Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this two-hour teaching, Venerable Thubten Dondrub presents a detailed practical guide to the three-kaya meditation, the central practice of highest yoga tantra’s generation stage. He begins by establishing the essential foundation—bodhicitta motivation—and explains why this meditation matters: it trains the mind to recognize and stay conscious during the death visions, preparing practitioners both for actual death and for completion-stage practice. Dondrub walks step-by-step through the dharmakaya meditation, the heart of the practice, describing how to visualize the dissolution of the outer universe into light, the arising of oneself as one’s chosen deity (whether Heruka, Yamāntaka, Vajrayoginī, or another), and then the systematic dissolution of that form into seed syllables. He details each of the four inner death visions—the mirage-like, smoke-like, spark-like, and dull-light visions—explaining how to hold each one with a concentrated mind, experience it as blissful, recognize its emptiness, and prepare for the next. He emphasizes the four key elements Song Rinpoche taught for each stage: single-pointed focus on the vision, experiencing bliss, meditating on emptiness, and maintaining readiness for what comes next. The teaching then covers the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya meditations, explaining how they purify the bardo state and ordinary rebirth respectively. Throughout, Dondrub stresses that the essence of generation stage is not mantra recitation but cultivating the appearance and divine pride of oneself as the deity. Pitched at practitioners who have received highest yoga tantra initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 3 Kayas Meditations Ven Dondrub.mp3
UUID: 9e5539de-bed6-400c-b021-200f15ec8bb3
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: 3 Kayas (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2005 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 122.1 minutes
Words: ~12,728
It’s very nice to be here. My name is. Oh, yes. Maybe this doesn’t need to be recorded anyway. It’s all happening.
If I could up higher. Yeah. Okay. So our topic is going through the three kaya meditation, which is an extremely important meditation in generation stage of highest yoga tantra. So everyone here does have highest yoga tantra initiation.
Great. So since this practice is part of the whole system that enables us to achieve enlightenment quickly as possible. And the reason for achieving enlightenment as quickly as possible is is not why the Buddha taught Tantra, the path that enables us to achieve enlightenment quickly as possible, is not so much from the point of view that we can stop our suffering as quickly as possible. But by achieving enlightenment as quickly as possible, we have we are able to then stop the whole help, stop suffering of others. That’s the whole purpose of it.
So the very the very basis of practicing tantra has to be the the bodhicitta motivation, wanting to achieve enlightenment. And because of finding the suffering of sentient beings unbearable, not in the sense that one can’t bear thinking about it, but unbearable in the sense that one one it’s unbearable not to do something meaningful to help stop or overcome the suffering of others. So is it therefore, it’s really important that in in listening to some some kind of presentation on this topic, that it’s just some kind of presentation. I’m not really qualified at all to talk about this topic, but Cara is a very, you know, tough, hard customer, as you all know, twisted my arm and sort of trotted my neck and said I had to do something. But so I said, okay.
What can I do? Joking. It’s not like that at all, really. But yeah. Right.
I can yes. So so anyway so it’s important that we try to have this particular motivation as much as we can. And learning or even learning maybe for the think about this as practice. And just even from that point of view, it’s worthwhile to do. But with as much as possible to generating the body, the motivation.
So that’s why we can try and do that now. And it’s helpful helpful as we say the prayer of refuge in bodhicitta to think of ourselves surrounded by all the different kinds of sentient beings. Thinking how, you know, life after life, they’ve only been kind to us in so many ways, especially being kind as our mother, life after many lives. And how old are sentient beings right now are trapped in suffering, mostly far greater greater suffering of various kinds than I’m experiencing right now. And unfortunately, they have far less ability right now to do anything about their suffering, to make any sense of it, or to overcome it, transform it.
Most, right now, have no kind of valid refuge or whatsoever that can help. So right now, just very briefly, we have this precious human rebirth that gives us the chance to discover our good potential and realize everything. So we have this this chance not So to be able to do that, we have to achieve enlightenment. It’s best if we can do that as quickly as possible for the sake of suffering. Please try and generate generate that motivation right now as much as possible based on a very strong refuge in our own Buddha nature.
And that refuge arises through also having a strong outer refuge in the Buddhas. They’re perfect teachers, and we go to the great practitioners of those teachings in the Ārya Sangha. So as we say the prayer, we can to help generate that thought of refuge, visualize the field of refuge or the Śākyamūni with the Buddha in front of us, seated on a magnificent lion throne, by a sun and moon throne. Buddha would be very embodiment of all the qualities the Three Jewels. So first thing before saying prayer of refuge in refuge and bodhicitta, we can first do the mandala offering, short mandala, thinking of offering up all of the whole universe, especially all the beautiful things of the universe, especially those things that we’re most attached to.
We offer these two, the triple gem, to free our mind so that our mind can open to receive the blessings of the Buddhas. In this case particularly, really wishing to receive the blessings of the Buddhas in order to be able to understand this particular meditation practice, receive the blessings to be able to do it properly and gain the actual realization. So we we can now imagine the Buddha is very pleased with us, and because of that now comes to the crown of our head, seated on a lotus and sun, turns around, facing the same direction as ourselves. And you can imagine the Buddha dissolving into light, and then blissful golden light coming down through the crown of our head pervading our whole being. You can imagine that instantly our body becomes free of all pain and discomfort and tension pervaded by this whole So this positive state of mind, we can do the nine round breathing exercise just for a short time to further pacify our mind so that we can apply that calm mind to thinking about this topic throughout the three kaya meditation.
So the highest yoga tantra is the way to, as you all know, to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. And this is done through being able to directly access the the the primordial mind of clear light, most subtle level of consciousness. And with this consciousness, with through one’s understanding of emptiness that one has already acquired through intellectual study, one then is able to use that very subtle mind to meditate on emptiness and very quickly pass through all the stages that bring about enlightenment. And what enables us to in Tantra, what enables us to access that very subtle mind, the primordial mind, the clear mind, that most subtle level of consciousness is through enacting death process through the power of concentration. Through that power of concentration, we’re able to, at some point in our practice, bring the winds into the central channel and actually bring about the death process without dying.
Because in the ordinary death process, very sudden, the gross mind comes to an end because the the gross energies of the of this body cease to function, therefore, gross mind comes to an end. Then the the more subtle energies of the winds come to an end, stop working, fade away. And therefore, the subtle mind comes to an end, and what is left is the most subtle energy of all and the most subtle level of mind, primordial mind of clear light. So that happens just naturally in the death process. But unfortunately, you know, most of us are not able to stay in that mind of clear light and use it for any beneficial purpose.
But through the power of of meditation and so on, one can induce that that whole process to happen without dying, arise and make manifest the primordial mind of clear light and stay in it for longer and longer periods of time and use that mind which is naturally free of all the disturbing thoughts. So that mind, which is also very blissful, one can use the bliss and clarity and subtlety and subtleness of that mind to meditate on emptiness and destroy the obstacles to liberation and the obstacles to omniscience, and also generate as well all the increase one’s experience of bodhicitta. So that is particularly done in the in the completion stage of highest yoga tantra. Of course, there are many levels of doing that. And the preparation for that is the generation stage, which is something that we have been introduced to.
Some people here may have been doing this practice, have been for quite a few years before some of you, it may be something very new. But in the generation stage, are learning how to become familiar with the death process mainly through the power of visualization. But that is preparing us to be able to actually engage effectively in the completion stage where one is actually able to induce the clear light In the completion of the generation stage, we’re just pretending it’s happening. We’re visualizing it’s happening. But this is a very important preparation for it’s preparing our body and mind to be able to actually do the completion stage, the actual practice in the completion stage.
But also, particularly for us, as perhaps, maybe I’m assuming the wrong things, but we’re just basic practitioners here, that it’s also a fantastic preparation for the actual death time. So by becoming more and more familiar with the death process, by doing this practice of the three kaya meditation, we are creating the cause or the conditions to be able to maybe recognize the visions that actually occur at the death time and to be able to stay longer in the clear light state when it arises. I was just reading today or yesterday that his Holiness mentions, His Holiness and Dharmakīrti says that even an ordinary person who doesn’t hasn’t even necessarily trained in tantra can stay in a clear light for up to twenty four hours. I think it’s quite I think it’s quite rare. I think most of us kind of zap through it in like three seconds or possibly even less.
But as His Holiness has said that even an ordinary untrained person can stay, presumably, and if it was Holz didn’t say that presumably because of one’s merit, one’s good karma, one can stay in that state for even twenty four hours. So that memory if we could do that, even as ordinary people, even even an hour, even thirty minutes, or even imagine even one minute in the clear light of death, this would be terrific. It would be a great help in getting a really good rebirth, you know, really, and getting some insight. If in that one minute, one minute of being in the clear light, we could even use what understanding we have with emptiness now and use the clear light mind to meditate on it. It would be terrific.
It would be terrific. So that’s why we need to do this meditation to prepare our mind both for the death that is definitely going to happen and preparing our body and mind to be able to do the completion stage practices. So I should have said this at the beginning, but the the what what qualifies me I don’t have qualifications, but what gives me the minimum minimum qualification theme talking about this topic to anyone else rather than just talking to myself in a mirror about it, is that I have received these teachings several times from the incredibly incomparable Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who is my root Guru. I have heard these teachings a number of times from Rinpoche. And Rinpoche explains that he the way Rinpoche talks about how to do the three kaya meditation comes from Tsong Rinpoche.
This is from Kyabje Tsong Rinpoche’s way, Kyabje Tsong Rinpoche, the way of meditating on the three kayas. And one thing that says is that quoting one of his other gurus, is that when we do like, we all here have the commitment to do some deity practice every day, sadhana of some deity, because you all have the initiation of some deity. So that means, normally, is the commitment to do the sadhana every day. And said Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that he who was alive emphasized that the most important thing to do in that sadhana every day is not the the mantras and all the other things, is to do the three kaya meditation. If you do that, he says, that is the equivalent.
Maybe the essential thing is doing that Dharmakāya meditation. Of course, in generation stage, the main emphasis is many people think that it’s all about reciting mantras. The key thing in generation stage practice, as as the word implies, is generating oneself as the deity, arising as the deity, and developing the clear appearance of oneself as the deity. The clear appearance is referring to not so much having a clear visualization of the deity, but having a clear mind that is visualizing the deity. A very clear, undistracted mind that is attempting to visualize the data.
That’s what the clear appearance is referring to. But once you get that clear mind, in theory, the actual visualization in its totality should come should come. I’ve been waiting a few years, but anyway. And then combined with having that clear appearance of the deity is the divine pride that you’re thinking, I am, you know, I am Heruka, I am Vajrayoginī, I am Gyalwa Gyatso, I am Yamataka or so on. Whatever deity practice, is doing, am Cittamani Tārā or so on.
And so that is the heart of generation stage, working to generate the mind, generate the appearance of one’s subtle mind and energy as the deity. And that comes from doing the three kaya meditation because the last part of that meditation is arising as the deity. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, maybe I’m insulting you by saying these things, but I was never aware of this for many years because I always thought the main part of all tantric things was reciting the mantras, and you do retreats where you sigh. You have to you know, it’s said you have to to fulfill the commitment, have to do a hundred thousand mantras or a million mantras. So it always seemed like that was the heart essence of the meditation, but it’s not at all.
Actually, in the commentaries explains that the essence of generation stage is arising as the deity with the divine pride and trying to single pointedly hold that appearance for as long as you can. In the Tibetan tradition, the you know, how it’s evolved is what Tibetan yogis, yoginis do in achieving single pointed concentration is they don’t you know, there there’s a like a sūtra way you go about developing single pointed concentration where you go into a nice, stable place and visualize particular object, you put it in front of you or something. But what has this rarely happens in the Tibetan tradition or at least in the Tibetan tradition because what has developed is that that people, practitioners, wait to develop single point concentration Tantra where in the generation stage where you will arise as the And then you try to develop single point concentration on yourself as the deity, not having an external object, but yourself as the deity. Ideally, it would be good if you already had single point concentration so that when you arose as the deity, you could hold your mind on that for as long as possible. But that is the key practice, holding your mind single pointedly on yourself as the deity, completely destroying any belief that this ordinary body and mind are existing at all and completely annihilate that through the three kaya meditation, and then arise as the deity and single pointedly hold your mind on it.
And then in the commentaries, explains when you can’t concentrate on yourself as the deity anymore, you then recite the mantra as the next best thing. It’s kind of the mantra is a cop out in a sense when you can’t visualize yourself as the deity, and then you recite the mantra. And why so many says one of the reasons why particular numbers is for the purpose of rejoicing. So you can rejoice that we’ve done so many. I think for us with our minds, take it as a burden.
We have to rush through a hundred thousand and try and get it done as quickly as possible. Actually, which is completely the wrong way of going about it. Ideally, a retreat should take as long as possible, right, to stay in that state, that that state as long as we possibly can, even if it’s not single point of concentration, but to stay in that virtuous state within that kind of retreat environment and trying to visualize the mandala and the deity and so on as long as we possibly can. Isn’t it? Think about it.
Because if nothing else, it’s putting the most virtuous imprints in our mind. So the mind that wants to say the mantra as quickly as possible to finish the retreat as quickly as possible is totally missing the point. I’m sure you have never practiced like that. That’s just been me doing that. So also, one thing that said, which I find is so simple, so profound, so beautiful, is that what is the key to practicing tantra?
What makes tantra, practice of tantra special, really super special is the three principal paths of renunciation, bodhicitta, and emptiness. If you don’t have the basis of those, the tantric technical meditation doesn’t work. You know, of course, it brings some results for sure, but it doesn’t bring the real results. One can only really arise in any meaningful way as the deity if one has some understanding of emptiness. If we have no understanding of emptiness whatsoever or our understanding of emptiness is completely off the planet, there’s no way off, you know, some little dirt sidetrack, then then there’s no way we can even pretend that we’re arising as the deity.
So it’s really important that we base our tantric practice on studying the sūtra teachings, the Prāsaṇgika view of emptiness, and trying to meditate on that. And if if we do that, then we come to do our tantric practice, then we’ve got some basis. Basis. And by doing the beauty of these two things of Lamrim meditation and Tantra Lamrim is the basis for Tantra, but by doing Tantric practice even at our basic level, it it somehow makes our it purifies our mind so that we are able to have by even trying to have the view of of ourselves as the deity, even if we can’t do it very well, it’s an incredibly powerful purification practice that then that more purified mind is able to gain more insight into the Lamrim, into renunciation wisdom, bodhicitta. So these two things feed each other in an incredibly wonderful synchronistic way if we if we practice them properly.
And if we don’t have renunciation, we don’t have again, we don’t have the ability to control the mind enough to be able to have any kind of visualization. And if we do it without any bodhicitta, it can just become a huge ego trip. It doesn’t become a method of overcoming the ego and so on. It becomes a way of enhancing it. There is this famous story that the Lamas always tell about this person who practiced the Yamataka meditation and was able to visualize himself completely as Yamataka with all the arms and legs and everything.
But he he didn’t have any proper motivation, and he died and was reborn as oppressor with the body of Yamāntaka. There’s always And then there’s I remember reading in one of Chogyam Trungpa’s books talking about if you practice Tantra without the right meditation, you just transform yourself into what he called, which I think is just a wonderful term, a cosmic gorilla, which is what this guy did because he really turned himself into this Yamataka, wrathful monster in a sense. Cosmic Very powerful, but highly deluded. Because tantra by itself is just a technique. It’s just a tech as long as I used call it, it’s a technical method.
It’s just a technique, which is something quite there. So if you use it, you can achieve all sorts of kind of things. Because if you concentrate your mind on anything, you will develop some concentration and power. But this doesn’t mean it’s got anything to do with the Dharma, with any real tantra. So if you there’s no refuge and no bodhicitta, it’s very dangerous.
Anyway, I better get onto the topic. Anyhow, it’s all pretty new stuff. Very important. Okay. So I made this big mistake of agreeing to do this because when I thought of talking about the doing the Dharmakāya meditation, I always thought think of it in terms of one deity, but and and usually it’s taught in terms of one deity of your practice, but I don’t know what day of your practice you do, so I have to talk about all the different seed syllables that you visualize.
No expense has been gone into this presentation. I’ll have you know. So I have this amazing look, look at that. No expense has been expired whatsoever. Several pieces of paper with amazing diagrams.
And in the different sometimes I’m not familiar with all of them or remember them. You know, there’s sort of different ways that’s approached, but so I’m I’m not gonna I can’t go into all of that, but just talk about the fundamental meditation that is done. For example, if because everyone here has highest yoga tantra, we have this commitment of doing the Lama Chopa practice every at least on the Tzok, doing the Lama Chopa Tsok on the tenth and twenty fifth of the month. So if one does this practice completely, at the outset of the Lama Chopa, you visualize the field of refuge in front of us, and then at one point one visualizes all of the field of refuge dissolving into the central figure of Śākyamūni Buddha, then Śākyamūni Buddha comes to the crown of our head, dissolves into us. And at that point, just before the Om Ah hum and the blessing of the inner offering, right, which is verse seven, Just before that, you you are supposed to do the the the three kaya meditation and arise as one’s deity.
So I’ll from I I’m presented from that point of view that we imagine either of doing Lama Chopa or, for example, this is the same with Guhyasamāja, or everyone here has the commitment of doing six-session Guru Yoga. So at the end in the six-session Guru Yoga, if you’re doing it in the full way with all the visualization, which is good to do at least sometimes, if not every all the time. In the first few verses of the six-session Guru Yoga, one is visualizing the field of refuge in front of you. Then at the end of verse six, again, just like with Lama Chopa or Guhyasamāja, you’ve you dissolve the the field of refuge into Śākyamūni Buddha. He comes to the crown of your head, dissolves into you, and then you do the three kaya meditation, arises the deity, and then you do verse seven where you visualize the guru as vajradhara in front of you.
Right? So from that point of view, I can explain it from this from that point of view for whatever deity you are. So say, for example, we’re doing six-session Guru Yoga, there’s the field of refuge in front, all the beings dissolve in the Śākyamūni Buddha, he comes to the crown of our head. Śākyamūni Buddha, of course, is oneness with our own root guru, or the guru who gave us the particular initiation that we have of highest yoga tantra. So then we imagine that guru Śākyamūni dissolves into us, that light is extremely blissful.
You know, this is one thing that’s always emphasized. One imagines the the the guru’s consciousness, which is oneness with Śākyamūni Buddhas and all Buddhas. That bliss that consciousness of the Guru comes into us, dissolves into our own consciousness, and that that blissful consciousness of the Guru induces the arising of this great bliss of our own primordial mind, the clear light. And we then imagine that out of that state, that then instantly, you know, this ordinary body and mind dissolve. You lose all sense of this ordinary body and of this ordinary confused mind.
And instantly, we arise in the simple form of our deity, whoever that is. If it’s Yamantha, you arise as the two form, two arm form of Yamantha, or the two arm form of Heruka, or there’s not really a simple form of Vajrayoginī. She’s already in a simple form, so you arise as Vajrayoginī or Cittamani Tārā or who else is there? Gyalwa Gyatso. I’m not quite sure, to be honest, what is the simple form of Gyalwa Gyatso.
Presumably without the consort, but I’m not an expert on Gyalwa Gyatso, unfortunately. So anyway, one arises as the simple form of one’s deity. And at that point so that’s the beginning of doing the the three kaya meditation. Alright? You you arise.
You don’t do this complicated process of meditating on emptiness at this point. You just imagine that quickly you dissolve into emptiness through the blessing of the Guru’s consciousness entering into you, and you arise as your deity in a simple form just as much as you can imagine that. And it’s at that point, visualizing yourself as your deity, as the that you then start the the three the three kaya meditation. The first of which is the dharmakaya meditation, which is the most important meditation because that’s the meditation of going through the death process. So it’s really important to study the death process, to be familiar with that meditation.
In the death process, as it’s taught from the Tantric tradition, it gives all the details of all the different elements dissolving and this vision happens because of this is happening and this particular wisdom is is the ordinary wisdom is dissolving and so on and so forth. So all of this is taught to give us a clear understanding of why things are happening. But when you do the dharmakaya meditation, you don’t think about all those things. That in a sense becomes a distraction. You don’t think about now the earth element is dissolving and and this and that is happening in the external world.
You just concentrate on the actual inner visions, which I’ll I’ll go through. So one thing that Lama Zopa Rinpoche mentioned that when you start this this meditation, now you’ve arisen as the deity, and now you’re going to actually go through the death process again in in more detail, in actual detail. Go through the transforming ordinary death death process into the dharmakaya state. So this generation practice is planting seeds to be able to transform transform ordinary death into the experience of the clear light dharmakaya state. So Rinpoche says that it’s very important at that point to really think now I’m definitely going to die.
Right? To really have that sense of now I’m really dying. Not pretend that I’m really going to die. But, of course, it’s not going to be an ordinary death where we’re just gonna scream and yell and have a horrible experience and whatever. We’re going to die definitely, but we’re going to die and arise as as an enlightened being, as our deity.
Right? We’re not just gonna die in an ordinary way. We’re going to go through the death visions, but we’re going to experience them as as a great yogi will at the time of death. But we yogi definitely have to try and feel that now I’m really going to die. That that’s the first key point of this practice.
Although we’re actually only doing it at the level of visualization, we have to try and make it as real as we possibly can. And of course, that’s another lump rhythm. It happens step by step by doing it many times. At first, maybe it doesn’t have much reality to it because we can’t visualize it. Or even if we can visualize it, it’s just like pretty pictures.
It’s not anything that impacts, but what we have to try and do is make it real. No. No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. It’s just no.
It’s just this. From that point of view, there’s no need to do that because one is going to arise as the deity. Right? As an enlightened being. Yeah.
We’re going through that. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Okay.
Yes. Anyone got some tips? That’s a good point. The point is we are gonna die at some point, and it could be at any moment. So it could be this moment.
So this is what we have to try and feel as much as we can. Now now is the moment. That’s that’s that’s that’s okay, especially at our level. Yes. Because that that is that is a scientific reality that we are impermanent, that we’re going to die, and that death process could just suddenly happen.
But one of the reasons I was late arriving, not because I missed the plane, is because Kimball bumped into a friend as we were walking to a shop, and his friend was telling him that one of their mutual friends had been found dead on the kitchen floor the day before. And had possibly been there several days, but she had just died. You know? Like because we always think, you know, it’s gonna still you know, we’re all Buddhists here. We’ve probably been old, you know, for many many years, but somehow we think, yes.
We know. You know, we we have all done, hopefully, the meditation on the three you death can happen. It can happen at any moment. Right? And, yes, but but somehow well, but it that’s that’s what it literally means.
You can be in the kitchen making a cup of tea or apparently quite healthy, then you die. You have a stroke. You have a heart attack. Yeah. Just like that.
This is what we have to accept, and this is what you know, this this is all about. I don’t know how much time you’ve got. You know, I’m I’m famous for raving. I know nothing, so but I’ve managed to rave about nothing for an extremely long time. Sorry?
Hello? Hello? Okay. But it’s it’s it’s just good to acknowledge that you have that resistance. I think we all have some some of us may like to pretend I have no resistance, but we’re not really, you know, forcing ourselves to believe it.
So in finding that resistance, it’s it’s good in the sense that because maybe you’re thinking strongly about it. So that’s I say, okay. But it is kind of trying to, you know, try to confront one, certainly confront that more. Anyway, so we think now we’re going to die. So what we now do is that we we are visualizing ourselves as the deity, whichever deity you are, whatever initiation you have.
And you’re visualizing in your heart there is the seed syllable. If it’s Yamāntaka or Heruka, it’s the syllable hum, the blue syllable hum. Alright? If it’s Gyalwa Gyatso, it’s the Hrīḥ. The free.
Or if it’s Vajrayoginī, it’s the Bam. Right? So then you imagine that from that seed syllable, this light goes out from the seed syllable, touching everything in the universe so that every every sentient being transforms into the the same deity that you are, the Yamāntaka or Vajrayoginī or whatever, and all the all the environment transforms into the celestial mansion of that deity. And then instantly, all of that, the the the the deities and the mansions, celestial mansions dissolve into blue light. And that light, at least with Heruka and Yamāntaka, it dissolves into blue light.
Maybe with vajray Gini, would be red light under. And then that light so everything in the universe has now turned into light. There’s nothing of the ordinary conventional appearance left. First, it transformed into the pure appearance of the deities and mandala, and then it dissolves into light. And all that light from every direction, all the ten directions, top and bottom, absorbs into one’s heart as the deity, into the seed symbol, into one’s heart.
And then finally, all of that light dissolves into you, and that then induces the first of the death visions, which is the mirage like vision, right, which is when the earth element dissolves. But you don’t think now the earth element is dissolving and so on. You don’t worry about that. All you focus on is the vision, the inner vision of the mirage like I hope everyone is familiar, even if you’re not, with the death vision meditation that Rinpoche always teaches in the Lam Rim. It’s not a Lamrim topic because it’s Tantra.
Why it’s taught in Tantra is because it is the key all Tantra, highest yoga Tantra is about the death process. So in this Dharmakāya meditation, go basically, it’s going through these inner death visions. And with each one, there are four things that Song Rinpoche taught that one should do. Right? So firstly, the first thing is the obvious thing is to focus on that vision strongly as one can and to and to hold your mind single pointedly as long as you can on it.
But do it honestly, you just don’t sort of sit there for half an hour to impress everyone or to try and impress yourself that I’m visualizing the mirage like vision for a half hour when in fact one’s not. Normally we’re doing this at home as a daily practice or in retreat so there’s no one to express, but only ourselves, or no one to confuse and mislead other than ourselves. So we should try and do it only as long as there’s some sense that our mind is on that vision. And as soon as we can’t hold it, then we should move to the next one. But anyway, that’s the first feature of each stage, right, is to hold that vision as long as one can.
As you’re doing that, one is trying to experience empty sorry, bliss, thinking that this experience is incredibly blissful. That is extremely important. Because although we’re dying, we’re going through we’re not having an ordinary death where there wouldn’t be this bliss, to be quite honest. We’re not and we shouldn’t expect the the average person when they die doesn’t experience bliss. Right?
So we we are trying to feel we’re definitely going to die, that we’re dying, you know, rising as the deity so that the whole thing is blissful. So the more we can concentrate that on that, it’s really important. And again, possibly, unless you’re very lucky, most of us can’t actually experience this bliss. Maybe some people can. But you have the thing is it’s all done at the level of imagination.
And through doing it again and again, it becomes, you know, every aspect of it will become more real and complete and powerful and at some point, some kind of bliss. It won’t be the actual bliss, the great bliss of and so on that’s generated in tantra, but something positive will come. So we don’t so we have to at least pretend that that that it’s there. We pretend or at least think I’m experiencing this bliss because even that is preparing the mind. It’s putting the imprint to have the actual experience.
It’s conditioning the mind in in in the proper way. It’s it’s sort of softening up the mind to eventually have the actual experience. So one one holds the vision of of the of the the mirage like vision, which is this kind of shimmering sort of silvery blue like light, just like, you know, you see on a hot day in the the road in front of you on a Australian summer day in the middle of summer, in the distance on the road, there’s just this kind of shivering on the surface. Just this that kind of light. That’s all you’re seeing.
There is nothing else. Right? And what you’re seeing is absolutely blissful. Right? And then the third factor is that although it’s appearing, it is empty.
There is the appearance that it it has no existence from its own side whatsoever. It is empty. So as much as possible, we try to experience that emptiness. And one level of that, which is very important, is to try and generate as much as one can, even if it’s only at in a very, very conceptual way, some experience of the nonduality of the mind and the appearance. Because in reality what is happening is that we have a very heavy sense that there’s me looking at this vision.
There’s all. There’s this this mirage like vision. But ideally, we shouldn’t be having that at all. What there is is just the vision. That is me at the moment in that moment.
There’s no separation between the subjective consciousness and the objective object of that, the content of that. Right? Ideally. So we go through that dharmakaya meditation, death visions, one one should try to have a sense of that that duality getting less and less until there ideally, it’s the you know, from the very beginning, but at least try to have less gap. Is that making some sense?
Right. Okay. And then the fourth feature that we try to have with each, which is what Song Rinpoche, Kyabje Tsong Rinpoche emphasized in doing this meditation is that as you’re sinking, you have to think, you have the vision, but you also think this is the mirage like vision and I have to concentrate really carefully because soon the next vision, which is the I’m putting too many words, but you keep the words to a minute. But but soon, the the smoke like vision is gonna come. So I really have to be, you know, ready to catch it.
Because if I if I if I get distracted and lose concentration on this image, on this vision, I’ll the other one will come because I’m dying, but I won’t apprehend it. And then I won’t apprehend the next one, and then I won’t apprehend the clear light. Lost the whole thing. Right? So we have to feel that this is absolutely vital that I can’t let go of this image.
Yeah. Yeah. You can’t. Yeah. Yeah.
Like, as an actual meditation, you can, but in the death process, once you’ve lost concentration, you’ve lost your chance. So that’s why as a way of training the mind to concentrate and prepare for death, it’s so important what Richard said, that now I’m really dying. Because I’m really dying, I really have to keep my mind on this vision. Because if I lose it, I’ve lost the chance of of any hope of of having an amazing, you know, not just an ordinary rebirth, but some kind of exceptionally amazing rebirth or even arising as the deity. Right?
Because we have to feel in a sense, put this imprint in our mind that, you know, this life, I am going to achieve the illusory body. That when I die because if we achieve the illusory body in this life, when we do not go into the state, once one’s got the illusory body, it’s impossible to go into the state, and which means the only other point, if you’re not in the you arise as a Buddha. So that’s the first. Right? So then it’s really important not to pretend to stay in this state for a half hour goes by, but actually the mind is completely distracted and there’s no sense of the vision, no sense of emptiness, bliss, all that.
So you have to try and keep that at least at one’s own level and not be judgmental that I’m not doing this at this fantastically high level, but at one’s own level as we are now. Put as much energy, not this tense energy, but alert, relaxed energy into making it as real as possible. And as soon as at our level we’ve lost it, we then move into the next stage. So as soon as we’ve lost all of that, we can’t hold on to that first vision. We then go back to recalling ourself as the deity.
Right? Right? And then as soon as we remember I am the deity, the deity, I as the deity dissolves from the from the feet upwards, from the head downwards into the seed syllable. And then finally, myself as this body of light, the deity as the body of light, all that light absorbs into the seed syllable, and there’s nothing left of me. The external universe has disappeared.
Right? It’s gone. And then all that was left was me as the deity, and now that’s gone. It’s just my mind as the seed syllable. But as soon as the seed syllable appears right?
Yeah. I’m not the next vision comes. You know, the seed you you arise all that’s left of you is the seed syllable. But as soon as that’s there, instantly, that kind of disappears and instead you have the smoke like vision, which is the second stage of the death process. Right?
The smoke like vision arises this kind of bluey gray smoke. Of course, it’s not smoke, but it’s like smoke. Right? It’s a vision, something like smoke pervading, and it’s not like you’re in a room full of smoke just like the mirage like vision. It’s not just something in front of you.
That’s all there is. There’s just like this shimmering going back to the first one. Just the the whole universe is just this shimmering mirage, and it’s you. Right? And then with the smoke like vision, it’s just there’s no dimensions to it.
It’s not just like a bit of smoke in front of you, you know, like there it’s it’s that’s all there is, and it’s you. And it’s blissful, and it’s empty. Completely empty. It’s vividly existing, but it has no existence from its own side whatsoever. I have no idea what that means, but I’m sure you do, and that’s what we have to meditate on.
And then we have to think, you know, this is this is the smoke like vision, and I have to hold it because soon the spark like vision comes. So I have to be prepared for it to come. So once those those four things on the mirage like vision. And then as soon as we can’t hold that, and it may only be a few seconds, which is good enough. Then the the the mirage like vision fades.
We can’t hold it. And then we go back to the to the seed syllable. And for example, if it’s if it’s Yamāntaka or Heruka, it’s the seed, you know, the seed syllable blue light. And and then instantly the the the the the sha and the ku and the ah, these two dissolve, disappear from the bottom up. And there’s two ways of visualizing that.
Either the kind of the light sort of disappears upwards or it fades away like when you turn you have these knobs and you turn the knob and the light dins and disappears. Or I think it’s also valid to do both, that the light is disappearing upwards and as it’s disappearing upwards, it’s also fading out. Right? So if it’s the Hrīḥ, it’s it’s just if you if you if you if you’re Gyalwa Gyatso or Chenrezig, some other form, Chen rezig, then it’s just the ah disappears. Alright?
And if you’re Vajrayoginī, it’s the body of the bum. No. No. That that would have the smoke. The smoke vision comes when you as the deity dissolve.
Right? No. No. No. No.
The mirage because you’ve arisen as the deity, you send out the light, the whole universe transforms into the deity of mandala. That dissolves into light, the light absorbs into you as the deity, and that induces the mirage like vision. Then you as the deity dissolve, and all that’s left is the seed syllable, and that induces the second vision, the smoke like vision. And then then the the the the seed syllable begins to dissolve. So with Yamāntaka, it’s both these two.
For the Hrīḥ, it’s the ah. If it’s if it’s Vajrayoginī, it’s the the bam, the the three parts of the of the pa. Right? Dissolve. Right?
So when they dissolve and finish dissolving up and fading away, this induces the third vision, which is the spark like vision. Alright? Which is described as like the image I was was taught was like if on a dark night you have a bonfire or something and you throw dry grass on the fire. And these little bits of grass fly up in the air like little sparks constantly flying up in the darkness. So it’s like that.
It’s just again, it’s just all that is existing is is this darkness with with which has no dimensions whatsoever. That’s all that there is. And these lights, these tiny little flickering lights coming and fading away all the time. That’s the spark like vision. That’s the third vision.
When the first part of the seed syllable fades away. Right? And you think, you know, this is the spark like vision. I have have to concentrate on it because soon the the next vision, which is the white vision well, no. Sorry.
The the the dark light vision, the dull light vision will arise. Alright? So Yeah. That’s right. I know it with some of the syllables, but we’ll have the.
I’m not very good on the syllable. I’m gonna get I think. Anyway, so you think this is the this is the spark like vision I have to concentrate on it because soon the dull light, which is normally called the the butter lamp vision, but I I hate using that term because you don’t visualize a butter lamp. So I didn’t I didn’t I shouldn’t even mention that because it’s got nothing to do with visualizing butter lamps. That’s why it’s I always try myself to always call it the dull light vision because that’s what you see.
So you think, I have to focus on this spark light vision because soon the dull light vision is coming. Then you’re but you’re experiencing the bliss. This is oh, the bliss, I forgot to say. The bliss increases with each vision. Right?
So now we’re into the third vision, so it’s even more blissful. You know? The mirage vision is blissful. The smoke vision is even more blissful. And now the spark like vision is even more blissful, and also the fact that one’s experience of emptiness increases, one imagines.
The the mirage is empty, The smoke like vision is more empty, more experience of emptiness. The spark like vision, you’re having an even more profound experience of how completely empty and nondualistic it is. Alright? Okay. So then what comes next is so you hot folk hold on to that, and when you can’t hold on to that anymore, you go back to, you know, what appears is, again, what’s left of the seed syllable.
But as soon as it appears, it again starts dissolving upwards. So in the case of the the case of the it’s the body of the This up to there dissolves. So you’ve got the the top of the head of is still left, the crescent moon, the tigle and the nada are left. So it dissolves up to here. Similarly with the oh, with the free, this part dissolves.
That’s why I hate doing it with several. I get so confused. Oh, you all have the hour ago and got some. But you have highest yoga tendons. Yeah.
That’s right. Yes. Yes. So the Hrīḥ is this part, the ra which gives the Hrīḥ. So that’s the ra dissolves.
Now I’m not really sure if I really in theory, it has to be the head. This So the budget again seems to be out of sync with the other ones. So presumably, it’s this one. I hope so. Right.
So then so then so as soon as that dissolves, you lose sight, you lose awareness of the remainder of the syllable and you get the next death vision, which is the the dull light vision. And that is the vision of, as it says, a very dull light, a very kind of dark reddish or orangy light, but very, very dull. A little bit barest light possible. And it’s this very dark reddish orange like kind of light that is appearing. In in the Tibetan tradition, they explain it’s like butter lamp in the bottom of a huge pot, and the butter lamp is just about to go out, so it’s hardly a light.
So it’s producing just the tiniest bit of light, and all you can see is the light coming out of the top of the pot. So it’s that light. So it’s a dull light. But you don’t go through all that visualization together as you focus on the light. That’s all.
Some of them, you know, just some yeah. Dull light. Yeah. Something like that. And it’s and you think this is the dull light vision.
I have to really focus on it because soon the the the white vision is going to appear. And you you try to experience this this dull light vision as incredibly blissful, more blissful than the previous vision. And it’s in in one’s experience of it as being empty is more even more profound, more complete, more nondualistic. Right? Okay.
Yeah. Have I lost anyone? You need to pretend. But there are many levels of bliss though. There’s like like, for example, the bliss that you achieve in developing Samādhi, but that’s not the bliss that is achieved in tantric practice.
And like there’s the bliss that you get with having the exam, you know, like the the clear light of death and there’s, you know, the various kinds of clear lights. There’s a number of I wish I was a Tantra expert, but I’ve forgotten all these things. You know, there’s like, this is the example, clear light. There’s the mother, clear light. The son, clear light, and so on.
So each of them has a particular level of bliss, so there are increasing levels of bliss. But, anyway, this is what Rinpoche says one tries to do, to imagine that it’s getting more blissful. Because the mind itself is is becoming more and more subtle. Right? It has therefore, I’m able to engage in this more profound experience.
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then one tries to when one can no longer hold that much longer, then you lose that vision, and instantly what remains of the seed symbol is there. But as soon as you, know, sort of in a sense catch sight of it, the next part starts dissolving.
So in the case of Yamāntaka or Heruka, it’s the it’s the head and also with the with the with the with the free. I didn’t ask why I hate doing it. I did I got lost like that at the retreat. Three. Where was I?
We’d done that, hadn’t we? Yeah. So with with if it’s if it’s the Hum, it’s you’ve you now dissolve the head. But with the free, it’s it’s the body of the Hrīḥ. Yeah.
Yeah. So it’s this the free is one behind the hum, and then the bum is even then it would have to be the the the crescent moon. Yes. Yeah. And so anyway yeah.
Are we lost? Is that okay? Maybe we can try. Anyway, so then so as soon as that dissolves, that induces the next vision, which is the the white vision, which is the the normal description. It is the light coming from an the moon, a full moon on an autumn autumn night.
So this is said to be very white. The the the that very white light coming from the moon on an autumn night. So that’s what you visualize. And again, you think I have to hold my mind on this vision because soon the the the the red vision will appear. And and as you’re holding that visualization, it’s extremely it’s even more blissful, and one’s experience of the the empty nature of it is even more deeper.
That that non dualistic experience is even more profound and complete. So then when you can’t hold that anymore, you go back. There’s a sense of that fades away and instantly the seed syllable reappears. And in the case of the it’s you’ve only got the the the moon crescent and and the particularly in the nada, so the moon crescent dissolves. In the case of Gyalwa Gyatso, it’s the it’s the the head.
The head dissolves. Right? The straight line dissolves. And in the case of the bum, it would have to be the the tigle. So so then you have the the red vision.
So that is said to be something like a coppery red vision, something like a setting sun. That that incredibly amazing red you get on a dusty day when the sun is you know, that amazing huge red sun, that kind of light. I don’t know if it’s very accurate, but when I was a kid, I used to love to lie in the sun with my eyes closed and you could see the blood in your eyelids. So that’s what I imagine that vision is like. Maybe it’s wrong, but that kind of maybe a bit darker, something like that.
But that’s all you’re seeing. It’s like everywhere. It’s everything. And there’s no sense ideally that there’s any gap between you looking at it. You’re not looking at it.
That is you. Yeah. That is you. It’s just this this light, this amazing dark coppery red light, which is unbelievably blissful as you’re experiencing it. It’s utterly more blissful.
And one’s experience of it is although it’s appearing, you know, it’s completely empty. It has no solidity, concreteness from its own side whatsoever. So one tries to focus on that. When one can’t hold that any longer, that fades away. Instantly, the what is left of the seed syllable appears.
But as soon as it appears to one’s consciousness or it is one’s consciousness, again, it starts dissolving. And in the case of the the the tigle dissolves. In the case of the Hrīḥ, it’s the And then it’s the, yeah, the giga of the this bit, the curly bit up top, which is the I. The this is the the eye. That dissolves.
And in the case of the bum, it would have to be the oh, the first the the the the nada. I hope that’s right. I’m I’m not really sure on the the yeah. So okay. So that induces the black vision, which is just just blackness.
One experiences just complete universal blackness. And you have to think now what this is now we have to think, now I really have to concentrate because the next vision is the clear light. And as one is experiencing this black this black vision, it’s more blissful and more sense that there’s there’s no separation between oneself and you. This is this experience of blackness is oneself. That’s all there is.
No sense of I’m experiencing it. I am this experience, and it’s completely empty, completely blissful. Anyway, one can check that on self by by logic. Anyway, then so then when you can’t hold on the black vision anymore, then one that fades, one goes back to the the seed syllable. So in the case of the all that’s left is the nada, so that that dissolves upwards and fades away.
And in the case of the Hrīḥ, it’s these two dots over here, these two circles over here, both of they dissolve They merge into one and disappear, dissolve out, and then the light fades away into nothingness. So in the case of the nada, it’s I mean, the other nada, the rest of the nada dissolves. Okay. Something like that. So when that happens, that last bit of the syllable dissolves, then the clear light emptiness arises.
The the mind, the clear light vision arises, which is described as the light coming from the moon. The the the light at dawn time, at at autumn. Anyway, it’s just clear light. There’s no no nothing there. It’s not like this blinding white light.
It is just just clarity of light. There’s just clearness. There’s mere clarity that is appearing. And then and then you think and so this is absolutely blissful. This is utter utter bliss, completely empty.
And then this is when you think. You try and hold on that vision as long as possible, and then you think this is the clear light dharmakaya of your deity. This is the clear light dharmakaya, Yamāntaka, Heruka, Gyalwa Gyatso, Vajrayoginī, whatever. And you think, so this is the clear light Dharmakāya deity and this is me. Right?
And you try and hold your mind on that blissful experience of utter emptiness as long as you possibly can. And to try and make that more realistic because what is happening is one’s dissolving the outer universe and one’s what you know, we’re we’re always grasping onto something as me, but firstly the body, I’m the deity, the actual body of light, and then all that’s left of me is the mantra syllable, and each bit of the syllable is just fading away, and then there’s nothing. And so ideally at that point, one is completely experiencing the complete emptiness of self and phenomena. It’s all completely empty ideally, but in fact for us as ordinary people, there is still this grasping at I. So at that point, we should try to look at what is this eye that seems to be still really there.
And try, for example, to do the four point analysis at this point. If you know the four point analysis of looking at the refuting objects, seeing that the object to be refuted, if it really exists, can either be oneness with the aggregates or it has to be separate from them, and then try to find what it is, whether it’s anyway. But even just trying to identify this sense that there’s still this I that’s really there from its own side. And just to kind of meditate on that this I, that that sense that’s still left there, that is the object to be refuted. That is completely false.
There is no reality behind that thing. It is completely empty. So you then try to go into the emptiness and say, this empty state is the dharmakaya of the deity, and this is me. So that’s the first part of the three kaya meditation, and it’s the main part. And you try and remain in that state for as long as you can, but then at one point, as you’re starting to lose it, you think, well, actually, this dharmakaya state only benefits me.
No one can perceive this formless dharmakaya state. So then then thinking that for the sake of other sentient beings, you arise in the Sambhogakāya form of the deity, which in the case of Heruka or Yamāntaka is a column of blue light. Also in the case of Gyalwa Gyatso, I think also a column of white light in space. That’s all there is. This incredibly blissful column of light.
In the case of Vajrayoginī, it’s the syllable, the red syllable, Vam, appearing in space. And you think this is me. This is the Sambhogakāya, deity, whatever it is, whatever what deity you are relating to. This is me, and you focus on that. It’s empty and blissful.
Okay? And then and then as you start to lose concentration on that, you think, well, even this state, the Sambhogakāya state, can only be perceived by Ārya Bodhisattvas. So I I have to appear in a way that ordinary suffering sentient beings can perceive. So that’s when you arise in the form, the full form of the deity. So arising in the Sambhogakāya, that is purifying the the Bardo state.
Purifying that, that meditation is purifying the ordinary Vardo experience into the pure experience of arising as the Sambhogakāya form of the deity. And then from that Sambhogakāya state manifesting in the full form of oneself as the deity and the Nirmānakāya, that is purifying, ordinary rebirth. And the ordinary rebirth doesn’t mean coming out of the womb. It means the moment of conception in the world. Purifying that ordinary suffering experience into the blissful pure experience of arising as a Nirmānakāya Buddha.
That’s the three kaya meditation. There’s only tantric forms of the You arise in the full form of the deity. There’s only the deities are tantric. Full form meaning that, like, if if the deity has many arms, like Yamāntaka has sixteen arms and so it’s thirty four arms, sorry, and sixteen legs. So the simple form has only two arms and two legs.
So you arise in the full of the deity like with however many arms and legs and heads the deity has. Right? No. But you’re no. No.
No. That’s a good point, but one is arising. You’re doing this in meditation for yourself. You’re purifying. Don’t worry about it.
They can’t see you anyway. Yeah. Sorry. I don’t I’m not able to answer your question properly. Well, even even someone with a little bit of pure karma can see such beings.
But I think you’re making it more complicated than it has to be. It’s just simply that this is the form. This is the Nirmānakāya form that you arise in. And this Nirmānakāya form the point is, you put it keep it simple, that no one can see the Dharmakāya. Only Buddhas can see the Dharmakāya of another Buddha.
Right? So that’s why you manifest as the Sambhogakāya, but only Ārya Bodhisattvas can see the Sambhogakāya form of the Buddha. Only that is, not even ordinary Bodhisattvas can see the Sambhogakāya forms. Only when you’ve directly realized emptiness can you see the Sambhogakāya form of the Buddha, but an ordinary being can see Nirmānakāya form of the Buddha. They have the chance.
That’s the point. Right? So if you, for example, through pure devotion to your guru, the guru is the deity. Through if at some point through the blessing through your own pure devotion and the gurus of the blessing of the guru, you may be able to like in a flash, in one moment or a few moments, you may able to actually see your guru as the deity in full form. There are stories of this happening.
For example, students of Pabongka Rinpoche seeing him as Yamāntaka. Or, you know, people seeing his holiness as Chenrezig through the power of their devotion because he is. And the day that these great practitioners are practicing them. We’re supposed to be visualizing ourselves as the deity all the time. Right?
So great yogis are the yogis and yoginis are doing that. They have that body. They have achieved the illusory body. But yeah. But the main purpose right now for us is visualizing ourselves as the Nirmānakāya form.
Basically, in the most simple way, it’s a way the more we can do this at some level is it cuts the wrong view that we are this body. Right? You know, the root of saṃsāra is the we have the wrong most of us, most of the time, think I am this body. This is wrong view. This is ignorance.
But it’s not the ignorance that is the root of saṃsāra because that’s a very gross form of ignorance. The the root of saṃsāra is the ignorance that believes that there is an I independent of the body, the mind, and that that exists even not even needing to need not even needing to require the name, the label. Is the subtle refuting object. That is the root, the the mind, the ignorance, believing that that I to be real is the root of saṃsāra. Believing the body to be me is just a very gross form of that.
But to be able to get to that subtle wrong view, which is the root of saṃsāra, we first have to destroy this gross one. And what helps do that is trying to have the appear you know, believing, holding the appearance and believing in the appearance that I am the deity. That’s why Lama Yeshe taught tantra when he came to the west. Because we have such wrong views of we ourselves and we have this low self esteem because we identify that I am this poor, suffering, limited, sentient being, which we’re not. That’s just, you know, an ephemeral, fuzzy, bubbly thing that’s gonna come to an end.
It’s not me at all. What we really are is, well, you know, this pure buddha nature that’s in the world with any but any. Pure mind. The I that we are arises because of that pure mind, which is the basis of the Yes. Yes.
Yeah. First, you quickly go into the simple form of the deity without, you know, too much of anything. And then you do this complete dharmakaya meditation where you really try to use all your power concentration, understanding of emptiness, and ability to visualize, and step by step, and destroying everything that one clings to as being real and solid and everything. It all it’s all disappeared because that’s gonna happen at the time of death anyway. The outer world is totally gonna disappear, then everything else is gonna disappear.
Yeah. But here we’re transforming it into this blissful empty experience step by step and arising as the deity. I hope. There’s any questions. Yes.
Yes. See that that’s why I’m saying this is explained for example, there’s this wonderful little book called Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth by Lati Rinpoche and Jeffrey Hopkins. So it explains these visions and why they occur. And this comes from tantra. And why it’s toward is because this is this is what we’re working with, the death process to in the ordinary death process, you end up with the clear light mind manifesting and then for the average person, it only lasts a few seconds and then it leaves this body and that’s death.
A very subtle mind leaves the body and that’s the end of this life. Death has occurred. But tantra is about inducing the the death process to in order in order to access the subtle, the primordial mind of clear light without dying so that we can use that mind in this most profound way to to arise as the illusory body with this perfect experience of bliss and emptiness and unifying that that the illusory body and the understanding of emptiness in one consciousness simultaneously and achieving enlightenment. Yes. But this is a training.
This is at level. Was taught by this Kyabje Tsong Rinpoche is considered to be one of the greatest tantric masters of the Gurupa tradition this century. Right? So, you know, and and he was meant to be Haruga. He was Haruga.
And so he this is taught for us as baby yogis yogis, what we do, because it’s putting you the imprint. At a higher level, probably that is not necessary, but we are presumably, most of us here are not at that level. So we need to say that. This is the advice you know, of the great tantric master of what we do to prove the way we train ourselves. No.
No. That’s just a meditation device. Yeah. No. No.
No. That’s just a general story. That’s yeah. Visualizing a deity itself, it’s just a matter of concentration. Well, not as Yamataka with the the appearance of the body.
Oh, yes. But as in the help, you know. Yeah. But it wasn’t before as Yamataka. I’m just having the yes.
Of concentration. But it’s that that’s always given as an example. If you don’t have the right understanding of emptiness the right motivation, you you end up creating the body. Cause you put such strong imprints that the body you have has that appearance. But just yeah.
But but you’re born in a realm where you’re suffering. You know, you just do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I think it was an exceptional. It’s not like I think this happens regularly, but it’s just like a cautionary tale. This is what. Very yes. Blue.
Yeah. That kind of blue. That that’s definitely. But I think it’s it’s just trying to capture that as you are dying, you are always grasping onto something. But what you’ve got to grasp on is getting less and less.
That that’s something the the karma of that vision, don’t know if you can say it’s the karma, I don’t if you can say it’s the karma anyway. The energy of that vision fades, which it will in the death time. And and, you know, the mind is still, you know, the ordinary mind with all its imprints would be grasping that, you know, a true existence of that something, whatever is there. And this is a way, it’s just a skillful means of showing us that all that’s left is this little seed of light, which is symbolizing our mind. And, you know, even that is fading away, fading away.
Because, see, that’s implying that that that the vision like there is a a mind and the and the and the vision, but they are actually the same thing. But so if you lose one, you’ve lost, you know, because it’s just it it’s there is the vision, which is your consciousness, and part of your consciousness is the ability to be aware of what you’re experiencing. And that’s what’s happening when you’re training to be to be aware of what the content of your consciousness. And when you lose that, you’ve lost consciousness. Yeah.
Because because they say, you know, you’ve all heard this that the the the the visions, the death visions happen when we die. And for most of us, most of the time they happen very quickly. And although they are experienced, they’re not apprehended. We don’t notice them. They also happen when you sneeze.
Every time you sneeze, these visions happen. But who sees them? Right? Because they happen very quickly. Every time you go to we go to sleep, they happen.
Every time and and when you wake up, they happen in reverse order. Every time you sneeze, they happen. And every time you have orgasm, if you manage to have one, they happen. And so who sees them? Yes.
I’m I think I mentioned. Painting also, but it happens. I don’t know if it’s easier. It’s probably easier for most people to visualize it as very big, but ideally it should be very tiny. But again, that’s something I think what one should be it’s a lum rim step by step that ideally the smaller you visualize things the better because you have to refine your mind to be able to, you know, able to have you sit, you know, imagine this very tiny thing.
But if we haven’t trained our mind, we shouldn’t just jump from trying to visualize very tiny things. We should visualize it something where it’s large enough that we can do it, but then sort of try to work towards visualizing it as very small. Because one of the signs, you know, would you know, you’ve got the sign of the completion of the generation stage, and it’s when you’re ready to really move to completion stage is that you’re able to visualize yourself as the deity in the mandala. You know, the mandala we haven’t talked about the mandala.
The deity is appearing in this mandala. God. But you don’t do the mandala in this visualization. That’s why we didn’t talk about it. Later in the sun, you visualize yourself as the deity inside this celestial mansion, which has all sorts of amazing details.
So you learn to do that. And then having learned to visualize yourself as the deity with all the arms and colors and implements inside the celestial mansion. The celestial mansion, of course, is appearing inside other things, the entire mandala with the cremation grounds and the five colored flames at the end of the eon and everything. You visualize that, and then when you can visualize it, all of it as the size contained in one sesame seed on the tip of your nose for four hours without any distraction, you’re ready to move to the completion stage. Or you can move to the generation stage before, but that’s when your generation stage practice will take off.
Sure. Sure. But I think it’s like starts out, and it can only be very difficult unless we have an incredibly strong imprint from past life. But if we don’t, it naturally starts out as very difficult. Why?
Because we have no familiarity with it. And through the power of familiarity of doing the practice every day as a commitment, that’s why, you know, the the skillful thing is to when you take more and more effective. And because it becomes more and more effective, it, you know, it becomes more and more easier. So he’s probably very late. Is there any other questions In that meditation, I don’t think I’m not quite comfortable with that too.
I’m sorry. So but I I I no. I don’t think there would be any, but I don’t know. So I think that’s it. Yes.
Yeah. So if you can sort of try and get familiar with this practice, it’s really I mean, because that’s I mean, why take the initiation is to do the practice, and this this is the heart of the practice. And it’s very practical because we’re gonna die. So even if we could capture a little glimpse of even the first vision would be would be great. So we can dedicate the merits of this time because we have hopefully generated some strong merit because we have had all the factors present of the right motivation and the best motivation and the factor of the object, the unmistaken object, which is the Dharma and which is the perfect object.
And then there was the third factor of we everyone stayed and listened. And so the the the practice was done and completed. So then there’s the fourth factor of we’ve completed the the the practice and hopefully we are happy that we did it because there’s no regret. So that all the factors are present. So this becomes a perfect, powerful, good karma.
So to protect that karma, we dedicate it. And so so that that karma will not only ripen we dedicate it so it will ripen and not be harmed by our disturbing thoughts. But we don’t want this imprint to ripen just as as some bubble of saṃsāra pleasure that is finished without ever meaning. We dedicate it so it becomes a cause or a condition at least for us to quickly achieve enlighten for the sake of all the coming unseen and beings.
You service the bountiful bearer of all, sustaining, preserving, and spreading Mañjuśrī’s victorious doctrine, who masterfully accomplished magnificent prayers honoring the Three Jewels. Savior of myself and others, your disciples, please, please live long. Okay. Made some sense? Helpful?
Clarifying? Clarifying? Yeah. Good. So we won’t prostrate unless you you unless you don’t wanna meet me again.
You can prostrate. But I’d like to meet you again so I won’t prostrate.