11. Week 2 - Teaching 3

Although this is imagination, its nature is wisdom and has inconceivable meaning. We can accomplish HYT realisations just through deep faith and imagination without the need for much study etc. Everything is imputed by mind, it exists. If it imputes correctly, it exists. There are no inherently existent things. Things exist only because the mind imputes them, thinking ’this is this’ and so forth. E.g. John exists because mind imputes ’this is John.’ This is the same for all phenomena. The view of HYT is Buddha’s ultimate view. The intention in HYT is Buddha’s ultimate intention.

Hinayana is simpler, practitioners concentrate on moral discipline. Their external example is very beautiful. Through higher moral discipline, higher concentration, and higher wisdom they can attain enlightenment.

Then Buddha taught the slightly higher teachings of the Mahayana, the bodhisattva’s way of life, with the 6 Perfections. This includes the Kadam Emanation Scripture with the Heart Sutra. These present the Mahayana sutra teachings which Buddha taught as the basic foundation for HYT.

Then Buddha taught HYT, which is the quick path to enlightenment

With Sutra we have to practice over many lives to attain enlightenment. But with HYT we can attain enlightenment in one short life. E.g. Gyalwa Ensapa attained enlightenment in 3 years and 3 months. We can do the same.

We need the basic practice of Sutra. Without Sutra, HYT is too high. We are disciples of JT so we emphasise the practice of Sutra and Tantra equally.

Correct imagination has great meaning, it is wisdom. It has inconceivable meaning.

Through sincerely training in this meditation, we will develop deep familiarity with transforming the clear light of death into the Union of bliss and emptiness. Then at the time of death, we will be able to do this. This transformation is ultimate example clear light, which will cause us to attain the deathless body and we will experience our world as Keajra, and our self as Heruka or Vajrayogini.

Vajrayogini imputed upon Truth Body Dharmakaya is definitive Vajrayogini, real Vajrayogini. Thus we will have fulfilled our ultimate goal.

If we are successful in generating ourself as Truth Body Vajrayogini, then the subsequent bringing should also be successful (described in NGTDL). If we imagine everything dissolves into emptiness, we can overcome ordinary appearances, and this will make it easy to generate new pure appearances. How to do this practically? We should completely stop perceiving our self that we normally see, stop perceiving our body that we normally see, stop perceiving all other phenomena we normally see, which is ordinary appearance, by remembering they do not exist. Through this we can achieve a cessation of perceiving all the things we normally see. Then it is easy to generate a pure land, and ourself as a pure being.

Within the emptiness of the Truth Body, all mistaken appearance has ceased. There are no contaminated objects, no ordinary appearances. Then from the Truth Body arises only unmistaken appearance.

Then we can arise as subtle form body Vajrayogini, by bringing the intermediate state into the path of the enjoyment body. The intermediate state is the state between one life and the next rebirth (bardo in Tibetan). In general immediately after death, our former body disappears and we possess a new body - the body of an intermediate state body, which has 6 characteristics:

1. Its nature is inner subtle winds
2. It cannot be obstructed by obstructive contact. It can go through walls and mountains
3. It is sustained by eating smells (i.e. smell eaters). In Tibet for at least 7 weeks or 49 days it was common for families to mix tsampa with incense and burn this to make a very beautiful smell.
4. It can go from one place to another very quickly
5. Its shape and colour are similar to the body of the next rebirth. E.g. if a human being dies and is about to take rebirth as a dog, the bardo being has the shape of a dog.
6. Its duration is no more than 49 days. A bardo being will not remain for a long time.

These 6 characteristics are for ordinary bardo beings. But HYT practitioners can transform their bardo body into the enjoyment body of Buddha after death. Thus their bardo body will become deathless and they will become enlightened with their bardo body (more in CLOB).

The 2nd bringing - transforming the experience of the intermediate state being into the experience of the enjoyment body Vajrayogini. How do we do this? While believing that our mind of the clear light of death becomes the Union of great bliss and emptiness, which is imagination, from the emptiness of the Dharmakaya, I instantaneously transform into the enjoyment body of Vajrayogini, as a ball of red light. Its nature is great bliss inseparable from emptiness. This resembles the way the intermediate state body arises from the clear light of death. We remain single-pointedly on ourself as Enjoyment Body Vajrayogini.

Bringing rebirth into the path of the Emanation Body - Buddha’s gross form body. We transform our taking rebirth in samsara into the pure land of Keajra as Vajrayogini. This transformation is a spiritual path that leads us to the experience of the pure land of Keajra. We can do this through correct imagination by following the instruction in the sadhana.

In this way we develop clear appearance (opposes ordinary appearances) and divine pride (opposes ordinary conceptions). We should have great confidence in this meditation. This way of identifying ourself is correct, and is extremely beneficial.

This development of ourself as Vajrayogini is an imagined Vajrayogini, because we have imagined we have become Vajrayogini. But we should never think this is not the Truth, that our ordinary body and mind are the Truth. In reality our ordinary body and mind are untrue, because they are truly existent body and mind which do not exist. Body and mind of Vajrayogini came from Dharmakaya. Imagined Vajrayogini is closer to the truth than ordinary body and mind because it is created from wisdom. Our ordinary body is created from the ignorance of our self-grasping, and is less true. It is a deceptive object created by ignorance. Imagined body of Vajrayogini is created from wisdom and pure concentration. It is the real truth. The imagined body of ourself Vajrayogini, which means our body imagined as the body of Vajrayogini, actually exists. It is form that appears to or perceived by mental awareness. Our ordinary body is perceived by sense awareness. Which mind is valid? I can definitely say that the mind that perceives the imagined body of Vajrayogini is valid, and the other is not. The other mind is self-grasping which is deceptive and comes from ignorance. Focusing and meditating continually on Vajrayogini without forgetting is a very powerful practice. Because Vajrayogini is within us, we will continually receive the blessings of Vajrayogini. So we should mentally enjoy this body and mind of Vajrayogini.

We meditate of this self-generation of Vajrayogini in my pure land of Keajra. Whenever we meditate on this we should be completely free from distraction. Since an inherently existent Vajrayogini does not exist, one part of our mind should think, “Although I appear as Vajrayogini and my world appears as the pure land of Keajra, it is not other than emptiness.” This meditation will prevent us from taking rebirth in samsara, and will lead us directly to the pure land of Keajra.

Now the conclusion is - we should know that the 4 preparatory practices are like the 4 wheels of the vehicle and the practice of self-generation is like the vehicle itself. It is therefore clear that the preparatory practices and self-generation are of equal importance.