Shenpen ÖselThe Clear Light of the Buddha’s Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

May 2001Volume 5, Number 1

The entire practice, starting from the very beginning of the generation of thedeity and culminating with the dissolution or withdrawal of the deity and

mandala into the clear light, corresponds to all the events of one life. The verybeginning of the generation corresponds to the entrance of the consciousness intothe womb, for example, in the case of a human life. As the practice goes on there arespecific elements that correspond to the birth, to all the experiences of this life, andfinally, in the case of the withdrawal phase, to death.

—From the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’sCommentary on Jamgön Kontrul’s text, Creation and

Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation

2 SHENPEN ÖSEL

The Clear Light of the Buddha’s Teachings Which Benefits All Beings

ContentContentContentContentContentsssss

This issue of Shenpen Ösel is devoted to a commentary on Jamgön Kontrul’s text, Creation andCompletion, given by the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche at Rigpe Dorje Center inSan Antonio, Texas, between October 31 and November 3, 1997. Copyright © 2001 KhenchenThrangu Rinpoche.

33333 IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

44444 Creation and Completion Creation and Completion Creation and Completion Creation and Completion Creation and Completion By Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

4 Essential Points for Approaching the Path of Tantric Meditation

13 Essential Points for Traversing the Path23 Using the Generation Stage to Purify the Habit of Birth34 The Eight Consciousnesses as the Deluded Aspect of Mind and as Buddha Nature Itself46 How to Work With the Emergence of Confusion in Practice52 Cultivating Lucidity: No Meditation and No Distraction

66666 22222 TTTTThe Cultivation of Bodhicitthe Cultivation of Bodhicitthe Cultivation of Bodhicitthe Cultivation of Bodhicitthe Cultivation of Bodhicitta and Ta and Ta and Ta and Ta and Taking and Sending aking and Sending aking and Sending aking and Sending aking and Sending By Lama Tashi Namgyal

7070707070 Summary of the Cultivation of BodhicittSummary of the Cultivation of BodhicittSummary of the Cultivation of BodhicittSummary of the Cultivation of BodhicittSummary of the Cultivation of Bodhicitta and Ta and Ta and Ta and Ta and Taking and Sendingaking and Sendingaking and Sendingaking and Sendingaking and Sending

Volume 5 Number 1

Editorial policEditorial policEditorial policEditorial policEditorial policyyyyyShenpen Ösel is a tri-annual publication of KagyuShenpen Ösel Chöling (KSOC), a center for thestudy and practice of Tibetan vajrayana Buddhismlocated in Seattle, Washington. The magazineseeks to present the teachings of recognized andfully qualified lamas and teachers, with anemphasis on the Karma Kagyu and the ShangpaKagyu lineages. The contents are derived in largepart from transcripts of teachings hosted by ourcenter. Shenpen Ösel is produced and mailedexclusively through volunteer labor and does notmake a profit. (Your subscriptions and donationsare greatly appreciated.) We publish with theaspiration to present the clear light of theBuddha’s teachings. May it bring benefit and mayall be auspicious. May all beings be inspired andassisted in uncovering their own true nature.

Photo creditPhoto creditPhoto creditPhoto creditPhoto credits this issue:s this issue:s this issue:s this issue:s this issue: Ryszard K. Frackiewicz, pages 4,13, 23, 34, 46, 52, back cover.

StStStStStaffaffaffaffaff

EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorLama Tashi Namgyal

Copy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, TCopy editors, Transcribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,ranscribers,RecordersRecordersRecordersRecordersRecordersGlen Avantaggio, Alan Castle, Anita Castle,Kenn DeSure, Marcia Glover, Denise Glover,Judy Knapp, Donald Lashley, Linda Lewis,Chris Payne, Rose Peeps, Mark Suver,Elisabeth Talsky, Mark Voss

DatDatDatDatDatabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerabase managerMarcia Glover

Mailing coordinatorsMailing coordinatorsMailing coordinatorsMailing coordinatorsMailing coordinatorsMark Suver, Daniel Talsky

Mailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMailing crewMembers of the Seattle sangha

Shenpen Ösel

SHENPEN ÖSEL 3

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

All spiritual paths leading to buddhahood include three essentialstages in meditation: the development of the ability of the mindto abide calmly in a single frame of reference (shamatha); the

generation of limitless impartial affection, compassion, and bodhicittathrough the practice of taking and sending (tong len); and the develop-ment of the recognition of and the ability to abide uninterruptedly in thetrue nature of mind, the clear light nature of intrinsic awareness(vipashyana, mahamudra, dzogchen). In the beginning these stages aregenerally practiced one after the other. In the middle, they tend to bepracticed in a mixed way, sometimes emphasizing one, at other timesanother. In the end, there is simply the recognition of the clear lightnature of intrinsic awareness, which, by its very nature, is free of allfaults and embodies all positive qualities.

In order to hasten the development of these stages, the various tradi-tions of vajrayana Buddhism also emphasize the creation and completionstages of the many various vehicles of tantra. This issue of Shenpen Öselfeatures a commentary by the Very Venerable Khenchen ThranguRinpoche on Jamgön Kongtrul’s text, Creation and Completion, EssentialPoints of Tantric Meditation, given at the Rigpe Dorje Center in SanAntonio, Texas, in 1997. Rinpoche’s teaching was occasioned by WisdomPublication’s publication of Sarah Harding’s excellent translation of thesame text under the same title the year before, which is accompanied byHarding’s excellent introduction and notes. Although Thrangu Rinpoche’scommentary stands on its own, it will enhance the reader’s understand-ing, especially the understanding of budding Tibetan scholars, to obtainand read this root text, which is published in both Tibetan and English.

We would like to thank Thrangu Rinpoche and the Rigpe Dorje Foun-dation for permission to reprint Rinpoche’s commentary here.

Also included in this issue is a teaching on the generation of affection,compassion, and bodhicitta, the altruistic intention to attain enlight-

enment, which is based largely on a teaching by His Holiness TenzinGyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama on The Three Principal Aspects of thePath to Supreme Enlightenment by Je Tsong Khapa, given in Los Angelesin 1984.

—Lama Tashi Namgyal

4 SHENPEN ÖSEL

Creation and Completion

Essential PointsFor Approaching the Path

Of Tantric Meditation

TTTTThe Vhe Vhe Vhe Vhe Very Very Very Very Very Venerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Tenerable Khenchen Thrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpocheinpocheinpocheinpocheinpoche

At the Rigpe Dorje Center in San Antonio,Texas, in 1997, the Very Venerable KhenchenThrangu Rinpoche gave a commentary onJamgön Kongtrul’s text, Creation andCompletion, Essential Points of TantricMeditation. Rinpoche gave his commentaryin Tibetan; it was orally translated byLama Yeshe Gyamtso. The following is anedited transcript.

I would like to begin by expressing mydelight in being able to present thisteaching and my appreciation for being

given the opportunity to do so. Having saidthat, I would like to begin by chanting thelineage supplication. This particular lin-eage supplication is the one that is mostcommonly used and may, in fact, be thesingle piece of liturgy most commonly usedin Kagyu monastic foundations, retreatcenters, dharma centers, as well as forindividual practice. The reason why weregard this particular supplication as soimportant is that it was composed byPengar Jampel Zangpo, who was a greatmaster. It was composed by him after hiscompletion of eighteen years of solitaryretreat practice meditating on mahamudraon an island in the middle of a lake knownas Sky Lake in northern Tibet. Becausethis lineage supplication is held to containthe essence of his realization gainedthrough those eighteen years of practice, itis considered very great in blessing. There-fore, we always recite it at the beginning ofpractice and instruction sessions.

In addition, one of the significances ofdoing so is that when you are practicingthe creation or generation stage and thecompletion stage of the vajrayana, one ofthe primary conditions for the effective-ness of the practice is the presence of faithand devotion within you. If you practice thegeneration stage with faith and devotion,

SHENPEN ÖSEL 5

then your practice will be stable and vivid. If youpractice the completion stage with faith anddevotion, there will be a stable and authenticrecognition of your mind’s nature. So in thatspirit, please recite the lineage supplicationwith utmost faith and devotion.

I am going to talk about the generation andcompletion stages according to the text, TheEssence of Creation and Comple-tion, which was composed byJamgön Kongtrul the Great. Inparticular, from among the twotopics of the creation or genera-tion stage and the completionstage, we are concerned primarilywith the generation stage. Al-though in a sense our main prac-tice is the completion stage, thepractice of the completion stagedepends entirely upon the stabil-ity and blessing of the generationstage, just as, for example, the practice ofvipashyana depends upon the attainment ofstable shamatha.

This is a very appropriate topic to be study-ing. It is very easy to talk about shamatha andvipashyana and very easy to listen to explana-tions of mahamudra and other explanations thatare entirely concerned only with the completionstage. Although these things sound very goodand are very easily explained in theory, it is notimportant to choose the topic that is the easiestto listen to, but instead to choose the one that isgoing to be of the most practical benefit, that is,the one that will actually enable students toprogress in their practice of meditation. There-fore, it is appropriate to address subjects thatare more difficult to understand, because it isthese, especially, that definitely need the mostcomplete explanation. The function of teaching,of course, is to provide what students need fortheir ultimate benefit. Therefore, when dharmais taught, it is important to discuss not only thecompletion stage but also the generation stage.

When you examine your mind, the types ofimpure motivations for study and practice youmight discover are competitiveness, arrogance,

or selfishness. In a sense this is not that big adeal, but at the same time these are impuremotivations, and it is necessary to let go of themand replace them with a pure motivation. A puremotivation is the wish to study and practice inorder to be able to benefit both yourself andothers. Especially given that we are normallymostly concerned with benefiting only ourselves,

it is important to emphasize thewish to benefit others. Normally,even when we wish to benefitothers, we restrict that wish to afew others such as our family andfriends and so on. The wish tobenefit a few others is not animpure motivation; it is a puremotivation, but among puremotivations it is a fairly limitedone. Here we are trying to de-velop the motivation of practicingand studying in order to benefit

all beings who fill space, since all beings withoutexception equally wish to be happy and wish tobe free from suffering and yet lack the knowl-edge necessary to enable them to achieve thesegoals. So if you have the motivation for bothstudy and practice in order to establish allbeings without exception in a state of happiness,this motivation is not only pure but also vast inscope.

The first topic addressed in our text is wherebeginners need to start. This is explained

quite fully in the text, and covers eight mainpoints: gaining certainty in the dharma; renun-ciation; understanding what dharma is–—view,meditation, conduct, and fruition; definition ofgeneration and completion; faith and devotion;sacred outlook; the two truths; and understand-ing the qualities of the path.

The first point is that in order to practicedharma you need to have certainty about thevalidity of dharma. The generation of that cer-tainty has to be a three-step process, which isthe cultivation of the wisdom or knowledge ofhearing, the wisdom of thinking of what has beenheard, and then finally the wisdom which comes

It is importantwhen dharma istaught to discussnot only thecompletion stagebut also thegeneration stage

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from meditation. It is pointed out that those ofthe highest faculties, which means extremelyrare and highly gifted individuals, do not neces-sarily need to go through the preliminary stagesof hearing and thinking about the dharma. Anexample of this type of person is KingIndrabhuti of Uddiyana, who, upon receivinginstruction from the Buddha, was liberated onthe spot. Most of us, however, need first to hearinstructions, then to think about them verycarefully, and, only thereafter, to implementthem in meditation practice.

Why do we have to begin by hearing thedharma? Because dharma practice is somethingthat is not primarily concerned with or limitedto the experiences of this life. Therefore, since itis sufficiently different from whatwe are used to, before we haveheard it explained, we really haveno idea what it is, let alone howto go about practicing it. We,therefore, require instruction.What do we take as the sources ofour instruction? What dharma dowe try to hear? Generally speak-ing, there are two classes ofscripture or texts used inbuddhadharma. One is what iscalled “the dictates of the Buddha,” which meansthe teachings that the Buddha gave when hetaught in India. The other are called the “com-mentaries” or “shastras,” which are commentar-ies on these teachings composed by the greatmasters of India and other countries. The cus-tom in the vajrayana tradition is to emphasizethe study of the commentaries rather than thestudy of the Buddha’s original teachings. Casu-ally considering this, you would think or expectthat we would emphasize the Buddha’s teachingsthemselves in our study, because, after all, is notthe Buddha the most important teacher in theBuddhist tradition? Nevertheless, the traditionis to emphasize the commentaries upon theseteachings by other great masters. This has beenobjected to historically by some scholars whohave said, “Why study the commentaries ratherthan the Buddha’s original statements?” The

reason is that the Buddha’s original statementsare extremely vast in extent and number. Alsothey are not necessarily organized for easy studyor reference. They are organized on the basis ofthe occasions on which these various statementswere made. In addition, because these state-ments of the Buddha or teachings given by theBuddha were made on different occasions at therequest of and for the needs of specific differentindividuals, they represent different styles ofteaching. They are principally classed as belong-ing to either the indicative meaning or the de-finitive meaning.* Simply by studying theseoriginal texts themselves, it is impossible for abeginner to determine what is an indicativestatement and what is a definitive statement. On

the other hand, the function of theshastras or commentaries is todistinguish clearly between indica-tive and definitive statements ofthe Buddha, to collect similarteachings or those that need to beused together in one place for easyreference, to explain the hiddenmeanings or subtleties of theBuddha’s teachings, and to summa-rize especially long treatments oftopics that can be understood with

a briefer explanation. In short, it is reallythrough the commentaries that we approach theBuddha’s teachings themselves.

Although we study the commentaries, thereare within the general class of commentaries onthe Buddha’s teachings two types of treatment ortwo types of texts. Some commentaries areelaborate explanations employing a great deal oflogical reasoning which are intended to be guidesfor the acquisition of tremendous amounts of

It is reallythrough thecommentariesthat we approachthe Buddha’steachingsthemselves

*Editor’s note: Teachings that embody the definitive meaningare those that describe the ultimate and most profoundunderstanding of the Buddha, and that are not regarded asconditional in any other way than to understand that theultimate truth can never be expressed in words. The indicativemeaning, sometimes called the provisional meaning, includesall those teachings which suit various individuals at theirvarious stages of mental development and which will leadthem by stages in the direction of understanding the ultimatetruth, but are not themselves the expression of this definitivemeaning.

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learning about the teachings. Some commentar-ies, on the other hand, do not have such elabo-rate presentations of logical reasoning but arefairly straightforward guides on how to practicethe Buddha’s teachings. These tend to includereferences to the Buddha’s state-ments and also contain a greatdeal of reference to the actualpractical experiences of thosetexts that give practical instruc-tions. It is principally these thatwe emphasize in our study.

Within the general class oftexts that give practical instruc-tions, again there are two variet-ies. Some of these texts are elabo-rate explanations of the methodsof practice and some are verybrief, very pithy statements of theessence of practice. These lattertend to be in the form of songs andare referred to in Sanskrit as“doha.” These are the most impor-tant types of texts to emphasize in your study,because given how they are formed and ex-pressed, they are easy to remember. Being easyto keep in mind, they are easy to make use of inactual practice. They combine the two virtues ofprofundity and brevity. Therefore, we study fromamong the Indian dohas those of the Indianmahasiddhas such as Tilopa and Naropa. Fromthe country of Tibet we study the songs of all themasters of the Kagyu lineage and especiallythose of Jetsun Milarepa. These types of songs ofinstruction and realization are easy to under-stand and, therefore, very easy to use to actuallybenefit and affect your mind. Whether you readthem or hear them, they are still used as themost important base or principal base for study.

Through hearing the dharma, through eitherliterally hearing it or through studying it, youcome to an idea or an understanding of what itmeans on a very basic level. You come to think,“Things are like this, this is how things are.”That is the first level of prajna or knowledge—the knowledge that comes from hearing. But youcannot stop there. In general there are two kinds

of practitioners. One kind of practitioner iscalled a “follower of faith,” which means some-one who believes what they are told simplybecause they have been told it. The other type ofpractitioner is a “follower of dharma,” which is

someone who does not takeanything, no matter who wassupposed to have said it, onauthority but tries to figure outwhy they said it, what it reallymeans. Taking the second ap-proach of looking for the realmeaning of a statement, you gobeyond the knowledge of hearing.Whether you are studying theBuddha’s teachings or the com-mentaries upon them, texts ofinstruction, or dohas [the songsof realization], when you studythem you are concerned with thequestion, “What does this reallymean? What is this really tryingto say to me? Why did the person

who wrote this or sang this, say this in thisway?” Through that type of thinking or analysis,you generate a much greater certainty or under-standing than you would by simply taking thestatement at its face value. This greater cer-tainty is called the “prajna or knowledge ofthinking.” If you meditate after having generatedthis knowledge of thinking, then your practicewill go much better because you will actuallyknow how to meditate. You will also understandwhy you are meditating, why it is beneficial andwhy it will work, which will give you much moreconfidence to go on with the practice. It is princi-pally for this reason that the practice of medita-tion needs to be preceded by the practice ofhearing and thinking.

The next topic in our text is again, how tobegin. It deals with the importance of renuncia-tion. There are really two things that you needat the very inception of your practice. One ofthem is trust in the validity of the dharma. Theother is renunciation, revulsion for samsara. Inorder to generate these, in order to generatetrue certainty about dharma and revulsion for

Songs ofinstruction andrealization areeasy tounderstand and,therefore, veryeasy to use toactually benefitand affectyour mind

8 SHENPEN ÖSEL

samsara, it is necessary to begin by contemplat-ing “the four thoughts that turn the mind:” thedifficulty of acquiring the freedom and resourcesof a precious human life, death and imperma-nence, the results of actions, and the defects ofsamsara. The generation of this type of renuncia-tion and certainty in the dharma is what iscalled “your mind going to thedharma” and is the first step inyour practice.

The next step is to come to anunderstanding of what dharma is,an understanding of the view, themeditation, the conduct, and thefruition, which are the topics thatmake up buddhadharma. The rootof all of this is taming the mind.As we know, the Buddha’s 84,000teachings are concerned with thetaming of the 84,000 types ofmental afflictions or kleshaswhich afflict our minds, but theroot of all of these teachings issimply taming your mind. As wassaid by the Buddha, “To com-pletely tame your mind is theBuddha’s teaching.” When we say “taming themind,” it means taming the kleshas, becauseyour mind is sometimes very rough, very wild,full of kleshas, full of selfishness, afflicted by allkinds of coarse and negative thoughts and so on.Whether we succeed in taming this mind of ours,taming the mind is the topic about which alldharma is concerned. Everything depends uponyour mind. Any qualities that you attain throughthe path, you attain through your mind. Anydefects that you remove through the path areremoved from your mind. Therefore, what iscalled “the recognition or realization of theview” is taming your mind. What is called “thecultivation of meditative absorption” or “medita-tion” is taming your mind. You engage in theconduct, certain modes of behavior of body andspeech, in order to tame your mind. The fruition,the result of all of this, is totally taming yourmind. If you understand this, then you under-stand that the view, meditation, conduct, and

fruition are all founded upon the mind.A casual look at Buddhist teachings will give

you the idea that according to buddhadharma, aperson consists of the three faculties of body,speech, and mind. How do we think about thesethree? The body is composed of physical sub-stances such as flesh and blood. What we regard

as our body, from the top of thehead to the tip of the toes, seemsvery powerful. Speech, which is allof our talk, seems much lesssubstantial. Speech consists of allof the positive things and all thenegative things that we say. Butthe root of all of the deeds of bodyand speech is our mind. If you areasked to say which of these three,body, speech, or mind, is the mainone, you might say the body be-cause the body seems the stron-gest. The body seems the mostactive or effective. Then you mightsay, well speech is number twobecause speech after all can com-municate. It is communication, butit is not as strong or as stable as

the body. And mind is the weakest because minddoes not achieve anything except that it thinks.It does not really do anything. However, in fact,mind is in charge of body and speech. Body andspeech do not do anything at all without mindtelling them to do it. So mind is the root. It is,therefore, said by the siddhas of our traditionthat your body and speech are like servants whoperform the virtue and wrongdoing that themind, which is like a boss, instigates. So of thesethree, in fact, mind is most important. There-fore, it is of the greatest importance that wetake hold of our mind, that we fix our mind. Allof the Buddhist practices, including view, medi-tation, and conduct, are concerned with fixing ortaming the mind.

Taming the mind or fixing the mind meansabandoning the kleshas, abandoning the mentalafflictions. Everyone’s mind has two aspects.There is a pure aspect of your mind, and there isan impure aspect to your mind. The impure

There are reallytwo things thatyou need at thevery inception ofyour practice.One of them istrust in thevalidity of thedharma. Theother isrenunciation

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aspect to your mind is called klesha or mentalaffliction. If you abandon mental afflictions, thenall of your actions of body and speech will auto-matically become dharmic or pure. As long asyou have not abandoned mental afflictions, thenno matter how good your actions of body andspeech may appear, you will still never be happy.Abandoning kleshas is the aim of dharma, but forthis to succeed, it is necessary that the remedy,the practice, actually meet or encounter theproblem, the kleshas. In order for this to occur,you need to take an honest look at your ownmind. You need to see which klesha is really yourbiggest problem. For some people anger is thebiggest problem, for others jealousy; for someattachment, for others bewilderment; and forsome it is pride. It can be any one of the fivemain kleshas, which are usually called the “fivepoisons.” In fact, it is in order to tame these thatwisdom deities manifest as the buddhas of thefive families. In any case, you begin by looking atyour mind to determine which klesha is thestrongest. When you discover what your biggestproblem is, you dedicate yourpractice to the amelioration ofthat. For example, if you are medi-tating on the four reminders, suchas the difficulty of acquiring aprecious human existence, youthink, “I am doing the mediation inorder to abandon such and suchklesha.” Or if you are practicingthe uncommon preliminaries suchas the refuge and bodhicitta prac-tice, the Vajrasattva practice,mandala practice, or guru yogapractice, then you think, “I amdoing this in order to tame this klesha whichafflicts my mind.” This is especially effective inthe Vajrasattva practice. When you visualize theambrosia coming from his heart, entering the topof your head, and purifying you, you can think:“Especially such and such klesha (whichever oneit is) is being purified by this.” In that way, byspecifically directing the intention of your prac-tice to your biggest problem, then dharma doesbecome an effective remedy for your kleshas, and

your kleshas will weaken over time. Some people do not have any particularly

preponderant klesha and are not particularlyinvolved with anything overtly unvirtuous. Theyare more afflicted by the basic fundamentalfixation on their own existence. Or, they mightbe afflicted by doubt and hesitation. They mayalways wonder whether “such and such is likethis, or like that.” Or you might be afflicted bymeaningless regret, constantly regretting things,constantly questioning your own actions. Or youmight be mostly afflicted by a state of neutralsleepiness, or simply by the presence of a greatdeal of thoughts that are not particularly kleshasor negative in themselves. If any of these is yourprincipal problem, then in the same way, you aimyour practice at that. You dedicate all of yourpractice—whether it is the visualization ofdeities, the recitation of mantras, the practice ofmeditation—to the eradication of that problem,whatever it is. By directing your practice in thatkind of focused way, it will actually have aneffect and you will weaken and eventually eradi-

cate these problems. The next topic addressed in

the text is a basic definition ofthe generation stage and comple-tion stage, which is by extension,making a distinction betweenthem. The term “generation” or“generation stage” refers to thegeneration of something, thecreation or origination of some-thing. “Completion” refers ingeneral to carrying that whichhas been generated to its comple-tion, or to its perfection. In

practice, generation or generation stage refers tothe visualizations of the deities, including theradiating out and gathering in of rays of light,the visualization and recitation of mantras, andso forth. Completion or the completion stagerefers to the dissolution of such visualizationsinto emptiness. However, in another sense themeaning of the term generation and generationstage is “something that is fabricated.” In gen-eration stage practice you are thinking that

When youdiscover whatyour biggestproblem is, youdedicate yourpractice to theameliorationof that

10 SHENPEN ÖSEL

things are such and such, you think, “Things arelike this.” Completion stage, by contrast refersto something that is natural or unfabricated,because in completion stage, rather than think-ing that things are like such and such, you dis-cover them as they are. The statement that thegeneration stage is the cultivation of some kindof fabrication, as true as it is, is really only trueof the beginning of generation stage practice.Nevertheless, as fabricated as generation stagemay appear to be for a beginning practitioner, itis still necessary. In practicing we are trying topurify the traces of our previous wrongdoing,especially our obscurations, which consist of thecognitive obscurations and theafflictive obscurations. Because ofthe presence of theseobscurations, we experience theworld in an incorrect and deludedway, in that our experience ofwhat we call samsara consists ofdeluded projections. What we aretrying to do in our practice is totranscend these deluded projec-tions and experience the purereality or pure appearanceswhich lie behind them. It is notsufficient, in order to transcendthese deluded projections tosimply tell yourself, “I know thatwhat I am experiencing is adul-terated by delusion,” and thensimply stay with these deludedprojections. As long as you continue to investenergy in these deluded projections, they willcontinue, even though you recognize them, atleast theoretically, to be invalid. What needs tobe done is to cast aside our involvement withdelusion and to actually consciously attend toand cultivate attention to pure appearance. Bydoing so you can gradually transcend and aban-don delusion and deluded projections. It is inorder to do this that we make use of iconogra-phy, in other words, deities.

In the vajrayana the deity is something verydifferent from what we normally mean by thatterm. Normally when we say “deity,” “lha,” or

“deva” or “devi,” we get the idea of some kind ofexternal protector or higher power, somethingthat is superior to us, outside of us, that some-how can lift us up out of where we are and bringus to where we want to be. Therefore, what goesalong with our conventional idea of deity is theassumption of our own inferiority to deities. Incomparison to the deity, we consider ourselvesas some kind of inferior, benighted being thathas to be held up by something outside of our-selves. But the vajrayana notion of deity is not inany way like that, because the vajrayana way ofworking with the iconography of deities is thatthe practitioner visualizes himself or herself as

the deity with which they areworking.

This body that you now con-sider to be so impure and afflictedis in its nature an extension of thenature of your mind. Therefore, inpractice you consider this appar-ently impure body to be the bodyof your yidam, the deity uponwhom you are meditating. Sincebuddha nature is the most funda-mental essence or nature of yourmind and since your body is theprojection of that mind, then yourbody is pure in nature. You ac-knowledge that in practice byimagining it to be or visualizing itto be pure, not only in nature, butin appearance. Through cultivat-

ing this method, then eventually the actualappearance or experience of your body comes toarise in purity. It is for this reason, in order towork with the deluded projections in this way,that the generation stage is necessary.

In order to practice the generation andcompletion stages, it is essential to have devo-tion, to have faith, and to have pure or sacredoutlook. Devotion consists of two things. One isinterest or enthusiasm and the other aspect isrespect. This means being interested in andbeing enthusiastic about the dharma, and havingthe respect that comes from understanding itsvalidity and its importance. Then by extension,

What needs tobe done is tocast aside ourinvolvement withdelusion andto actuallyconsciouslyattend to andcultivateattention to pureappearance

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You are notpracticing theguru’s foibles.You arepracticing theguru’s teachings,the dharma

it means having the same attitude towards yourroot guru and for the gurus of the lineage, beinginterested in them, having enthusiasm for them,and also having respect for them.

Another thing that is very important is theattitude of sacred outlook. Sacred outlook is oneof two contrasting ways we always have of seeingthe world. You can look at anything in a way thatsees what is good about it, that sees the purity ofit, and you can look at anything ina way that sees what is wrongwith it, in a way that sees it asimpure. Any action can be con-ducted with a basic attitude ofpurity or an attitude of impurity.For example, if you consider thesimple act of generosity—givingsomething to someone—it couldbe done mindlessly, simply to getrid of something that you do notneed, or it could be given withoutchecking to see whether it actu-ally is appropriate for that person. That attitudeis not a state of sacred outlook but a state ofcarelessness, an impure outlook. Or you couldgive consciously. You could have carefully evalu-ated the situation and determined that the thingyou are giving is actually what the person towhom you are giving needs. The same thing istrue of any action, or any other situation such asthe practice of patience. You could be very pa-tient with a situation simply by thinking, “Well,this person who is abusing me is pathetic any-way, and there is not much I can do about it, so Imight as well be patient with it,” which is not asituation of sacred outlook. Or you could have anattitude of courage, thinking, “Even if therewere some way I could get back at this person, Iwould never do it,” which is an attitude of purity.The point of sacred outlook is to emphasize goodqualities and not defects, and especially to befree from the type of projection that causes youto see others’ qualities as defects. If you havethis kind of sacred outlook, then devotion willarise through and from this. If you possessdevotion, then devotion itself will bring you tothe results of practice.

When we say devotion and faith are neces-sary, we are not just saying it because it is acustomary thing to say. The reason why devotionis necessary is that fundamentally what we needto do is to practice dharma, and if you have onehundred percent confidence in dharma, thenyour practice will be one hundred percent. If youhave less confidence, then your practice will beless intense. The less intense your practice, of

course the less complete theresult. Therefore, it is essentialto have confidence in, and, there-fore, devotion for, dharma itself.For that to occur, there has to betrust in the individuals who teachyou dharma. There has to be trustin the guru. Because if you trustthe guru, then you will trust thedharma, and if you trust thedharma, then you will practice.

However, faith in one’s guru isnot supposed to be blind faith. It

is not the attitude, “My guru is perfect,” eventhough your guru is not perfect. It is not pre-tending that your guru’s defects are qualities. Itis not rationalizing every foible of the guru intobeing some kind of superhuman virtue, becauseafter all most gurus are going to have defects.You do not have to pretend that your guru’sdefects are qualities. That is not devotion. Theobject of your devotion is not the foibles, quirks,or defects of your guru, but it is the dharmawhich your guru teaches you. As long as thedharma is authentic and pure, then that guru isa fit object for your devotion. You are not practic-ing the guru’s foibles. You are practicing theguru’s teachings, the dharma. The result whichyou will get, you will get from the dharma thatyou practice. Therefore, your devotion is princi-pally to the dharma, which is the teaching of theguru. You need to recognize the defects of yourguru as defects. You do not need to pretend thatthey are anything other than that. But you alsoneed to recognize that the guru’s defects will nothurt you because it is not the guru’s defects thatyou are creating or cultivating. You are followingthe teachings of the guru, and so “trust” means

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You will knowhow to practicebased uponan honestassessment ofyour ownspiritual state

trust in the teachings, trust in the validity,purity and authenticity of the dharma that youreceive from your guru. You do not need topretend that defects are qualities. You just needto recognize the validity of the teachings them-selves. So that is the importance of devotion andsacred outlook.

The next thing the text ad-dresses is the two truths, therelative truth and the absolutetruth. The basic understanding ofthe two truths is that in theirnature all things are empty andlike magical illusions. This shouldnot be misunderstood to meanthat, therefore, nothing has anymoral value, that nothing has anymeaning. Within the context ofrelative appearances themselves,because of their consistencieswithin that context, they do have a moral value,but ultimately their nature is emptiness.

Finally, the last of the eight topics which arepresented in this text of the things a beginnerneeds to know in order to start the path is theunderstanding of the gradual qualities of thepath itself and the fact that you will know howto practice based upon an honest assessment ofyour own spiritual state. You might be a begin-ner or you might be an advanced practitioner,someone who has grasped the very exalted levelof view. If you look at yourself and you feel like abeginner, then you are a beginner. If you look atyour mind and you discover that you have a veryhigh view, then you have to accept that youshould do those practices which are appropriatefor someone with a very high view. To forceyourself to do the practices appropriate for abeginner would be inappropriate.

That completes the eight topics which are

the things one needs to know in the beginning inorder to approach this path. If you have anyquestions, please, go ahead.

Question: Regarding this last point, numbereight, to assess one’s own self in terms of one’sdevelopment, what if you think you have a high

view but you are actually verystupid and just arrogant? Howcan you determine this?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It is pos-sible that you could deceiveyourself in the way you describe,but if you really look at your ownsituation, completely, then youwill be able to detect that self-deception. This situation ofconsidering yourself to possessqualities that you do not have,

from among the types of pride, is what is called“full-blown pride.” Fully manifest, full-blownpride. Full-blown pride is not that difficult todetect. If you look to see if in your way of think-ing and in your motivation this pride is present,then you can usually spot it very easily.

Question: What are some examples ofbeginner’s practices, middle practices, andadvanced practices?

Thrangu Rinpoche: One begins with shamathapractice and meditation on the four remindersand the cultivation of the preliminary practicesin order to accumulate merit. Then one under-takes the meditation of the generation andcompletion stages. Then finally one engages inthe conduct of a siddha in order to attain fullawakening.

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Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary onCreation and Completion.

Creation and Completion

Essential Points for Traversing the Path

Now, following the text, we are going to look at what is necessary whenyou actually have entered into the path. First of all, all of the Buddha’steachings are included within two paths. They are the stable and

gradual path of the sutras and the quick and especially effective path of thevajrayana, or the tantras. Both of these take as their root the taming of themind, which is to say the pacification of all of the agitation of thoughts and

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The methods ofthe pacificationof thoughts andkleshas can bedivided into thetechniques ofabandonment,transformation,and taking ontothe path

kleshas that afflict our minds. That being theiraim, the paths of sutra and tantra are the same,but they differ in the methods by which thisagitation is pacified. The methods of the pacifi-cation of thoughts and kleshas canbe divided into the techniques ofabandonment, transformation,and taking onto the path.

The sutras in general teachthe path of the renunciation orabandonment of the kleshas,which is based on seeing thekleshas as a problem and, there-fore, being motivated to let go ofthem. Exactly how you let go ofthe kleshas is taught in thesutras. Now there are manykleshas, but principal amongthem, like the roots of all otherkleshas, are what are called thethree poisons of attachment,aversion, and bewilderment. If we use attach-ment or desire as an example, in this path ofabandoning the kleshas you determine that youmust abandon or relinquish attachments. Theway you actually go about doing so is by meditat-ing upon impermanence. Our attachments andour craving come from a mistaken assumptionthat the things to which we become attached willbe around for a long time and that they arestable in retaining lasting characteristics. Inorder to remove this attachment, you meditateon the impermanence of things and come torecognize that they are constantly changing andthat they are ultimately destructible and imper-manent. As well, one also performs meditationon the unpleasant nature of all the things thatone assumes are so pleasant.

The third root klesha is bewilderment, whichessentially refers to ignorance itself. Ignoranceoccurs in two forms, “mixed ignorance” and“unmixed ignorance.” Mixed ignorance is theignorance that always accompanies any klesha;it is called mixed ignorance because it is thearising of ignorance mixed with the arising ofanother klesha. No klesha can arise in the ab-sence of ignorance; therefore, for example, when

attachment arises, it is based upon some igno-rance, some fundamental mistake about thecharacteristics of the object of attachment. Whenanger arises, it never arises alone, because anger

by itself in the absence of igno-rance would be powerless. Thesame is true of pride and jealousy.There is always some fundamen-tal confusion that is the conditionfor the arising of that particularklesha.*

Unmixed ignorance is igno-rance in itself, not knowing or notbeing aware of the nature ofthings. That unknowing is themost fundamental aspect of igno-rance. The unknowing becomes amisconception or a mistakenunderstanding when on the basisof unknowing we cultivate amistaken view through incorrect

reasoning or prajna. Therefore, while bewilder-ment in itself is not as vivid or as immediatelyunpleasant as the other kleshas, it neverthelessis the root of all kleshas and of all suffering. It isthe root of all depression and all misery.

The reason that bewilderment feeds, nour-ishes, and reinforces the kleshas in the way thatit does is that bewilderment is a situation of

*Editor’s note: For example, When “Mr. Right,” “Mr. DreamBoat,” “Mr. Knight in Shining Armor” is first standing in frontof one, he is seen as solid or material in nature, singular, otherthan oneself, permanently the way he is (handsome, agreeable,kind, exclusively devoted to oneself, intelligent, etc. etc.) and areliable source of pleasure and happiness. Later when he isseen as a canine Lothario and the bane of one’s existence, he isthought to be solid or material in nature, singular, other thanoneself, permanently the way he is (thoughtless, cruel, unfaith-ful, uncaring, egocentric, stupid, and unreliable), and a sourceof pain and unhappiness. At such a point, one usually con-demns oneself for having been so stupid, while congratulatingoneself on having finally woken up and seen the light. But inboth cases one’s mind is cloaked in ignorance. In both cases,regarding what you experience as being objectively existentrather than as the mere radiance or light of the mind, as beingof one singular nature with permanent characteristics ratherthan an impermanent and ever-changing kaleidoscope of mereappearances dependently arising based on an ever-changingvariety of causes and conditions, and as being the source ofone’s happiness or sorrow in life as opposed to being a merereflection of the happiness and sorrow arising from causes inone’s own mind, are all aspects of ignorance based on which thekleshas of attachment and aversion arise.

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Anger in itsnature is emptyof any kind oftrue existence.When you seethis directly inexperience, thenin the midst ofthe emergenceor arising ofanger, it isnaturally pacified

fixation, whether it is fixation on the perceivedcharacteristics of objects as being pleasant or asbeing unpleasant. When you perceive an objectupon which you fixate as being pleasant, yougenerate attachment. When you perceive anobject that you fixate upon as being unpleasant,you generate aversion. When you experiencesomething that you fixate upon asbeing extremely unpleasant, yougenerate suffering. In order toabandon this fixation, one medi-tates upon interdependence.Through the recognition that allthings lack independent existenceand are but interdependentarisings, one’s fixations on theirperceived characteristics dimin-ish. Through the diminishment ofthat fixation, one’s ignorancediminishes, and through that thekleshas are pacified. That is thepath of abandonment of thekleshas. This type of meditation,which leads to the abandonmentof the kleshas, is used wheneverkleshas arise and whenever thereis a problem of mental misery orphysical discomfort or pain.

The second approach, that of transformation,is characteristic of the path of secret mantra orvajrayana. In this approach whenever a kleshaarises, or whenever difficulties, pain, or prob-lems arise, instead of attempting to abandonthem you visualize yourself as a deity. The ideahere is that you stop conceiving of yourself asyourself, and instead think of yourself as thedeity. In general it could be any deity, or it couldbe a particular deity that is connected to theparticular klesha or problem with which you aredealing. For example, it could be one of the fivemale buddhas of the buddha families:Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava,Amitabha, or Amogasiddhi. Or, for example, inthe case of dealing with desire, it could be adeity shown in sexual union. If dealing withanger, it could be a deity shown in the wrathfulform. In any case, by using the basic technique of

visualizing yourself as the deity, the emotionalstate is no longer a klesha. It no longer has thecharacteristics of a klesha because your attitudehas been changed. The emotion itself is trans-formed into something pure.

The third approach to the kleshas is the pathof recognition, which means the recognition of

the nature of whatever kleshaarises. In this approach, when aklesha arises in your mind, it isrecognized to be merely a relativeand dependent thing. Of course,we experience the arising ofkleshas and all kinds of suffering,sadness, misery, and depression,but if you actually look at thenature of what is arising, you willsee that what actually is occurringis not what you normally considerto be occurring. For example,when I become angry, then Igenerate a thought of anger thathas a particular object. I think,“This person is my enemy,” and Iam aware of the thought of beingangry. When I do not look directlyat the anger, the intensity of the

anger and its attendant suffering seem intoler-able. But while this thought of anger is arisingand while it is present, if you look straight at it,look to see how it arises, where it comes from,where it is while it is present and exactly what itis in substance, you find that there is nothingyou can point to. There is nothing in your mindanywhere that you can point to and say, “This ismy anger.” Anger in its nature is empty of anykind of true existence. When you see this di-rectly in experience, then in the midst of theemergence or arising of the anger, it is naturallypacified. This also works with any kind of suffer-ing or with any of the other kleshas. It is simplythe recognition that there is really nothingthere. This is the path of the recognition of thenature of kleshas.

According to the teachings given by theBuddha in the sutras, the beginning of the pathof abandonment of the kleshas is a process called

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Principallyimportant in ourpractice isself-generation.This involvesvisualizingyourself as thedeity as vividly aspossible

“distancing,” which means to distance yourselffrom the kleshas. Normally when all of thevarious thoughts and kleshas that arise in ourminds arise, we generate a fur-ther fixation on them. We becomeattached to them and we becomeaddicted to them. The first stepin letting go of the kleshas is,therefore, letting go of the fixa-tion upon them. The fixation uponthem is based upon thinking ofthem as something valuable andidentifying with them. The firststep is to recognize that kleshasare problems, that kleshas areuseless and harmful. The recogni-tion of this is not simply beingaware of this theoretically, butcultivating the habit of thinkinglike this all the time. Thinking like this will notimmediately eradicate the kleshas. You will notimmediately be able to let go of them, butgradually by not identifying with them and notvaluing them, you will become distant fromthem in the sense that you will have less fixa-tion on them when they arise, and this willmake them easy to abandon.

Having cultivated distancing, then you canactually go on to employ the various methods oftranscending the kleshas: abandonment, trans-formation, and recognition. According to thegreat teacher Gyalwang Yongdrupa, it is best tocombine these three methods rather than se-lecting one among the three as a method. Forexample, he taught that when a klesha arises,first recognize it as a problem, recognize it assomething you do not wish to cultivate. Thengenerate the aspiration, “May I never againgenerate this klesha from this moment until myattainment of buddhahood.” As much as possiblegenerate this commitment. That is the first ofthe three methods, which is abandonment.

Then you go on to employ transformation.Whatever the klesha may be, you transform itinto altruism by changing your attitude. Youthink, “May all of the kleshas that are presentin the minds of all sentient beings, and espe-

cially this klesha, be absent from their minds andbe added on to this klesha of mine. May whateversuffering all beings, especially practitioners of

dharma, have through the afflic-tion of this klesha be experiencedonly by me. May this klesha ofmine serve instead of all of theirkleshas.” In that way the presenceof the klesha itself becomes anoccasion for the generation of anespecially good intention. Then,having generated that intentionwith the attitude that you aredoing so in order to pacify orremove this particular klesha, youthen visualize yourself as a deity.Those two steps of accepting thekleshas of others and visualizingyourself as a deity are the second

process, the process of transformation.Next you practice the recognition of the

klesha’s nature. Continuing to visualize yourselfas whichever deity you have been, you then thinkthat in the center of your body, at the level ofyour heart, is your root guru, who is majestic andbeautiful in appearance. Visualizing the root guruthere as vividly as possible, then you supplicate,asking that you be granted the blessing of thenature of whatever klesha it is to arise as wis-dom, that you may actually see the nature of thatklesha, which is wisdom. Then after supplicatingin that way, you look at the single nature of threeaspects of the meditation: the deity which youare visualizing as yourself, the guru visualized inyour heart, the klesha which has arisen and isthe occasion for the meditation or practice.Through looking at the single or unified nature ofthese three things, you come to recognize thenature of the klesha, which causes it to be natu-rally pacified. That is the third practice; theapproach or path of recognition. In that way thetext presents the combined instructions or prac-tice of sutra and tantra.

Next the text turns to the issues surroundingvajrayana practice in particular. These are

the practice of the generation and completion

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When you beginthe practice ofthe generationstage as anordinaryindividual, theapproach topractice is called‘taking aspirationas the path,’which meansthat rather thanacually seeingthings as pure,you are aspiringto see themas pure

stages in general and especially the practice ofthe tradition of uncommon or special instruc-tions. The text first goes through the generationstage, then the completion stage, and then thetradition of uncommon instruction.

Beginning with the generation stage, it isimportant to remember that while we practicewhat is called self-generation (visualization ofoneself as the deity) and front generation (visu-alization of the deity in front of oneself), and soon, principally important in our practice is self-generation. This involves visualizing yourself asthe deity as vividly as possible,including the deity’s color, cos-tume, scepters, and so forth. Thedetails of each specific deitypractice are explained in theliturgy and commentaries of thatparticular practice, so in this textno specific instruction is given.This text is concerned with thebackground and theory surround-ing the practice of the generationstage in general; therefore, thegeneration stage is presented infour topics: the basis of purifica-tion; that which is to be purified;that which purifies it, the meth-ods of the generation stage; theresult of this process of purifica-tion.

In order to understand thedifference between the ground ofpurification and that which is tobe purified or removed, you needto understand that there are in asense two aspects to your mind.There is how your mind is, in itsnature, and how it appears ormanifests in your experience. From the point ofview of the appearance of your mind, you couldsay that your mind is full of kleshas, full ofsuffering, full of all kinds of confused or deludedprojections. But from the point of view of howyour mind really is, there is nothing of all of thisconfusion that cannot be abandoned because allof this confusion is secondary to the nature of

mind itself. Therefore, confusion can be gottenrid of, and the innate wisdom of your mind canbe revealed and expanded in your experience.The nature of your mind, what your mind reallyis, even the nature of what appear as kleshas, iscalled “sugatagarbha” or “buddha nature,” theseed of all of the qualities of buddhas, the seed ofall wisdom. This is always present but is ob-scured by the presence of the kleshas and otherobscurations. The process of the path consists ofrevealing just this. It does not need to be createdbut to be revealed. Therefore, the basis or

ground of purification is buddhanature, which is the innate pres-ence of the qualities and wisdomsof buddhas and, therefore, ofyidams. That which is to be puri-fied are the kleshas and thecognitive obscurations, whichobscure this ground of purifica-tion. These can be purified orremoved because they are adven-titious or secondary to the natureof the mind itself.

That which purifies theseobscurations is the generationstage of the yidam. All of theseconfused projections which makeup samsara, including the kleshas,can be abandoned because theyare secondary to the fundamentalnature itself. But in order toabandon them, there has to be ashift in your attitude towardsthem. As long as you invest energyin the impurity of the projections,and as long as you view theseappearances and experiences asimpure, then you maintain them.

If you change your attitude and view them aspure, actually meditate upon them as pure, thenyou are no longer maintaining them.

When you begin the practice of the genera-tion stage as an ordinary individual, the ap-proach to practice is called “taking aspiration aspath,” which means that rather than actuallyseeing things as pure, you are aspiring to see

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The practice ofthe generationstage consists ofthe cultivation ofthree elements.These are clarity,stability, andpurity

them as pure. Through this process of takingaspiration as path then eventually you generatewhat is called the “clarity of appearance.” Thismeans the vivid direct experience of the purityof phenomena. When you do this, this will natu-rally purify the delusion. The technique consistsessentially of visualizing yourself as the yidamand visualizing the place in which you findyourself as the mandala or abode of that yidam.When one begins this practice, the thought willarise, “I am pretending to be other than what Iam.” You may even know—through your study ofdharma, your understanding ofbuddha nature, and your confi-dence in the theory of the prac-tice—that this is not really true,that in fact, you are not pretend-ing to be other than you reallyare. However, because we have astrong habit of conceiving ofourselves and everything aroundus as impure, these thoughts maycontinue to arise. In order tocounteract that thought, thereare specific techniques built intothe practices that serve as rem-edies. For example, in order to counteract thethought, “Okay, I am visualizing myself as thedeity, but I am not really the deity; the deity isreally something or somewhere else,” you invitethis real deity into yourself.* As well, there arethe techniques of repetition of mantra, theradiation and gathering of light rays, and so on,all of which are aspects of the generation stage.As you practice the generation stage, over timeyou approach the result or fruition, which is theexperience of the innate purity of both body andmind. That is essentially an outline of the prac-tice of the generation stage.

The practice of the generation stage consistsof the cultivation of three elements. These areclarity, stability, and purity. Clarity means theclarity of the image, the visualized image, whichis the technique of the generation stage. This

element consists simply of visualizing the deityas clearly as you can. How easy this is, is differ-ent for everyone. Some people, because of theconstitution of their channels and so forth, findit very easy to generate a very clear image.Other people do not. In any case the technique isthe same. In a very relaxed way with a mind thatis not particularly tense you visualize the form ofthe deity. In doing so it is natural to develophope that it will be intensely vivid. In fact, wewould like the image of the deity to be as vividas what we see with our eyes. In practicing

visualization you are not using theeye consciousness, you are usingthe mental consciousness, and themental consciousness is concep-tual. Unlike the eye consciousness,which experiences the individualcharacteristics of forms, the men-tal consciousness generates anabstraction or a generalization;therefore, the visualization willtend to remain something vagueand general. However, if youcontinue the practice with a re-laxed mind, then gradually the

image will increase in stability and in clarity orvividness. To rest within this continued clearvisualization of the deity—the deity’s form, color,position, costume, ornaments, scepters, and soforth—is the practice of the first element of thegeneration stage, the clarity of image or clearvisualization.

When you are cultivating clarity in the visu-alization, sometimes you will find that the visu-alization is less clear, vivid, or stable than usual.There are things you can do to correct this. Forexample, one thing that is suggested in the textis to concentrate for awhile in your visualizationon one specific detail, such as the vajra held inthe hand, or a scepter of the deity, or a specificdetail such as the jewel on top of the deity’stopknot, and so on. Depending upon the natureof what is preventing clear visualization, thereare some choices to make in what you directyour attention to. In general, if you are afflictedby agitation, and there are many thoughts run-

*Editor’s note: Here Rinpoche is referring to the invitationstage in generation practice.

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ning through your mind which prevent you fromconcentrating on the visualization, then it isrecommended that you direct your attention tosomething towards the bottom of the visualiza-tion, such as the lotus seat on which the deity isseated or standing. If on the other hand it is akind of torpor or depression which is preventingthe emergence of clarity or vividness in thevisualization, then it is generally recommendedthat you direct your attention to somethingtowards the top of the visualization, such as thetop of the deity’s head, the jewel, or the topknot,and so on.

The second element of generation stagepractice is purity, which refers to the recollec-tion of purity. This can be and often is explainedas the enumeration in your mind of the symbolicsignificance of each aspect of the deity’s appear-ance—what each aspect of theappearance represents. But it ispointed out in our text that if youdo this, it can become too concep-tual and can actually disturb yourmind and harm the meditation.What is recommended as theimplementation of the recollec-tion of purity is to keep in mindthat this appearance of the deityis vivid or clear appearance thatis without any existence, that it isthe unity of clarity and empti-ness, like the appearance of arainbow in its vividness andinsubstantiality.

The third element in thepractice of the generation stage isstability, which means the stablepride of being the deity. This is the practice ofidentification with the deity, actually thinking, “Iam this deity.” This is very important, as it isthis aspect of the generation stage that actuallyserves as a remedy for our ordinary fixation on aself. The practice or cultivation of stable prideconsists of abandoning the sense of being differ-ent from or other than the deity which you aremeditating on as yourself.

That was a presentation of the outline and

elements of generation stage practice. If youhave any questions, please ask them.

Question: I have been working through themeditations in the book Progressive Stages ofMeditation on Emptiness, and in that process youview emotional reactions as evidence of fixationon self. Specifically, I am examining my griefover the death of a loved one as an emotionalreaction. One can view grief as something likephysical pain in the form of suffering, or on theother hand view it as a klesha such as angerbased on attachment, duality, and fixation onself. In examining it, I’ve come to some level ofunderstanding the nature of interdependenceand impermanence and how they are an antidoteto the attachment and duality that leads to grief.But I just find some small level of understand-

ing. The pain and the suffering arevery clearly still there. I amwondering if this process is thesame as that in which one exam-ines something like anger. Theanger dissipates, it goes away. Iguess my question is, in the con-text of something like extremegrief, what does it mean to aban-don it? Does it mean that it goesaway or that it is still there as amatter of relative truth but under-stood to be empty?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Grief is nota klesha. It is not considered acause of suffering but rather assuffering. One does not need toabandon it in the way that one

abandons kleshas because they will cause futuresuffering. One abandons grief in the sense ofallowing it to be pacified, because maintaining itcan cause suffering upon suffering. But whethergrief can be transcended depends upon thepower of your mediation. When you look directlyat the nature of your grief, it will probably notdisappear. However, through seeing its nature,while the grief will remain present, it will beless overwhelming. In a sense the heaviness of it

The practice orcultivation ofstable prideconsists ofabandoning thesense of beingdifferent from orother than thedeity which youare meditatingon as yourself

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will be somewhat pacified, so that although youwill still be grieving, your position with respectto your grief will be different from that of anuntrained person. Theoretically, when you seethe nature of grief, it can be totally abandoned,but practically speaking this does not happen.When we look at the nature of grief, because ourminds are not habituated enough with seeing thenature of whatever arises to abandon it, it willjust be somewhat lessened in its heaviness, butthe grief and the sadness will still be there.

Question: With regard to abandoning the kleshaof bewilderment, Rinpoche said that the remedyis meditation on interdependence. I want to seehow that actually works. Say, for example, Iperceive that I am fixated on the sound of thebirds and the trees’ rustling as being pleasant. Ifthere were twenty motorcycles running around Iwould perceive that as unpleasant, and yet thenature of the sound is just sound, movement andvibration. I understand that, but I still have theexperience of one being pleasant and one beingunpleasant. How, practically speaking would onemeditate on interdependence?

Thrangu Rinpoche: The perception of things aspleasant and unpleasant itself is not a problem.The problem only occurs for example, when inthinking of something as unpleasant, we developaversion for it, which is the point at which weactively wish to get rid of it. Or, thinking ofsomething as pleasant, we develop attachmentfor it, which means we actively wish to acquire itor prolong it. It is those things that cause ussuffering. Simply the perception of things aspleasant and unpleasant is not a problem. Thereason why meditation on interdependence isbeneficial in this instance is that interdepen-dence is at the same time relativity. By recogniz-ing the relative nature of these perceived orimputed characteristics, one becomes free fromfixation upon them. For example, if you were tobecome actually tormented by the sound oftwenty motorcycles, thinking how awful anddisturbing that sound is, then you would in thatcontext reflect upon worse sounds. And there

are indeed worse sounds that you could behearing. By thinking about worse sounds such asscreaming and so on, you would then no longerbe fixating on the unpleasantness of the motor-cycles. Or, if you were tormented by being at-tached to the pleasant sound of birds, then youcould reflect upon the fact that there are farmore pleasant sounds you could be hearing, andin that way let go of your fixation on hearing thebirds.

Question: What is meant by the marks andsigns of the body of reality?

Thrangu Rinpoche: First of all thedharmakaya is what is referred to here in theroot text as the “body of reality.” It does not initself possess any physical characteristics, butthe quality of the dharmakaya manifests as therupakaya or form bodies, and they do possessphysical characteristics, which are normallyenumerated as thirty-two major and eightyminor marks of physical perfection. The thirty-two major marks of physical perfection refer tothe fact that the bodies of buddhas are alwaysbeautiful, have certain very specific types offeatures, and have certain extraordinary charac-teristics, such as the fact that the clothing orrobes worn by a buddha will never actually touchtheir body but will always be four finger widthsaway from the body. The body of a buddha alwayshas an extensive halo, and so on. The eightyminor marks of physical perfection are lesspronounced wonderful physical characteristicsthat are similar to the thirty-two major ones.

Question: I have a friend who gets very angry,and to him his anger has value. If someoneharms him, he feels he can win or he can getback at them. He seems to feel a kind of satisfac-tion in just being angry. I cannot debate him. It isnot enough to just say, “You’re going to causeyourself more suffering.” He thinks he is out forrevenge and really angry. How can I talk withhim?

Thrangu Rinpoche: A distinction can be made

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Whenever youget angry, itbecomessomehow deeplyentrenched, andyou hold on to itbecause you areso used to beingangry

between anger itself and holding a grudge.Holding a grudge comes about from anger havingbeen invested in and anger having been culti-vated. If you continually invest in anger thenanger will develop into this tendency to holdgrudges, which is the next step or the nextdevelopment of it. It basically consists of neverletting go of anger. Whenever you get angry, itbecomes somehow deeply entrenched, and youhold on to it because you are so used to beingangry. The remedy for this is to cultivate theremedies for anger in general. That will preventthis entrenchment of anger from occurring.

One thing you can say to the person is that heis better off being patient than seeking revenge,because revenge becomes perpetual. If he suc-ceeds in getting back at someone who has hurthim, then chances are that hisway of getting back at that personwill probably not only be exactingthe debt but some interest aswell. When that happens, theperson at whom he has gottenback will feel victimized, becausewhat he did will seem to them tobe more than what they deserve.They then will have to get back athim and they will also try to domore than what he did to them.He will in turn feel victimizedand will have to get back at them.In that way vengeance becomesperpetual. It is self-maintaining,simply because the act of vengeance itself usu-ally involves doing more than what the otherperson did to you. This is an instance of the factthat kleshas such as anger always include igno-rance. In this case, the ignorance is in part that,when you are seeking revenge, you do not stop tothink about the fact that the person on whomyou are exacting revenge will probably want toexact revenge upon you for exacting revengeupon them. If this goes on long enough eventu-ally both people will come to regret the wholething, because they will have harmed each otherwithout either really ever being satisfied bywhat they have done.

Question: Rinpoche I have a question about twolines from the root text. The first line reads, “Donot meditate on pride; cut through the root ofego clinging.” The second line, “When ego cling-ing is destroyed, wherever one’s mind focuses,its essence arises vividly.” Could you commenton the phrase “wherever one’s mind focuses, itsessence arises vividly.”

Thrangu Rinpoche: It means that, when thereis the eradication of a fixation on a self, wher-ever the mind is directed, that selflessnesswhich is the mind’s nature, that absence of a self,arises vividly in your direct experience.

Question: In the root text in the section thatbegins, “In some of the highest yoga tantras of

secret mantra,” can you discussthe emanation from the organs inunion?

Thrangu Rinpoche: This is in asection of the text which is goingthrough the very technical detailsof different types of deity practice.Within those different types ofdeity practice sometimes in orderto purify the same things, therecan be more or less elaborateprocedures. Here the text istalking about a specific type ofgeneration stage, a gradual devel-opment of the visualization of the

deity which occurs in some practices where thedeity is actually generated twice. First, throughwhatever gradual process, you generate yourselfas the deity. Then that deity dissolves and meltsinto a sphere of light, and then from that sphereof light you re-emerge as the deity. When that isdone, it is called the “causal vajra holder” andthe “resultant vajra holder.” The deity here isreferred to as the vajra holder. Part of the mean-ing of that is that it corresponds to the mind ofluminosity or clear light that occurs at the deathof the previous life and the subsequent emer-gence from the bardo into the conception andbirth in the next life. In a sadhana or practice in

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The body thatyou have is amixture of threethings: the whiteconstituent,which is thesperm from thefather; the redconstituent,which is theovum from themother; and thewind element,which is themount for yourconsciousness asit actually entersthe womb

which the text says that “from the secret space . .. ” the deity who is generated in this dual wayhas a retinue before the causal vajra holder. Inthat case there will be a father and mother inunion, and before they melt intolight, from the secret space of themother the other members of themandala will have emerged andtaken their places in the palace.Then the father and mothercausal vajra holder, the centralfigures, will melt into light andthen re-arise. The basic idea hereis that you are purifying the wayyou are conceived and come intothe world. At the end of theprevious life you are alone andthen you die. Before you arereborn there are already theparents and so on. The body thatyou have is a mixture of threethings: the white constituent,which is the sperm from thefather; the red constituent, whichis the ovum from the mother; andthe wind element, which is themount for your consciousness asit actually enters the womb andcombines with those other two.The function of all of these visu-alizations is to correspond to and,therefore, purify fixation on themixing or combination of thesethree elements.

Question: What does it mean that “the vitaldrops purify the white and red appearances”?

Thrangu Rinpoche: In this section he is givinga list of different things, not all of which arelikely to be present in the same practice. Forexample, when he says that “through the gradualdisappearance of the three syllables appearance,increase, and attainment are purified,” he istalking about something that occurs in somepractices in which you visualize the three syl-lables and then they disappear and then the

visualization goes on from there. When he says,“through the drops, the appearances of whiteand red are purified,” he is referring to thevisualization of the sphere of light when the

causal vajra holder has dissolvedbefore the resultant vajra holderarises. What you are purifyingthere is your attitude about thewhite and red constituents, thesperm and the ovum, which arethe substantial or physical basisfor the emergence of your ownbody.

Question: Are the vital drops thesame thing as the white and redappearances?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It is not somuch that the drops are the same.It is that they correspond. Thevisualization of this white and redsphere intermingled, which thenbecomes the resultant vajraholder, is a way of representingand, therefore, purifying yourfixation on the white and reddrops which you received fromyour parents.

Question: So the vital drops arethe causal vajra holder?

Thrangu Rinpoche: No, when the causal vajraholder melts into light, he or they or she, de-pending upon what the deity is, become a sphereof mixed white and red light.

Question: And those are the vital drops?

Thrangu Rinpoche: That is what is referredto here as the “drop,” and it represents thevital drops, but here the visualization is of asphere or drop. The word “tigle,” which thetranslator here translated as “vital drop,” canalso mean sphere.

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Creation and Completion

Using the Generation StageTo Purify the Habit of Birth

Continuing the Very Venerable KhenchenThrangu Rinpoche’s commentary on Creationand Completion.

Because it seems that you are interestedin knowing about it, I am going to gointo more detail about the generation

stage, specifically from among the four topics ofthe generation stage, the methods which purifyand that which ispurified by the gen-eration stage.

Essentially thestructure and formatof the generationstage practice isconnected with, orcorresponds to, theway we are born. Theidea of being born isthe acquisition of anew body. New bodyof course does notmean your first body,just your latest body,your most recentlyacquired body. Thereare four differentways that sentientbeings can be born.The first is wombbirth, through which,as in the case ofhumans and other mammals, you are born fromthe womb of your mother. The second, which isvery similar, is egg birth, by which you arehatched from an egg that has issued forth fromthe womb, as is the case with birds, reptiles, and

so on. Those two types are fairly coarse in themanner of birth. Then there is one that is a littlemore subtle, and although this form is oftenpresented as a separate type of birth, it can alsobe understood as another aspect of either wombor egg generation, which is birth from heat andmoisture.

These first three types of birth correspond tothree types of generation stage visualization that

are principally de-signed to purify thehabit of these types ofbirth. Womb birth ispurified by the style ofgeneration called“five-fold manifestawakening,” egg birthby that which is calledthe “four vajras,” birthfrom heat and mois-ture by that which iscalled the “threeprocedures” or “threerituals.”

The fourth type ofbirth is that throughwhich beings appearin certain realms withparticularly subtlebodies. It is an instan-taneous birth occur-ring in the absence ofwomb, egg, or even

heat and moisture as conditions for birth. Thistype of instantaneous birth is purified by what iscalled “instantaneous generation,” which is alsoknown as “generation that is complete in aninstant of recollection.” In this case the medita-

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The entirepractice, startingfrom the verybeginning of thegeneration of thedeity andculminating withthe dissolution orwithdrawal of thedeity andmandala into theclear light,corresponds toall the events ofone life

tion of the deity does not begin with the estab-lishment of the mandala and the seat of thedeity, and then the placement of the seed syl-lable on the seat, its transformation into a scep-ter, and then the scepter into thedeity, as is usual in other visual-izations. In this case, in an in-stant of recollection you simplyvisualize yourself as the deitywithout the many preliminarysteps. Although these four typesof visualization—five-fold mani-fest awakening, four vajras, threeprocedures, and complete in aninstant of recollection—do corre-spond individually to the fourtypes of birth, it is not the casethat practicing any one of thesedoes not purify all four. It does.Even though there is a correspon-dence, any one of these is suffi-cient in order to purify the fourtypes of birth.

Once one has generated thedeity’s form through one or an-other of these four procedures,then one visualizes that deitywith their particular posture,color, costume, ornamentation, scepters, thefather, the mother, the retinue, the mandala inwhich they abide, and so on. From that pointonwards the practices will vary quite a bit.Depending upon what specific practice it is,there may be many other steps and stages alongthe way. In any case it will conclude with what iscalled the “withdrawal procedure.” Withdrawalrefers to the dissolution or withdrawal of themandala into the clear light, or into emptiness.The entire practice can consist of a great deal ofelaboration and many steps or can be verysimple and concise. In any case the entire prac-tice, starting from the very beginning of thegeneration of the deity and culminating with thedissolution or withdrawal of the deity andmandala into the clear light, corresponds to allthe events of one life. The very beginning of thegeneration corresponds to the entrance of the

consciousness into the womb, for example, in thecase of a human life. As the practice goes onthere are specific elements that correspond tothe birth, to all the experiences of this life, and

finally, in the case of the with-drawal phase, to death.

There are many variations inthe procedure, style, and contentof these generation stage prac-tices. For example, in Tibet therewere two periods of the introduc-tion of Buddhism. The initial orearlier spread of the teachings inthe eighth and ninth centuries ledto what is called the old orNyingma tradition. The subse-quent renewal of the doctrine withthe introduction of new transla-tions from India in the eleventhcentury by various translators ledto what is called the new or Sarmatradition* The procedures andstyle of the practices of the gen-eration stage in the Nyingma andSarma traditions vary somewhat,at least in appearance and inmethod, but there is no differencein their effectiveness in the actual

purification of the kleshas. If one had an illnessof the eyes, one might treat it with a surgicalprocedure or one might treat it with a medicineconsumed by mouth. In either case, one couldremove whatever is obstructing or obscuringone’s vision. In the same way, although the actualmethods vary slightly, the focus of both theSarma and the Nyingma generation stage prac-tices is identical.

Next the text gives a description of how ageneration stage practice would work. The typeof generation stage practice that is used as anexample is basically a Nyingma model, but it willgive you an idea of how a generation stage proce-dure works. The characteristic of a Nyingmaapproach to generation stage is the cultivation of

*Editor’s note: The core practices of the Kagyu, Sakya, andGelug were all introduced into Tibet during this later phase soare considered Sarma.

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When thescepter, togetherwith the seedsyllable, istransformed intothe completebody of the deity,this correspondsto and purifiesthe momentof birth

what are called the “three samadhis” or “threemeditative absorptions.” These correspond to thedharmakaya, the sambhogakaya, and thenirmanakaya. The first samadhi, connected withthe dharmakaya, is called the “samadhi ofthatness or suchness.” It essentially consists ofmeditation on emptiness. With regard to what itpurifies, it corresponds to one’s death in thepreceding life up to the point at which the ap-pearances of the preceding life have vanished andthere is an experience of nothing whatsoever,which is like emptiness.

Following this meditation on emptiness,which is the samadhi of thatness and correspondsto the dharmakaya, is the meditation on thecompassion that has the characteristics of beinglike a magical illusion. This is called the“samadhi or meditative absorption which appearseverywhere.” It corresponds to thesambhogakaya and it purifies thesubsequent experience of thebardo, one’s experience after one’sprevious death and before one’sconception in this life. The func-tion of this second samadhi, whichcorresponds to the sambhogakaya,is to form a link between thedharmakaya and the coarse or fullmanifestation of the nirmanakaya.Therefore, it forms the basis orprelude to the generation of themandala.

The third samadhi, which isconnected to the nirmanakaya, iscalled the “samadhi of cause” andis the initial visualization of theseed syllable of the deity. Thiscorresponds to the emergence of your conscious-ness from the bardo and its actual entrance intothe womb. Therefore, along with visualizing theseed-syllable, one visualizes the seat or pedestalof the deity, which will consist of either a lotuswith sun and moon discs or a lotus with eitherjust a moon or just a sun. Initially, one begins thevisualization by imagining this lotus, sun, andmoon pedestal; this corresponds to and purifiesthe white and red elements, the sperm and ovum

which come from the parents and are the physi-cal or substantial basis for your physical body.Then you visualize on top of this the seed-syllable of the deity. This corresponds to andpurifies the entrance of your consciousnessfrom the bardo into the womb at the time ofconception. Then when you visualize that theseed-syllable changes into the deity’s character-istic scepter, which is marked at its center bythe seed-syllable, this corresponds to the periodof gestation in the womb. When the scepter,together with the seed-syllable, is transformedinto the complete body of the deity, this corre-sponds to and purifies the moment of birth.Having visualized yourself as the deity, youimagine the three syllables OM, AH, HUNG inthe three places of the deity’s body. This purifiesthe habits from this life of body, speech, and

mind. This procedure is essen-tially characteristic of theNyingma school, beginning withthe three samadhis and thenculminating in the gradual gen-eration of the deity from syllable,scepter and the entire body.

In the tantras of the Sarma orNew Translation school, there isoften the generation of the causalvajra holder and resultant vajraholder, which is a different wayof generating the deity. In themore elaborate practices of theNew Translation school, theretend to be two generations of thedeity. First, there is the genera-tion through whatever gradualprocedure by which the deity is

generated. At that point the deity is called thecausal vajra holder. This first form of the deityis generated in order to purify the process ofdeath of one’s previous life. The causal vajraholder form of the deity which has been gener-ated will then melt into light, becoming asphere of light. From that sphere of light thedeity is generated a second time. This is calledthe resultant vajra holder. This corresponds toand purifies the arising of the mental body in

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The mantrarepetition purifiesall of your talkand conversationthroughout yourlife, especiallytalk connected toattachment,aversion, andbewilderment

the bardo or interval between lives as well as theentrance of that consciousness, which has arisenas a mental body, into the womb, the process ofgestation, and birth.

In their details these practices can vary quitea bit. For example, in some practices with causaland resultant vajra holders, at thetime of visualization of the causalvajra holder the other deities ofthe mandala will be emanatedfrom the secret space of themother, the consort of the princi-pal deity. Then the causal vajraholder, father and mother, willmelt into light and become asphere of light. At that point, thedakinis and other deities of theretinue who have been emanated,will request the central deity, whois now in the form of a sphere oflight, to arise from emptiness forthe benefit of beings, in responseto which that sphere of light willturn into the resultant vajraholder. Also, in some other practices, rather thanhaving the causal and resultant vajra holder, theend of one’s previous life is purified by visualiz-ing the gradual dissolution of the three syllablesOM, AH, HUNG, corresponding to the stages ofdeath called appearance, increase, and attain-ment. So within the general category of the NewTranslation school generation stage practices,there are many variations.

Whether the practice is of the Nyingma styleor of the Sarma style, once the deity has beengenerated completely, usually you will visualizethat from the heart of yourself as the deity raysof light shoot out and invite the wisdom beingsor the jnanasattvas, which are the actual deity.You think that these are invited and dissolveinto you, at which point you rest in the confi-dence that the jnanasattvas have actually en-tered into your being. This corresponds to andpurifies the learning process you go throughafter birth. Following that, again usually you willinvite the five male and female buddhas and soforth, who will bestow empowerment upon you

as the deity. This is done in order to purify yourfamily inheritance, everything that you in anysense inherit from your parents. Following thatthere will be homage to yourself as the deity,offerings, and praises. The function of thesestages of the practice is to purify all of your

interactions throughout this lifewith the various objects of experi-ence, including your possessionsand so on. In short, every stage ofthe generation stage practice isdesigned to correspond to andpurify something upon which weproject impurity.

Following that comes therepetition of the mantra. Themantra repetition purifies all ofyour talk and conversationthroughout your life, especiallytalk connected to attachment,aversion, and bewilderment.Following that comes the with-drawal or dissolution of the visu-alization into emptiness and

finally the re-arising of yourself as the deity.These correspond to your death at the end ofthis life and to your re-arising in a mental bodyin the bardo or interval after death. In that waythe procedure of any one generation stage prac-tice contains a complete correspondence to all ofthe events of one life cycle, starting with thebardo and the entrance of the bardo conscious-ness into the womb, going through your wholelife, ending with your death, and again yourentrance into the bardo.

Invariably such practices are preceded bygoing for refuge and generating bodhicitta andfollowed by the dedication of merit and themaking of aspirations. These are essential forthe practice to be a mahayana practice. At thevery beginning, therefore, is the going for refugeand the generation of bodhicitta as your inten-tion for the practice and the making of aspira-tions for the benefit of beings, and at the end isyour dedication of the merit to all beings. Theseare the principal practices of the mahayana and,therefore, are used to embrace the technique of

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the generation stage practice thereby making ita proper mahayana practice.

In many generation stage practices therewill be additional elements, such as the conse-cration of the offerings and sometimes a feastoffering. The purpose of the consecration ofofferings and the making of feast offerings is togather the two accumulations, which are theaccumulation of merit and the accumulation ofwisdom. Although the text says“to gather the two accumula-tions,” principally these lead tothe accumulation of merit. In thegeneral context of mahayana,merit is accumulated by means ofthe first five paramitas: generos-ity, morality, patience, diligence,and meditation. In the specificcontext of vajrayana, the methodsby which merit is accumulatedemphasize the practice of medita-tion, by means of which a small thing can bemagnified or multiplied in its power so that oneaccumulates vast amounts of merit withoutmuch difficulty. For example, in feast practiceyou use a very small offering as a basis formeditation, and in samadhi you multiply itextensively. It, therefore, becomes a basis for anaccumulation of merit that is far, far greaterthan the thing in itself. The idea here is thatthrough perfecting or completing the accumula-tion of merit, you come to accumulate the sec-ond accumulation, that of wisdom. But in thedirect effect, these feast offerings and offeringconsecrations lead principally to the accumula-tion of merit.

The fourth topic about the generation stageis the result of purification—the result of thefull removal of obscurations of the basis orground of purification. When that sugatagarbhaor buddha nature, which is itself the ground ofpurification, is fully revealed, when everythingthat obscures it is removed, that is the result.The view of the generation stage is that thisbuddha nature itself contains all of the qualitiesof the deities. So when you visualize yourself asa deity, you are visualizing yourself as some-

thing that is a similitude of your own buddhanature, something that has the same characteris-tics as your own buddha nature. The reason youdo this is that by so doing you familiarize yourselfwith buddha nature and thereby allow buddhanature to reveal itself. It is not that through thegeneration stage you are creating a result. Youare revealing the ground as a result. The result isthat through this process of familiarization,

taking the appearance of theground as the path, you come tofully reveal that ground. Wheneverything that obscures it hasbeen removed, then that groundfully revealed is itself the fruitionor result. In other words, theresult or fruition does not comefrom outside; it is revealed fromwithin.

The generation stage is thepractice of a yidam, and you do

that specific yidam practice exactly as it is pre-scribed in the liturgy for that practice. If theliturgy is elaborate and long and prescribes anelaborate series of steps to the visualization, thatis what you visualize. If it is concise and pre-scribes that the deity is visualized complete in aninstant of recollection, then that is what youvisualize. In either case, in the principal or mainpractice of a yidam, the main thing is to visualizeyourself as that deity, as that yidam.

We also do other practices where the empha-sis is not on visualizing yourself as a deity

but on visualizing deities external to yourself. Forexample, when we visualize the sources of refugein the refuge and prostration practice, we visual-ize them in front of ourselves. When we visualizeVajrasattva in the preliminary practice ofVajrasattva, we visualize Vajrasattva seatedabove our head. When we do the Chenrezigpractice, we commence the practice with thevisualization of Chenrezig above our head. Thereason why in these three types of practices thevisualization is different from a conventionalgeneration stage practice of self-visualization isthat these practices are designed for those who

The result orfruition does notcome fromoutside; it isrevealed fromwithin

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While it is truethat no buddhacan hand you orgive you theresult or fruitionof this path, theycan help

are beginning vajrayana practice. In the verybeginning you cannot simply start with revealingyour own inner wisdom. You cannot begin withthe discovery of wisdom within yourself, whichis the principal reason for self-visualization.

There is something that needs to be madeclear about the nature of the deities in thevajrayana, because it seems in some contexts wealmost externalize them as in the preliminarypractices. Primarily we view themas something internal, somethingthat is within us. First of all, adistinction needs to be madebetween the use of a deity in anontheistic tradition, such asBuddhism, and in a theistic tradi-tion, such as Hinduism. In theHindu practices which work withthe iconography of deities, thedeities are considered to be exter-nal and essentially to have therole of being creators of the uni-verse. It is understood that these deities havethe power to make you happy and to make yousuffer. These deities if pleased have the power tobring you to liberation, have the power to grantyou all kinds of attainments, supreme and com-mon attainments. Therefore, the practice in sucha tradition consists of praying to deities with thegreatest faith and devotion, making offerings tothem with the understanding that if they arepleased they will grant you attainments, andthat if they are not pleased and become angrythey can actually cast you into the lower realms.

The Buddhist view of deities is entirelydifferent. First of all, it is held by the Buddhisttradition that your happiness and suffering comeabout because of your own previous actions, andthat no other being can actually cause you toexperience what you have not caused yourselfkarmically. What you experience comes aboutbecause of your own previous actions and be-cause of your habits of perception. Ultimatelyspeaking, from a Buddhist point of view, no deitycan grant you siddhi or attainment. You receiveattainment through your removal ofobscurations of mind which otherwise obscure

your innate wisdom. In the Buddhist traditionattainment is the revelation of that wisdom thatis innate. Therefore, in the Buddhist traditionwe do not assert that attainment is actuallygiven to you by the whim of any external being.

On the other hand, there also exist traditionsthat say that there is no help whatsoever fromoutside, that the path consists entirely of one’sown internal work, and that any supplication of

any awakened being is meaning-less. But this is not exactly theBuddhist view either, because,while it is true that no buddhacan hand you or give you theresult or fruition of this path,they can help. For example,consider this life. Up to a certainpoint in your life you had noknowledge of dharma whatsoever.Then, through whatever series ofcircumstances, you approached aguru and received instruction

from the guru, who became your root guru, andsomething changed, which is called the blessingof dharma. Before you did not know whatdharma was and then you did. Before you didnot know how to practice and then you did.Many things changed as a result. Maybe you hadno confidence in dharma and then came to haveconfidence. You had no devotion and then youcame to have devotion. You came to have morecompassion than you did before. Your meditationimproved and so on. Now none of these thingswas precisely given to you by your root guru, butnevertheless something happens in the contextof or because of your relationship with the rootguru, and this is what we call the blessing of theguru. This is all easy to understand because it isconcerned with your relationship or interactionwith someone you have met, someone who isanother human being. But you also supplicategurus of the past, gurus you have not met, guruswho are not visible to you at the present. Sosupplicating them, even though, like your rootguru, they also cannot hand you attainment orthe fruition, like your root guru, they can influ-ence you. They can help you.

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The function ofdharmapalas isto help you freeyourself fromanything thatimpedes yourpractice and path

It is not particularly that by your supplicat-ing them, they are pleased and, therefore, decideto share their spiritual wealth with you. It israther that the devotion you generate in yoursupplication of them causes this blessing simplyto occur. Therefore, the guru can still grantblessing even when he or she is not physicallypresent in your perception. That is the first ofthe three roots or three sources of vajrayanapractice, the guru, which is the root of blessing.

The second root is the yidam, the deity, whichis the root of attainment. Essentially, yidams arethe forms of the sambhogakaya that buddhastake in order to communicatewith and train beings. It is not thecase that literally speaking youryidam can give you or hand yousupreme attainment, but likegurus, yidams can influence you.They grant you their blessing inthe sense that through practicingyidam meditation, a new claritydawns in your meditative absorp-tion, and you come to graduallyrealize something or attain some-thing. To be precise, we would saythat in saying that yidams are theroot of siddhi, we do not mean that they grant it,but that they facilitate it.

The third root is the dharmapalas or dharmaprotectors, who are the root of activity. Now thefunction of dharmapalas is to help you freeyourself from anything that impedes your prac-tice and path. They help to encourage yourexertion and to encourage your devotion. Theyhelp you find ways to purify your obscurationsand your wrongdoing. Dharmapalas are basicallybuddhas who take this type of position or rolefor the aid of practitioners. So while it is not thecase that any external being can grant you su-preme siddhi, these three roots, the gurus,yidams, and dharmapalas, if you supplicatethem, can bestow blessing and can help removeobstacles on your path.

For these reasons as you will discover whenyou do the intensive practice of the generationstage in retreat, most generation stage practice

consists of visualizing yourself as the deity,because the most essential thing in our practiceof the generation stage is to reveal and expandour own innate wisdom. While that is the princi-pal practice, in the special circumstances of feastpractice, particularly of self-empowerment, inwhich you give yourself the empowerment ofthat specific practice upon its completion, younot only do the visualization of yourself as thedeity, but you also visualize the deity in front.You do so because making offerings to the deityvisualized in front of you, as it is in the contextof feast practice, is a great way to accumulate

merit. By receiving the blessing orempowerment from the deityvisualized in front of you, you willbe especially confident that youactually received that blessing orreceived that empowerment.

So this is the generation stage,which is necessary and veryhelpful. If you have any questionsplease go ahead.

Question: How important is it tovisualize the deity exactly as theliturgy says? For example, if some

of the icons of the culture I was raised in comeinto the visualization, is that something that Ishould make sure to not let happen? Is doing socausing a problem?

Translator: Could you give a specific example ofwhat you mean?

Question: An example is Saint Francis of Assisias a sort of compassion and so some of the ideasof him as well as of Avalokiteshvara. If I slip intoa visualization of Saint Francis of Assisi am Itaking away from the power of the visualizationof Avalokiteshvara?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It is okay from time to timeto remember Saint Francis of Assisi if it givesyou more of an idea of compassion, but at thesame time, when you are doing a formal practiceof visualization, everything in the visualization

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There are specificdeities connectedwith the wisdomwhich lies at theroot of eachklesha. Forexample, in thetext you will seethat it suggests,if afflicted bydesire, youvisualize youselfas Amitabha

is there for a reason. The details, and there areso many details in any of these practices, arethere because by working with them exactly asthey are set out, they will en-hance the stability of your mind.In other words, the generationstage will become a practice ofshamatha and also of clarity, notonly of the visualization but alsoof the revelation of the mind’scharacteristic of clarity itself.Ultimately there is more benefitin working with the practiceexactly as it is set out.

We find a reference to thistopic in the autobiography ofMipham Rinpoche from the nine-teenth century. He says in hisautobiography that he had hadsome degree of recognition of themind’s nature, which is what iscalled the “clear appearance ofthe completion stage,” since hewas a small child. But he felt thatin order to stabilize this and toexpand its clarity he would have to use themethods of the generation stage. He felt that thetechnique of the generation stage with all of itsotherwise troublesome details was actually anideal method leading to the clarification ofwhatever recognition you might have of yourmind’s nature. In his autobiography MiphamRinpoche said that he was unable to generateenough of a practice of generation stage toachieve his wish. But he felt that the most im-portant method in order to generate stablecompletion stage realization was the intensepractice of the clear visualization of the genera-tion stage.

Question: When it is said that the white and redelements in the form of the vital drops in thehead and the navel descend and ascend anddissolve together when one dies, are thesesomething other than egg and sperm.

Thrangu Rinpoche: Actually, the original

sperm and ovum have grown to form your wholebody. The drops are not so much the originalsperm and ovum as they are the essence or

kernel of them, or you could saythe kernel or essence of what hasgrown out of them. During yourlife, according to tantric physiol-ogy, the kernel of the white as-pect, which you received fromyour father, is housed inside yourhead, close to the top. The kernelor essence of the red aspect,which you received from yourmother, is seated below yournavel, in the abdomen. In betweenthese two is the basic prana thatkeeps you alive. These two actu-ally keep the prana from escaping.When you die, this prana col-lapses in on itself into the heart.While these two keep the pranafrom escaping, the prana itselfkeeps the one up and the otherdown. When the prana withdrawsinto the heart they then go in with

it. The white drop comes down from the headand the red drop comes up from the abdomenand they meet at the heart.

Question: So the prana is going between thetwo?

Translator: That specific prana. It is called thelife wind.

Question: My question goes back to somethingyou were saying earlier about using a particularpractice to combat desire. It was, I think, to useChakrasamvara to combat desire. Are thereparticular deities that one uses to combat, forinstance, pride or some of the other kleshas? Oris it the case that any one of them will overcomeall of the kleshas?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Both are true. There arespecific deities connected with the wisdomwhich lies at the root of each of the klesha. For

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Some peoplenaturally findthemselvesutterly devoted tothe practice ofone deity. Thenit is perfectlypossibleunder thosecircumstances topursue that onepractice untilthrough ityou attain thefinal result

example, in the text you will see that it suggests,if afflicted by desire, you visualize yourself asAmitabha. By extension we would say, therefore,if afflicted by bewilderment, Vairochana; byanger, Aksobhya; by pride, Ratnasambhava; byjealousy, Amogasiddhi. When it mentionsChakrasamvara, that is an example. It does notmean that you specifically need to use the deityChakrasamvara. Visualizing yourself asChakrasamvara with his consort will serve notonly as a remedy for the afflictions of desire butfor any other affliction as well.

Question: I have a question aboutthe relationship between thedifferent types of purificationsand the Chenrezig practice. Sincethe yidam is initially visualizedoutside of yourself and only verylate in the practice do you becomethe deity, does that mean that allthe various purifications of wombbirth and prior bardos and priordeath occur at the time of thevisualization of the externalChenrezig?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Basically, itis not very specific in that prac-tice. Through the power of yourfaith directed to the Chenrezigvisualized above you, at a certainpoint in the practice you and allbeings take the form Chenrezig.In that case the visualization ofyourself is in the form of the deitycomplete in an instant of recollection. So there isno specific correlation here with the point atwhich the practice is purified, what event ormoment, and so on. But basically you could saythat when you become the deity that is purifyingthis birth.

Question: Rinpoche, at what level does suppli-cation work? When we talk about supplicatinggurus, teachers of the lineage that have died,and dharmapalas, how is that working?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Supplication producesblessing, and although the blessing is under-stood as something that is given to you, some-thing that somehow engulfs you from outside, infact blessing really is not given to you at all.When you supplicate, you generate faith anddevotion. That faith and devotion cause theappearance of what we call blessing.

Question: Rinpoche, in terms of generationpractice itself, it seems to be dealing with body,speech and mind. I am curious as to what part of

the generation stage practiceactually purifies relationshipswith our world and the inhabit-ants in it, family and friends andthose around us?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Becauseyour connection to others,whether it is a positive or a nega-tive one, is a part of your interac-tion with the world in general,your interactions are all purifiedby the homage, offering, andpraise sections of the sadhana,whatever it is.

Question: Could one personsettle on one deity and try to dothis completely, or do you try topractice with as many deities aspossible?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It does notmatter. It is a question of indi-

vidual taste and interest. Some people naturallyfind themselves utterly devoted to the practiceof one deity. Then it is perfectly possible underthose circumstances to pursue that one practiceuntil through it you attain the final result. Otherpeople find that they are naturally attracted tocombining the practices of different deities.They might practice two or three or even morethan that. There is nothing wrong with thateither. By combining the practice of these differ-ent deities, they will achieve the same result as

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Other people findthat they arenaturallyattracted tocombining thepractices ofdifferentdieties. . . . Theywill achieve thesame result asthe other persondoes with one

the other person does with one.

Question: Could I ask a follow up question,Rinpoche? It occurred to me in what you saidabout purifying relationships with others bypaying homage and making offerings that thathas to do with sacred outlook, the way one looksat other beings. It is something I find personallydifficult to do when seeing thesuffering that we inflict upon eachother sometimes in this life. It ishard to maintain a sacred outlooktowards others in that way. Isthere a key to that in some sense?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Sacredoutlook is something you cultivatein order to remove your ownconfusion. It is not really amethod for helping others di-rectly. In any case, whateverarises in your ordinary deludedperception is equally deludedperception. Negative situationsare not more difficult to purifythan others are. Normally, what-ever you experience is a deludedprojection, and has to be acknowl-edged as such and transcended ortransformed with the application of sacredoutlook. This is no more or less true of any onetype of deluded perception than any other.

Question: I haven’t had much exposure todharmapalas, and I would like to understandmore. You said that basically they help us withour activities and that is very intriguing, but itwasn’t enough to really give me a clear sense.Could you say more or refer me to another textin which I could find out more about this?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Dharmapalas are what wewould call great beings who sometimes manifestas humans and sometimes, especially when werefer to them as dharmapalas or dharma protec-tors, manifest as nonhuman. In their manifesta-tion as nonhuman, which is a kind of a demon-

stration of their wisdom or manifestation inexternal form of their wisdom, they are in aposition to actively assist us. So if you ask fortheir assistance, for their help in the removal ofimpediments to your practice and in similarareas, then they can actually provide some helpor assistance. However, for this process to occurthere has to be some kind of a connection made

between you and thedharmapalas. Principally thisconnection is made by your in-volvement with dharma itself.Through practicing dharma youbecome in some sense their re-sponsibility and then they will beresponsive to your requests forassistance.

Question: Are they what we calldevas?

Thrangu Rinpoche: The termsdeva and devi are just the San-skrit for male deity and femaledeity, or god and goddess. Theyare used to refer to two types ofthings. The one type of thing is abeing, a mundane being called adeva or devi. They can be gods of

the desire realm, gods of the form realm, or godsof the formless realm. They are mundane,samsaric beings. The other type of being that isreferred to as “lha” or deva or devi or deity issupermundane, beyond the world. These arebeings who have such wisdom and especiallysuch stable bodhicitta—commitment to thewelfare of others and to the benefiting of theteachings—that they are entirely unlike a mun-dane being. Dharmapalas can be thought of asbeings who are completely and utterly commit-ted to the welfare of others and, therefore, arevery active in accomplishing their welfare.

You could say that dharmapalas are includedwithin the class of phenomena that we could calldevas or devis, just as some awakened peopleare included within the class of what we couldcall humans. But not all humans are awakened

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and not all devas or devis are dharmapalas.There are all different sorts of people. Somepeople are wonderful, some people are horrific,and there is everything in between. It is thesame way with devas and devis. There are won-derful devas and devis, horrific devas and devis,and everything in between. Dharmapalas are akind of wonderful deva or devi.

Question: I keep thinkingabout science and DNA andhow we are working with andaltering things, such as clon-ing. In a clone, would theclone be the same being sincethe clone has the same DNA?

Thrangu Rinpoche: In thecase of cloning, the clonewould be a different being.The clone would not be thesame sentient being. You donot have to go as far as clon-ing. It is really the sameprocess of what happenswhen someone is conceived as a human being.The substances come from their parents but thechild is a different being from the parents. In thesame way, if you clone somebody, then the sub-stance would come from one body but that doesnot mean that the person that develops as theclone is the same person. It is a different person.

Translator: Rinpoche also gave the example of

what is considered to be the emergence of in-sects from trees, in which an insect, before it isan insect, starts out as part of a tree and actuallybecomes an insect. I am not sure what he isreferring to. It is like a branch of the tree thatbreaks off, gets up, and walks away.

Question: When the buddha is visualized andreappears from the drop, is thebuddha an adult or a child or aninfant?

Thrangu Rinpoche: In thegeneration stage, even though itcorresponds to the differentstages of life, you do not visualizethe deity first as a little babydeity and then as a child deity, anadolescent deity, and finally amature deity. You only take it sofar. You do not take it that far.You’re trying to purify all of thoseappearances. In order to do that,there has to be some degree ofcorrespondence, but not to that

degree.

Question: Now they are capable of fertilizingeggs and keeping them in frozen state for a longtime. I was wondering what becomes of themental consciousness in that state?

Thrangu Rinpoche: I do not know. You’d haveto ask the scientists who are doing that.

There are all differ-ent sorts of people.Some people arewonderful, somepeople are horrific,and there is every-thing in between. Itis the same waywith devas anddevis

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Creation and Completion

The Eight Consciousnesses as Deluded AspectsOf Mind and as Buddha Nature Itself

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary onCreation and Completion.

Our most common practice is tranquillity meditation or shamatha. As iswell known, the need for shamatha practice is based on the fact that ourminds are normally quite agitated by thoughts. We practice shamatha in

order to generate a state of mental stability. While the technique of shamatha andthe technique of the generation stage are distinct—in that in the one your mind isresting on something very simple and neutral as an object, and in the other yourmind is immersed in the elaborate visualization of the form of the deity—thefunction of these two techniques is the same. In the practice of shamatha, youcultivate a state of attention which transcends the two defects of excessive ten-sion and excessive relaxation, and you do the same thing in the practice of thegeneration stage. In the visualization of the form of the deity, or the visualizationof the syllables of the mantra, and so forth, you cultivate the same type of atten-tion as is cultivated in shamatha practice. In the generation stage, if your mind istoo tight, too tense, then the natural clarity of the visualization will be dimin-

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The relationshipbetween thegeneration andcompletionstages in thevajrayana is verysimilar to therelationshipbetweenshamatha andvipashyana in thesutrayana

ished; and if your mind is too relaxed, you willthen become distracted from the visualization.So while the techniques are distinct, the functionof shamatha and the function of the generationstage are fundamentally the same.

However, the generation stage does have acharacteristic or feature which is not overtlypresent in shamatha practice.Through the practice of the gen-eration stage, you not only gener-ate the ability to rest the mind atwill, but, because of the techniqueof the generation stage, you alsobring out the mind’s innate clarityor capacity for lucidity. This isespecially brought out in thegeneration stage, not only by thetechnique or visualization itself,which obviously uses and aug-ments the mind’s clarity, but alsoby the constant variation in thevisualization. In generation-stagepractice you move from one thingto another. For example, at onepoint you visualize the invitationof the jnanasattvas, and at an-other point you visualize theradiating out and gathering in of light rays, andso on. This change of focus or object in the visual-ization actually produces new samadhis or newmeditative absorptions at each step. Theseenhance the development of mental clarity andthe stability of samadhi in general. So the gen-eration stage not only is a technique which cangenerate a state of shamatha, but it also assistsin the development of mental clarity. For thatand other reasons it is absolutely necessary topractice the generation stage.

However, the generation stage is neverpracticed by itself or in isolation. It always hasto be combined with and succeeded by the prac-tice of the completion stage. The relationshipbetween the generation and completion stages inthe vajrayana is very similar to the relationshipbetween shamatha and vipashyana in thesutrayana. In fact, we would have to say that thecompletion stage in vajrayana is in some respect

identical to the vipashyana that is taught in thesutrayana. “In some respect” means that thetechniques can be quite different. The techniquesof the completion stage are not necessarilyidentical with the techniques of vipashyana, butthe function of the completion stage and thefunction of vipashyana are the same. Therefore,

we can consider the completionstage to be a variety ofvipashyana or insight meditation.In that context what we mean byvipashyana and what we mean bythe completion stage is medita-tion on the nature of one’s mind.When we use this term to refer tothe completion stage we aretalking about that style of medita-tion that is characteristic of thetradition of uncommon instruc-tion.

To make this clear, there aretwo types of vipashyana practice.One takes inferential valid cogni-tion as the path and the othertakes direct valid cognition as thepath. Generally speaking, charac-teristic of the sutras is the prac-

tice of taking inferential valid cognition as one’stechnique. This consists of thinking about empti-ness and using logical reasoning to determinethe emptiness of all things. Starting with the factthat all relative truths are interdependent, onereasons the validity of emptiness. In that type ofpractice, emptiness is not an object of directexperience. One examines things, and graduallythrough one’s examination one comes to a convic-tion that everything is empty. One then culti-vates and stabilizes that conviction until gradu-ally—although after a very long time—it be-comes a clear and definite recognition of empti-ness. Sometimes this practice of taking inferen-tial valid cognition as the path is also called“analytic meditation.” Analytic mediation is verystable and helpful and very good, but it is notvery quick. It takes a very long time. Therefore,in vajrayana practice one does not do analyticmeditation. One emphasizes the practice of

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direct valid cognition.If one takes direct valid cognition as the

path, one does not emphasize thinking about thenature of external things. Fromthe point of view of vajrayanameditation, it is okay if externalthings are empty and it is okay ifthey are not. We do not particu-larly worry about it because thesource of all of our experience—all of our happiness and suffer-ing—that which we use in prac-tice and that which experiencesall pleasant and unpleasantthings, is our mind. Therefore, invajrayana practice we are con-cerned principally with the minditself. In fact, not only is it moreimportant to ascertain the natureof the mind, but it is also easier,because, while external thingsare not that easy to realize asempty, the mind, just as it is, is anobvious embodiment or demonstration ofdharmata, an obvious embodiment of emptiness.What this means is that, while you cannot in thebeginning directly see the emptiness of externalthings, you can from the beginning directly seethe emptiness of your own mind. When you takethe path of direct valid cognition as a practice,the view, the emptiness of mind, is not deter-mined through some kind of analysis or logicalreasoning but by looking directly at your ownmind. This is the characteristic approach of allvajrayana meditation. Therefore, it is said that ifyou know the nature of your mind, this alonewill accomplish your aim and practice. As long asyou do not, no other practice and no otherknowledge will be of any significant help. Themany renowned traditions of this type of medita-tion, such as mahamudra, the great perfection,and the great middle way, and other termspertinent to these traditions, such as simplicity,freedom from elaboration, and so on, all refer tothe practice or cultivation of meditation on thisnature. The meditation on the nature of mind isessential.

In this context and up to this point, the textmakes no distinction between what we could callpure mind or the pure aspect of mind and the

impure aspect of mind. It ispointed out at this point thatthere are some individuals who,because of their great or intensedevotion, have a recognition orrealization of the mind’s naturethat occurs spontaneously, thatarises from within. Such a person,once they have attained thatrecognition, has no need to worryabout learning the differencebetween the pure aspect of mindand the impure aspect of mind,how they work, how they manifest,and so on. Since they have alreadyrealized the point which under-standing those things is supposedto lead to, they have no need to goback and learn those things.However, for most people it is

difficult to generate a realization spontaneouslythrough devotion alone. Most practitioners havethe need to learn at least a little bit about howmind works. If you do not, then there is a dangerthat your meditation will not be a recognition ofthe nature of mind, but will consist simply ofimmersing yourself in some kind of blank neu-trality or mental abstraction. While that is notparticularly harmful, it is also not particularlyhelpful and is somewhat of a shame, a waste oftime. Therefore, the text next explains a littlebit about how mind works.

What we could call the impure or deludedaspect of mind is referred to as “con-

sciousness.” Generally speaking, consciousnessis enumerated as being of eight classes orgroups. Before going into the details of theconsciousness, it is necessary to understand thebasic view of cognition that is characteristic ofbuddhadharma. The term cognition in Sanskritis “jnana.” Jnana just means cognition, the capac-ity to cognize, an awareness. Literally speaking,in Tibetan one would translate “jnana” as

If you know thenature of yourmind, this alonewill accomplishyour aim andpractice. As longas you do not,no other practiceand no otherknowledge willbe of anysignificant help

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“shepa,” or “knowing.” However it is interestingto observe that when the teachings were trans-lated into Tibetan, “jnana” was usually trans-lated not as “shepa,” but as “yeshe.” “Ye” meansprimordial. The prefix “ye” was added by theTibetan translators to point out that cognition,that mere clarity, cognitive clarity itself, in andof itself, has been there from the very beginning.Therefore they translated “cognition” as “pri-mordial cognition.” But the term “jnana” in itselfdoes not have this word “primor-dial,” so it refers simply to cogni-tion.

The term for “consciousness,”which is a specific type of cogni-tion, is “vijnana.” It is the term for“cognition,” “jnana,” with theprefix “vi,” which means completeor fully developed. This is a morespecific term than cognition, andalthough it may sound like apositive thing to say “fully devel-oped cognition,” in this context itis actually somewhat pejorative,because it refers to cognition that has becomedeveloped in the sense of becoming coarsened.This type of cognition, full cognition, or con-sciousness is what is divided into eight groups oreight classes. All of these eight classes, groups,or types of consciousnesses are consideredmanifestations of the mind’s impurity. They areeight types of consciousnesses that arise when amind does not recognize its own nature. Thebasic idea of the development of consciousness isthat, when a mind does not recognize its ownnature, its inherent lucidity, which is just a merecognition, it runs wild. And running wild, itbecomes coarse or develops into deluded cogni-tion or consciousness, which is characteristic ofsamsara. Nevertheless, in the midst of all of thisconfusion, the nature of these consciousnesses,the nature of this deluded mind, is unchanged.This unchanging nature of the mind is called“the pure all-basis,” as opposed to the “all-basisconsciousness,” which is one of the eightconsciousnesses. That pure all-basis is merecognition, fundamental jnana itself. Therefore,

when you wish to make a distinction betweenthe mind in its impure manifestations and thenature of the mind, mind itself, then mind [im-pure] will be called “sem,” and the mind itself,that mere cognition itself, will be called “semnyi,” mind in itself.

With regard to the eight consciousnesses, thefirst five are called the “consciousnesses of thefive gates.” The gates are the five senses. Theyare called gates because they seem to be the

gates through which your mindencounters that which is outsideyour body. So they are like gatesthrough which your mind canproject itself or expand itselfbeyond the body. The first of thefive gates is the eyes. The eyesare the organic basis for the eyeconsciousness. The eyes encoun-ter as their object visible form,color, and shape. When the eyesencounter such an object, what isgenerated is called the “eye orvisual consciousness.” That is the

first of the eight consciousnesses. The other fourare similar to that. The second consciousness isconnected with the ears. When the ears encoun-ter their object, which are sounds of all types,what is generated is called the “ear conscious-ness” or “auditory consciousness.” The third isconnected with the nose. When the nose encoun-ters its object, which are smells of all types,what is generated is called the “nose or olfactoryconsciousness.” The fourth is the tongue. Whenthe tongue encounters its object, tastes of alltypes, such as sweet and sour, bitter and so on,what is generated is called the “tongue or tasteconsciousness.” The fifth one is the whole bodyas an organ of tactile sensation. When the wholebody encounters its object, tactile sensation,what is generated is called the “body or tactileconsciousness.” These five consciousnessesoperating through the five senses or five gatesexperience their objects directly. The eye con-sciousness actually sees shapes and colors, theear consciousness actually detects or experi-ences sounds, the olfactory consciousness actu-

All of these eighttypes ofconsciousnessare consideredmanifestations ofthe mind’simpurity

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The sixthconsciousnessdoes not directlyexperiencethings. Itgenerates agenerality orabstractionon the basis ofthe things thatare experiencedby the five senseconsciousnesses

ally smells, and so on. It is direct experience.Therefore, these consciousnesses arenonconceptual. These consciousnesses them-selves do not generate any thought about thecharacteristics of what they experience. The fivesense consciousnesses experience externalobjects directly and do so in a way that isnonconceptual. “Nonconceptual” means that theydo not have any thought about the characteris-tics of what they experience. They do not con-ceptually recognize the things that they perceiveor experience.

That which thinks about what is experiencedby the five senses, that which conceptuallyrecognizes them as such and such,that which conceives of them asgood and bad, in short, that whichthinks in any way whatsoever, isthe sixth consciousness, the men-tal consciousness. The mentalconsciousness does not work withor appear on the basis of a specificsense organ like the other five. Itinhabits the body in a general wayand it is that which thinks. Itsfunction is thinking. It is normallyenumerated as the sixth con-sciousness when you go throughthem one by one. In general, youstart with the eye consciousness,you go through the five senses,and the mental consciousness iscalled the sixth. The fundamentaldistinction between it and theothers is that the five senseconsciousnesses, since they engage only in thedirect experience of their objects, can onlyexperience the present. For example, the eyeconsciousness only sees what is there now. Itdoes not see what was there in the past. It doesnot see what will be there in the future. This isalso true of the ear consciousness, and so on. Thefive sense consciousnesses are not capable ofthinking about their objects. Not only can theynot think about the past or the future, they donot even conceptualize or think about thepresent.

The sixth consciousness on the other handcan and does think about things. The sixthconsciousness thinks of the past, both the dis-tant and recent past. It thinks about the present,and it thinks about the future, both the proxi-mate and distant future. But while it is capableof thinking, it is not capable of directly experi-encing things the way that the senseconsciousnesses do. The sixth consciousnessdoes not directly experience things. It generatesa generality or abstraction on the basis of thethings that are experienced by the five senseconsciousnesses. This means that when the fivesense consciousnesses experience something, it

becomes an object of thought forthe sixth consciousness, not inthe form of what is actuallyexperienced but in the form of aconceptual generality or gener-alization or abstraction that iscreated by the sixth conscious-ness as a duplicate or replica ofwhat was experienced by thatparticular sense consciousness.For example, when I look at theglass that is on the table in frontof me, my eyes directly see thatglass, but my sixth consciousness,my mental consciousness doesnot directly see it. It generates agenerality or abstraction basedupon what my eyes have seen,that it recognizes, that it thinksabout, thinks of as good or bad, orhaving such and such shape and

so on.Those six consciousnesses are relatively easy

to detect or observe because they are vivid intheir manifestation or function. The other twoconsciousnesses are less easy to observe. For onething the six consciousnesses start and stop intheir operation. They are generated by certainconditions and when those conditions are nolonger present they temporarily stop function-ing. Therefore the six consciousnesses are called“inconstant” consciousnesses. They are notconstantly there. They are generated as they

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The seventhconsciousness iscalled the‘afflictedconsciousness.’This refers to thesubtle or mostbasic level ofmental afflictionor klesha. . . .This is the subtlelevel of fixationon a self that isunfluctuatinglypresent evenwhen one isasleep

arise. The other two consciousnesses are called“constant” consciousnesses. Not only are theyconstant, which means that they are alwaysoperating, but they are also much less observ-able.

The seventh consciousness is called the“afflicted consciousness.” This refers to thesubtle or most basic level of mental affliction orklesha. This does not refer tocoarse kleshas. This refers to theroot of kleshas. Specifically, theafflicted consciousness is themost subtle level of fixation on aself. Again this is not coarsefixation on a self. This is thesubtle level of fixation on a selfthat is unfluctuatingly presenteven when one is asleep. Whensometimes you have a sense ofself and you think “I,” that is notan operation of the seventh con-sciousness. That is the sixthconsciousness thinking. Theseventh consciousness is presentuntil you attain the levels of anarya, or superior, such as the firstbodhisattva level and so on.Although it is not directly observ-able itself, it is the basis for allcoarse fixation on a self and,therefore, for all coarse kleshas.

The eighth consciousness iscalled the “alaya vijnana” or “all-basis consciousness.” It is calledthe all-basis because it is thebasis or ground for the arising ofall other types of consciousness. It is that funda-mental clarity of consciousness or cognitivelucidity of consciousness which has been therefrom the beginning. Being the capacity for con-scious experience, it is the ground for the arisingof eye consciousness, ear consciousness, etc. It is,like the seventh, constantly present, constantlyoperating, and it persists until the attainment offinal awakening or buddhahood.

Along with the eight consciousnesses there issomething else that is often mentioned. This is

called the “immediate mind.” The immediatemind is not a separate consciousness. It is thefunction of the impure mind that links the opera-tions of one consciousness to another. It is thatimpulse or force of habit that causes the sixconsciousnesses to arise from the ground of theall basis and the afflicted consciousness. It isthat which causes the mental consciousness to

arise on the basis of a sense per-ception, and so on. It is an identi-fiable function of the impuremind, but is not in itself a sepa-rate consciousness. Therefore,there are only eight types ofimpure consciousness. It is notconsidered to be a ninth.

In regard to the immediatemind, many texts present it asthat which is generated by thecessation of a previous instant ofconsciousness and which links onetype of consciousness to another.In the particular presentationfound in the Profound InnerMeaning by the Third GyalwaKarmapa, Ranjung Dorje, theimmediate mind is presented asthat which causes the lack ofrecognition of dharmata or lack ofrecognition of the nature ofthings, in which case it would beconsidered an aspect of the sev-enth consciousness. The seventhconsciousness in that way ofunderstanding has an inward-directed aspect to it, which is the

aspect of the seventh consciousness that causesthe other consciousnesses to arise and function.That is the immediate mind.

In certain sutras you will see the use of theterm “receptive consciousness.” Receptive con-sciousness refers to the capacity of the all-basisconsciousness to receive and store impressions.Therefore, it is synonymous with the all-basisconsciousness. In short, all of the functions ormanifestations of the impure or deluded mindare included in the eight consciousnesses.

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In the case ofshamathapractice, thatwhich meditatesis the sixthconsciousness.. . . In the case ofvipashyana,however,meditation isperformed byand involves thesixth, seventh,and eighthconsciousnesses

There are different ways that these eightconsciousnesses can be explained. In this textthe style of explanation follows that of the ThirdGyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, especiallythat of his book, The Profound Inner Meaning,which was written as an explanation of thetheoretical underpinning of the Six Dharmas ofNaropa and as clarification of certain points inthat, called “DistinguishingBetween Consciousness andWisdom.”

What is it that performsmeditation? Well, the first fivesense consciousnesses arenonconceptual, so they neitherrequire nor are capable of medi-tation. From among the two typesof meditation in general, in thecase of shamatha practice, thatwhich mediates is the sixthconsciousness. Shamatha practiceis concerned with the pacificationof thoughts and that which thinksis the sixth consciousness. Theprocess of shamatha consists of amindful relaxation of the think-ing process of the six conscious-ness. In the case of vipashyanahowever, meditation is performedby and involves the sixth, sev-enth, and eighth consciousnesses.

From the point of view ofmeditation, one would have to say that althoughone can distinguish the sixth, seventh, andeighth as distinct in their degrees of manifesta-tion or obvious cognitive clarity, from their ownpoint of view they are internally basically thesame. The practice of vipashyana consists ofkeeping or protecting the sixth, seventh andeighth consciousnesses from delusion and ratherthan running wild in delusion allowing them torest in their natural or basic state. Throughdoing this you come to experience or know thenature of all three, i.e., the mental conscious-ness, the afflicted consciousness, and the all-basis consciousness. For that reason, invipashyana practice the most important thing is

the recognition of the nature of mind or thenature of things. Therefore, the object of medita-tion in vipashyana is the nature of thoseconsciousnesses.

The eight consciousnesses are impure in howthey appear or manifest, since they manifest asdelusion based upon the mind’s projection ofobjects. But in how they are, in their nature,

they are unchanging. The basicnature of the mind, of which theyare the permutations or manifes-tations, is pure in and of itself.Therefore, we find the often re-peated phrase, “the all-basis isvirtuous or good in its nature.”This idea of the fundamentalgoodness of the all-basis refers notto the deluded all-basis conscious-ness but to the all-basis wisdom,which is the pure aspect of what inthe context of delusion, is the all-basis consciousness. This pureaspect has never been lost indelusion, which simply means thatthe nature of the mind has beenmistaken, but that that natureitself has never been changed orcorrupted by the mistake. Whilethe manifestation of your mind asa variety within cognitive clarityseems to be deluded, if you lookfor this delusion you will not findit anywhere. If you look for some

actual substantial presence of this deludedclarity, there is nothing there. Yet you cannot saythat your mind is a dead or static nothingness,because there is the experience and presence ofcognitive clarity. This basic way the mind reallyis—the fact that it is a cognitive lucidity that isfree of any kind of substantial existence—iswhat is called “buddha nature,” and that, ofcourse, is pure. That is what we attempt torealize or fully experience through the practiceof meditation.

The eight consciousnesses are the deludedaspect of mind, yet their nature is buddha na-ture itself. This is the reason why in practice it

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Not experiencingthe mind as it is,we look out oraway from it.Looking awayfrom mind, wegeneratedelusions

is important not to follow confused or deludedprojections but to look at the nature of the mindinstead. If you attend to the delusion of mind,then that delusion will be reinforced; but if youlook at the nature of that delusion, the nature ofthat deluded mind, then you see through it. Bymeans of this, you gradually become free fromthis delusion, leading both to extraordinaryattainment of samadhi and eventually tobuddhahood. In the case of either extraordinarysamadhi or buddhahood, because of the recogni-tion of the mind’s nature, thethoughts and kleshas and so onthat arise have no effect; they donot in any way obscure or pre-vent the recognition of thatnature.

This does not mean that thelucidity that is manifested asdelusion is going to cease, be-cause it is not the case that byseeing the emptiness of mind,the manifestation of mind disap-pears or stops. It has alwaysbeen empty; it is not by seeing itthat it becomes more empty. What is recognizedis that while mind is empty of any substantialexistence, it is a cognitive lucidity. While beinglucid, it is empty, and while being empty, it islucid. That is how it remains.

You might ask, “Since the mind’s nature isalways pure and since it does not change, whythen does the confusion of the eightconsciousnesses arise in the first place?” Theconfusion or delusion of the mind is like mistak-ing a mottled rope to be a snake. From the pointof view of confusion, we would say that at themoment at which you first mistake that rope tobe a snake, confusion starts, and at the momentat which you come to recognize that the mottledrope is merely a mottled rope and not a snake,you are liberated from confusion. From the pointof view of your delusion or your confusion, thereis a period of delusion and there is the possibil-ity of liberation. Nevertheless, as strongly as youmight believe that that mottled rope is a snake,the mottled rope itself has never been turned

into a snake by your delusion about it. It isunchanging. Whether or not you recognize it as arope, whether or not you mistake it to be asnake, that rope has always been a rope. It hasnever become and never will become a snake.

In this image, one would say that the ropewas never a snake at all. In what this imagerepresents, then one would say that although wemistake mind to be the eight consciousnessesand in that way generate the appearance orexperience of these eight consciousnesses and

their delusion, the mind has al-ways been empty. Therefore, thenature of the mind, that emptiness,is what we call buddha nature.Even though we do not experiencethat and instead experience themind as the eight consciousnesses,in fact the mind has always beenthat emptiness or buddha nature.Not experiencing the mind as it is,we look out or away from it. Look-ing away from mind, we generatedelusion.

As for when this began, it isbeginningless. The delusion has always beenthere along with the fundamental nature of themind. To use another image as an example: Themind in itself, the mind as not inherently de-luded cognition, is like a mirror. The nature ofthat mirror is to reflect. It is not the nature ofthat mirror to be obscured. Nevertheless, thismirror, from the very beginning has been cov-ered by some kind of rust or grime, which isthere along with it even though it is not in itselfthe mirror’s fundamental nature or characteris-tic. The grime is like the all-basis consciousness.Because there is a little bit of tarnish, then overtime the tarnish increases or grows and thatbecomes the placement of further habits in theall-basis and the generation of the obscurationsthat are the mental afflictions, which is like theafflictive obscurations developing out of thecognitive obscuration. Nevertheless, the nature,not only of the ground itself but of the all-basisconsciousness is always emptiness. What occursin the absence of recognition, in the absence of

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On the basis ofthe two maincharacteristics ofmind, emptinessand lucidity,there is thedesignation ofself and other,or subject andobject

awareness of the true nature of one’s mind, isthat the emptiness of mind, not being recognizedas what it is, is mistaken to be a self. So theemptiness aspect, or the empty essence of mind,is the basis for designation of the imputed self.But mind is not just empty. It is cognitive lucid-ity that is empty. The cognitive lucidity, in itsintensity, is mistaken to be an object, is mistakento be external to this imputed self. On the basisof the two main characteristics of mind, empti-ness and lucidity, there is thedesignation of self and other, orsubject and object.

The way in which we generatethe presence or assume theexistence of objects on the basis ofthe lucidity of mind is like whathappens to us when we go tosleep. When you go to sleep thereis a state which in English I thinkis called “hypnogogic.” Before youstart to dream, the images thatwill eventually arise as dreamimages are still thoughts. Duringthe period when they arethoughts, they are simply thingsthat are arising in your mind. Butas you become more and moreasleep, you mistake these thoughts that arearising for actually occurring events. In otherwords, the thoughts themselves become imagesthat are experienced as objects; this is howthoughts become dreams. This is very similar tothe way in which, under the sway of ignorance,we mistake the lucidity or clarity of mind to bean object external to ourselves. On the basis ofthe presence of that dualism, that imputation ofself and other, the six consciousnesses arebrought up or caused to become active throughthe function of the immediate mind.

When in that way the six consciousnessesarise, then there occurs the appearance of thesense organs encountering their objects. As faras the way things appear to function, there isdefinitely the appearance in our experience ofexternal objects which are encountered by thesense organs, producing consciousness or aware-

ness of that object. According to how thingsreally are, in fact what we perceive as externalobjects and what we perceive as the internalfaculties are really aspects of theconsciousnesses themselves. For example, whenyour eyes see form, then what we would nor-mally say is occurring is that there is an externalobject which your eyes are capable of encounter-ing. Through the encounter between the eye andthe object, there is generated a visual conscious-

ness. From the point of view of theway things are, what you perceiveas external form is the objective orlucidity aspect of the visual con-sciousness itself; i.e., the eyeconsciousness itself appears asform. The emptiness aspect of theeye consciousness is what youexperience as, or presume to bethe subject experiencing thatimputed object. The way a con-sciousness actually manifests asits apparent object, is like, forexample, when you dream ofmountains and beings and react tothem with fear and happiness andjoy and boredom and everythingelse. In our normal daytime expe-

rience these things do seem external to us. Wereally think and really believe that this lucidityaspect of the mind really is out there, really isexternal form and so on. We really believe andreally experience it in this way—that the empti-ness aspect of mind really is in here and really isthe experiencer, that which experiences theobject.

The interaction of all of this, the emergenceof the six consciousnesses and, therefore, theappearance of the subjects and objects in thosesix consciousnesses, is all arranged or broughtabout by the immediate mind. Nevertheless, theexperience of the five sense consciousnesses isdirect and nonconceptual. As I explained earlier,it has no connection with past or future. On thebasis of the experience, some sensation is gener-ated. The sensation causes the emergence of thesixth consciousness, which then generates

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conceptuality about the experience. The sensa-tion is labeled as pleasant, unpleasant, good,bad, and so on, and then there is a recognition ofthe characteristics of the object. That is howconfusion happens.

Question: In the root text, it states that “theinstantaneous mind moves the six consciousnessgroups and causes the meeting of object andorgan,” and then further down it talks aboutmistaking the luminous aspect for form and theempty aspect for the organ. What is the meaningof organ?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It means the sense organsthemselves. The projection of the existence ofsense organs is based upon the mistaken appre-hension of the emptiness aspect of consciousnessas a subject and, therefore, as a sense organ. Asfar as how things appear, we dohave sense organs. For example,the eye is said to be like a flaxflower in the structure of the eye,the optic nerve, I think it iscalled. Then the ears are like apattern in birch bark, and so on.There is an image for each one ofthe sense organs. This is how theyappear. We have functioningsenses. So the organs in that caseare the organic basis for senseperception. But as far as howthings are, the development andexperience of sense organs, likethe development and experienceof sense objects, is a projectionbased upon the mistaken apprehension of theemptiness of consciousness as a self.

Question: I was wondering if you could go overthe point about mistaking luminosity for anexternal object. That is thinking that phenomenaare real? That is not denying, for example, thatthere is a tree outside, if there is really a treeoutside?

Thrangu Rinpoche: There appears to be a tree,

but the reason there appears to be a tree is thatwe have a strong habit of the appearance oftrees. Therefore we experience the appearanceof trees. For example, in a dream there alsoappears to be a tree. The tree in a dream mightbe just as vivid as a tree we experience during awaking state, but we know that there is no treein the dream. It is possible that the tree weexperience in the waking state might be a projec-tion also, because we experience what it is ourhabit to experience.

Question: Is it true that the person who knowsdream yoga can approach the real world in thesame way as one would in a dream? For instance,could one make the tree disappear?

Thrangu Rinpoche: I have no experience ofthis, but they say so. [laughter]

Question: How is it that we allsee the tree in the same place?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Commonexperience is the experience bydifferent individuals of a similarthing which they can agree uponas a shared experience. It is likehaving a vase in the middle of atable surrounded by one hundredmirrors. Each of those mirrors isreflecting the same vase but theimage contained in each mirror isparticular or individual to thatmirror. In the same way, eventhough different people may see

the same thing, what I experience in my mind isparticular to my mind, as it is my experience,and what you experience in your mind is particu-lar to your mind, as it is your experience.

Question: Rinpoche, what is the relationship ofcompassion to the eight consciousnesses? Canthe function of immediate mind be used to liber-ate oneself?

Thrangu Rinpoche: With regard to compassion,

There appears tobe a tree, but thereason thereappears to be atree is that wehave a stronghabit of theappearanceof trees

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manifest compassion arises in the sixth con-sciousness. The habit of compassion resides inthe eighth consciousness. In a sense, one couldsay that even the seventh consciousness hassome kind of compassion present within it. Thefive sense consciousnesses are nonconceptualand have no connection to com-passion particularly. With regardto the role of the immediate mindin the path, it cannot be used forthe accumulation of wisdombecause the accumulation ofwisdom is done through themeditative state, in which all ofthe processes of delusion are, atleast temporarily, shut down,revealing one’s innate wisdom. Sothe manner of the accumulation ofwisdom, the manner of liberationitself, is the antithesis of thelinking process that is the imme-diate mind.

On the other hand, the otheraspect of the path, the accumula-tion of merit, does make use of the immediatemind. The immediate mind is used in the accu-mulation of positive karma, as in the accumula-tion of merit, where one makes offerings tobuddhas and bodhisattvas, just as it is used inthe accumulation of negative karma. The reasonwhy the immediate mind has its place in themerit aspect of the path but not in the wisdomaspect is that the merit aspect is concerned withthe appearances of relative truth, not with therealities of absolute truth. Since the immediatemind is part of the workings of relative truth, itcan still be used in that context.

Question: Is it possible to have direct experi-ence through all five of the senses in the sameinstant?

Thrangu Rinpoche: The five senseconsciousnesses, when they are functioning, areall functioning simultaneously. What is notfunctioning simultaneously is the apprehensionof the experience of the sense consciousnesses

by the sixth consciousness, which tends to appre-hend them only one at a time.

Question: I have a question about the instanta-neous mind or the immediate mind. Is its pres-ence the cause for the experiences of the five

sense consciousnesses? Is theinstantaneous mind alwayspresent?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Yes, becausein the case of sensory experience,what the immediate mind does isproduce the experiences, bringingthem out of the all-basis like amessenger and then also return-ing the further habit produced bythat reoccurrence of experienceback into the all-basis. It is likewhen you go to the bank. Theperson who brings out or puts inyour money for you is like theimmediate mind.

Question: Also, in the root text the statement,“When the afflictive mind functions with theinstantaneous mind, directed inwards, it leaveshabitual patterns in the foundation,” seems torefute the earlier statement when it was saidthat just the arising of anger does not create animprint.

Thrangu Rinpoche: When you simply have athought of a klesha, then it does not place a habitin the all-basis. The immediate mind does kindof grab it and stick it into the all-basis, but it isnot a karmic habit. There are several types ofhabit. One type, karmic habit, is the imprint ofan action; this will manifest as external experi-ence. From among the various results of anaction, this is a result of complete maturation.Klesha habit itself becomes kind of an obscura-tion, but it does not manifest as karma.

Question: Does that just make it easier foranger to arise again?

Accumulation ofwisdom is donethrough themeditative state,in which all ofthe processes ofdelusion are, atleast temporarily,shut down,revealing one’sinnate wisdom

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In the bardo youhave a mentalbody, and thatmental body hasits own mentalforms of thefive senseconsciousnessesand the sixthmentalconsciousnessas well

Thrangu Rinpoche: When the thought of angerarises and is recognized, then the type of habitthat it places is very subtle and does not evenparticularly promote further arising of thoughtsof anger and certainly does not promote thearising of spite, which normally, unrecognized,anger would produce. When the term “thethought is liberated” is used, it basically meansthat that particular thought is not leading tofurther thoughts, not that it doesnot place any habit whatsoever.

Question: Going back to thediscussion about the tree.Rinpoche, if we leave aside lan-guage and habit and look at thingswithout our known concepts orour known way of looking atthings, just seeing it for what it is,it does not have to be a tree. Isthat what happens? Or are yousaying that all things are imag-ined?

Thrangu Rinpoche: There aretwo ways to understand this. Itdepends on whether you areemphasizing the way things are orthe way things appear. Accordingto the way things appear, wewould say that the imputation of the tree is aprojection of your mind and that the basis for theimputation is not your mind, it is out there.According to how things appear that distinctionwould be made. But viewing it from the point ofhow things really are, we would say they areboth your mind.

Question: Of the eight different kinds of con-sciousness, I am wondering if the seventh and

the eighth are those which move on into thebardo?

Thrangu Rinpoche: No, all of them do. In thebardo you have a mental body, and that mentalbody has its own mental forms of the five senseconsciousnesses and the sixth mental conscious-ness as well. In the bardo you still sometimes seethe things from your previous life, the places and

people and so on, all kinds ofdifferent stuff.

To be more precise, there areseveral stages to the interval orthe bardo. First, what happens asyou die is that there is a dissolu-tion process where the appear-ances of this life dissolve andthen temporarily cease. Reallythere are two dissolutions: Thereis the physical dissolution, andthere is a mental dissolution. Atthe end of these, at the end of thecoarse and subtle dissolutions,immediately after death, there isthe appearance of dharmata, thedirect experience of the nature ofthings. However, if the person hasnot cultivated a recognition ofdharmata in the preceding life,then they will not recognize it.

The mere appearance of it will not produceliberation. Nevertheless, in that phase of thebardo at which the dissolution process is com-plete and the appearance of the dharmata oc-curs, the six consciousnesses temporarily cease,and only the seventh and the eighth are stillfunctioning. However, after that when they re-arise from that bardo of dharmata into a mentalbody, then all eight are back again.

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Creation and Completion

How to Work With the EmergenceOf Confusion in Practice

Continuing the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary onCreation and Completion.

Next the text deals with how to work with the emergence of confusion in practice. Practitioners—people practicing shamatha,vipashyana, the generation stage, and the completion stage—when

the immediate mind first arises from the all-basis consciousness, attempt torest in the practice, to rest in the samadhi that they have cultivated inpractice. If they do so, then the progressive development or emergence of

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confusion or delusion which begins with thearising of the immediate mind will not go anyfurther than the immediate mind’s arising itself.Essentially what you attempt to do here is restin an awareness of buddha nature, which meansto rest in the recognition of the empty natureand manifest lucidity of your mind. In the begin-ning, this has to be done mostly as an aspiration.Then as one gains experience, what are calledthe “example wisdom” and the “actual wisdom”will arise. The wisdom of example is not a full ordirect recognition of buddha nature; it is arecognition of something that is similar to or islike buddha nature. When you are resting in abasic recognition of the emptiness-lucidity ofyour mind, that is the example wisdom. Throughcultivating that, eventually you come to a deci-sive, direct insight into buddha nature; this isthe actual wisdom. In any case, through restingin the meditative state when the immediatemind arises from the all-basis consciousness, it ispossible for there to be some liberation from theprocess of delusion, simply because it will not goon and will not degenerate into coarse or fullymanifest delusion.

For this to occur there has to be the mainte-nance of mindfulness and alertness. But at thesame time, thoughts are the natural display ofthe mind, so this does not mean that thoughtswill cease, that thoughts of attachment, aversionand bewilderment will not continue to arise.They will continue to arise, but if there is suffi-cient mindfulness and alertness, then upon theirarising, their nature will be recognized, and sothey will not be a cause for the accumulation ofkarma. The initial thought, being liberatedthrough recognition, will not produce a secondthought and a third thought and so on. In otherwords, thoughts continue to arise as the display,but they do not become the cause of the accumu-lation of further habits. The image given for thisstate of mind is that of a vase that has a hole inthe bottom. Although you can still pour waterinto the vase you will never be able to fill it.Everything that is poured in just flows rightback out again. In the same way, when there isthe maintenance of this kind of mindfulness and

alertness, although thoughts come into the mind,they go right back out of it. If you can practice inthis way, then gradually experience and realiza-tion will occur. The text goes into some detailabout all of this but the essential point is what Ihave explained.

Next the text talks about how actually topractice. First of all, the essence of the comple-tion stage practice is to rest in that naturallucidity or awareness which is the mind’s charac-teristic. If you rest in that without fabrication,even though external appearances will stillappear to you, they will appear as appearancesthat are without any substantiality, as appear-ance that is empty. This is really the fundamen-tal or essential practice of the completion stageaccording to the vajrayana.

Within vajrayana there are many levels.There are, broadly speaking, four classes orlevels of tantra in the Sarma tradition. Withinthe highest level there are three subdivisions,which are sometimes called the father tantra ofmethod, the mother tantra of knowledge, and thenondual tantra of the essential meaning. It saysin this text that from the father tantra on up-wards and from the mahayoga on upwards—i.e.,including the three higher tantras among the sixlevels or divisions in the Nyingma tradition—there is a recognition characterizing the view ofthose vehicles that everything that appears,even samsaric appearances, is the natural dis-play of the mind and, therefore, partakes of itsessential purity. It is fundamentally this viewthat distinguishes what are called the highertantras from the lower.*

How do you actually meditate in this way? I

*Editor’s note: The lineages of the New Translation school(Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug) enumerate four divisions of tantraor four tantric yanas: kriya yoga tantra, upa yoga tantra, yogatantra, and anutarayoga tantra, the latter of which in turn isdivided into father tantra, mother tantra, and nondual tantra.The Old Translation school (the Nyingma) enumerates sixtantric yanas, which in turn are divided into three lower orouter tantras—kriya, upa, and yoga tantras—and three higheror inner tantras—maha yoga tantra, anu yoga tantra, and atiyoga tantra. Here, though the practices and the styles ofpractice are different, Rinpoche is indicating the equation offather tantra with maha yoga, the mother tantra with anuyoga, and the nondual tantra with ati yoga.

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The undercurrentis in fact agreater problemfor meditationthan eithertorpor orexcitement andcannot beallowed to justcontinue onits own

have explained how the eight consciousnessesfunction. The arising of thoughts within themind is continuous and inexhaustible because ofthis functioning. Thoughts of past, present, andfuture continually arise in your mind like waveson the surface of a body of water. While mind initself has no substance or substantiality whatso-ever, it manifests as inexhaustibleappearances, especially as theinexhaustible appearance oremergence of thoughts. The prac-tice consists simply of not follow-ing thoughts but of resting yourmind in whatever the technique is,whether it is shamatha orvipashyana, the generation stagevisualization, or the completionstage itself. As for how you restyour mind, it needs to be in a waythat is appropriate to your specificsituation at that time, and thisconcerns the issue of effort—howmuch effort, how much relaxation.

Sometimes you will find thatyou have a problem with fatigue inmeditation. Typically, if fatigue is a problem, youwill find that at the beginning of a meditationsession the practice will go well and by the endit will be difficult. That indicates that your mindis too tight and you are becoming exhausted byit. The solution in that case is to relax. At othertimes you will find that the meditation sessionwill begin badly but will go well towards theend. In that case it indicates lack of effort. You

are not trying hard enough. The solution is to trya little bit harder, to put more effort into it.* Atother times you’ll find that it is fine throughoutthe session. It is pretty even. In this case noadjustments should be made. The key to beingable to do this properly is the application ofmindfulness. Mindfulness is essentially the

faculty of mind which we allpossess that keeps us from forget-ting what we are doing. When youlack mindfulness, you becomedistracted and you forget theobject of meditation. When youapply mindfulness, this forgetful-ness does not occur. Mindfulnessin general is simply the faculty ofmemory, which is a normal men-tal arising. However, in this caseit is applied in a very specific andconscious way. By applying thefaculty of memory as mindfulness,one’s meditation remains freefrom error or deviation. Themanner of application is to estab-lish a gentle watchful mindful-

ness. A mindfulness that is gentle and watchfulmeans an alert mindfulness that is just enough.In other words, there is just enough intentionaleffort of mindfulness so that you do not becomedistracted. If you are able to maintain that levelof mindfulness, then over time experience willoccur.

However, a subtle problem can arise called“the dregs of mind” or the “dregs of awareness.”This is the presence of subtle thoughts runningthrough your mind even though your mind isbasically at rest and there are no fully consciousthoughts present. These subtle thoughts are alsocalled the “undercurrent,” because they are analmost undetected current of thought that runsbarely conscious. The undercurrent is in fact agreater problem for meditation than eithertorpor or excitement and cannot be allowed tojust continue on its own. The solution to theproblem of the undercurrent is to tighten upyour mind a little bit, to bring out or enhance thelucidity of your mind, to strengthen or toughen

*Editor’s note: One’s meditation goes “badly” at firstbecause one’s mindfulness is lazy, so that rather than beingon the spot with whatever technique one is employing as theimmediate mind produces or is about to produce the ever-changing display of confusion that arises in the mind, oneallows oneself to become distracted, to drift off and get lost inthought. With slightly tighter mindfulness, one can “inter-cept” that tendency to distraction, thereby producing “good”meditation evenly throughout the session. This is not to implythat, if one’s mind at the beginning of the session is terriblyconflicted and turbulent and that by the end of the session theturbulence and conflict have subsided and/or their true naturehas been seen, that this is erroneous meditation. It is merelyto suggest that with tighter mindfulness the turbulence andconflict would subside or be seen through much earlier in themeditation session, and in the best case, from the very onsetof the session.

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Essentially thetough edge orsharp edge ofawareness is thesame thing aswhat is meant byeffort inmeditation

the edge of your awareness.As important as being undistracted is, it is

very difficult to develop a state of meditation inwhich for long periods of time you are neverdistracted. The reason why this is difficult isthat we are untrained. We are unpracticed inmeditation. It is not particularly that we aredoing it wrong, it is that we need to practice agreat deal in order to develop this level of free-dom from distraction. So if youfind that you still become dis-tracted, do not be discouraged,you need to continue.

Typically your practice ofmeditation begins with shamatha;this is true particularly in theKagyu tradition of mahamudra.We find in all texts of mahamudrainstruction that one is to beginwith establishing a stability ortranquillity of mind as a basis forthe emergence of the recognitionof the mind’s nature. However, inthe uncommon tradition of the great perfec-tion—which means not all of the great perfectionbut within it, the uncommon aspect or traditionof it—there is a slightly different approach,wherein, instead of taking mind as the path, onetakes awareness as the path. If one takes aware-ness as path, if at the beginning one succeeds incorrectly identifying or recognizing rigpa orawareness, then it is not, strictly speaking,necessary to begin with the practice ofshamatha, because the recognition itself hasalready been gained. One can simply rest in thatand cultivate that. However, if there is no deci-sive and correct recognition of awareness, thereis no way to go on with a path that takes aware-ness as a path. So, for most practitioners it isessential to begin with shamatha as is done inthe mahamudra tradition so that there is a basisof tranquillity in the mind facilitating the emer-gence of that recognition.

The text advises at this point that when youare alone, when you are practicing in solitude,you should relax the mind and allow it to natu-rally come to rest in its own nature. When you

are in company, when you are around others,which is a time at which you would tend more tobecome distracted, you should put more effortinto it and strengthen the lucidity and alertnessof your mindfulness. It is not really the case thatmindfulness and alertness are actual things thatare present within the mind; they are morefaculties or processes of mind. Nevertheless,although they are faculties or processes of the

mind, they do affect very muchthe state of the mind in medita-tion.

Question: Rinpoche, you men-tioned tightening up our mindsand toughening the edge of ourawareness. Could you please saymore to us about how we can dothat?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Essentiallythe tough edge or sharp edge ofawareness is the same thing as

what is meant by effort in meditation. Some-times when we meditate, we practice it andexperience it as conscious relaxation of the mindinto the meditative state. At other times medita-tion involves a conscious and hard-headed re-fusal not to become distracted, as in the attitude,“I must not become distracted.” At differenttimes one should emphasize one or the other ofthese. In the situation where one needs to em-phasize more effort, then one emphasizes a kindof a sharpness of one’s awareness, which isproduced by this hard-headed intention, which isthe refusal to space out.

Question: Is there any reason why one gatewould provide the undercurrent, the dregs ofmind? My undercurrent is music. There is al-ways music going on in my mind, and I do noteven know it. It is very strange to be meditatingfor several minutes and then discover you arelistening to “ninety-nine bottles of beer on thewall.”

Thrangu Rinpoche: It is probably happening

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You do notaccumulatekarma justthrough onethought of anger.You accumulatekarma whenanger ripens andfesters intospitefulness

either because of a strong, deeply placed habit orbecause you like music a lot. The solution ineither case is to generate the strong resolution,“I am meditating now, not listening to music. Irefuse to listen to this.” In that way you resolveto cut your attachment to it. If you actually donot want it to be there, then you can stop it.

Question: It goes on before I am aware of itsgoing on. The only thing I have found is to main-tain a kind of steady sound in my head as I ammeditating, to tie up that faculty so it does notproduce music.

Thrangu Rinpoche: In that caseit is because you are very at-tached to the experience ofsound. Your mind is habituated toproducing a replica of sound sothat you can remember sound, sothat you can think about it.Therefore, it does it even whenyou have not particularly told itto.

Question: In the root text it says,“It is impossible for thoughts ofattachment and aversion not toarise. However, if you rely onmindful awareness, discursive thoughts cannotaccumulate karma.” Could you explain that?

Thrangu Rinpoche: The idea is that even asyou maintain mindfulness and alertness,thoughts of attachment, aversion, and bewilder-ment will still continue to arise because thehabits that produce their arising have not beencompletely eradicated yet. Nevertheless, if youhave some recognition of your mind’s nature,then when any one of those thoughts arises, youwill experience the mind’s nature in thatthought, because the mind’s nature is also thenature of that thought. The thought is the dis-play of that mind. Therefore, when you experi-ence that, whatever the initial content of thatthought may be, it is liberated. It will not pro-duce a second thought that is connected with it.

In that way the karmic chain of thoughts isbroken. That thought does not accumulatekarma because its nature is recognized. Thephrase, “although it is impossible for thoughts ofattachment and aversion not to arise,” refers tothat time in one’s training, the point at whichone has some recognition of the mind’s naturebut has not yet reached the ultimate state ofliberation. When one reaches the ultimate stateof liberation, then the kleshas are exhausted andwill not arise at all. For a beginner—someonewho has some recognition of the mind’s nature

but is not yet fully liberated—these thoughts will still arise, butthey need not be allowed to accu-mulate karma.

Question: If the thought is anangry thought, what happens?

Thrangu Rinpoche: You do notaccumulate karma just throughone thought of anger. You accumu-late karma when anger ripens andfesters into spitefulness. Forexample, when you just see some-one that bothers you and youexperience a thought of aversion,if you do not carry it any further,

you do not accumulate karma. You accumulatekarma when that thought of aversion leads tothe actual thought, “Boy, I would really like tobeat that person up. I would like to kill them. Iwould like to abuse them. I would like to harmthem in all kinds of ways.” Then you reallyaccumulate karma! [laughter]

Question: The normal or the conventionalmethod of distinguishing sentient beings is bytheir physical basis, the bodies of sentient be-ings. If what we take as a physical object ismerely lucidity and emptiness, what is it thatdistinguishes different sentient beings?

Thrangu Rinpoche: What distinguishes sen-tient beings are their individual minds, whichare not objects of your experience and, therefore,

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It is not soimportant tomake a heroiceffort on a givenday when youare exhausted, toforce yourself topractice, as it isto practicesteadily over along time

are not projections of your mind. The bodies ofsentient beings are things you can see and are,therefore, projections of your mind.

Question: Is there a space that minds exist in?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Basicallywhat happens is that beings whohave performed enough similaractions or actions performed incommon with other beings willcome to experience the world in away that is similar enough that itcan be an agreed upon reality.For example, you and I basicallyare likely to agree upon what wesee in this room because we havegathered the types of karmawhich cause us to have similartypes of physical perceptions.

Question: Sometimes when I ammeditating, how I perceive it isas a major denseness. It does notnecessarily feel like fatigue, and I even feel it onthe top of my head. It is just a denseness. I’llconk out and then I’ll come back. Eventually, byjust persisting, it leaves. Right now there is aresidue of denseness, and I call it a fog, and Iwant to know what is that?

Thrangu Rinpoche: This is really not uncom-mon, which is why it was so easy for me [thetranslator] to ask the question, because it is aone-word explanation. That kind of a feeling ofdenseness is one of a class of meditation experi-ences that is under the general category oftorpor.

Question: If I do not have time during the day tomeditate, and during the evening after I help mywife put the children to bed, although I amfeeling a little tired, is it better to go ahead andrest or to try to work through that feeling of

tiredness and try to practice atleast for fifteen or twenty min-utes?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It dependson exactly how tired you are. Ifyou are just slightly exhaustedthen try to meditate. But if youare utterly exhausted then go tosleep. [laughter]

Question: That was my mainquestion, where is the . . . ?

Translator: Where’s the dividingline? [laughter]

Thrangu Rinpoche: When youtry and it is hopeless, it is time to

go to sleep. [laughter]

Question: I had read that one should not ex-haust oneself with things that are not going to beof benefit, but to me practice is of great benefit,so that was the point of my question.

Rinpoche: The most important thing to under-stand about exertion in practice is that the longterm is more important than the short term. It isnot so important to make a heroic effort on agiven day when you are exhausted, to forceyourself to practice, as it is to practice steadilyover a long time.

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Continuing the Very Venerable KhenchenThrangu Rinpoche’s commentary on Creationand Completion.

Creation and Completion

Cultivating Lucidity: No MeditationAnd No Distraction

So far, in discussing the completion stage, Ihave talked principally about one aspectof it. We could say that there are two

aspects to the completion stage, two things weare trying to accomplishin it. One is to discover orgenerate some tranquil-lity or stability in themind. The other is togenerate clarity or lucid-ity in the mind. Thepractice of generatingstability in the mind isshamatha or tranquillitymeditation and the prac-tice of generating clarityor lucidity in the mind isvipashyana or insightmeditation. The signifi-cance of shamatha is thatfor as long as your mind isnot at rest there will beno clarity. There will beno lucidity. Therefore, itseems necessary to prac-tice shamatha before oneengages in the practice ofvipashyana. As I haveexplained however, incertain traditions, espe-cially in certain aspects ofdzogchen or great perfec-tion practice, because in

that approach one takes awareness rather thanmind as the path, there is the notion that it isnot, strictly speaking, necessary to precede thepractice of dzogchen with the practice ofshamatha. However, in that case the practicedepends entirely upon an authentic recognitionof the mind’s nature. Although the instructionsfor generating that recognition in the dzogchen

tradition are especiallyprofound, they will notnecessarily work forsomeone who has not yetproduced a stable state ofshamatha. Therefore,while it is theoreticallynot necessary to precedethe practice of dzogchenwith the practice ofshamatha, practicallyspeaking, for most peopleit is helpful to begin withshamatha practice, whichwill enable one to gener-ate a clear recognition.

Now I am going to talkabout the other aspect ofthe completion stage,which is the vipashyanaaspect, the cultivation oflucidity. In this text, thepractice of cultivatinglucidity is said to havetwo main points: nomeditation and no dis-traction. By “no medita-tion,” we mean that thereis no fabrication in the

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This lack offabrication inpractice is whatis meant by nomeditation

practice. One is not thinking, “I am meditatingon this.” One is not attempting to determinewhat one discovers in meditation. One does nottell oneself that the mind is empty and that,therefore, one will discover emptiness. One doesnot tell oneself that the mind is lucid and that,therefore, one will discover lucidity. In thispractice you simply see your mind as it is, and inthat way you come to know it as itis. This lack of fabrication in thepractice is what is meant by nomeditation. On the other hand, itis possible that this might bemisunderstood. When we say nomeditation, you might understandthis to mean allowing the state ofordinary distraction to continue.Therefore, along with no medita-tion one has to say no distraction. “No distrac-tion” means that, although there is no fabricationof some kind of meditative state or realization,there is a maintenance of mindfulness andalertness. The function of mindfulness andalertness in this context is to protect one frombeing distracted from the recognition of themind’s nature. In that state one simply stayswith the direct experience of whatever arises inthe mind.

There are two ways that this meditation canbe presented. One way is through a suddenpointing-out of the nature of the mind to thestudents. In this, one attempts to directly pointout to students the nature of their minds. Thiscould be in the context of, for example, pointingout the nature of thought. When this is done,then some students have a recognition of themind’s nature and some do not. Those who havea recognition are recognizing the mind’s natureas it is, to some extent. But the recognition, asauthentic as it is, is in some ways adulterated byconceptualization and, therefore, remains anexperience rather than a realization. The prob-lem with this is that, because the recognition isincomplete and imperfect, while, as far as itgoes, it is authentic, it will at some point vanish.Vanishing like that, the student does not knowhow to bring it back, because their initial recog-

nition was experienced under the dramaticcircumstances of receiving the pointing out fromtheir guru. Therefore, we take a slightly differ-ent approach in the Kagyu tradition. We use twosituations of mind—stillness (the mind at rest)and occurrence (the presence of thought withinthe mind)—to enable students through their ownexploration to come to a decisive recognition of

the mind’s nature. In this way,students are taught first to lookat the mind when it is still, and tosee how it is, then to look at themind when there is the occur-rence of thought, and to see howit is then. In that way the stu-dents through their own explora-tion come to really know what themind is like when it is at rest and

what the mind is like when it is moving, whenthere is the occurrence of thought. This leads toa more stable recognition of the mind’s nature. Itis one which will not disappear, or even if itdoes, one which can be easily brought back bythe student because they gained it through theirown exploration. In the Kagyu tradition, thebasic format of presentation of the mind’s natureis called “stillness, occurrence, and awareness.”Given this approach or method, some studentswill recognize the mind’s nature and some willnot, but it is still the most stable and best way toproceed. The basic idea of this approach isexpressed in this text when it says, “To stay withwhatever arises is the path of all siddhas,” whichmeans that resting in an unfabricated way, anawareness of what arises in your mind is the keypoint. That is the path by means of which allhave attained siddhi.

There is one root or one point behind all ofthese different approaches to meditation. His-torically, in Tibet the vajrayana spread at differ-ent times. Therefore there arose different lin-eages, each having their own specific emphasisand instruction. For example, there is theMiddle Way school, which also teaches thisapproach to meditation that arose both duringthe earlier and subsequent propagations of thedharma. Then there is the school called “pacifi-

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By lookingdirectly at thenature of thatwhich recognizesthe thoughtsarising, youdirectlyencounterdharmata, thenature of allthings

cation,” which is the school of Padampa Sangye,who came to Tibet from India three times andeach time taught something slightly differentfrom the last time. So even within the school ofpacification, there are three different ap-proaches taught. Then, connected with thatthere is the approach called “severance,” whichwas taught by the great female disciple ofPadampa Sangye, Machig Labdron, who wasTibetan. Based on the instructions she hadreceived from him, and even more so by her ownspontaneous correct understanding of theprajnaparamita sutras, she started her ownschool, which has its distinctapproach to meditation. Thenthere is the mahamudra tradition,which was taught most typicallyby the Lords Marpa, Milarepa,and Gampopa. Then there is thedzogchen tradition, which wastaught principally by GuruRinpoche and by Vimalamitra.Within dzogchen there are twobasic approaches, one of whichwould be called the “common” or“ordinary dzogchen,” which isvery similar to mahamudra, andthe “uncommon” or “extraordi-nary dzogchen,” which is slightlydifferent.

The major distinction beingdrawn here is between all ofthese traditions, including common dzogchen,and what is called uncommon dzogchen.Dzogchen has three classes within it or threetypes of instruction. These are called the “mind,”“space,” and “instruction” class. What is called“uncommon dzogchen” refers to the instructionclass, which is considered by that tradition to bethe highest level of instruction. Within that,there is the essence of the instruction class,which is called the “heart drop” or “nying thig”teachings. The distinction made in this textbetween the nying thig approach and the ap-proach of these other meditative traditions is avery subtle one, and refers to what you do whena thought arises. In most traditions of medita-

tion, as I have explained, when a thought arises,you look directly at that thought and in that wayyou directly experience the emptiness which isthe nature of that thought. However, in thenying thig tradition, when a thought arises,rather than looking directly at the nature of thethought, you look directly at the nature of thatwhich recognizes the thought arising. This isobviously a very subtle distinction, but the ideais that by looking directly at the nature of thatwhich recognizes the thoughts arising, youdirectly encounter dharmata, the nature of allthings. The slight difference between these two

approaches is that in the formerinstance there is a slight sense ofyour awareness being directedoutward at thought, and in thesecond there is a slight sense of itbeing directed inward back atitself. At this point the way youare relating to this distinction istheoretical understanding. It isnot difficult to understand intel-lectually the difference betweenthese two ways of looking, but themain thing, since this is medita-tion instruction, is to actuallypractice this. By doing so, you willgain experience of it. So whetheryou are looking at what arises orlooking at that which recognizeswhat arises, in order to under-

stand what these two things mean, you need toactually have attempted them. Not just once but,because of the profundity of this distinction, youneed to do this again and again and again untilyou actually have a practical experience of it.The meaning of all of this will become muchmore evident and seem much more relevant toyou when you have actually experienced thedistinction between these two in your ownpractice, much more relevant and evident thanwhen it is simply stated as a remark about thedifference in techniques of different traditions.

The way to work with the kinds of instruc-tions found in this text is to actually practicethem; by practicing them you gain some experi-

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ence of what they really refer to, what it is reallylike. Then you can go back and study the textagain and see how your experience matches upwith what you find in the text. In this way, bycombining practical experience with the learningyou have gained from studying this and similartexts, you will find that what you learn from thistext will actually become useful to you as apractitioner. It is in this way that the transmis-sion of instructions has been kept as a lineage ofpractical experience rather than simply being alineage of transmitted informa-tion.

Next the text gives anothersubtle distinction between thethree ways in which thoughtsbecome liberated, but because thisis so subtle, at this point there isnot much need to go through it.* Itis better that you actually justexperience it and then you willknow what it is talking about. Whether or not itis explained to you, once you experience thisliberation of thought, you will know it, you willunderstand it.

Next the text talks about how to determinethe degree of progress in meditation. In sum, itsays that there is an external and an internalaspect to the samadhi that develops as youprogress in practice. The external aspect, or youcould think of it as the external sign of progress,is that you do not become distracted. The inter-nal sign is that not being in danger of distrac-tion, you can relax. What this means is simplythat as a beginner, in order not to become dis-tracted, you have to exert a tremendous effort.As you go on, it will take less and less effort tonot be distracted. Basically, what is being said is

that the indication of progress is that it takesless effort not to be distracted. Therefore, whatis called “nonmeditation,” or “no meditation,”which is the final stage of meditation, is theexhaustion of the need for any effort. So the term“no meditation,” in that context, means no needfor intentional meditation. This is true becausein the nature of mind or the nature of thingsthere is nothing to be meditated upon. However,there is something to be gotten used to. When itis said that there is nothing to be meditated

upon, it means that meditationupon the nature is not the fabri-cation of any kind of specificmeditation experience. As we sawbefore, it is not meditating orpretending that that which existsdoes not exist, or that that whichdoes not exist, exists. It is simplyseeing things as they are. Medita-tion on the nature of things is

simply seeing your mind as it is. In a sense youcan say that there is no meditation on it; there isno intentional meditation or contemplation.However, there is a process of getting used toseeing it as it is and, therefore, there is a processof cultivation or of training. In order that thisprocess continue, in order that there be progressin meditation, it is of the utmost importance thatyou not allow yourself to become distracted fromthe recognition of your mind’s nature, not onlyduring formal meditation sessions, but as muchas possible in post-meditation as well. So whenyou are eating, when you are lying down, whenyou are walking, when you are sitting around,when you are talking, whatever you do, youshould try to maintain mindfulness of the funda-mental nature.

Next the text gives two sets of parallel in-structions. The first comes from the dzogchentradition and the second comes from the Kagyumahamudra tradition. The instruction from thedzogchen tradition gives the essential point thatmakes this instruction section of the ati yoga ordzogchen teachings distinct, which is distin-guishing between mind and awareness. In thecontext of that tradition, the term “mind” is used

The indication ofprogress is that ittakes less effortnot to bedistracted

*Editor’s note: Rinpoche is referring here to the followingpassage from the root text: “…according to Vimalamitra,liberation without a sequence of thoughts is like a childlooking around in wonderment in a temple: There is no mentalconstruct of good or bad made from the initial perception.Liberation in its own ground of whatever thought arises is likethe snake’s knot disappearing in space: As soon as it appearsit disappears without need of a remedy. Liberation in therealization that thoughts are neither helpful nor harmful islike a burglar raiding an empty house: Whether it occurs ornot, there is neither loss nor gain.”

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When the facultyyou areexperiencing inmeditation hasno object otherthan itself,experiences itsown nature asluminosity,and has thecharacteristic oflight, brilliantclarity, like alamp flame, like abright light, thenthat is awareness

to refer to what we would normally call thoughtor deluded mind. “Awareness” is used to refer tothe innate nonconceptual cognitive lucidity ofthe mind. The point made in this tradition isthat it is of great importance in meditation toproperly distinguish betweenthese two in your meditationexperience. Since mindfulness, asa mental process, is a function ofmind, therefore, intentionalmindfulness itself cannot recog-nize the nature of mind. Mindful-ness, as useful as it is, has somedregs or impurities in it becauseit has some conceptual content.The actual recognition of thenature of mind is distinct frommindfulness. It is a cognitionwithout object, a cognition that isrecognizing or experiencingitself.

To be precise about thisdistinction between mind andawareness, mindfulness can be oftwo types. There is a kind ofconceptual or intentional heavy-handed mindfulness that is afunction of mind, and then thereis a kind of subtle mindfulnessthat is characteristic of aware-ness as well. The distinction isthat the mindfulness that you are using in yourmeditation is incapable of recognizing the mind’snature and tends to objectify. In other words, thefaculty you are employing in meditation objecti-fies what it experiences. When it seems to beexperiencing something other than itself andhas, therefore, that sediment ofconceptualization, that is mind. When the fac-ulty you are experiencing in meditation has noobject other than itself, experiences its ownnature as luminosity, and has the characteristicof light, brilliant clarity, like a lamp flame, like abright light, then that is awareness. The keypoint is that it has no object. Mind always has anobject. Awareness does not have an object. Theexperience of awareness is like being frightened

or being terrified. It is that kind of intensenonconceptual experience. When you haverecognized this, when awareness arises in yourexperience and you recognize awareness asawareness, then you will have certainty about

what all of this means. This is verydifferent from a theoretical pre-sentation. As mentioned in thetext, what he is explaining is verydifferent from a theoretical pre-sentation or a scholarly presenta-tion of the difference betweenmind and awareness. This ispractical advice. It is like theheart’s blood of the lineage thatmakes this distinction. It is thesingle key point of all of this—thisdistinction between mind andawareness—and so it is consideredquite precious and rare. Therefore,at this point, one is admonishednot to talk about this to those whohave broken samaya or who arejust big talkers about meditation.It is fine to talk about this topeople who actually practicemeditation, but a distinction needsto be made between those whopractice and those who just wantto acquire jargon that they canthen use to impress others. Fi-

nally, Jamgön Lodro Thaye mentions thatEkajati* is watching. So that is the instructionfrom the tradition of ati yoga or dzogchen.

Next are presented instructions from themahamudra tradition, the Kagyu tradition.

When in your practice you are attempting tohave a continuous recognition of dharmata, ofthe nature of your mind, the key point here is tobe unfabricated. But in doing this, do not thinkthat you need to try to force it. This point fromthe mahamudra tradition is, do not try to forcethe recognition of it. What will happen is thatyou will have a momentary recognition of

*Editor’s note: A female dharmapala, Ekajati is the princi-pal protector of the dzogchen teachings.

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This directexperience thatis utterlyinexpressible andinconceivable isthe experience ofemptiness

dharmata and then you will try to stick to it withforce and vigor. That will not help. It is actuallysufficient according to the teachers of the Kagyutradition to have had that momentary glimpse ofit. You do not need to try to prolong it because itwill not work anyway. If you try to prolong it, allyou will do is create a fabricated similitude ofthat experience. You cannot force it. In anyinstant or actual meditation on the nature ofmind you are purifying the negative karma youhave accumulated over innumerable eons. Aninstant of meditation on the nature causes all ofyour karmic winds and so on to enter the centralchannel. In short, there is no limit to the benefitof this kind of recognition.

While you cannot force it, nevertheless thiskind of recognition of your ownnature is the one thing thatmatters. In the Kagyu terminol-ogy, it is “the one thing which, ifknown, frees all.” Another termthat goes with that is “knowingall, but missing out on the one.” Ifyou recognize your mind’s nature,then that in itself is the recogni-tion of the essence of everythingelse that is to be known. But ifyou do not recognize your mind’snature, no matter how much elseyou otherwise know about dharma, you aremissing the point.

Next the text gives instructions for a methodof enhancing one’s meditation practice that iscalled “mixing of awareness and space.” Essen-tially this consists of either looking into themiddle of the sky or into the middle of a largebody of water such as an ocean and mixing yourawareness with where you are looking. By doingthis, and doing it mindfully with some vigor inyour mindfulness, you will have an experience oflimitless awareness that is without substantial-ity, awareness without center or limit.

Following that, the text addresses the ques-tion of determining what is happening in yourmeditation. Specifically there is the possibilityof mistaking any of the three meditation statesfor one another. There are three things that

superficially sound or seem very similar. One isthe recognition or experience of emptiness, i.e.,a state of vipashyana. The second is a state ofshamatha, and the third is a state of blank neu-trality. It seems it is possible to confuse these inpractice, and now they are explained. The expe-rience or recognition of emptiness is a directexperience of your awareness or by your aware-ness that is something that you cannot conceiveof. You cannot actually say it is one thing oranother. You cannot contain it conceptually atall. You cannot describe it to yourself; therefore,it is inexpressible. This direct experience that isutterly inexpressible and inconceivable is theexperience of emptiness.

The experience of shamatha is an experiencein which all of the agitation ofthought is completely pacified,and there is a limitless experienceof peace and a limitless experienceof stillness and tranquillity. It islike a body of water withoutwaves. That is the experience ofshamatha.

The experience of neutrality isdifferent from those two in thatyour faculties of mindfulness,alertness, and awareness areweak. There is a feeling of obscu-

rity. It lacks recognition or direct experience andso is different from the experience of emptiness.It is different from shamatha in that there issome undercurrent of thought. In the state ofneutrality, there is an undercurrent of thoughtthat is very subtle, that distracts you, that yourecognize only after you have become distracted.So if there is a feeling of basic stillness but youare still being distracted by some undercurrent,that is neither emptiness nor shamatha, that isneutrality.*

Of these three states, the realization of

*Editor’s note: The translation of the root text begins, “Threethings are said to pose the danger of misunderstanding:emptiness, calm abiding, and neutrality,” which seems toimply that all three are conditions of misunderstanding.However, if one continues to read the text, it will become clearthat the danger is of confusing neutrality for either emptinessor shamatha.

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There is aparticular varietyof neutralitywhere you havea feeling ofdense obscurityor thickness toyour mind, likebeing in somekind of fog. Thatcan be dispelledby vigorouslybreathing out allthe stale air inyour body andthen breathing in

emptiness is what we are attempting to achieve,but shamatha is also acceptable, especially ifthat is what you are attempting to practice. Ifyou are trying to practice shamatha, then a stateof shamatha itself is not regardedas a defect, although a distinctionneeds to be made between a stateof shamatha and a state of real-ization. However, the third ofthese states, the blank neutralityin which the undercurrent isfunctioning, needs to be rectified.The way to rectify that is torecognize it and to strengthen ortighten up your awareness, toput more effort into mindfulnessand more effort into alertnessand into awareness. There is aparticular variety of neutralitywhere you have a feeling of denseobscurity or thickness to yourmind, like being in some kind offog. That can be dispelled byvigorously breathing out all thestale air in your body and thenbreathing in. Other things suchas the verbal repetition of man-tras—not the mental repetitionof mantras, but the actual use ofspeech to repeat them—andsometimes physical movement can dispel thisfeeling of dense obscurity or thickness of mind.

Having recognized the presence of neutralityin your meditation, it is necessary to dispel it,and there are steps to this. The first is learningto distinguish between neutrality and the othertwo states, especially between neutrality andshamatha, but also between neutrality andinsight. The second step is learning to recognizeit when it occurs. The third is learning how toget rid of it.

Sometimes the state of neutrality afflicts ourmeditation but at other times our meditation isimpeded not by neutrality but by the presence ofactual kleshas. So next the text explains how todeal with the kleshas that arise in meditation.The klesha used as an example here is anger.

The reason why anger is used as an example isthat, because it is the most vivid, it is the easiestklesha to recognize. When a thought of angervividly arises in your mind, which means the

thought of anger will have someintensity to it and, therefore, beeasy to apprehend, look directly atit. Looking at it directly does notmean distancing yourself from itand looking at it theoretically orconceptually. When you look atkleshas from a distance, looking atthem conceptually, you are consid-ering the characteristics andcontents of the thought, so in thatsense there seems to be somethingthere. You have an idea of whomyou are angry at, how you feelabout them, and so on. That is notlooking directly at it. If you look atit nakedly or directly with nothingin between that which is lookingand that which is looked at, thenyou will see the nature of it ratherthan there appearing to be some-thing there. When you look at itdirectly and rest within thatlooking without fabrication, with-out attempting to tell yourselfanything about the anger, then the

heavy-handed quality of the anger dissolves onthe spot and the thought is seen to have nobenefit or harm. It no longer has any kind ofnegative energy to it, so it neither helps norharms.

The text concludes with some instruction fordaily practice, different sorts of things one cando throughout the day. They are not that difficultto understand so I am going to stop here. If youhave any questions, please ask.

Question: Two questions. One, you spoke abouta nun in this tradition . . . Machig Labdron?

Translator: She wasn’t a nun.

Question: She was a sky dancer? What was the

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The practice ofseveranceinvolves notpacifyingthoughts, butactually bringingup the mostdifficult thoughts,bringing them upand cuttingthrough them

distinction there between the teachings and herown direct experience?

Thrangu Rinpoche: The difference betweenMachig’s teachings and the teachings which camefrom India that she received, are that the teach-ings of pacification, which camefrom India, take the approach ofpacifying the thought and delu-sion and kind of letting it settledown. Whereas Machig’s ap-proach, called “severance,” is veryaggressive. Not aggressive in abad way, but aggressive as whenwe say “aggressive treatment ofsomething.” It is just slicingthrough thoughts. Not waiting forthem to settle down but slicingthrough them or destroying them.You can tell by the word “sever-ance.” The words “pacification”and “severance” describe thedifference. The practice of sever-ance involves not pacifyingthoughts, but actually bringing upthe most difficult thoughts, bringing them upand cutting through them. In the practice ofseverance you work especially with fear. Theway you do it is that you go to places where youfeel unsafe. Typically, one goes to charnelgrounds to practice. You get really, really scared,and then you cut through it.

Question: The second question is about whenyou were talking about the arising of thoughtsand having the direct experience of them. Per-sonally, if anger comes up, then the next feelingor thought that comes up is guilt. Do you justkeep on looking at them as they keep on arising?

Thrangu Rinpoche: It does not matter. Whilethe thought of anger is present, you can lookdirectly at the thought of anger, or if it is suc-ceeded by a thought of guilt, you can look at thethought of guilt. In either case, when you look ata thought, what you discover is that, althoughthere is something you can experience that you

can call a thought, an experience of anger, afeeling of anger, when you look right at it, thereis nothing there. Therefore, it is called the unityof clarity and emptiness. Clarity is appearanceor experience that has [in reality] no substantialexistence. Thoughts are all the same. They are

just like water bubbles. You seethem, but then there is nothingthere.

Question: In the sutra traditionof the middle way, are thereanalytical meditations whichspecifically reveal the luminousnature of mind? And if that is so,what are those analytical medita-tions?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Not di-rectly, because in analyticalmeditation you are always con-cerned with the maintenance andcultivation of some kind of convic-tion. Therefore it is very indirect.It takes a very long time. If you

persisted with the maintenance and refinementof your conviction about the nature of mind longenough, then eventually there could be a discov-ery of the mind’s innate lucidity, but it is notdirectly pointed out in the sutra system.

Question: Why is it that yidam practices aredone by accomplished realized beings and whyare empowerments given, such as theKalachakra, which are so extensive and detailedthat it would be very hard for me or other peoplelike me to actually do?

Translator: Those are two very different ques-tions I am asking right? You want to know whypeople who have already attained enlightenmentcontinue to do yidam practice and you want toknow why empowerments for yidam practice aregiven to people who are unlikely to ever do thatyidam practice? Okay.

Thrangu Rinpoche: In answer to your first

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question, there are many different types ofteachers, and they are all not necessarily at thesame level, so it would be difficult to give oneanswer for why they would all continue to dothese practices. In the case of some of them, theydo them because they still have some distance togo on the path, and so they continue to practicefor their own benefit, to expandtheir experience and realization.In the case of others who havealready attained supreme siddhi,who in fact may be fully awakenedbuddhas, then if they continue todo formal practice, they do it asan example to others, to show theimportance of formal practice.

In answer to your secondquestion, the giving ofempowerments really has twoaspects to it. There is what iscalled “actual” or “ultimate”empowerment, and then there iswhat is called the “external” or“symbolic” empowerment. In thecase of an actual empowerment, nowadays whatwe would call an “extraordinary” empowerment,what is happening is that the student actuallyrecognizes on the spot the wisdom that thatempowerment is designed to communicate. Inthat case, that is the fullest or most extraordi-nary instance of empowerment. It is not particu-larly that it is a different type or ceremony ofempowerment; it is a specific instance of empow-erment.

Normally when an empowerment is given,the function of it is not only to empower peopleto do specific practices but to transmit theblessing of dharma through the vehicle of thatspecific ceremony. In that spirit you might takethe empowerment of Kalachakra or ofChakrasamvara or of Hevajra, or of any othermajor or minor empowerment. The basic processof what is essentially the same, which is thatsome kind of blessing of dharma is actuallyentering into you. When it is says that the bless-ing of dharma enters into you, this does notmean that through receiving an empowerment

you can immediately fly in the sky, or thatthrough receiving an empowerment you becomeintoxicated with some kind of mysterious spiri-tual drunkenness. It is simply that having re-ceived the empowerment, something changes.There will be at least a little bit of an increase inyour faith and devotion, a little bit of an increase

in your diligence. These changesin you are the principal blessingor benefit of the empowermentprocess. For example, manypeople have told me that theywere previously unable to under-stand or settle on the validity ofBuddhism, but then for one rea-son or another they received theKalachakra empowerment fromHis Holiness the Dalai Lama andthereafter and ever since havebeen intensely involved in prac-tice. That is an instance of theblessing of empowerment. It isnot that they are practicingKalachakra necessarily, but

because of that blessing they are practicingdharma.

Question: In the sudden pointing-out of thenature of mind versus the stillness, occurrence,and awareness approach, you refer to the secondas being specifically the Kagyu approach. I wasjust wondering if there is some flexibility interms of how specific teachers deal with specificstudents?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Yes. There are differenttexts composed by different teachers, and teach-ers today follow these different texts and, there-fore, guide their students slightly differently.

Question: In the root text, “three things aresaid to pose the danger of misunderstanding.”What does “danger” refer to here?

Translator: Maybe it is a little unclear in theEnglish. What it says in the Tibetan is “there isthe possibility of mistaking one of these for

Normally whenan empowermentis given, thefunction of it is. . . to transmitthe blessing ofdharma throughthe vehicle ofthat specificceremony

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another.” The word that is translated as “danger”here means it is a possible thing that mighthappen.

Question: What are the ten winds?

Thrangu Rinpoche: There are the five mainand five minor energies or winds of the body. Thefive major ones are the winds which govern theprincipal physical processes: the “digestivewind;” the “eliminating wind,” which is con-nected with going to the bathroom; the “upwardmoving wind;” the “pervasive wind,” whichenables you to move your limbs and so on; andthe “life wind” or “prana wind,” which is the onethat keeps you alive, keeps you in your body.

Question: When the winds enter the centralchannel, is it one or all of them which enter?

Thrangu Rinpoche: There are two mentions ofall of this in our text. When it says “the tenwinds become workable,” it means that as a signof practice they start to function in an ideal way.Generally speaking, the karmic energy or windflows through the two side channels, the ones onthe right and left of the central channel. Thewind or energy that flows in the central channelare wisdom winds, not karmic winds. Throughthe cessation of the flowing of winds through theright and left channels, which is the bringing ofthe winds into the central channel, there is atransformation of karmic wind into wisdomwind. This is what is referred to when it talksabout the karmic wind being brought into thecentral channel. This occurs as a natural resultof meditation, and there are also specific meth-ods for doing this.

Question: I have read some things about thekundalini process, kundalini shakti,* and I donot know how to talk about the same things inBuddhist terms. But you mentioned the karmicwinds, the wisdom winds . . . ? How does thisrelate to the five major winds that you named

before?

Thrangu Rinpoche: The ten winds are theenergies of your physical body that enable yourphysical body to do all the things it does. Thekarmic wind is actually what you breathe in andout. The point of all of this is that the karmicwind, which you breathe in and out, has a littlebit of wisdom wind, a very small amount ofwisdom wind mixed with it all the time. There-fore, especially at certain times, there is a pres-ence of wisdom wind in your breathing. Throughthe practice of meditation in general andthrough certain specific processes or techniquesyou can cause the karmic wind aspect of this tobe transformed into wisdom wind. That is theidea.

Question: As the breath comes in or . . . ?

Thrangu Rinpoche: Normally as the breath isheld, which is why there is the practice of hold-ing the breath. Here it talks about this alsooccurring as a natural result of meditativerealization. Some people have the experience, ifthey develop an extraordinary state of shamatha,of not having to breathe for a while.

Question: In the text there is a discussion ofbreathing OM, AH, HUNG, and I wanted to knowwhich is recited on the out, the pause, and thein-breath.

Thrangu Rinpoche: In this text, when youbreathe out it is HUNG. In between breathingout and breathing in the next time, it is AH. So itis actually held out rather than held in. Thenwhen you breathe in, it is OM. Sometimes it isdifferent.

I would like to thank you for your intenseenthusiasm for this text, and for giving me theopportunity to explain it to you as best as Icould. I would like to apologize for the brevity ofmy explanation, which was obviously required bythe brevity of the time we had available. We willnow dedicate the merit.

*Editor’s note: The questioner is referring to a form of Hinduyoga.

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The Cultivation of BodhicittaAnd Taking and Sending

The main part of thisteaching is based on ateaching of His HolinessTendzin Gyatso, the Four-teenth Dalai Lama, givenat the Masonic Temple onWilshire Boulevard in LosAngeles in 1984.

When we lookaround us andsee the great

pain and anxiety of lifelived without true under-standing; when we reflectdeeply on the fears that allbeings carry hidden in thedeep recesses of theirhearts—which they areoften unwilling to admiteven to themselves for fearthat doing so would sapthe confidence or the falsebravado that enables themto push forward blindly in life in the only waythey know how—and especially when we reflecton the dangerous and painful vicissitudes of aworld that in one moment is peaceful, and in thenext full of violence, pain, and grief, full of livesshredded and torn apart by forces beyond one’scontrol; when we reflect on the blood in thestreets and the smashed skulls, or when wereflect on the ever-changing display of love andromance as it degenerates slowly into brokendreams, anger, strife, and hatred; when wereflect on the lonesome, the poor, the aging, coldand devastated, dying mass of sentient exist-ence, and we remember that no ignorant being

escapes this constant roundof terror and that, if whatsages and religious leadersof all ages have told us istrue, there may even beworse to come, worlds inwhich our credit cards holdno sway, where there is nota friendly voice to call andno family to go home to—when we reflect honestlyon all of this and stopignoring and suppressingthese thoughts, and whenwe apply these thoughts toourselves and to our ownparticular situations, itgives rise to great renun-ciation of the vanity ofconfused existence and tothe attendant willingnessto quit chasing exclusivelyafter unreliable baubles ofhappiness and enjoyment

in the external world and to turn one’s visioninward in order to find and extirpate the root ofmisery and suffering and to find the true andreliable source of peace and happiness.

When we think of all of this carefully withrespect to ourselves, it gives rise to great revul-sion and renunciation, but when we reflect on allof this with respect to others—realizing howblind and helpless sentient beings are in the faceof such intolerable suffering—and quit ignoringand suppressing such thoughts, then it leadseither to further ignorance and callousness, or itleads to great compassion. Further ignoranceand callousness lead only to diminished intelli-

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The generationof this altruisticintention tobecomeenlightened andperseverance inthe training thatenables one todo so are theentire path ofbuddhahood

gence, clumsy and vicious living, and in the endto great misery. Therefore, there is no advan-tage or merit in it for anyone.

On the other hand, in greatcompassion for suffering sentientbeings there is great advantageand immense merit. Compassionbased on affection for sentientbeings and the pain of seeingthem suffer leads one to generatethe aspiration to liberate themfrom suffering, which in turnleads to the intention to do what-ever is necessary to do that, evenif it means turning the wholepurpose of one’s life around tobecoming a support to the singleproject of attaining the wisdomand skillful means necessary toassist sentient beings to theirown liberation. This generation ofthe altruistic intention to attainenlightenment leads to kind and compassionateactivity in the service of those who suffer and,therefore, to the temporary amelioration oftheir condition and ultimately to their libera-tion. This leads to less ignoring and less turningaway and narrowing of the focus of one’s mind,and in turn to more expansive and less obscuredawareness and hence to greater sensitivity andintelligence. Thus the generation of the altruis-tic intention to attain enlightenment andbuddhahood—the generation of bodhicitta—iswhat the Dalai Lama refers to as enlightenedself-interest, in which there is great benefit foreveryone.

In fact, the generation of this altruisticintention to become enlightened and persever-ance in the training that enables one to do soare the entire path of buddhahood. The aversionthat we develop towards cyclic existence, thequalities of revulsion and renunciation that wecultivate, the refuge in the three jewels and thethree roots, and the disciplines of moral con-duct, meditation, and study that we accept andundertake are the foundation for the generationof and training in this altruistic intention. And

all the stages of the paths and levels on the wayto enlightenment and the development ofmahamudra and dzogchen are nothing more than

the fruition of this intention andtraining.

Sometimes, especially whenthere are rough spots in our path,we may find that our unspokenintention is really simply to es-cape the misery of cyclic exist-ence, or in any particular situa-tion, the misery of that situation.At those times, while continuingto practice the disciplines thatlead to individual liberation, it isextremely important to continueto generate this enlightenedintention and not to give up onsentient beings, not to give up orabandon the intention to assist allbeings to liberation. For as thegreat Tsong Khapa wrote, “If the

thought definitely to leave cyclic existence is notconjoined with the generation of a completeaspiration to highest enlightenment, it does notbecome a cause of the marvelous bliss of unsur-passed enlightenment. Thus, the intelligentshould generate the supreme altruistic intentionto become enlightened.”

What is an altruistic mind of enlightenmentor bodhicitta? It actually consists of two

aspects. The aspiration to bring about others’welfare is the essential cause of the developmentof bodhicitta. The recognition that one can onlybring about others’ permanent welfare by firstremoving all of one’s own ignorance throughobtaining buddhahood—and the aspiration to doso—is the second aspect. Thus, a main mentalconsciousness that has as a cause an aspiration toaffect others’ welfare which is accompanied by awish for one’s own enlightenment is an altruisticmind of enlightenment.

But can it be established that we can evenattain enlightenment? That which prevents theattainment of enlightenment are the veils, thekleshas or afflictive emotions, which are a kind of

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Because thiswisdom realizingemptiness canbe increasedlimitlessly, finallyovercomingignoranceentirely, it isestablished thatenlightenment isachievable

outer veil, and the cognitive obscurations ofmind, sometimes referred to as the obstructionsto omniscience, which consist fundamentally ofthe ignorance that conceives of inherent exist-ence and the dualistic clinging that flows fromthat conception. It is in the na-ture of things that if you have twoopposites—for instance, hot andcold—if you increase one theother will diminish. The same istrue of our minds. Obscuredignorant consciousness thatconceives of inherent existenceand the wisdom consciousnessrealizing emptiness are opposites.Because the wisdom conscious-ness realizing emptiness has avalid foundation, as one increasesone’s knowledge of the under-standing of the emptiness ofinherent existence, the obscuredignorance factors of one’s ownconsciousness diminish. Becausethis wisdom realizing emptinesscan be increased limitlessly, finally overcomingignorance entirely, it is established that enlight-enment is achievable. Through taking this logicto heart and acting upon it, one develops a mindaspiring towards the enlightenment of a buddha.

The main aspect of this aspiration is to trainin developing an attitude of mind that is seekingor aspiring to bring about others’ welfare. TsongKhapa writes:

(All ordinary beings) are carried by thecontinuum of the four powerful currents,

Are tied with the tight bonds of actions difficultto oppose,

Have entered into the iron cage of apprehendingself (inherent existence),

Are completely beclouded with the thickdarkness of ignorance,

Are born into cyclic existence limitlessly, and intheir births

Are tortured ceaselessly by the three sufferings.Thinking thus of the condition of mothers who

have come to such a state,Generate the supreme altruistic intention to

become enlightened.

Every sentient being—every being withmind—regardless of how small,including bugs and even micro-scopic animal life, wants happi-ness and wants to avoid suffering.Yet limitless numbers of sentientbeings are bound in the sufferingsof samsara due to actions that aremotivated by emotional afflictions,which in turn are based on dualis-tic perception and dualistic cling-ing. Therefore, beings are carriedby the four powerful currents ofbirth, aging, sickness, and death,which are brought about by thetight bonds of action (karma).Good and bad actions are broughtabout by the conception of oneselfas inherently existent—the falseview that takes what is transitory

as a permanent “I.” This misconception of thenature of oneself comes about through the thickdarkness of ignorance which conceives thatother phenomena, one’s physical and mentalaggregates, inherently exist. It is through thisprocess of causation that beings are born incyclic existence limitlessly and suffer. Thinkingabout this process of causation with respect toourselves, we generate renunciation, the wish toget out of cyclic existence; thinking about it withregard to others, we generate compassion forothers.

When bodhicitta—the altruistic intention tobecome enlightened—is cultivated in medita-tion, it is usually done so by two streams ofteaching: the seven-fold cause and effect quintes-sential instructions and the instructions onequalizing and switching of self and other. Whenthese two streams of instruction are combined,the meditation is particularly powerful.

The first step in this combined practice is todevelop equanimity. Imagine three differentsentient beings in front of you—a friend, an

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Traditionally, it istaught that youshould recognizeall beings ashaving been yourmother inprevious lifetimes

enemy, and a neutral person—and then inten-tionally generate the usual thoughts of desire,hatred, and a sense of neglect that you have forthem. Then think about why you desire thefriend, why you hate the enemy, and why youneglect the neutral person. In time it will be-come clear to you that you hold these attitudesbecause the friend helps you and the enemyharms. But if you think more carefully, you willsee that a friend in an earlier part of one’s lifecan easily become an enemy at a later time, andvice versa. Moreover, in the course of abeginningless continuum of lifetimes, there is nocertainty that particular beings have either beenjust friends or just enemies. Thus you will cometo see clearly that your friend has been or couldbecome your enemy and that your enemy hasbeen or could become your friend,and that the neutral person canalso have been or might becomeboth friend and enemy. Thinkingin this way, one comes to see thatthere is no reason to get tooexcited one way or another to-wards these beings, and in thisway one accomplishes equanimity.

The next step then is to recog-nize all beings individually as thebest of friends. Traditionally, it istaught that you should recognizeall beings as having been your mother in previ-ous lifetimes and as having been extremelyclosely connected to you.

There are said to be four modes of birth: birthfrom a womb, birth from an egg, birth from heatand moisture, and instantaneous birth, as whenone is born in a pure realm. It is necessary tohave a mother to be born from a womb or from anegg, and since one’s birth has been cyclic andbeginningless, and therefore infinite in number,it is necessary to have had an infinite number ofmothers. Thinking in this way, reflect on thethree beings that you are visualizing in front ofyou, realizing or thinking that both the enemyand the neutral being have acted, therefore, overthe course of many lifetimes, as one’s ownmother and/or best friend, and that they have

been extremely close to you. If it is not abso-lutely logically certain, it is at least more likelythat over the course of lifetimes they have beenin such close friendly relationships with you.

The third step is to develop mindfulness oftheir kindness—the friend’s kindness, theenemy’s kindness, the neutral person’s kind-ness—when they were your mothers. For this,imagine your mother in this life in front of youand reflect on how she took care of you with suchgreat care and kindness and sustained you whenyou were a little child: how she bore you withdiscomfort in her body, suffered the pangs ofbirth, nursed you, cleaned you, dressed you,taught you to walk and to talk, introduced you tothe world and educated you, and loved you in somany unthinkable ways, valuing you as much as

or more than she valued her ownlife, willing even to give her ownlife for you if necessary. Thenextend the understanding of thiskindness to every other sentientbeing.

The fourth step is to developspecial mindfulness of kindness.This is to reflect that sentientbeings have been kind to us andare kind to us not only when theyhave been our friends, but that,irrespective of being our friends,

they have been either directly or indirectlyextremely kind. For instance, in our ordinarylives, no matter what we use to sustain our life—food, clothing, shelter, and so forth, medicine,educational opportunities, protection, etc.—these all come to us by way of the kindness ofother sentient beings. When one considers theimmense amount of intelligence and care thathas gone into crafting all the things we use andlive amongst, down to the finest details—theintelligence that created the washers, the spig-ots, the light bulbs, the garden hoses, the refrig-erators, elevators, computers, the air trafficroutes, and so forth—when we consider all ofthis intelligence and care, one sees that limitlessnumbers of people have been indirectly verykind to us.

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It is independence onother sentientbeings that weaccumulate greatmerit, andwithout othersentient beings itwould beimpossible to do

In order to attain happiness, liberation, andbuddhahood for ourselves and others, it is im-portant to accumulate merit, which is done inrelation to other sentient beings, especiallywhen we help other sentient beings. Thus it is independence on other sentient beings that weaccumulate great merit, and without othersentient beings it would be impossible to do so.For instance, with regard to generosity, giftsmust be given to someone else. The ethics ofrefraining from harming others must be ob-served in relation to other sentient beings. Thistraining that we are now engaged in, one-point-edly generating and strengthening an altruisticattitude, must be done in relation to and depen-dent upon other sentient beings.And of course, other sentientbeings are needed for the practiceof patience. In this regard, ofcourse, enemies especially pro-vide a great service for us. This isexplained very beautifully inShantideva’s Guide to theBodhisattva’s Way of Life.

Moreover, the great effort andexertion of bodhisattvas comeabout as a consequence of theirtaking cognizance of the limitlesstypes of suffering of limitlesssentient beings. Thus it is on thebasis of other sentient beings thatthey develop their great effort.

Similarly, the concentrated meditation andwisdom of bodhisattvas is dependent upon theirconcern for others. The fact that their medita-tive concentration and their wisdom become sopowerful is due to their being conjoined with theforce of one-pointed altruism toward otherbeings. The great practitioners, the arhats andarhatis, of the lesser vehicle–the hinayana—aresaid to develop extraordinary meditative stabili-zation, which is a union of calm abiding andsuperior insight, of shamatha and vipashyana.However, through that union they can achieveliberation from cyclic existence only for them-selves. Why is that? Because their wisdomconsciousness is not enhanced with the factor of

altruism, of one-pointed dedication to the wel-fare of others. Because the motivation ofhinayana practitioners is confined to self-libera-tion, it does not take into account the totality ofexistence, and therefore it is impossible for themto develop omniscience with respect to all phe-nomena. Thus, other sentient beings are ex-tremely kind and extremely valuable in develop-ing samadhi and wisdom.

Thus, without other sentient beings as ob-jects of one’s observation and activity, it would beimpossible to engage in these powerful forms ofvirtue. But then one might object that theseother beings do not necessarily have any motiva-tion to be kind or to help one, and that, there-

fore, there is no reason for devel-oping a sense of their kindness.However, if that were the case,then, since the dharma—thedharma of realization, which isthe cessation of suffering, andscriptural dharma, which outlinescorrect paths to enlightenment—has no motivation to help one,then it would be inappropriate tocherish the dharma, to value it,and to make offerings to it. There-fore, whether the other person orsentient being has a motivation tohelp one does not make anydifference. If it helps one, thenthat being or thing is to be valued

as being kind, and we should be mindful of thatkindness.

Shantideva raises the further objection that,though it might be the case that beings or objectswith no motivation to help us should still becherished as being very kind to us, an enemysurely does not have a motivation to help anddoes surely have a motivation to harm. So howcould one reflect on the kindness of enemies?Shantideva answers that it is because a personhas harmful intent toward us that they get thename of “enemy,” but that it is precisely becauseof that harmful intent and the actions that ariseout of it that we have something with which tocultivate patience. Thus the enemy is very

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If we did nothave enemies inthe naturalcourse of ourlives, in order tolearn to practicepatience, wewould have to goout and hiresome

helpful to us and provides a great service to us.If we did not have enemies in the natural courseof our lives, in order to learn to practice pa-tience, we would have to go out and hire someenemies. Therefore, the enemy should bethought of as being very kind to us.

That is how we develop special mindfulnessof kindness.

If sentient beings are helpful to us even whenthey are enemies, then what need is there to saythat they are helpful when they are kind? If evenenemies are kind when they cause harm, whatneed is there to say that friends arekind when they are helping us?

Now, it is always the bettermode of behavior to repay thekindness one has received fromothers—to return something fortheir kindness. Thus the fifth stepis to develop the intention to repaythe kindness of all sentient beings.

Then the next step is to equalizeself and other. This equalizing isthe realization that others areequal to us in wanting happinessand in not wanting suffering.Within this context of both self andothers’ wanting happiness and notwanting suffering, what is thedifference? We as individuals are only one,whereas others are infinite in number. Thus, foranyone with true intelligence, the greater num-ber of sentient beings is more important than thesmaller number. Thus, it would be completelyunsuitable for one to use others for one’s ownpurposes, while it would be completely andentirely suitable and most correct to use oneselffor others’ welfare. Thinking in this way, webegin to cherish others.

Then the next step is to reflect on the disad-vantages of cherishing oneself. The state ofruination that we are currently in is due to thefact that our conception of inherent existence ofourselves and self-cherishing work together, theone influencing and strengthening the other. It isthese two that ruin us and spoil our lives. Thereis no one who does not consider himself or

herself to be important. This is natural in sam-sara, but we need to consider and reflect on thestate that this type of self-cherishing, self-centeredness, and self-importance has led usinto. What a mess it has created. If frombeginningless cyclic existence until now, we haveengaged in self-cherishing and it has brought usinto such a mess, is it not then a terrible mistaketo continue this self-cherishing? Would it not bebetter to do something else? Especially when weknow that if we cherish others, we will achievelimitless great merit, through the power of

which we can achieve greatexertion for the benefit of oth-ers, which always redounds toour own benefit indirectly?

Shantideva wrote thatGautama Buddha and we our-selves were equal in the past inbeing ordinary sentient beings.If we look into the reasons whywe in our present state arecaught in the mess that we arein—mentally, emotionally, politi-cally, socially, economically,environmentally—whileGautama Buddha has gotten ridof all faults and become a specialbeing endowed with all good

qualities, the reason that one finds is thatGautama Buddha at a certain point gave up self-cherishing and began cherishing others andthereby proceeded to such a high and evolvedstate, whereas we continue to do the opposite.We neglect others’ welfare, while principallyseeking only after our own, thereby propellingourselves into further cyclic existence. When onereflects in this way on the disadvantages of self-cherishing and the advantages of cherishingothers, one proceeds to the next step of theactual thought of switching self and other.

The name “exchanging self and other” or“switching self and other” is given to the processof switching one’s own attitude of cherishingoneself into an attitude of cherishing others andthe attitude of neglecting others into an attitudeof neglecting oneself. So we begin to train our-

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The name‘exchanging selfand other’ . . . isgiven to theprocess ofswitching one’sown attitude ofcherishingoneself into anattitude ofcherishing othersand the attitudeof neglectingothers into anattitude ofneglectingoneself

selves to do that. This is called exchanging selfand other.

The next and tenth step is to take others’suffering within oneself, emphasizing compas-sion. When we think again and again about thesufferings of sentient beings, all of whom we nowconsider to be extremely dear to us, we naturallydevelop a wish to relieve them of their sufferingand the causes of their suffering. It is helpful atthis point to imagine all of these sufferings andcauses of suffering of other sen-tient beings and to draw theminto oneself in the form of blacklight, poison, weapons, or beingsof whom one is particularlyafraid. One draws them intooneself and absorbs them fear-lessly down into the very basis ofone’s life.

The next step is to reflect onthese sentient beings who wanthappiness but are bereft of happi-ness, and through being moved bythat situation to develop anattitude of giving to other sen-tient beings all of one’s ownhappiness and causes of happi-ness in the form of physicalhappiness, resources, and roots ofvirtue that will bring happiness.One imagines that one is givingother sentient beings one’s owngood body, resources, potentialfor wealth, good health, and longlife, and all of one’s roots ofvirtue. This giving of happinesscan be done in the form of imagining light goingout from oneself, or as Shantideva suggests, inthe form of imagining whatever they want goingout from oneself to them. If a person wants alamp, in the form of a lamp; if a person needsclothing, in the form of clothing; and so on withfood, shelter, whatever.

When one develops familiarity with thisvisualization and has practiced it for some time,one can coordinate the visualization with thebreath. When one inhales, one imagines that one

is inhaling others’ suffering and the causes oftheir suffering, and when one exhales, oneimagines that one exhales one’s own happinessand the causes of happiness. In the process ofthese visualizations, one thinks that the suffer-ings of all sentient beings are in this way re-lieved, and that they are thereby enriched andestablished in states of happiness and liberation,and one does so with great joy.

Now at this point, this meditation is justimagination. If one wonderswhether it is actually possible tobring about others’ welfare in thisway, then one should know thatwhat one is doing now is justimagination. But according to theDalai Lama, at the point of actu-ally developing bodhicitta it ispossible to actually bring aboutthe welfare of others.

At this point one generates aspecial resolve to take upon one-self, and oneself alone, the burdenof bringing about others’ welfareand of relieving their suffering.One develops here a fantastic,strong, and unusual altruisticattitude, which is the willingnessto take upon oneself the burden offreeing all sentient beings fromsuffering and of joining all sen-tient beings with happiness. Onetakes this upon oneself alone, sothat if there were not anotherbodhisattva in all the world sys-tems of existence, one would still

be resolved to bring about the liberation of allsentient beings single-handedly.

Developing this vast and unusual altruisticattitude with great force induces the intentionto become enlightened for the benefit of allothers, which is the actual altruistic mind gen-eration, the actual generation of bodhicitta. Onedoes this because, as the Buddha Shakyamunisaid, “The buddhas do not cleanse the ill deedsof sentient beings with water nor relieve thesuffering of sentient beings through touching

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Sentient beingseventuallyescape cyclicexistencethrough theirown effortthrough beingtaught the truth.Thus, one needsto prepareoneself to teachothers

them with their hands, and the buddhas do nottransfer their realization to others. Sentientbeings are liberated through being taught.”Sentient beings eventually escape cyclic exist-ence through their own effort through beingtaught the truth. Thus one needs to prepareoneself to teach others. But if the meaning, thedoctrines, and the skillful meansthat we need to understand inorder to teach others are obscuredto us, we cannot possibly teachothers. Furthermore, what is to betaught to others must be some-thing that is going to help themand be of assistance to thempersonally and individually.Therefore, one needs to know theinterests, the dispositions, thecapabilities, and so forth of otherbeings, both in groups and indi-vidually, in fine detail.

That which prevents one fromknowing in fine detail what needsto be taught to others, and thatwhich prevents one from knowingothers’ interests and dispositionsin subtle detail, are the obstruc-tions to omniscience, the cognitiveobscurations of mind. Thus bodhisattvas identifyas their real enemy their own obstructions toomniscience. Without overcoming the obstruc-tions to omniscience there is no way to bringabout the vast amount of help that is needed bythe vast ocean of sentient beings afflicted withsuffering. It is not sufficient to overcome thekleshas, the afflictive obstructions to liberationfrom cyclic existence; but, in order to overcomethe subtler predispositions that are establishedin the mind by the afflictive obstructions, it isnecessary to overcome those afflictive obstruc-tions themselves first. This establishes theprocedure of the path of first overcoming theafflictive obstructions and then overcoming theobstructions to omniscience.

When the obstructions to omniscience have

been removed, the next moment, which is a stateof being devoid of the obstructions to omni-science, is the state of omniscient awareness of abuddha. Therefore, it is through this type ofthought that one generates an attitude, a deepfeeling or a deep thinking, that there is no otherway for oneself but to overcome the obstructions

to omniscience and become abuddha. This mind, this attitudeis called bodhicitta, the altruisticmind of enlightenment.

When one meditates in thisway on these two streams ofinstruction, over and over again,and reflects on their meaningover and over again from the verydepths of one’s heart, one willnaturally generate a mind thatwishes from the bottom of one’sheart, day and night, to liberateall beings from suffering and toestablish them in the state ofbuddhahood, and one will defi-nitely generate the indomitableintention to attain buddhahood inorder to do so.

When one cultivates one’smind in this way in meditation,

one cultivates it over the course of months andmonths, years and years, even over the course ofmany lifetimes. Though it may seem to take agreat deal of time, it is definitely the case that asthis meditation is gradually cultivated, the mindis gradually transformed. When one generateseven a slight portion of this altruistic attitude,one establishes a cause that will bring aboutpermanent happiness in the future. Even in thislifetime, one’s strength of mind, one’s will, andone’s peace of mind will increase. Therefore, thecultivation of bodhicitta is something that ishelpful not only in the long run, but also in thesort run. So it is really worthwhile to make theattempt to cultivate bodhicitta, and to bend one’sefforts to this attempt.

70 SHENPEN ÖSEL

[1] Develop equanimity by contemplating theequality of a friend, an enemy, and a neutralperson.

[2] Recognize all beingsindividually as yourmother in previouslifetimes and/or as yourbest friend.

[3] Develop mindfulnessof their kindness whenthey were your mother/best friend.

[4] Develop specialmindfulness of kind-ness—by reflecting uponinterdependence andthe six paramitas.

[5] Develop the inten-tion to repay the kind-ness of all sentientbeings.

[6] Equalize self andother—realize thatothers are equal to us inwanting happiness and in not wanting suffer-ing, and that the happiness of all otherstogether is more important than our own.

[7] Reflect on the disadvantages of cherishingoneself and the advantages of cherishingothers.

[8] Engender the actual thought of exchang-ing self and other, exchanging cherishing of

Cultivation of Bodhicitta and Taking and Sending

oneself for cherishing others and neglectingothers for neglecting oneself.

[9] Taking: Imaginetaking others’ sufferinginto yourself in the formof black light, poison,weapons, or frighteningbeings, and absorb themall fearlessly down intothe very basis of yourlife (on the inbreath).

[10] Sending: Imaginegiving others your owngood body, resources,potential for wealth,good health, and longlife, and all of your rootsof virtue in the form oflight or in the form ofanything else theymight want going outfrom yourself (on theoutbreath). In theprocess of these visual-izations, think that thesufferings of all sentient

beings are in this way relieved.

[11] Generate with great force the resolve totake upon yourself, and yourself alone, theburden of bringing about the welfare andrelieving the suffering of all other sentientbeings.

[12] Generate the intention to become en-lightened for the benefit of all others.

A summary of the seven-fold cause and effect quintessential instructions andthe instructions on equalizing and switching of self and other, based on a

teaching of His Holiness Tendzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

SHENPEN ÖSEL 71

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from Tfrom Tfrom Tfrom Tfrom Thrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rhrangu Rinpoche’s commentinpoche’s commentinpoche’s commentinpoche’s commentinpoche’s commentaryaryaryaryaryon on on on on Creation and CompletionCreation and CompletionCreation and CompletionCreation and CompletionCreation and Completion

Some people do not have any parSome people do not have any parSome people do not have any parSome people do not have any parSome people do not have any particularly preponderant kleticularly preponderant kleticularly preponderant kleticularly preponderant kleticularly preponderant klesha and are notsha and are notsha and are notsha and are notsha and are notparparparparparticularly involved with anything overticularly involved with anything overticularly involved with anything overticularly involved with anything overticularly involved with anything overtly unvirtly unvirtly unvirtly unvirtly unvirtuous. Ttuous. Ttuous. Ttuous. Ttuous. They are more afflictedhey are more afflictedhey are more afflictedhey are more afflictedhey are more afflictedby the basic fundamentby the basic fundamentby the basic fundamentby the basic fundamentby the basic fundamental fixation on their own existence. Oral fixation on their own existence. Oral fixation on their own existence. Oral fixation on their own existence. Oral fixation on their own existence. Or, they might be, they might be, they might be, they might be, they might beafflicted by doubt and heafflicted by doubt and heafflicted by doubt and heafflicted by doubt and heafflicted by doubt and hesitsitsitsitsitation. Tation. Tation. Tation. Tation. They may always wonder whether “such andhey may always wonder whether “such andhey may always wonder whether “such andhey may always wonder whether “such andhey may always wonder whether “such andsuch is like this, or like that.such is like this, or like that.such is like this, or like that.such is like this, or like that.such is like this, or like that.” Or you might be afflicted by meaningle” Or you might be afflicted by meaningle” Or you might be afflicted by meaningle” Or you might be afflicted by meaningle” Or you might be afflicted by meaningless regret,ss regret,ss regret,ss regret,ss regret,constconstconstconstconstantly regretting things, constantly regretting things, constantly regretting things, constantly regretting things, constantly regretting things, constantly queantly queantly queantly queantly questioning your own actions. Or youstioning your own actions. Or youstioning your own actions. Or youstioning your own actions. Or youstioning your own actions. Or youmight be mostly afflicted by a stmight be mostly afflicted by a stmight be mostly afflicted by a stmight be mostly afflicted by a stmight be mostly afflicted by a state of neutral sleepineate of neutral sleepineate of neutral sleepineate of neutral sleepineate of neutral sleepiness, or simply by thess, or simply by thess, or simply by thess, or simply by thess, or simply by thepreprepreprepresence of a great deal of thoughtsence of a great deal of thoughtsence of a great deal of thoughtsence of a great deal of thoughtsence of a great deal of thoughts that are not pars that are not pars that are not pars that are not pars that are not particularly kleticularly kleticularly kleticularly kleticularly kleshas or nega-shas or nega-shas or nega-shas or nega-shas or nega-tive in themselvetive in themselvetive in themselvetive in themselvetive in themselves. If any of thes. If any of thes. If any of thes. If any of thes. If any of these is your principal problem, then in the sse is your principal problem, then in the sse is your principal problem, then in the sse is your principal problem, then in the sse is your principal problem, then in the sameameameameameway, you aim your practice at that.way, you aim your practice at that.way, you aim your practice at that.way, you aim your practice at that.way, you aim your practice at that.