these flowers with the upper two hands. Then when you offer incense, you imagine that they hold something with fire w ith their two lower hands, and they put incense into this fire w ith their two upper hands. That’s why in ac tion tantra it will be slightly different mudras, because they have only two hands, so they have to make offerings and hold these vessels of offering with only two hands. Here they hold the vessels with their two lower hands and make offerings by the upper two hands. Then aloke, light, like the small butter lamps. Ghande is offerings of perfume. So again they hold this vessel with the two lower hands, and take this perfume from this vessel and put it on the chest. Then they sort-of take fruits or s ome other types of food and they offer it. (tape over) So if you have actually a bell or damaru, then you can use them. Otherwise you simply use this mudra to symbolize that you use cymbals, those big ones. When they hold them, they hold them in this way. Q.Can you ask, in the inner offering, what’s the visualization? When we’re actually going “OM GURU VAJRA DHARMA SAPARIWARA OM AH HUM”, we have goddesses come out with skullcups?
A.So then you imagine there are five goddesses, of taste, of seeing, and so forth, but there is just one type of goddess here, the vajra goddess of taste. You emanate limitless of these goddesses, and they take this inner offering in these capalas, probably just one big capala, and offer them to the objects of refuge. There is just one big capala from which they take this nectar, but because this nectar is blessed with OM AH HUM, then it cannot be exhausted, because it’s multiplied. So no matter how many goddesses take this necta r, it will never be exhausted. Q.So they take this skullcup, and then they run out to all the members of the merit field and then they drink from it? A.When they offer it, these objects of refuge don’t drink it like we do. They sort of just emanate this tube of light, and then they suck these offerings through this tube of light. Q.I have a question about the secret offering. After they generate uncontaminated great bliss, what happens to the consort? A.Then all these goddesses come back and dissolve into your heart. Q.As one or as many? A.You can imagine t hat all of them dissolve into your heart simultaneously. So then whatever offerings you do, not only suchness, but other offerings, having made these offerings, then you gather all the deities, or goddesses of offering into your heart. Also if they have made offerings of mirror, or food, or something they shouldn’t leave it there and come back without it. They offer these offerings, and the objects of refuge are satisfied with the offerings. And then they take back what is left, that is, they take back everything, they don’t leave anything. It’s like, for example, when we eat vegetables, or rice, having eaten it, we take it away. We don’t leave what is left over. Why do we gather these deities back to our heart? It’s related to the practice of emanating winds and gathering winds at the time of completion stage. Q.After suchness and before kusali t sog, there are three verses. A.So then you recite these verses. (...) means “I take refuge in the three jewels”, it means in this practice that has seven branches, it will be taking refuge. “I confess all my non-virtues”, that’s confession. “I rejoice in all the virtues of sentient beings”, that’s rejoicing. “I’ll grasp with my mind Buddhahood”, so that’s generation of bodhicitta mind, these four, plus “I’ll attain Buddhahood for the sake of sentient beings”, is dedication, plus what was before, prostrations and offerings, that’s seven. So then when you simply say “I take refuge in the three jewels”, you shouldn’t just say it. You have to actually take refuge. If you don’t have two causes of taking refuge, it will not be real taking refuge. What does it mean two causes? First cause is fear of lower rebirth, so you are frightened with the possibility of being reborn in the lower realms. And another one is faith in the three j ewels who can protect you from
refer to ordinary people. It only refers to people who have very very high realizations on the path of secret mantra, only they can use a real consort. So for example Buddha Sakyamuni, when he taught Guhyasamaja, he couldn’t be in the form of Vajradhara yabyum, or in the form of Yamantaka yabyum, or Chakrasamvara yabyum. So he was together with consort. And he still was a bhikshu, because it was said t hat Buddha Sakyamuni was a bhikshu. But when they say that it is al lowed to rely on a consort, even bhikshu or bhikshuni, and practice the path of secret mantra, it refers only to some practitioners with very h igh realizations, not to other people. Because Rinpoche says that some people people say that you can have a consort, even an ordinary monk, that’s a great mistake. So if you are able to practice this path by yourself, slowly you will understand the important points of this path, slowly, slowly. So actually there are some secrets of tantra, so that you can take death as a path of truth body, and state of bardo as path of enjoyment body, and the state of rebirth as the path of emanation body, and it is also said that you can take as a path t he state of desire, hatred, and ignorance. And it is considered to be secrets of tantra. Now we cannot do it, we can just wish to do it, just to imagine it, to make something similar to it, but to really take it as a path, really to practice it, is difficult. So actually yesterday Rinpoche explained about the process of dying and taking the state of death as a path of truth body, but to actually take it as a path of truth body, for example the state of death or the state of bardo and so forth, actually to take it as a path, we cannot do it in the t ime of generation stage or at the time of completion stage. We can do it actually only at the fourth stage of completion stage, which is mental isolation. So ac tually you can really take it at the time of mental isolation, as it is explained in Guhyasamaja tantra. So this is a time when you can actually take the state of death of bardo as a path. Everything before was just some approximate practices of it. Q.Mental isolation? A.Yes, there’s mental isolation, verbal isolation, etc. So in such a way, you dissolved all the elements. Actually, you dissolved all the syllable BAM, which is dissolved into nada, and eventually this nada dissolves into emptiness. And in this state, you meditate on emptiness. And so, as it was said before, the appearance is emptiness, the object which cognizes the appearance is mind of great bliss, and this cognition of emptiness by the mind of great bliss is me. In this way, you meditate on the pride of being truth body. Then you meditate on taking bardo as a path of enjoyment body. So what do you have to do? Now everything has been dissolved into emptiness, and you imagine that within this emptiness, appears is a red syllable BAM, which is made of light, and which has t he nature of your own consciousness. And so it has the nature of that very indivisibility of bliss and emptiness, and it has an aspect of the syllable BAM. And you think that it’s me, and that’s where you meditate on the pride of being the enjoyment body. So this is the
It’s a very important point of secret mantra, because when you die, you have to enter the bardo state. After it, you have to be reborn again and again to die and in such a way, you go through this again and again. But practitioners of sectret mantra take it as a path, and use it as a means to (?). To take death as a path of tr uth body, because truth body is what you are going to attain, and death is what you experience. To take death as a means to attain this truth body is what it means to take death as a path. When you practice, your pride is in being Dharmakaya. It’s difficult to do it for anybody, but if you have some faith in it, you can put some interest in it for future practice. Q.When you’re trying to meditate on it, are you trying to have any kind of visualization of the BAM dissolving in your mind, or are you just trying to focus on the visions that are arising? A.You can do it in stages. For example, first you imagine that BAM dissolves into the upper part, and after it you imagine you see the vision of the mirage. Then it melts into the crescent moon, and after that you see the vision of smoke, and so forth.
30 June, 1992 This is very important; when you make secret offerings, you shouldn’t offer consorts to a bhikshu, to monks. Then when you offer them to some deities which already have consorts, you have to consider that they simply dissolve into their consort. And you don’t offer any goddesses to Vajrayogini. Her khatvanga turns into Chakrasamvara, and enters into union with Vajrayogini. Q.But if you offer to your guru who is a bhikshu, in the aspect of Dorje Cho? A.Actually, a fully ordained monk who pract ices secret mantra is considered to be the best practitioner of tantra. Lower is getsul, shramanera. Then lower is householder who practices secret mantra. So the best is bhikshu. And also this bhikshu, if he practices secret mantra, it follows that, for example he practices Guhyasamaja, when he practices, he imagines himself in union with consort. So if you offer a consort to him, no problem. Even more, if some monk attains very high realizations of secret mantra, he can use a real consort a real woman, and enter into union with her, and he’ll not lose monks vows. He’ll still be a gelong. So there is not an problem. Now if you consider your guru to be a real Buddha, then, no problem. So be c areful, because if you just have some interest in secret mantra, and you’re not really going to practice it, and Rinpoche explains it to you, then it will be a fault of Rinpoche, as well. It will be one of the downfalls of secret mantra, so be serious with it. And also Rinpoche says that some people say that although you are a monk, still you can have consorts, but that does not
rebirth in the lower realms. So these two serve as a cause for taking refuge. And it’s not enough just to say, “I confess all my non-virtues”, you have to do it actually. You have to generate a feeling of regret in t he mind, and then you have to promise not to commit them in the future. So with these two, you make this confession. Then you say “I rejoice in all the virtues of all sentient beings.” Here you rejoice in the vir tues of Arya beings as well as ordinary beings. And not only do you rejoice in virtues of the present time, but also in past and future virtues. So as Buddha first generated bodhicitta mind, and then during three countless eons made the two collections of virtue and insight and eventually became a Buddha. Of course the virtues of this person and our own virtues cannot even compare, but here you sort of rejoice, or generate joy in your mind in all the virtues of all the Buddha s. And you should contemplate on this feeling. Then you have to meditate that I’ll attain Buddha hood for the sake of all sentient beings, generating bodhicitta mind. Then these other verses are more extensive, but the meaning is the same. So first taking refuge and then generating bodhicitta mind. “I’ll become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings” is dedicaton. In such a way, you complete all the seven branches, prostrations, offerings, confession, rejoicing, taking refuge, generation of bodhicitta mind, and dedication. So Rinpoche just explained it to you, whether you understood of not. Q.Why do they call that offering of spiritual practice? A.Drupa, is just accomplishment, or accomplishing. Somebody can ask, if you make confession or take refuge, whether it’s offerings or not. Yes it’s offerings, but it’s offerings of accomplishnment. So this is the best of all the offerings. Why do they call it offerings of accomplishment? Because to offer to the objects of refuge the virtue which is accomplished is the offerings of accomplishment- the explanation of the term. The explanation of the meaning- the main purpose of the Buddha is to lead us to Enlightenment, to help us to attain Buddha hood. And if we pract ice according to his precepts, nothing can please him or her more than this practice. That’s why for example by taking refuge, you accomplish merit. By making offerings, by making prostrations, by rejoicing, etc., you accomplish merit. And this is the best of all the offerings, because you practice what was taught by Buddha, you accumulate merit. That’s why it pleases the objects of offering most of all, because it accomplishes their main purpose, to teach the main path which we have to accomplish, which we have to practice. Whether you recite texts, or read books of practice something, if you think that it will please the objects of refuge, then it will be offering of accomplishments. For example if you meet a poor person and give him some money, and you think that by this action the three jewels will be pleased, then you kill two birds with one stone, because first you’re practicing giving, and also you make offerings to the three jewels. Two things together. So kusali means having virtue. Here kusali means for example a certain person can have many virtues, for example insights, or knowledge of books, of being a great practitioner, but he or she doesn’t show it, and externally
nobody knows about it. For example he or she simply sleeps, eats food, goes to the toilet, but nothing more, and nobody knows about his qualities. But internally, he or she can have all those qualities. So for example, this person doesn’t make any offerings, doesn’t recite any mantras, just sleeps. (bad recording, some of t his is from notes) Here you don’t make any external signs, all you do is visualize. You think that your mind has an aspect of Vajrayogini. (You go face to face with the guru), and then you looks back at your body. And your body is very, very, very fat, fat and white. (and you determine that now your life will have meaning) So then you fly back to your body. So then you cut off the top of your skull in one blow, (popping open like Rinpoche ‘s glasses case). (tape is bad for about 10 minutes) imagine that you just emanate seven vajra goddesses of taste. And those seven goddesses will take your offerings and offer them to your lama. From your mouth, you either have to say “I offer this nectar...to my guru, OM AH HUM”, and you can say it in this way seven times, or you can say, “I offer this nectar...to my guru”, and you can say OM AH HUM seven times. Q. Either repeat the verse seven times. A.The whole verse seven times, or the same verse one time and then say OM AH HUM seven times. Then you emanate limitless, many vajra goddesses of taste in order to make offerings to other objects of offerings, because there are many objects there, so you have to emanate many goddesses. Then you make offerings to lineage gurus. You do it just one time. Then you make just one time offerings to lineage of gurus, to yidams, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, to heroes, dakinis. Then you make offerings to local deities, rulers of the place, they exist in all the countries, in any place, then you make offerings to six types of sentient beings. Q.Do you actually use your capala? A.Yeah. (Demonstrating Garuda mudra:”OM AH HUM HA HO HRI”) So here you don’t imagine any actual Garuda, but you think like Garuda which has two horns, eyes, and this beak, which can catch snakes, in the same way, you can catch these offerings to offer them. This is the beak. These two ring fingers are eyes. These are horns. There is some stuff in between, not horns, these little fingers, something with the sun and the moon. If you saw the picture then you would understand. So then you emanate limitless goddesses from your heart, and make offerings to your root lamas, and lineage gurus, and so forth. So you make these gestures and so forth. If you have a capala, it’s OK, if not, then you just make those gestures as Rinpoche explained before. So first you make offerings to your root lama from this level (crown of head), to lineage lamas (forehead),
exxample if somebody calles your name, you can hear it as if from a big distance. That’s why when you are about to enter the bardo state, they can control you. They can tell you, “You are about to experience this and this,” and you should meditate on this and this and this.” You still hear something. Then winds go out from right and left energy channels. They are like balls filled w ith (lung), with air. And when wind comes out of this ball, it becomes smaller. In the same way, these two channels, when you’re alive, they press the channel. Then, when the wind comes out, they become smaller, because they don’t have any wind. Then wind enters the central channel, and can go through the central channel. When the wind goes through the central channel, it sort-of touches the white bodhicitta, which is located in t he crown. Actually, you have both white and red bodhicitta located here, at the level of your heart, but one part of white bodhicitta, just a small part, is there. It touches it, and it melts and goes down through the cntral channel, and you experience the mind of white increase. Then the wind touches the red bodhicitta, and you have the mind of red increase. Then, when they join together, your consciousness is between those two spheres. They sort-of press it, and you have this mind of black near-attainment, complete darkness. Then, because this element of red bodhicitta has to go up and white bodhicitta has to go down, they don’t stay a long time this way. They are as if turned upside down, and white bodhicitta goes down and red bodhicitta goes up. At this time, you experience the clear light of death. It’s not actual clear light, because it’s not emptiness, but it’s called the clear light of death. Then you try to simulate this process in your ordinary life, or in the dream state, and eventually, you can control yourself at the time of death, you can simulate it and take it as the path. Q.The clear light vision o ccurs at what point? When the white is going up and the red is going down? A.When they turn upside down and open, at this time the consciousness goes out from your body. It is finished, and then you enter the bardo state. They just press it for a little bit, and then because red bodhicitta has to go up, and white bodhicitta has to go down, they just turn and go that way. At this time, when it’s open, your consciousness goes out, and that is what is called the clear light of death. There is also mother clear light and son clear lig ht. Mother clear light is the clear light of death, and son clear light is, first you study, and then when you are able to recognize all the stages of death, this moment of recognition is called son clear light. Like a son recognizes his mother. Neither of them is real clear light, but just imputed clear light, because they are not either subject or object emptiness. Q.So the mother and the son definitions ar what? A.Mother clear light is just the clear light of death. Son clear light is your consciousness which recognizes this clear light of death.
into the upper part, you have the mind of black near-attainment. And when the upper part dissolves into emptiness, you have the mind of clear light. Then eventually the third part of nada dissolves into emptiness, and you have what is called near attainment. And it’s clear light. Then I just asked Rinpoche why they say that attainments dissolve into each other, and why, for example, they say that the mind of black near attainment dissolves into clear light, because actually clear light is just a name. It doesn’t mean that you see some light. It is just the name given to emptiness. There are two types of clear light, subject clear light and object clear light. There are many ways to divide them, but this is one of them. The emptiness itself is clear light, and the subject which cognizes emptinessis also called clear light. But here is how this mind of black near attainment is conventional truth. And clear light itself, object clear light is emptiness, so it’s ultimate truth. Conventional truth can never dissolve into ultimate truth. In the same way, when you say that wind dissolves into consciousness, also it cannot be, because matter cannot dissolve into consciousness. In the same way, earth cannot dissolve into water. So it’s just a name given to them. And it’s like Rinpoche says if you have just a few candles, and you blow one out, the other candles have the same power, but they seem more bright. And when you blow all of them out, the last one becomes more bright. In the same way, you should think about the process of dying, the normal process of dying, not if you get into s ome kind of car accident of something like that, but the normal process of dying, as if you die from some kind of disease, slowly, slowly. Then what happens to you is first the ability of the element of earth to support consciousness weakens. Then you see this appearance like a mirage. It’s like the candles, the next element seems to be stronger. It doesn’t mean that the earth dissolves into water, but just that it weakens, and because of that, the element of water seems to be more powerful. Then also the ability of the element of water to support consciousness weakens. Then you have the appearance like smoke. And so forth, and so forth, and so forth, And there are also some physical sensations. I don’t remember everything Rinpoche said. But, for example, when the element of fire to support consciousness weakens, then the heat of your body also weakens. Then eventually the ability of the last element, wind, to support your consciousness also weakens, and you have the experience like this butter lamp. Butter lamp means just everything is pervaded by light. And you have (tsauma), central channel, with the right and left channels. In the normal l ifetime, wind goes only through the right and left energy channels. It doesn’t go through the central channel, because they are sort-of tightened, like a knot. They are filled with wind, inflated, like you blow up a ball, and that is why they they press on the central channel. Then at the time of death, when the element of wind dissolves, you experience the mind of white increase. It’s called the mind of white increase because at this time you have already died, because your breath has ceased. Other people will think that you’ve died, but you can still hear sounds. For
then to yidams, Buddhas, bodhisattva, heroes and dakinis from this place (heart), and here from the level of the navel, to rulers of the place and loc al deities, and then from this place (knee), so at the time of inner offerings you offer it from this place, from the level of your knee, but here you do it also from the level of your navel. And then you imagine that all of them are satisfied, and all the sentient beings immediately attain Buddhahood, their mind becomes Dharmakaya, their bodies become Sambhogakaya, and they go to pure realms, and then the enlightened objects of offerings, they dissolve into yourself. There are many objects of offerings there. So the six classes of sentient beings, they attain Buddhahood and go to pure realms. Then all the other guests, all the enlightened guests, except your lama, they dissolve into yourself, but your lamas are still there. And then you contemplate about the purity of the three realms of offerings, the emptiness of objects offerings, of person who offers, and act of offering. Q.The three circles are the offerings, the person you offer it to, and the third is? A. Yourself. So is it OK for kusali tsog? Q.These six classes of sentient beings, where do they come from? Do they just suddenly appear? A.So actually what is the difference, because here is the Kusali offerings, and Kusali is the person who doesn’t doesn’t recite anything and doesn’t do any external activities. So that’s why here you don’t recite. And also at the time of inner offerings, although you can recite, it’s a slightly different way of thinking. Here you use this way of thinking like Kusali. At the inner offerings, you use a different way of thinking. In this time of inner offerings, and also at the time of generation stage as a whole, if you can really visualize a deity, if you can really meditate on it, you don’t have to say even one word, you don’t have to recite anything. You can just visualize, for example, this triangle, this mandala of wind, and this capala, and all this stuff, just visualize it without saying anything. So actually, if you can really meditate, you don’t have to recite anything. Why do you recite? In order to help your meditation, in order to remember the order, and so on, but you don’t have to do it if you don’t need it. When you take the three bodies as the path and so forth, you don’t have to recite anything. (Using fingers to demonstrate) So it’s good to make offerings of torma individually to al l these different classes of beings. Then when you offer (sun) this sort of incense, you also recite the individual names of al l the different classes of beings. But here they are grouped onto five groups, main lamas, or gurus, then lineage gurus, them yidams, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, viras, and dakinis, then local deities, then six
classes of beings, so they are grouped in this way.
6. YOGA OF GENERATING ONESELF AS A DEITY
Q.When she’s chopping up one’s body, one’s body is like vajrayogini, or a big human body?
So eventually, your lama dissolves into the syllable BAM in your heart. Then, when you begin generation of yourself as a deity, you imagine that the syllable BAM in your heart becomes bigger, bigger, bigger, until it becomes as big as the whole universe. As an example, (suppose) you have snow. And you put hot water into the snow, the snow melts, because of the hot water. In the same way, this BAM is like hot water, and your body and your surrounding and everything is like snow. And when this BAM becomes bigger, your body turns into BAM, like snow turns into water. Then your room and the whole universe dissolvess into BAM, like snow dissolves into water, and eventually, you have only the syllable BAM left. Then the syllable BAM, again, turns smaller, smaller, and smaller, until again it becomes the same s ize as before. But again you don’t have anything again except the syllable BAM. And it comes to the same place where your body was before. And so you have the syllable BAM. Then the syllable BAM dissolves into its upper part, which is not this crescent moon, but just the upper part of the syllable BAM. And when this syllable BAM dissolves into its upper part, you imagine, not with external signs, but with signs that you have inside your mind, you begin to simulate the process of dying, the appearances which you have at the time of death. So you imagine that when the syllable BAM dissolves into its upper part, when the element of earth dissolves into the element of fire, you have the appearance of a mirage. Then when the upper part of the syllable BAM dissolves into this crescent moon, you have an appearance like smoke, when the element of water dissolves into the element of fire. It’s not like strong smoke, it’s just peaceful smoke. And then when the crescent moon dissolves into this liquor (tigle), there are two ways of meditating on it. The first is this way. You imagine that when it dissolves into the crescent moon, you have an appearance like smoke. Then crescent moon dissolves into tigle, you have an appearance like fireflys. When the tigle is about to dissove into nada, which has three parts, you have an appearance of a butter lamp. That means it’s like a very small light that pervades t he whole space. It doesn’t mean just one butter lamp but it pervades the whole space, this fire. That’s one way.
A.Ordinary body. Q.When the goddesses are emanated from the heart, is that your heart as the small Vajrayogini, or do you suddenly come back again? A.No, you’re the small Vajrayogini, you are near these offerings. First you chopped everything, put it into capala, and then you stand near it and goddesses emanate from your heart and take all this stuff from the capala and offer it. Q.So I asked Rinpoche, if this body is very big, then when you cut this head, the head itself is not as big as t he body. Then how can you fit all this body into the capala? A.And Rinpoche said that you just cut it and it jumps on to these three human heads, and immediately it becomes very big, and then you put all this stuff in it. So here you have to be flexible, so for example you can imagine being Vajrayogini very small then big. For example when you imagine deities of mandala body of Vajrayogini, you can imagine Vajrayogini, this outer Vajrayogini, as being very small, but the mandala of your body as being very big. It’s like when you look through those glasses. So it will come later when we study body mandala. So you can imagine this outer dakini as very big, and the deities of the body mandala being very small, or vice versa, you can imagine this outer dakini as very small, and the deities within the body mandala being very big. So it will come later. So actually, the qualities of the Buddhas are unpenetrated by the mind of ordinary beings. For example, it is said that just on one very, very, very small atom the Buddhas of all the eons, of the whole universe, are on this very, very small atom, but still this atom doesn’t have to become big in order to accomodate all these Buddhas, and the Buddhas don’t have to become small in order to fit on this atom. And it doesn’t mean that if they sit on one atom that they don’t sit on another. So it’s difficult to understand by the mind. And again, just as an example, for example, you can say that you have a needle and you have the eye, for example through the very small eye of the needle, you can see a very, very big mountain. It’s like this. It’s just an example. It’s difficult to understand this.
29 June, 1992 By meditating on your lama, you accumulate merit, purify defilements and pray to him. So we finished the seven branches yesterday. It’s not called seven limbs here, but (nambar tapa), pure seven or something like this, because it’s related to tantra. In the perfection vehicle, you have only the seven
Another way is when you think t hat you begin counting all t hese appearances, not with dissolution of BAM into its upper part, but with BAM itself. You think that everything, the whole universe, dissolves into this small BAM, the BAM becomes smaller. At this time, you have an appearance like a mirage. Then the difference is that you have the appearance like a butter lamp when this crescent moon dissolves into tigle, because it is one step earlier. Then you have appearances like (karlampa), or mind of white appearance, then mind of red increase. And then you have the mind of black near-attainment. So you have the first appearance of white increase when the tigle dissolves into the first part of the nada, whether it is in the first par t or the second part of the meditation. When the first part of the nada dissolves into the middle part, you have the red increase. Then when the middle part dissolves
dakini, Vajradakini dissolves into Naropa, and so forth, and they dissolve into each other until they dissolve into the last figure of the circle, who is the lama of your lama. And this lama of your lama, which is in the aspect of Hero Vajradharma, dissolves into your lama, who is the main figure, and they sort of bless each other. Q.So, could you say again? They started going around. Each one dissolves into the next one. Then? A.Then the last one dissolves into the main figure, which is your root guru. The last one is the guru of your guru, and he dissolves into the main figure, who is your own guru. Then you think that all the lineage of gurus dissolve into your root guru, and your root guru doesn’t dissolve into yourself immediately. First you have to meditate on two things. You should think that, for example, the kindness of your guru to yourself is a million times stronger than the kindness of a mother who has just one son. Very, very strong kindness. That’s one thing. And another thing is that you have to have very, very strong faith in your guru, to think that he is the s ource of all your virtues, and the source of purifying all your negativities. And having these two, as it is said, having the ring of faith and the hook of kindness, faith of disciple, and the hook of kindness of the lama. Meditate upon having this feeling, very, very strong feeling. Then you imagine that your lama dissolves through your crown into yourself. So although the ring is your faith, and the hook is the kindness of your lama, the hook is supposed to attract something, this ring, but here it is you who attract your lama, and your lama dissolves into yourself. It just means that although he dissolves into yourself, still he is like the hook that takes you up from samsara. This hook actually t akes you from the sufferings of samsara, of the sufferings of obscurations. If your lama doesn’t bless your mental continuum, then you cannot generate the qualities to be released from these sufferings. So that’s why it’s like a hook, although it dissolves into yourself. So although Rinpoche talks about this text now, and doesn’t talk too much about the guru and disciple, still reliance on your spiritual guru and having very very strong fainh in your guru is still extremely important. (tape over) ...guru become just one, they mix completely and become just one. In such a way, all the lineage of gurus dissolves into yourself eventually. And you have to have faith and such an attitude that all the lineage of lamas dissolve into your lama, and your lama eventually dissolves into yourself, and through this, you receive blessings of all the lamas. And you shouldn’t have any doubts about whether you have received these blessings or not. You should have very, very strong faith that you have received these blessings. Then the next stage is generating of oneself as a deity.
limbed prayer, but in secret vehicle, you have both, you have the seven limbed prayer, as will as seven purities. We finished the seven branches of kusali tsog, and now it will be offerings of mandala. There are some verses here on the wisdom of inate-born bliss and emptiness, in the mandala offering. After kusali tsog. You have it in generation stage. The mandala itself can be of any size. The biggest is better, but in any case, it shouldn’t be smaller than your bowl. Q.You mean water bowl? A.All the monks use it, (patra), it’s called. The main part of the mandala is called the base. If it’s made of gold, it’s the best, but it can be made of silver, or iron, or brass, or it could be made of wood, or even of stone, if you don’t have money. So, for example, Je Rinpoche used a stone mandala when he made offerings. To collect merit, it’s best to use gold, but if you don’t have it, wood is all right. But Westerners have money, so they can probably use a golden one. Q.A silver mandala in Kathmandu now is $700. A.You don’t have to think about money, because you’ll get more. Q.What is more important, motivation or material? A.Both. The most important is motivation, of course, but in any way, you have to have both. Because if you don’t have pure motivation, then you won’t get too much merit. But you might think that if I have such a motivation, that what I offer is gold, although it’s not real gold, you might think that you don’t have to use real gold, it’s not right. If you can use real gold, then it’s better. If you don’t have enough money, you don’t have to worry about it. You can use pure motivation. But one doesn’t have to serve as a substitute. But if you don’t have enough substances, and you have good motivation, it’s also good, because for example, Buddha Sakyamuni was a king’s son, but he left all his riches and went without anything. And Jetsun Milerepa also didn’t have anything. However, if you have some substances to offer, but you don’t offer them, and just put them aside, and then just think about it, your results are not so good. You use some kind of perfume, and first make half rounds clockwise. You use your fourth finger with the thumb for axis. If you make it in a slightly different way, such as the whole round just with both fingers, it’s OK. Q.That’s putting the perfume on? A.Perfume. Saffron water. You have the wisdom channel here (forearm), and you have the channel of ignorance here (base of ring finger). You have to use use the wisdom channel when you purify this golden base. And you should try to press the channel of
