The Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning the Life-Forces

THE KEY ISSUES OF VISUALIZATION: FOUR NAILS PINNING THE LIFE-FORCES, ““A MELODY OF BRAHMA PLAYING THROUGHOUT THE THREE REALMS”” BY DZA PATRUL

TONY DUFF PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

This text is secret and should not be shown to those who have not had an empowerment into Buddhist Secret Mantra. If you have not had that, reading this text can be harmful to your spiritual health! Copyright © 2011 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher. First edition, February 2011 ISBN: 978-9937-8386-5-8 Janson typeface with diacritical marks and Tibetan Classic typeface Designed and created by Tony Duff Tibetan Computer Company http://www.tibet.dk/tcc Produced, Printed, and Published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee P.O. Box 4957 Kathmandu NEPAL Committee members for this book: composition and translation, Lama Tony Duff; editorial, Tom Anderson; cover design, Christopher Duff. Web-site and e-mail contact through: http://www.tibet.dk/pktc or search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v The Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces, ““A Melody of Brahma Playing Throughout The Three Realms”” by Dza Patrul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Supports for Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Tibetan Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

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INTRODUCTION

This book presents a text called The Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces, ““A Melody of Brahm¼ Playing Throughout the Three Realms”” written by the Tibetan master Dza Patrul, Chokyi Wangpo [1808––1887]. All of the practices of the Vajra Vehicle are contained within its two main levels of practice, which are called Development Stage and Completion Stage. The practise of Vajra Vehicle begins with Development Stage which concerns the development, or one could say ““generation”” or ““creation””, of a deity. Completion Stage takes the process begun in Development Stage to completion, hence its name. There are enormous numbers of deities connected with Development Stage and there are one or more Deity Instruction texts, as they are called, for each deity. These texts explain the details needed to visualize the deity——what each deity’’s

v

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body is like, which sceptres the deity carries , what it wears, what its immeasurable mansion is like, and so on. The text on the Four Nails is concerned with visualization but is not a Deity Instruction text; it is about the process of visualization, meaning the development of a deity, as a whole. It explains Development Stage as a whole by presenting a 2 specific foremost instruction that pins down all the key issues of such practice, one called the ““Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces””. Thus it is a text which applies to the practise of any and every deity connected with Development Stage.

An Explanation of the Title As mentioned just above, the title of the text in this book is The Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning The LifeForces, ““A Melody of Brahm¼ Playing Throughout the Three Realms””. The Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces is the name of one of the principal instructions for Development Stage practice that is taught in the Nyingma tradition. It consists of a set of four phrases, each one being the name of one of the key issues of visualization, meaning Development Stage, practice. These phrases are like nails which are both pinning down and

1

Tib. phyag mtshan ma. ““Sceptres”” is a commonly used term in the language of Development Stage. Sceptres are the objects held by a deity; they reflect the particular powers and capabilities of the deity, so are indeed ““sceptres””. 2

For foremost instruction, see the glossary.

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holding within them all of the life-forces of the path that are to be found within Development Stage. The title includes the poetic sub-title A Melody of Brahm¼ Playing Throughout the Three Realms. A feature of Development Stage is the development of the speech of a buddha through the recitation of a deity’’s mantra. The speech of a buddha traditionally has been compared with the very melodious voice of the form-realm god Brahmå. This text is a melody of the Brahma-like speech of a buddha which, like the mantra of an actual deity is playing throughout the three realms of samsara or cyclic existence.

The Secret in Secret Mantra and Implications There is a major theme in Dza Patrul’’s text which is easily missed due to the forthright presentation, even in the title, of the text’’s main topic of visualization. If you read the whole text carefully, paying special attention to the verses at the beginning and end, you will see that he stresses the ““secret”” aspect of the teaching. This cannot be ignored! In fact, according to the teachings of the Vajra Vehicle, because ““secret’’ is the nature of Vajra Vehicle as a whole, this aspect of the teaching has to be considered first, before the details of the sub-sections of Vajra Vehicle, Development Stage, can be taught. The term ““secret”” in this context has two meanings. Firstly, it means that the things being discussed are profound to the point of being hidden from the ordinary mind of the average person. For example, the first line of the text mentions the

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““supreme secret”” when referring to the blissful yet empty nature of indestructible enlightened being, represented by 3 Vajrasatva . And the text repeatedly mentions the ““three secrets”” of a buddha; this is a name for the body, speech, and mind of a buddha given because ordinary beings’’ minds simply cannot see, in a direct perception of them, what these inconceivable things——meaning these things which are outside the range of concept——are like. Secondly, it means that the teachings on such profound secrets are deliberately kept secret, meaning private, both so that the power of the teachings is preserved and so that people who have not been first prepared and then taken into the profundity are not harmed by trying to do something with it when they have not been properly readied for it. According to Secret Mantra’’s own ways, a person cannot even hear about the instructions in this book unless he has already been prepared for and then entered into the Vajra Vehicle. Preparation can take many forms though it is usually done through what are called the ““preliminary practices””. Actual entrance into the profundity of the Vajra Vehicle is done through the process of empowerment in which one is ““entered into the maïçala of a deity””, as it is called. Empowerment is the means by which a person is brought into the profound secrets of enlightenment and then given permission to engage in the practices relevant to them. The book Em-

3

You will see in this book both ““satva”” and ““sattva””. According to the Tibetan tradition this is not a mistake. See under ““satva and sattva”” in the glossary for an explanation.

INTRODUCTION

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powerment and Atiyoga contains a very clear explanation of empowerment and how it causes entrance into the Vajra Vehicle. 4

Once a person has been entered into the Vajra Vehicle, the vehicle of the secret, he can ask for and receive instruction on the secret practices of the Vehicle, for instance the instructions of Development Stage contained in this book. However, there is the further point that such instruction must be received in person from someone with a lineage——someone who has received the breath of life of the instructions in an unbroken line that extends all the way either to the historical Ùhåkyamuni Buddha or to a manifestation of his same level of supreme enlightenment. Buddha Ùhåkyamuni himself said that, because he had to care for the monastic saðgha, it was mostly not appropriate for him to teach Vajra Vehicle directly; he said that, if he did so, it would cause the monastic system he was establishing to fail. Therefore, the Vajra Vehicle teachings in our time have mainly come through other emanations of enlightenment. This emanation is called the ““primal guardian””, where guardian is one of many names for an enlightened being, a being of primal or primordial reality acting as a teacher; in the Old system of the Nyingma school, 5 it is usually Samantabhadra, and in the new systems , it is

4

By Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2010, ISBN: 978-9937-8244-5-3. 5

Buddha’’s Dharma came into Tibet in two waves. The first wave was later known as the old system with its earlier translations and the second wave was known as the new system with its later (continued...)

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usually Vajradhara. In this Four Nails text it is Vajrasatva, the Vajra Being who is the grand embodiment of vajra or enlightened being. In short, a person who, through empowerment properly given and received, has been fully entered into the Vajra Vehicle must next receive instructions on the practice from a qualified teacher with a lineage of teaching that goes, without interruption, all the way to a primal guardian. When everything is done according to the ways, like that, of the Vajra Vehicle of the secret, the disciples gain an enormous benefit and the power of the instructions is fully available to them. Progress on the path and even enlightenment in a short time becomes possible. When not done like this, the tantras——the books in which the Vajra Vehicle is laid out——repeatedly say that neither progress nor enlightenment is possible. This is as true for the Development Stage practice explained in this book as it is for the higher levels of Completion Stage practice such as Mahåmudrå and Great Completion.

5

(...continued) translations. Of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the old system is upheld by the Nyingma school and the new systems are upheld by the Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug schools. There are differences in the teachings of the old and new schools. For instance, the main teaching in this book, the Four Nails, is a teaching of the Nyingma school. Although the principles of the Four Nails are also taught in the new schools, the way they are taught differs a little.

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Well then, what is the value of a book like this? As Dza Patrul so artfully says in his closing verse to the Four Nails text, this subject is indeed secret but indeed has to be shared amongst those who have access to the secret. Accordingly, his text has been translated and made available in this book so that those who are qualified can gain access to the secret teaching of the Four Nails. A book like this can be a basis both for the initial oral instruction that comes after the requisite empowerment and for further instruction or private study.

The Text as Teaching Tool People often come asking for a text that can be given to their teacher so that the teacher can use it to teach. As Dza Patrul says, this Four Nails teaching sums up the entirety of Development Stage, so it can be taken as a stepping-off point for any and every possible explanation connected with Development Stage practice. Thus, not only can it be used as a basis for personal study but it nicely fills the need for a text that can be taken to one’’s teacher so that he can use it as a basis for instruction. Many of these teachers are Tibetan and need a text in Tibetan script while the disciples need it in English or some other language. Therefore, we not only provide the English translation but include the Tibetan text in order to make the book as useful as possible. The Tibetan text included in this book is based on the original edition of Dza Patrul’’s Collected Works made at the Derge printery. As with most Tibetan texts, the original edition has a number of mistakes and also is very unclear in several

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places. Therefore, after the PKTC office input the text, I edited it carefully to ensure that it was both correctly rendered and error-free. The new, corrected edition was included in this book.

Reading the Four Nails Text The subject of the text is the Four Nails. What are they? The text says: That path of Development Stage condensed into the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces consists of: 1) the samådhi deity nail; 2) the mantra recitation 6 nail; 3) the dharmatå nail ; and 4) the emissionabsorption enlightened activity nail. Other names for the four are used in the text without further explanation: the first nail is also called ““the samådhi nail””; the second is also called ““the essence mantra nail””; the third nail is also called ““the understanding unchanging nail”” in reference to the enlightened mind understanding of dharmatå, a mind which never shifts into the mind of samsaric understanding and hence does not change from being the mind of enlightened understanding; and the fourth is also called the ““emission-absorption visualization nail””. These differences of name coupled with the explanations of the four nails can be helpful when trying to understand their meanings.

6

For dharmatå, see the glossary. In this text it is always used to mean the nature of reality.

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The order of the nails given above is their order as it appears in the actual foremost instruction which sets them out. However, the order can change. For example, when the four nails are being related to ground, path, and fruition, the third nail is moved to the first position, pushing the second and third nails up to the second and third positions. The way that the four nails relate to the categories of ground, path, and fruition and also of view, meditation, and conduct are explained in the text. It was mentioned in the explanation of the title that the four nails have two, simultaneous functions. They both pin down the headlines or primary topics of and hold the primary instructions for the practice. In other words, they are a listing that pins down the four major topics of Development Stage practice and at the same time holds the four main instructions for the practice. That is not all though, because, as pointed out in the second half of the text, each of the four is a primary topic that is an instruction in its own right and each primary topic has subtopics, each of which also is an instruction in its own right. The text explains that the subtopics-cum-instructions are features of the primary topic-cum-instruction and lists many of them. In addition to all of that, the instructions all together of both major topics and subtopics are a single nail that keeps the practitioner in the singularly most important place——the sphere of non-dual wisdom.

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How the Four Nails Teaching is Used in Practise The above might sound a little complicated. This is expected given that these four nails pin down all of the life-forces, or essential points, of all of the practices of Development Stage in its entirety. In practise, one usually receives these instructions from a teacher over a period of time, slowly integrating and absorbing them. In that way, the life-forces that the instructions represent are passed from teacher to student through a personal connection and then gradually become the life of the path in direct experience. Doing so, the indigestion of too much conceptual information at once is avoided and the real value of the instructions is brought forth.

Style of the Four Nails Text An important point to know reading the text is that the style of composition of the text is not like that of English. In English, it is good form not to use the same word repeatedly but to change to similar words in order to give a greater feeling for the meaning and more elegant style of composition. However, in Buddhist literature, it is usually the opposite and that is the case with this text. Technical terms each have their own, precise definition and will be used consistently as the meaning is expressed. One of the features of our translations is that this very important aspect of the language used to express the teaching remains unchanged. As a matter of interest, the English equivalents of the vocabulary and use of language are maintained across our translations of these texts, making them very fruitful to read. A glossary has been provided to help with the other words of the specialized vocabulary of Development Stage.

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Tibetan texts often contain very long sentences and this text takes long sentences to an extreme, with a number of its sentences going on for several pages! Where possible these have been reduced to shorter sentences, though a few of them, especially in the ““nail of understanding unchanging”” section, could not be reduced without loss of meaning. The recommendation is to read them carefully and slowly, allowing the meaning to build until the picture being painted is clearly seen.

Two Additional Teachings on Visualization When the text entitled Key Issues of Visualization: Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces was being added to Dza Patrul’’s Collected Works, two very short oral teachings on the subject of visualization that he had given and which had been recorded by his disciples were appended to the actual Four Nails text. They too are lineage foremost instructions concerning visualization. After reviewing them, it seemed better to present them here in the introduction rather than include them in the main translation.

Additional Teaching One The first of the two additional teachings is called Threefold Fortress, Narrow Defile, and Life-Force. Dza Patrul starts his teaching by repeating it: ““Someone who has the fortress of the view and who has escaped the narrow defile of meditation has thereby established an excellent home for the life force of conduct——it is this conduct which is called ‘‘the conduct of the yoga of Secret Mantra’’””.

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Having repeated the lineage instruction, Dza Patrul then explains it in language so technical and terse that, without clarification, only experts will understand it——a bare translation of it would not be helpful to most practitioners. Nonetheless, it provides an excellent overview of Development Stage practice and sheds considerable light on the Four Nails teaching, so his explanation is re-stated, as follows. The view is that fortress in which all the conceptual phenomena produced by rational mind have been cleared out from that space beyond the range of samsaric mind in which all phenomena have no selfnature. The meditation is to stay continuously within that fortress of the view, having freed oneself from the narrow defile of meditation which is flanked by the treacherous places of dullness and agitation, and all other faults of meditation. With view and meditation like that in place, the conduct automatically appears as the conduct of the enlightened state itself, a conduct never separated from the nature of reality freed of all elaborations. In this way, through the fortress of view joined to the practise of meditation which has stepped past the narrow path flanked with the faults of meditation, one has built a container within which conduct which is the ultimate conduct of enlightenment mind can flourish. This is essentially the same as the teaching of the Four Nails, in which the first three nails containing the practices of view and meditation, automatically cause the conduct, the Fourth Nail, to appear not merely as a further factor on the path but as the fruition conduct of enlightenment. Thus, both of these

INTRODUCTION

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foremost instructions show very clearly how the view and meditation of Development Stage lead to its conduct, which itself becomes the fruition of the Development Stage practice. Just that last sentence is the whole process of Development Stage summed up in as few words as possible.

Additional Teaching Two The second teaching is very short, only a paragraph in length. It concerns the sequence for building the visualization of a deity. Development Stage teaches four different sequences for doing this: an ““all-at-once”” sequence, and sequences with three, four, and five steps. An important point connected with these sequences is that they cause the purification of the 7 four possible modes of birth within cyclic existence . Usually the sequence of visualization is treated as a whole subject, with each of the four sequences identified and the way that each purifies the seeds of birth in cyclic existence explained. In this case, Dza Patrul had at one time given a very short comment about one of the sequences which someone later wrote down and appended to the teaching on the Four Nails. In it, he sets out the sequence consisting of five steps. Each step in this sequence is a contributing cause to the manifestation of enlightenment, so the sequence is named ““The Five Manifest Enlightenments””. Here is Dza Patrul’’s teaching: 7

An explanation of all four sequences and how each part of each sequence functions to purify the karmic seeds of birth can be found in Gampopa’’s Mah¼mudr¼, The Five-Part Mah¼mudr¼ of the Kagyu, by Tony Duff, published by Padma karpo Translation Committee, 2008, ISBN 978-9937-2-0607-5, and various other texts.

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The Five Manifest Enlightenments of Development Stage According to the new system, in the seat, lotus, and moon there is enlightenment; in the speech lettersyllable there is enlightenment; in the sceptre of enlightenment mind there is enlightenment; in the body all complete there is enlightenment; in the wisdom being there is enlightenment, making five. According to the old system, the first manifest enlightenment is the moon disk; the second is the sun disk; the third is the sceptre’’s seed; the fourth is the seed together with sceptre; the fifth is the appearance of the body, all complete. By Chokyi Wangpo. Each of the four sequences has its own place of importance in Development Stage practice. For example, the first sequence in which the visualization is thrown up in one step is especially connected with the highest level of practice, found in Mahåmudrå and Mahå Ati. The fourth sequence in which the visualization is constructed in five steps is connected with the most elaborate style of practice and this in turn is connected with the appearance of the deity within the context of the Dharmatå bardo. There is a point near the end of the Dharmatå bardo where it is possible to realize that the bardo process is an enactment of the five manifest enlightenments of Development Stage practice. That being so, this teaching of the five manifest enlightenments has its own special importance and that would explain why the short teaching above

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was appended to the main teaching while teachings on the other sequences were not.

Further Study Dza Patrul’’s text presents its own teaching accurately but, because Dza Patrul’’s guru Jigmey Gyalway Nyugu was one of the heart disciples of Jigmey Lingpa, it is influenced by Jigmey Lingpa’’s teachings. Jigmey Lingpa wrote an excellent and very complete explanation of Development Stage practice in the text A Presentation of the Instructions for the Development 8 Stage Deity, ““A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha”” , which is one of the core teachings of the Longchen Nyingtig system. It not only includes its own extensive treatment of the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces, but gives details not given in Dza Patrul’’s text on how the teaching fits into the path of meditation. Moreover, Jigmey Lingpa’’s text teaches the four sequences of visualization as a set and explains how each one functions to purify the karmic seeds of cyclic existence, something which Dza Patrul’’s text does not do. All in all, the two texts must be read together, so Padma Karpo Translation Committee has published a translation of Jigmey Lingpa’’s text for the purpose. More generally speaking, Padma Karpo Translation Committee has amassed a range of materials to help those who are studying this and related topics. Please see the Supports for Study chapter at the end of the book for the details.

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Published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2011, ISBN 978-9937-8386-3-4, author Tony Duff.

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Sanskrit Sanskrit terms are an important aspect of a technical book like this. They are properly rendered into English with diacritical marks. For the sake of precision, diacritical marks have been used with them throughout this book, except where the terms have been incorporated into the English language.

Health Warning As explained earlier, this book is about a subject that is kept secret. The minimum requirement for seeing or hearing these teachings is that one has had a proper empowerment of the Buddhist Vajra Vehicle into the maïçala of a deity. Anyone who has had that will be able to understand these teachings or at least go to his teacher and ask for further explanation; if you are qualified in that way, please use and enjoy the text as you will. If you are not qualified, you would be better off not reading this book but first following the rigorous path needed to receive an empowerment, something that could take years if done properly, then obtaining the instructions for practice in person, and then finally relying on this and other similar books. In short, the contents of this book could be dangerous to your spiritual health if you are not ready for it, so exercise care. Tony Duff, Swayambhunath, Nepal, February 2011

Guru Rinpoche, source of the Nyingma teachings, and his manifestations. Mural on the wall of Dzogchen Monastery, Tibet, 2007. Photograph by the author.

The Key Issues of Visualization: The Four Nails Pinning The Life-forces, ““A Melody of Brahma Playing Throughout The Three Realms”” by Dza Patrul

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In the joy of the supreme secret Which sits unchanging, all-pervading, everlasting Is Vajrasatva of great bliss; I prostrate to him, the lord of the families. A means by which someone wakens into that complete liberation Which is an amazing method bringing liberation in a short time Similar in its absence of hardship to the use of 10 alchemist’’s liquid on iron , 9

For secret, see the introduction; also see ““three secrets”” in the glossary. 10

Alchemists of the past sought that special liquid that would effortlessly transform iron into gold. This image is used on a (continued...) 1

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FOUR NAILS PINNING THE LIFE-FORCES

Is exactly this supreme vehicle of the vajra. Its vajra path of unification Stated to be the two stages of Method and prajñå, Development and Completion, 11 First has its life-forces held by the four nails. In regard to that, the following must be said: The supreme enlightened mind secret of all conquerors Is a vajra nature with joy of great bliss Present throughout samsara and nirvana, yet 12 shiftless ; To that Vajrasatva, lord of the families, I prostrate and then, Having done so, it must be said that this path able 13 to take fortunate ones to the level of complete liberation In a short time, the very secret of all rites, the method amazing,

10

(...continued) number of occasions in this text.

11

““Life-force”” in this text refers to that which is the very life of something. Without a life-force, something would be dead and worthless.

12

For shiftless, see the glossary.

13

For fortunate ones, see the glossary.

THE TEXT

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Has, of its three paths of Development, 14 Completion, and Unification , All of its Development Stage paths contained within Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces. Now, what was said after having first prostrated to Vajrasatva 15 should have its meaning re-stated : ““Someone who is a fortunate person Will go by what? by the path of Vajra Vehicle, To where? to the place of complete liberation, the level of buddhahood, In which way? without trial or tribulation. He will go for example like applying the alchemist’’s liquid that will transmute iron to gold. When in that way he does become liberated, it will have been not with a long wait but in a short time because of this amazing method that has the capacity to liberate in one life, one body; this is exactly the supreme of all vehicles, the uttermost secret Secret Mantra, Vajra Vehicle. All of its paths when summed up are contained within the unification vajra path. What is to be unified is method and prajñå’’s Development and Completion Stages. Starting with the first of the two, the

14

Vajra Vehicle is usually defined as being composed of two stages, Development and Completion. However, the ultimate practice of Vajra Vehicle is the unification of all pairs, so the vehicle is also defined as being composed of the three stages mentioned. 15

Dza Patrul will now re-phrase what he said from the first prostration to Vajrasatva in the first verse down to here.

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life-forces of all the stages within method Development Stage are held by the four nails of the life-forces. That means that not even the slightest part of any of the Development Stage paths is not included and that in turn means that, for as long as the four nails remain unknown, Development Stage also remains unknown. Therefore, I will explain the Four nails briefly and in an easy-to-understand way. ““The idea of an ordinary body is cleared then one proceeds on the vajra path which makes enlightened body, speech, mind, and activity manifest, and which is contained within the four nails of deity, mantra, dharmatå, and emission-absorption as follows: cleansing the body ripens it into a conqueror’’s enlightened body, which is the samådhi vajra path; cleansing speech obscurations by recitation gains the conquerors’’ speech; mindness, the liberator, is what accomplishes understanding unchanging, the enlightened mind secret; and the purification of activity and places is enlightened activity, the 16 supreme accomplisher, emission and absorption .”” That ends the re-statement.

16

The first two nails ripen the practitioner. The third one actually liberates the practitioner; mindness is enlightenment mind as experienced on the path by the practitioner——for mindness see the glossary. The fourth one is both the supreme means by which final accomplishment is gained and the final accomplishment; it is enlightened activity, both path and fruitional, that purifies the activities and places of sentient beings through the technique of emission and absorption.

THE TEXT

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All paths of Development Stage are consistent with lower samsara and its situation, so its various latencies are cleansed and purified. They are consistent with upper nirvana and its situation, so, by making the actions of a buddha into the path, the fruition is completed in the ground. In between, they are consistent with the key points of Completion Stage, so they turn into the ripening agents of the two stages of the path. This is to be known as threefold purifying, completing, and 17 ripening. The path like that of Development Stage condensed into the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces consists of: 1) the samådhi deity nail; 2) the mantra recitation nail; 3) the dharmatå nail; and 4) the emission-absorption enlightened activity 18 nail.

1. The Samadhi Nail Setting oneself in equipoise on the state of the great empty 19 expanse , freedom from elaboration, is the vajra-like suchness

17

This is the instruction called ““purifying, completing, and ripening””. It is a summary of how Development Stage practice does the job of enlightening a practitioner.

18

That same Development Stage can be summed up in the Four Nails.

19

““Great”” is used in the tantric teachings in general to distinguish something known by wisdom in direct perception from the same thing known by dualistic mind as a concept. Thus, ““great empty expanse”” here does not mean ““big (or wonderful) empty expanse”” but the ““empty expanse known by wisdom in direct perception””. (continued...)

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samådhi; the compassion illusion-like meditation done for the 20 migrators who have not realized that suchness is the illusion-like all-illuminating samådhi; the meditation on the 21 liveliness of that suchness-compassion appearing as the letter-like enlightened-mind life-force of whichever deity is 22 involved is the causal going as a hero samådhi. Having set those three as the basis, in connection with the 23 cleansing of latencies of whichever of the four birthplaces , the outer container is evident as the immeasurable mansion and its inner contents are evident as the deity. And, for the appearing aspect, one’’s own body is the illusion-like deity’’s body complete in every respect all the way up to the blacks and whites of the eyes, without any blurring of detail, and that, in the empty aspect, does not have even a whisker of existence as a nature. With that, there is a clear visualization

19

(...continued) This use of ““great”” appears throughout this text. It is important to recognize it, otherwise one can mistakenly think that it simply means wonderful or large. To assist with this recognition, the next few instances of this use will be flagged.

20

For migrators, see the glossary.

21

For liveliness, see the glossary.

22

These are called ““the three samådhis””; in Nyingma explanations of Development Stage, they show the three types of samådhi needed in order to visualize the deity.

23

The four birthplaces are the four modes of taking birth within saîsåra. They are listed and explained within The Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary.

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of the great appearance-emptiness . This is to be done with all branches of it complete——the empowerment of the five wisdoms, sealing with enlightened body, speech, and mind. By doing that, the latencies for a body born in the four birthplaces of the lower circumstance of samsara are cleansed and purified. And, in the upper buddha circumstance, there is the 25 inconceivable enlightened body secret transcending face, 26 27 arms, and sceptres , and all superficies of enlightened body are the fruition of appearance as a tamer to tame whoever is to be tamed complete in the ground. And, in between, in the path circumstance, because it trains the deity of the pure network of channels, it turns into being a ripener of the whole of

24

Here is another instance of great being used to mean ““not the lesser possibility of unified-emptiness known conceptually but the greater possibility of its being known in non-conceptual wisdom.

25

““Inconceivable”” is used as a description of the secrets of a buddha throughout this text. It means that they are outside the range of, and hence cannot really be known by, conceptual mind.

26

““Faces, arms, and sceptres”” is the usual way of summing up the appearances of a deity. Sceptres are the objects held by a deity; they reflect the particular powers and capabilities of the deity so are indeed, ““sceptres””.

27

““Superficies”” means ““superficially appearing aspects””——see the glossary for more. The meaning here is that, at the superfactual level of the actual deity, there are no conceived-of faces, arms, and sceptres. For superfact, see the glossary.

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Completion Stage which works the key points of the vajra 28 body .

2. The Essence Mantra Nail At the heart centre of all members of the deity assembly 29 visualized in that way is a jñånasattva similar to the deity but with ornaments and sceptres removed. At each of their heart centres, there is a samådhisattva at whose heart the life-force appears in the form of a letter and that is surrounded by other 30 such letters starting at the front. As the essence mantra specific to the deity is recited, the mantra garland of the activity mantra surrounds it, and the mind is focussed one-pointedly on that. The speech recites each syllable for a count, for

28

There are a number of levels of Completion Stage; this is referring specifically to the level of Completion Stage with signs in which the impure channels, winds, and drops are worked on to bring forth the pure channels, winds, and drops of the vajra body and hence to achieve enlightenment. This nail is mainly concerned with ripening the body aspect, which is the channels. 29

Development Stage speaks of samayasattva, samådhisattva, and jñånasattva. Sattva simply means being (see ““satva and sattva”” in the glossary), so these are beings connected with samaya (vows), samådhi (one-pointedness), and jñåna (wisdom). Each one has a specific function, though an explanation of that should be obtained in person from a lineage-holding teacher. Note that ““sattva”” used alone refers to these three types of beings in general. 30

A single deity usually has several types of mantra associated with it. The essence or core mantra is the base mantra used for recitation.

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instance, of one hundred thousand times . At the times of the moon, one connects with the concepts of seeing the face, and so on, and recites and, especially, makes efforts at the vajra recitation done through threefold out-breath, in-breath, 32 and dwelling being known as the mantra . Thereby, in the lower samsaric circumstance, the latencies of migrator’’s 33 speech, which has a nature of expressions made with sound, are purified. In the upper context of buddha, the inconceivable speech secret transcending expressions of words made with sound is the fruition of every instance of speech shining 34 forth as the inconceivable vehicles complete in the ground. In between, in the path context of gaining experience, speech, the nature of wind, is trained as the nature of the essence mantra, whereby, according to father tantra, it turns into

31

It is a general rule that, to complete the recitations of a mantra, it will have to be recited the number of syllables in the mantra multiplied by one hundred thousand. However, it can be changed and it can also be different from one deity to another.

32

In ““vajra recitation”” the syllables of enlightened body, speech, and mind are recited in step with the coming in, holding, and expulsion of the breath. It is a very potent method for creating the causes of the three aspects of enlightenment.

33 34

For expressions, see the glossary.

In other words, ordinary speech has become enlightened speech in which every intonation of the speech is a teaching belonging to one or another of the many vehicles comprising the whole of a buddha’’s teaching.

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being a ripener of the whole of the Completion Stage based 35 on wind .

3. The Understanding Unchanging Nail This concerns paying attention to the view of dharmatå. All 36 of the visible and audible worlds, container and contents , being spontaneously evident as deity and mantra in the immeasurable mansion is, moreover, not a display created by compounded rational mind but sits as the maïçala of appar37 ent existence structured in ground , the self-liveliness of the 38 39 superfactual dharmatå, the great purity equality emptiness .

35

This nail is mainly concerned with ripening the speech aspect, which is the winds.

36

““Container and contents”” means the container worlds, the environments within which sentient beings live, and their contents, the sentient beings living in them. 37

The concept ““structured in ground”” is regarded as a difficult point to explain. Suffice it to say that it means something which produced directly from fundamental reality.

38 39

For superfactual and its paired term fictional, see the glossary.

““Purity equality emptiness”” is a term used in Mahåyoga and Ati yoga vehicles but with different meaning in each case. The difference is explained in Longchenpa’’s Dharmadh¼tu Treasury; an excellent commentary that makes the matter clear can be found in Ontrul Tenpa’’i Wangchuk’’s commentary ““Single Sphere of Luminosity””, A Bitwise Commentary to the Dharmadhatu Treasury to be published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee. Here: ““great”” as explained earlier means seen by wisdom, ““purity”” means the universal purity of appearance within which the deity (continued...)

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Given that there is not the slightest grasping at the differenti40 ated phenomena of dualism——self and others, samaya-jñåna accomplisher and accomplished, pure and impure——in the maïçala of primordial buddhahood of samsara and nirvana in the expanse of the great non-dual equality, there is not the slightest grasping at the difference expressed as ““I and the deity””. The dharmatå of ““I”” which is complete purity is the deity’’s nature and in that the deity’’s enlightened mind of 41 great wisdom abides primordially inseparable with oneself . 42 It is within that fact that one has the principal training of the equality vajra expanse’’s maïçala. This approach given in verse is: Whose nature non-dual is great bliss Vajrasatva, a space-like space, Within which demonstrating space and not is mere convention;

39

(...continued) lives, ““equality”” means the state of emptiness that produces an equality of all phenomena including the deity, and ““emptiness”” indicates that kind of emptiness. This is the Mahåyoga way of explaining the dharmatå, or the nature of the situation, of the deity’’s reality.

40

Samaya-jñåna is an abbreviation of samayasattva and jñånasattva.

41

The words here read correctly; the tantras do speak of a self. Having eliminated a differentiated self of the sort just discussed, one arrives at the self of non-self, and that is what is being spoken of here. 42

Where fact means actual situation, not a concept thereof.

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This meaning when realized is samsara and nirvana non-dual. Primordial buddha is merely a name of becoming’’s 43 body ; In the birthless space of all conquerors’’ enlightened mind vajra, Free of meeting and parting’’s dharmatå, a pure expanse. Visible appearances are the deity, appearances from the deity is not observed. Audibles are the mantra, from the mantra there is no sound. Deity and mantra not existing is the state of pure equality dharmakåya in which There is no grasping at I and other; Where could there be empty and not empty in this? It is the path of the conquerors carried in being beyond rational mind. There should never be any separation from this. A deity developed in separation from it is the cause of bondage. By this, in the lower circumstance of samsara, the factors of bad mind latencies present in the self-knowing self-illumina44 tion are purified. In the upper context of buddha, the in 43

For becoming, see the glossary. ““Primordial buddha”” is just a name given within a samsaric context. In the primordial context, there is no such thing.

44

There is self-knowing, self-illuminating wisdom to start with. This has turned into mind——which is always a samsaric thing—— (continued...)

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conceivable enlightened mind secret is the dharmatå free of the elaborations of referencing thought and is the fruition of all superficies of enlightenment mind being inconceivable 45 extra-perceptions complete in the ground. In between, in 46 the circumstance of gaining experience , attending to the 47 fictional and superfactual enlightenment minds , which is done through familiarization to the dharmatå of non-duality of appearance and emptiness, turns into the ripener of the

44

(...continued) and has developed latencies in it. This is a bad situation. By means of deity practice, this bad mind latency situation adventitiously sitting on top of the wisdom can be cleansed and so purified. He could just say here ““bad latencies”” because latencies are part of mind, not part of self-knowing wisdom. However, by adding the word mind, he makes sure that the samsaric aspect is understood in relation to the non-samsaric aspect.

45

““Extra-perceptions”” are the extra-sensory perceptions known in Buddhism. Six main ones are described——see the Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary for a full listing and explanation——but there are a multitude of them. For example, there is the ability to know other’’s minds, the ability to know past and future lives, and so on. ““Inconceivable extra-perceptions”” distinguishes the extraperceptions of a buddha from those of ordinary beings and of practitioners still on the path.

46

““Gaining experience”” here and elsewhere means doing practice to gain experience.

47

See fictional enlightenment mind and superfactual enlightenment mind in the glossary.

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Completion Stage meditation of bliss, illumination, and emp48 tiness .

4. The Emission-Absorption Visualization Nail This concerns paying attention to the specifics of the method of accomplishment of the four supreme and common enlight49 ened activities . Here, all of the visualization of container and contents as the deity’’s maïçala are without the slightest wavering from: the enlightened mind’’s dharmatå understanding; the indestructible sounds of the essence mantra transformed into the sixty branches of intonation of enlightened speech; and the enlightened body on display as the nine moods of peaceful body and nine dances of wrathful body. The mantra garland at the heart centre emits an inconceivable mass of light and light rays in sparking white, lustrous

48

This is Completion Stage without signs. However, it is still not the fruitional level of unification; it is still at the level of gaining experience. This is understood because of the words ““bliss, illumination, and emptiness”” which is another way of saying ““the temporary experiences of bliss, illumination, and no-thought. The fourth nail presents ultimate or unification Completion Stage.

49

These four activities are one of the main themes of Development Stage practice; they are named pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying. The Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary gives a complete explanation of them and their names (and why, for instance, ““destroying”” is the correct name and not ““wrathful””). They come in both supreme——meaning ultimate or fruitional——and common——meaning still being practised on the path——forms.

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50

yellow, bold red, and dark green . It makes offerings to the conquerors and their sons of the three times and ten directions present in the form of maïçala circles, in displays of delight-producing manifestations without the differentiation of demonstrator and that demonstrated, satisfying them with the taste of great bliss-empty wisdom. In the own appearance of wisdom appearance, there is no referencing of even so much as the name samsara. However, in the others’’ appear51 ance of mind appearance , there are the illusory, not-reallyexistent appearances of deep solidification’’s external body and objects in all of the inconceivable levels of abodes in the 52 realms of the six classes of migrators , and these are contacted by light possessing skill-in-means, clearing in an instant all the ignorance with its confused grasping. All bodies

50

These are the four colours corresponding to the four activities.

51

““Own appearance””, which is appearance within wisdom’’s own context, and ““others’’ appearance””, which is appearance within the samsaric mind-made worlds of sentient beings, is regarded as one of the most difficult topics to explain. The deity proceeds in its own wisdom appearances but it creates, in the worlds of sentient beings with their fictional, mind-made appearances, light of the four colours which is, in fact, the compassionate activity of enlightenment which has the skilful means needed to liberate those beings.

52

The six classes of migrators are the six types of sentient beings within samsaric existence. ““Migrator”” is a term frequently used by the Buddha to indicate that sentient beings are constantly taking birth then dying and buzzing on to another existence, helplessly going here and there and all over the place as they do. This aspect of sentient beings is traditionally likened to flies buzzing around in a jar.

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are known as the deity’’s enlightened body, all speech as the essence mantra, and all minds as the dharmakåya understand53 ing in a state of shiftless buddhahood without even the name ““becoming””. This understanding, with the supreme siddhi set as the important one, is called ““the yoga of spontaneous two purposes””. Doing those light rays accomplishes non-ultimately the enlightened activities as follows: white accomplishes pacifying; yellow, increasing; red, magnetizing; and green, destroying. And, the visualization of emitting and absorbing accomplishes the eight ordinary siddhis. By this, in the circumstance of lower samsara, the activities of body, speech, and mind are cleansed in the forms of a ruler, kinsman, merchant, farmer, and so on and purified. In the upper circumstance of buddha, the fruition of the inconceivable enlightened activity of all aspects of enlightened body, speech, and mind is complete in the ground. In between, in the circumstance of gaining experience, in the case of the Completion Stage of the principal training in the path of purifying conceived efforts of spontaneous accomplishment of the two purposes, the common path that has referencing that relates to the functions of body, speech, and mind and the reference-less wisdom understanding in direct perception, turns into the ripener of the

53

““Shiftless”” here means that the enlightenment of buddhahood never shifts for a moment into the un-enlightenment of a sentient being, a being who lives in the samsaric process of becoming one type of being after another.

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54

yoga of luminosity , apparent existence conducted as a body 55 of light . Moreover, that was said like this: Not-differenced ground, path, fruition, In unification the buddha’’s path From the first has not multiplicity—— In one taste the fruition is complete. What is that teaching? It is saying: ““The view, understanding unchanging, is the ground; meditation, the path, is deity and mantra, and conduct automatically follows from that; enlightened activity which has both supreme and ordinary fruitions, from the first is called ‘‘unification path’’.”” It is like this: the nail of understanding unchanging is the view, so it is the ground; the nail of the samådhi deity is the meditation; the nail of the essence mantra also is the meditation and automatically becomes the conduct, so just that is the path; the nail of visualization of emission and absorption accomplishes the supreme and ordinary siddhis and is, through buddha’’s enlightened activity, the fruition being done in the present. Such Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces or view, meditation, conduct, and fruition, whether they are ground, path, or fruition, are not viewed as having differencing or pairing

54 55

For luminosity, see the glossary.

This is the actual practice of Complete Stage in which one completes the journey toward enlightenment.

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or sides or steps; from the first they have to be understood as the unification of being without division into one and many. It is like this: being in the state of unified Development and Completion——a state in which the understanding unchanging dharmatå, the great purity equality, is an expanse in which the self-liveliness of primordial buddha is self-shining forth as the fictional vajradhåtu maïçala——all empty audibles are the selfsound of mantra without any transformation involved and one trains in emission and absorption, the play of enlightened activity. The enlightened body, speech, and mind of the buddhas is the fruitional state of being great wisdom free of the elaborations of conceived efforts while at the same time having the two purposes spontaneously coming into existence and this fruitional state done in the present is referred to as ““Secret Mantra Vajra Vehicle”” or ““fruition vehicle””. Moreover, in relation to the ground, view, the realm of wisdom, by realizing samsara and nirvana as the great equality, one gains control over the life-forces of both becoming and 56 peace ; by the path, meditation, the realm of deity and mantra, one gains control over the life-forces of both Development and Completion; and, by the conduct of the two purposes spontaneously existing, one gains control over the life-force of great inconceivable method. For example,

56

In ““becoming and peace””, becoming is samsara in which sentient beings mistakenly abide and peace is the lesser nirvana in which the arhats mistakenly abide. Complete enlightenment of the Great Vehicle, which is what this text is about, does not abide in either so is the unification of the two.

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Råhula’’s mouth seizing the sky’’s one moon causes every one of the moons appearing on water to be automatically seized and likewise, knowing the one foremost instruction of the Four Nails Pinning The Life-Forces causes the key points of understanding of inconceivable numbers of sýtras and tantras to be brought into experience at once, which leads to each of the four nails also having many key points which are their features, as follows.

1. The Understanding Unchanging Nail This further has these eighteen key points: the key point that by knowing samsara and nirvana to be equality, acceptance and rejection are purified in relation to the ground; the key point that by knowing equal-taste emptiness, apprehending 58 things and clinging to truth disintegrates; the key point that by knowing appearance-emptiness to be unified, the two accumulations are completed at the same time; the key point that by taking the view into account, Development and Completion do not turn into two items of a pair; the key point that by not moving from the state of understanding, one arrives at meditation that is on the view; the key point that by liberating from clinging to the deity seen as ideal, points of deviation of Development are abandoned; the key point that by appearance-existence complete in being structured in ground, there is absence of dualistic apprehension of self and other; the key point that by realizing primordial liberation complete in 57

It was regarded in ancient India that eclipses of the moon occurred because a being called Råhula took the moon into his mouth. 58

For clinging, see the glossary.

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ground, there is absence of point of deviation of the five poisons; the key point that by getting the dharmakåya understanding, the three kåyas are complete in oneself; the key point that by knowing ground and fruition as one taste, there is no need for a path of conceived striving; the key point that by meditation arriving at the fruition, there is no seeking buddha elsewhere; the key point that by the fruition arriving at the ground, there is liberation of clinging-grasping to something to be attained; the key point that by oneness of dharmatå and the space of practice, grasping at the samayasattvas and jñånasattvas is purified; the key point that by the realization of being the lord presiding over the one hundred families, accomplishment of one deity brings accomplishment of all; the key point that by getting supreme siddhi, the two purposes are spontaneously existing; the key point that by transcending the acceptance and rejection that goes with good and bad, there is no dependence on the conduct of ritual purity; the key point that by knowing primordial non-activity, there is no need for the arranged steps of liturgical procedure; and the key point that by purification in regard to grasping at tenets, one will have reached the peak of vehicles. There are those eighteen great key points and still many more and that being the case, this one is the life-force of life-forces, the one that includes the life-forces of the other three, therefore there is no way but to define it as the pre-eminent one.

2. The Development Stage Deity Nail This further has these six key points: the key point that by the appearance part being evident as the deity, there is no deviating into a one-sided empty condition; the key point that by making fiction into the path, the two truths are brought into

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unification; the key point that by cleansing the deep solidifi59 cation of things, clinging to ordinary truth is abandoned; the key point that by completing the various liturgical procedures, the great accumulation of merit is completed; the key point that by visualizing the form of the deity, the primary cause of the form bodies is created; the key point that by being in accord with the way the fruition sits, the three kåyas are spontaneously existing.

3. The Essence Mantra Nail This further has these ten key points: by making vajra speech into the vajra path, the obscurations of speech are cleansed; the key point that by meditation on the three stacked sat60 tvas , the three doors are liberated at the same time; the key point that focussing on the visualized mantra garland removes ordinary discursive thoughts; the key point that by recitation like a moon and garland of stars, one abides in a samådhi of one’’s own nature left to being itself; the key point that by 61 recitation like the circle of a burning stick , there is development of bliss-emptiness wisdom; the key point that by recitation like a hive of bees, audible sounds are liberated into being mantra; the key point that by counting done based on the life-force of the essence mantra, there are the deity’’s blessings; the key point that by increasing the power of

59

For deep solidification, see the glossary.

60

The three sattvas mentioned earlier. See also ““satva and sattva”” in the glossary. 61

A stick with a smouldering end when rotated in a circle rapidly in the dark produces the illusion of a continuous ring of fire.

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speech, whatever is said becomes beneficial to others; the key 62 point that by accomplishing vidyåmantra’’s words of truth , whatever prayers of aspiration are made will be accomplished; the key point that gaining mastery of the conquerors’’ speech results in the gods and demons of apparent existence following one’’s orders.

4. Emission-Absorption Enlightened Activity Nail This further has these six key points: the key point that by accomplishing the supreme siddhi, the ordinary ones automatically arise; the key point that because the visualization directs the matter, there is no dependence on other sets of 63 activities ; the key point that by enlightened activity having been finalized, other’’s purposes occur effortlessly; the key point that by migrators’’ purposes being spontaneously existent, the deeds of a buddha are accomplished; the key point 64 that by increasing the arousal of mind , one does not toss it off and so deviate into the Lesser Vehicle; the key point that

62

There are several classes of mantra. The ones used in the deity practice are called vidyåmantra or ““mantras connected with insight into reality””. The words of such mantras are related to the truth of reality, so are called ““words of truth””.

63

The kind of visualization used in Buddhist deity practice comes with the four activities of pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying, which in themselves can accomplish whatever needs to be accomplished. Therefore ““other sets of activities””, meaning sets of activities other than those four activities, are simply unnecessary.

64

““Arousal of mind”” is the technical term for arousing bodhicitta, enlightenment mind.

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by ripening and liberating those to be tamed, one upholds the family line. In that way, the four root key points give rise to forty feature key points. Thus, every one without exception of the key points of the Secret Mantra Vajra Vehicle is contained in the four, and, given that a path which does not have them is ascertained to be comparable to a dead corpse, they are called ““the nails that pin the life-forces””. Additionally, all parts of both root and feature key points are nails that hold the practitioner in the one non-dual wisdom. If their meanings were elaborated on extensively, there would be much to discuss so just this is enough for now. The summary of the key points of the Secret Mantra’’s path is a tale of the secret, But, pressed by vajra relatives, I can’’t simply keep it secret, So have indeed written it out here according to their wishes. What I have written does indeed conform to the explicit and implicit statements of the main texts 65 And Abu Ùhrë’’s secret words are not contradictory 65

Dza Patrul frequently referred to himself as ““Ùhrë””, meaning ““glorious”” one; for example, in the title of his famous text Feature of the Expert, Glorious King. He explained it by saying that he had a glorious wealth of understanding of the sýtras and tantras. In the places where he dwelled in East Tibet, ““Abu”” is a term of tender address meaning ““dear one””. So, he was calling himself (continued...)

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To the understanding of the oceanic tantra section known in fact. If something is wrong, I lay it aside before the 66 deities and guards ! May the accumulated virtue be of one taste with the 67 ocean of omniscience .

65

(...continued) very nicely ““The dear old fellow, Glory””!

66

““Guards”” are one type of dharma protector; they have the general function of being the watchmen or guards of the teaching. 67

This is a very clever statement of dedication. There are two types of dedication: with and without outflow. The former is a dedication done with a mind, the second is a dedication done without a mind but with wisdom. The latter is the best way to do a dedication because it seals the merit into the realm of enlightenment with the effect that the merit never ends and is not wasted merely in samsaric results. His dedication here is of the latter type.

GLOSSARY

Actuality, Tib. gnas lugs: A key term in both sýtra and tantra and one of a pair of terms, the other being ““apparent reality”” (Tib. snang lugs). The two terms are used when determining the reality of a situation. The actuality of any given situation is how (lugs) the situation actuality sits or is present (gnas); the apparent reality is how (lugs) any given situation appears (snang) to an observer. Something could appear in many different ways, depending on the circumstances at the time and on the being perceiving it but, regardless of those circumstances, it will always have its own actuality of how it really is. The term actuality is frequently used in Mahåmudrå and Great Completion teachings to mean the fundamental reality of any given phenomenon or situation before any deluded mind alters it and makes it appear differently. Becoming, Skt. bhåvanå, Tib. srid pa: This is another name for samsaric existence. Beings in samsara have a samsaric existence but, more than that, they are constantly in a state of becoming——becoming this type of being or that type of being in this abode or that, as they are driven along without choice by the karmic process that drives samsaric existence. Bodhicitta: see under enlightenment mind.

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Clinging, Tib. zhen pa: In Buddhism, this term refers specifically to the twofold process of dualistic mind mis-taking things that are not true, not pure, as true, pure, etcetera and then, because of seeing them as highly desirable even though they are not, attaching itself to or clinging to those things. This type of clinging acts as a kind of glue that keeps a person joined to the unsatisfactory things of cyclic existence because of mistakenly seeing them as desirable. Compassionate activity, Tib. thugs rje: This does not mean compassionate activity in general. Rather, it is a specific term of the most profound level of teachings of Mahåmudrå and Great Completion. These teachings describe innate wisdom as having three characteristics. The third characteristic is this compassionate activity. It refers to the fact that wisdom spontaneously does whatever needs to be done, throughout all reaches of time and space, for all beings. Although it includes the word ““compassion”” in its name, it is more primordial than that. It is the dynamic quality of enlightenment which choicelessly, ceaselessly, spontaneously, and pervasively acts to benefit others. Conceived effort, Tib. rtsol ba: In Buddhism, this term usually does not merely mean effort but has the specific connotation of effort of dualistic mind. In that case, it is effort that is produced by and functions specifically within the context of dualistic concept. For example, the term ““mindfulness with effort”” specifically means ““a type of mindfulness that is occurring within the context of dualistic mind and its various operations””. Confusion, Tib. ’’khrul pa: In Buddhism, this term mostly refers to the fundamental confusion of taking things the wrong way that happens because of fundamental ignorance, although it can also have the more general meaning of having lots of thoughts and being confused about it. In the first case, it is defined like this ““Confusion is the appearance to rational

GLOSSARY

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mind of something being present when it is not”” and refers, for example, to seeing an object, such as a table, as being truly present, when in fact it is present only as mere, interdependent appearance. Cyclic existence: See under samsara. Deep solidification, Tib. a ’’thas: This is a very strong term that has the full weight of ““the deep stupidity of ignorance which solidifies empty actuality into an utterly solid existence””. This is how most samsaric minds operate. They do not merely live in dualistic ways of knowing but heavily solidify all of what they know into the perception of a very solidly real existence. Dharmakaya, Skt. dharmakåya, Tib. chos sku: In the general teachings of Buddhism, this refers to the mind of a buddha, with ““dharma”” meaning reality and ““kåya”” meaning body. Dharmata, Skt. dharmatå, Tib. chos nyid: This is a general term meaning the way that something is, and can be applied to anything at all; it is similar in meaning to ““actuality”” q.v. For example, the dharmatå of water is wetness and the dharmatå of the becoming bardo is a place where beings are in a samsaric, or becoming mode, prior to entering a nature bardo. It is used frequently in Tibetan Buddhism to mean ““the dharmatå of reality”” but that is a specific case of the much larger meaning of the term. To read texts which use this term successfully, one has to understand that the term has a general meaning and then see how that applies in context. Discursive thought, Skt. vikalpa, Tib. rnam rtog: This means more than just the superficial thought that is heard as a voice in the head. It includes the entirety of conceptual process that arises due to mind contacting any object of any of the senses. The Sanskrit and Tibetan literally mean ““(dualistic) thought (that arises from the mind wandering among the) various (superficies q.v. perceived in the doors of the senses)””.

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Elaboration, Tib. spro ba: This is a general name for what is given off by dualistic mind as it goes about its conceptual process. In general, elaborations prevent a person from seeing emptiness directly. Freedom from elaborations implies direct sight of emptiness. Enlightenment mind, Skt. bodhicitta, Tib. byang chub sems: This is a key term of the Great Vehicle. It is the type of mind that is connected not with the lesser enlightenment of an arhat but the enlightenment of a truly complete buddha. As such, it is a mind which is connected with the aim of bringing all sentient beings to that same level of buddhahood. A person who has this mind has entered the Great Vehicle and is either a bodhisatva or a buddha. It is important to understand that ““enlightenment mind”” is used to refer equally to the minds of all levels of bodhisatva on the path to buddhahood and to the mind of a buddha who has completed the path. Therefore, it is not ““mind striving for enlightenment”” as is so often translated but ““enlightenment mind””, meaning that kind of mind which is connected with the full enlightenment of a truly complete buddha and which is present in all those who belong to the Great Vehicle. The term is used in the conventional Great Vehicle and also in the Vajra Vehicle. In the Vajra Vehicle, there are some special uses of the term where substances of the pure aspect of the subtle physical body are understood to be manifestations of enlightenment mind. Equipoise and post-attainment, Tib. mnyam bzhag and rjes thob: Although often called ““meditation and post-meditation””, the actual term is ““equipoise and post-attainment””. There is great meaning in the actual wording which is lost by the looser translation. Expressions, Tib. brjod pa: According to Sanskrit and Tibetan grammar following it, expressions refers to mental and verbal

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expressions. Thus, for example, the phrase seen in translation of ““word, thought, and expression”” is mistaken. The phrase is actually ““expressions mental and verbal””. Fictional, Skt. saîvôti, Tib. kun rdzob: This term is paired with the term ““superfactual”” q.v. Until now these two terms have been translated as ““relative”” and ““absolute”” but these translations are nothing like the original terms. These terms are extremely important in the Buddhist teaching so it is very important that they be corrected, but more than that, if the actual meaning of these terms is not presented, then the teaching connected with them cannot be understood. The Sanskrit term saîvôti means a deliberate invention, a fiction, a hoax. It refers to the mind of ignorance which, because of being obscured and so not seeing suchness, is not true but a fiction. The things that appear to that ignorance are therefore fictional. Nonetheless, the beings who live in this ignorance believe that the things that appear to them through the filter of ignorance are true, are real. Therefore, these beings live in fictional truth. Fictional truth, Skt. saîvôtisatya, Tib. kun rdzob bden pa: See under fictional. Fictional truth enlightenment mind, Tib. kun rdzob bden pa’’i byang chub sems: One of a pair of terms explained in the Great Vehicle; the other is Superfactual Truth Enlightenment Mind. See under fictional truth and superfactual truth for information about those terms. Enlightenment mind is defined as two types. The fictional type is the conventional type. It is explained as consisting of love and great compassion within the framework of an intention to obtain truly complete enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. The superfactual truth type is the ultimate type. It is explained as the enlightenment mind that is directly perceiving emptiness.

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Foremost instruction, Skt. upadeùha, Tib. man ngag: There are several types of instruction mentioned in Buddhist literature: there is the general level of instruction which is the meaning contained in the words of the texts of the tradition; on a more personal and direct level there is oral instruction which has been passed down from teacher to student from the time of the buddha; and on the most profound level there are foremost instructions which are not only oral instructions provided by one’’s guru but are special, core instructions that come out of personal experience and which convey the teaching concisely and with the full weight of personal experience. Foremost instructions or upadeùha are crucial to the Vajra Vehicle because these are the special way of passing on the profound instructions needed for the student’’s realization. Fortune, fortunate person, Tib. skal ldan: To meet with any given dharma teaching, a person must have accumulated the karmic fortune needed for such a rare opportunity, and this kind of person is then called ““a fortunate one”” or ““fortunate person””. This term is especially used in the Vajra Vehicle, whose teachings and practices are generally very hard to meet with. Great Bliss, Skt. mahåsukha, Tib. bde ba chen po: ““Great bliss”” is a standard but not good translation of this key term. The phrase actually means ““the great state of satisfactoriness”” that comes with entering an enlightened kind of existence. It is blissful in that it is totally satisfactory, a condition of perfect ease, in comparison to samsaric existence which is totally unsatisfactory and always with some kind of dis-ease. As Thrangu Rinpoche once observed, if samsara is thought of as ““great suffering”” then this is better thought of as the ““great ease””. Similarly, if samsara is ““total unsatisfactoriness”” then this is the ““great satisfactoriness””. Ground, Tib. gzhi: This is the first member of the formulation of ground, path, and fruition. Ground, path, and fruition is the way that the teachings of the path of oral instruction belong-

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ing to the Vajra Vehicle are presented to students. Ground refers to the basic situation as it is. Latency, Skt. våsanå, Tib. bag chags: The original Sanskrit has the meaning exactly of ““latency””. The Tibetan term translates that inexactly with ““something sitting there (Tib. chags) within the environment of mind (Tib. bag)””. Although it has become popular to translate this term into English with ““habitual pattern””, that is not its meaning. The term refers to a karmic seed that has been imprinted on the mindstream and is present there as a latency, ready and waiting to come into manifestation. Liveliness, Tib. rtsal: A key term in both Mahåmudrå and Great Completion. The term is sometimes translated as ““display”” or ““expression”” but neither are correct. The primary meaning is the ability of something to express itself but in use, the actual expression of that ability is also included. Thus, in English it would not be ““expression”” but ““expressivity”” but that is too dry. This term is not at all dry; it is talking about the life of something and how that life comes into expression; ““liveliness”” fits the meaning of the original term very well. Luminosity or illumination, Skt. prabhåsvara, Tib. ’’od gsal ba: The core of mind has two aspects: an emptiness factor and a knowing factor. The Buddha and many Indian religious teachers used ““luminosity”” as a metaphor for the knowing quality of the core of mind. If in English we would say ““Mind has a knowing quality””, the teachers of ancient India would say, ““Mind has an illuminative quality; it is like a source of light which illuminates what it knows””. This term been translated as ““clear light”” but that is a mistake that comes from not understanding the etymology of the word. It does not refer to a light that has the quality of clearness (something that makes no sense, actually!) but to the illuminative property which is the nature of the empty mind.

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Migrator, Tib. ’’gro ba: Migrator is one of several terms that were commonly used by the Buddha to mean ““sentient being””. It shows sentient beings from the perspective of their constantly being forced to go here and there from one rebirth to another by the power of karma. They are like flies caught in a jar, constantly buzzing back and forth. The term is often translated using ““beings”” which is another general term for sentient beings but doing so loses the meaning entirely: Buddhist authors who know the tradition do not use the word loosely but use it specifically to give the sense of beings who are constantly and helplessly going from one birth to another, and that is how the term should be read. Mind, Skt. chitta, Tib. sems: There are several terms for mind in the Buddhist tradition, each with its own, specific meaning. This term is the most general term for the samsaric type of mind. It refers to the type of mind that is produced because of fundamental ignorance of enlightened mind. Whereas the wisdom of enlightened mind lacks all complexity and knows in a non-dualistic way, this mind of un-enlightenment is a very complicated apparatus that only ever knows in a dualistic way. Mindness, Skt. chittatå, Tib. sems nyid: Mindness is a specific term of the tantras. It is one of many terms meaning the essence of mind or the nature of mind. It conveys the sense of ““what mind is at its very core””. It has sometimes been translated as ““mind itself”” but that is a misunderstanding of the Tibetan word ““nyid””. The term does not mean ““that thing mind”” where mind refers to dualistic mind. Rather, it means the very core of dualistic mind, what mind is at root, without all of the dualistic baggage. Mindness is a path term. It refers to exactly the same thing as ““actuality”” or ““actuality of mind”” which is a ground term but does so from the practitioner’’s perspective. It conveys the sense to a practitioner that he has baggage of dualistic

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mind that has not yet been purified but that there is a core to that mind that he can work with. Nail, Tib. gzer: Nail is used to mean an instruction or a procedure by which a particular point of understanding or realization is ““pegged”” or ““pinned”” down so that it does not leave the practitioner’’s experience. Poisons, Tib. dug: In Buddhism, poison is a general term for the afflictions. For samsaric beings, the afflictions are poisonous things which harm them. The Buddha most commonly spoke of the three poisons, which are the principal afflictions of desire, aggression, and ignorance. He also spoke of ““the five poisons”” which is a slightly longer enumeration of the principal afflictions: desire, aggression, delusion, pride, and jealousy. Post-attainment, Tib. rjes thob: See under equipoise and postattainment. Prajna, Skt. prajñå, Tib. shes rab: A Sanskrit term for the type of mind that makes good and precise distinctions between this and that and hence which arrives at correct understanding. It has been translated as ““wisdom”” but that is not correct because it is, generally speaking, a mental event belonging to dualistic mind where ““wisdom”” is used to refer to the nondualistic knower of a buddha. Moreover, the main feature of prajñå is its ability to distinguish correctly between one thing and another and hence to arrive at a correct understanding. Rational mind, Tib. blo: Rational mind is one of several terms for mind in Buddhist terminology. It specifically refers to a mind that judges this against that. With rare exception it is used to refer to samsaric mind, given that samsaric mind only works in the dualistic mode of comparing this versus that. Because of this, the term is mostly used in a pejorative sense to point out samsaric mind as opposed to an enlightened type of mind.

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Realization, Tib. rtogs pa: Realization has a very specific meaning: it refers to correct knowledge that has been gained in such a way that the knowledge does not abate. There are two important points here. Firstly, realization is not absolute. It refers to the removal of obscurations, one at a time. Each time that a practitioner removes an obscuration, he gains a realization because of it. Therefore, there are as many levels of obscuration as there are obscurations. Maitreya, in the Ornament of Manifest Realizations, shows how the removal of the various obscurations that go with each of the three realms of samsaric existence produces realization. Secondly, realization is stable or, as the Tibetan wording says, ““unchanging””. As Guru Rinpoche pointed out, ““Intellectual knowledge is like a patch, it drops away; experiences on the path are temporary, they evaporate like mist; realization is unchanging””. Samsara, Skt. saîsåra, Tib. ’’khor ba: This is the most general name for the type of existence in which sentient beings live. It refers to the fact that they continue on from one existence to another, always within the enclosure of births that are produced by ignorance and experienced as unsatisfactory. The original Sanskrit means to be constantly going about, here and there. The Tibetan term literally means ““cycling””, because of which it is frequently translated into English with ““cyclic existence”” though that is not quite the meaning of the term. Satva and sattva: According to the Tibetan tradition established at the time of the great translation work done at Samye under the watch of Padmasambhava not to mention the one hundred and sixty-three of the greatest Buddhist scholars of Sanskrit-speaking India, there is a difference of meaning between the Sanskrit terms ““satva”” and ““sativa””, with satva meaning ““an heroic kind of being”” and ““sattva”” meaning simply ““a being””. According to the Tibetan tradition established under

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the advice of the Indian scholars mentioned above, satva is correct for the words Vajrasatva and bodhisatva, whereas sattva is correct for the words samayasattva, samådhisattva, and jñånasattva, and is also used alone to refer to any or all of these three satvas. All Tibetan texts produced since the time of the great translations conform to this system and all Tibetan experts agree that this is correct, but Western translators of Tibetan texts have for last few hundreds of years claimed that they know better and have ““satva”” to ““sattva”” in every case, causing confusion amongst Westerners confronted by the correct spellings. Recently, publications by Western Sanskrit scholars have been appearing in which these great experts finally admit that they were wrong and that the Tibetan system is and always has been correct! Secret Mantra, Tib. gsang sngags: Another name for the Vajra Vehicle or the tantric teachings. Shiftless, Tib. ’’pho ba med pa: Shiftless is in reference to a buddha’’s wisdom. It means that the wisdom does not shift from being itself to being samsaric mind. For example, the common phrase ““without shift into the three times”” means ““without shift from non-dual wisdom into the dualistic mind of samsara which operates within the context of there being past, present, and future. Superfactual, Skt. paramårtha,Tib. don dam: This term is paired with the term ““fictional”” q.v. Until now these two terms have been translated as ““relative”” and ““absolute”” but those translations are nothing like the original terms. These terms are extremely important in the Buddhist teaching so it is very important that their translations be corrected but, more than that, if the actual meaning of these terms is not presented, the teaching connected with them cannot be understood.

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The Sanskrit term literally means ““a superior or holy kind of fact”” and refers to the wisdom mind possessed by those who have developed themselves spiritually to the point of having transcended samsara. That wisdom is superior to an ordinary, un-developed person’’s consciousness and the facts that appear on its surface are superior compared to the facts that appear on the ordinary person’’s consciousness. Therefore, it is superfact or the holy fact, more literally. What this wisdom knows is true for the beings who have it, therefore what the wisdom sees is superfactual truth. Superfice, superficies, Tib. rnam pa: In discussions of mind, a distinction is made between the entity of mind which is a mere knower and the superficial things that appear on its surface and which are known by it. In other words, the superficies are the various things which pass over the surface of mind but which are not mind. Superficies are all the specifics that constitute appearance——for example, the colour white within a moment of visual consciousness, the sound heard within an ear consciousness, and so on. Temporary experience, Tib. nyams: The practice of meditation brings with it various experiences that happen simply because of the meditation. These experiences are temporary experiences and not the final, unchanging experience, of realization. Three secrets, Tib. gsang ba: This term is usually defined as a path term which refers to the body, speech, and mind of a person who is on the way to buddhahood. When a person becomes a buddha, he has reached his full state of enlightenment in which case the three secrets are referred to as the three vajras of a tathågata because they are unchanging at that point. This path term is used to mean the three vajras of the fruition state of buddhahood. Three Vehicles, theg pa gsum: The entire teachings of the Buddha can be summed up into three ““vehicles””. Each vehicle is a

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complete set of teachings that will take a person to a particular level of spiritual attainment. The first one, the Lesser Vehicle, is a set of teachings that will take a person out of cyclic existence but will not lead the person to full enlightenment. The second one, the Great Vehicle, is ““great”” relative to the Lesser Vehicle because it can lead a person to full enlightenment. The third vehicle, the Vajra Vehicle, also can lead a person to full enlightenment. The difference between the Great and Vajra Vehicles is that the first are exoteric teachings that are suitable for anyone whereas the second are esoteric teachings which are not. The Great Vehicle and the Vajra Vehicle both lead to the same attainment, but the first proceeds very gradually whereas the second is very fast. The Great Vehicle proceeds using the sýtra teachings of the Buddha whereas the Vajra Vehicle proceeds using the tantric teachings. View, meditation, and conduct, Tib. lta sgom spyod: This set of three is a formulation of the teachings that contains all of the meaning of the path. Wisdom, Skt. jñåna, Tib. ye shes: This is a fruition term that refers to the kind of mind, the kind of knower possessed by a buddha. Sentient beings do have this kind of knower but it is covered over by a very complex apparatus for knowing, dualistic mind. If they practise the path to buddhahood, they will leave behind their obscuration and return to having this kind of knower. The Sanskrit term has the sense of knowing in the most simple and immediate way. This sort of knowing is present at the core of every being’’s mind. Therefore, the Tibetans called it ““the particular type of awareness which is there primordially””. Because of the Tibetan wording it has often been called ““primordial wisdom”” in English translations, but that goes too far; it is just ““wisdom”” in the sense of the most fundamental knowing possible.

SUPPORTS FOR STUDY

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

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

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Kagyu Heritage Project——at the time the largest project in Asia for the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist texts. With the dictionaries, grammar texts, and specialized software in place, and a wealth of knowledge, I turned my attention in the year 2000 to the translation and publication of important texts of Tibetan Buddhist literature. Padma Karpo Translation Committee (PKTC) was set up to provide a home for the translation and publication work. The committee focusses on producing books containing the best of Tibetan literature, and, especially, books that meet the needs of practitioners. At the time of writing, PKTC has published a wide range of books that, collectively, make a complete program of study for those practising Tibetan Buddhism, and especially for those interested in the higher tantras. All in all, you will find many books both free and for sale on the PKTC web-site. Most are available both as paper editions and e-books. It would take up too much space here to present an extensive guide to our books and how they can be used as the basis for a study program. However, a guide of that sort is available on the PKTC web-site, whose address is on the copyright page of this book and we recommend that you read it to see how this book fits into the overall scheme of PKTC publications. In short, the text in this book is by Dza Patrul and concerns Development Stage practice. It should be read in conjunction with the key text from the Longchen Nyingthig system on Development Stage by Jigmey Lingpa: ••

A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity, ““A Stairway Leading to Akanishtha

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Empowerment is the necessary doorway to being able to practice Development Stage so we recommend this book from PKTC which deals with that subject: ••

Empowerment and Atiyoga by Tony Duff

Dza Patrul and Jigmey Lingpa write their texts from the Mahåyoga perspective but include a strong flavour of Mahå Ati. Some of the PKTC publications on practice and Mahå Ati which could be helpful to read in conjunction with this book are: •• •• •• •• ••

Words of the Old Dog Vijay by Zhechen Gyaltshab Essential Points of Practice by Zhechen Gyaltshab Alchemy of Accomplishment by Dudjom Rinpoche The Way of the Realized Old Dogs by Ju Mipham Hinting at Dzogchen by Tony Duff

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

Electronic Resources PKTC has developed a complete range of electronic tools to facilitate the study and translation of Tibetan texts. For many years now, this software has been a prime resource for Tibetan Buddhist centres throughout the world, including in Tibet itself. It is available through the PKTC web-site.

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The wordprocessor TibetDoc has the only complete set of tools for creating, correcting, and formatting Tibetan text according to the norms of the Tibetan language. It can also be used to make texts with mixed Tibetan and English or other languages. Extremely high quality Tibetan fonts, based on the forms of Tibetan calligraphy learned from old masters from pre-Communist Chinese Tibet, are also available. Because of their excellence, these typefaces have achieved a legendary status amongst Tibetans. TibetDoc is used to prepare electronic editions of Tibetan texts in the PKTC text input office in Asia. Tibetan texts are often corrupt so the input texts are carefully corrected prior to distribution. After that, they are made available through the PKTC web-site. These electronic texts are not careless productions like so many of the Tibetan texts found on the web, but are highly reliable editions useful to non-scholars and scholars alike. Some of the larger collections of these texts are for purchase, but most are available for free download. The electronic texts can be read, searched, and even made into an electronic library using either TibetDoc or our other software, TibetD Reader. Like TibetDoc, TibetD Reader is advanced software with many capabilities made specifically to meet the needs of reading and researching Tibetan texts. PKTC software is for purchase but we make a free version of TibetD Reader available for free download on the PKTC web-site. A key feature of TibetDoc and Tibet Reader is that Tibetan terms in texts can be looked up on the spot using PKTC’’s

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electronic dictionaries. PKTC also has several electronic dictionaries——some Tibetan-Tibetan and some Tibetan-English——and a number of other reference works. The Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary is renowned for its completeness and accuracy. This combination of software, texts, reference works, and dictionaries that work together seamlessly has become famous over the years. It has been the basis of many, large publishing projects within the Tibetan Buddhist community around the world for over thirty years and is popular amongst all those needing to work with Tibetan language or deepen their understanding of Buddhism through Tibetan texts.

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INDEX

A Presentation of Instructions for the Development Stage Deity 41 absence of hardship . . . . . . . 1 acceptance and rejection 19, 20 actuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25, 27 additional teaching one . . . xv additional teaching two . . xvii alchemist’’s liquid . . . . . . . 1, 3 alchemist’’s liquid on iron . . . 1 Alchemy of Accomplishment . . 42 all-illuminating samådhi . . . . 6 amazing method . . . . . . . . 1, 3 an explanation of the title . . vi appearances are the deity . . 12 appearance-emptiness . . 7, 19 apprehending things . . . . . . 19 bad mind latencies . . . . . . . 12 becoming . . 12, 16, 18, 25, 27 becoming and peace . . . . . . 18 bliss, illumination, and emptiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 bliss, illumination, and nothought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 bliss-emptiness wisdom . . . 21

bliss-empty wisdom . . . . . . 15 Brahmå . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v-vii building the visualization . xvii causal going as a hero samådhi ...................... 6 cause of bondage . . . . . . . . . 12 Chokyi Wangpo . . . . . . v, xviii circle of a burning stick . . . 21 cleansing of latencies . . . . . . 6 clinging . . . . . . . . . . 19-21, 26 clinging to ordinary truth . . 21 clinging to truth . . . . . . . . . 19 compassion illusion-like meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 compassionate activity . 15, 26 complete liberation . . . . . . 1-3 complete purity . . . . . . . . . . 11 completed in the ground . . . 5 Completion Stage . . . v, x, 5, 8, 10, 14, 16 Completion Stage with signs 8 Completion Stage without signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 compounded rational mind 10

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conduct xiii, xv, 17, 18, 20, 37 conduct of ritual purity . . . 20 confused grasping . . . . . . . 15 conquerors and their sons . 15 conquerors’’ speech . . . . 4, 22 container and contents 10, 14 cyclic existence . . . vii, xvii, xix, 26, 27, 37 dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 deeds of a buddha . . . . . . . 22 deep solidification . . . . 21, 27 deity and mantra 10, 12, 17, 18 deity assembly . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Deity Instruction texts . . . . v deity’’s blessings . . . . . . . . . 21 deity’’s body . . . . . . . . . . . vi, 6 Derge printery . . . . . . . . . . . xi destroying . . . . . . . 14, 16, 22 Development and Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3, 18, 19 development of a deity . . . . vi Development Stage . . v-vii, ixxiv, xvi-xix, 3-6, 8, 14, 20, 41, 42 Development Stage summed up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Development, Completion, and Unification . . . . . . . . . 3 dharmakåya . . . 12, 16, 20, 27 dharmatå . . xii, xviii, 4, 5, 1014, 18, 20, 27 dharmatå nail . . . . . . . . . xii, 5 dharmatå of ““I”” . . . . . . . . . 11 differences of name . . . . . . xii direct perception . . . viii, 5, 16 dualistic apprehension of self and other . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Dudjom Rinpoche . . . . . . . 42 Dza Patrul . i, iii, v, xi, xv-xvii, 1, 3, 23, 41, 42 elaborations of conceived efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 elaborations of referencing thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 electronic editions . . . . 42, 43 electronic texts . . . . . . . . . . 43 emission and absorption . . . 4, 17, 18 emission-absorption . xii, 4, 5, 14, 22 emission-absorption enlightened activity nail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii, 5, 22 empowerment . . ii, viii-xi, xx, 7, 42 Empowerment and Atiyoga ix, 42 empowerment of the five wisdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 enlightened activities . . 14, 16 enlightened activity . . xii, 4, 5, 16-18, 22 enlightened body . . 4, 7, 9, 14, 16, 18 enlightened body secret . . . 7 enlightened body, speech, and mind . . . . . . . . . 7, 9, 16, 18 enlightened mind secret . . . 2, 4, 13 enlightened mind vajra . . . 12 enormous benefit . . . . . . . . . . x enriching . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 22 equality . . . . . . . 10-12, 18, 19 equality vajra expanse’’s maïçala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

INDEX

equal-taste emptiness . . . . . 19 equipoise and post-attainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 33 essence mantra . . xii, 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 21 essence mantra nail . . . . . 8, 21 Essential Points of Practice . . . 42 explanation of the title . vi, xiii expressions . . . . . . . . 9, 28, 29 extra-perceptions . . . . . . . . 13 extra-sensory perceptions . . 13 face, arms, and sceptres . . . . 7 Feature of the Expert, Glorious King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 fictional . . . . 10, 13, 15, 18, 29 fictional and superfactual enlightenment minds . . . . 13 fictional enlightenment mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 fictional truth . . . . . . . . . . . 29 fictional truth enlightenment mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 first three nails . . . . . . . . . . xvi Five Manifest Enlightenments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii five poisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 five wisdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 foremost instruction . . vi, xiii, 19, 30 form of the deity . . . . . . . . . 21 fortress of the view . . . . xv, xvi Fortress, Narrow Defile, and Life-Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv fortunate ones . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 fortunate person . . . . . . . 3, 30 forty feature key points . . . . 23 four activities . . . . . 14, 15, 22

61

four birthplaces . . . . . . . . . 6, 7 four colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 four major topics of Development Stage . . . . xiii four modes of taking birth . . 6 four nails . . . . i, iii, v, vi, x-xvii, xix, 1-5, 17, 19 additional function . . . . . xiii defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii dharmatå nail . . . . . . . . . . xii emission absorption visualization nail . . . . . . xii essence mantra nail . . . . . xii order of the nails . . . . . . xiii other names . . . . . . . . . . . xii related to other formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii samådhi deity . . . . . . . . . . xii samådhi deity nail . . . . . . xii samådhi nail . . . . . . . . . . . xii two simultaneous functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii understanding unchanging nail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii Four Nails Pinning The LifeForces . . . iii, v, vi, xii, xv, xix, 1, 3, 5, 17, 19 four root key points . . . . . . 23 four schools of Tibetan Buddhism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x fourth nail . . . . . . . . . . . xvi, 14 freedom from elaboration . . 5 fruition conduct . . . . . . . . . xvi fruition conduct of enlightenment . . . . . . . . . xvi further study . . . . . . . . . . . . xix gaining experience 9, 13, 14, 16

62

FOUR NAILS PINNING THE LIFE-FORCES

Gampopa’’s Mah¼mudr¼ . . . xvii glossary . iii, vi, viii, xii, xiv, 1, 2, 4, 6-10, 12, 13, 17, 19, 21, 25 grammar texts . . . . . . . . . . 41 grasping at tenets . . . . . . . . 20 great appearance-emptiness 7 great bliss . . . . 1, 2, 11, 15, 30 Great Completion . . x, 25, 26, 31, 40 great purity equality . . 10, 18 Great purity equality emptiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 ground, path, and fruition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii, 30 health warning . . . . . . . . . . . xx Hinting at Dzogchen . . . . . . 42 how the four nails teaching is used in practise . . . . . . . . xiv Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary . . 6, 13, 14, 40, 44 illusion-like . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 illusion-like all-illuminating samådhi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 immeasurable mansion vi, 6, 10 immeasurable mansion and its inner contents . . . . . . . . . . 6 impure channels, winds, and drops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 inconceivable . . . viii, 7, 9, 1316, 18, 19 inconceivable enlightened activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 inner contents . . . . . . . . . . . 6 jñåna . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 11, 37 jñånasattva . . . . . . . . 8, 11, 35 Ju Mipham . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x key issues of visualization . . i, iii, v, vi, xv, 1 latencies . . . . . . . 5-7, 9, 12, 13 Lesser Vehicle . . . . . . . 22, 37 level of buddhahood . . . 3, 28 liberation in a short time . . . 1 life-force . . xv, 2, 6, 8, 18, 20, 21 life-forces . . i, iii, v-vii, xii, xiv, xv, xix, 1-5, 17-20 liturgical procedures . . . . . 21 liveliness . . . . . . . 6, 10, 18, 31 long sentences . . . . . . . . . . . xv Longchenpa’’s Dharmadh¼tu Treasury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 lower samsara . . . . . . . . . 5, 16 luminosity . . . . . . . . . . 17, 31 magnetizing . . . . . . 14, 16, 22 Mahåmudrå . . x, xvii, xviii, 25, 26, 31 Mahåyoga . . . . . . . 10, 11, 42 maïçala of a deity . . . . . . . . xx manifest enlightenment . . xviii mantra garland . . . . . 8, 14, 21 meditation . . . xiii, xv-xvii, xix, 6, 14, 17-21, 36, 37 method and prajñå . . . . . . . . 2 mind appearance . . . . . . . . 15 mind of samsaric understanding . . . . . . . . . xii moons appearing on water 19 narrow defile of meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv, xvi new system . . . . . . . . . . ix, xviii nine dances of wrathful body14

INDEX

nine moods of peaceful body 14 no grasping at I and other . 12 no seeking buddha elsewhere20 non-dual equality . . . . . . . . 11 non-dual wisdom . xiii, 23, 35 Nyingma school . . . . . . . . ix, x obscurations of speech . . . . 21 old system . . . . . . . . ix, x, xviii one hundred families . . . . . 20 one-sided empty condition . 20 ordinary discursive thoughts 21 others’’ appearance . . . . . . . 15 outer container . . . . . . . . . . . 6 own appearance . . . . . . . . . 15 own wisdom appearances . . 15 pacifying . . . . . . . . . 14, 16, 22 pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 22 peak of vehicles . . . . . . . . . . 20 poetic sub-title . . . . . . . . . . vii points of deviation . . . . . . . 19 power of the instructions . . . x prayers of aspiration . . . . . . 22 primal guardian . . . . . . . . . . x primary instructions for the practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii primordial buddhahood . . . 11 primordial liberation . . . . . 19 primordial non-activity . . . 20 pure channels, winds, and drops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 pure equality dharmakåya . 12 pure network of channels . . . 7 purification of the four possible modes of birth . . . . . . . . xvii purifying, completing, and

63

ripening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 purity . . . . . . . . . 10, 11, 18, 20 purity equality emptiness . . 10 Råhula’’s mouth . . . . . . . . . . 19 rational mind xvi, 10, 12, 27, 33 reading the four nails text . . xii recitation . vii, xii, 4, 5, 8, 9, 21 recitation like a hive of bees 21 recitation of a deity’’s mantra vii reference-less wisdom . . . . 16 samådhi . . . . xii, 4-6, 8, 17, 21 samådhi deity nail . . . . . . xii, 5 samadhi nail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 samådhisattva . . . . . . . . . 8, 35 Samantabhadra . . . . . . . . . . ix samaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 11 samayasattva . . . . . . . 8, 11, 35 samayasattva and jñånasattva 11 samayasattvas . . . . . . . . . . . 20 samaya-jñåna . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 samsara . . . vii, 2, 5, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 19, 25, 27, 30, 3436 samsara and nirvana . . . 2, 11, 12, 18, 19 sattva . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 34, 35 satva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 35 sceptres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi-8 sealing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 secret . . ii, vii-xi, xv, xx, 1-4, 7, 9, 13, 23, 35 meaning of . . . . . . . . . . vii, 1 Secret Mantra . ii, vii, 3, 23, 35 Secret Mantra Vajra Vehicle 23 secret Secret Mantra . . . . . . . 3 self-knowing self-illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

64

FOUR NAILS PINNING THE LIFE-FORCES

self-knowing, self-illuminating wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 self-liveliness . . . . . . . . 10, 18 self-liveliness of primordial buddha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 self-sound of mantra . . . . . 18 sequence for building the visualization . . . . . . . . . . xvii sequences with three, four, and five steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii shiftless . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 16, 35 single deity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 six classes of migrators . . . . 15 six types of sentient beings 15 speech aspect . . . . . . . . . . . 10 speech of a buddha . . . . . . vii statement of dedication . . . 24 structured in ground . . 10, 19 study and translation of Tibetan texts . . . . . . . . . . 42 study program . . . . . . . . . . 41 style of composition . . . . . xiv style of the four nails text . xiv sub-title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii superfactual . . . . 7, 10, 13, 29, 35, 36 superfactual dharmatå . . . . 10 supreme of all vehicles . . . . . 3 supreme secret . . . . . . . . . . . 1 supreme siddhi . . . . 16, 20, 22 supreme vehicle of the vajra 2 technical terms . . . . . . . . . . xiv temporary experiences 14, 36 the deity seen as ideal . . . . 19 the dharmatå of ““I”” . . . . . . 11 the great equality . . . . . . . . 18 the secret . . . . . . . vii, ix-xi, 23

the tantras . . . . . . . . . . 11, 32 the two purposes . . 16, 18, 20 The Way of the Realized Old Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 three doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 three kåyas . . . . . . . . . . 20, 21 three realms of samsara . . . vii three satvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 three secrets . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 three stacked sattvas . . . . . 21 three vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Tibetan grammar . . . . . 28, 40 Tibetan texts . . . xi, xv, 35, 40, 42-44 transmute iron to gold . . . . . 3 two accumulations . . . . . . . 19 two additional teachings on visualization . . . . . . . . . . . xv two stages of the path . . . . . 5 two truths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 two types of dedication . . . 24 Ùhåkyamuni Buddha . . . . . . ix understanding unchanging . . . . . . . . . . . xii, 4, 10, 17-19 understanding unchanging nail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 19 unification Completion Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 unification vajra path . . . . . . 3 universal purity . . . . . . . . . 10 un-enlightenment . . . . 16, 32 upper circumstance of buddha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 upper context of buddha 9, 12 upper nirvana . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 vajra body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 vajra nature with joy of great

INDEX

bliss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 vajra path . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4, 21 vajra path of unification . . . . 2 vajra recitation . . . . . . . . . . . 9 vajra speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Vajra Vehicle . . . v, vii-x, xx, 3, 23, 28, 30, 31, 35, 37 Vajradhara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x Vajrasatva . . viii, x, 1-3, 11, 35 vajra-like suchness samådhi . 6 view xiii, xv-xvii, 10, 17-19, 37

65

view and meditation . . xvi, xvii view, meditation, and conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii, 37 visible and audible worlds . 10 winds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 10 wisdom appearance . . . . . . . 15 wisdom’’s own context . . . . . 15 Words of the Old Dog Vijay . 42 Zhechen Gyaltshab . . . . . . . 42

Tony Duff has spent a lifetime pursuing the Buddha’’s teaching and transmitting it to others. In the early 1970's, during his post-graduate studies in molecular biology, he went to Asia and met the Buddhist teachings of various South-east Asian countries. He met Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal and has followed it since. After his trip he abandoned worldly life and was the first monk ordained in his home country of Australia. Together with several others, he founded the monastery called Chenrezig Institute for Wisdom Culture where he studied and practised the Gelugpa teachings for several years under the guidance of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Geshe Lodan, and Zasep Tulku. After that, he offered back his ordination and left for the USA to study the Kagyu teachings with the incomparable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Tony was very active in the community and went through all possible levels of training that were available during his twelve year stay. He was also a core member of the Nalanda Translation Committee. After Chogyam Trungpa died, Tony went to live in Nepal where he worked as the personal translator for Tsoknyi Rinpoche and also translated for several other well-known teachers. He also founded and directed the largest Tibetan text preservation project in Asia, the Drukpa Kagyu Heritage Project, which he oversaw for eight years. He also established the Padma Karpo Translation Committee which has produced many fine translations and made many resources for translators such as the highly acclaimed Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary. After the year 2000, Tony focussed primarily on obtaining Dzogchen teachings from the best teachers available, especially within Tibet, and translating and teaching them. He has received much approval from many teachers and has been given the titles ““lotsawa”” and ““lama”” and been strongly encouraged by them to teach Westerners. One way he does that is by producing these fine translations. PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE P.O. Box 4957 Kathmandu Nepal http://www.tibet.dk/pktc