Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 68-minute commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering works through a body-isolation section of completion-stage practice, beginning with five concentrations: individual withdrawal (perceiving all appearances as empty), investigation, analysis, mental bliss, and single-pointed absorption. He explains how the hundred pure deity lineages are constructed — twenty coarse objects (aggregates, elements, sense bases, sense objects) each mapped across the five Buddha families — and how impure appearances are stopped so phenomena arise as their corresponding deities. A careful distinction separates investigation (general conviction that phenomena are in the nature of the deity) from analysis (detailed examination of each object). The session closes with subtle drop meditation, winds gathering in the central channel, the signs of the four emptinesses (smoke, flickering light, sparks, clear open space), and the ignition of Tummo. For practitioners engaged with Guhyasamāja completion-stage practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 33 2006 03 30 G and P.mp3
UUID: 692fe92c-75a7-459e-8596-0a47de63a47e
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Grounds & Paths (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2006-03-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 67.7 minutes
Words: ~3,280
So now we give rise to good motivation and thinking that we must bring all beings into enlightenment. In order to accomplish that, we are now going to engage in the practice of the grounds and paths of secret mantra and bring us to completion.. So then we are Page thirty one, absorption where the deity appears as a manifestation of bliss and emptiness. There are five types of concentration. And then these five types are the examination, which is a meditation — a detailed meditation of the details of the body of the deity, which has the apprehended aspect or the objective aspect of inseparable bliss and emptiness. So this is the first one of those on bottom of page thirty one.
This is the first one of them. And then the second one is so we we the first one is without details, without meditating on the details, without detailed investigation of the of the body body of the deity. The second one is analysis, which is a meditation the details, a detailed meditation of the bodies of the body of the deity. And then the third one is mental bliss, which is concordant with that wisdom consciousness, which has of inseparable bliss and emptiness. And then the fourth one is the bliss of pliancy, which is concordant with that, concordant with in the case with that mental bliss that we came before.
And then the fifth one is the absorption of or the concentration of a single point in mind. And then briefly, Gela said, the pliancy here, he thinks, refers to the bliss of physical bliss. Okay? So then, okay, we again, we go together, okay, as the usual usual drill. So the Tibetan text goes like this.
So from all of those, the individual withdrawal, investigation and analysis — the three: individual withdrawal, investigation, analysis —, they are body isolation of the post meditation practice. Okay. And then this bliss of how do say? Joy, bliss and concentration, these three they are, how to say, meditative equipoise, which is the body isolation of meditating on the ultimate deity. And then Geshe-la explains, so then this joy, bliss and concentration refer to the last three here, which is the last three of these concentrations, which is the the mental mental bliss, and then the bliss, which is pliancy of the body, and then concentration itself, which is the last one.
Okay? So then there is of this if we divide if you make an extensive division of this body isolations, then we have the one hundred pure lineages. And then we have of families, lineages of families. We have the Tathagatas five Tathagatas lineages or five Tathagatas families. And we have the three secret lineages or again, the three secret families.
And again, we have the very secret very secret lineage of family of body isolation. Okay. So then as the one hundred pure lineages or one hundred pure families, Then you have we have the five aggregates. Then we have four elements. We have eye, ear, nose, tongue and so forth..
The six sensory bases.. And we have a form, sound, odour and so forth, which are the five objects. And so those make up twenty coarse objects, right? All of them together, they make twenty and each one of them is divided in five and then that accounts for one hundred. Then, okay, we have the form and so forth.
And then for each one of those, you have corresponding to, for example, to the five aggregates, you have the five Tathagatas. And then to the four elements, you have the four consorts, okay? And like this, and then you have the six, etcetera. The six. Okay?
And then you have the form. What what what is the what do they call Devi? Rupadevi. Rupadevi. Rupadevi.
You have the the the form Devi, the form goddess and and and so forth. So which is a form or other taste and so forth. And so they account for the twenty deities, okay? And each one of them has is divided into five different lineages and that accounts for a hundred. And that’s how and then you meditate like this.
Okay? Design. You have you have the five aggregates, and then corresponding to the five aggregates, you have the five Tathagatas. Yeah. Yeah.
So then So you meditate, for example, in the case of the five aggregates, form, feeling, compositional factors, and and so forth. So for them, one one in the case of form, one how do you say? Stops or how do you say? Or destroys the the ordinary impure appearance of form, in pure form, and then form will arise as as a deity, as one of the five Buddha families. Form arises as as the deity.
And then the same for feeling, impure impure aggregate of feeling is destroyed or is stopped, and then it arises as the deity. And it’s the same go for every every one of of the aggregate. So then and again, So then and again, the same goes for the four elements, which is earth’s earth, water, fire, and wind. And then for each one of them, there is there is a a consort. So then one one, how to say, stops with the impure appearance conceptual appearance of these elements, and then one gives and then the arising starts as as as the the consorts.
And the same goes for the sensory basis, the eye, ear, nose, etcetera. The of them, they arise as the six Bodhisattvas, Kṣitigarbha and and the other ones. And then again, for each one of the objects, form, sound and so forth, then you have this five there are five objects, form, sound, odour and so forth. The five of them, each for each one of them you have the how to say, a goddess, the goddess of form, goddess of sound and taste and so forth. And then if you put all these data together, you have twenty and each one of them, you divide each one of them into into five different lineages or families, and then you have one hundred.
So is is is giving the names of each one of the lineages, but I cannot remember the the translation now. So if you want, I can look into that later, each of the five families, Buddha families. Yeah. Yeah. Amoghasiddhi, the Those, those are the the Buddhas, but there’s a name for their families.
So there’s the Tathagatas family, the Lotus family, the vajra family. What was it? karma. I think the green one is karma. You see the lotus family already?
Lotus. vajra. No. The the the family, the lotus, the family. Oh.
The family? I can’t remember, now. So then I was just explaining. So then then we have this five Buddha families, five lineages, and then we we divide each one of of these deities. We have we have one for each which one we have one of these days for each family.
So you have, for example, how to say, the form the form goddess and the sound goddess, and you have one for each family. And then like this, you would have one hundred deities. And then the next next to the text is the author is saying the author is saying that there are of the twenty two deities, again, explained the twenty two deities of the Guhyasamāja, ten are, how to say, wrathful. And then you have also Maitreya and Samantabhādra. And and here, he’s not going to talk about it because in the root tantras, there is no clear, direct explanation.
So of this of this deity, so he won’t talk about it here. Okay? So then as for their being for their generally as for their being the twenty two deities of the body isolation, the author says that in the introduction or the preface of the Condensed Secret, it is stated in this context, how do you say, they are in the context of the of the body isolation, the these twenty two deities, they are all of them, they are they are mentioned. Okay? So then one has to the the author says we have to we have then to look into the annotation of commentaries on that in order to to know it, to know about this this subject.
So then the author says that he he he thinks that this hundred pure lineages, they are mainly a division of, how do say, analysis. So I think this is mainly mostly a division of analysis or the part of of analysis in the meditation that was mentioned before, remember, in the in the introduction, the five concentrations. So I think this is mainly analysis, referring to analysis. So then then the test goes on to say that individual withdrawal, as for individual withdrawal, it is not meditation of the deity of the aspects of the deity like the mouth, the hand and so forth. I was explaining, it not that the individual withdrawal is, how to say, meditating on everything that appears as having the aspect of emptiness, of being empty.
Everything that appears as being empty. That’s what individual withdrawal refers to. It was explained before in the text. Then, how to say, joy, bliss and concentration, are how to say, a manifestation or an aspect of the ultimate.
They are and Geshe-la explains, there’s a manifestation of of emptiness or an aspect of emptiness. Okay? So then and then as for investigation, the author says, as for investigation, then it is not how to say, it is not one does not apply or one does not attach to each of the coarse objects, or each of the twenty coarse objects, each one of the twenty deities. But one instead, one takes those basis of purification, all the bases of purification and gathers them. How do you say?
Gathers them, collects them in in five, and then and then one applies and then how to say, when how to say, turn the mind, how to say, develops this this conviction or or visualizes them as having as being the the aspect of the five families. Or or the text goes on to say of of being in in the aspect of Dorje Chang, which is Vajradhāra. And then so in notes on the five stages, it is stated that investigation is this conviction or is this visualization. It’s hard to translate this term, of the aspect of Dorje Chang, of Vajradhāra. Okay.
And then analysis is this detailed mental division, which is a mental analysis of each object and sense power being each one of the deities of the twenty deities. Okay? Is that going on with the English? What is it? Investigation is the resolution in being a mere aspect of Vajradhāra.
Yeah. You see, is this is this word So it’s like it was not a resolution. It’s just as, again, I was saying, it’s thinking that meditating that, oh, it is like this. It is like this. And you it’s like it’s visualizing and developing this this conviction that it is it is like that that that form is is the deity of form, is is the goddess of form and so forth, visualizing and generating this conviction.
So it is like this. It’s like it’s like this this word that is translated as resolution. It’s like it’s a it’s can I sense it? It’s it’s just thinking, oh, it is like this. It is that.
You know? And one one one was visualizing generate this conviction that it is that. This one. And then in the later so then and then so then that that was stated. And then in the later tantras, we have it stated that the the three secret ones, they are referring to analysis to investigation.
I have to look for a better word for this. Investigation. Investigation makes sense. Anyway, So then I was asking I was asking, Gala, what is the difference between what is being translated as investigation and analysis? Okay?
So the the main difference Geshe-la was saying is that this word has been translated as as investigation. It’s just like it’s it’s meditating on the deity, but without details. And then analysis will be with all the details, the hundred deities and so forth and everything. So that’s that’s what’s what differentiates one and the other. You if if the English word, this is the best word, I’m not sure.
So and then we go next. So the the later tantras state that the three secret ones, they are what is called, what’s being translated here as investigation. And then it is stated in the illuminating lamp, the text, the Illuminating Lamp, it is stated that the sense powers, the objects, and the and the sense consciousness, the three of there are three for three secret ones for this tree. And then so this also this secret the secret three, this three secret ones, the they make up three sets of five.
And to each one each one of this, how to say? Los. Los. Los. Then one thinks of them as being the five lineages, the five Buddha families.
And then Geshe-la was explaining. So it is just thinking that they are the five lineages, but not getting to detail as as for as saying, for example, that, oh, the form is the is the goddess of form. The sound is the goddess of sound. You don’t get into details. Geshe-la is just saying one generally generates this conviction.
The general conviction, they are such. They are the five Buddha families, and and they are the three secret ones and so forth. But you don’t get into details one by one as such. Okay? And then and then in the in the another text, which is the Sun that Clarifies the Profound Meaning, it is stated that how do you say?
So then so then it’s it’s I don’t I don’t know how how they did it in English. Okay. I’m gonna make a translation here. So what is being translated as as as investigation here? So he’s is saying that conceiving of of being in the nature of the deities.
So that is how do say, topa, which I’m inclined to think that it is more like of conceiving of conceptual, conceiving of conceiving as being the nature of the deity. And then that’s called investigation. And then while the detail, analyzing in detail the mouth, the hands and so forth, that is that is called the branch of analysis. Okay? And that is that is said, but that’s the author is is calling us to analyze that subject further.
Okay. Is that is that what is it? Where where are we? Oh. So investigation on the nature of the deity is investigation.
You see, I asked Gela, what is being referred to as was what was the investigation of the nature of the deities, okay? I’m asking what is the Tibetan asking Tibetan, what is this? What is this? He says, oh, that is is thinking, is meditating that this is in the nature of the deity. That is in the nature of the deity.
Whatever is the object of meditation, it doesn’t end up with the deity. So I’m not sure if if investigation is the best word here. I probably I personally, I don’t think I would use this. I would choose this word. Yeah.
Yeah. Because I I think it’s it has to do with the word that was used before in Tibetan was Dmigs-pa. Dmigs-pa, which is again to generate this conviction that something is that this is that is generating this this conviction. So I I think it has something to do with that. I’m not sure if this this this choice of words is the best one.
I’m lost. What is it? And then we’ll go to the next paragraph, which is saying that by meditating on the subtle, referring to the subtle drop, then there is a system of collecting the winds. And then from that, a way of giving rise to melting bliss. Okay?
And then from that, there’s a way of completing or bringing to completion the four blisses and the four emptinesses. Okay? Which they translate here as four empties. I don’t know why. Emptinesses doesn’t sound good, but that’s what it is.
So then as for those all those things that were mentioned, right? Meditating the way of collecting the wind, then from that, the way of giving rise to the melting bliss, and then the four blisses and the four joys and the four emptinesses. So then in this system, the yogi that has completed both the and the subtle generation stage, he by meditating on the subtle drops on both the So then so then, this yogi who has completed both the subtle and the coarse generation stage, he’s by meditating on the subtle drops on both the lower end and the upper end of the central channel, he makes how do you say? How would I say that? He makes he makes by making the mind by making the the oh, by making the wind abide by by by holding the the mind one pointedly, he makes the wind abide together with the mind.
So whatever it is that he grasps is grasped by his mind, then there, the winds will be gathered. Does that make any sense? Okay. Los. Los.
And then on the on the based on on the based on that, that’s what I think there is another. So that the wind and the mind have the same point of engagement. So and then in dependence upon that. Okay. So it’s the next paragraph.
So in dependence on that, then the wind enters abide and dissolves is made to enter abide and dissolve. And then from that one, how to say, the signs of the four emptinesses come about. Or arise. Okay? So the emptiness.
So then it’s it’s a emptiness, great emptiness, very great emptiness. And then the last one, which I can’t remember. Strangely. Something like that. I cannot remember.
Explained as for each one of of these emptinesses, for each one So then the signs I was just talking about, the signs of each of the four — for each of the four instances, there is a respective sign. And now I was just explaining, so there the sign of smoke in in the darkness, and then there is the sign of flickering light. And then the the the flickering light or flickering flame. And then And then the the appearance of, how do you say, sparkling lights. Sparks.
Sparks. Something like fireflies. Something like that. And then and then the appearance of, like, clear empty space. I gotta compare this as in the sky in very early morning, totally clear empty space.
Fireflies, isn’t it? Yeah. This one. Oh, yeah. So then then on that basis, the winds enter abiding dissolving the central channel and then the four emptinesses and the four their signs arise.
And then at the time of the entering the central channel in the path of the central channel, which is the central channel itself, then when the when the downward winds are turning are turned are reversed upwards, then Tummo is ignited. Tummo, which is again explained as this very strong heat, is ignited. And then having ignited the Tummo, this very strong heat that brings the winds upwards, then