Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute talk, Alex Berzin explores the theoretical foundations of sadhana practice, the visualisation-based method central to tantric Buddhism. He walks through what makes tantra “faster” than earlier Buddhist approaches: practitioners visualise themselves as a Buddha deity, experiencing the deity’s body, environment, and ability to enjoy and act without confusion. Berzin explains the symbolism of the mandala palace and its offerings as practical training in non-conceptual enjoyment and limitless generosity. He then addresses a core question: how is imagining oneself as a deity not self-deception? The answer lies in recognizing one’s Buddha-nature and labelling that potential as already realised, similar to how a continuous mind-stream allows for a valid non-literal aspiration. He goes on to examine tantra’s “closer union of method and wisdom”—how focusing simultaneously on the deity’s form and its voidness (absence of fantasised ways of existing) unifies what in earlier practice must remain sequential. Finally, he explores why the deity form itself serves as a superior basis for understanding voidness: it arises from emptiness, remains stable without decay, and appears only to the mind’s eye, making its non-solid nature more evident. Pitched at practitioners encountering foundational tantric theory.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 SP.mp3
UUID: 1a6a04b1-80ba-4cf8-91f6-80c7ee9c4ace
Teacher: Alex Berzin
Collection: Theory of Sadhana practice (Alex Berzin)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.6 minutes
Words: ~6,035
The question is, the architecture is symbolic of sentient beings’ minds as well? Not really. The architecture, most of the levels of symbolism of it are going to be of the different aspects of the path, the different realizations that we’re going to get on the stages of the path so that what you’re training to do is to be aware of all of these realizations simultaneously. That’s specifically the symbolism of the buildings. But again, it’s going to help in the same vein as we were talking before of being able to be aware of many, many other people at the same time.
So we have the building, and the building has an environment outside it as well. It’s a whole world system. That’s what the word mandala means. Then we also have we imagine that we’re able to make use of or enjoy things the way that a Buddha does, and that is without confusion. The way that we usually make use of things or enjoy things is with confusion.
That’s usually translated by the word contaminated and uncontaminated pleasure, rather unfortunate choice of words. It’s not this type of contamination, but rather it’s either with or without arising from confusion and creating confusion. The way that we enjoy things, for instance, is like we see flowers or we see a picture of art and we’re not able to just enjoy it. We always criticize it.
This is no good or this flower is gonna make me sneeze. This sort of thing, we’re worried about it. Or we can’t enjoy a meal purely without worrying that it’s gonna make me fat, it costs too much, it has too much salt. These sort of things or we can’t listen to music without criticizing it. You know, my stereo equipment is not as good as my neighbor’s stereo equipment.
And this type of hindrance, this type of confusion comes in. You know, the incense is gonna make us sneeze. All sorts of problems come in. Whereas the way that a Buddha is able to enjoy things is without any confusion at all, just to be able to enjoy them purely. That’s why we have all the offerings in these sadhana practices.
It’s two types of offering. One is offerings to the figures in front of us, which is a way of showing respect and honoring them. It’s not that you’re bribing them or this type of thing. Also, what you have is imagining that we ourselves are enjoying these offerings. Imagine that you send out some figure from your heart and then they come back and make these offerings to us and we enjoy them.
And you practice enjoying them without confusion, just purely without worrying about what they cost, without worrying about criticizing them or these sort of things. It’s very helpful for being able to, just in daily life, be able to enjoy things in a pure type of way. It’s very, very helpful. That’s why also there’s a, you know, when you make the offerings, there’s a whole sort of consecration of them. And one part of that involves making them infinite so that they don’t run out.
And that also is a very helpful thing in our lives in terms of giving to others. If you feel that you have only a limited amount of things that you can give, let’s say you have five pieces of cake and that’s it, well then you’re going to be a little bit stingy. You’re going to be a little bit choosy in who you give it to and these sort of things because it’s going to run out. If you had an infinite supply of cake or glasses of water or whatever it is that you could give to others, then you wouldn’t be worried. You’d just be able to give freely with a tremendous amount of energy.
This is what you imagine when you make these offerings. They’re not going to run out, and it’s very helpful for when we ourselves are working with others and so on, to feel that my energy isn’t going to run out. What I have to give is not going to run out. There’s an infinite supply, an infinite source. Of course, have to be realistic and not run yourself into the ground, but the point is that you should know when to take a rest.
However, we can do far more than we think we’re capable of, and it will be helped by having this feeling of, I’m able to give without it running out and not worrying about that. There’s a lot of these aspects that are involved with all the offerings that we do in these sadhanas. It’s very helpful. Imagine that we’re able to enjoy it ourselves without confusion the way that a Buddha does. Now, the other aspect is this aspect of imagining that we are able to act in a way that a Buddha acts.
And the way that a Buddha acts is, without any confusion. I’m sorry. Confused. Take that back. The way that a Buddha acts is, a Buddha doesn’t have to do very much.
You know? A Buddha is able to spontaneously accomplish everything. What a Buddha does is exerts an enlightening influence on everything and everyone around them. Enlightening influence is what’s usually translated as either virtuous conduct or Buddha activity, Buddha conduct. These sort of things, enlightened conduct.
It’s an enlightening influence. Right? It’s like a charisma. They don’t have to do very much, just their way of being is going to influence others to either well, there are four ways in which it does this. Either to quiet down, to pacify difficult situations, difficulties, stimulate things to grow.
That’s usually translated as increase. To stimulate things or to influence things to go in a very strong positive direction or a forceful influence to stop dangerous situations. So for instance, their, you know, this ability to quiet things down, to calm everyone around them is, just by their way of being. There’s one Lama in Dharamsala, Rato Rinpoche, who’s known as the baby Lama. Lama.
People bring their babies to him when their babies are crying all the time and being very upset. Just being in his presence, that quiets them down and calms them down. We imagine that we have this calming influence on everybody around us. We exert this influence and so on. Or another one is to stimulate.
You’re with these Lamas and they can stimulate us to understand things more quickly, stimulate us to be able to practice more. They really inspire us in this way. So we imagine that we’re able to do that as well. Or to stimulate The third way is to exert this influence to have us go very strongly in a positive direction. Holiness in Switzerland, during the Kālacakra initiation, somebody requested that the one day vows be given.
So His Holiness said, you know, announced, someone request this. Is this something that everybody would like to do? Everybody said, yes. So his holiness said, okay. Tomorrow morning, we’ll meet here at four o’clock in the morning.
And, you know, everybody was a little bit unnerved by that. But, anyway, you know, this was what his Holiness had said. It was incredible because there were five thousand people who came for the Kālacakra. Of those five thousand, about four thousand of them came at four o’clock in the morning. That was before the trains or the buses or anything worked.
Many of them had to camp out. This is a clear example of the enlightening influence of somebody who, other than someone like His Holiness, could exert such a strong positive influence. He didn’t have to do anything. It spontaneously accomplishes everything. This is what that word means.
Everybody came. To have that strong of a positive influence on everybody is what we imagine that we’re able to do. Or sometimes when there’s dangerous situations and you have to exert a forceful influence to stop them, that’s usually translated as wrathful. But wrathful is a bit heavy. It’s forceful.
For instance, there was once when His Holiness was giving a an initiation in South India, where I was present, and a swarm of hornets flew into the temple. And everybody started to freak out, and His Holiness just stopped what he was doing, looked at them, started doing some, you know, something obviously, some type of thing in his head, and the hornets just turned around and flew right out. I saw it with my own eyes. Likewise, we imagine that we’re able to exert this type of forceful influence to end dangerous situations when it’s necessary. These are the things that you do during the sadhana, when you do the mantra, for instance.
You are imagining that you’re this deity with the self image and so on, saying the mantra, and imagining that lights and so on go out from us and calm everybody down, stimulate them to grow, influence them to go in a positive direction and forceful situations. That’s the core of what we’re doing in the more simple type of practices inside this building with the offerings and so on. Now we might say, well, isn’t this a type of self deception? You know, this isn’t really, happening. Know, this is, you know, you’re a bit crazy.
But, it’s not a self deception because, we’re aware of, what we’re doing. Know, We know that we’re not yet Buddha, but what we’re doing is we are labeling ourselves as a Buddha now based on all the potentials that we have, the Buddha-nature, these factors which will allow us to become like that in terms of the everlasting stream of continuity of our mind stream. That’s tantra also, if you remember. Based on what we have potential to become, then thinking in terms of the future continuity of our mind stream, then we label ourselves now as having achieved that, realizing full well that we aren’t there yet. Otherwise, you’re a crazy person and thinking that you’re Napoleon and lock you up.
It’s not a type of self deception. Okay. That’s the first point, that there’s a closer analogy to what it is that we want to achieve. Any questions on that? No?
Yep. To all what of tantra? Yes. This is common to all levels of tantra. This is, the characteristics of tantra in general that I’m describing now.
Mhmm. Right. Mhmm. Yeah. Right.
Well, I mean, that’s why people, you know, get involved in, various different deity systems. Right. If you have no understanding, then I mean, there’s some benefit because it is a certain vibe and a certain calm vibe that’s generated from it, but you’re not getting the full advantage of it, the full benefit of it. To just do the mantra, simply the transmission of the mantra would be sufficient. You can obviously say the mantra without somebody giving you the mantra, but there’s going to be a little bit more energy behind it if you’ve received it from somebody who has received it from somebody, who has received it from somebody, going all the way back.
And at least you’re confident that it’s correct, and there’s some sort of, living tradition and energy behind it. No. No. There’s not, any point in looking it up. However, we are in the modern age and you’re not living in Timbuktu.
Even if there isn’t a lama or a geshe here, you have the telephone. Somebody can give it to you over the phone even if that’s something that there’s really a big necessity, a big purpose for. Obviously, you don’t go bugging the lamas for things like that. But we live in the modern world. There’s no reason why we can’t use it, use the facilities of the modern world.
There are other geishas here in Australia. Taking of refuge, that’s putting this direction in our life. There is an actual ceremony which can be done of taking refuge formally. It’s done in various styles and different traditions. Some will cut a little piece of hair, some won’t.
You get a name. This sort of thing. But even if we haven’t done that as a separate ceremony, it is part of any initiation, regardless of what level it is, regardless of whether it’s a full empowerment or a permission. Pardon. Yeah.
I mean, we shouldn’t, it’s not that we’re taking refuge in this deity or that deity or this Buddha or that Buddha. What are we taking refuge in? The ultimate source of refuge, the deepest source of refuge is the Dharma. It says that in the Uttara Tantra, Furthest Everlasting Streams, a text by Maitreya. It’s in this ultimate preventive measure of all the limitations removed, all the potentials realized for the benefit of others, as is indicated by those who have achieved it, Buddhas.
Now, those Buddhas, that’s not that this Buddha or that Buddha, and those Buddhas can manifest, you know, in various types of forms. You know, and then there’s also the Sangha, those who are working towards that. Now, the the Buddhas as Yidams. Yidam is one of these Buddha figures. Yidam literally means ye is mind and dam is the same word from damtsig, this close bond.
So it’s a figure to bond our minds, meaning our minds, our hearts, our body and speech, everything closely with, you know, a way to bond ourself more closely with what it is that we want to achieve. So it’s a type of manifestation which is helpful as a technique for bonding us more closely with the goal that we want to achieve. That’s what Yidam is. The Buddhas manifest that. We might have certain connection, well, you know, a stronger connection with one or another that’s, you know, okay.
But, it’s not that, you know, you’re taking refuge in this particular one as opposed to another one. You know, we should always keep in mind what it is that it’s standing for. Otherwise, it becomes a personality cult. Right. Well, there was that unfortunate choice of the title for the book, the cult of Tārā, but, it’s not a cult.
Right. Well, that devotional aspect is, you know now, obviously, Buddhism is a very large religion. And, you know, you call it religion, philosophy, psychology. It depends on who you’re talking to. But if you are speaking about it as a world religion, like when we’re speaking yesterday at the Vesak celebration, well, you’re gonna have a large segment of the population of this world who are into it.
Now, obviously, they’re not going to all be into it on a very deep philosophical level. Same thing in terms of Christianity, same thing in terms of any religion. And so you are going to have a folk level of it, and that folk level of it is going to involve a devotional aspect. Now, if that’s what appeals us and what we want to get into, fine, it’s there. But, you know, there are much deeper levels to it.
Much deeper. Well, the Tārā really isn’t like the mother. But in any case, she is the one who gives protection from fear. Her word means the one who protects. So, I mean, you could think of a mother in that type of image, but not necessarily.
Oh, yes. But that again is, you know, hippie English, basically. You know, hippie English doesn’t necessarily, convey an accurate translation of any Tibetan terms. It’s just hippie way of talking. Well, it’s sort of, one of, you know, this, energy of life.
I mean, that’s the deeper meaning of Tārā’s energy is, that is the energy which will protect you. There are many, many different levels of Tārā and many different levels of what the fears are that Tārā protects you from. Referring to things within the subtle energy system and so on. But, you know, when you have your energy together and so on, that vital energy can be used for healing. It does heal.
It does give long life. It does protect you from various type of of difficulties. But I don’t know how, you know, how much people really wanna get into that devotional side. You know, for some people, if they want to get into that, fine. But, even if they’re into that, I think as Westerners, it’s important to have some understanding of some deeper, significance of it.
Because if you just leave it on a devotional side, then what’s the difference between that and any other devotional practice? And if there’s no difference, then it just becomes a matter of either a cult or, you know, my football team versus your football team. It’s dangerous. Right. Right.
Right. Definitely. And it shouldn’t be that. No. You know, when you are having pujas, honoring ceremonies, so on, it’s in the sense of showing respect to those who have achieved this, which is very important, and then respect for ourselves, for the potential within ourselves to be able to do it.
But there’s always this sort of aspect. Because even when you make prayers in Buddhism, what does the word prayer mean? Prayer means a path of aspiration. You’re aspiring. There’s a pathway of aspiring.
It’s literally what the word means. So what it is is basically directing our energies in a certain way, sort of psyching yourself up into something. May I be able to help everybody? May I be able to have insight into reality? All these sort of things.
Not may I have a Mercedes-Benz. It is a way of psyching yourself up to that. It’s not as though Mammy Tārā is going to grant you this wish. That’s childish. Rather that, may I be inspired by your example.
That’s what we when you pray to a figure, is asking for inspiration to be able to do it ourselves. May I be inspired from your example so that I myself can actually develop this wisdom, develop this compassion, or whatever it is that we want to develop. And you work yourself up to it. It’s a pathway to aspire. Seeing the qualities.
Yes. Well, it’s a devotion to those qualities rather than to the actual personality and the cult. Yeah. And devotion, rather than devotion, I was using the word as in guru devotion, commitment. It’s a wholehearted commitment to this is what I want to develop, this is what I want to be like, and I respect those who have done it.
And I ask for inspiration from that example to be able to do it myself. These are important points. Anything else? Yeah. Well, you know, we have to be careful not to get too heavy and look down on the the folk who are doing the who are participating in the folk religion.
You know? I don’t think it’s such a bastardization. It’s just, for some people, that’s useful. Mhmm. Right.
Mhmm. Right. Well, there are many misunderstandings of, many points in different religions, and we should try to avoid that in Buddhism. I mean, although you might find, you know, certain folk levels of it, you know, if that appeals to you, fine. But, if not, don’t think it’s limited to just that.
Because you will find it, especially, you know, when there are large, Asian Buddhist communities around Because then you’re dealing with a whole people as opposed to Buddhism coming in the West, in which it’s not coming in on a folk level. It’s only appealing to those people who you know, are specifically looking for, an alternative spiritual path to what they have in their own cultures. So it’s different. Okay. Why don’t we take our tea break, and then we’ll continue.
Well, we’ve covered the first point in terms terms of general tantra, why it’s speedier than sūtra. And that was because there are closer analogies. Here, there are closer analogies to the result of what we want to achieve, closer in terms of imagining that we already have the body of one of these Buddha figures, that the environment is like that of a Buddha. We’re able to enjoy things the way a Buddha enjoys them and able to act in a way that a Buddha acts. Now, the second point was that, there are closer, there’s a closer union of method and wisdom.
Now, remember, we had method and wisdom here being, in Sūtra. The, method side was the building up of a store of positive potential through, our hearts set on enlightenment, bodhicitta, and our heart expanding out to all or towards all others and acting with that type of expanding heart built up a lot of positive potential that was the method, which was the main cause for the body of a Buddha, and the wisdom being the, deep awareness of reality, specifically of this absence or voidness, that being the major cause for the mind of a Buddha, though each has to be helped by, each other. Yes? Right. Right.
Mhmm. So, we had, method and wisdom being these two things. Now, what we want to achieve is a, a body and a mind of a Buddha. Now, a body of and a mind of a Buddha always come together in package. Right?
You can’t get one without the other. Now that’s what’s usually called or usually translated are one by nature, which, again, is a terribly misleading translation. It’s a ngo bo gcig in Tibetan. It means that things come together in one package. You can’t have the body without the mind.
Now, if we could now, when we are practicing in the sūtra method, the sūtra technique method is bodhicitta. Wisdom is the understanding of the absence of the fantasized or voidness. Now, you cannot, unless you’re a Buddha, have, these two in the sūtra level, in one mind together, in one package, because, what’s going on is that or in one moment of mind, right? Because in one moment of mind, what we are having, a moment of awareness, if it’s the method side, it’s your heart is set on enlightenment. That’s bodhicitta.
And your heart is expanding out towards all others, you know, with you know, you want to achieve enlightenment, remove all your limitations, realize all your potentials in order to be able to help everybody. Right? So your mind, your heart, is set on, this state that you want to achieve and helping all others. When we’re focused on this absence or voidness, then when you’re doing the wisdom side, it’s focused on that, on this absence of fantasized ways of existing. Unless you’re a Buddha, you can’t have them both in one package.
You can’t have them at one moment. The technique that you have in Sūtra is to have one within the context of the other. Your heart is expanding out to all others, reaching your fullest potentials to be able to help them within the context of understanding the absence of all fantasized ways of existing. Not simultaneously, but within the context of that. When we understand, when our mind is expanding out to understanding this absence, it’s within the context of our heart expanding out towards everybody.
Don’t get misled by heart and mind. Ordinary people, you could have at the same time. It’s not one. Here we’re talking about the focus of our attention. The focus of our attention is either on the absence or it’s on everybody else in reaching our fullest potentials to help them.
So one is within the context of the other. Now, in tantra, if we could follow a method and a wisdom which we could do at the same time, have it in one package, then that would be closer to the result that we want to achieve. You know, the method would be the cause for the body of a Buddha and the wisdom, the cause for the mind of a Buddha. If we could do those two in the same package at the same time, it would be closer, speedier, efficient for achieving the body and mind of a Buddha, which is going to be in one package. So in Tantra, although you have the basic method of bodhicitta, which is true in all Mahāyāna practices, nevertheless, in Tantra we’re going to practice a special method, a special technique for achieving the body of a Buddha, which is to imagine that we have the body of a Buddha already, to visualize that we have the body of a deity.
That’s going to be the uncommon method or technique. Now, if we’re doing that, then it is possible to have the two together in one package because our mind could be aimed at this absence of the absence of the fantasized, which is the way that it’s done in tantra. It’s aimed at voidness. And then way in which what it’s doing is focusing on that but being aimed at the appearance of our self as a deity, having the body of the Buddha. So there’s a big difference here between focusing on the voidness of our body and the voidness of the body and focusing on the body of a deity and the voidness of that.
Because our ordinary body is not going to be a method, for being able to achieve the body of a Buddha. You know, focusing on that isn’t a method for that. Focusing on the body of a Buddha, you know, is, you know, of ourselves as having the body of one of these deities is going to be the method that we can use to be able to achieve the body of the Buddha. And so by thinking in these terms, you’re focusing on voidness, the absence of fantasized ways of existing while being aimed at the body of the Buddha that allows it to be, you know, the body of oneself as a deity, that allows you to do the two at the same time. And so, that allows you to practice method and wisdom together in one package.
Follow that? Okay. Which you couldn’t do if the method was simply bodhicitta by itself, because then you’re focusing on everybody else and on enlightenment and wishing to achieve that. All right? So the aim of it is the body of the deity.
How it takes it is with the understanding of voidness. So the mind understands the voidness of the body of the deity. Now, the next point is a close to union of method and wisdom. Now, the next point of why it’s faster is because there’s a special basis for voidness or for this absence. We are following method and wisdom together in one package.
Method here being focusing on having the body of a deity and the wisdom being the understanding voidness of that. So the major emphasis here is on voidness, on this absence, and, you know, doing that being aimed at the body of the deity. Now, the basis for voidness. The basis for voidness is what is it that exists devoid of or with an absence of fantasized ways of existing? That’s the basis for voidness.
So we can talk about the cup’s absence of existing and fantasized ways, the watch’s absence of existing and fantasized ways. My body’s absence of existing and fantasized ways. That’s the basis for this absence or voidness. Now, in Tantra, we’re taking a special basis. And the special basis is the body of a deity and its absence of existing and fantasized ways.
That has many advantages. First of all, there are three advantages. The first advantage that Let’s differentiate it from focusing on our ordinary body as the basis for voidness. If we focus on our ordinary body, our ordinary body appears to us in a discordant way. It appears to us as short, fat, and ugly or as a monster or as the most beautiful thing in the world or whatever it is.
It has some sort of disturbing aspect to it. Although when we focus on the absence of anything existing in fantasized ways, that absence is the same. Nevertheless, it’s absent. Nothing exists in fantasized ways. Nevertheless, when we’re approaching it in terms of our ordinary body, that ordinary body is, because it has a deceptive appearance, it’s going to somehow infect or affect our way of understanding it.
Because it’s within that whole context of, then you focus on the body itself. Though it exists without these fantasized ways, when focusing on that absence, it’s free of this disturbing aspect. But when you come out of it, then there’s still something disturbing about it, something deceptive about it. Whereas if we are focusing on the voidness of the body as a deity, then what we do is we dissolve everything into voidness. Now, that doesn’t mean nothing exists.
What it’s saying is we’re saying there is an absence of fantasized ways of existing. So you clear out all the garbage, all the fantasies. Then, often the translation will be, out of voidness I arise as. And the implication of that English is like something jumping out of a jack in the box, out of a box. It’s completely incorrect, misleading.
It’s rather within the context of this absence, that’s what the expression means, then I arise as the deity. So within the context, within this absence of fantasized ways of existing, in the context of that, I arise as the deity. So what it means is that we’ve understood its absence of fantasized ways of existing, and then we arise in this form being conscious of and always aware of its voidness, its absence of existing and fantasized ways. So there’s nothing deceptive about it. Whereas the body does have a deceptive appearance the body of the deity, our ordinary body, with the body of the deity.
We’ve already understood its voidness and then focusing on its voidness. So you’re asking during our daily life, how do we arise in one of these Buddha forms? It’s not only having this feeling, but you have to clear out the fantasized ways of existing first. The feeling of I’m a shit or I’m no good or I’m this or I’m that. You clear out that junk.
Then I rise in the form of this deity with this feeling. Now, just as we don’t want to put a big black line around the negative self image, you don’t want to put a big black line around the positive self image either. It’s within the context of not having black lines. Within that context of no black lines, I rise as the deity. Whereas the ordinary body, we’ve already grasped at it.
It always appears to us as having a big black line around it, our body, our identity. Even when we see the absence of those black lines, still when we go back to it, those black lines appear to us. If we’re doing it with a deity, we’ve already understood from the beginning no black lines. So, it’s a little bit easier. It’s a bit of an advantage.
You follow that? Then, the next point, why that basis is special, is because if we’re focusing on our ordinary body and its voidness, its absence of existing and fantasized ways, our ordinary body is something which is a fleeting phenomenon. It’s changing all the time. It’s going downhill. So that body is something which, you know, sometimes I feel good, other times I feel lousy, I feel tired, I’m in this position, I’m feeling sick, I’m feeling healthy.
It’s changing all the time. So that when you go back to focusing on its voidness, the basis for it has changed slightly. Whereas if we’re focusing on voidness or the absence of the fantasized with respect to the body of a deity, well that’s something which is not changing in the sense of it’s not degenerating, it’s not growing old, it’s not getting sick, it’s not feeling good one day, bad the other day. So we have a stable object. Although it’s not a static phenomenon, it’s something which is non static, which can do various things and so on, it is not growing old.
It’s not going through a decaying process like our ordinary body. It gives us a much more stable object to go back to. Stable. So that the in, insight into its voidness can become deeper and deeper because you always have the same basis to go back to, to focus on. Right?
You should be aware though that these Buddha forms aren’t frozen. It’s not like you are Chenrezig, so if you walk around, all you can do is hover above the ground and float along like some sort of robot in a space movie. If you’re one of these deities who are standing up, you can’t move your legs. It’s not that. But of course, you can function in the form of this figure.
However, it does have a standard posture, it’s not growing old, it’s not growing sick, not growing hungry, all these sort of things. There is a standard position of it and there’s always this stable object to go back to so that when we focus on its absence of existing and fantasized ways, have a stable object we can always go back to. That’s the second advantage. The third, we can sustain it. Then the third advantage is that in Sūtra, when we’re focusing, for instance, on the voidness of our body, the body is something which is a gross thing.
And it’s something which appears most of the time just to our eye consciousness. So to our eye consciousness, it appears as though it’s something solid and concrete, not made of atoms, for instance, which if we stuck it under an electron microscope, we’d see that it wasn’t so solid and concrete. But if we’re thinking of the body of one of these Buddha forms, that’s something which appears only to our mind’s eye. And because it only appears to our mind’s eye, it’s easier to see that it doesn’t exist as something solid and concrete. So that, again, is a reason why this is a special basis for voidness and easier for understanding the voidness of because, one, we’ve generated it within the context of this absence of the fantasized.
So we already know it’s voidness before we focus on its voidness. There’s nothing deceptive or confusing about it like our body. It’s something which is stable. It’s not changing all the time in the sense of decaying and so on, so we have a more stable object. And it’s something which only appears in our mind’s eyes, so it’s more obvious that it’s not solid and concrete.
So again, that’s another big advantage to taking the body of the deity as the basis for focusing on voidness. Remember, what’s the main thing that’s going to cut through the cause of all our problems is this focusing on absence of fantasized ways of existing, voidness. It’s a matter of what’s going to be the most efficient technique, the way of doing that. What object are we going to choose? What type of consciousness are we going to choose to do this?
How are we going to combine this with method and so on in order to cut through most efficiently and, at the same time, build up causes for the body of a Buddha? So this is that third third point. The fourth point is concerning the consciousness that we use for understanding voidness. If we speak about the first three classes of tantra, it’s the same level of consciousness as is used in sūtra. We have I mentioned this a little bit on Friday night.
We have three levels of consciousness, three levels of body. The consciousness we have on the gross level gross consciousness, that’s sensory consciousness of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. Then, there’s, mental consciousness. That’s the, I mean, I’m sorry. There’s subtle