Basic Features of Tantra

Alexander Berzin
Warsaw, Poland, July 31, 1986
Revised and expanded, Berlin, Germany, February 20, 2002
The Meaning of Tantra
The word tantra (rgyud) means an everlasting stream of continuity. There are three levels of such continuity:
(1) the basis everlasting stream is the individual mental continuum (mind-stream) of each
limited being (sentient being), with all its Buddha-nature factors (khams de-bzhin snyingpo) that enable enlightenment;
(2) the pathway everlasting stream is the continuity of Mahayana practices with Buddhafigures (yi-dam, tantric deities), which can be sustained without end since Buddha-figures
never grow tired or old, and never die;
(3) the resultant everlasting stream is the unending continuity of the enlightening corpuses
(bodies) of a Buddha.
Practice of a pathway stream purifies fleeting stains from a persons basis stream so that it transforms into a
resultant stream. The texts that discuss these topics are also tantras.
[For a discussion of The Terms Hinayana and Mahayana, click here.]
The Classes of Tantra
The three Tibetan Buddhist lineages of the New Translation Period Sakya, Kagy, and Gelug divide tantra
into four classes:
(1) kriya (ritual Buddha-figure practice), which emphasizes external ritual practices such as
ablution, diet, and fasting;
(2) charya (behavioral Buddha-figure practice), which equally emphasizes external behavior
and internal methods;
(3) yoga (integrated Buddha-figure practice), which emphasizes internal methods of yoga;
(4) anuttarayoga (peerlessly integrated Buddha-figure practice), which teaches special, more
advanced methods of internal practice.
The Nyingma lineage, from the Old Translation Period, transmits six classes of tantra, the same first three and,
corresponding to progressively more advanced stages of anuttarayoga:
(5) mahayoga (greatly integrated Buddha-figure practice), which emphasizes visualization;
(6) anuyoga (subsequent integrated Buddha-figure practice), which emphasizes work with the subtle
energy systems;
(7) atiyoga (supremely integrated Buddha-figure practice) or dzogchen (rdzogs-chen, the great
completeness), which emphasizes the subtlest level of mental activity (mind).
Preliminaries
All classes of tantra require achieving a level of spiritual proficiency with preliminary practices (sngon-gro,
ngndro) as preparation before embarking on their paths. These include gaining a level of stability in the
preliminaries shared in common with bodhisattva sutra practice and completing a certain amount of special
practices not shared with sutra.
Shared Preliminaries
The preliminaries shared in common with bodhisattva sutra practice entail gaining the four basic insights that
turn the mind toward the Dharma (sems chos-la gro-ba). They are appreciation of:

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

a precious human rebirth,

death and impermanence,
the laws of behavioral cause and effect (Skt. karma),
the disadvantages of uncontrollably recurring rebirth (Skt. samsara).

All tantra classes also require a stable background in the other bodhisattva sutra practices. Tantra, in fact, is a
method for combining and simultaneously practicing them all. The sutra practices include:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

safe direction (refuge),

determination to be free (renunciation),
ethical self-discipline,
concentration,
discriminating awareness (shes-rab, Skt. prajna) of voidness (Skt. shunyata, emptiness),
love and compassion,
bodhichitta (a heart dedicated to enlightenment and to helping others),
the other far-reaching attitudes (Skt. paramita, perfections) of generosity, patience, and
joyous perseverance.

Unshared Preliminaries
To purify internal negative forces (sdig-pa, Skt. papa, negative potentials) and build up positive ones (bsodnams, Skt. punya, positive potentials, merit), tantra practice also requires at least a certain amount of special
preliminaries not shared with sutra practice. Most often, they entail a hundred thousand repetitions of:
(1) prostration, together with a verse for taking safe direction and reaffirming bodhichitta;
(2) the hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva (rDo-rje sems-pa), for purification;
(3) mandala offerings, symbolic of giving everything toward the attainment of enlightenment
and the benefit of others;
(4) a verse or mantra of guru-yoga (bla-mai rnal-byor, lamay neljor), for integrating our
bodies, speech, and minds with those of the spiritual masters, who are Buddhas for us.
Mantras (sngags) are Sanskrit words and syllables repeated, as the etymology of the Sanskrit term implies, to
protect the mind from negativity. A mandala (dkyil-khor) is a symbol of a universe.
A hundred thousand or more repetitions may also be required of several other unshared preliminary practices.
The Gelug tradition, for example, counts prostration and the verse for safe direction and bodhichitta as two
separate preliminaries, and normally adds four more:
(5) the mantra of Samayavajra (Dam-tshig rdo-rje), for purification of our close bonds (damtshig, Skt. samaya) with our spiritual masters;
(6) offerings of sesame seeds to Bhuji Vajradaka (Za-byed rdo-rje mkha-gro), made into a
fire to burn off negative forces from our mental continuums;
(7) water bowl offerings;
(8) making clay votive tablets (tsa-tsa) with the impression on them of a Buddha-figure or
lineage master.
All Tibetan traditions require the basic sutra preliminaries, such as safe direction and what the Gelug tradition
calls the three principal pathway minds (lam-gtso rnam-gsum): renunciation, bodhichitta, and an accurate
understanding of voidness. We need to be able to generate these pathway minds at least artificially (bcos-ma),
which means working ourselves up to an accurate conceptual state of them by relying on a valid line of
reasoning. A pathway mind does not need to be nonconceptual for it to be sincere and for us to feel it on an
emotional level.
Before receiving an initiation, Gelug recommends having at least begun the practice of a hundred thousand
repetitions of each of the special preliminaries, with the provision that we continue them afterwards. The nonGelug traditions recommend completing at least one set of a hundred thousand repetitions of each special
preliminary before receiving an initiation. All traditions emphasize, however, the continuing practice of the
special preliminaries as an ongoing part of daily practice.

Three Types of Initiatory Ceremony

Upon completion of a certain amount of preliminary practices, actual engagement in tantric practice requires an
initiatory ceremony. There are three types:
(1) empowerment (dbang, wang, initiation),
(2) subsequent permission (rjes-snang, jenang, permission),
(3) mantra-gathering (sngags-btus).
Empowerment
Visualization of ourselves as Buddha-figures requires receiving an empowerment beforehand. An empowerment
enables success in our practice by:
(1) establishing a close bond with a tantric master as a living source of inspiration (byin-rlabs,
blessings);
(2) linking us with the living tradition, which traces back to the Buddha;
(3) conferring vows, which we need to keep purely for properly shaping our behavior and
practice;
(4) further purifying various internal negative forces;
(5) activating the factors of our Buddha-natures;
(6) enhancing those factors by leaving a legacy (sa-bon, planting seeds) on our mental
continuums from the conscious experience of specific states of mind and insight during
the ritual such as blissful awareness of voidness in Gelug anuttarayoga, or of our
Buddha-natures in non-Gelug.
We do not actually receive an empowerment unless we
(1) have respect for and confidence in the tantric method, optimally by having a good
understanding of it;
(2) have full confidence, based on indisputable evidence, that our tantric masters have the
ability to lead us correctly on the tantric path;
(3) feel greatly inspired by our tantric masters;
(4) take and promise to keep purely the vows that are conferred;
(5) actively participate in the visualization process, as best as we can;
(6) gain conscious experiences of the specific mental states or insights described by our
tantric masters during the ceremony, to whatever level we are capable at the time.
Sadhanas, Pujas, and Tsog
Having received an empowerment, we may then practice a sadhana (sgrub-thabs). The word sadhana means a
method of actualization, namely actualization of ourselves as the Buddha-figure for which we have received
empowerment. Other names for a sadhana are self-generation (bdag-bskyed) and, in anuttarayoga, antecedent
practice for realization (mngon-rtogs).
Performing a sadhana entails recitation (kha-don) of a ritual meditation text describing the self-visualization
process and a complex series of further practices based on that self-generation, such as reciting mantras and
making offerings. Going through the entire series of visualizations and meditations in the sadhana resembles
going through a strenuous physical workout in a martial arts or ballet training.
Neither a sadhana nor a guru-yoga is the same as a puja (mchod-pa). A puja is an offering ritual during which we
make offerings to our tantric masters viewed as inseparable from Buddha-figures. If we have received
empowerment, we also visualize ourselves as Buddha-figures during the puja; otherwise, we may not. If we have
not received empowerment, we may only attend and observe the ritual, but not participate in it as a member of
the assembled round for the ritual feast (tshog-khor, ganacakra).
During a puja, we offer tsog (tshogs), a ritual feast, which usually includes a torma (gtor-ma) a sculpted cone
of toasted barley meal and butter as the actual tsog meal offered to the tantric master. In anuttarayoga, the feast
also includes specially consecrated alcohol and meat, representing the transformation and use of the aggregates,

elements, and subtle energies in our bodies for gaining realization. After the tantric master and other participants
taste the offerings, alcohol, and meat, each gives back small portions of the leftovers, which the masters
assistant collects on a plate and offers outside to regional guardian spirits. At the end of the ceremony, the
participants eat or take home the remaining leftover food. It is a degeneration of the practice for the participants
to consume the remaining alcohol, as if a tsog were an excuse for getting drunk.
Subsequent Permission
After receiving an empowerment for a specific Buddha-figure, we may also receive a subsequent permission for
the figure:
(1) to strengthen further the previously activated Buddha-nature factors,
(2) to water the previously planted seeds,
(3) to reaffirm our vows.
We may often distinguish a subsequent permission from an empowerment by the ritual items used in the
ceremony. Empowerments usually have the depiction of a mandala (the residence of a Buddha-figure) placed
inside a palace-like structure built on a stand. The participants receive red ribbon-blindfolds to put on their
foreheads during parts of the ceremony, strings to tie around their arms, and two reeds of kusha grass to place
under their pillows and mattresses for examining their dreams the first night.
Subsequent permissions do not employ any of these items. Their telltale mark is a torma on a table next to the
tantric master. Crowning the torma is a painted picture of the Buddha-figure skewered on a stick with a little
umbrella above the painting.
According to the Gelug tradition, if we receive a subsequent permission without any prior empowerment, we
may only visualize the Buddha-figure in front of us or on top of our heads. We may not visualize ourselves as
the figure. If, however, we have received an empowerment for one Buddha-figure of a particular class of tantra
for example, Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara (sPyan-ras gzigs Phyag-stong) for kriya or Kalachakra (Duskhor) for anuttarayoga we may visualize ourselves as any other figure of that class or below, such as White
Tara (sGrol-dkar), with only the subsequent permission for that other figure. In this case, we do not need a full
empowerment for White Tara.
Mantra-Gathering
After receiving an empowerment for a specific Buddha-figure, we may also receive a mantra-gathering for that
figure, whether or not we have also received its subsequent permission. For a mantra-gathering ceremony, the
vowels and consonants (a-li ka-li) of the Sanskrit alphabet are written with colored powder on the surface of a
metal mirror, usually with each letter in a separate square in a grid. During the ritual, the tantric master reads out,
one by one, the grid location of the consonant and vowel for each syllable of the main mantra of the figure for
instance, the vertical and horizontal coordinates of the square containing it. After each syllable, an assistant takes
some colored powder from the mirror and uses it to write the syllable on the surface of another metal mirror.
Through such a ritual, we gain firm conviction in the accuracy of the mantra.
Vows
Vows (sdom-pa) establish boundaries beyond which we promise not to transgress. They are formulated in terms
of two types of unspeakable actions (kha-na ma-tho-ba) that we promise to avoid.
(1) Naturally unspeakable actions (rang-bzhin-gyi kha-na ma-tho-ba) are naturally destructive
(mi-dge-ba, nonvirtuous), such as taking life.
(2) Proscribed unspeakable actions (bcas-pai kha-na ma-tho-ba) are ethically neutral (lung
ma-bstan, unspecified) actions proscribed by Buddha as detrimental for certain types of
practitioners. An example is eating after noon, proscribed for monks or nuns because it
tends to dull the mind for evening meditation.
In the Gelug tradition, practitioners who wish to receive an empowerment or subsequent permission need
beforehand to take and keep purely some level of lay or monastic pratimoksha (individual liberation) vow. If
they have not done so, they need to take some level of lay pratimoksha vow during the ceremony. The non-

Gelug traditions require at least taking and keeping purely refuge vows, which may also be taken for the first
time during the ceremony.
Every empowerment, subsequent permission, and mantra-gathering entails taking the bodhisattva vows, which
are to refrain from faulty actions (nyes-pa) that would prevent us from being of the greatest help to others. For
instance, suppose that, in order to attract students, we boast about ourselves, while criticizing others, because of
our attachment to obtaining money, love, fame, or attention. We vow to restrain ourselves from such faulty
behavior, since it prevents us from being able to help others effectively. This is because our priorities are selfish.
Empowerments, subsequent permissions, and mantra-gatherings for the two higher classes of tantra also entail
taking the tantric vows, which are to restrain ourselves from faulty actions that prevent us from succeeding in our
tantric practice. For instance, suppose we think poorly of our teachers and feel they are pretentious, hypocritical,
and incompetent. Such an attitude creates obstacles to following the practices they teach us. This is because,
thinking in this way, we lack confidence in the instructions they give us. Without confidence, we cannot practice
them effectively and gain realizations. Such confidence comes from thoroughly examining the teachers
qualifications before receiving an initiatory ceremony from the person, so that we are free of indecisiveness and
doubt.
We do not receive vows for the first time by merely attending an empowerment or subsequent permission
ceremony. To receive vows, we must consciously take them and promise to keep them as purely as possible. We
promise to keep pratimoksha vows for the rest of this life. We promise to keep bodhisattva and tantric vows, on
the other hand, for all our lives up to our attainments of enlightenment.
Closely Bonding Practices and Promises of Continual Practice
Empowerments also entail taking on certain sets of closely bonding practices (dam-tshig, Skt. samaya, pledges,
words of honor). Closely bonding practices are formulated in terms of constructive or ethically neutral actions,
conducive for spiritual practice, which we promise to adopt.
Following closely-bonding practices bond us closely to:
(1) a certain class of tantra, such as anuttarayoga,
(2) a specific subdivision of anuttarayoga, such as mother tantra (ma-rgyud), or
(3) one of the Buddha-families (sang-rgyas-kyi rigs).
Mother tantra emphasizes methods for gaining the subtlest nonconceptual cognition of voidness. A Buddhafamily is an aspect of Buddha-nature, represented by a principal male Buddha-figure known in Western
languages as a Dhyani-Buddha. Buddha-families also contain additional figures, including female Buddhas
and male and female bodhisattvas.
Empowerments and subsequent permissions usually also entail promises of continual practice (khas-len,
commitments) for the rest of this life. These may include one or more of the following:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

a daily recitation commitment of a certain number of mantra repetitions;

a daily recitation commitment of a sadhana;
a bimonthly commitment of offering tsog;
a retreat commitment.

Tantric Retreats and Fire Pujas

A retreat commitment usually entails performing a serviceability retreat (las-rung). Completing such a retreat,
together with its concluding fire puja (sbyin-sreg) makes our minds serviceable with the Buddha-figure and its
practice. Serviceable means able to take the self-empowerment (bdag-jug, self-initiation) to purify and renew
our vows, to qualify for performing other rituals of the Buddha-figure, and, if we fulfill additional requirements,
to confer any of the three initiatory ceremonies to others.
During a serviceablity retreat, we repeat the mantras of the main Buddha-figure several hundred thousand times
each, depending on the practice and the number of syllables in the mantra. We also repeat the mantras of the

associated mandala figures ten thousand times each. We may do this in the context of four, three, two, or one
session a day. During each session, we recite the sadhana, omitting certain small portions in specific sessions.
If we are practicing four sessions a day, we restrict our movements to within a limited perimeter around our
homes and we restrict the people we may meet during the retreat. If we are practicing less than four sessions a
day, we do not necessarily need to restrict our movement or contact with other persons. We need merely to
perform each session in the same place, on the same seat.
A fire puja is an offering of a large number of specific substances tossed into a fire during an elaborate ritual.
We visualize ourselves in the form of a Buddha-figure and visualize the fire in the form of Agni (Mei lha), the
fire deity common to Buddhism and Hinduism, with the Buddha-figure of our practice in Agnis heart. The fire
puja burns off or purifies any mistakes we may have made during our retreats and bonds us even more closely
with the Buddha-figure.
Three-Year Retreats
In the non-Gelug traditions, practitioners often do three-year retreats during which they
(1) repeat the special preliminaries,
(2) train more intensively in some of the common bodhisattva sutra practices, such as
cleansing attitudes (blo-sbyong, lojong, mind-training),
(3) learn how to perform rituals, including how to play the ritual musical instruments,
(4) complete the serviceability retreats of the major Buddha-figures of their lineages.
Practitioners of the Gelug tradition complete the same practices, one by one, from time to time during the course
of their training. They do not perform them consecutively in a three-year retreat situation.
After sufficient tantra training, practitioners of all traditions may do three-year great approximation retreats
(bsnyen-chen) of one specific Buddha-figure, during which they repeat tens of millions of mantras and perform
large numbers of extremely elaborate fire pujas. The aim is to approximate and actualize ourselves as the
specific Buddha-figure (bsnyen-sgrub) and to gain actual attainments (dngos-grub, Skt. siddhi).
Yidams, Dakinis, and Dharma Protectors
Yidams are male or female Buddha-figures with which we bond our bodies, speech, and minds as a method for
achieving enlightenment. We make the close bond (dam-tshig, Skt. samaya) by visualizing ourselves as the
figures, making offerings, reciting mantras, and offering fire pujas.
Dakinis (mkha-gro-ma) and dakas (mkha-gro) are female and male figures, respectively, who represent and
help to increase our experience of blissful awareness of voidness. During a sadhana, we imagine emanating them
as so-called offering goddesses and gods, making the various offerings to the Buddhas, all limited beings, and, in
Gelug, to ourselves as Buddha-figures. In anuttarayoga practice, we also imagine them on critical points of our
subtle energy-systems.
Another name for dakas is viras (dpa-bo, spiritual heroes), and other names for dakinis are virinis (dpa-mo,
spiritual heroines) and yoginis (rnal-byor-ma). Often, the terms dakinis and yoginis are used loosely to refer to
female practitioners and to all female figures in a mandala. Occasionally, dakinis may also serve as yidams in
whose forms we visualize ourselves, such as Vajrayogini (rDo-rje rnal-byor-ma).
Dharma protectors (chos-skyong, Skt. dharmapala) are male or female figures who help ward off interference to
our practice. On the deepest level, they represent our blissful awareness of voidness in strong energetic forms
the best protection against interference. With ourselves as Buddha-figures, we visualize certain protectors in
each direction around or inside our mandalas.
In specific yidam practices, we also invite certain other types of Dharma protectors such as Mahakala (dGonpo) or Palden Lhamo (dPal-ldan lha-mo, Skt. Shridevi) into our mandalas to make offerings to them and to
give them instructions to assist us in our enlightening activities. Many of this last type of protectors were
originally powerful spirits, either clutching ghosts (yi-dags, hungry ghost) or divine beings (lha, gods) of nonBuddhist traditions. Some were harmful and others were simply guardians of mountain tops or local regions.

Great masters of the past have tamed them and made them swear oaths to protect the Buddhist Dharma and its
practitioners.
As Buddha-figures, we are like masters and the Dharma protectors we deploy are like our fierce guard dogs.
Unless we have the strength to control them and to feed them regularly, they may turn against us. Thus, the
Dharma protector practices in which we invite specific ones into our mandalas are extremely advanced, not for
beginners. Engagement in their practices normally requires receiving specific subsequent permissions (jenangs)
for them.
Dharma protector practices include elaborate fulfill and restore rituals (bskang-gso), in which we, as Buddhafigures, remind the protectors to fulfill the oaths that they promised and restore our close bonds with them by
making special offerings. Another common ritual is the golden libation (gser-skyems), in which we offer alcohol
or black tea to the protectors, but without tasting it ourselves. We may also simply invite the protectors into our
mandalas to make offerings, especially of tormas, and to make requests (gsol-debs). In the West, people
informally call all these practices protector pujas.
To create an even closer bond with a Dharma protector, we may also do a protector retreat in which we recite the
associated mantras hundreds of thousands of times and offer a concluding fire puja.
As Buddha-figures, we may invoke certain Dharma protectors, such as Palden Lhamo, to assist in making
prognostications (mo, thugs-dam) with dice or rosary beads. Completion of a protector retreat is required for
such practice.
Certain Dharma protectors in certain Tibetan Buddhist traditions may also serve as yidams, such as Mahakala in
the Kagy tradition. Mostly, however, we do not visualize ourselves as Dharma protectors.
The Speediness of Tantra
The first three classes of tantra are much speedier than the sutra methods, because through their practices it is
possible to extend our life spans and, within an extended lifetime, to achieve enlightenment. By following the
anuttarayoga methods, however, it is possible to achieve enlightenment within our ordinary lifetimes. In fact, we
can achieve it within a period of even three years and three phases of the moon (lo-gsum phyogs-gsum) a phase
of the moon being from new moon to full moon or from full moon to new.
The period of three years and three phases of the moon must not be taken too literally or be used as false
advertisement or marketing propaganda to lure people into anuttarayoga practice. It derives from the Kalachakra
presentation of the count of a special type of subtle energy-wind breaths (rlung, Skt. prana) during a hundredyear life span and merely represents a very short time. For propitious reasons, great approximation retreats run
for this long, as do the basic anuttarayoga tantra training retreats in the non-Gelug traditions.
[For a detailed analysis of The Theory of Tantra: Why Tantra Is More Efficient Than Sutra, click here.]

Contemporary Westerners Facing Tantra Practice

Chapter 1: The Meaning of Tantra
The Definition of the Word Tantra
Buddhas teachings include both sutras and tantras. The sutras present the basic themes of practice for gaining
liberation from uncontrollably recurring problems (Skt. samsara) and, beyond that, to reach the enlightened state
of a Buddha, with the ability to help others as much as is possible. The themes include methods for developing
ethical self-discipline, concentration, love, compassion, and a correct understanding of how things actually exist.
The tantras present advanced practices based on the sutras.
The Sanskrit word tantra means the warp of a loom or the strands of a braid. Like the strings of a warp, the
tantra practices serve as a structure for intertwining the sutra themes to weave a tapestry of enlightenment.
Moreover, tantra combines physical, verbal, and mental expressions of each practice, which braid together
creating a holistic path of development. Because one cannot integrate and practice simultaneously all the sutra
themes without previously training in each ind ividually, tantra practice is extremely advanced.
The root of the word tantra means to stretch or to continue without a break. Emphasizing this connotation, the
Tibetan scholars translated the term as gy ( rgyud), which means an unbroken continuity. Here, the reference is
to continuity over time, as in a succession of moments of a movie, rather than to continuity through space, as in a
succession of segments of pavement. Moreover, the successions discussed in tantra resemble eternal movies:
they have neither beginnings nor ends.
Two movies are never the same, and even two copies of the identical movie can never be the same roll of film.
Similarly, everla sting successions always maintain their individualities. Furthermore, the frames of movies play
one at a time, with everything changing from frame to frame. In the same manner, moments in everlasting
successions are ephemeral, with only one moment occurring at a time and without anything solid enduring
throughout the successions.
Mental Continuums as Tantras
The most outstanding example of an everlasting succession is the mental continuum (mind-stream), the
everlasting succession of moments of an individual mind. Mind, in Buddhism, refers to an individual, subjective,
mere experiencing of something and not to a physical or immaterial object that either does the experiencing or is
the tool someone uses to experience things. Further, a mental continuum is not a flow of experiences that
accumulate such that one person has more experience than does another. A mental continuum comprises simply
an unbroken succession of moments of mental functioning the mere experiencing of things. The things
experienced include sights, sounds, feelings, thoughts, sleep, and even death. Mere implies that the experiencing
of them need not be deliberate, emotionally moving, or even conscious.
Further, the experiencing of something is always individual and subjective. Two people may experience seeing
the same movie, but their experiencing of it would not be the same one may like it; the other may not. How
they experience the movie depends on many interrelated factors, such as their moods, their health, their
companions, and even their seats.
Individual beings are those with mental continuums. Each moment of their existence, they experience something.
They act with intention even if not conceptually planned and subjectively experience the immediate and
long-term effects of what they do. Thus, the mental continuums of individual beings their experiencing of
things -- changes from moment to moment, as do they, and their mental continuums go on from one lifetime to
the next, with neither a beginning nor an end. Buddhism accepts as fact not only that mental continuums last
eternally, but also that they lack absolute starts, whether from the work of a creator, from matter/energy, or from
nothing.
Individual beings, and thus mental continuums, interact with one another, but remain distinct, even in
Buddhahood. Although Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha are equivalent in their attainments of
enlightenment, they are not the same person. Each has unique connections with different beings, which accounts
for the fact that some individuals can meet and benefit from a particular Buddha and not from another.

Movies maintain their individualities without requiring or containing innate fixed markers, such as their titles,
ever-present as part of each moment, giving the films individual identities solely by their own powers. Movies
sustain individual identities by depending merely on interwoven changing factors, such as a sensible sequencing
of frames. Likewise, everlasting mental continuums go on without innate fixed markers, such as souls, selves, or
personalities, that remain unaffected and unchanging during one lifetime and from one lifetime to the next and
which, by their own powers, give them individual identities. To sustain their individual identities, mental
continuums depend merely on interwoven changing factors, such as sensible sequences of experiencing things
according to principles of behavioral cause and effect (Skt. karma). Even on a more general level, mental
continuums lack inherently fixed identities such as human, mosquito, male, or female. Depending on their
actions, individual beings appear in different forms in each lifetime sometimes with more suffering and
problems, sometimes with less.
The Term Tantra in Reference to Buddha-Nature
Although mental continuums, and thus individual beings, lack innate souls that by their own powers give them
their identities, nevertheless they have other features accompanying them as integral facets of their natures.
These innate facets also constitute tantras successions of moments with no beginning or end. The everlasting
innate facets that transform into a Buddhas enlightening facets, or which allow each mental continuum to
become the continuum of a Buddha, comprise that continuums Buddha-nature factors.
For example, unbroken successions of moments of physical appearance, communication, and mental functioning
(body, speech, and mind), the operation of good qualities, and activity forever accompany the succession of
moments of each mental continuum, although the particular forms of the five vary each moment. The physical
appearance may be invisible to the human eye; the communication may be unintentional and merely through
body language; and the mental functioning may be minimal, as with being asleep or unconscious. Good qualities,
such as understanding, caring, and capability, may operate at miniscule levels or may only be dormant; and
activity may be merely autonomic. Nevertheless, individually and subjectively experiencing something each
moment entails continually having some physical appearance, some form of communication of some
information, some mental functioning, some level of operation of good qualities, and some activity.
The fact that unbroken successions of moments of the five innate facets accompany the mental continuum of
each being in every rebirth accounts for the fact that successions of the five continue to accompany each beings
continuum also as a Buddha. From another point of view, moments of the five continue to occur in unbroken
succession even after enlightenment, but now their forms manifest as a Buddhas five enlightening facets. They
are enlightening in the sense that they are the most effective means for leading others to enlightenment.
Beginningless Successions That Can Have an End
As tantras, the everlasting continuities of an individuals Buddha- nature factors braid together to form integrated
wholes in each moment, functioning together like a network. In another sense, the everlasting continuities
constitute the strings of warps upon which successions of moments of further accompanying features of mental
continuums interweave. Many intertwining features are also beginningless, but not all of them continue forever.
Some can have an end and thus do not constitute integral facets of the continuums nature. The most significant
ones are beginningless continuities of confusion about how things exist, the habits of such confusion, and the
uncontrollably recurring problems and limitations that they produce. Here, to simplify the discussion, we are
using the term confusion in place of unawareness (ignorance), but without any connotation of disorganization,
disorientation, or dementia.
Beginningless successions of moments of different levels of confusion and their habits can end, because their
exact opposites, succession of moments of understanding and its habits, can replace and remove them forever.
While successions of moments of confusion and its habits accompany mental continuums, their Buddha-nature
factors cannot function at their full capacities. So long as mental continuums are in that condition, the individuals
denoted by them are limited beings (sentient beings). The factors function at peak levels only with the total
removal of all limiting features or "fleeting stains," namely with the total removal of all levels of confusion and
their habits. When the continuities of all limiting features stop forever, the individuals are no longer limited
beings. Their unending continuities as individuals go on, but the beings have now transformed into Buddhas.
The Nyingma and Kagy Explanations of Tantra

All four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism Nyingma, Kagy, Sakya, and Gelug accept as a meaning of tantra
the everlasting successions of moments of interwoven Buddha-nature factors. The special explanations of each
tradition shed further light on the topic and complement each other. Let us look first at the general presentation
common to Nyingma and Kagy, since it specia lizes in discussing tantra in terms of Buddha- nature in general.
Their presentations derive from Maitreyas Furthest Everlasting Continuum.
Maitreya explained that although successions of moments of Buddha-nature factors continue forever, they may
be unrefined, partially refined, or totally refined. The distinction derives from whether successions of moments
of all levels of confusion and their habits accompany the mental continuum without a break, only some of them
do for some of the time, or none of them accompany it ever again. These three cond itions of the everlasting
continuities of Buddha-nature factors are the basis, pathway, and resultant tantras.
As basis tantras, the always-available continuities of Buddha- nature factors are the working materials for
achieving enlightenment. From this perspective, the factors are unrefined or "impure" in the sense that
successions of moments of all levels of confusion and their habits interlace with the factors at all times, limiting
their functioning to varying extents.
On the path to enlightenment, practitioners work to remove the limitations by stopping, in stages, the continuities
of the various levels of confusion and their habits that interweave with their bodies, communication, minds, good
qualities, and actions. Consequently, during the purification process, the continuities of Buddha- nature factors,
as pathway tantras, are partially refined and partly unrefined. Sometimes, periods of full understanding
accompany the factors; at other times, periods with merely the momentum of understanding ensue. Occasionally,
successions of moments of confusion temporarily cease. Afterwards, continuities of some levels resume, but
gradually none of them ever return. Similarly, the habits of confusion occasionally stop giving rise to moments
of confusion; but eventually, the continuities of the habits cease forever.
On the resultant level of Buddhahood, the continuities of Buddha-nature factors, as resultant tantras, are totally
refined in the sense that they are completely free, forever, of accompanying periods of any levels of confusion or
their habits. Thus, the Buddha- nature factors function everlastingly at their full capacities as the interwoven
enlightening facets of a Buddha, for example as a Buddhas enlightening physical, communicative, and mental
faculties, good qualities, and activities.
The Role of Buddha-Figures in Tantra
Buddha-figures represent the Buddha- nature factors during refined or "pure" phases when successions of
moments of full understanding accompany their continuities. Because Buddha-figures have bodies,
communication, minds, good qualities, and actions that work together like an integrated network, they are fit to
represent these Buddha-nature factors. Moreover, the figures often have multiple faces, arms, and legs. The array
of faces and limbs represent themes from sutra, many of which are also among the Buddha- nature factors.
Tantra practitioners use the figures in meditation to further the purification process.
The Sanskrit term for Buddha- figures, ishtadevata, means chosen deities, namely deities chosen for practice to
become a Buddha. They are "deities" in the sense that their abilities transcend those of ordinary beings, yet they
neither control peoples lives nor require worship. Thus, the Tibetan scholars translated the term as lhagpay lha (
lhag-pai lha), special deities, to different iate them from worldly gods or from God the Creator.
The more common Tibetan equivalent, yidam ( yi-dam), denotes the intended meaning more clearly. Yi means
mind and dam stands for damtsig ( dam-tshig, Skt. samaya), a close bond. Tantra practitioners bond with male
and female Buddha- figures, such as Avalokiteshvara and Tara, by imagining themselves as having the
enlightening facets of physical appearance, communication, mental functioning, good qualities, and activities of
these figures. More precisely, while the continuities of their Buddha-nature factors are still partly unrefined as
pathway tantras, practitioners bond or mesh them with continuities of the factors imagined as the totally refined
facets of Buddha- figures. Even when practitioners have gained only incomplete understandings of how things
exist, imagining their partially unrefined Buddha-nature factors functioning as totally refined Buddha- figure
facets is the general tantra method for removing the fleeting stains of periods of confusion and its habits from
everlasting continuities of Buddhanature factors.
In short, the Buddha- nature factors remain the same factors whether they function as basis, pathway, or resultant
tantras. The mental continuum always manifests some form of physical appearance, communication of
something, and mental functioning, as well as some level of operation of good qualities and some activity. The

only difference is the extent to which successions of moments of different levels of confusion and their habits
accompany the continuities of the factors and limit their functioning.
According to the Nyingma and Kagy presentations, then, the subject matter of tantra is the intertwining of the
basis, pathway, and resultant cond itions of everlasting continuities of Buddha-nature factors to weave a method
for achieving enlightenment. Specifically, tantra concerns methods for working with periods of the Buddhanature factors as pathway tantras to purify successions of the factors as basis tantras so that they ultimately
function as the everlasting continuities of resultant tantras. Tantra practice effects this transformation by bonding
continuities of unrefined Buddha-nature factors with successions of moments of their refined situation as
represented by the enlightening facets of Buddha-figures.
The Sakya Presentation
The Sakya presentation of the meaning of tantra derives from The Hevajra Tantra, a text from the highest class
of tantra. This presentation elucidates the relation between Buddha-figures and everyday beings that allows for a
bonding of corresponding facets of the two in tantra practice.
An exclusive topic of highest tantra is the clear light continuum (clear light mind), the subtlest level of
everyones mental continuum. All mental continuums have clear light levels of experiencing things, which, as
the ultimate Buddha- nature, provide them with deepest everlasting continuity. Coarser levels of experiencing
things, such as those at which sense perception and conceptual thought occur, do not actually continue without a
break from one lifetime to the next. Moreover, they stop forever with the attainment of enlightenment. Only
successions of clear light levels continue without interruption, even after becoming a Buddha. If individual
beings are analogous to radios, then the coarser levels of their mental continuums are similar to the radios
playing on different stations, while their clear light levels resemble the radios simply being on. The analogy,
however, is not exact. Radios can stop playing, whereas mental continuums never cease their flow.
Regardless of the level at which it occurs, the mere, individual, subjective experiencing of things entails giving
rise to appearances of things (clarity) and mentally engaging with them (awareness). In other words, one does
not directly perceive external objects, but merely appearances or mental representations of them that arise as part
of the act of perceiving. Appearances, here, include not only the sights of things, but also their sounds, smells,
tastes, and physical sensations, as well as thoughts about them. Western science describes the same point from a
physical perspective. In perceiving things, one does not actually cognize external objects, but only complexes of
electrochemical impulses that represent the objects in the nervous system and brain. Although all levels of
experiencing things entail the arising of appearances of them, the clear light continuum is the actual source that
gives rise to all appearances.
Mentally engaging with appearances means to see, hear, sme ll, taste, physically sense, or think them, or to
emotionally feel something about them. The mental engagement may be subliminal or even unconscious.
Further, giving rise to appearances of things and mentally engaging with them are two ways of describing the
same phenomenon. The arising of a thought and the thinking of a thought are actually the same mental event. A
thought does not arise and then one thinks it: the two mental actions occur simultaneously because they describe
the same event.
The Sakya discussion of tantra focuses on a specific Buddha-nature factor, namely the everlasting succession of
moments of the clear light continuums innate activity of giving rise to appearances from itself. The appearancemaking is automatic, nondeliberate, and unconscious. One may deliberately look at something; but when one
sees it, ones clear light continuum does not deliberately construct an appearance of it. Moreover, the
appearances that arise from the clear light continuum may be of the continuums physical basis ones body -or of any other objects that it perceives.
Here, the main point is that appearance- making occurs inseparably on two levels: coarse and subtle. Inseparably
( yermey, dbyer-med) means that if one level validly occurs, the other level validly occurs as well. In this
context, coarse appearances are of everyday beings and their environments; subtle appearances are of Buddhafigures and their surroundings.
Everyday beings and Buddha-figures are like quantum levels of clear light continuums. Subatomic particles have
several quantum levels of energy at which they resonate equally validly. At any moment, the level at which a
particle is resonating is a function of probability: one cannot say for sure that the particle is resonating at only
one level and not the other. In fact, according to quantum mechanics, a particle may resonate at several levels

simultaneously. Similarly, because the level at which a clear light continuum is appearing at any moment is a
function of probability, one cannot say that at a particular moment an individual being has only one appearance
and not another.
The everlasting continuity of mental activity producing this innately bonded pair of appearances may be
unrefined, partially refined, or totally refined, depending on the successions of moments of confusion and its
habits that accompany it. The process whereby a continuity of practice with Buddha- figures purifies this factor
of Buddha-nature so that it produces an everlasting succession of appearances completely free of accompanying
periods of confusion and its habits is the primary subject matter of tantra as discussed in the Sakya school.
The Gelug Explanation
The Gelug tradition follows The Later Guhyasamaja Tantra in explaining the meaning of tantra as an everlasting
continuity. The main aspect of Buddha-nature emphasized here is the voidness (emptiness) of the mental
continuum its absence of exis ting in impossible ways. Mental continuums do not exist as inherently flawed
and impure by nature. They never have and never will. No everlasting continuities of innate features accompany
them that, by their own powers, make them exist in that impossible manner. Because this total absence is always
the case, when practitioners fully understand this fact, they can stop continuities of confusion and its habits from
accompanying their mental continuums so that their Buddha- nature factors may function fully as the
enlightening facets of a Buddha. Since mental continuums go on forever as everlasting continuities, their
voidness remains always a fact enabling purification and transformation.
The purification method refers to the stages of practice with Buddha-figures. Unlike ordinary people, Buddhafigures do not grow from fetuses, age, or die. Because they are always available in the same form, meditation
with them may form an everlasting continuity. The result of the purification process is the everlasting continuity
of Buddhahood.
In short, through an everlasting continuity of meditation practice of bonding with Buddha-figures, tantra
practitioners attain the everlasting continuity of Buddhahood, based on the everlasting fact of the voidness of
their mental continuums. Because tantra practice entails producing appearances of oneself as Buddha-figures that
resemble the resultant state of enlightenment, tantra is called the resultant vehicle.
Summary
The subject matter of tantra concerns everlasting continuities connected with the mental continuum. The
continuities include such Buddha- nature factors as basic good qualities, a clear light level of experiencing
things, its activity of producing self-appearances, and its voidness. The continuities also include Buddha-figures
and the enlightened state. The four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism explain varied ways in which successions of
moments of these everlasting continuities intertwine as bases, pathways, and results. They share the feature that
tantra involves a pathway of practice with Buddha- figures to purify a basis in order to achieve enlightenment as
the result. They also agree that the physical features of the Buddha- figures serve as multivalent representations
and provide the warps for interweaving the various themes of sutra practice. The term tantra refers to this
intricately interwoven subject matter and the texts that discuss it.

Contemporary Westerners Facing Tantra Practice

Chapter 2: The Authenticity of the Tantras
The Source of the Tantras
Tantra practice requires conviction in the authenticity of the tantras, correct understanding of their procedures
and theory, and certainty of their validity as methods leading to enlightenment. According to the Tibetan
tradition, Shakyamuni Buddha himself is the source of the tantras. Many scholars, however, both Western and
Buddhist, have disputed this point. By Western scientific standards, however, none of the texts ascribed to
Buddha -- neither the sutras nor the tantras -- can pass the test for authenticity. The question is whether this is
crucial to tantra practitioners or other criteria are more relevant to them.
The Tibetans explain that Shakyamuni Buddha taught three vehicles or pathways of practice that lead to the
highest spiritual goals. The modest vehicle, Hinayana, leads to liberation, while the vast vehicle, Mahayana,
leads to enlightenment. Although Hinayana is a pejorative term appearing only in Mahayana texts, we shall use
it here without negative connotation as the widely accepted general term for the eighteen pre-Mahayana
Buddhist schools. Tantrayana, the tantra vehicle also called Vajrayana, the diamond-strong vehicle is a
subdivision of Mahayana. Hinayana transmits only sutras, while Mahayana transmits both sutras and tantras.
No one recorded Buddhas discourses or instructive dialogues when he held them two and a half thousand years
ago, since Indian custom at the time limited the use of writing to business and military affairs. The year after
Buddha passed away, however, five hundred of his followers gathered in a council at which three of his main
disciples recounted different portions of his words. Subsequently, different groups of monks took responsibility
to memorize and periodically to recite specific sections of them. The responsibility passed from one generation
of disciples to the next. These words became the Hinayana sutras. Their claim to authenticity rests exclusively on
faith that the three original disciples had perfect recall and that those at the council who corroborated their
accounts all remembered the same words. These two provisions are impossible to establish scientifically.
Even if the original transmission were free of corruption, many outstanding disciples in subsequent generations
lacked flawless memories. Within a hundred years after Buddha passed away, disagreements arose over many of
the Hinayana sutras. Eventually, eighteen schools emerged, each with its own version of what Buddha said. The
schools even disagreed as to how many of Buddhas discourses and dialogues were recited at the first council.
According to some versions, several of Buddhas disciples were unable to attend and orally transmitted
exclusively to their own students the teachings that they recalled. The most outstanding examples are the texts
concerning special topics of knowledge (Skt. abhidharma). For many years, subsequent generations recited them
outside the officially sanctioned meetings and only later councils added them to the Hinayana collection.
The first written scriptures appeared four centuries after Buddha, in the middle of the first century B.C.E. They
were the Hinayana sutras from the Theravada school, the line of elders. Gradually, the sutras from the other
seventeen Hinayana schools also emerged in written form. Although the Theravada version was the first to
appear in writing and although Theravada is the only Hinayana school that survives intact today, these two facts
are inconclusive to prove that the Theravada sutras are the authentic words of Buddha.
The Theravada sutras are in the Pali language, while the other seventeen versions are in assorted Indian
languages such as Sanskrit and the local dialect of Magadha, the region where Buddha lived. It cannot be
established, however, that Shakyamuni taught in only one or all of these Indian tongues. Thus, no version of the
Hinayana sutras can claim authenticity on the grounds of language.
Moreover, Buddha advised his disciples to transmit his teachings in whatever forms would be intelligible. He did
not wish his followers to freeze his words into a sacred archaic language like that of the ancient Indian
scriptures, the Vedas. Consistent with this guideline, different portions of Buddhas Hinayana teachings first
appeared in writing in divers Indian languages and in dissimilar styles of composition and grammar to suit the
times. The Mahayana sutras and tantras also exhibit a wide diversity of style and language. From a traditional
Buddhist viewpoint, diversity of language proves authenticity rather than refutes it.
According to the Tibetan tradition, before Buddhas teachings were put into writing, disciples recited the
Hinayana sutras openly at large monastic gatherings, the Mahayana sutras in small private groups, and the
tantras in extreme secrecy. The Mahayana sutras first surfaced in the early second century C.E., and the tantras

began to emerge perhaps as soon as a century later, although any precise dating is impossible. As noted above,
according to several Hinayana traditions, private circles orally transmitted even some of the most famous
Hinayana texts before the major monastic assemblies accepted them into the corpus of what they openly recited.
Therefore, the absence of a text from the first counc ils agenda does not disprove its authenticity.
Moreover, the participants of the tantra recitation sessions swore vows of secrecy not to reveal the tantras to the
uninitiated. Therefore, it is not surprising that personal accounts of the tantra meetings have not appeared. Thus,
it is difficult to prove or disprove the prewritten transmission of the tantras and the occurrence of the secret
meetings. Moreover, even if one accepts a prewritten oral transmission of the tantras, it is impossible to establish
how and when such transmission began, as is the case with the Hinayana scriptures missing from the first
council.
As the Indian master Shantideva argued in Engaging in a Bodhisattvas Deeds, any line of reasoning presented
to prove or discredit the authenticity of the Mahayana texts applies equally to the Hinayana scriptures. Therefore,
the authenticity of the tantras must rely on criteria other than linguistic factors and the date of initial redaction.
Different Views of Shakyamuni Buddha as a Teacher
A major source of confusion in trying to ascertain the source of the tantras seems to be that Western
Buddhologists, Hinayana scholars, and Mahayana authorities each regard Shakyamuni Buddha differently.
Buddhologists accept Shakyamuni as a historical figure and a great teacher, but do not consider him as having
possessed superhuman powers, as having instructed even nonhumans, and as having continued to teach after his
death. Although Hinayana scholars grant that Shakyamuni Buddha had extraordinary powers and could teach all
beings, they place little emphasis on these qualities. Moreover, they say that Shakyamunis passing away marked
the end of his teaching activities.
Mahayana scholars of both the sutras and tantras explain that Shakyamuni became a Buddha many eons ago and
merely exhibited the stages for becoming enlightened during his lifetime as Prince Siddhartha. He has continued
to appear in various manifestations and to teach ever since, using a wide assortment of paranormal abilities. They
cite The Lotus Sutra, in which Shakyamuni proclaimed that he would manifest in the future as spiritual masters,
whose teachings and commentaries would be as authentic as were his own words. Moreover, Mahayana scholars
accept that Buddhas can manifest in several forms and places simultaneously, with each emanation teaching a
different topic. For example, while appearing as Shakyamuni propounding The Prajnaparamita (Perfection of
Wisdom) Sutras at Vultures Peak in northern India, Buddha also manifested in southern India as Kalachakra and
set forth the four classes of tantras at Dhanyakataka Stupa.
The Mahayana vision of how Buddhas teach extends beyond personally instructing disciples. Shakyamuni, for
example, also inspired other Buddhas and bodhisattvas (those fully dedicated to achieving enlightenment and to
helping others) to teach on his behalf, such as when Avalokiteshvara expounded The Heart Sutra in Buddhas
presence. He also allowed others to teach his intended meaning, such as Vimalakirti in The Instructions of
Vimalakirti Sutra.
Further, in later times, Shakyamuni and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas permitted to teach on his behalf
appeared in pure visions to highly advanced disciples and revealed further sutra and tantra teachings. For
example, Manjushri revealed Parting from the Four Types of Clinging to Sachen Knga-nyingpo, the founder of
the Tibetan Sakya tradition, and Vajradhara repeatedly appeared to masters in India and Tibet and revealed
further tantras. Moreover, Buddhas and bodhisattvas transported disciples to other realms in order to instruct
them. For instance, Maitreya led the Indian master Asanga to his pure land and transmitted to him there his Five
Texts.
Because the audience for Buddhas teachings consisted of a variety of beings, not only humans, some of them
safeguarded material for later, more conducive times. For example, the half- human half-serpent nagas preserved
The Prajnaparamita Sutras in their subterranean kingdom beneath a lake until the Indian master Nagarjuna came
to retrieve them. Jnana Dakini, a supranormal female adept, kept The Vajrabhairava Tantra in Oddiyana until
the Indian master Lalitavajra journeyed there on the advice of a pure vision of Manjushri. Moreover, both Indian
and Tibetan masters hid scriptures for safekeeping in physical locations or implanted them as potentials in
special disciples minds. Later generations of masters uncovered them as treasure-texts ( terma, gter-ma).
Asanga, for example, buried Maitreyas Furthest Everlasting Stream, and the Indian master Maitripa unearthed it
many centuries later. Padmasambhava concealed innumerable tantra texts in Tibet, which subsequent Nyingma
masters discovered in the recesses of temples or in their own minds.

When the Tibetan tradition asserts Shakyamuni as the source of the tantras, it means Buddha as described in
common by the Mahayana sutra and tantra traditions. If potential tantra practitioners approach the issue of
authenticity from the stance of accepting merely the descriptions of the Buddhologists or the Hinayana scholars,
then naturally such a Buddha could not have taught the tantras. This is irrelevant, however, to such people.
Tantra practitioners do not aim to become the type of Buddhas that Buddhologists and Hinayana scholars
describe. Through tantra practice, they aim to become Buddhas as depicted in the Mahayana sutra and tantra
teachings. Since they accept Shakyamuni as having been such a Buddha, they certainly accept that he taught the
tantras in all the miraculous ways in which tradition relates.
The Relation between Buddhist and Hindu Tantra
Tantra literature began to appear in both the Buddhist and Hindu traditions of India in approximately the third
century C.E. Precise dates, however, are unavailable and the two traditions undoubtedly predated the appearance
of their texts. Although the philosophical and ethical contexts differ, nevertheless devotional practices, yoga
exercises, and numerous aspects of earlier matriarchal, tribal, and outcaste customs are prominent in each. For
example, both systems include visualization of multiarmed, multifaced figures, manipulation of subtle energies
through energy- nodes (Skt. chakras), veneration of women, use of bone ornaments and musical instruments,
imagery from cremation grounds and slaughterhouses, and transforma tion of unclean bodily products. Thus, it is
difficult to prove that one was the source of a specific feature in the other. One can merely say that the two were
contemporaneous movements. Moreover, since Buddhist and Hindu tantra practitioners often freque nted the
same sacred places, each group probably influenced the other.
Buddhologists and traditional Tantrayana scholars agree that the history of Buddhism chronicles the adaptation
of basic Buddhist themes to varying cultural milieus, but they differ in their explanations of the process.
Buddhologists do not accept that Buddha taught the tantras. They posit that later masters developed a tantra form
of Buddhism and composed its texts to accord with the spirit of the times in India. Traditional Tantrayana
scholars, on the other hand, assert that Buddhas supramundane powers enabled him to foresee cultural
developments and that he personally taught tantra to suit people of the future. Thus, "when the times were ripe,"
those who secretly transmitted the tantras orally or buried in their mental continuums -- made them available to
receptive practitioners. Alternatively, Buddha revealed the tantras in pure visions to the highly accomplished
masters who first recorded them. The explication of each scholarly group accords with its particular view of
Buddha and the general Buddhist principle of teaching with skillful means.
The Clear Light Continuum as the Deepest Source of the Tantras
In An Illuminating Lamp, the Indian master Chandrakirti explained that stateme nts in the highest tantra texts
have several levels of meaning, only some of which may be valid for specific groups. For example, some levels
are valid exclusively for practitioners of highest tantra and some are acceptable as well to followers of the socalled lower Buddhist teachings. Moreover, statements with shared meanings may have both literal and
nonliteral levels of interpretation or they may have only one or the other. They have literal meanings if they
accord with the experience of the groups that accept them; they have nonliteral meanings if they refer to deeper
levels of significance.
Let us apply Chandrakirtis analysis to the statement that Shakyamuni Buddha taught the tantras through
extraordinary means such as revelation. Some Buddhologists may accept the statement as having a nonliteral
deeper level of meaning, but they would reject a face value interpretation, since revelation is outside the realm of
their personal experience. The statement, however, does accord with the experience of numerous masters of the
Mahayana sutras, since both they and many tantric masters have received Buddhist teachings through revelation.
Thus, followers of both the Mahayana sutras and the tantras accept that the statement has a literal meaning.
Chandrakirti further elaborated that the nonliteral meanings of highest tantra statements point to an ultimate level
of meaning concerning the clear light continuum. Numerous tantra texts state that Buddha taught their contents
while assuming the form of Samantabhadra, Vajradhara, or the Adibuddha (primordial Buddha) Kalachakra
three Buddha- figures that represent the clear light continuum. Thus, the ultimate nonliteral meaning of the
statements is that the deepest source of the tantra teachings is a Buddhas enlightening clear light continuum.
According to the highest tantra explanation of Buddha-nature, especially that of the Nyingma tradition, the
refined portion of each persons clear light continuum innately possesses all enlightening qualities. Therefore,
just as the confusion accompanying the unrefined portion in each individual may give rise to the misleading
teachings of a charlatan, the refined portion may become the source of further Buddha-teachings. Thus, even

when someones clear light continuum is slightly less than totally refined and still flowing as a pathway tantra, if
appropriate internal and external conditions are present, its refined portion may spontaneously give rise to new
tantra teachings. Before "the times are ripe" and a spontaneous arising occurs, the teachings pass down in a
hidden fashion, from one lifetime to the next, as part of the unrealized potentials of the persons clear light
continuum. If the person in whom the spontaneous arising occurs accepts the shared Mahayana conceptual
framework of revelation, he or she is likely to describe and subjectively experience the phenomenon in terms of
this framework. The description and experience will be valid for that person.
Consider, on the other hand, the case of Buddhologists who accept the propositions of transpersonal psychology,
for example the assertion that embedded in the potentials of each persons unconscious are the keys for
achieving self-realization. Mental blocks, symbolized in myth by subterraneous dragon- like creatures such as
nagas, guard and keep them submerged. The methods for self-realization remain concealed in the unconscious
until an ind ividual reaches a sufficient level of spiritual development and "the times are ripe" for their
revelation. Because such Buddhologists consider the unconscious as an equivalent for the clear light continuum,
they can accept a shared level of meaning with tantra practitioners concerning the statement that Buddha taught
the tantras, although they soundly reject its literal meaning. Buddha is the source of tantra teachings only in the
sense that Buddha represents the unconscious. The tantra teachings come from the unconscious of the various
masters in whose minds they spontaneously arise.
The Criteria for Establishing the Authenticity of the Tantras
The main criterion for establishing a teaching as authentically Buddhist is its unbroken lineage tracing back to
Buddha whether one describes Buddha according to classic Buddhology, transpersonal psychology, or the
Hinayana, general Mahayana, or highest Tantrayana views. Anyone, however, may claim to have received tantra
transmission from Buddha in a pure vision or to have found a buried treasure-text in the ground or in his or her
mind. Therefore, other criteria are required to establish the authentic ity of the tantras in general and of any of its
texts.
In the Hinayana scripture, The Mahaparinirvana (Great Passing Beyond) Sutra, Shakyamuni discussed the case
in which someone might claim to possess an authentic teaching outside of what he himself had indicated.
Buddha prescribed that his followers may accept it as authentic if, and only if, it accords with the contents of the
rest of his teachings.
Elaborating on this in A Commentary on [Dignagas "Compendium of] Validly Cognizing Minds, the Indian
master Dharmakirti proposed two decisive criteria for authenticity of a Buddhist text. Buddha taught an
enormous variety of subjects, but only those themes that repeatedly appear throughout his teachings indicate
what Buddha actually intended. These themes include taking safe direction (refuge), understanding the laws of
behavioral cause and effect, developing higher ethical discipline, concentration, and discriminating awareness of
how things actually exist, and generating love and compassion for all. A text is an authentic Buddhist teaching if
it accords with these major themes. The second criterion for authenticity is that correct implementation of its
instructions by qualified practitioners must bring about the same results as Buddha repeatedly indicated
elsewhere. Proper practice must lead to achieving the ultimate goals of liberation or enlightenment and the
provisional goals of spiritual attainment along the way.
The presence of an interweaving of Buddhas major themes and the experience and accomplishments of past and
present masters affirm the authenticity of the tantras by these two criteria. These criteria also establish the
validity of the tantras, because their correct practice produces their stated results. Moreover, by properly
following the tantra instructions, one may prove their authenticity and validity directly oneself.
The Four Sealing Points for Labeling an Outlook as Based on Enlightening Words
As an elaboration of Dharmakirtis first criterion for authenticity, Maitreya referred, in The Furthest Everlasting
Stream, to four sealing points for labeling a view as based on the enlightening words of a Buddha. If a body of
teachings contains the four, it carries the seal of authenticity as a Buddhist teaching because its philosophical
view accords with the intent of Buddhas words. (1) All affected (conditioned) phenomena are nonstatic
(impermanent). (2) All phenomena tainted (contaminated) by confusion entail problems (suffering). (3) All
phenomena lack nonimputed identities. (4) A total release from all troubles (Skt. nirvana) is a total pacification.
The Buddhist tantric view conforms to the four sealing points. (1) Everything affected by causes and conditions
changes from moment to moment. Even with the attainment of enlightenment through the tantra methods,

compassion continues to move a Buddha to benefit others in ever-changing ways. (2) As a method for attaining
enlightenment, the highest class of tantra harnesses the energy of disturbing emotions such as longing desire.
This method, however, completely rids the practitioner of disturbing emotions and the confusion behind them.
One needs to rid oneself of them forever because all tainted phenomena bring on problems. (3) After harnessing
the energy underlying disturbing emotions such as longing desire, one uses it to access ones clear light
continuum. This is the level of mind most conducive for the nonconceptual realization that all phenomena lack
nonimputed identities. (4) From this realization of voidness or total absence, one pacifies and thus rids oneself of
further successions of moments of the various levels of confusion, their habits, and the problems they bring. The
attainment of this total pacification is a total release from all troubles. Thus, the tantric view qualifies as
authentically Buddhist.
Developing Firm Conviction in the Authenticity of the Tantras
To put ones heart fully into tantra practice as a method for achieving liberation and enlightenment, one needs to
focus on tantra with firm conviction ( mpa, mos-pa) that it is an authentic Buddhist teaching. The ability to
focus in this manner grows from believing a fact to be true ( daypa, dad-pa). The Indian master Vasubandhu, in
A Treasure House of Special Topics of Knowledge, and his brother Asanga, in An Anthology of Special Topics of
Knowledge, clarified the meaning of these two mental factors or actions that occur while focusing on a fact.
Neither of the mental actions refers to focusing with blind faith on something that may or may not be true and
which one does not understand.
Believing a fact about something to be true encompasses three aspects. (1) Clearheadedly believing a fact is the
mental action that is clear about a fact and which clears the mind of disturbing emotions and attitudes toward its
object. For example, when one clearheadedly believes tantra to be a Buddhist teaching, one is clear that tantra
uses disturbing emotions, such as longing desire, as a method to rid oneself of disturbing emotions forever.
Believing this fact clears the mind of longing desire to experience pleasure through tantra as an end in itself.
Thus, clearheadedly believing a fact about something derives from understanding correct information about it.
(2) Believing a fact based on reason is the mental action of considering a fact about something to be true, based
on thinking about reasons that prove it. For example, one may be certain that a teaching derives from a source
only when one correctly identifies that source. According to the tantras, only Buddha as described in the tantras
delivered these teachings. The texts do not assert that Buddha as understood by Hinayana scholars or Western
Buddhologists taught them. Moreover, the tantras contain the major themes that Buddha repeatedly taught
elsewhere, especially the four sealing points that attest that its philosophical view is based on Buddhas words.
Understanding these reasons, one can confidently believe that the tantras are authentically Buddhist.
(3) Believing a fact with an aspiration concerning it is the mental action of considering true both a fact about
something and an aspiration one consequently holds about the object. Based on the former two aspects of
believing as true the fact that tantra is an authentic Buddhist teaching, one may also believe as true the fact that I
may achieve enlightenment through its methods and that I shall therefore strive to practice them correctly.
When one strongly believes, in all three ways, that tantra is authentically Buddhist, one develops firm conviction
in this fact. Being firmly convinced of a fact is the mental action that focuses on a fact that one has validly
ascertained to be like this and not like that. It makes ones belief so firm that others arguments and opinions will
not dissuade one. Firm conviction grows from long-term familiarity with the consequences that follow from
believing a fact, namely from seeing the benefits one derives from correct tantra practice. Even before beginning
tantra practice, however, one needs firm conviction in their validity. Therefore, the preparation ceremony of
tantra empowerments (initiations) includes in its first steps an explanation of tantra by the conferring master in
order to reaffirm the potential disciples unyielding conviction.

Contemporary Westerners Facing Tantra Practice

Chapter 3: The Use of Ritual in Tantra Practice
Although tantra practice is extremely advanced, many Westerners receive tantra empowerments without proper
preparation and begin tantra practice without deep understanding. Most, at first, see only the surface features of
tantra, such as its emphasis on ritual, its profusion of Buddha- figures, and its use of imagery suggestive of sex
and violence. Many find these features intriguing, problematic, or, in any case, confusing. To benefit more fully
from their initial practice, such Westerners need to understand and appreciate the significance and purpose of
these aspects at least on a superficial level. Once they have overcome their initial fascination, objection, or
bewilderment, they may slowly examine the deeper levels that the surface conceals.
Western and Asian Forms of Creativity
Tantra practice entails ringing handbells and twirling ones hands with gestures (Skt. mudras), while chanting
texts often in Tibetan without translation -- and imagining oneself as a Buddha-figure. Some people find such
practice captivating and magical since they can lose themselves in exotic worlds of fantasy. Others have
problems with it. Working in an integrated fashion with ones body, voice, and imagination like this is a creative
artistic process, yet there seems to be a contradiction. Ta ntra practice is highly structured and ritualistic, without
apparent improvisation. For example, one imagines ones body to have specific postures, colors, and numbers of
limbs, with specific objects held in each hand and under each foot. One imagines ones speech in the form of
mantras set phrases consisting of Sanskrit words and syllables. Even ones manner of helping others follows a
standard pattern: one emanates lights of specific colors and figures having particular forms. Many Westerners
would like to develop themselves spiritually through exploring and strengthening their creativity, but stylized
practice of rituals seems antithetical to imaginativeness. Their compatibility, however, becomes evident when
one understands the difference between the Western and Asian concepts of creativity.
Being creative in a contemporary Western sense requires producing something new and unique whether a work
of art or a solution to a problem. Invention is the unquestioned highway to progress. Being creative may also
constitute part of a conscious or unconscious quest for ideal beauty, which the ancient Greeks equated with
goodness and truth. Moreover, most Westerners regard creativity as an expression of their individuality. Thus,
for many, following the prescribed models of ancient rituals as a method for spiritual self-development does not
seem creative; it seems restrictive.
Most traditional Asian cultures, for instance that of Tibet, view creativity from a different perspective. Being
creative has two major fa cets: giving life to classical forms and fitting them harmoniously within varying
contexts. Consider, for example, Tibetan art. All paintings of Buddha-figures follow grids that indicate the size,
shape, position, and color of each element according to fixed proportions and conventions. The first aspect of
creativity lies in the feeling the artists convey through the expression of the faces, the delicacy of the lines, the
fineness of detail, the brightness and hue of the colors, and the use of shading. Thus, some paintings of Buddhafigures are more vivid and alive than are others, despite all drawings of the same figure having identical forms
and proportions. The second aspect of Asian-style creativity lies in the artists choice of backgrounds and
manner of placing the figures to create ha rmonious, organic compositions.
Tantra practice with Buddha-figures is an imaginative method of self-development that is creative and artistic in
a traditional Asian, not a contemporary Western way. Thus, imagining oneself as a Buddha- figure helping
others differs significantly from visualizing oneself as a superhero or superheroine, finding ingenious elegant
solutions to challenges in a noble quest for truth and justice. Instead, one tries to fit harmoniously into the set
structures of ritual practice, to bring them creatively to life, and to follow their forms in varying situations to
correct personal and social imbalances.
Creativity and Individuality in Tantra Practice
Another factor possibly contributing to a seeming contradiction between practicing tantra ritual and being
creative is a difference in contemporary Western and traditional Asian views of individuality and the role it plays
in self-development. According to Western egalitarian thought, everyone is equal, but each of us has something
unique within us whether we call it a genetic code or a soul that by its own power makes us special. Once we
have "found ourselves," the goal of self-development is to realize our unique creative potentials as individuals so
that we may use them fully to make our particular contributions to society. Thus, contemporary Western artists,

nearly without exception, sign their works and seek public acclaim for their creative selfexpressions. Tibetan
artists, by contrast, usually remain anonymous.
From the Buddhist viewpoint, we all have the same potentials of Buddha-nature. We are individuals, yet nothing
exists within us that, by its own power, makes us unique. Our individuality derives from the enormous
multiplicity of external and internal causes and conditions that affect us in the past, present, and future. The
benefit we may bring to society comes from creatively using our potentials within the context of the
interdependent nature of life.
Realizing our Buddha-natures, then, differs greatly from finding and expressing our true selves. Since everyone
has the same qualities of Buddha-nature, there is nothing special about anyone. There is nothing unique to find
or express. To develop ourselves, we simply try to use our universal working materials our bodies,
communicative abilities, minds, and hearts -- in skillful ways to match the ever-changing situations we meet, as
anyone can. Moreover, we advance toward Buddhahood by imagining ourselves helping others in hidden
anonymous manners -- through exerting an enlightening influence and inspiring others who are facing
difficulties -- rather than by picturing ourselves prominently in the foreground, jumping to the rescue.
The extensive use in tantra of ritual practice with Buddha- figures makes sense, then, only within the context of
realizing the potentials of Buddha- nature with traditional Asian-style creativity. One brings life to the structure
of Buddha-potentials while blending harmoniously with society and the environment and remaining in the
background.
The Benefits of Tantra Ritual for Busy Westerners
Although contemporary Westerners may question the relevance of practicing tantra rituals in the classic Tibetan
manner as a method for spiritually developing themselves, they may gain many provisional benefits. For
example, numerous Westerners lead lives filled with unrelenting pressure to be unique and special and to get
ahead. They need continually to develop new ideas and improved products, sell them, and compete with othe rs.
Sometimes the tension of having to prove themselves and, ultimately their worth, leads to feelings of alienation
and isolation. When the demands for Western productiveness and ingenuity become too stressful, practicing
Asian-style creativity in a daily tantra ritual may provide a healthy balance. Fitting oneself harmoniously into the
structure of a ritual may help reinforce a feeling of fitting comfortably into family, friendships, society, and
culture. Moreover, even if ones daily routine is repetitive and ones job seems dull, one may learn to give them
new life through putting vivid expression each day into a tantra ritual.
Further, many Westerners hectically run from one activity or appointment to the next. Each day they use the
telephone, email, and the Internet innumerable times, listen to music, watch television, and operate a bewildering
array of complex machines and electronic devices. Their lives often feel fragmented, with family, business,
social, and recreational needs pulling them in different directions. Tantra practice may help such people to weave
together the seemingly discordant aspects of their busy lives. The integration occurs because of harmoniously
combining numerous constructive emotions and attitudes and expressing them as an integrated whole in
simultaneous physical, verbal, and visualized ways. Doing this in daily meditation reinforces the recognition and
conviction that one is by nature an integrated person. Gradually, a feeling of wholeness comes to pervade the
entire day.
Moreover, because daily tantra practice is structured and repetitive, it may also provide such people with a
stabilizing factor. No matter how frantic each day may seem, daily creation of the peaceful mental and emotional
space of a tantra ritual makes their lives flow with stable streams of continuity. Because they discover everdeeper levels of meaning as they meet the challenge of intertwining the elements of the ritual, they avoid finding
the repetition boring. In addition, tantra ritual gives a structure around which to develop discipline that might
otherwise be difficult to gain. The discipline acquired in daily repetition of a structured ritual may also help
people bring discipline and order into their seemingly chaotic lives.
Tantra Ritual as a Venue for Expressing Emotions
Many contemporary Westerners feel deep respect for someone or something, or gratitude for the joys of life.
Yet, if they lack comfortable forms with which to express their uplifting emotions, they may find their feelings
so amorphous that they fail to gain spiritual sustenance from them. Tantra ritual may provide such people with
forms within which to express their positive emotions. For example, pressing ones palms together -- a ritualized
expression of respect and gratitude shared by tantra and Western religions -- does not constrict uplifting feelings.

Rather, it provides a commonly accepted well-traveled channel for these feelings to flow from ones heart and
acts as an appropriate container for them. Moreover, because tantra ritual has holistic forms of expression of
emotions that integrate physical, verbal, and visualized channels, its continued practice may help emotionally
constricted people to overcome alienation from their feelings.
Sometimes uplifting emotions find spontaneous expression in impromptu forms. It would be tedious, however, if
one needed to find an innovative way of expressing ones feelings each time they arose in order for their
expression to be heartfelt and sincere. Asian-style creativity in expressing emotions may offer the balance. When
uplifting feelings arise, one may spontaneously and creatively give life to ritual forms of expressing them that ha
rmoniously fit the emotions into ones life. If, however, one feels nothing, then to go through the motions of a
tantra ritual becomes merely performing an empty ritual. Therefore, tantra rituals include meditating on specific
points that help one to generate or access sincere feelings.
Concluding Remarks
Participating in the rituals of traditional Western religions also provides many of the benefits offered by tantra
ritual practice. Many Westerners, however, find that the ceremonies and rituals of their religions of birth lack
vitality for them. Since such people have fewer negative associations with tantra rituals, practicing them may
afford a more neutral avenue for spiritual development. Many discover that the Asian-style creativity they learn
with tantra ritual helps them to find and to put new life into the traditional faiths of their ancestors.

Contemporary Westerners Facing Tantra Practice

Chapter 4: Buddha-Figures
To overcome fascination, repugnance, or bewilderment about the dazzling array of Buddhafiguresused in tantra
and about their unusual forms, Westerners need to understand their place and purpose on the Buddhist path.
They also need to differentiate them from the Western concepts of self- images, archetypes, and objects of
prayer. Otherwise, they may confuse tantra practice with forms of psychotherapy or devotional polytheistic
religion and thus deprive themselves of the full benefits of Buddha-figure practices.
The Use of Buddha-Figures in Practices Shared by Mahayana Sutra and Tantra
To gain mindfulness and concentration, one may focus on sensory awareness, for instance of the physical
sensation of the breath passing in and out the nose. In Mahayana sutra and tantra practice, however, visualized
Buddha-figures more commonly serve as objects of focus for gaining single-minded concentration. Such practice
accords with An Anthology of Special Topics of Knowledge, in which Asanga defined concentration as the
mental factor that keeps mental awareness focused on constructive objects or in constructive states of mind. The
Indian Mahayana master defined concentration in this way because of the many advantages gained from
developing it specifically with mental awareness.
For example, becoming a Buddha requires absorbed concentration on love, compassion, and the correct
understanding of how things actually exist. If one has already developed concentration with mental awareness,
one may apply it to these mental and emotional states more easily than if one has developed concentration
through sensory awareness. Moreover, since Buddha-figures especially the figure of Shakyamuni represents
enlightenment, focusing on them helps practitioners to remain aimed in the safe direction of refuge. It also helps
them to maintain mindfulness of the bodhichitta motivation to achieve enlightenment for the sake of benefiting
others as much as is possible.
Both sutra and tantra Mahayana practices include visualizing Buddha- figures in front of oneself, on the top of
ones head, or in ones heart. Tantra practice is unique, however, in its training in self-visualization as a Buddhafigure. Imagining oneself as having the enlightening physical, communicative, and mental faculties of a Buddhafigure acts as a powerful cause for actualizing and achieving these qualities.
Buddha-Figures and Self-Images
Most people have one or more self-images with which they identify. The images may be positive, negative, or
neutral, and either accurate or inflated. Buddha-figures, on the other hand, are images that represent only
accurate positive qualities. Through understanding Buddha-nature, tantra practitioners use them to replace their
ordinary self- images as an integral part of the path to enlightenment.
Buddha-figures represent the totality of all the potentials of Buddha-nature -- on the basis level when they are
unrefined, on the pathway level when they are partially refined, and on the resultant level of enlightenment when
they are totally refined. Moreover, most figures also represent a specific aspect of Buddha-nature on basis,
pathway, and resultant levels. For instance, Avalokiteshvara represents compassion based on the natural warmth
of the heart, and Manjushri stands for wisdom based on the innate clarity of the mind. Identifying with the figure
helps to enhance the particular quality that it embodies.
In identifying with Buddha-figures, however, tantra practitioners do not inflate themselves with wishful thinking.
They base their identifications on the potentials of their Buddha-natures that allow them fully to realize these
qualities for everyones sake. Alternatively, they understand that the Buddha-figures and the good qualities they
incorporate are refined quantum levels at which their own appearances and qualities validly resonate.
For example, people may have self- images of being emotionally stiff or mentally slow. They may in fact be
tense or dull, but identifying with these qualities as their self-images may easily depress them and dampen their
efforts to benefit others. If, on the other hand, they imagine themselves as Buddha-figures whose hearts are
warm and whose minds are lucid, they no longer worry about being inadequate. The visualization helps them to
access innate positive qualities, especially in times of need.

Furthermore, people usually regard their self- images as their true and inherent identities. It is who they believe
they really are, no matter what the circumstances may be. Tantra practitioners, on the other hand, do not
conceive of Buddha- figures as giving them their inherent identities by their own powers, independently of the
practice required to actualize the qualities that they represent.
Closely bonding and imaginatively transforming into a Buddha- figure differ in several other ways from
improving a self- image casually or systematically. By receiving empowerments before undertaking tantra selftransformation, practitioners formally activate and reinforce the innate potentials that enable them to become like
these figures. They gain conscious experiences that the figures and their qualities exist inseparably from
themselves and that the voidness of their mental continuums allows the transformation to occur. The vows taken
during the ceremony establish, structure, and secure the close bond. Moreover, the relationship established with
the empowering tantric master provides ongoing inspiration to nourish and stimulate the potentials throughout
the path.
Buddha-Figures and Archetypes
According to Jungian psychology, archetypes are symbols for fundamental patterns of thought and behavior that
are present in the collective part of everyones unconscious. They derive from the collective experience of either
humanity in general or a particular culture or historical era, and they account for peoples responding to
situations in ways similar to their ancestors. Archetypal symbols, such as the loving parent, the wise elder, the
brave hero, or the wicked witch, find expression in myths and fantasies. The ir forms may differ from one
society or time to another, but the patterns of thought and behavior that they symbolize remain the same.
Psychological maturity comes from raising to consciousness the intuitive knowledge symbolized by the entire
spectrum of archetypes and incorporating it harmoniously into ones life.
Symbols differ from representations. Symbols convey meanings that are evident to people from any culture
either at first sight or upon simple explanation. For instance, a mother feeding an infant universally symbolizes
nurturing love. Representations, on the other hand, do not clearly suggest what they signify. The four-armed
figure of Avalokiteshvara, for example, does not obviously suggest compassion to people from non-Buddhist
cultures. Archetypes are symbols, while Buddha-figures are representations.
Furthermore, archetypes are universal features of everyones collective unconscious, whereas Buddha- figures
are collective features associated with everyones clear light continuum. The clear light continuum is not an
equivalent for the collective unconscious. Although both mental faculties have features of which one is normally
unaware, the clear light continuum is the subtlest level of the mental continuum and provides an individual with
cont inuity from one lifetime to the next. The collective unconscious, on the other hand, explains the continuity
of mythic patterns over successive generations. It manifests in each person, but only in humans, and does not
pass on through a process of rebirth.
Moreover, Buddha- figures are neither concrete nor abstract representations findable in a clear light continuum.
Nor are they findable elsewhere. Rather, the Buddha- figures represent the innate potentials of everyones clear
light continuum to give rise to patterns of thought and behavior, whether the potentials are unrealized, partially
realized, or fully realized. They represent the potentials of general positive qualities, such as compassion or
wisdom, rather than the thought and behavior of specific familial, social, or mythical roles. The Buddha-figures
associated with disturbing emotions such as anger represent only the transformation and constructive use of the
energy underlying the emotions, rather than the destructive negative emotions themselves.
Moreover, Buddhism clarifies the meaning of the Buddha- figures being collective. Buddhism accepts the
existence of universals and particulars. Universals are metaphysical abstractions imputed on sets of similar items
to organize them into categories delineated by words and concepts. For example, all people have similar- looking
features on their faces through which they breathe. The universal nose is an imputation on these features
allowing them all to share the name nose. Yet everyones nose is individua l and one persons nose is not
anothers. A universal nose does not exist somewhere on its own as an ideal model, separate from particular
noses, nor do people reach the universal nose through contemplation of their own noses. The same is true with
Buddha-figures and the Buddha-nature potentials that they represent. Universal Buddha-figures do not exist as
individual beings separate from the clear light continuums of individuals. Nor do people gain access to universal
Buddha- figures through the Buddha-figures of their clear light continuums, like reaching God through the spirit
of the divine within their souls.

Furthermore, unlike archetypes, Buddha- figures do not come to consciousness spontaneously in dreams,
fantasies, or visions unless people have thoroughly familiarized themselves with their forms during their
lifetimes or in recent previous lives. This holds true also for bardo, the periods in between death and rebirth. The
Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the Buddha-figures that appear during bardo and advises those in the inbetween state to recognize the figures as mere appearances produced by their clear light continuums. The people
for whom the instructions pertain, however, are persons who have practiced tantra during their lifetimes. Those
witho ut previous tantra practice normally experience their continuums giving rise to other appearances during
bardo, not those of Buddha-figures.
Buddha-Figures as Emanations of Buddhas
Although Buddha-figures represent both the totality and specific aspects of the basis, pathway, and resultant
Buddha-natures, Buddha-figures are not merely representations. In An Extensive Explanation of (Chandrakirtis)
"Illuminating Lamp," Sherab-senggey, Gelug founder of the Lower Tantric College, explained that Buddhafigures have the same mental continuums as Buddhas. This is because they are emanations of Buddhas
enlightening clear light continuums. For example, although Shakyamuni attained enlightenment eons ago, he
emanated himself as Prince Siddhartha and gave the appearance of becoming a Buddha during his lifetime. He
did this to help beginners to gain confidence that practicing the teachings brings results. Similarly, Shakyamuni
assumed the form of Vajradhara when he imparted The Guhyasamaja Tantra and simultaneously emanated
himself as Vajrapani, the compiler of the teachings. Buddha merely gave the appearance that the Buddha-figure
Vajrapani was someone different from Vajradhara in order to inspire beginners also to listen attentively to the
teachings and to remember and practice them conscientiously. Shakyamuni, Vajradhara, and Vajrapani were, in
fact, all the same person.
Buddhas emanate Buddha- figures from their clear light continuums to benefit beings in many ways, particularly
by serving as representations of the various factors of Buddha-nature. Through realizing the inseparability
between Buddha- figures and the clear light continuums of the Buddhas and of the tantric masters, practitioners
realize that both the imagined and actual Buddha-figures they bond with in meditation are emanations of their
own clear light continuums. Just as every clear light continuum can emanate an appearance of a nose without one
persons nose being anothers, similarly every clear light continuum can emanate Buddha-figures, although the
Buddha- figures of one clear light continuum are not the Buddha- figures of another. The realization of the
inseparability of the Buddha-figures and their own clear light continuums helps practitioners to actualize the
Buddha- nature factors that the figures represent.
Buddha-Figures as Objects for Prayers
Mahayana sutra and tantra practitioners often pray to Buddha- figures, such as Tara. The two truths or facts
about things, which the Indian master Nagarjuna elaborated in Root Stanzas on the Middle Way, shed light on the
phenomenon. According to the interpretation common to sutra and tantra, the conventional truth about
something is how it appears to everyday beings. Its deepest truth is how it actually exists, a fact about an object
that its appearance conceals.
From the conventional viewpoint of everyday people, Buddha- figures such as Tara appear to be independently
existent beings with the powers to grant petitioners wishes. In deepest fact, however, there is no independently
existent Tara: all Taras are emanations of the clear light continuums of the Buddhas and of the people who pray
to Tara. Moreover, even as emanations of clear light continuums, Buddha- figures lack the ability to bring about
results, such as granting wishes, by their own powers, from their own sides, independently of anything else.
Buddhism argues that such abilities are impossible. Nevertheless, offering prayers to Tara may help to bring
about effects, whether or not one recognizes Tara as an emanation of Buddha or as an emanation of ones own
clear light continuum and representing its potentials. This is because the strong wish of prayer acts as a
circumstance for activating ones innate potentials.
For example, devotees commonly pray to Tara, as an external being, for protection from fear. Tara may inspire
people to be courageous, but the main cause for their overcoming fears is the potentials of their clear light
continuums for understanding how things actually exist and the courage that this naturally brings. Inspiration (
chinlab, byin-rlabs; Skt. adhishthana, blessing), however, is required for devotees to activate and to use their
potentials, and inspiration may come from either external or internal sources. An important Buddha-nature
factor, in fact, is the ability of a clear light continuum to be inspired or uplifted.
Coarse and Subtle Emanations of Buddha-Figures

To benefit others, Buddhas emanate multiple appearances of themselves in a variety of coarse and subtle forms.
They assume an array of subtle bodies (Skt. sambhogakaya) to teach arya bodhisattvas -- the only ones able to
see such forms. Aryas (noble ones) are highly realized beings with direct, straightforward, nonconceptual
perception and understanding of how things exist. Buddhas take an assortment of coarser bodies (Skt.
nirmanakaya) in order to benefit ordinary beings. Any Buddha may emanate coarse or subtle bodies in the forms
of any Buddha- figure or everyday being, or even of another Buddha. The same is true of Buddha-figures when
appearing as if they were individual enlightened beings. Only those who are receptive to receiving help or
teachings, however, are able to meet Buddhas in any form and derive the full benefit.
Buddhas and their Buddha-figure emanations reside in their own Buddha-fields. Buddhafieldsare special realms
unassociated with the confusion of uncontrollably recurring existence (Skt. samsara). They are the pure lands
where Buddhas and Buddha- figures manifest in subtle forms and teach arya bodhisattvas the final steps to
enlightenment. Since Buddha-fields are beyond the common experience of Buddhologists and Hinayana
adherents, their literal existence would naturally be unacceptable to them. Mahayana sutra and tantra
practitioners, however, regard them as actually existing, although no one can reach them without the prerequisite
realizations. Even great masters cannot bring the mental continuums of freshly deceased persons to pure lands
unless the deceased have built up the potentials for this from their own practices.
The nonliteral ultimate meaning of Buddha-fields is the clear light continuum of each individual being. Within
the sphere of each beings clear light continuum, beyond the confusion of uncontrollable existence, dwell the
various aspects of Buddha-nature, represented by Buddhafigures. Arya bodhisattvas on the path of highest tantra
the only practitioners with nonconceptual meditative access to their clear light continuums -- gain final
actualization of their Buddha-natures while in this state.
Sometimes Buddha-figures come from their Buddha- fields in the subtle forms of bodhisattvas and request
Shakyamuni to impart the various sutras and tantras, as when Vajrapani requested Praises to the Names of
Manjushri. As bodhisattvas, they may also attend and compile Buddhas discourses, as Vajrapani did for The
Guhyasamaja Tantra, or give teachings in Shakyamunis stead, as Avalokiteshvara did for The Heart Sutra. In
such cases, as explained above, the Buddha- figures and Shakyamuni share the same mental continuum.
Some of the coarse bodies that Buddhas or Buddha- figures emanate from their Buddhafields-were actual
historical persons, such as Padmasambhava, the Indian master responsible for the first spread of Buddhism to
Tibet. From the viewpoint of conventional truth, these great beings seemed to have individual mental
continuums and appeared as such to ordinary beings, who could understand only this truth about them. A deeper
truth about them was that their mental continuums were one with the Buddhas and Buddha-figures of whom the
y were emanations. For Buddhologists and Hinayana adherents, only the first statement about these historical
figures is true. For Mahayana practitioners, both statements are fact.
Tantra practice includes visualizing oneself in the forms of certain historical figures regarded as Buddha-figure
emanations, such as Padmasambhava, his female partner Yeshey Tsogyel, or the Second Karmapa, Karma
Pakshi. Not all masters regarded as Buddha-figure emanations, however, serve as forms for tantra selfvisualization, for example the Dalai Lamas as Avalokiteshvaras. Moreover, political reasons may have motivated
the Tibetans to address honorifically certain rulers as Buddha-figure emanations, such as the Manchu emperors
of China as Manjushris and the Russian czars as Taras. Tantra practice does not include such persons. Regarding
them as emanations, however, accords with the general Mahayana advice to avoid speaking badly of anyone,
because one can never tell who may be a bodhisattva emanation.
Further, some coarse Buddha-figure emanations that the Tibetans consider as having been historical figures
would be hard to confirm by Western standards. A prominent example is Tara. Tara appeared as an individual
who during a lifetime as a woman developed bodhichitta and became a bodhisattva. She vowed to continue
taking rebirth ever after as a woman and to achieve enlightenment in a female form to encourage women to
follow the path.
Buddha-Figures as Containers for Practice
Buddha-figures are more than emanations representing various factors of Buddha-nature; they also serve as
multipurpose containers. The motivation for Mahayana practice is to become a Buddha for the benefit of all.
Becoming a Buddha requires actualizing enlightening physical, communicative, and mental faculties. Such
faculties need the container of a physical form. Visualizing oneself as a Buddha-figure acts as a cause for
achieving a physical container -- the enlightening body of a Buddha. It also serves as a fitting container for the

various tantra practices for achieving enlightenment, such as visualizing the chakras and channels of the subtle
body.
Like all Buddhas, Buddha-figures appear in a vast network of assorted forms to benefit others in varying ways.
For example, tantra encompasses six classes of practice according to the Nyingma system and four according to
the Kagy, Sakya, and Gelug schools. Moreover, each Tibetan tradition transmits several styles of practice for
each tantra class. Any Buddha-figure may serve as a container for any number of practices from any number of
Tibetan traditions and any number of tantra classes. In any of these practices, the same Buddha-figure may
appear in different forms, in different postures, with different colors and numbers of faces and limbs. The details
of the appearances depend on the number of aspects of Buddha-nature or enlightenment that the figure and its
features represent. For instance, Avalokiteshvara appears in all tantra classes, in all traditions, alone or as part of
a couple, sitting or standing, white or red, with one or eleven heads, and with two, four, or a thousand arms.
Regardless of the form or the practice, however, Avalokiteshvara still serves as a container for focusing on
compassion.
Cultural Diversity in Buddha-Figures
Some Westerners feel that the Buddha-figures are too alien to meet the needs of Western tantra practitioners.
They would like modifications in their forms. Before acting hastily, they might benefit from studying the
historical precedents.
As tantra practice spread from Ind ia to East Asia and Tibet, some of the Buddha-figures indeed altered forms.
Most of the changes, however, were minor. For instance, the facial features matched those of the local races and,
in the case of China, the clothing, postures, and hairdos corresponded as well. The most radical alteration was
with Avalokiteshvara transforming from male to female in Central and East Asia. A traditional Mahayana
explanation for the phenomenon is that Buddhas are masters of skillful means and therefore they manifest in
different forms to suit varied societies. Chinese associate compassion more comfortably with women than with
men. Buddhologists assert that tantric masters made these modifications themselves, using skillful means to
adapt the forms to cultural tastes. The Mahayana retort is that the masters received inspiration and guidance for
the changes from the Buddha- figures themselves, in pure visions and other revelations. In either case, the point
in common is that the Buddhist principle of skillful means requires the modification of forms to suit and thus
benefit different cultures.
The changes that occurred in the Buddha-figures fit within the domain of Asian-style creativity. They gave new
life to standard forms and harmonized them with varied cultural backgrounds. Consistent with this trend, the
Buddha-figures in the West may reasonably take on musculature and Western facial features. However, since
Westerners are used to cultural diversity, it is probably unnecessary that the Buddha-figures change their
clothing to modern fashion. Further, in light of the contemporary Western acceptance of sexual equality, it also
seems unlikely that gender changes need to occur.
Despite modifications, certain features of the Buddha-figures remained untouched as tantra spread from one
Asian culture to another. The most noticeable one is the retention of multiple limbs. Avalokiteshvara still
manifests with a thousand arms, whether with a male body in India or a female one in China. Thousand-armed
people are alien to the common experience of any culture. Yet, as a symbol of the compassion to help others in a
thousand ways, the significance of a thousand arms is understandable to anyone.
Moreover, manifold faces and limbs stand for multiple Buddha-nature aspects and realizations along the path.
For example, it is difficult to maintain simultaneous mindfulness of twenty- four qualities and realizations in an
abstract manner. By representing them graphically with twenty- four arms, it is easier to keep them in mind all at
once by vis ualizing oneself with an array of arms. To eliminate the multilimbed features of the Buddha-figures
in order to make visualization of them more comfortable for Westerners would sacrifice this essential facet of
tantra practice the interweaving of sutra themes.
The Possible Use of Western Religious Icons as Buddha-Figures
When tantra practices become so widely publicized and well known that they become banal, they stop inspiring
practitioners. At such times, Buddhas reveal new forms of practice to tantric masters in pure visions. The
revelations often include slightly different forms of the Buddha-figures. His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
has explained that undoubtedly the phenomenon will continue in the future. His prediction makes sense in light
of the commercialization of Tibetan Buddhism and the appearance of merchandise such as Kalachakra T-shirts.

Buddha- figures and their practices need to remain private and special in order for them to retain their
sacredness. If practitioners see babies dribbling food on their Kalachakra T-shirts, they may find visualizing
themselves as Kalachakras less than inspiring. If new forms of Buddha-figures arise in the West, however, what
forms will be the most helpful and inspiring?
Some Westerners feel that visua lizing themselves as familiar Western religious icons, such as Jesus or Mary,
rather than as alien Indian figures, may be a skillful means for adapting tantra to the West. After all, they argue,
Jesus and Mary represent love and compassion as much as Avalokiteshvara and Tara do. Moreover, if Buddhas
can emanate in any form, they can surely emanate as Jesus or Mary to benefit Westerners. Again, one needs to
keep in mind historical precedents.
The Manchu rulers of China tried to unify the Mongols and Han Chinese under their rule by combining Tibetan
Buddhism with Confucianism. Thus, for purely political reasons, they called Confucius an emanation of
Manjushri, commissioned the composition of tantric rituals for making offerings to the bodhisattva Confucius,
and sponsored ceremonies in Beijing based on these texts. The rituals, however, did not entail visualizing oneself
as the Buddha-figure Confucius/Manjushri.
In India, however, a few Hindu deities, such as elephant-headed Ganesh (the god of prosperity) and Sarasvati
(the goddess of musical and artistic expression) did appear as Buddhafigures for self- visualization in tantra
practice. As mentioned above, practitioners of Hindu and Buddhist tantra intermingled in ancient India and
shared many features of practice. Not only did Hindu deities appear as emanations of Buddha in Buddhist
practice, but also, correspondingly, Hinduism included Buddha as one of the ten manifestations (Skt. avatar) of
Vishnu, one of its main gods. All- inclusiveness is a characteristic shared by most Indian religions.
Monotheistic religions, on the other hand, regard themselves as upholders of the exclusive truth. Their leaders
would undoubtedly take offense at nontheistic religions such as Buddhism declaring their most sacred figures
emanations of Buddha and incorporating them into their practices, particularly into practices involving sexual
imagery. One of the bodhisattva vows is to avoid doing anything that would cause others to disparage Buddhas
teachings. Adapting Jesus and Mary for tantra self- visualization, then, might harm interfaith relations.
Moreover, features associated with the image of Jesus, such as the cross and the crown of thorns, have deep
significance within the Christian context. Even if Western Buddhism were to adapt them as Buddhist symbols,
most Western practitioners would find difficulty in divorcing them from Christian connotations. Because most
symbols involved with Buddha- figures, such as lotuses and gems, are mainly free of associations for the
majority of Westerners, they are open to carry their intended meanings and thus more suitable for use in tantra
practice. Therefore, if new forms of Buddha- figures emerge in the future to rejuvenate the practices, they will
probably follow precedent and be minor varia tions on previous forms. Unlike products on the free market,
however, there will be no need for new improved models each year.

Chapter 5: Tantric Imagery

Survey of the Misunderstanding
One of the more perplexing and most easily misunderstood aspects of tantra is its imagery suggestive of sex,
devil-worship, and violence. Buddha- figures often appear as couples in union and many have demonic faces,
stand enveloped in flames, and trample helpless beings beneath their feet. Seeing these images horrified early
Western scholars, who often came from Victorian or missionary backgrounds. They were not the first to declare
tantra a degenerate form of Buddhism. When tantra originally came to Tibet in the mid-eighth century, many
took the imagery literally as granting free license to ritual sex and blood sacrifice. Subsequently, in the early
ninth century, a religious council banned further official translation of tantra texts and prohibited the inclusion of
tantra terminology in its Great (Sanskrit-Tibetan) Dictionary. One of the main incentives for the Tibetans
inviting Indian masters for the second spread of Buddhism in Tibet was to clarify misunderstanding about sex
and violence in tantra.
Not all Westerners who had early contact with tantra found the imagery depraved. A number misunderstood it in
other ways. Some, for example, felt that the sexual imagery symbolized the psychological process of integrating
the masculine and feminine principles within each person. Others, like many early Tibetans, found the images
erotic. Even now, some people turn to tantra hoping to find new and exotic sexual techniques or spiritual
justification for their obsession with sex. Still others found the terrifying figures alluring for their promise of
granting extraordinary powers. Such people followed in the footsteps of the thirteenth-century Mongol
conqueror Kublai Khan, who adopted Tibetan tantra primarily in the wish that it would help him gain victory
over his foes.
Misunderstanding about tantra, then, is a perennial problem. The reason for tantras insistence on secrecy about
its teachings and images is to avoid such misconceptions, not to hide something perverse. Only those with
sufficient preparation in study and meditation have the background to understand tantra within its proper context.
Couples in Union
Raising to consciousness and integrating the masculine and feminine principles are important and helpful parts
of the path to psychological maturity as taught by several therapeutic schools based on the works of Jung. To
ascribe Buddhist tantra as an ancient source of this approach, however, is an interpolation. The misunderstanding
comes
from
seeing
Buddhafigures as couples in union and incorrectly translating the Tibetan words for the couple, yab-yum, as male
and female. The words actually mean father and mother. Just as a father and mother in union are required for
producing a child, likewise method and wisdom in union are required for giving birth to enlightenment.
Method, the father, stands for bodhichitta and various othe r causes taught in tantra for gaining the enlightening
physical bodies of a Buddha or a Buddhas omniscient awareness of conventional truth. Wisdom, the mother,
stands for the realization of voidness with various levels of mind, as causes for a Buddhas enlightening mind or
a Buddhas omniscient awareness of deepest truth. Gaining the union of a Buddhas physical bodies and mind or
a Buddhas omniscient awareness of the conventional and deepest truths of all things requires practicing a union
of method and wisdom. Because traditional Indian and Tibetan cultures do not share a Biblical sense of
prudishness about sex, they do not have taboos about using sexual imagery to symbolize this union.
One level of meaning of father as method is blissful awareness. The union of father and mother signifies blissful
awareness conjoined with the realization of voidness -- in other words, the realization or understanding of
voidness with a blissful awareness. Here, blissful awareness does not refer to the bliss of orgasmic release as in
ordinary sex, but to a blissful state of mind achieved through advanced yoga methods for bringing the energywinds ( lung, rlung; Skt. prana) into the central energy-channel. A prolonged succession of moments of such a
mental state is conducive for reaching the subtlest level of the mental continuum, ones clear light continuum -the most efficient level of experiencing for realizing voidness. The embrace of father and mother, then, also
symbolizes the blissful aspect of the union of method and wisdom, but in no way signifies the use of ordinary
sex as a tantra method.
Peaceful and Forceful Figures

Buddha-figures may be peaceful or forceful, as indicated on the simplest level by their having smiles on their
faces or fangs bared. More elaborately, forceful figures have terrifying faces, hold an arsenal of weapons, and
stand surrounded by flames. Descriptions of them specify in gory detail various ways in which they smash their
enemies. Part of the confusion that arises about the role and intent of these forceful figures comes from the usual
translations of the word for them, trowo ( khro-bo, Skt. kroddha), as angry or wrathful deities.
For many Westerners with a Biblical upbringing, the term wrathful deity carries the connotation of an almighty
being with righteous vengeful anger. Such a being metes out divine punishment as retribution for evildoers who
have disobeyed its laws or somehow offended it. For some people, a wrathful deity may even connote the Devil
or a demon working on the side of darkness. The Buddhist concept has nothing to do with such notions.
Although the Tibetan term derives from one of the usual words for anger, anger here has more the connotation of
repulsion a rough state of mind directed toward an object with the wish to get rid of it. Thus, a more
appropriate translation for "trowo" might be a forceful figure.
Forceful figures symbolize the strong energetic means often required to break through mental and emotional
blocks that prevent one from being clearheaded or compassionate. The enemies the figures smash include
dullness, laziness, and self-centeredness. The weapons they use span positive qualities developed along the
spiritual path, such as concentration, enthusiasm, and love. The flames that surround them are the different types
of deep awareness ( yeshey, ye-shes; Skt. jnana, wisdom) that burn away obscurations. Imagining oneself as a
forceful figure helps to harness the mental energy and resolve to overcome "internal enemies."
From the Buddhist perspective, the subtlest energy of the clear light continuum may be peaceful or forceful.
When associated with confusion, the peaceful and forceful energies and the emotional states that they underlie
become destructive. For example, peaceful energy becomes lethargic and forceful energy becomes angry and
violent. When rid of confusion, the energies may readily combine with concentration and discriminating
awareness ( sherab, shes-rab; Skt. prajna, wisdom), so that they are available for positive, constructive use.
With peaceful energy, one may calm oneself and others to deal with difficulties in a levelheaded manner. With
forceful energy, one may rouse oneself and others to have more strength, courage, and intensity of mind to
overcome dangerous situations.
Concluding Remarks
Contemporary Western advertising and entertainment draw their success partially from most peoples fascination
with sex and violence. For some persons, this fascination also attracts them to tantra. Their attraction, however,
may lead them to higher aims.
In general, watching, hearing about, or engaging in sex and violence excite peoples energies. Hormones flow
and the mind becomes intense. The violence need not be gory, but may include extreme or contact sports. Some
people, of course, experience aversion or are so jaded by such things that they feel nothing. Consider, however,
those who become fascinated or obsessed. If confusion accompanies the energies aroused by their passions, such
people may cause problems for themselves or others, for example by being rowdy. If, on the other hand, people
accompany the energies with mindfulness, concentration, and insight, they may transform and use the energies
for positive aims. Tantra provides skillful methods for bringing about the transformation, specifically for the
sake of helping others. To derive the full benefits of tantra practice, however, requires deeper understanding of
the processes involved.
End of Article

The Theory of Tantra:

Why Tantra Is More Efficient Than Sutra
Warsaw, Poland, July 31, 1986
Revised and expanded, Berlin, Germany, February 20, 2002
[As background for this discussion, click here for Basic Features of Tantra.]
Tantra is well known as being a quicker and more efficient method for achieving enlightenment than is sutra. To appreciate
tantra and put full enthusiasm into its practice in a realistic manner, it is important to know what makes tantra so special. We
can discuss this on several levels, depending on the tantra class and specific tantra. Here, however, let us speak of only three
levels:

(1) tantra in general common to all four tantra classes,

(2) anuttarayoga tantra in general common to the main anuttarayoga tantras, such as
Guhyasamaja,
(3) Kalachakra tantra.
On each level, we shall analyze four reasons for its enhanced speed:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

There are closer analogies within the practice.

There is a closer union of method and wisdom.
There is a special basis for voidness used for gaining the understanding of voidness.
There is a special level of mental activity used for perceiving voidness.

We shall use as our basis the Gelug presentation of the subject matter, as found in A Grand Presentation of the
Stages of Hidden Mantra (sNgags-rim chen-mo) by the fourteenth-century master Tsongkapa. The four-point
analysis has been extrapolated from salient points in this text, although Tsongkhapa himself has not structured
his discussion in this manner. As a supplement, we shall indicate the features unique to the explanations given in
the non-Gelug systems Sakya, Kagy, and Nyingma when they significantly differ.
1. GELUG PRESENTATION OF TANTRA IN GENERAL
(1) Closer Analogies
The practices of both bodhisattva sutra and general tantra act as causes for reaching the goal of enlightenment,
with the attainment of the physical corpuses (Skt. rupakaya, form bodies) and omniscient all-loving mental
activity (Skt. dharmakaya) of a Buddha. The causal practices in each, however, resemble the goal to different
degrees.
In Sutra
The bodhisattva sutras discuss the two enlightenment-building networks (tshogs-gnyis, the two collections) as
causes for achieving a body and mind of a Buddha. These are the networks of positive force (bsod-nams, Skt.
punya, merit, positive potential) and deep awareness (ye-shes, Skt. jnana, wisdom, insight). Each is a network in
the sense that its constituents connect with and reinforce one another, rather than just accumulate as members of
a passive collection.
We build up the two enlightenment-building networks exclusively with a bodhichitta motivation beforehand and
a dedication to enlightenment afterward. Otherwise, our constructive (dge-ba, virtuous) actions and meditation
on the nature of reality constitute only samsara-building networks of positive force and deep awareness. Such
networks serve merely as causes for achieving a body and mind in one of the better rebirth states.
The minimum level of bodhichitta required for our constructive actions and meditation to constitute
enlightenment-building networks is an artificial state, reached by relying on a line of reasoning. With the
attainment of nonartificial bodhichitta, which arises without such reliance, we become bodhisattvas.
An extensive enlightenment-building network of positive force serves as the obtaining cause (nyer-len-gyi rgyu)
for the body of a Buddha. An obtaining cause is the item from which we obtain the result. It functions as the
natal source (rdzas, natal substance) giving rise to the result as its successor. It ceases to exist simultaneously

with the arising of its result. For example, a seed is the obtaining cause for a sprout. Obtaining causes and their
results, however, do not need to be forms of physical phenomena. Todays understanding of a Dharma point, for
instance, is the obtaining cause that gives rise to tomorrows understanding of it.
Obtaining causes need simultaneously acting conditions (lhan-cig byed-rkyen) in order to give rise to their
results. Here, an enlightenment-building network of positive potential requires as a simultaneously acting
condition an enormous enlightenment-building network of deep awareness. Likewise, an extensive
enlightenment-building network of deep awareness, as the obtaining cause for the mind of a Buddha, requires a
vast enlightenment-building network of positive force as its simultaneously acting condition. The pair of
enlightenment-building networks is required for achieving either of the two, a body or a mind of a Buddha.
[For a more advanced discussion see Relationships between Two Objects in General.]
Although the sutra-level causes for enlightenment are somewhat like their results, they are not so similar. For
instance, a Buddhas physical body has thirty-two major features that are indicative of their causes. A Buddhas
long tongue, for example, indicates and represents the type of love with which he or she, in previous lives as a
bodhisattva, took care of others like a mother animal licking her young. Working with such causes alone requires
three zillion (countless) eons to reach the goal.
General Tantra as the Resultant Vehicle
In general tantra, the obtaining causes for attaining the enlightening body and mind of a Buddha are more
analogous to the results we wish to attain. We practice now as if we had already achieved our goals. Because of
this feature, tantra, as the resultant vehicle, is more efficient for reaching enlightenment.
Tantra practice resembles a dress rehearsal. If we wish to dance in a ballet, we need to attend ballet school first
and learn to dance. The obtaining cause, however, that functions as the natal source giving rise to the actual
performance as its immediate successor, is the dress rehearsal of the ballet. Likewise, if we wish to practice
tantra, we need to learn and develop first the essentials from sutra. Subsequent tantra practice is like the dress
rehearsal to combine the essentials to bring us to enlightenment as its immediate successor.
In all classes of tantra, then, we simulate four purified factors (rnam-par dag-pa bzhi) we will have as Buddhas.
They are purified of all suffering and the causes of suffering, in the sense that they arise in our experience when
we have achieved a true stopping (gog-bden, true cessation) of both. The four are
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

purified bodies,
purified environments,
purified manners of experiencing sense objects with enjoyment (longs-spyod),
purified actions.

We do this by imagining that we have all four factors now. Using our imaginations (dmigs-pa) in these ways acts
as a cause to achieve the four purified factors more quickly. Most translators call this process visualization.
The term, however, is a bit misleading, because the process is not merely visual. It involves the entire scope of
our imaginations imagining sights, sounds, smells, tastes, physical sensations, feelings, emotions, actions, and
so on. Tantra harnesses the power of imagination an extremely potent tool we all possess.
Purified Bodies
In tantra, we imagine that we have purified bodies like those of one of the Buddha-figures the many forms in
which an enlightening body can appear. As the etymology of yi-dam, the Tibetan word for Buddha-figure,
implies, we bond our minds closely with them in daily practice in order to reach enlightenment. Thus, we
imagine our bodies are transparent, made of clear light, and able to multiply into countless replica bodies, all
with the infinite energy and capabilities of those of a Buddha.
Moreover, we do not imagine ourselves as Buddha-figures merely during meditation sessions. We try to
maintain mindfulness (dran-pa) on this the entire day. Mindfulness is a subsidiary awareness (sems-byung,
mental factor) that accompanies cognition of something. Like a mental glue, it prevents our attention from
losing its object.
With mindfulness, we maintain both the clarity (gsal-ba) and self-esteem or dignity (nga-rgyal, pride) of the
Buddha-figure. Clarity is the mental activity of producing the cognitive appearance of the Buddha-figure,

regardless of level of clarity of detail or focus. Self-esteem is the mental activity of labeling me on the
continuity of the appearance of the figure and feeling that this is who we actually are.
Tsongkhapa emphasized that maintaining mindfulness on the self-esteem of being the figure is more important at
first than trying to gain clarity of detail and maintaining mindfulness on the detail. To begin, we need merely
achieve a rough clarity of visualization, to serve as the basis for labeling (gdags-gzhi) me.
Tantric Transformation of Self-Image
While visualizing ourselves as Buddha-figures, we also imagine that we have the self-images associated with the
figures. Many people have negative self-images, for instance as not being good enough or not deserving to be
happy or loved. In contrast to such negative self-images, Buddha-figures imply positive ones.
In Buddhism, negative and positive do not denote bad and good. Rather, they imply destructive and constructive.
Destructive means ripening into problems and suffering, in this life and future ones, through a process of leaving
a legacy (sa-bon, seed, tendency) and habit (bag-chags, instinct) on our mental continuums. Constructive means
ripening into happiness through a similar process.
Buddha-figure practice resembles, in a sense, a type of mental judo with which we work with the tendencies of
our minds to project self-images. Instead of projecting negative ones, we project positive self-images instead.
Each Buddha-figure has a positive self-image associated with it. For example, Avalokiteshvara represents being
a warm, loving, and compassionate person; Manjushri (Jam-dpal dbyangs), being someone clearheaded and
able to understand everything. We practice with one or another figure in order to emphasize a specific positive
self-image, in accordance with our dispositions and needs.
Moreover, each Buddha-figure represents not only a certain aspect of a fully enlightened being, but also the
entirety of an enlightened state. Thus, practice of just one Buddha-figure is sufficient for reaching enlightenment.
Most practitioners, however, work with a variety of Buddha-figure systems to gain the advantages of the special
features of each.
The tantric method of transforming our self-images is not simply using the power of positive thinking. The
change of self-image derives from understanding the Buddha-nature factors and the voidness of ourselves, these
factors, and all self-images we may have.
The Voidness of Self-Images
From the point of view of our Buddha-natures, we all have the potentials for becoming Buddhas, as the selfimages of the Buddha-figures represent. Moreover, negative and positive self-images are equally devoid of
existing in impossible ways, as do we and our potentials. The impossible manner is with true existence (bdengrub).
According to the uniquely Gelug interpretation of the Prasangika-Madhyamaka theories, true existence means
true inherent existence. More fully, it means existence established by the power of findable defining
characteristics inherently inside something (rang-mtshan-gyis grub-pa), which, in conjunction with mental
labeling, make that thing what it is. For example, we may feel that there is something inherently bad or good
inside us that, by its own power, makes us exist as bad or good persons. We and any self-images we may have
are equally devoid of existing in that manner, because there is no such thing as true inherent existence it is an
impossible manner in which anything could exist.
Moreover, regardless of how the various Tibetan Buddhist traditions define true existence, they all agree that
everything is devoid of all four extreme modes of impossible existence:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

true existence the eternalist position,

total nonexistence the nihilist position,
both from one point of view eternalist, from another nihilist,
neither from one point of view, a manner of existence that is not eternalist; from another
viewpoint, one that is not nihilist either.

If asked how self-images actually exist, all we can say, according to Gelug-Prasangika, is that, conventionally
(tha-snyad), self-images do exist, but simply by virtue of mental labeling or imputation alone (btags-pa dogtsam-gyis grub-pa). More fully, they exist as merely what the words and concepts for them refer to (btags-chos),

based merely on a valid imputation of them on a valid basis for labeling (gdags-gzhi). There are no such things
as Buddha-nature factors, or self-images representing them, findable inherently inside us that by their own
powers, or in conjunction with our thinking about them, makes us good persons. Nevertheless, we may validly
label them on our mental continuums based on our experience.
We may likewise validly label negative potentials and negative self-images based on the experiences of our
mental continuums. Nevertheless, negative aspects derive from fleeting stains (glo-bur-gyi dri-ma) that
temporarily obscure our Buddha-natures such as confusion about how we, others, and everything around us
exist. The fleeting stains are removable with accurate understanding of reality, specifically with nonconceptual
cognition of voidness. On the other hand, the continuities of our Buddha-natures go on forever, with no
beginning and no end. Therefore, positive self-images can permanently replace negative ones.
Buddha taught not to accept these points on the foundation of blind faith. Accurate understanding of reality,
corroborated by valid inferential cognition (rjes-dpag tshad-ma) and valid straightforward cognition (mngon-sum
tshad-ma), supports these truths and both dislodges and abolishes the confused belief that negative qualities are
our true natures. Thus, a deep understanding of the four noble truths (four truths of life) true problems, their
true causes, their true stopping, and the true pathway minds that bring that about is essential for a correct
tantric transformation of self-image.
In the context of our discussion, we may formulate the four noble truths as:
(1) uncontrollably recurring rebirth is the true problem;
(2) belief in truly existent negative self-images, based on confusion about reality, is the true
cause;
(3) removal forever of this fleeting stain from our Buddha-natures is a true stopping;
(4) nonconceptual cognition of voidness and of our Buddha-natures is the true pathway mind.
Mantras
Each Buddha-figure also has one or more associated mantras. Mantras are sets of syllables and, often, additional
Sanskrit words and phrases, all of which represent enlightening speech. While repeating the mantras of a
Buddha-figure, we imagine we have the abilities to communicate perfectly to everyone the complete means for
eliminating suffering and reaching enlightenment.
Mantras also shape our breath, and consequently our subtle energy-winds, enabling us to bring the winds under
control for use in meditation practice. From a Western viewpoint, they have certain vibration frequencies that
affect our energies and, consequently, our states of mind.
Purified Environments Mandalas
We also imagine that we have the purified environments of the Buddha-figures. Mandalas represent those
environments. They are three-dimensional palaces, with the Buddha-figures in their centers and often many
secondary figures around some male, some female, some solitary, and some as couples. Two-dimensional
depictions of mandalas, whether painted on cloth or made from colored powders, are like architectural blueprints
for the palaces.
We imagine that we are not just the central figure, but all the Buddha-figures of the mandala. We also envision
complete purified lands (dag-zhing) surrounding the palaces, where everything is conducive for reaching
enlightenment through tantra practice.
Purified Manner of Enjoyment
Moreover, we imagine that we are able to experience sense objects with enjoyment in the way that Buddhas do,
without any confusion (zag-med-kyi bde-ba, uncontaminated happiness). Normally, we experience things with
confusion. When we listen to music at home, for instance, we may be unable to enjoy it purely without fretting
that our sound systems are not as good as those of our neighbors. We may be attached to good food and if we eat
something delicious, we are greedy for more.
If we suffer from low self-esteem, we may feel that we do not deserve to be happy or that we are not worthy
enough to receive affection or anything nice from others. Even if others give us something of good quality, we
may feel that they lack sincere feelings and are only patronizing us. Alternatively, we may emotionally
anesthetize ourselves so that unless the sense experience is extreme, we do not feel anything. In extreme cases,

we may even feel that if we were to enjoy something nice, it might be taken from us like a bone from a dog
and we might be punished.
If we are Buddhas, however, we are able to enjoy everything without such confusion. In tantra, then, with the
high self-esteem and dignity of a Buddha-figure, we imagine that we are able to enjoy things purely. We do this,
for example, when we receive the offerings we make to ourselves in the tantric rituals (bdag-bskyed mchod-pa)
a practice unique to the Gelug tradition.
All Tibetan traditions of tantra include, however, making offerings to the Buddhas and to all limited beings.
When doing so, we imagine that we are able to bring them purified happiness, without us feeling any confusion
about that. Often, when we give something to others, we feel that what we gave was inadequate and that they did
not really enjoy it. Our negative attitudes reinforce our low self-esteem and, afterwards, we may even regret our
gifts. In tantra, on the other hand, we imagine giving the best things possible and we feel that they bring purified
pleasure to their recipients. This reinforces the positive self-image and high self-esteem of being a Buddhafigure, able to fulfill everybodys wishes for happiness. To counter stinginess, we imagine that we have an
infinite supply of offerings that will never run out. After making offerings, we rejoice and feel happy about our
giving, without any confusion or doubts.
Whether making offerings to the Buddhas, to all limited beings, or to ourselves, we need to understand the
voidness of everything and everyone involved. In other words, we understand that the giver, the recipients, the
objects enjoyed, the acts of enjoying them, and the happiness felt are devoid of existing in impossible ways.
Thus, we do not inflate or make a big deal about our own or others happiness. We do not experience it in
dualistic manners; nor do we cling to it. Such practice trains us to focus on voidness with a blissful awareness,
without having the happiness that we experience be out of harmony with our understanding.
Purified Actions
We also imagine that we are able to act as Buddhas do. Buddhas act by exerting an enlightening influence
(phrin-las, Buddha-activity) on others. This requires no conscious effort on their parts. By the very way
Buddhas are, they spontaneously accomplish all aims (lhun-grub), in the sense that they inspire (byin-rlabs,
bless) everyone receptive to their help. This works in a manner similar to charisma.
Buddhas exert four general types of enlightening influence:
(1) calming and quieting others around them (zhi, pacification);
(2) stimulating others to grow, to have clearer minds, warmer hearts, be more engaged in
positive activities, and so on (rgyas, increase);
(3) bringing others under their power to go in a positive direction and helping others to unify
and gain power from their own internal forces, also to go in a positive direction (dbang,
power);
(4) stopping dangerous situations in which others may hurt themselves or be hurt by others
(drag-pa, wrathful). The forceful (wrathful) Buddha-figures, surrounded by flames,
represent this last type of enlightening influence.
While visualizing ourselves with the bodies of Buddha-figures, in the purified environments of mandala palaces,
and repeating mantras, we imagine emitting rays of light and tiny figures, influencing others in the four ways.
We do this while understanding the voidness of us, those we influence, our acts of influencing them, and the
influence we exert. None of them exists in impossible ways. Thus, we counter the low self-esteem of feeling
inadequate and powerless, while not inflating our egos.
Mudras, Mantras, and Samadhis
Each Buddha-figure represents the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha and the inseparability of the three.
Therefore, when visualizing ourselves performing actions as Buddha-figures, such as making offerings, we
simultaneously do something physical, verbal, and mental with our ordinary bodies to integrate the three.
(1) With our bodies, we make a specific mudra (phyag-rgya) for each action. A mudra is a
hand-gesture, often with a complex arrangement of intertwined fingers.
(2) With our speech, we recite aloud a specific mantra for each action. The mantra is usually a
Sanskrit phrase or sentence, with special syllables added at the beginning and end, such as
om for body, ah for speech, and hum for mind.

(3) With our minds, we focus in a specific samadhi (ting-nge-dzin) for each action. A
samadhi is a state of total absorption, with full concentration on an object or on a state of
mind. The action may entail samadhi
(a) on a visualization, such as offering flowers,
(b) on what the visualization represents, such as flowers represent offering our
knowledge to benefit others, or
(c) on an understanding, such as the inexhaustibility of the objects we offer or on
their voidness.
Validity of the Method
We may ask the question, Isnt it a lie or distorted cognition (log-shes) to think we are Buddhas, when in truth
we are not? This is not self-deception, however, because all beings have the complete set of factors within that
allow them to become Buddhas; in other words, everyone has Buddha-nature. We all have the same reality of
mind, as well as the mental activity of simultaneously producing and perceiving cognitive appearances (gsal-rig,
clarity and awareness). We all have a certain amount of positive force and deep awareness, which, if properly
dedicated, will allow us to overcome limitations and realize our potentials to become Buddhas and be able to
benefit others most effectively.
Therefore, as tantric practitioners, we think I am a Buddha only within the context of being fully aware that we
are not yet enlightened. We do not pretentiously think that right now we omnisciently know the most skillful
advice to give each being in the universe to help overcome his or her specific difficulty of the moment. Rather,
we are labeling me as a Buddha on the future continuities of our mental continuums.
More fully, as properly qualified practitioners of tantra, we necessarily already have
(1) accurate understanding of (a) what is enlightenment, (b) what are the Buddha-nature
factors allowing it, and (c) how these factors, enlightenment, and we exist;
(2) firm conviction that we have the complete factors of Buddha-nature within us now;
(3) firm conviction, based on accurate understanding of the four noble truths and voidness,
that not only is enlightenment possible, but also that our own enlightenment is possible;
(4) accurate understanding of and firm conviction in the complete methods in tantra for
achieving that enlightenment;
(5) unshakable bodhichitta motivation and resolve to benefit all beings as much as is possible
and, to be able to do that, to achieve enlightenment through those methods;
(6) our Buddha-nature factors activated by having properly received a tantric empowerment
from a qualified tantric master;
(7) a healthy relation with that tantric master, as a source of steady inspiration and reliable
guidance to follow the tantra path correctly;
(8) firm resolve to keep as purely as possible the vows we have taken at the empowerment.
If we are missing any of these indispensable prerequisites, our tantric practice of imagining ourselves as Buddhafigures is not only distorted; it may also be psychologically and spiritually dangerous. If, however, we have the
complete set of prerequisite states of mind, then based on the future continuities of our Buddha-nature factors
developing into those of enlightened beings, we can validly label ourselves now as Buddhas. Thus, we are using
mental labeling as a method to reach enlightenment, without fooling ourselves that we have already achieved it.
Multiple Limbs and Faces
Some people find difficulty in relating to the multiple arms, faces, and legs that the various Buddha-figures have.
These features, however, possess many levels of purpose, meaning, and symbolism.
If, for instance, we try to be aware of twenty-four things abstractly at the same time, we may find this
achievement quite difficult. If, however, we imagine we have twenty-four arms, each of which represents one of
the items, the graphic picture enables us to be more easily aware of the twenty-four simultaneously.
Moreover, since the arms, faces, and legs have many levels of symbolism, not just one, the process of imagining
that we are multifaced, multilimbed Buddha-figures is like opening up the lenses of our minds. By helping us to
be aware of many things simultaneously, it acts as a cause for developing the omniscient all-loving awareness
(rnam-mkhyen) of a Buddha.
(2) Closer Union of Method and Wisdom

In Sutra
On the sutra level, method is conventional bodhichitta and wisdom is the discriminating awareness of voidness.
These are the foundations for strengthening and expanding the enlightenment-building networks of positive force
and deep awareness, the obtaining causes for achieving the body and mind of a Buddha.
Conventional bodhichitta focuses on our future enlightenment with two accompanying intentions (dun-pa): to
achieve that enlightenment and to benefit all beings by means of that. Discriminating awareness of voidness
focuses on an absolute absence (med-dgag) of true existence, with the understanding that there is no such
manner of existence. Nothing has its existence and conventional identity established by the power of some
defining characteristic marks inherently findable within it. Thus, in sutra, the main causes for a body and a mind
of a Buddha have different ways of cognitively taking their objects (dzin-stangs). On the most basic level, one is
with the wish to attain something; the other is with the understanding that there are no such things as certain
impossible modes of existence.
[For a more advanced discussion of cognitively taking objects, see Relationships with Objects.]
A moment of cognition cannot have two different manners of cognitively taking an object. Because of that,
conventional bodhichitta and the discriminating awareness of voidness cannot occur simultaneously in one
moment of cognition. We can only practice the two within the context of each other.
Practicing cognition A within the context of cognition B means to generate B during the moment
immediately preceding A. The momentum or legacy (sa-bon, seed) of B continues during A, although B
itself no longer occurs. In a sense, the momentum of B flavors A, without A and B occurring
simultaneously. This is the way sutra practice combines method and wisdom.
[For a more advanced discussion see The Union of Method and Wisdom in Sutra and Tantra, Gelug Sutra.]
Buddha-Figures as Method in General Tantra
The enlightening body and mind of a Buddha share the same essential nature (ngo-bo gcig, one by nature), in the
sense that they are two facts about the same phenomenon. As two facts about a Buddha, both are simultaneously
the case in each moment of a Buddhas experience. In a colloquial manner of speaking, they come together in
one package.
Moreover, a Buddhas mind and body are inseparable (dbyer-med) from each other. In other words, the two
occur simultaneously in each moment, in the sense that if one is the case, so is the other. The body of a Buddha
cannot be present without the mind of that Buddha, and vice versa.
[For

more

advanced

discussion

see

Relationships

between

Two

Objects

in

General.]

The most efficient means for achieving the simultaneous occurrence of an enlightening body and mind is to
practice in one moment of cognition the causes for both. To accomplish this aim, tantra takes as method not only
conventional bodhichitta, but also having the body of a Buddha-figure. To have such an enlightening body is the
actual method, motivated by bodhichitta and dedicated to enlightenment, that will enable us to benefit all others.
We cannot benefit everyone as fully as a Buddha does with our ordinary bodies, which are limited in
innumerable ways.
Correspondingly, wisdom in tantra is the discriminating awareness of the voidness of ourselves in terms of being
Buddha-figures, and not simply the voidness of ourselves in terms of the aggregate factors (Skt. skandha) that
constitute our ordinary bodies and minds.
Voidness and the Basis for a Voidness
Voidness is an absolute absence of true existence. It is the deepest truth about how something exists. As an
unchanging fact about something, the voidness of something cannot exist independently by itself; it must always
have a basis that something. In other words, the basis for a voidness (stong-gzhi) is the specific object that is
devoid of existing in impossible ways.
Note that because each basis for a voidness is individual, the voidness of each basis is likewise individual.
Associated with each basis, then, is an individual instance of a voidness. All voidnesses are equally voidnesses,

but the voidness of one basis is not the voidness of another basis. This resembles the fact that all noses are
equally noses, but my nose is not your nose.
Moreover, any basis for a voidness must also have aspects (rnam-pa), one of which a mind makes appearances
of when it cognizes the basis. If the object is physical, for instance, the aspect may be its form, sound, smell,
taste, or physical sensation. If the object is a way of being aware of something, for instance love, the appearance
of it in a cognition may be the emotional feeling of it that arises.
Two Truths
The appearance of the basis for a voidness and its actual voidness are two inseparable facts about the same
object. They are called the two truths (bden-gnyis, two levels of truth) about an object. Both are true and are
inseparably the case, regardless of whether one moment of mind perceives them simultaneously.
(1) The superficial truth (kun-rdzob bden-pa, relative truth) about something is how it
appears, namely
(a) what it appears to be,
(b) how it appears to exist.
(2) The deepest truth (don-dam bden-pa, ultimate truth) about the same phenomenon is how it
actually exists.
General tantra takes as method and wisdom the two truths about ourselves as Buddha-figures the appearance of
the Buddha-figure as a basis for voidness and its actual voidness.
Method and Wisdom in General Tantra Having One Manner of Cognitively Taking an Object
Conceptual and nonconceptual cognitions of voidness entail two phases, both of which occur during a meditation
session on voidness:
(1) total absorption (mnyam-bzhag, meditative equipoise) on voidness that is like space,
(2) subsequent realization (rjes-thob, post-meditation) of voidness that is like an illusion.
The focal object (dmigs-yul) during total absorption is the deepest truth about something, its voidness. The
superficial truths about it do not appear at that time. During subsequent realization, the focal object is the
superficial truth about the object, while its deepest truth does not appear. The presence of an appearance of true
existence and the absolute absence of true existence cannot appear simultaneously in one moment of cognition,
whether conceptual or nonconceptual. They are mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, the two truths remain
inseparable.
The situation resembles sitting on the ground floor of a house and seeing through the window a person walk past.
Although only the top half of the person appears to go by, this does not mean that the person is missing a bottom
half. The limitation derives from the side of the perspective, not from the side of the person.
Thus, although the appearance of a Buddha-figure and its voidness, as method and wisdom, remain always
inseparable, total absorption on voidness focuses only on wisdom. Subsequent realization of voidness focuses
only on method.
As in the case with bodhichitta, cognition of wisdom can only be held by the force of an immediately preceding
moment of cognition of method, and vice versa. Wisdom and method are not simultaneous. Nevertheless,
cognition of the appearance of a Buddha-figure as method still avoids the shortcoming of bodhichitta. This is
because the manners with which wisdom and method cognitively take their objects during total absorption and
subsequent realization are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are equivalent manners. Both are ways of
cognitively taking voidness as an object.
More specifically, the manners with which wisdom and method cognitively take an object here are two facts
about or ways of describing the same phenomenon a manner of cognitively taking an object that can be
logically isolated from each other as two different things (ngo-bo gcig ldog-pa tha-dad). The two equivalent
manners of cognitively taking an object are with the discriminating awareness that
(1) there is no such thing as true existence;
(2) the appearance of what resembles true existence does not correspond to anything real.

It is in this fashion, then, that general tantra practices method and wisdom with one manner of cognitively taking
an object, and thus achieves a closer union of the two than sutra practice does.
Summary
(1) All bases for voidness are inseparable from their voidness.
(2) Their appearance and voidness are two inseparable truths about them.
(3) Although focus on both can only alternate, still the manners of cognitively taking them
during total absorption and subsequent realization are not contradictory: they are
equivalent to each other.
Although these points are valid for all phenomena; nevertheless, focusing on a table or on our ordinary bodies as
bases for voidness cannot serve as a union of method and wisdom. We can only help others in the enlightening
manner of a Buddha with the body of a Buddha-figure. Moreover, focusing on conventional bodhichitta and its
voidness will also not serve as a union of method and wisdom, because the two still have contradictory manners
of cognitively taking their objects.
Even if we are not yet able to focus on our appearances as Buddha-figures and on their voidness with one
manner of cognitively taking an object, still we have bodies while we are focusing on their voidness. When
tantra commentaries state that the mind understanding voidness appears as a Buddha-figure, this not only means
that the mind cognizing voidness gives rise to an appearance of a Buddha-figure as the basis for that voidness,
while maintaining an understanding of its voidness. It also means, on a simpler level, that the body of the person
focusing on voidness appears as a Buddha-figure, whether or not the person cognizes it at that moment.
[For a more advanced discussion see The Union of Method and Wisdom in Sutra and Tantra, Gelug General
Tantra.]
(3) Special Basis for Voidness
The next reason why tantra is faster than sutra is that the basis for voidness it uses is special. It takes, as the basis
for voidness meditation, the appearance of the body of a Buddha-figure. Such a basis is special from three points
of view.
Compared to most other objects, the appearances of Buddha-figures are:
(1) less deceptive,
(2) more stable,
(3) more subtle.
Buddha-Figures as Less Deceptive
In sutra, we focus on the voidness of a phenomenon or of a person. When we think of the basis for that voidness,
for instance, our ordinary bodies, the appearances of the bases that arise in our cognitions both conceptual and
nonconceptual are produced by minds that are affected by causes for deceptive (khrul-snang) or discordant
appearance-making (gnyis-snang, dual appearances). In other words, our usual minds make our bodies appear to
us as existing in deceptive manners discordant with their deepest truth. For instance, our minds make them
appear truly and inherently to exist as fat, ugly, and unlovable. Because of believing that this deceptive manner
of existence corresponds to reality, we may feel alienation from our bodies and self-hatred toward them.
In voidness meditation, we think how our bodies do not actually exist in the impossible manners in which they
appear to us to exist. It may be an accurate superficial truth that presently we are fat and ugly by the
conventional standards of our societies and that no one loves us by our personal conventions of what love means.
Nevertheless, we do not truly and inherently exist in those ways, forever, regardless of circumstances and points
of view. That is impossible.
While focusing on the voidness of our ordinary bodies the absolute absence of their existing in impossible
manners disturbing emotions and attitudes (nyon-rmongs, Skt. klesha, afflictive emotions) cannot affect our
minds. Nevertheless, the bases for that voidness, our ordinary bodies, are objects that our minds made appear in
deceptive ways before our total absorption on their voidness. Because of that, our previous experiences of
deceptive appearance-making and disturbing emotions can, in a sense, infect or destabilize our understandings of

that voidness. The mechanism is similar to that by which focus on voidness can be within the context of the
legacies of previous moments of bodhichitta.
In tantra, on the other hand, we first dissolve all ordinary appearances. We halt our minds deceptive appearancemaking by starting with the understanding of voidness. Then, within that state of an absolute absence, we
imagine that we arise in the forms of Buddha-figures and focus on the voidness of those forms. Thus, the
situation differs significantly from meditating on the voidness of our ordinary bodies. In tantra, we already
understand voidness and then within the context of voidness, we focus on the bodies of Buddha-figures things
that we have already understood are devoid of true existence. In this way, the appearances of ourselves as
Buddha-figures are not as deceptive as the forms of our ordinary bodies would be.
In short, normally when we think of the forms of our ordinary bodies, we emotionally overreact to them as me
in terms of disturbing feelings and judgments, such as My body is ugly, I dont like it, or How beautiful I
am. Such disturbing feelings can undermine our understandings of their voidness. Focusing on the voidness of
the purified forms of Buddha-figure bodies avoids this danger and disadvantage.
Buddha-Figures as More Stable
When we focus on the voidness of our ordinary bodies in bodhisattva sutra, the bases for that voidness are
capricious (fleeting) objects. They are bodies that sometimes feel good, sometimes hurt, and so on. Subject to the
unpredictable impulses of karma, they are unstable and noticeably change each time we meditate. They even
change during the course of one session for instance, as our knees begin to ache.
In contrast, each time we try to focus on the voidness of the body of a Buddha-figure, its appearance as the basis
for that voidness does not grossly change. The body that appears can perform functions such as helping others
even if only in our imaginations and in this sense is a nonstatic (impermanent) phenomenon. However, it is a
so-called static nonstatic phenomenon (rtag-pa shes-bya-bai mi-rtag-pa), in the sense that it does not grow
old, does not become tired, does not fall ill, and so on. It always remains in the same condition whenever we
focus on it in meditation. Thus, Buddha-figures serve as more stable objects than our capricious bodies do for
gaining and enhancing the understanding of voidness and for maintaining single-minded concentration on that
voidness.
Buddha-Figures as More Subtle
Our ordinary bodies as bases for voidness are gross forms that appear to our eye consciousness. Because they are
gross, they appear to us as concrete and solid objects, existing independently of a relationship with the mind.
That relationship is as what the mental labels or concepts for them refer to. The truth that they are devoid of
existing in such impossible manners is not so obvious.
In general tantra, however, the bodies of the Buddha-figures on which we focus are subtle forms that we see only
in our minds eyes. Because of their subtlety, it is more obvious that they lack existence independent of what a
mind can impute. Thus, it is easier to understand their voidness.
(4) Special Level of Mental Activity
Anuttarayoga tantra analyzes three levels of mental activity (mind): gross, subtle, and subtlest.
(1) The gross level involves the five types of sense consciousness namely eye, ear, nose,
tongue, and body consciousness. It is always nonconceptual.
(2) The subtle level concerns mind consciousness, both conceptual and nonconceptual.
(3) The subtlest level of mind is called clear light (od-gsal). It is like a laser beam of
mental activity. It refers to the basic activity of merely producing and perceiving cognitive
appearances, simultaneously, which provides continuity of experience from moment to
moment and from one lifetime to the next, even into enlightenment. Clear-light mental
activity is exclusively nonconceptual. Only the methods of anuttarayoga bring access to
this level of mind.
In sutra and the three lower classes of tantra, nonconceptual cognition of voidness is by valid yogic cognition
(rnal-byor mngon-sum), which is on the second of the three levels of mental activity, the subtle one. Unlike our
usual mental cognition, which arises from the dominating condition (bdag-rkyen) of our mental sensors (yid-kyi
dbang-po), yogic cognition arises from a state of combined shamatha (zhi-gnas; calm abiding, mental
quiescence) and vipashyana (lhag-mthong, special insight) as its dominating condition. Shamatha is a serenely
stilled and settled state of mind, while vipashyana is an exceptionally perceptive state.

Because conceptual cognition is exclusively with the subtle level of mental activity and clear light cognition is
exclusively nonconceptual,
(1) conceptual cognition of voidness is exclusively with the subtle level of mind;
(2) nonconceptual cognition of voidness may be with either the subtle or the subtlest level of
mind.
Therefore, tantra practice in general includes, in its highest class, using a special level of mental activity for
nonconceptually cognizing voidness clear-light mind although not all classes of tantra use this level.
Concluding Points Concerning Voidness in Sutra and Tanta
Subtle and subtlest mental activity nonconceptually cognize the same voidness, namely voidness as an absolute
absence (med-dgag) of true existence. Gelug is unique in asserting that conceptual and nonconceptual cognition
of voidness also cognize this same voidness. Because of this, both stages of practice in each of the four tantra
classes the yoga with signs (mtshan-bcas-kyi rnal-byor) and the yoga without signs (mtshan-med-kyi rnalbyor) in the first three classes, and the generation stage (bskyed-rim, development stage) and complete stage
(rdzogs-rim, completion stage) in anuttarayoga have the same understanding of voidness.
2. NON-GELUG VARIATIONS CONCERNING GENERAL TANTRA
Except for the following variations in assertions, the non-Gelug traditions of Tibetan Buddhism Sakya, Kagy,
and Nyingma agree with Gelug on the various reasons why general tantra is more efficient than sutra.
(1) Closer Analogies
Buddha-Nature and Positive Self-Images
The non-Gelug traditions agree with Gelug that transforming our self-images to those of Buddha-figures is not
simply by the power of positive thinking. It derives from our Buddha-natures and on the fact that self-images are
devoid of existing in impossible manners.
Most Sakya masters explain, as in Gelug, that our Buddha-natures contain all the potentials (nus-pa) for
becoming enlightened. When Nyingma masters explain, on the other hand, that the factors of Buddha-nature are
not merely potentials, but are complete within us (rdzogs-pa), they do not mean that we are already fully
operational, omniscient, all-loving Buddhas. The Buddha-nature factors, such as the natures of our minds and
their innate qualities of compassion and so on, are complete in the sense that we do not need to import or
manufacture them. Nevertheless, fleeting stains prevent our access and realization of them in their fullest forms.
Representing these factors by the self-images of Buddha-figures helps us to remove the mental obscurations
(sgrib-pa, obstacles) that constitute these stains.
Moreover, all non-Gelug schools agree that a tantric transformation of self-image requires understanding that
self-images are devoid of existing as phenomena whose manner of existence actually corresponds to the way that
conceptual cognition of them makes them appear. On the most basic level, conceptual cognition makes selfimages appear to exist with true existence. The non-Gelug traditions take true existence to mean true unimputed
existence. This means existing by themselves, as phenomena arising unimputedly, separately from minds that
cognitively give rise to and perceive them. In technical terms, as imputations, self-images refer to something
(btags-chos), but what they refer to does not correspond to the unimputedly existent objects that the imputations
imply (zhen-yul).
For example, the self-image of being an idiot refers to an idiot, as defined by social or personal convention. This
is what it means. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as an absolute idiot someone who is an idiot regardless of
who is regarding him or her in that way. Thus, despite regarding ourselves as idiots, our self-images do not make
us into absolute idiots, although our self-images have meaning. The same is true when we adopt the self-image
of being Buddha-figures.
[For a more advanced discussion see Objects of Cognition.]
Sakya View of Inseparable Samsara and Nirvana
The Sakya tradition provides a further explanation of why imagining ourselves as Buddha-figures is not distorted
cognition. According to the Sakya view of inseparable samsara and nirvana (khor-das dbyer-med), our energies

vibrate and appear in multiple forms simultaneously, somewhat like subatomic particles vibrating simultaneously
at multiple quantum levels. On one quantum level, we appear in the forms of our usual bodies; but on other
levels, we simultaneously appear as Buddha-figures. The appearances that we or anyone else perceives of us
depend on the minds that perceive them. So long as the minds that perceive them are not affected by superficial
or deepest causes for deceptive or distorted appearance-making such as astigmatism, autism, or grasping for
true unimputed existence the cognitions of the appearances of us as usual humans or as Buddha-figures are
equally valid.
(2) Closer Union of Method and Wisdom
As with the Gelug presentation, method in non-Gelug general tantra is the appearances of ourselves as Buddhafigures and wisdom is the cognition of voidness with respect to those appearances. Many masters of the nonGelug traditions, however, differentiate self-voidness (rang-stong) from other-voidness (gzhan-stong).
Depending on how they define each and whether they accept as the ultimate view one, the other, or both, their
assertions of the wisdom that is inseparable from method in tantra varies.
In general, self-voidness is an absence of a self-nature (rang-bzhin), referring to an absence of an impossible
mode of existence. Other-voidness is a deep awareness (ye-shes) with an absence of, or devoid of other levels of
mental activity. All agree that the voidness asserted by Gelug is a variety of self-voidness and that, although it
has a certain level of validity, it is not the ultimate view.
In Terms of Self-Voidness
When voidness refers to self-voidness, the appearances and their self-voidness, as their mode of existence, are
still two inseparable truths about the same phenomenon. Nevertheless, because many basic assertions here are
different from those in Gelug, the explanations of the closer union of method and wisdom also vary.
The non-Gelug traditions assert two levels of deepest truth about something:
(1) the denumerable deepest truth about it (rnam-grangs-kyi don-dam bden-pa), knowable by
conceptual cognition alone;
(2) the nondenumerable deepest truth (rnam-grangs med-pai don-dam bden-pa), knowable
only by nonconceptual cognition.
A denumerable truth is one included among affirmations (sgrub-pa) or nullifications (dgag-pa).
(1) An affirmation defines an item by establishing something; for example, X.
(2) A nullification defines an item by eliminating something (sel-ba). Nullifications are of two
types.
(a) Implicative nullifications (ma-yin dgag), such as non-X. In eliminating
something about an item that it is X they imply something affirmative about it
it is some other letter of the alphabet. Another variation is a word without X.
The elimination of X still affirms that the item is a word.
(b) Nonimplicative nullifications (med-dgag), such as an absence of X. In
eliminating something, they do not imply anything further. What it eliminates
may exist, such as the letter X, but just not here. On the other hand, it may not
exist at all, such as an absence of turtle-hair. Here, we are using the term
absolute absence for a nonimplicative nullification that eliminates something
nonexistent. Moreover, what an absolute absence eliminates as not existing at all
may be an item, such as turtle-hair, or a mode of existence, such as true inherent
existence.
Voidness as a nonimplicative nullification of a mode of existence that does not exist at all an absolute absence
of true inherent existence in Gelug, or of true unimputed existence in non-Gelug is a denumerable deepest truth
about something. Note that what it nullifies (dgag-bya) true inherent or true unimputed existence is not the
same as the basis for the nullification (gog-gzhi), namely the basis for a voidness.
A nondenumerable truth is one that does not fit into the solid categories implied by conceptualizations such as
affirmations, nullifications, both, or neither. In this sense, such a truth is beyond all words and concepts.

All non-Gelug traditions accept that the ultimate (mthar-thug) manner in which everything exists is a
nondenumerable deepest truth. All things exist in a manner beyond words and concepts. The words and concepts
for manners of existence such as with an affirmation of true existence, with a nullification of true
existence, with both, or with neither imply (zhen-pa) that these manners actually exist as concrete
categories, like separate boxes. This is impossible. They also imply that if the ultimate manner in which
everything exists could be put into words and concepts, this manner of existence would be a concrete item that
would fit into one of these solid boxes. This too is impossible. Valid cognition reveals that the ultimate manner
of existence of everything does not fit into any conceptual box. Thus, the ultimate way in which everything
exists is beyond a manner corresponding to what the words and concepts for them imply.
[For a more advanced discussion see Affirmations, Nullifications, and Denumerable and Nondenumerable
Truths]
Two Non-Gelug Usages of the Term Self-Voidness
Among the non-Gelug schools, the usages of the term self-voidness regarding the two levels of deepest truth fall
into two camps.
(1) Nyingma and mainstream Sakya, for example the fifteenth-century master Gorampa (Goram bSod-nams seng-ge), use self-voidness to mean only the ultimate manner of existence,
a nondenumerable deepest truth. They do not use the term to refer to the denumerable
deepest truth about anything, its absolute absence of existing with true existence.
(2) Karma and Shangpa Kagy use self-voidness exclusively for the denumerable deepest
truth, an absolute absence. Although they accept that the manner of existence of
everything is ultimately beyond words and concepts, they do not use the term selfvoidness for this nondenumerable truth.
To help avoid confusion in the ensuing discussion, let us coin the terms denumerable self-voidness for the
voidness that is an absolute absence and nondenumerable self-voidness for the voidness that is a manner of
existence beyond words and concepts.
Relevant Assertions Unique to Non-Gelug
The non-Gelug traditions differ significantly from Gelug on six further points that are relevant for understanding
their explanations of why method and wisdom are closer in general tantra than they are in sutra. Sakya, Kagy,
and Nyingma assert in common:
(1) Svatantrika-Madhyamaka and Prasangika-Madhyamaka assert the same definition of true
existence. For both Indian schools, the term means true unimputed existence, existence
established independently of imputation or mental labeling, much as Gelug explains the
Svatantrika-Madhyamaka position alone. Prasangika-Madhyamaka does not present any
assertions of its own regarding how everything actually exists. It merely refutes conceptual
thinking regarding true unimputed existence, by drawing absurd conclusions (thal, Skt.
prasanga) from it.
(2) Nondenumerable voidness, as a voidness beyond words and concepts, is beyond the four
extreme modes of impossible existence that are the implied objects corresponding to the
conceptualizations: (a) true existence, (b) an absolute absence of true existence, (c) both, or (d)
neither. As with Gelug, an absolute absence of true existence, as a denumerable voidness, is an
absolute absence of the four extremes of (a) eternalism (true existence), (b) nihilism (total
nonexistence), (c) both, and (d) neither.
(3) Conceptual cognition, and only conceptual cognition, makes its object appear to exist in
one of the four impossible manners that denumerable voidness is beyond. Nonconceptual
cognition does not make its object appear in any of these ways.
(4) Denumerable self-voidness, as an absolute absence, can therefore be an object only of
conceptual cognition, not of nonconceptual cognition.
(5) Nondenumerable self-voidness, as a mode of existence beyond words and concepts, can be
an object only of nonconceptual cognition, not of conceptual cognition.

(6) Wisdom as discriminating awareness (shes-rab) of voidness cognizes only denumerable

self-voidness. The wisdom of nondenumerable self-voidness is exclusively deep awareness
(ye-shes).
Conceptual and Nonconceptual Unions of Method and Wisdom in Terms of Self-Voidness
In the Gelug tradition, the union of method and wisdom in general tantra entails the same method and wisdom
whether the union is with conceptual or nonconceptual cognition. Moreover, the manner for combining the
practice of method and wisdom is also the same on both levels. With sufficient strengthening of the
enlightenment-building networks of positive force and deep awareness, a conceptual union leads to a
nonconceptual one.
The non-Gelug traditions agree that a conceptual union of method and wisdom is prerequisite for achieving a
nonconceptual one and that strengthening the two enlightenment-building networks brings the transition from
one to the other. However, the wisdom factor differs in the conceptual and nonconceptual unions. On the
conceptual level, wisdom is the discriminating awareness of denumerable voidness; on the nonconceptual level,
it is the deep awareness of nondenumerable voidness. Consequently, the manner in which non-Gelug combines
method and wisdom here is also different on the two levels.
Non-Gelug explains the union of method and wisdom in conceptual cognition in the same basic manner as Gelug
does. Method and wisdom are each cognitively taken only within the context of the other, which means that each
continues as a legacy when the other occurs. As in Gelug, such practice avoids the shortcomings of bodhichitta
as method, since the manners of cognitively taking space-like and illusion-like denumerable voidness are not
contradictory. They are equivalent.
In Gelug sutra and general tantra, the appearances of Buddha-figures that arise in conceptual and nonconceptual
subsequent realization of voidness are the same. Both are appearances of what seem to be truly existent Buddhafigures. In non-Gelug, appearance-making of true existence (bden-snang) occurs only with conceptual cognition.
In both the non-Gelug and Gelug systems, such appearances are unpurified appearances (ma-dag-pai snang-ba,
impure appearances). The appearance-making factors (gsal-cha, clarity factor) of our mental continuums are not
purified of the obscurations that cause production of such deceptive appearances.
According to non-Gelug, yogic nonconceptual cognition produces purified appearances (dag-pai snang-ba, pure
appearances) appearances produced by mental continuums temporarily purified of the obscurations giving rise
to unpurified appearances.
Purified appearances are appearances that are beyond words and concepts. In other words, the manner of
existence that yogic nonconceptual cognition produces an appearance of is a manner that is beyond the extremes
of a presence or absence of true existence, both, or neither. This is because deep awareness of nondenumerable
voidness accompanies yogic nonconceptual cognition. We understand nonconceptually the purified manner of
existence that appears.
Thus, yogic nonconceptual cognition of the nondenumerable voidness of a Buddha-figure gives rise to the
purified appearance of the Buddha-figure simultaneously with the deep awareness of how it exists. In this
manner, yogic nonconceptual cognition here combines method and wisdom in the same moment of cognition.
During total absorption, however, nondenumerable self-voidness is more prominent; while during subsequent
realization, the appearance of the Buddha-figure is more prominent. Equal prominence of both occurs only in a
Buddhas omniscient awareness. Nevertheless, total absorption and subsequent realization here have only one
manner of cognitively taking their objects namely, as that which is beyond all words and concepts.
In Terms of Other-Voidness
Some non-Gelug masters assert that the voidness that is beyond words and concepts is also a cognitive state.
They call this other-voidness (gzhan-stong), because it is a cognitive state devoid of other levels of mind,
namely the levels of mind at which conceptual cognition occurs.
There are two main traditions.
(1) When non-Gelug masters use self-voidness to refer to the ontological state beyond words
and concepts, as for instance in Nyingma, they accept other-voidness in addition to self-

voidness.
(2) When they use self-voidness exclusively in the sense of an absolute absence, as for instance
in Karma and Shangpa Kagy, they assert other-voidness as also being beyond self-voidness.
Implicit, however, is that other-voidness still exists in a manner that is beyond words and
concepts.
Inseparable from and simultaneous with other-voidness are the pure appearances of Buddha-figures. These pure
appearances are the play (rol-pa) or effulgence (rtsal) of other-voidness, in the sense that the cognitive state
of other-voidness spontaneously gives rise to them. Other-voidness is naturally pure of unpurified appearancemaking. The obscurations that cause deceptive appearance-making are fleeting and only temporarily prevent
other-voidness from its natural pure appearance-making. Purification of these obscurations does not create the
production of pure appearances. The purification process is not like building a machine. Because of this manner
of presentation, it is more accurate to speak of pure appearances rather than purified appearances in the context
of other-voidness.
[For a more advanced discussion, see: Alaya and Impure Appearance-Making.]
Concordant with the non-Gelug assertion of nondenumerable self-voidness as the manner of existence beyond
words and concepts, the nonconceptual cognition of other-voidness directly and simultaneously cognizes
inseparable other-voidness and pure appearances. During total absorption, the former is prominent; while during
subsequent realization, the latter is prominent. The cognition has only one way of taking its object as the
cognitive state beyond all words and concepts.
[For a more advanced discussion of The Union of Method and Wisdom in Sutra and Tantra, Non-Gelug Sutra
and Non-Gelug General Tantra, click here.]
(3) Special Basis for Voidness
Buddha-Figures as Less Deceptive
Gelug is unique in asserting that conceptual and nonconceptual cognition both give rise to appearances of true
existence (bden-snang), except when nonconceptually cognizing voidness: an absolute absence of true existence.
The non-Gelug traditions assert that only conceptual cognition gives rise to appearances of true existence. These
may be appearances of any of the four extremes of eternalism, nihilism, both, or neither.
Sensory and mental nonconceptual cognitions do not fabricate and project (spros-pa) an appearance of its object
as truly existent in any of these ways. It produces an appearance of its object as not truly existent (med-snang).
Such an appearance, however, is still an unpurified one.
Except during yogic nonconceptual cognition of nondenumerable voidness when the process of ridding ourselves
forever (spang-ba, abandoning) unawareness begins, unawareness (ma-rig-pa, ignorance) accompanies all
moments of conceptual and nonconceptual cognition. Unawareness may be of cause and effect or of the manner
in which something exists. Let us speak here only of the latter.
In general, unawareness is a way of cognitively relating (shes-pa) to a cognitive object (yul). It is of two
varieties. While focusing on and cognizing an object,
(1) it may simply not know how it exists (mi-shes-pa), or
(2) it may, in addition, simultaneously take it to exist in a manner contradictory to deepest
truth (phyin-ci log-tu dzin-pa).
Sensory nonconceptual cognition occurs for only one-sixtieth of a second. In the case of visual cognition, it
perceives only shapes and colors. The shapes and colors it cognizes exist as not truly thiss or thats. The
unawareness of not knowing how they exist accompany the nonconceptual cognition of them.
Conceptual cognition immediately follows, fabricating and projecting appearances of the shapes and colors as
objects with truly existent identities as thiss or thats, for instance as our ordinary bodies. It simultaneously
takes them in a contradictory manner, as actually being truly existent objects with truly existent identities.
Because nonconceptual sensory cognition occurs so quickly, we are normally unaware of it. Our usual cognition
of our ordinary bodies, then, is conceptual, despite our misbelief that we are actually seeing what our

conceptual minds make appear. Thus, cognition of our ordinary bodies usually entails disturbing emotions and
attitudes toward them, which can infect our focus on their voidness. Even if we are able to maintain
nonconceptual sensory cognition, we remain unaware of how what we perceive actually exists.
Focus on the voidness of our appearances as Buddha-figures, already generated with an understanding of their
voidness, minimizes the danger of infection from disturbing emotions and attitudes or from unawareness.
Therefore, it is less deceptive. This is the case whether our cognition of their voidness is conceptual or
nonconceptual.
[For a more advanced discussion of Divisions, Causes, and Elimination of Unpurified Appearances According
to Non-Gelug, click here.]
Buddha-Figures as More Stable
The non-Gelug systems do not use the Gelug term so-called static nonstatic phenomena. Instead, they often use
unaffected phenomena (dus ma-byas, unconditioned) or everlasting phenomena (rtag-pa, permanent) with the
same meaning. The appearances of Buddha-figures are more stable objects for focus in voidness meditation than
the appearances of our ordinary bodies are, because they are unaffected by aging, hunger, or aches and pains and
because they last forever.
Buddha-Figures as More Subtle
When we see our ordinary bodies, we focus on the shapes and colors that our nonconceptual sensory cognition
gives rise to. Almost immediately, however, we cognize the shapes and colors through the filter of an appearance
of a truly existent body that our conceptual cognition fabricates and superimposes on them. Although what we
perceive is conceptual, we believe that we are actually seeing what appears to us.
Because we generate the unpurified appearances of ourselves as Buddha-figures from our conceptual minds, we
know more easily that they lack the true existence with which they appear to us.
Further, because purified appearances of ourselves as Buddha-figures arise simultaneously with cognition of
their voidness that is beyond words and concepts, they never appear to exist with true existence. Moreover, they
never appear to exist separately from either their voidness or the mind that gives rise to them. Although the same
is true regarding the purified appearances of ourselves in our ordinary human forms, such forms do not become
the physical bodies of a Buddha once we remove all fleeting stains or obscurations.
(4) Special Level of Mental Activity
The Sakya and Kagy traditions assert the same basic scheme of three levels of mental activity as Gelug does.
Nyingma, on the other hand, differentiates two levels of mental activity:
(1) limited awareness (sems, sem),
(2) pure awareness (rig-pa, rigpa).
Limited awareness includes the first two general anuttarayoga categories. Thus, not only are sensory and
ordinary mental cognitions limited awareness, but so are yogic nonconceptual cognitions. Rigpa, on the other
hand, in its various facets, encompasses the clear-light level. Let us keep to the classification scheme of general
anuttarayoga and use merely the term clear-light mind for the subtlest level of mental activity.
The non-Gelug traditions agree with Gelug that only anuttarayoga tantra uses the subtlest level of mental
activity, clear-light mind, for cognizing voidness. Bodhisattva sutra and the three lower tantra classes employ
yogic nonconceptual cognition, a type of subtle mental activity, not subtlest. Thus, tantra includes a special level
of mental activity for cognizing voidness, but not all classes of tantra employ it.
Concluding Points Concerning Voidness in Sutra and Tantra
The non-Gelug traditions differentiate the two stages of each of the four classes of tantra in terms of whether the
practice is without or with cognition of voidness. The first stage of each lacks the cognition, while the second has
it.
The meaning here is that with the first stage of each, practitioners have only cognition of denumerable selfvoidness. With the second stage, they gain cognition of nondenumerable voidness as an ontological state (self-

voidness), a cognitive state (other-voidness), or both. This is because the first stage has only conceptual
cognition of voidness, while the second brings nonconceptual cognition of it.
Even if we conceptually understand nondenumerable voidness beyond words and concepts, we can only focus on
it at the first stage of practice through an idea representing it, which cannot be an accurate idea at all. In most
cases, it would be, in fact, an idea of an absence of words and concepts.
3. GELUG PRESENTATION OF ANUTTARAYOGA IN GENERAL
All the details of the four points for analyzing the increased efficiency of general tantra pertain to anuttarayoga.
Beyond that, however, the same four points may help us to understand why the highest class of tantra,
anuttarayoga, is even speedier than the other three tantra classes are.
(1) Closer Analogies
Anuttarayoga practice not only entails analogies upward with the results we are trying to achieve, as is the case
in general tantra. The practices that simulate the results are also analogous downward with the bases we want to
purify (sbyang-gzhi), namely our samsaric existence.
Downward Analogies
Samsaric existence entails the uncontrollably recurring experience of death, bardo (the in-between state), and
rebirth. We can describe the process by which the three happen as changes of subtlety of mental activity.
(1) As we die, our consciousness becomes progressively more subtle, passing from its gross to
its subtlest level in eight steps. This is because the physical bases for the grosser levels fail
(thim, dissolve), in the sense that they can no longer function as supports for mental
activity. At death, only clear-light laser-beam mental activity is left.
(2) In bardo, mental activity becomes slightly grosser as we experience it giving rise to the
subtle appearances that occur during the state between births.
(3) With rebirth, mental activity becomes gross once more, back to its ordinary levels, with
sense consciousness and its production of gross appearances.
The Gelug tradition focuses on purifying our future deaths, the ensuing bardos, and our next rebirths. For Gelug,
purifying, here, means to eliminate our samsaric existence such that it never recurs in other words, to achieve a
true stopping (true cessation) of it.
A similar process of change in subtlety occurs when we fall asleep.
(1) With deep sleep, we reach an extremely subtle level of mental activity.
(2) When dreaming, the level of mental activity is slightly grosser, producing subtle
appearances.
(3) When we awaken, our mental activity returns to the gross sensory level.
Upward Analogies
Although we attain the three inseparable enlightening corpuses of a Buddha (sku-gsum, three Buddha-bodies)
simultaneously with the achievement of enlightenment, we may conceive of the process as involving three steps
that parallel what happens with death or sleep. The three steps are mental activity becoming the subtlest, then
slightly grosser, and then more gross.
(1) The subtlest level is dharmakaya (chos-sku, the corpus of a Buddha that encompasses
everything), referring to a Buddhas omniscient mental activity and the nature of that
activity.
(2) Slightly grosser is dharmakayas giving rise to the appearances of a sambhogakaya (longssku, a corpus of full use) a network of subtle forms that make full use of the bodhisattva
teachings and which only arya bodhisattvas can perceive. Arya bodhisattvas are
bodhisattvas who have experienced nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
(3) Even grosser is dharmakayas giving rise to the appearances of a nirmanakaya (sprul-sku,
a corpus of emanations) a network of grosser forms, emanated from sambhogakaya,
which some ordinary persons can see as well.

Alternatively, and especially in general anuttarayoga tantra, sambhogakaya is the network of enlightening speech
of a Buddha and nirmanakaya is the network of all manifest forms of a Buddhas enlightening body, regardless
of level of subtlety. A Buddhas speech and physical bodies are each progressively grosser than a Buddhas
enlightening mind. Taken together, nirmanakaya and sambhogakaya constitute a rupakaya, a corpus of
enlightening forms (gzugs-sku, form body).
The Analogous Practices
The anuttarayoga practices for achieving the mind and form bodies of a Buddha are analogous to the three-step
process of both the basis and the resultant levels.
(1) When we die or fall asleep on the basis level, or when we achieve a dharmakaya on the
resultant level, we get down to the subtlest level of mental activity, in eight steps. Similarly, on
the anuttarayoga path, to gain nonconceptual cognition of voidness as the cause for a Buddhas
enlightening mind, we also go down, in eight steps, to the subtlest level of mind, and access
and harness it for this cognition.
First, we do this in our imaginations on the generation stage. When our attainments of all the
necessary meditation tools are complete through extensive practice in our imaginations, we
reach our clear-light minds in actuality as we advance through the steps of the complete stage.
Note that clear-light mind, as a term for clear-light mental activity, does not mean that all
beings share one clear-light mind. Just as the voidness of each phenomenon is an individual
voidness, likewise clear-light mind, as a level of mental activity, is individual in each being.
(2) When we achieve a bardo or dream state on a basis level, or a sambhogakaya on the
resultant level, our mental activity becomes slightly grosser. Likewise, within the state of
understanding voidness, we arise on the path in a subtle form, such as a creative energy-drop
(thig-le, Skt. bindu), a seed-syllable (sa-bon), or a simplified Buddha-figure.
(3) When we take rebirth or wake up on a basis level, or manifest a nirmanakaya on a resultant
one, our mental activity produces gross appearances that normal eye consciousness can
perceive. Similarly, on the path, we make the subtle form of a creative energy-drop, and so on,
appear in a grosser aspect as the full body of a Buddha-figure.
We may understand the purification process by an analogy. Suppose there are two two-story houses sharing one
basement in which is located the common source of electricity for both houses. One house is the basis situation
of samsara; the other is the resultant situation of enlightenment. The ground story of each house is the level of
subtle appearances; the top story is the level of grosser appearances. The common basement is the level of clearlight mental activity.
Suppose that the electricity is flowing only to the samsara house, not to the enlightenment house. To disconnect
the electricity from the samsara house and connect it to the enlightenment house, we need to go down an eightstep staircase to the basement and change the connection. Likewise, to purify samsara, in the sense of causing it
never to recur, we need to go down to the clear-light level in eight steps and disconnect the appearance-making
mechanism from giving rise to the appearances of samsara. We do this with nonconceptual cognition of
voidness. In doing so, we automatically connect the appearance-making mechanism to the enlightenment house
so that it produces the subtle and gross appearances of the physical corpuses of a Buddha.
Before we are able actually to reach the basement and reconnect the wires, we need to practice the entire
procedure, in the sense of rehearsing it. In other words, we practice doing something that resembles the
procedure first in our imaginations and then in actual simulations. This is what it means to practice a path that
is analogous to both the basis we wish to purify and the result we wish to attain. Rehearsing in our imaginations
corresponds to generation stage practice; rehearsing with actual simulations corresponds to complete stage
practice.
Thus, in anuttarayoga, there are not only more analogies than general tantra contains, both upward with the result
and downward with the basis, but also closer analogies. Moreover, the practice mimics not only the phenomena
we experience on both resultant and basis levels, but also with how we gain their experience in both.

(2) Closer Union of Method and Wisdom

Method in Terms of the Appearance of a Body
Just as there are three levels of mental activity, there are also three levels of body that support them:
(1) The gross level is the body of flesh and blood, with its sensory apparatus.
(2) The subtle level is the body of the subtle energy-system of chakras (energy-nodes),
channels, energy-winds, and creative energy-drops.
(3) The subtlest level of body is the subtlest energy-wind, which is the physical support or
counterpart of the subtlest level of mental activity.
General tantra unites method and wisdom as two truths about the same phenomenon by taking them as a minds:
(1) actively producing, or at least having as its physical basis, the appearance of a Buddhafigures body;
(2) perceiving the voidness of that appearance.
According to the Gelug explanation, the phenomenon here in general tantra is the subtle level of mental activity
our usual mental cognition or yogic nonconceptual cognition. Two inseparable truths about this phenomenon
are its cognitive aspect and its supporting subtle energy-wind. The appearance of a Buddha-figure that our usual
mental cognition or yogic cognition produces is made from this subtle energy-wind. However, our subtle levels
of mental activity and body do not continue into enlightenment. They do not even continue during our death
existence, before they reemerge with bardo.
In anuttarayoga, on the other hand, we access two aspects of the subtlest level of our mental activity its clear
light cognition and its subtlest energy-wind. Both continue into Buddhahood. Their continuums never cease,
even during the period of death. In fact, the inseparable pair underlies every moment of our experience. As
wisdom, we generate clear-light mental activity into nonconceptual cognition of voidness and, as method, we
generate its supporting subtlest energy-wind into an appearance of a Buddha-figure. This appearance is called a
purified illusory body (dag-pai sgyu-lus). It is purified of the obscurations preventing liberation.
Nonconceptual clear-light cognition of voidness is called actual clear light (don-gyi od-gsal).
Thus, the union of method and wisdom with the clear-light level in anuttarayoga is closer than that in general
tantra because method and wisdom in anuttarayoga are not only inseparable. They are accessible each moment,
as are the enlightening body and mind of a Buddha.
Moreover, all appearances made of subtle energy-wind appear to exist with true existence, which is not how they
actually exist at all. Thus, with the subtle level of mental activity, cognition of the appearance of a Buddha-figure
cannot occur simultaneously with either conceptual or nonconceptual cognition of voidness. As a union of
method and wisdom, they can only alternate with equivalent cognitive manners of taking their objects.
In contrast, appearances made solely from subtlest energy-wind appear to exist in the manner in which they
actually exist. They appear to exist as dependently-arising phenomena (rten-brel, Skt. pratityasamutpada)
namely, as phenomena that arise as thiss or thats dependently solely on what the mental labels for them refer
to when imputed on a valid basis for labeling. Thus, because dependently-arising phenomena appear as
absolutely devoid of existing with true existence, they can appear simultaneously with clear-light nonconceptual
cognition of voidness.
Nonconceptual focus on an absence of true existence occludes (khegs, blocks) an appearance of true existence,
because an absence and a presence of true existence are mutually exclusive. Such focus does not occlude,
however, an appearance of a manner of existence that is absolutely devoid of true existence namely, an
appearance of dependently-arising existence. This is because an absence of true existence and a presence of
dependently-arising existence are synonymous.
Thus, the union of method and wisdom in anuttarayoga is especially close because the equivalent manners of
cognitively taking the inseparable pair purified illusory body and actual clear light can occur simultaneously.
Method in Terms of a Blissful Awareness

In anuttarayoga tantra, method refers not only to producing the body of a Buddha from the subtlest energywinds, but also to using a blissful awareness for the cognition of voidness. Occasionally, we differentiate the
four classes of tantra according to progressively more intense levels of bliss (bde-ba).
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Kriya tantra suggests the bliss from seeing a partner;

charya, from exchanging smiles;
yoga, from hugging or holding hands;
anuttarayoga, the bliss from sexual union with a partner.

The three lower classes of tantra, however, do not necessarily make explicit use of a blissful awareness as
method. The four levels of bliss are analogies, made in terms of a feature found specifically in anuttarayoga, to
indicate progressively more intense levels of mind in the four tantra classes.
Furthermore, the bliss of sexual union that anuttarayoga practice uses as a method is not the bliss of orgasm
(dzag-bde) that arises in ordinary sexual union. Tantra practice never entails orgasmic release or degenerate
orgies. To think that it does is a complete misunderstanding of tantra. The point of generating a blissful
awareness through the contact of the subtle energy-channels of the two sexual organs is that it naturally leads
toward the subtlest level of mind. We wish to access, sustain, and use this clear-light level of mental activity for
the cognition of voidness.
When we sneeze, yawn, faint, fall into deep sleep, die, or experience the most intense bliss of sexual union, the
subtle energy-winds naturally draw inward and our mental activity approaches the subtlest level. With sneezing
or yawning, it is extremely difficult to sustain in meditation the natural dissolution of the energy-winds so that
we can focus for an extended period on voidness without the winds immediately exploding back out. Harnessing
the fainting, sleeping, or dying state is likewise difficult, because the mind tends to be dull on those occasions. If,
however, through advanced internal yoga methods, we gain control over our subtle energy-winds so that we can
prevent their explosive release with orgasm, we can sustain the blissful awareness of union and its naturally
resulting subtler level of mind. We can then use it to dissolve the energy-winds even further to the clear-light
level and then to apply that blissful clear-light awareness to sustained cognition of voidness.
The Two Sets of Obscuration
Two sets of fleeting stains obscure clear-light mental activity:
(1) the obscurations (obstacles) that are the disturbing emotions and attitudes (nyon-sgrib),
and which prevent liberation;
(2) the obscurations regarding all knowables (shes-sgrib), which prevent the omniscience of
enlightenment.
The obscurations preventing omniscience includes the constant habits (bag-chags, instincts) of grasping for true
existence, which, Gelug-Prasangika uniquely asserts, produce appearances of true existence every moment of
our conceptual and usual nonconceptual cognition. Because of producing such appearances, these constant habits
prevent us from cognizing the two truths about anything simultaneously its appearance and its voidness.
The obscurations preventing liberation includes grasping for true existence (bden-dzin), with which we believe
that the appearances of true existence that we cognize correspond to reality. It also includes the disturbing
emotions and attitudes both conceptually-based (kun-btags) and automatically arising (lhan-skyes) which all
derive from this grasping. Likewise, this set of obscurations also includes the legacies (sa-bon, seed) of both
types of disturbing emotions and attitudes, which give rise to them intermittently.
(1) Conceptually-based disturbing emotions and attitudes derive from ideological or
psychological factors and arise only during conceptual cognition. Examples are the desire
that arises in humans from advertising, and the anger that arises in humans and animals
from being mistreated.
(2) Automatically-arising disturbing emotions and attitudes arise even in nonconceptual sense
cognition, such as the anger and attachment that arise in humans and animals when seeing
someone grab their favorite toy away from them.
Nonconceptual cognition of voidness is the true pathway of mind that achieves a true stopping (true cessation) of
the two sets of obscurations, such that they never recur. First, it eliminates the obscurations that are the

disturbing emotions and attitudes. Only when it has removed all of them forever does it begin to eliminate the
obscurations regarding all knowables.
Moreover, nonconceptual cognition of voidness requires the force of a determination to be free (renunciation) to
eliminate the obscurations preventing liberation. It further requires bodhichitta to cut through the obscurations
preventing omniscience. To cut through the subtlest level of this second set of obscurations, however, the
nonconceptual cognition of voidness, held with the forces of renunciation and bodhchitta, must be with the clearlight level of mental activity.
The Necessity for a Blissful Awareness of Voidness
Clear-light mental activity does not necessarily cognize voidness, although according to the explanation of the
fifteenth-century Gelug master Kedrub Norzang-gyatso (mKhas-grub Nor-bzang rgya-mtsho), it naturally
produces a cognitive appearance similar to that of voidness. Nor is clear-light cognition necessarily blissful, for
instance in death. Nevertheless, by using the bliss of sexual union as a method for accessing our subtlest level of
mental activity and then for cognizing voidness with that blissful clear-light mind, anuttarayoga practice leads to
the most efficient cognitive tool for cutting through all obscurations.
The anuttarayoga cognitive tool, then, is simultaneously:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

a clear-light level of mental activity,

a blissful awareness,
a nonconceptual cognition of voidness,
a cognition held with the force of the determination to be free,
a cognition held with the force of bodhichitta.

A blissful awareness, a nonconceptual cognition of voidness, and a clear-light cognition are not necessarily
inseparable phenomena one can occur in a moment of cognition without the others simultaneously occurring.
Nevertheless, anuttarayoga practice makes them inseparable truths about the same phenomenon: one moment of
cognition.
In other words, just as one can hit a target with different arrows, one can use a variety of minds to gain
nonconceptual cognition of voidness. Anuttarayoga uses a blissful clear-light mind, gained through blissful
awareness on grosser levels, as the arrow for nonconceptually perceiving voidness. In this way, blissful clearlight awareness is the mind with nonconceptual cognition of voidness, and thus the union of method and wisdom
in anuttarayoga is especially close. Gelug calls this closeness inseparable voidness and bliss.
[For a more advanced discussion of Relationships between Two Objects in Anuttarayoga Tantra, click here.]
Yab-Yum
The graphic representation of Buddha-figure couples in union symbolizes method and wisdom as two
inseparable truths about one phenomenon clear-light cognition. Yab-yum, the Tibetan term for the couple, does
not mean male and female, or masculine and feminine. It means father and mother. When the causes for the body
and mind of a Buddha are made inseparable truths about clear-light mental activity, they give birth to
enlightenment, as a sexually united father and mother do to a child.
In short, the subtlest energy-wind and the clear-light mental activity that it supports are already inseparable truths
about clear-light mental activity. Anuttarayoga practice generates the subtlest energy-wind in the form of a
Buddha-figure couple not just in the form of one member of the couple and the clear-light mental activity as
a nonconceptual cognition of voidness. Moreover, it accesses the clear-light level through a blissful awareness,
and in doing so, generates clear-light cognition as inseparably a blissful awareness. Thus, anuttarayoga takes
clear-light cognition of voidness as wisdom and, as method, both makes it inseparably a blissful awareness and
makes the energy-wind that already is inseparable with it appear in the form of a Buddha-figure couple.
(3) Special Basis for Voidness
In anuttarayoga tantra, the special basis for voidness is not simply the body of a Buddha-figure generated from
the subtle energy-winds of our imaginations, as in general tantra. It is such a body generated from the subtlest
energy-winds of our clear-light minds. Since the clear-light level of mental activity underlies each moment of
our experience, the energy-wind of that level is always available for use in meditation. Thus, anuttarayoga
provides an even more stable basis for voidness upon which to focus than does general tantra.

(4) Special Level of Mental Activity

Introductory Remarks
Regardless of which level of mind we use to cognize voidness, voidness itself remains the same. The absence of
impossible ways of existing understood in bodhisattva sutra and all four classes of tantra is the same. Using the
subtlest clear-light level of mental activity for this cognition, however, has many additional advantages besides
its being always available for practice. This is because clear-light cognition of voidness does not require three
zillion (countless) eons to cut through the obscurations preventing liberation and enlightenment, as does sutra
practice.
Sutra practice requires:
(1) A zillion eons to reach yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness and thus the path of
seeing, with the elimination forever of conceptually-based disturbing emotions and
attitudes and their legacies.
(2) A second set of zillion eons to eliminate forever the rest of the obscurations preventing
liberation and thus to attain the eighth out of ten arya bodhisattva bhumis (byang-sa). The
first seven bhumis are unpurified bhumis (ma-dag-pai sa) levels of highly realized
bodhisattva mind not fully purified of the obscurations preventing liberation;
(3) A third set of zillion eons to eliminate forever the obscurations preventing omniscience
and thus complete the last three arya bodhisattva bhumis, the purified bhumis (dag-pai
sa) and attain enlightenment.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Is Naturally Nonconceptual
The subtle level of mental activity, the second of the three levels of mind, may be either conceptual or
nonconceptual. Staying on this level requires the first zillion eons of strengthening our enlightenment-building
networks of positive force and deep awareness in order for our cognition of voidness to become nonconceptual.
This is because our mental activity remains on the same level of subtlety as is conceptual cognition.
Consequently, our trying to gain nonconceptual cognition of voidness with this level of mind resembles a
rabbits trying to escape from a fox while remaining on the ground with the fox. Even if the rabbit hides, the fox
can still find and catch it.
Clear-light mental activity, in contrast, is subtler than all levels of conceptual cognition and thus is exclusively
nonconceptual. Therefore, gaining nonconceptual cognition of voidness with a clear-light mind is like the rabbit
diving into a deep hole. Just in so doing, it escapes the fox. As soon as we access this subtlest level and focus it
on voidness, our cognition of voidness is automatically nonconceptual. It automatically rids us forever of
conceptually-based disturbing emotions and attitudes. The first zillion eons are not required.
Moreover, because anuttarayoga accesses clear-light cognition through generating a blissful awareness and
dissolving the subtle energy-winds in the central channel, the nonconceptuality of clear-light mind is easier to
maintain than the nonconceptuality of grosser levels.
Clear-Light Mental Activity is Naturally Free of All Disturbing Emotions and Attitudes
During nonconceptual total absorption on voidness, all disturbing emotions and attitudes are absent, whether we
use the subtle or the subtlest level of mind for this cognition. With the subtle mind, however, held by the force of
bodhichitta, the initial nonconceptual absorption on voidness removes forever only the disturbing emotions and
attitudes that are conceptually based. Total elimination (true cessation) of the automatically-arising disturbing
emotions and attitudes, such that they never arise again, requires a second zillion eons.
Disturbing emotions and attitudes may accompany only gross and subtle mental activities our usual sensory
and mental cognitions. Clear-light mental activity, on the other hand, being subtler than these two levels of mind,
is naturally free of all disturbing emotions and attitudes. By the power of this natural absence, the initial clearlight absorption on voidness has the force to remove forever the conceptually-based and automatically-arising
disturbing emotions and attitudes simultaneously. An additional second set of zillion eons is not required.
Nonconceptual clear-light cognition of voidness and the total removal of all obscurations preventing liberation
occur simultaneously.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Does Not Produce Appearances of True Existence
The subtle level of mental activity, whether conceptual or nonconceptual, produces appearances only of true
existence. Therefore, when subtle mental activity nonconceptually cognizes voidness, it cannot simultaneously
give rise to any appearance. One moment of mind cannot cognize an absolute absence of true existence and

simultaneously make an appearance of true existence. The two are mutually exclusive. Thus, because subtle
mental activity can only produce and cognize an unpurified appearance of something, it cannot cognize the two
truths about anything simultaneously: that objects appearance and its actual mode of existence.
Clear-light cognition, on the other hand, produces only purified appearances appearances of a mode of
existence totally devoid of all impossible ways. Thus, clear-light cognition and only clear light cognition can
simultaneously cognize appearances and voidness. Specifically, it can simultaneously cognize appearances of a
mode of existence devoid of true existence and an absolute absence of true existence. For this reason, even in
sutra and the three lower classes of tantra, one needs ultimately to access and use clear-light mental activity for
cognizing voidness. This is in order to cognize the two truths about things simultaneously, as a Buddhas
omniscient awareness does.
Using the sutra methods requires a third zillion eons to achieve clear-light cognition of voidness. The methods of
the three lower tantras bring it more quickly, but still require a great amount of time. In either case, this clearlight cognition occurs only during the final phase of practice before Buddhahood, namely at the end of the tenth
bodhisattva level (bhumi). Anuttarayoga accesses it already when first gaining nonconceptual cognition of
voidness in other words, with the attainment of the path of seeing and the first bodhisattva bhumi. Thus,
anuttaryoga does not require the third zillion eons to gain simultaneous cognition of the superficial and deepest
truths about the Buddha-figure body that it makes appear. Nevertheless, anuttarayoga still requires considerable
familiarization with cognizing the two truths simultaneously, in order to maintain such cognition as a Buddha
does, without any break.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Can Have Omniscient Awareness
The mode of existence with which everything actually exists, and which clear-light mental activity cognizes
simultaneously with everythings absence of existing in impossible ways, is as dependently-arising phenomena.
Everything arises or exists dependently on, or in relation to:
(1) a basis for labeling, a mental label, and what the mental label refers to;
(2) parts;
(3) in the case of nonstatic (impermanent) phenomena, causes and conditions.
Moreover, everything arises or exists interrelatedly and interdependently. Everything that occurs at this moment
(1) has arisen dependently on everything that has ever occurred before, such as history and so
on;
(2) is interconnected with everything else that is occurring now;
(3) will affect everything that will occur in the future.
Thus, in accurately cognizing the interdependence and interrelatedness of everything, clear-light mental activity
becomes omniscient awareness.
When first accessed, however, clear-light mind does not function omnisciently. Although it is naturally free of
the obscurations that are disturbing emotions and attitudes and which prevent liberation, it is not free of the
obscurations regarding all knowables and which prevent omniscience. This latter set of obscurations gives rise to
appearances of true existence, although not while clear-light mental activity is manifest.
So long as the appearance-making of true existence can recur, the obscurations preventing omniscience still exist
as what can be labeled or imputed on the mental continuum. When clear-light mental activity can be maintained
forever, without any break, the existence of the obscurations preventing omniscience can no longer be imputed
on that mental continuum. At this point, the clear-light mental activity of that mental continuum becomes
omniscient awareness. This is the attainment of only a Buddha. Because of its special practices with clear-light
mental activity, anuttarayoga does not require the third zillion eons to reach this omniscient state.
4. NON-GELUG VARIATIONS CONCERNING
GENERAL ANUTTARAYOGA

The non-Gelug traditions agree with most points made by Gelug concerning why anuttarayoga is a more
efficient and speedier path than the three lower tantras. We need to note, however, the following additions or
variations.
(1) Closer Analogies
General Sakya Anuttarayoga
When meditating in analogy to death, bardo, and rebirth, Sakya emphasizes purifying the past namely, our
deaths from our immediately preceding lives, the bardos that ensued, and our present rebirths. Purifying, here,
means eliminating being under the influence of our previous karma.
Nyingma and Kagy Practices Influenced by Nyingma
In Nyingma and in Kagy practices influenced by Nyingma, the three-part analogy also corresponds to the three
progressively grosser aspects of rigpa. In terms of rigpa, the analogies also work both downward as the
unrealized Buddha-nature and upward as the fully realized Buddha-nature of an enlightened being.
(1) The essential nature (ngo-bo) of rigpa is its primal purity (ka-dag), its absence of all
fleeting grosser levels of mental activity and of all impossible ways of existing.
(2) Its influence (phrin-las) is its compassionate responsiveness (thugs-rje, compassion), its
communicative activity.
(3) Its functional nature (rang-bzhin) is that it spontaneously establishes appearances (lhungrub), based on its responsiveness.
Thus, in anuttarayoga practice or its dzogchen equivalent:
(1) analogous to death, sleep, dharmakaya, and rigpas primal purity, we access the subtlest
level of mental activity;
(2) analogous to bardo, the dream state, sambhogakaya as subtle forms or speech, and rigpas
compassionate responsiveness, we arise, within the state of rigpa, as compassion;
(3) analogous to birth, the awake state, nirmanakaya, and rigpas spontaneously establishing
appearances, we arise within a state of compassion in the form of seed-syllables and, from
them, as Buddha-figures.
Equivalent to Nyingma practice analogous to the subtle movement of rigpa with compassion is the anuttarayoga
practice of inciting by songs (glus-bskul), found in both the non-Gelug and Gelug traditions. Incited by female
Buddhas singing songs of the four immeasurable attitudes (mtshams-med bzhi, four Brahma-viharas) of love,
compassion, joy, and equanimity, we arise from focus on voidness and appear in subtle forms to help others.
This is analogous to dharmakaya appearing as sambhogakaya.
Sakya Tradition of Lamdrey
The Sakya tradition of lamdrey (lam-bras, the path together with its results), practiced in conjunction with the
Buddha-figure Hevajra (Kyai rdo-rje), includes further analogies in meditation.
As human beings, our subtle bodies have as provisional all-encompassing foundations (gnas-skabs-kyi kun-gzhi,
provisional alaya) the four mandala-seats (gdan dkyil-khor bzhi):
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

energy-channels,
subtle syllables within them,
creative energy-drops,
energy-winds.

Based on these, the appearance-making aspects (gsal-cha, clarity aspect) of our subtlest clear-light minds, as our
ultimate all-encompassing foundations (mthar-thug-gi kun-gzhi, ultimate alaya), produce two inseparable
quantum levels of unpurified appearances of our bodies, speech, minds, and the inseparable simultaneity of the
three. The two quantum levels are their gross appearances in our usual human forms and their subtle appearances
as Buddha-figures.
By meditating in analogy with the four mandala-seats, we purify ourselves of the four, in the sense of achieving
a true stopping of them. Consequently, the appearance-making aspects of our clear-light minds analogously give
rise on the path to two inseparable quantum levels of purified appearances of body, speech, mind, and the

inseparable simultaneity of the three. Through further practice, on the resultant level, the appearance-making
aspects of our enlightening clear-light minds give rise to the two inseparable quantum levels of gross
enlightening appearances of nirmanakaya and the subtle enlightening ones of sambhogakaya.
(2) Closer Union of Method and Wisdom
According to the nineteenth-century Rimey (nonsectarian movement) master Jamyang-kyentsey-wangpo (Jamdbyangs mkhyen-rtse dbang-po), many of the seeming contradictions in the explanations of the four Tibetan
traditions arise because of a difference in viewpoint from which each approaches the Dharma.
(1) The Gelug tradition explains from the point of view of the basis,
(2) Sakya from the path,
(3) Kagy and Nyingma from the point of view of the result.
For example,
(1) Gelug asserts that clear-light mind is not innately blissful, because, ordinarily, clear-light
cognition at the moment of death is not blissful.
(2) Because anuttarayoga practitioners on the path generate clear-light cognition into a
blissful awareness, Sakya describes clear-light mind as naturally blissful. It is the youth
of the mind.
(3) Since the omniscient clear-light awareness of a Buddha is blissful and all Buddha-qualities
are already complete in clear-light mind or rigpa, Kagy and Nyingma also assert clearlight mind as a blissful awareness.
Thus, because of the pathway and resultant viewpoints from which the non-Gelug traditions describe clear-light
mental activity, they assert that blissful awareness as method in anuttarayoga is especially close to clear-light
nonconceptual cognition of voidness as wisdom. We need merely to enhance the blissful awareness that is
already there, or remove the obscurations preventing its full functioning, in order to reach or access the blissful
awareness of the clear-light mind.
(4) Special Basis for Voidness
Sakya and Kagy Explanation
According to the Sakya and Kagy traditions, a purified illusory body is a more special basis for voidness than
the purified appearance of the body of a Buddha-figure that appears during yogic nonconceptual cognition of
voidness in sutra and the three lower tantras. Purified illusory bodies and the purified appearances that occur
during yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness are both made from the subtlest energy-winds. Nevertheless,
the grosser energy-winds that can fabricate and project dualistic appearances onto such appearances are still
present on the level of yogic cognition. As is the case with disturbing emotions and attitudes, the undissolved
subtle energy-winds can destabilize and in a sense infect the purified appearances. A purified illusory body
avoids such dangers of infection from dualistic appearance-making, and thus serves as a basis particularly
conducive for focusing simultaneously on its voidness.
Nyingma Explanation
The Nyingma dzogchen tradition does not explain pure appearances in terms of subtlest energy-wind. Instead, it
explains them as the natural effulgence (rtsal) of rigpa, deriving from rigpas functional nature of spontaneously
establishing appearances. The essential nature of rigpa is its primal purity, namely its voidness. Thus rigpas
functional nature and essential nature, namely its pure appearances and its voidness, are two aspects of the same
phenomenon.
The Nyingma presentations of bodhisattva sutra and the three lower tantras do not include discussions of rigpa or
methods for accessing it. Although yogic nonconceptual cognition also cognizes pure appearances, the cognition
of them is still on the level of limited awareness. Consequently, limited awareness can destabilize or infect these
appearances.
(4) Special Level of Mental Activity
Introductory Remarks Concerning the Two Sets of Obscurations
The non-Gelug traditions assert that both the Prasangika-Madhyamaka and Svatantrika-Madhyamaka schools
accept the presentation of the two obscurations that Gelug asserts only Svatantrika-Madhyamaka accepts. Thus,

(1) the obscurations that are disturbing emotions and attitudes and which prevent liberation
refer to
(a) unawareness concerning the self-identity of persons (gang-zag-gi bdag-med),
together with its habit (bag-chags, instinct) we are unaware that persons lack
static, monolithic identities as beings separate from their bodies and minds,
controlling and using them,
(b) the disturbing emotions and attitudes that arise from that unawareness, together
with their legacies (sa-bon, seeds).
(2) The obscurations regarding all knowables and which prevent omniscience refer to
unawareness concerning the self-identity of all phenomena (chos-kyi bdag-med), together
with its habit. As in the Gelug-Prasangika presentation, this second set of obscurations
does not include any disturbing emotions or attitudes.
Shravakas (nyan-thos, listeners to Buddhas teachings, striving to become arhats, liberated beings) achieve a true
stopping of only the first set of obscurations. They do this with cognition of an absolute absence (med-dgag) of a
self-identity of persons defined as above. From the shravaka point of view, this cognition is nonconceptual, but
from a bodhisattva viewpoint, it is still subtly conceptual because absolute absences are objects only of
conceptual cognition.
Gelug-Prasangika, in contrast, asserts that shravakas and bodhisattvas cognize the same voidness, an absolute
absence of true existence as Gelug-Prasangika defines it. Moreover, the yogic nonconceptual cognition of
voidness achieved by both sets of practitioners is equally nonconceptual.
All traditions agree that bodhisattva practitioners, both of sutra and of tantra, achieve a true stopping of both sets
of obscurations. According to non-Gelug, in gaining nonconceptual cognition of voidness that is beyond words
and concepts with respect to all phenomena, bodhisattva practitioners also gain this cognition with respect to
persons. Although they finish removing the first set of obscurations before completing removal of the second,
they start to eliminate the two sets of obscurations simultaneously, rather than consecutively as GelugPrasangika asserts.
The non-Gelug traditions include three positions concerning the realization that eliminates forever the two sets of
obscurations.
(1) The mainstream Sakya tradition asserts voidness beyond words and concepts as selfvoidness, an ontological state. Thus, voidness nonconceptually realized in bodhisattva
sutra and tantra is the same.
(2) The Nyingma tradition asserts voidness beyond words and concepts in both a self-void
and other-void sense. Bodhisattva sutra and tantra practitioners realize the same selfvoidness, but only practitioners of dzogchen realize other-voidness as the cognitive state
of rigpa.
(3) The Karma and Shangpa Kagy traditions assert voidness beyond words and concepts as
other-voidness. They use the term self-voidness only in the sense of an absolute
absence. Although the manner of other-voidness is also beyond words and concepts, they
do not call that manner of existence self-voidness. Other-voidness is beyond selfvoidness in the way that they define self-voidness. Thus, although the manner of existence
of all phenomena nonconceptually realized in bodhisattva sutra and tantra is the same, the
attainment of other-voidness realized in bodhisattva sutra and the three lower tantras is not
the definitive other-voidness realized in anuttarayoga.
As in Gelug, non-Gelug asserts that attainment of the bodhisattva path of seeing, then the eighth bodhisattva
bhumi (the first of the three purified bhumis), and then enlightenment requires a zillion eons each when
practicing only the bodhisattva sutra methods.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Is Naturally Nonconceptual
The non-Gelug systems agree with Gelug that because clear-light mental activity is automatically nonconceptual,
it is free of the shortcomings of gaining nonconceptual cognition of voidness while remaining on the same level
of mind as conceptual cognition. Gaining nonconceptual cognition of voidness does not require a zillion eons.
Clear-Light Mental Activity is Naturally Free of All Disturbing Emotions and Attitudes

ASSERTIONS COMMON TO ALL NON-GELUG TRADITIONS

The non-Gelug schools also agree with Gelug that clear-light cognition is naturally free of all disturbing
emotions and attitudes, both conceptually based and automatically arising. In accordance with their definitions of
the two sets of obscurations, clear-light cognition is also naturally free of unawareness about the actual mode of
existence of both persons and all phenomena.
Although yogic nonconceptual cognition of the voidness of phenomena attained in bodhisattva sutra and the
three lower tantras is also free of these obscurations, it is still at the subtle level of mind at which all of them
occur.
ASSERTIONS SPECIFIC TO NYINGMA AND KAGY
According to Nyingma and Kagy, yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness gained on the bodhisattva sutra
path requires a zillion eons to eliminate forever:
(1) the conceptually-based obscurations preventing liberation,
(2) the conceptually-based obscurations preventing omniscience.
A second set of zillion eons is required for this yogic cognition to eliminate forever:
(1) the automatically-arising obscurations preventing liberation,
(2) the first six out of nine grades of automatically-arising obscurations preventing
omniscience.
Clear-light mind accessed through anuttarayoga methods, on the other hand, has enhanced power from the
preceding generation of bliss and preceding dissolution of the energy-winds in meditation. This is still the case
even when, in dzogchen practice, the generation and dissolution do not immediately precede the manifestation of
rigpa, but have occurred during earlier anuyoga practice. Further, rigpa made manifest through the dzogchen
methods has the additional power of the dzogchen methods.
Clear-light mental activity not only has enhanced efficiency and sustainability; it is deeper than the level at
which the disturbing emotions and attitudes operate. Thus, the initial attainment of clear-light nonconceptual
cognition of voidness totally eliminates all the disturbing emotions and attitudes, including unawareness
regarding persons both conceptually based and automatically arising and their legacies and habits. Because it
is deeper than the conceptual level, its first attainment also eliminates conceptually-based unawareness about
phenomena, which is not an actual disturbing attitude, and its habit.
In other words, the initial-level attainment of clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness eliminates forever
the obscurations preventing liberation and the conceptually-based obscurations preventing omniscience. Thus,
except for the first six out of nine grades of the automatically-arising obscurations preventing omniscience
namely, the first six out of nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness about phenomena, and their habits
it totally eliminates all the other obscurations that would otherwise take two sets of zillion eons to remove.
ASSERTIONS UNIQUE TO SAKYA
According to the Sakya explanation, the initial attainment of yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness in
bodhisattva sutra and the three lower tantras and of clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness in
anuttarayoga equally eliminate forever:
(1) the conceptually-based and automatically-arising obscurations preventing liberation,
(2) the conceptually-based obscurations preventing omniscience.
Thus, all the obscurations preventing liberation, together with the conceptually-based obscurations preventing
omniscience, are eliminated forever all at once, regardless of the bodhisattva method used for attaining
nonconceptual cognition of voidness beyond words and concepts. This attainment through yogic nonconceptual
cognition of voidness gained through bodhisattva sutra methods requires a zillion eons. When attained through
clear-light nonconceptual cognition gained through anuttarayoga methods, it needs much less time.
A second zillion eons is required in bodhisattva sutra to attain yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness
effortlessly and spontaneously, so as to eliminate forever:

(1) the first six of the nine grades of the automatically-arising obscurations preventing
omniscience.
Because of the exceptional methods of anuttarayoga that dissolve the grosser levels of mental activity on which
unawareness about phenomena operates, clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness is much easier to reach
spontaneously and effortlessly than is yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness with other methods. Thus,
anuttarayoga does not require a second set of zillion eons.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Does Not Produce Appearances of Any of the Four Extreme Modes of Impossible
Existence
According to the Nyingma, Kagy, and Sakya explanations in common, yogic nonconceptual cognition of
voidness in sutra requires a third set of zillion eons to eliminate forever:
(1) the final three out of nine grades of automatically-arising obscurations preventing omniscience.
[For a more advanced discussion of Eliminating the Two Sets of Obscurations in Sutra and Anuttarayoga Tantra
According to Non-Gelug, click here.]
Conceptual cognition produces appearances of objects as truly existent thiss and thats. Sensory and mental
nonconceptual cognitions produce appearances of objects as not truly existent thiss and thats. Both
appearances are unpurified appearances, because conceptual and nonconceptual cognition of them are both
accompanied by unawareness.
(1) Conceptual cognition is accompanied by the unawareness of not knowing how what
appears exists and taking it to exist in a manner contradictory to how it actually exists.
(2) Sensory and mental nonconceptual cognitions are accompanied by simply the
unawareness of not knowing how what appears actually exists.
The habits of the unawareness included among the obscurations preventing liberation produce the appearances of
truly existent thiss and thats during conceptual cognition. The habits of the unawareness included among the
obscurations preventing omniscience produce the appearances of objects as not truly thiss and thats.
When we have eliminated forever the obscurations preventing liberation, our conceptual cognitions no longer
produce appearances of truly existent thiss and thats. Only when we have totally removed the final three
grades of obscurations preventing omniscience do our sensory and mental nonconceptual cognitions stop
producing appearances of objects as not truly existent thiss and thats. At that point, as Buddhas, we no
longer experience sensory or mental cognition. The omniscient awareness of a Buddha is beyond both.
[For a more advanced discussion of Divisions, Causes, and Elimination of Unpurified Appearances According
to Non-Gelug, click here.]
Eliminating the final group of obscurations with clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness beyond words
and concepts does not require the third set of zillion eons that doing so with yogic nonconceptual cognition of it
requires in sutra. This is because, like omniscient awareness, clear-light mental activity is beyond sensory and
mental cognition and does not produce appearances of either truly existent or not truly existent thiss and
thats. It is subtler than the levels of mind that produce these unpurified appearances. Clear-light nonconceptual
cognition of nondenumerable voidness, when manifest, gives rise exclusively to purified appearances.
[For a more advanced discussion of clear-light cognition and unpurified appearances, click here for Alaya and
Impure Appearance-Making.]
Further, the third group of obscurations prevents nonconceptual cognition of voidness beyond words and
concepts from cognizing purified appearances and voidness simultaneously with equal prominence and from
cognizing them without a break in continuity. Only clear-light mental activity is capable of such cognition,
because only it continues without disruption and only it continues into enlightenment. The subtle level of mental
activity at which yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness operates cannot be sustained during the experience
of death and it ceases altogether with enlightenment.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Has More Stable Deep Reflexive Awareness of Its Own Nature

Clear-light mental activity lacks all forms of unawareness, including the unawareness of not knowing how things
actually exist. This is because it is subtler than the levels at which unawareness manifestly occurs. Moreover, not
only does it lack unawareness, it naturally has the reflexive deep awareness (rang-rig ye-shes) of how everything
actually does exist.
Yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness attained in bodhisattva sutra and the three lower tantras also has
reflexive deep awareness. Nevertheless, yogic cognition is still at the level of mind at which this deep awareness
may not be operational. Consequently, the reflexive deep awareness of clear-light cognition is more stable.
Clear-Light Mental Activity Can Have Omniscient Awareness
Words and concepts imply an impossible mode of existence namely, that things exist in the solid categories
delineated by them. In other words, words and concepts imply that the fabric of the interrelatedness of
everything is divided into boxes or categories, with solid lines around them, and that phenomena in these boxes
or categories correspond to reality. This is not so. It is an impossible mode of existence.
Nonconceptual cognition of voidness beyond words and concepts, whether with yogic cognition or clear-light
mental activity, does not produce unpurified appearances of any of the four extreme modes of impossible
existence. Thus, it does not produce appearances of things existing in the solid categories of truly existent thiss
or thats or not truly existent thiss or thats. In this sense, the purified appearances that nonconceptual
cognition of nondenumerable voidness produces are beyond words and concepts.
Only clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness, however, can give rise to the entire fabric of the
interconnectedness and interrelatedness of everything. Only clear-light mental activity can become omniscient
awareness. This is true because of the following line of reasoning.
(1) Clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness gives rise to purified appearances
simultaneously with their voidness. Nevertheless, it cannot do so at first with both appearances
and voidness being equally prominent. The same is true concerning yogic nonconceptual
cognition of voidness beyond words and concepts.
(2) So long as the unpurified appearance-making of conceptual cognition can recur, the habits
of unawareness of how phenomena exist, which give rise to unpurified appearance-making,
can still be imputed on the mental continuum. These habits do not produce unpurified
appearances while purified appearances are arising. Nevertheless, their unpurified appearancemaking in a sense infects the purified appearances. Because of that, a cognition producing
purified appearances is not omniscient so long as these habits can still be imputed, whether the
cognition is with clear-light cognition or yogic cognition.
(3) Unlike yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness, clear-light nonconceptual cognition of
voidness can be sustained forever without any break. When, with the removal forever of the
obscurations regarding all knowables, this clear-light cognition can be so sustained, the habits
of unawareness that produce unpurified appearances can no longer be imputed on the mental
continuum. Because of that, the clear-light cognition can occur with purified appearances and
voidness being equally prominent. When this is the case, clear-light mental activity cognizes
the entire fabric of all that is knowable. Thus, it becomes the omniscient awareness of a
Buddha.
The interrelatedness of everything does not mean that the accurate mode of existence of everything is as an
undifferentiated oneness. Within the fabric of interconnectedness, everything still maintains its individuality.
Nevertheless, things exist maintaining their individualities in a manner that is beyond the solid boxes that would
correspond to the words and concepts for them.
Yogic and clear-light nonconceptual cognition of nondenumerable voidness and omniscient awareness all
naturally have the deep awareness cognizing individuality (so-sor rtogs-pai ye-shes). Because only clear-light
mental activity has the capacity to function as the omniscient awareness of a Buddha, only its innate deep
awareness cognizing individuality has the capacity to cognize the individuality of everything.
6 KALACHAKRA

(1) Closer Analogies

The Kalachakra Tantra has many unique features not shared in common with the other anuttarayoga Buddhafigure systems. The upward and downward analogies of general anuttarayoga still pertain to its practice, except
that Kalachakra does not entail practice analogous to bardo and sambhogakaya. It has practices analogous only
to death and dharmakaya, and to rebirth and nirmanakaya. This is for reasons explained below. Nevertheless,
Kalachakra practice involves additional downward and upward analogies.
Kalachakra (Dus-khor) means cycles of time and there are three such cycles, each of which is analogous to the
other two:
(1) external cycles of time, through which the universe passes,
(2) internal cycles, through which the body passes,
(3) alternative cycles, referring to the Kalachakra empowerment and practice, and to
enlightenment.
The external and internal cycles describe samsara. They repeat uncontrollably because of the winds of karma
(las-kyi rlung) and the unawareness of reality that drives these winds. The alternative cycles of time purify us of
the true causes for experiencing the true problems of the external and internal cycles.
For example, the external cycles entail, for a universe:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

eons of formation,
eons of endurance,
eons of disintegration,
empty eons.

For a year:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

spring, when foliage grows,

summer, when it endures,
autumn, when foliage falls apart,
winter, when the trees are empty.

Analogous to the external cycles, the internal cycles include the karmic winds passing through four subtle
creative energy-drops (thig-le bzhi) in the subtle body, producing the appearances of the four occasions (gnasskabs bzhi). Appearances may be of sights, sounds, odors, tastes, physical sensations, or ways of being aware of
something, such as bliss.
(1) The body creative-drop produces the appearances experienced while awake, which grow
through sensory experience.
(2) The speech creative-drop produces the appearances experienced while dreaming, which
are enduring images that do not organically grow or age.
(3) The mind creative-drop produces the appearances experienced in deep dreamless sleep,
when external sensory experience falls away.
(4) The deep-awareness creative-drop produces the appearances experienced during orgasmic
release, which are the gateways to the subtlest level of experience, empty of all grosser
levels.
Through practices that parallel the four occasions, we achieve a Buddhas
(1) nirmanakaya, with enlightening appearances that arise and appear to grow,
(2) sambhogakaya, with enlightening appearances that endure until the end of everyones
samsara,
(3) jnana-dharmakaya (ye-shes chos-sku, corpus of deep awareness encompassing
everything), in which all conceptual cognition and limitations have fallen away,
(4) svabhavakaya (ngo-bo-nyid sku, nature corpus), which, uniquely in Kalachakra, is the
blissful awareness of omniscient awareness.
The external, internal, and alternative cycles share many other analogous features, such as:

(1) externally, the six months each of the northern and southern declinations of the sun, and
the six types of subatomic particles;
(2) internally, the six aggregate factors of experience, the six bodily elements, the six types of
primary consciousness, the six cognitive sensors, and so forth;
(3) alternatively, the six Buddha-families of the Kalachakra mandala, and the five types of
deep awareness (five Buddha-wisdoms) plus clear-light awareness itself as their basis.
In addition, the physical proportions of the universe, the human body, the Kalachakra mandala, and its principal
figure parallel each other.
(2) Closer Union of Method and Wisdom
In Kalachakra, wisdom refers to the nonconceptual clear-light cognition of voidness without aspect (rnam-med)
and with aspect (rnam-can). Voidness without aspect is voidness itself either as self-voidness, other-voidness,
or both, depending on the Tibetan tradition. Voidness with aspect is the devoid-form (stong-gzugs) of a Buddhafigure.
Devoid forms are devoid of the gross particles of the elements, and are the reflexive appearances (rang-snang) of
the clear-light mind that arise when the energy-winds enter the central energy-channel. They resemble
appearances that arise on a magic-mirror (phra-phab) and may be in any form, not only that of a Buddha-figure.
The fourteenth-century Gelug master Gyaltsab Jey (rGyal-tshab rJe Dar-ma Rin-chen) explains that devoid
forms are devoid of the gross particles of the elements in both senses of the superficial truth of gross particles
what they are and how they appear to exist. On the one hand, devoid-forms are not made of gross particles and
are therefore a form of physical phenomenon that is subtler than they are. On the other hand, they do not appear
to exist with true existence. The gross particles of the elements always appear to be truly existent.
The energy-winds do not need to be dissolved in the central channel and, consequently, clear-light mental
activity does not need to be manifest for devoid-forms to appear. Moreover, even if clear-light mental activity is
manifest, it does not need to cognize voidness in order for devoid-forms to arise.
Method in Kalachakra is unchanging blissful awareness (mi-gyur-bai bde-ba). This is a blissful clear-light
nonconceptual awareness of voidness; but unlike in general anuttarayoga tantra, it is based on two sets of 21,600
subtle creative energy-drops stacked one by one in the central channel. The two sets are different from the four
subtle creative-drops of the four occasions.
Although unchanging blissful awareness is intermittent it occurs only during total absorption on voidness the
stacked drops remain fixed until the attainment of enlightenment. Because of that, the blissful awareness is
unchanging. With the attainment of enlightenment, we no longer have gross or subtle bodies. Our former
samsaric bodies, the stacked drops, and the four drops of the four occasions all disappear like a rainbow.
In general anuttarayoga,
(1) blissful awareness and illusory body are on the side of method;
(2) clear-light cognition of voidness is on the side of wisdom.
Thus, the obtaining causes for the enlightening bodies and mind of a Buddha are on the sides of method and
wisdom respectively.
In Kalachakra,
(1) unchanging blissful awareness is on the method side;
(2) devoid-forms and clear-light cognition of voidness are on the wisdom side.
Thus, the obtaining causes for enlightening bodies and mind are both on the wisdom side. They share the same
similar-family cause (rigs-drai rgyu).
A similar-family cause is one that is in the same family of phenomena as its result and, in a sense, serves as the
model for its result. For example, the model of a vase is the similar-family cause for both a clay vase and a

visualized vase. The model of a vase, a clay vase, and a visualized vase are all in the same family of phenomena
vases.
In Kalachakra, sharing the same similar-family cause are
(1) unchanging blissful clear-light cognition of voidness, and
(2) the devoid-forms that both give rise to this cognition and are the reflexive appearance of
this cognition.
The similar-family cause that they share is the total absorption of clear-light cognition of voidness. In this
respect, Kalachakra has a closer union of method and wisdom than does general anuttarayoga.
[For an advanced discussion of this point, click here for Relationships between Two Objects in Anuttarayoga
Tantra.]
(3) Special Basis for Voidness
In general anuttarayoga, only a purified illusory body as a basis for voidness can appear during total absorption
on voidness with actual clear-light cognition. This is because only purified illusory bodies are made solely from
the subtlest energy-wind, which is only accessible when the actual subtlest clear-light level is reached. Further,
because appearances made solely from the subtlest energy-wind do not appear to be truly existent, they can
appear simultaneously with their absolute absence of impossible ways of existing.
Before achieving actual clear-light cognition of voidness, we practice with an unpurified illusory body or with
the imagined bodies of Buddha-figures, both of which are made from grosser levels of energy-wind. According
to Gelug, grosser levels of energy-wind make only appearances of true existence. Because of that, such bases for
voidness can only appear during the subsequent realization period when the level of mental activity and thus the
energy-winds are grosser. Even when total absorption on voidness is conceptual, such bodies appearing to be
truly existent cannot appear simultaneously with an appearance of empty space representing an absolute
absence of the appearance of true existence.
Devoid-forms, as bases for voidness, on the other hand, are reflections of clear-light mental activity and thus do
not appear to be truly existent. They appear once the energy-winds have been made to enter the central channel,
whether or not clear-light mental activity is manifest, and whether or not cognition is nonconceptual. Because
they do not appear as truly existent, they cannot arise while the mind is simultaneously giving rise to
appearances of true existence. They can arise only while the mind is giving rise to an appearance of an absolute
absence of the appearance of true existence. In other words, they can appear only during total absorption on
voidness, either conceptual or nonconceptual, so long as the energy-winds have been made to enter the central
channel. Thus, devoid-forms are extremely special bases for voidness since they can appear simultaneously with
cognition of their voidness.
The fact that we meditate with devoid-forms, as the cause for achieving the enlightening body of a Buddha, only
during total absorption on voidness explains why Kalachakra does not entail practices analogous to bardo. We
achieve bardo only when the grosser energy-winds that make appearances of true existence arise again after the
experience of the clear-light awareness of death. The bardo-body we then manifest is made of those grosser
energy-winds. Since devoid-forms are not made of the grosser energy-winds that make appearances of true
existence, practice with them does not resemble the experience of bardo.
In contrast, before manifesting an actual clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness, we can meditate with
illusory bodies, as the cause for achieving an enlightening body, only during subsequent realization of voidness.
This is because such bodies are made from the grosser energy-winds that make appearances of true existence,
and such appearances arise during subsequent realization of voidness, as they do while experiencing bardo.
Therefore, general anuttarayoga has practices that are analogous with bardo.
(4) Special Level of Mental Activity
In general anuttarayoga, when clear-light mental activity is made inseparable from a blissful nonconceptual
cognition of voidness, the physical basis that allows this attainment is the grosser energy-winds being made to
enter, abide, and completely dissolve in the central channel. This remains the case only during total absorption
on voidness. Until the attainment of enlightenment, the grosser energy-winds manifest once more during
subsequent realization of voidness or during meditation on something else. At such times, we no longer

experience blissful clear-light awareness of voidness. Because the physical basis for the blissful clear-light
awareness of voidness is only present intermittently, this blissful awareness is called changing blissful
awareness (gyur-bai bde-ba).
In Kalachakra, the physical basis that allows clear-light mental activity to be inseparable from an unchanging
blissful nonconceptual cognition of voidness is the subtle creative energy-drops stacked in the central channel.
As is the case with changing blissful clear-light awareness of voidness, unchanging blissful clear-light awareness
of voidness also
(1) ceases during subsequent realization of voidness and during meditation on something else,
and
(2) functions as a nonstatic phenomenon, undergoing moment-to-moment change for the
duration of its existence and producing effects.
Nevertheless, here, the physical bases for the unchanging awareness remain stacked in the central channel
unchangingly, until the total dissolution, forever, of all grosser levels of body. This final dissolution occurs
with the attainment of the enlightening body of a Buddha.
The level of mental activity used in Kalachakra and in general anuttarayoga tantra is the same, namely clear-light
awareness. Nevertheless, because Kalachakra practice makes that level an unchanging blissful awareness of
voidness, rather than a changing blissful awareness of voidness, clear-light awareness of voidness in Kalachakra
is more stable than that achieved in general anuttarayoga.
Non-Gelug Variations Concerning Kalachakra
The non-Gelug traditions explain the closer analogies, closer union of method and wisdom, and special level of
mental activity in Kalachakra much as Gelug does. Some slight differences appear, however, in their explanation
of devoid-forms as the special bases for voidness. The source of the discrepancy lies in different assertions
concerning the subtle energy-winds that make appearances.
Gelug asserts that the subtle appearance-making energy-winds make appearances only of true existence, both in
conceptual and non-conceptual cognition. Non-Gelug asserts that they make appearances of truly existent thiss
and thats during conceptual cognition only. In sensory and mental nonconceptual cognitions, they make
appearances of not truly existent thiss and thats. Both types, however, are unpurified appearances. Devoid
forms, as purified appearances, are beyond them both. They are the voidness with aspect that appears inseparably
with voidness without aspect during deep awareness of nondenumerable deepest truth.
The rest of the explanation of this point for instance, concerning unpurified illusory bodies appearing only
during the subsequent realization phase of conceptual cognition of voidness is the same as Gelug.
Conclusion
We may practice tantra successfully without understanding how it works and why it brings enlightenment more
quickly than does sutra. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of general tantra, general anuttarayoga, and
Kalachakra theory helps us to develop unshakable confidence and sincere respect for their special methods.
Coupled with the confidence, respect, and inspiration we gain from healthy relationships with our tantric
masters, our tantra practices becomes even more stable for bringing their intended results our abilities to be of
best help to all others, with our attainments of enlightenment.

The Six Alternatives and Four Modes for Explaining Vajra Expressions in Anuttarayoga Tantra
Alexander Berzin
Berlin, Germany, April 12, 2002
Introduction
Root tantra texts (rtsa-rgyud) are purposely written in obscure language, known as vajra expressions (rdo-rjei
tshig), to ensure that disciples rely closely on tantric masters for studying and practicing tantra. Without a
hermeneutical device, the texts appear confusing or meaningless.
In Illuminating Lamp (sGron-gsal, Skt. Pradipotyatana), a commentary to The Guhyasamaja Root Tantra
(gSang-ba dus-pa rtsa-rgyud), the Indian master Chandrakirti II outlined six alternatives and four modes
(mtha-drug tshul-bzhi) for explaining the various levels of meaning of vajra-expressions specifically, those in
anuttarayoga tantra texts.
The following presentation is according to the explanation of the six and the four by the fifteenth-century Gelug
master Gy Sherab-senggey (rGyud Shes-rab seng-ge) in An Extensive Explanation of Illuminating Lamp
(sGron-gsal rgya-cher bshad-pa). This commentary is a major textbook studied by the monks of Gymey Lower
Tantric Monastic College (rGyud-smad), which this master founded.
THE SIX ALTERNATIVES
Explicit Suggestive and Implicit Suggested Meanings
When a vajra expression has two dissimilar meanings, the literal, evident, or face value meaning (dngos-zin-gyi
don) of the expression is its explicit suggestive meaning (drang-don, Skt. nityartha). It suggests or leads one on
to the second meaning, which is dissimilar to what is actually said on face value. For example, the explicit
suggestive meaning of Vajra-Holder (Skt. Vajradhara) is a Buddha-figure who holds a five-pronged vajra in his
hand.
The second meaning that is dissimilar to the face value one is the implicit suggested meaning (nges-don, Skt.
neyartha). It is a meaning to which one needs to be led and which one must come to ascertain. Thus, the implicit
suggested meaning of Vajra-Holder is the unified pair (zung-jug, Skt. yuganaddha) of clear light (od-gsal) and
illusory body (sgyu-lus).
The technical terms for the first two of the six alternatives have completely different meanings in sutra. There,
drang-don (explicit suggestive meaning) refers to interpretable meaning, while nges-don (implicit suggested
meaning) refers to definitive meaning. According to the Gelug interpretation of Madhyamaka-Prasangika, only
words about voidness are of definitive meaning the deepest meaning to be ascertained, to which all other
teachings lead. Words about any other topic are interpretable and are meant to lead one deeper to voidness.
In sutra, then, one passage may be either of interpretable or definitive meaning, depending on its subject matter.
It cannot be both. In tantra, on the other hand, one passage may have both an explicit suggestive meaning and an
implicit suggested one.
Metaphorical and Nonmetaphorical Meanings
Vajra expressions that indicate a meaning that is not shared in common with the lower tantras and sutra, and
which do so with different contrary words that intend this other meaning, are metaphorical (dgongs-can). For
example, Find a young virgin with broad eyes and adorned with a beautiful youthful form, twenty-five years of
age are words of metaphorical meaning. They indicate the unified pair of clear light and illusory body with
words that are different and contrary to this meaning.
Vajra expressions that indicate a meaning that is uncommon with lower tantras and sutra, and which do so by
indicating this meaning clearly and directly with words that do not need to be explained as intending this as their

other meaning, are nonmetaphorical (dgongs-min). For example, Sit in the total absorption of the samadhi
called vajra identitylessness are words that nonmetaphorically indicate meditation on clear light.
One passage can convey its meaning in only one way, either metaphorically or nonmetaphorically.
Conventional Language and Nonconventional Language Meanings
Vajra expressions that clearly indicate something shared in common with the lower tantras, by using words that
are either worldly conventions (jig-rten-pai tha-snyed) or coinages (brnga) of Sanskrit grammarians, are words
of conventional language meaning (sgra ji-bzhin-pa, explanations with conventional words).
These may be either explanations in conventional language that do not have both a literal and a second dissimilar
meaning for example, instructions for painting mandalas or explanations in conventional language that do
have both a literal and a second dissimilar meaning. An example of the latter is even those sentient beings with
great negative karmic force, such as from having committed heinous crimes, can attain the supreme vehicle of
the great ocean of Vajrayana.
Vajra expressions that convey an actual specific meaning with words that are neither worldly conventions nor
coinages of Sanskrit grammarians, but were coined only by Buddhas, are words of nonconventional language
meaning (sgra ji-bzhin-pa min-pa). For example, kotakya, kotava, kotakotavashcha, and so on is a list of
names for the Buddha-figure Vajrapani.
Here, as well, one passage can convey its meaning with either conventional language or nonconventional
language, but not with both.
THE FOUR MODES
Literal Meaning
The meaning of a vajra expression that one can derive from relying merely on dictionaries and grammar books is
its literal meaning (yig-don).
General Shared Meaning
The meaning of a vajra expression that is common to the experience of those on the generation stage (bskyedrim) and below is its general shared meaning (spyi-don).
There are two varieties:
(1) The meaning may be something experienced in common with those on the generation
stage, but not below.
(2) The meaning may be something experienced in common with those practicing the three
lower tantras and sutra, but not those practicing only sutra.
Hidden Meaning
The meaning of a vajra expression in terms of mind-isolation (sems-dbyen) or illusory body is their hidden
meaning (sbas-don). Mind-isolation and illusory body refer to the second half of the second stage and the entire
third stage of the five-stage Guhyasamaja complete stage (rdzogs-rim rim-lnga).
There are three varieties. The hidden meaning may concern
(1) teachings about desire,
(2) relative level illusory bodies (kun-rdzob sgyu-lus),
(3) the three subtlest conceptual appearance-making minds (snang-gsum).
The meanings here are hidden from those practicing the three lower tantras and below. Except for one portion
concerning desire, they are also hidden from those practicing the generation stage.

The meanings may be hidden in three ways.

(1) They may not be indicated in the three lower tantras and below.
(2) They may not be a path of practice for those on the generation stage, although they are
indicated in the root tantra.
(3) Their inner essence may not be obvious from the outside.
Final Ultimate Meaning
The meaning of a vajra expression in terms of deepest clear light (don-dam od-gsal) or a unified pair is their
final ultimate meaning (mthar-thug don). Deepest clear light and unified pair refer to the fourth and fifth stages
of the five-stage Guhyasamaja complete stage. Specifically, unified pair refers to the purified illusory body (dagpai sgyu-lus).

The Union of Method and Wisdom in Sutra and Tantra

Berlin, Germany, February 5, 2002
1. GELUG SUTRA
[As background for the discussion here and in the following chapter, see Relationships with Objects.]
[For additional background, see The Theory of Tantra: Why Tantra Is More Efficient than Sutra, Gelug
Presentation of Tantra in General.]
Different Manners of Cognitively Taking an Object
On the sutra level, method is conventional bodhichitta and wisdom is the discriminating awareness (shes-rab) of
voidness. These are the foundations for strengthening and expanding the enlightenment-building networks of
positive force (bsod-nams) and deep awareness (ye-shes) (collections of merit and wisdom), the obtaining causes
(nyer-len-gyi rgyu) for achieving the body and mind of a Buddha.
The obtaining cause of something is the natal source (rdzas, natal substance) giving rise to the item as its
successor. It ceases to exist simultaneously with the arising of its result. For example, a seed is the obtaining
cause for a sprout.
Conventional bodhichitta focuses on our future enlightenment with two accompanying intentions (dun-pa): to
attain that enlightenment and to benefit all beings by means of that.
Discriminating awareness of voidness focuses on an absolute absence (med-dgag) of true existence (bden-grub),
with the understanding that there is no such manner of existence. Nothing has its existence or conventional
identity (tha-snyad-du yod-pai bdag) established by the power of some defining characteristic marks (mtshannyid) inherently findable within it.
In sutra, then, the obtaining causes for a body and a mind of a Buddha have different manners of cognitively
taking their objects (dzin-stangs).
For an item to cognitively take an object (dzin-pa) means for it actively to hold an object in a cognitive manner
continually, whenever and for as long as the item occurs or exists. In this case, the item is a way of being aware
of an object, either bodhichitta or discriminating awareness of voidness. On the most basic level, the manner in
which bodhichitta cognitively takes its object is with the intention to attain something. The manner in which
discriminating awareness cognitively takes its object is with the understanding that there is no such thing.
Conceptual versus Nonconceptual Cognition
Before enlightenment, conventional bodhichitta is a conceptual cognition (rtog-pa), because except for Buddhas,
no one can focus on enlightenment except through an idea (snang-ba) representing it.
Conceptual cognition of something is one that cognitively takes its object through the medium of an idea of it or
of some other token representing its object. It occurs exclusively with mind consciousness (yid-kyi rnam-shes).
Conceptual cognition always produces an appearance of something seemingly truly existent (bden-snang).
Except for conceptual cognitions of voidness and conceptual cognitions of arhats (liberated beings), it also has
grasping for true existence (bden-dzin).
In other words, the manner with which conceptual cognition cognitively takes its object is with nonconcordant
attention (tshul-min yid-la byed-pa, incorrect consideration). It pays attention to the manner in which its object
appears to exist (snang-tshul) in a way that is not concordant with its actual manner of existence (yod-tshul).
Thus, it incorrectly considers the manner of appearance to be the manner of existence. In simple language,
grasping for true existence believes its object actually to exist with the impossible manner of existence with
which it appears to exist.

Nonconceptual cognition (rtog-med) of something cognitively takes its object without the filter of an idea or
token representing it. It occurs in all instances of sense consciousness (dbang-gi rnam-shes) and, in certain
situations, also with mind consciousness. Gelug is unique in asserting that nonconceptual cognition also
produces an appearance of true existence, except when it is nonconceptual cognition of voidness. Grasping for
true existence does not occur manifestly (mngon-gyur), however, during nonconceptual cognition.
Only Buddhas cognize enlightenment nonconceptually, since only Buddhas know enlightenment directly from
personal experience. For Buddhas, only one intention accompanies their conventional bodhichitta: to help all
others.
Long before the attainment of enlightenment, however, discriminating awareness of voidness can be
nonconceptual. It becomes nonconceptual with the attainment of the path of seeing (mthong-lam), the third of the
five pathway minds on the way to enlightenment.
Principal Awareness Versus Subsidiary Awareness
Moreover, conventional bodhichitta is a principal awareness (gtso-sems). It is not a subsidiary awareness (semsbyung, mental factor) that accompanies another principal awareness.
A principal awareness cognizes merely the essential nature or category of phenomenon (ngo-bo) that something
is. As a principal awareness, conventional bodhichitta cognizes enlightenment merely as enlightenment.
A subsidiary awareness accompanies and assists a principal awareness in cognizing its object, as in the case of
distinguishing it from the rest of the sense-field (du-shes, recognition), interest, or concentration. Alternatively,
it flavors the cognition with an emotion or feeling, as in the case of compassion or happiness. Thus, love,
compassion, the intentions to attain enlightenment and to help all beings, accompany conventional bodhichitta as
subsidiary awarenesses.
Discriminating awareness is also a subsidiary awareness. For discriminating awareness of voidness to be
nonconceptual means that the cognition it accompanies is nonconceptual. Except for Buddhas, the consciousness
of a cognition accompanied by discriminating awareness of voidness must be mental; it cannot be sensory. The
mind consciousness of that cognition is the principal awareness and, technically, the mind consciousness
accompanied by discriminating awareness of voidness is the actual wisdom factor here.
Conceptual and Nonconceptual Wisdom
There are three levels of discriminating awareness of voidness:
(1) the discriminating awareness that arises from hearing (thos-byung shes-rab),
(2) the discriminating awareness that arises from contemplation (bsam-byung shes-rab),
(3) the discriminating awareness that arises from meditation (sgom-byung shes-rab).
Although all three are with mind consciousness, only the first two arise in cognitions that rely on the power of
their mental sensors (yid-kyi dbang-po) as their dominating conditions (bdag-rkyen) and thus both arise only in
mental cognitions (yid-kyi shes-pa). The mental sensor of a cognition is the immediately preceding moment of
cognition.
Discriminating awareness that arises from meditation arises in cognitions that rely on the power of combined
shamatha (zhi-gnas; calm abiding, mental quiescence) and vipashyana (lhag-mthong, special insight) as their
dominating conditions. Shamatha is a serenely stilled and settled state of mind, while vipashyana is an
exceptionally perceptive state. Such cognitions are called yogic cognition (rnal-byor-gyi shes-pa)
Gelug-Prasangika uniquely asserts that yogic cognition may be either conceptual or nonconceptual, and in both
cases it is valid straightforward cognition (mngon-sum tshad-ma). According to the Gelug-Prasangika
definitions, valid straightforward cognition is a valid cognition that does not arise directly based on a line of
reasoning (rtags), as opposed to valid inferential cognition (rjes-dpag tshad-ma), which does so rely. Thus,
although a yogic straightforward cognition of voidness may not arise by directly relying on a line of reasoning, it
may still cognize voidness through the medium of an accurate idea of what voidness means. Thus, it may still be
a conceptual cognition of voidness.
Manifest Cognition

Whether mental cognition or yogic cognition, and whether conceptual or nonconceptual, a moment of cognition
cannot simultaneously have two different ways of taking an object manifest (mngon-gyur), with both being the
principal awareness of the cognition.
Manifest means cognizing an object with some level of attention (yid-la byed-pa). Attention is the subsidiary
awareness that focuses on a specific object in a certain way and/or considers it in a certain manner.
Because conventional bodhichitta and a mind consciousness accompanied by the discriminating awareness of
voidness have different ways of taking their objects and both are principal minds, both cannot be simultaneously
manifest in one moment of cognition.
Two Gelug Traditions of Combining Method and Wisdom in Sutra
The Gelug tradition has two main ways of explaining how sutra practice combines method and wisdom in sutra.
These are according to
(1) the Panchen textbooks (yig-cha), written by the sixteenth-century master Panchen Snamdragpa (Pan-chen bSod-nams grags-pa) and followed by Drepung Loseling (Bras-spungs
Blo-gsal-gling) and Ganden Shartsey (dGa-ldan Shar-rtse) Monasteries,
(2) the Jetsnpa textbooks, written by the sixteenth-century master Jetsn Chkyi-gyeltsen
(rJe-btsun Chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan) and followed by Sera Jey (Se-ra Byes) and Ganden
Jangtsey (dGa-ldan Byang-rtse) Monasteries,
Panchen Explanation
According to the Panchen explanation, we can only practice conventional bodhichitta and the discriminating
awareness of voidness within the context of each other. Practicing cognition A within the context of cognition
B means to generate B during the moment immediately preceding A. The momentum of B continues
during A, although B itself no longer occurs. In a sense, the momentum of B flavors A, without A and
B occurring simultaneously.
In technical terms, B exists simultaneously with A, but merely as a legacy (sa-bon, seed) imputed on the
mental continuum. The legacy of a cognition is not a cognition itself. It is not a way of being aware of something
(sems) or a form of physical phenomenon (gzugs). It accompanies cognition, but without being concomitant with
it, meaning that it does not share five concomitant features (mtshungs-ldan lnga) with the cognition it
accompanies, such as also taking an object.
As a nonconcomitant affecting variable (ldan-min du-byed), the legacy of something is merely an abstraction
that is based on and affects our experience. The legacy of a cognition affects our experience in the sense that it
gives rise to a recurrence of similar cognitions, but only intermittently (re-ga-ba). This is the way sutra practice
combines method and wisdom, both in conceptual and nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
[For a more detailed discussion, see Concomitant and Nonconcomitant Affecting Variables.]
Jetsnpa Explanation
The Jetsnpa textbooks agree with the Panchen assertion for how to combine method and wisdom when the
discriminating awareness of voidness accompanies conceptual mental cognition. However, they uniquely assert a
special manner in which method and wisdom may occur simultaneously during nonconceptual cognition of
voidness. On such occasions, bodhichitta cannot occur manifestly, however, but only as a subconscious
awareness (bag-la nyal).
As a subconscious awareness, bodhichitta still is a principal awareness focusing on its own object,
enlightenment, with its own way of taking it, different from what the principal awareness of voidness focuses on
and how it takes it. Bodhichitta produces a cognitive appearance of an aspect (rnam-pa) of its object, in this case
an idea representing enlightenment. However, because bodhichitta is not a manifest awareness, it is not attentive
of its object.
Moreover, the mind consciousness with discriminating awareness of voidness that bodhichitta subconsciously
underlies does not cognize the object of that bodhichitta at all. Further, bodhichitta remains conceptual, even
though the mind consciousness with discriminating awareness of voidness that it underlies is a nonconceptual
cognition of voidness.

2. GELUG GENERAL TANTRA

Buddha-Figures as Method in General Tantra
The enlightening body and mind of a Buddha are the same essential phenomenon (ngo-bo gcig), which means
they are facts about essentially the same phenomenon. In usual Dharma translation terms, they are one by
nature. As two facts about a Buddha, both are manifest and simultaneously the case in each moment of a
Buddhas experience. In a sense, they come together in one package.
Moreover, a Buddhas mind and body are inseparable (dbyer-med) from each other. In other words, the two
occur simultaneously manifest in each moment, in the sense that if one is the case, so is the other. The body of a
Buddha cannot be present without the mind of that Buddha, and vice versa.
[For a more advanced discussion, see Relationships between Two Objects in General.]
The most efficient means for achieving the simultaneous manifest occurrence of an enlightening body and mind
is to practice manifestly in one moment of cognition method and wisdom as the causes for both. Tantra,
therefore, takes as method not only conventional bodhichitta as in sutra, but also having the body of a Buddhafigure. To have such an enlightening body is the actual method, motivated by bodhichitta and dedicated to
enlightenment, that will enable us to benefit all others. We cannot benefit everyone as fully as a Buddha does
with our ordinary bodies, which are limited in innumerable ways.
Correspondingly, wisdom in tantra is the discriminating awareness of the voidness of ourselves in terms of being
Buddha-figures. It is not simply the voidness of ourselves in terms of the aggregate factors (phung-po, Skt.
skandha) that constitute our ordinary bodies and minds.
Voidness and the Basis for a Voidness
Voidness is an absolute absence of true existence. It is the deepest truth about how something exists. As an
unchanging fact about something, the voidness of something cannot exist independently by itself; it must always
have a basis that something. In other words, the basis for a voidness (stong-gzhi) is the specific object that is
devoid of existing in impossible ways.
Moreover, any basis for a voidness must also have aspects (rnam-pa), one of which a mind makes appearances
of when it cognizes the basis manifestly and directly. If the object is physical, for instance, the aspect may be its
form, sound, smell, taste, or physical sensation. If the object is a way of being aware of something, for instance
love, the appearance of it in a cognition may be the emotional feeling of it that arises then.
The Two Truths about Something
The Hinayana schools of Buddhist tenets that Mahayana discusses Vaibhashaka and Sautrantaka define the
two truths (bden-gnyis, two levels of truth) as two different sets of phenomena (ngo-bo tha-dad). Thus, in
Hinayana, the term two truths is better translated as two types of true phenomena.
The Mahayana schools Chittamatra and Madhyamaka define the two truths as two inseparable facts about the
same phenomenon. Both are true and are inseparably the case, regardless of whether one moment of mind
perceives them simultaneously.
(1) The superficial truth (kun-rdzob bden-pa, relative truth) about something is how it
appears, namely
(a) what it appears to be,
(b) how it appears to exist.
(2) The deepest truth (don-dam bden-pa, ultimate truth) about the same phenomenon is how it
actually exists.
Thus, the appearance of the basis for a voidness and its actual voidness are the two inseparable truths about the
same object. In general tantra, that object is a Buddha-figure and the two truths about it are method and wisdom.
[For further discussion see The Terms Hinayana and Mahayana.]
[For background on this topic, see The Two Truths in Sautrantika and Vaibhashika.]

[For a more advanced discussion, see The Validity and Accuracy of Cognition of the Two Truths, GelugPrasangika Explanation.]
Total Absorption and Subsequent Realization of Voidness
Conceptual and nonconceptual cognition of voidness entails two phases:
(1) total absorption (mnyam-bzhag, meditative equipoise) on voidness that is like space,
(2) subsequent realization (rjes-thob, post-meditation) of voidness that is like an illusion.
Although voidness and its basis are always inseparable, total absorption on voidness is absorbed, with full
concentration, on voidness itself, while subsequent realization of voidness directs itself, also with full
concentration, to the basis for the voidness. Thus, the focal object (dmigs-yul) during total absorption is the
deepest truth about something, its voidness. The superficial truths about it do not appear. During subsequent
realization, the focal object is the superficial truth about the object, while its deepest truth does not appear.
The situation resembles sitting on the ground floor of a house and seeing through the window a person walk past.
Although only the top half of the person appears to pass by, this does not mean that the person is missing a
bottom half. The limitation derives from the side of the perspective, not from the side of the person.
Direct and Indirect Apprehension
A cognition apprehends (rtogs-pa) its object if it cognitively takes its object accurately (yang-dag-pa), with
certainty (nges-pa), and with full attention.
Gelug uniquely asserts that a valid cognition may apprehend its object either directly (dngos-su rtogs-pa) or
indirectly (shugs-su rtogs-pa). With direct apprehension, a cognition produces a cognitive appearance of an
aspect of the object that it perceives; with indirect apprehension, it does not. When seeing that there is no vase
on the table, we directly apprehend a bare tabletop and indirectly apprehend the absence of a vase there.
One cognition may apprehend one object directly, another indirectly, both at the same time. In such cases, the
direct and indirect apprehensions are both simultaneously manifest and thus both simultaneously attentive of
their objects.
[For more detail, click here for Relationships with Objects.]
Method and Wisdom in General Tantra Having One Manner of Cognitively Taking an Object
As with achieving a union of method and wisdom when method is bodhichitta, Gelug has two main explanations
of how to achieve such a union when method is the appearance of ourselves as Buddha-figures. As with
bodhichitta, the union occurs in two situations. Here, the two situations are consecutive phases of total
absorption
on
voidness
and
subsequent
realization
of
voidness.
Jetsnpa Explanation
According to the Jetsnpa explanation, total absorption on voidness
(1) apprehends directly an absolute absence of true existence, because only an appearance of
voidness that resembles the appearance of empty space cognitively arises.
(2) It apprehends the Buddha-figure as the basis for that voidness indirectly, because an
aspect of the form of the figure does not appear to that cognition.
Subsequent realization
(1) apprehends directly the appearance of the Buddha-figure, because only an appearance of a
figure that resembles an illusion cognitively arises.
(2) It apprehends its absolute absence of true existence indirectly, because an aspect
representing an absolute absence, such as empty space, does not appear to that cognition.
Regardless of which is the directly apprehended object and which is the indirectly apprehended one, the
appearance of a Buddha-figure and its voidness always exist simultaneously as two inseparable truths about the
same phenomenon.

Moreover, regardless of which are its direct and indirect objects, each of the two cognitions of the appearance of
a Buddha-figure and its inseparable voidness has only one manner of cognitively taking its object namely, a
manner of cognitively taking voidness. More specifically, the manners of directly apprehending and indirectly
apprehending are two facts about or ways of describing the same phenomenon a manner of cognitively taking
an object that can be logically isolated from each other as two different things (ngo-bo gcig ldog-pa tha-dad).
The two equivalent manners of cognitively taking an object are with the discriminating awareness that
(1) there is no such thing as true existence;
(2) the appearance of what resembles true existence does not correspond to anything real.
Total absorption directly apprehends in the former manner and indirectly apprehends in the latter, while
subsequent realization does the reverse.
Thus, taking the body of a Buddha-figure as method avoids the shortcoming of taking as method only
bodhichitta. This is because, with a Buddha-figure as method, cognition of both method and wisdom can be
manifest in one moment, with only one way of taking an object, although the objects cognized by method and
wisdom do not appear simultaneously.
Note that in general tantra, method and wisdom having one manner of cognitively taking an object means that
they have equivalent ways of cognitively taking an object. They do not actually have the same manner of
cognitively taking an object (dzin-sdang gcig).
Schematic of the Jetsnpa Explanation
In schematic form, the advantages of taking the body of a Buddha-figure as method in the Jetsnpa manner are:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

method and wisdom are two inseparable truths about the same phenomenon;
cognition of the two occur simultaneously;
cognition of the two are both manifest, with attention on both;
cognition of the two has only one manner of cognitively taking an object, which here
means equivalent manners of cognitively taking voidness.

The only shortcoming is:

(1) the objects of the two aspects of the cognition do not appear simultaneously.
In the case of bodhichitta, cognition of both method and wisdom may occur simultaneously with the objects
cognized by both appearing simultaneously. Nevertheless, awareness of method and wisdom in sutra cannot be
manifest simultaneously with attention on both and do not have the same manner of cognitively taking their
objects. One must remain a subconscious awareness while the other occurs.
In schematic form, the advantages of taking bodhichitta as method are:
(1) cognition of method and wisdom occur simultaneously;
(2) the objects of the two appear simultaneously.
The shortcomings are:
(1) method and wisdom belong to two different sets of phenomena;
(2) cognition of the two are not both manifest, with attention on both;
(3) cognition of the two has two different manners of cognitively taking an object.
Panchen Explanation
According to the Panchen textbooks, total absorption and subsequent realization of voidness both have only
direct apprehension of their objects. They do not simultaneously have indirect apprehension of something else
that does not appear to those cognitions. As in the case with bodhichitta, cognition of wisdom can only be held
by the force of an immediately preceding moment of cognition of method, and vice versa. In other words, when
one is manifest, the other accompanies it as the legacy of the immediately preceding phase of meditation.
Nevertheless, cognition of the appearance of a Buddha-figure as method still avoids the shortcoming of
bodhichitta. This is because the manner of directly apprehending method during subsequent realization of

voidness is not mutually exclusive with the manner of directly apprehending wisdom during total absorption.
Rather, the two manners of cognitively taking an object are equivalent manners of cognitively taking voidness.
Specifically, they are two truths about or ways of describing the same manner of cognitively taking an object that
can be logically isolated from each other
Summary
(1) All bases for voidness are inseparable from their voidness.
(2) Their appearance and voidness are two inseparable truths about them.
(3) Focus on both can be simultaneously manifest, according to the Jetsnpa explanation,
because it entails equivalent manners of cognitively taking an object.
(4) Even when manifest focus on both can only alternate, as Panchen explains, still the
manners of cognitively taking them during total absorption and subsequent realization are
not contradictory: they are equivalent to each other.
Although these points are valid for all phenomena; nevertheless, focusing on a table or on our ordinary bodies as
bases for voidness cannot serve as a union of method and wisdom. We can only help others in the enlightening
manner of a Buddha with the body of a Buddha-figure. Moreover, focusing on conventional bodhichitta and its
voidness will also not serve as a union of method and wisdom, because the two still have mutually exclusive
manners of directly apprehending their objects.
[For a more advanced discussion of Conventional and Deepest Bodhichitta and the Two Truths in Anuttarayoga
Tantra, click here.]
3. NON-GELUG SUTRA
[As background for the discussion here and in the following chapter, see Relationships with Objects and The
Two Truths in Sautrantika and Vaibhashika.]
[For additional background,see The Theory of Tantra: Why Tantra Is More Efficient than Sutra, Non-Gelug
Variations Concerning General Tantra.]
Conceptual and Nonconceptual Method and Wisdom in Sutra
In non-Gelug sutra, method is also bodhichitta. Most non-Gelug masters assert that bodhichitta remains
conceptual up until the eighth bodhisattva bhumi (byang-sa, bodhisattva stage) on the path of accustoming
(sgom-lam, path of meditation) the fourth of the five pathway minds at which point bodhisattvas rid
themselves of all conceptual cognition. All Gelug and a minority of non-Gelug masters assert that only Buddhas
have rid themselves forever of conceptual cognition. Although the nonconceptual bodhichitta of bodhisattvas on
the eighth, ninth, and tenth bhumis nonconceptually focuses on enlightenment; it does not give rise to and
cognize all its qualities prominently, especially the omniscience of enlightenment.
Unlike in Gelug, wisdom in non-Gelug differs depending on whether it occurs in conceptual or nonconceptual
cognition of voidness. In conceptual cognition, wisdom is the discriminating awareness (shes-rab) of
denumerable (rnam-grangs) voidness the absolute absence of true existence. In nonconceptual cognition, it is
deep awareness (ye-shes) of nondenumerable (rnam-grangs med-pa) voidness, beyond words and concepts.
Further, also unlike in Gelug, discriminating awareness of denumerable voidness accompanies only conceptual
cognition of voidness, whether that discriminating awareness arises from hearing, contemplation, or meditation.
Deep awareness of nondenumerable voidness accompanies only nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
[For a more advanced discussion, see Affirmations, Nullifications, and Denumerable and Nondenumerable
Truths.]
Yogic Cognition and Direct Apprehension Only
The non-Gelug traditions assert that valid yogic cognition is exclusively nonconceptual. This fits with their
definition of the term mngon-sum tshad-ma. In Gelug-Prasangika, it means valid straightforward cognition a
valid cognition that does not rely directly on a line of reasoning (rtags). Thus, it may be conceptual or
nonconceptual. Non-Gelug defines the term the same as Gelug-Sautrantika does. It is valid cognition that does

not rely on the medium of an idea. Thus, the term in non-Gelug means valid bare cognition, and it is exclusively
nonconceptual.
Further, the non-Gelug traditions do not accept indirect apprehension. A valid cognition can only apprehend its
object directly, namely by producing an appearance-aspect of the object. The non-Gelug traditions also do not
assert subconscious awareness (bag-la nyal), which produces an appearance of its object of cognition, but
remains inattentive it.
Mainstream Sakya Assertion
According to mainstream Sakya thought, as represented by the fifteenth-century master Gorampa (Go-ram bSodnams seng-ge), conventional bodhichitta can occur simultaneously with either discriminating or deep awareness
of voidness. This is the case despite conventional bodhichitta being conceptual and having a manner of
cognitively taking an object different from that of either conceptual or nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
Deep awareness, like bodhichitta, is a principal awareness (gtso-sems), while discriminating awareness is a
subsidiary awareness accompanying mental cognition of voidness in which the mind consciousness is the
principal awareness and primary consciousness.
The manner in which the union takes place is that while one of the two components occurs as the manifest
principal awareness, the other occurs simultaneously as a trace awareness (sa-bon, seed).
The non-Gelug traditions agree with Gelug that the legacy of a way of cognizing an object is a nonconcomitant
affecting variable an abstraction that is neither a way of cognizing something nor a form of physical
phenomenon. Yet, from a certain point of view, the legacy may also be considered a type of subtle, obscured
(lkog-gyur) cognition of an object. From this point of view, the legacy may be translated as a trace awareness.
In the case of the legacy of a disturbing emotion or attitude (nyon-mongs, emotional affliction), the trace
awareness is also a disturbing emotion or attitude. This, however, is only in the sense that legacies are included
among the obscurations that are the disturbing emotions and attitudes and which prevent liberation. They are not
manifest ways of cognizing an object. They are obscured and underlie a manifest way of cognizing something.
Similarly, a trace awareness of bodhichitta is still bodhichitta.
Whether a trace awareness, as a subtle, obscured way of cognizing an object, actively cognizes something and,
if it does so, how it cognizes it are topics of debate. The issues here are similar to those involved with whether
clear-light cognition or rigpa actively cognize objects when they are obscured, since both have unbroken
continuities as the subtlest levels of mental activity underlying each moment of cognition. Regardless of the
explanation of the exact mechanism, Gorampa asserts that conventional bodhichitta, as a subtle conceptual
cognition of an object, is simultaneous with conceptual and nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
Thus, the mainstream Sakya manner of combining method and wisdom in sutra resembles the Gelug Panchen
explanation in the sense that it entails one occurring as a legacy while the other is manifest. Its characterization
of a legacy, however, differs.
The mainstream Sakya explanation resembles the Gelug Jetsnpa one in the sense that the features of a legacy as
a trace awareness resemble the features of subconscious awareness. A trace awareness, however, is not the same
as a subconscious awareness. A subconscious awareness exists on a mental continuum only when it
intermittently occurs as an awareness. A trace awareness, on the other hand, continues to exist on a mental
continuum as an abstraction specifically, as a nonconcomitant affecting variable when it is not intermittently
occurring as a trace awareness.
[For a more advanced discussion, see Elimination of the Two Sets of Obscurations in Sutra and Anuttarayoga
According to Non-Gelug.]
Nyingma Assertion
Nyingma masters assert the union of method and conceptual wisdom in the same manner as do mainstream
Sakya ones. They differ, however, in their explanations of the union in nonconceptual cognition.
According to Nyingma, deep awareness whether taken as other-voidness (gzhan-stong) or simply as deep
awareness of nondenumerable self-voidness (rang-stong) is beyond the categories of principal awareness and

subsidiary awareness. Moreover, deep awareness has inseparable and simultaneous with it conventional
bodhichitta. This is because deep awareness has all good qualities (yon-tan) complete within its sphere.
As is the case with deep awareness itself, the conventional bodhichitta that is one of its good qualities is also
beyond being a principal awareness with accompanying subsidiary awarenesses and is also nonconceptual. This
means that the conventional bodhichitta that is a quality of the deep awareness of total absorption on voidness
lacks accompanying subsidiary awarenesses. Specifically, although conventional bodhichitta here focuses on
enlightenment, it lacks the intention to achieve that enlightenment and the intention to benefit all beings thereby.
Deep awareness has no conscious intentions to do anything; rather, it spontaneously accomplishes everything
(lhun-grub), without any deliberate effort. Compassion, here, is also a good quality of deep awareness, and is not
an accompanying subsidiary awareness.
Although conventional bodhichitta is a good quality of deep awareness and thus simultaneous with it, it is not
prominent during total absorption. All the qualities of deep awareness become equally prominent only with the
attainment of enlightenment.
4. Non-Gelug General Tantra
Impure Appearances and Self-Voidness as Method and Wisdom in Conceptual Cognition
For the non-Gelug traditions, the conceptual level of practice in general tantra takes as wisdom denumerable
self-voidness an absolute absence of true existence. It takes as method an appearance of a Buddha-figure as the
basis for that denumerable self-voidness. As in Gelug, the two are inseparable.
Also, as in Gelug, a conceptual cognition cannot simultaneously produce an appearance of true existence and an
appearance representing an absolute absence of true existence. It can only make one or the other appear at a time.
(1) Conceptual total absorption on voidness only produces an appearance representing an
absolute absence of true existence.
(2) Conceptual subsequent realization of voidness only produces an appearance of true
existence.
Moreover, conceptual cognition makes the item that appears to it seem to exist as something corresponding to a
conceptual category or in nontechnical language, as something concrete that fits into the solid box of a
concrete conceptual category. Such a cognitive appearance is an impure appearance (ma-dag-pai snang-ba).
Conceptual cognition perceives the impure appearance and believes that the actual item corresponds to the
impure appearance of it that it fabricates and projects (spros-pa). In technical terms, conceptual cognition
mistakes its appearing object (snang-yul) for its implied object (zhen-yul).
[See Objects of Cognition.]
Thus, conceptual cognition of an appearance of true existence has grasping for the unimputed presence of true
existence (bden-dzin). Conceptual cognition of an appearance of an absolute absence of true existence has
grasping for the unimputed absence of true existence (med-dzin).
Since the non-Gelug traditions do not assert indirect apprehension, a valid cognition can only apprehend its
object directly, namely by producing an appearance aspect of the object. Thus, conceptual cognition apprehends
only the one item that appears to it in this case, either an appearance of an absolute absence of true existence or
an appearance of true existence and it does so directly.
In short,
(1) conceptual total absorption on denumerable self-voidness apprehends only an absolute
absence, which it makes appear like an empty space.
(2) conceptual subsequent realization of a Buddha-figure existing like an illusion apprehends
only an impure appearance of the Buddha-figure. Although the Buddha-figure appears to
be truly existent, the subsequent realization is that its manner of existence is absolutely
devoid of that impossible way of existing.

In conceptual cognition, general tantra combines method and wisdom in the same manner as it does in sutra,
through the mechanism of a legacy as a trace awareness. Simultaneous with total absorption on space-like
denumerable self-voidness is an underlying trace awareness of the illusion-like voidness of the impure
appearance of the Buddha-figure. Simultaneous with subsequent realization of the illusion-like voidness of the
impure appearance is an underlying trace awareness of its absolute absence of true existence.
As in Gelug, such practice avoids the shortcomings of bodhichitta as method, since the manners of apprehending
space-like and illusion-like denumerable voidness are not contradictory. They are equivalent.
The Transition from a Conceptual to a Nonconceptual Cognition of Voidness
Absolute absences and items having manners of existence that are absolute absences are merely conceptual
categories used to conceptualize about things and how they exist. They do not exist unimputedly on their own.
At first, they may be useful categories for gaining a provisional understanding of reality. Once we have gained
an initial understanding, however, we need to go beyond these conceptual categories to the nonconceptual level.
Gelug makes the transition through gaining the discriminating awareness of the voidness of voidness. An
absolute absence of true existence itself is absolutely devoid of true inherent existence. In non-Gelug, to go
beyond the conceptual category of absolute absences requires a radical change in the manner of meditation.
In Gelug, conceptual and nonconceptual cognitions of voidness are both with yogic straightforward cognition
having discriminating awareness of what non-Gelug calls denumerable self-voidness. In non-Gelug, on the
other hand, conceptual cognition of voidness is with mental cognition having discriminating awareness of
denumerable voidness, while nonconceptual cognition of voidness is with yogic bare cognition having deep
awareness of nondenumerable voidness. As the terminology implies, the transition from a conceptual to a
nonconceptual cognition of voidness in non-Gelug involves a much greater change than in Gelug, although all
traditions require the strengthening the two enlightenment-building networks to make the progression.
To make the transition from conceptual to nonconceptual in non-Gelug, we cannot practice with a conceptual
cognition of nondenumerable voidness. Conceptual cognition cannot make an appearance of something beyond
words and concepts; conceptual cognition can only give rise to impure appearances. In other words, conceptual
cognition can only make things appear as if separate from their ultimate manner of existence, which is beyond
words and concepts. At best, conceptual cognition can represent something beyond words and concepts as an
absence of words and concepts, which is an inaccurate representation.
Moreover, it is precisely because the ultimate manner of existence of things is beyond words and concepts that
conceptual cognition cannot produce an appearance of that manner of existence. This is because a
conceptualization of something that cannot be conceptualized is self-contradictory. Consequently, conceptual
cognition cannot cognize the ultimate manner in which things exist either separately from or simultaneously
with the item that ultimately exists in that manner.
Thus, conceptual cognition of an impure appearance of a Buddha-figure and its denumerable self-voidness as an
absolute absence can serve as method and wisdom only provisionally. This is because the substantial cause for
the enlightening mind of a Buddha is deep awareness of nondenumerable self-voidness beyond words and
concepts. Nevertheless, gaining discriminating awareness of denumerable self-voidness is necessary first, before
being able to go beyond it. It like a butterfly egg cannot transform directly into a butterfly, but needs to turn into
a caterpillar first. Such discriminating awareness, however, is not the actual obtaining cause for a Buddhas
omniscient awareness.
Pure Appearances and Self-Voidness as Method and Wisdom in Nonconceptual Cognition
The closer union of method and wisdom in tantra refers to the pure appearances (dag-pai snang-ba) of
ourselves as Buddha-figures and their nondenumerable self-voidness. As bases for their self-voidness that is
beyond words and concepts, pure Buddha-figures and their nondenumerable self-voidness are inseparable. Only
nonconceptual cognition cognition that functions beyond words and concepts can cognize the inseparable
pair simultaneously. This does not refer to sensory cognition, which is always nonconceptual, or to mental
nonconceptual cognition such as in dreams or in extrasensory perception (mngon-shes). It is with yogic
nonconceptual cognition. Thus, yogic nonconceptual cognition of pure Buddha-figures and their
nondenumerable self-voidness is the actual method and wisdom in general tantra that accounts for its increased
efficiency.

Yogic nonconceptual cognition of pure Buddha-figures and their nondenumerable self-voidness directly
cognizes both of them, in the sense that it makes an aspect of both appear simultaneously. During total
absorption, however, nondenumerable self-voidness is more prominent; while during subsequent realization, the
pure appearance of the Buddha-figure is more prominent. Equal prominence of both occurs only in a Buddhas
omniscient awareness. Nevertheless, total absorption and subsequent realization here have only one manner of
cognitively taking its object namely, as that which is beyond all words and concepts.
[For a more detailed discussion, see The Validity and Accuracy of Cognition of the Two Truths, Non-Gelug
Madhyamaka Explanation.]
[For a more advanced discussion, see Divisions, Causes, and Elimination of Unpurified Appearance-Making in
Non-Gelug.]

Divisions, Causes, and Elimination of Unpurified Appearance-Making According to Non-Gelug

Berlin, Germany, January 31, 2002
[As background for this discussion, see: Types of Appearances According to Non-Gelug.]
[As additional background, see: The Validity and Accuracy of Cognition of the Two Truths, The Non-Gelug
Madhyamaka Explanation.]
Dualistic Appearances, Including Appearances of Truly Existents
When conceptual cognition cognizes something, it does so by producing a dualistic appearance (gnyis-snang) of
it.
Dualistic appearances include
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

appearances of true existence (bden-snang),

appearances of absolute absences (med-dgag) of true existence,
appearances of manners of existence that are both,
appearances of manners of existence that are neither.

For the sake of simplicity, let us speak simply about the first two of these four extremes. Conceptual cognition
also produces appearances of truly existents, meaning truly existent thiss and thats (bden-snang) such as
tables and words.
Appearances of Non-truly Existents
Sensory and mental nonconceptual cognitions produce appearances of existents as not-truly thiss or thats,
such as colors and shapes, or the sounds of consonants and vowels. Conceptual cognition constructs them into
thiss and thats, such as tables and words.
(1) Nyingma masters, such as nineteenth-century Mipam (Ju Mi-pham) calls these
nonconceptual appearances appearances of non-truly existents (med-snang).
(2) Mainstream Sakya masters, such as fifteenth-century Gorampa (Go-ram bSod-nams sengge), calls them appearances of dependently-arising existents (rten-brel snang-ba).
Dependently arising, here, means arising dependently on parts. For affected phenomena (dus-byas-kyi chos,
conditioned phenomena), it also means arising dependently on causes and conditions. Sakya does not use the
term with the Gelug-Prasangika meaning of arising dependently on mental labeling arising as what a label,
concept, or word refers to.
The Karma Kagy, Shangpa Kagy, and Jonang Sakya traditions and the fifteenth-century Sakya master Shakya
Chogden (gSer-mdog Pan-chen Sha-kya mchog-ldan) interpret dependently-arising appearances as appearances
arising dependently from unawareness (ma-rig-pa, ignorance), as in the twelve links of dependent arising (rtenbrel yan-lag bcu-gnyis).
For the sake of simplicity, let is use only the term appearances of non-truly existents.
Unpurified Appearances and the Unawareness Accompanying Them
The appearances produced by sensory and mental cognitions are unpurified appearances (ma-dag-pai snang-ba,
impure appearances). They are unpurified in the sense that the mental continuums producing them have not been
purified, either temporarily or forever, of the obscuring factor (sgrib, obstacles) causing their production. Some
form of unawareness always accompanies cognitions producing unpurified appearances.
Unpurified appearances include
(1) appearances of all four extreme modes of existence,
(2) appearances of truly existent thiss and thats,
(3) appearances of existents as not-truly thiss and thats.

In conceptual cognition, appearances of true existence and of truly existent thiss and thats are accompanied
with two grades of unawareness. Both grades are included among the obscurations preventing liberation (nyonsgrib, obscurations that are disturbing emotions or attitudes):
(1) the unawareness of not knowing (mi-shes-pa) that the appearances are deceptive,
(2) the unawareness of cognitively taking them to exist in a contradictory manner (phyin-ci
log-tu dzin-pa) in other words, taking them to exist in the way they appear to exist,
which is contradictory to how they actually exist. This unawareness is equivalent to
grasping for true existence (bden-dzin).
In conceptual cognition, appearances of absolute absences of true existence, and in sensory and mental
nonconceptual cognitions, appearances of existents as not-truly thiss or thats, are accompanied by only one
grade of unawareness. This unawareness is included among the obscurations preventing omniscience (shessgrib, obscurations regarding knowables).
(1) the unawareness of not knowing that the appearances exist in a manner beyond words and
concepts.
The Causes of Unpurified Appearance-Making
The habits (bag-chags) of the unawareness included among the obscurations preventing liberation produce:
(1) conceptual appearances of true existence,
(2) conceptual appearances of truly existent thiss and thats,
(3) simultaneous with both appearances, manifest occurrence of the two types of unawareness
included among the obscurations preventing liberation.
The habits of the unawareness included among the obscurations preventing omniscience produce:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

conceptual appearances of absolute absences of true existence,

conceptual appearances of existents as not-truly thiss or thats,
the nonconceptual appearances of existents as not-truly thiss or thats,
simultaneous with all three appearances, manifest occurrence of the type of unawareness
included among the obscurations preventing omniscience.

The Stages of Eliminating Unpurified Appearance-Making

When we have eliminated forever the obscurations preventing liberation, we no longer experience conceptual
cognition with appearances of true existence or of truly existent thiss and thats. It is in this sense of
conceptual cognition, that many non-Gelug masters assert that we are rid of conceptual cognition when we rid
ourselves of the obscurations preventing liberation. We are still left, however, with conceptual cognition of the
appearances of absolute absences of true existence and of existents as not-truly thiss and thats.
Only when we have totally removed the final three grades of obscurations preventing omniscience do we stop
experiencing conceptual cognition with these latter appearances. At that point, as Buddhas, we no longer
experience conceptual cognition, as Gelug agrees. With enlightenment, we also stop experiencing ordinary
sensory and mental nonconceptual cognitions with their appearances of existents as not-truly thiss and thats.
The omniscient awareness (rnam-mkhyen) of a Buddha experiences only purified appearances (dag-pai snangba).
[For a more advanced discussion see: Eliminating the Two Sets of Obscurations in Sutra and Anuttarayoga
Tantra According to Non-Gelug.]
Purified Appearances and the True Stopping of Unpurified Appearance-Making
Purified appance are appearances of existents as beyond the conceptual categories of truly existent thiss and
thats and not-truly existent thiss and thats. Yogic (rnal-byor mngon-sum) and clear-light (od-gsal)
nonconceptual cognitions of nondenumerable (rnam-grangs med-pa) voidness both produce only purified
appearances.
[For a more advanced discussion see: Affirmations, Nullifications, and Denumerable and Nondenumerable
Truths.]

A true stopping (gog-bden, true cessation) of unpurified appearance-making, however, occurs only with
enlightenment. Before enlightenment, sensory and mental cognition resume producing unpurified appearances
after arising from the total absorption (mnyam-bzhag, meditative equipoise) and subsequent realization (rjesthob, post-meditation) phases of yogic or clear-light nonconceptual cognition of nondenumerable voidness.

Eliminating the Two Sets of Obscurations in Sutra and Anuttarayoga Tantra According to Non-Gelug
Berlin, Germany, January 16, 2002
The Two Sets of Obscurations
According to the non-Gelug explanation, the Svatantrika-Madhyamaka and Prasangika-Madhyamaka schools of
tenets share the same presentation of the two sets of mental obscurations (sgrib-gnyis, two sets of obstacles). The
presentation derives from Maitreyas Filagree of Realizations (mNgon-rtogs rgyan, Skt: Abhisamaya-alamkara).
(1) The obscurations that are disturbing emotions and attitudes and which prevent liberation
(nyon-sgrib) include
(a) unawareness (ma-rig-pa, ignorance) concerning the self-identity of persons
(gang-zag-gi bdag-med), together with its legacies (sa-bon, seeds),
(b) the disturbing emotions and attitudes (nyon-mongs, klesha, emotional afflictions)
that arise from that unawareness, together with their legacies.
(2) The obscurations regarding all knowables and which prevent omniscience (shes-sgrib)
refer to
(a) unawareness concerning the self-identity of all phenomena (chos-kyi bdag-med),
together with its habit (bag-chags, instinct),
(b) the habits of unawareness concerning the self-identity of persons,
(c) the habits of the disturbing emotions and attitudes.
Removal of the obscurations such that they never recur (true stopping or cessation of them) begins with the path
of seeing, the fifth of the five paths to enlightenment. Although bodhisattvas begin to remove the two sets
simultaneously, they finish removing the obstacles preventing liberation before completing the removal of the
obstacles preventing omniscience.
Legacies, Habits, Trace Awareness, and Latent Awareness
In general, legacies and habits are nonconcomitant affecting variables (ldan-min du-byed). Being neither forms
of physical phenomena nor ways of cognizing something, they are abstractions imputed on a series of similar
events.
[For a more detailed discussion see: Concomitant and Nonconcomitant Affecting Variables,]
Nevertheless, according to Maitreya, all obscurations eliminated on the paths of seeing and meditation are ways
of cognizing something. Therefore, when legacies and habits are taken as potentials (nus-pa) for cognizing
something in certain ways, they themselves may also be considered ways of cognizing something, but only
obscured ways (lkog-gyur). They are not manifest (mngon-gyur) ways of cognizing an object.
As an obscured way of cognizing something, a legacy is a trace awareness. A trace disturbing emotion or attitude
is still a disturbing emotion or attitude and thus falls in the category of obscurations preventing liberation.
As an obscured way of cognizing that is subtler than a trace awareness, a habit is a latent awareness of an object.
A latent disturbing emotion or attitude is not an actual disturbing emotion or attitude. It is merely a nominal
disturbing emotion or attitude (nyon-mongs-kyi ming-btags-pa) and falls in the category of obscurations
preventing omniscience.
[For a further discussion of manifest and obscured awareness, see: Relationships with Objects.]
Unawareness of Two Types of Voidness
The unawareness included in the two sets of obscurations are unawarenesses of the voidness (emptiness) of two
different impossible ways of existing.
(1) Unawareness about persons is unawareness of their absolute absence (med-dgag) of
existing with static, monolithic identities as beings separate from their bodies and minds,
controlling and using them. (2) Unawareness about phenomena is unawareness of their
absence of existing with true unimputed existence, with total nonexistence, with both, or with
neither. The manner of their being devoid of these impossible ways of existing is beyond

words and concepts namely, beyond the conceptual categories of an affirmation (sgrub-pa),
absolute nullification (med-dgag), both, or neither.
Unawareness about persons is included among disturbing attitudes, while unawareness about phenomena is not
an actual disturbing attitude. This is because unawareness about phenomena is an obscuration regarding all
knowables, not an obscuration that is a disturbing emotion or attitude. The two sets of obscurations do not have a
common denominator (mthun-gzhi), which means there is no phenomenon that can be included among both sets.
Therefore, unawareness about phenomena is only a nominal disturbing attitude.
Two Levels of Disturbing Emotions and Attitudes
Both actual and nominal disturbing emotions and attitudes have two levels:
(1) Conceptually-based disturbing emotions and attitudes (nyong-rmongs kun-btags) derive
from ideological or psychological conditioning, such as anger based on racist propaganda or on
the experience of being deprived of affection as a child. Even a dog may have this level of
anger
and
aggression
from
being
mistreated
as
a
puppy.
(2) Automatically-arising disturbing emotions and attitudes (nyon-rmongs lhan-skyes) arise
without depending on a conceptual basis. For example, humans and animals alike tend
automatically to become depressed or even angry when someone yells at them.
Bodhisattvas rid themselves forever of the conceptually-based disturbing emotions and attitudes on the path of
seeing. From the second through the tenth bhumis, bodhisattvas rid themselves of nine grades of disturbing
emotions and attitudes eliminated forever (abandoned) on the path of accustoming (sgom-spang, abandonments
of the path of meditation). Depending on the assertion of when the final removal of all the obstacles preventing
liberation occurs, the nine grades include either both automatically-arising and nominal disturbing emotions and
attitudes, or only nominal ones. Once the automatically-arising ones are removed forever, bodhisattvas have only
nominal disturbing emotions and attitudes, not actual ones.
Assertions Specific to Nyingma and Kagy
The Bodhisattva Sutra Path
According to Nyingma and Kagy, yogic nonconceptual cognition (rnal-byor mngon-sum) of voidness beyond
words and concepts, gained by following the bodhisattva (Mahayana) sutra methods alone, requires a zillion
eons to attain the path of seeing and eliminate forever:
(1) conceptually-based unawareness regarding persons and its legacy,
(2) conceptually-based disturbing emotions and attitudes and their legacies,
(3) conceptually-based unawareness regarding phenomena and its habit.
The first two are among the obscurations preventing liberation; the third is among those preventing omniscience.
A second set of zillion eons is required for this yogic cognition to reach the eighth out of the ten bodhisattva
bhumis and eliminate forever:
(1) the first six out of the nine grades of unawareness regarding persons eliminated forever on
the path of accustoming namely, the six automatically-arising grades and their
legacies,
(2) the first six out of nine grades of disturbing emotions and attitudes eliminated forever on
the path of accustoming namely, the six automatically-arising grades and their
legacies,
(3) the first six out of nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness regarding phenomena
eliminated forever on the path of accustoming and their habits.
The first two are among the obscurations preventing liberation; the third is among those preventing omniscience.
Thus, bodhisattvas on the sutra path finish ridding themselves of the obscurations preventing liberation when
they reach the eighth bodhisattva bhumi.
Yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness beyond words and concepts requires a third set of zillion eons to
reach enlightenment and eliminate forever:

(1) the final three out of the nine grades of unawareness regarding persons eliminated forever
on the path of accustoming which are merely habits,
(2) the final three out of nine grades of disturbing emotions and attitudes eliminated forever
on the path of accustoming which are merely habits,
(3) the final three out of nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness regarding
phenomena eliminated forever on the path of accustoming and their habits.
All three are among the obscurations preventing omniscience.
The Anuttarayoga Path
Nyingma and Kagy assert two types of anuttarayoga practitioners: those who progress through stages (lam-rimpa) and those for whom everything happens at once (cig-char-ba). Neither requires three zillion eons to achieve
enlightenment.
For those who progress through stages, clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness beyond words and
concepts eliminates forever, all at once, with the attainment of the path of seeing:
(1) conceptually-based unawareness regarding persons and its legacy,
(2) conceptually-based disturbing emotions and attitudes and their legacies,
(3) the first six out of the nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness regarding persons
and their legacies,
(4) the first six out of nine grades of automatically-arising disturbing emotions and attitudes
and their legacies,
(5) conceptually-based unawareness regarding phenomena and its habit,
The first four are among the obscurations preventing liberation; the fifth is among those preventing omniscience.
Thus, bodhisattvas who progress through stages on the anuttarayoga path finish ridding themselves of the
obscurations preventing liberation when they reach the path of seeing.
In stages over the path of accustoming, this clear-light cognition eliminates forever, with the attainment of
enlightenment:
(1) the final three out of the nine grades of unawareness regarding persons eliminated forever
on the path of accustoming which are merely habits,
(2) the final three out of nine grades of disturbing emotions and attitudes eliminated forever
on the path of accustoming which are merely habits,
(3) all nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness regarding phenomena and their
habits.
As on the bodhisattva sutra path, the first two of these three groupings are items eliminated forever on the path of
accustoming, but not included among the obscurations preventing liberation. Thus, on the path of accustoming
these bodhisattvas need to rid themselves only of the obscurations preventing omniscience not gotten rid of by
the path of seeing.
For those for whom everything happens at once, attainment of the path of seeing, the path of accustoming, and
enlightenment happen simultaneously. Because of extremely strong legacies of meditation with clear-light
nonconceptual cognition of voidness from previous lives, their initial attainment of this cognition in this life
removes forever, all at once, the complete sets of obscurations preventing liberation and enlightenment.
Assertions Unique to Sakya
The Sutra Path
According to the Sakya explanation, the initial attainment of yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness in
bodhisattva sutra and the three lower tantras and of clear-light nonconceptual cognition of voidness in
anuttarayoga equally eliminate forever:
(1) conceptually-based and automatically-arising unawareness regarding persons and their
legacies,
(2) conceptually-based and automatically-arising disturbing emotions and attitudes and their

legacies,
(3) conceptually-based unawareness regarding phenomena and its habit.
The first two constitute the complete set of obscurations preventing liberation; the third is among those
preventing omniscience. Thus, all sutra and tantra bodhisattvas finish ridding themselves of the obscurations
preventing liberation when they reach the path of seeing. This attainment through yogic nonconceptual cognition
of voidness gained through the bodhisattva sutra methods requires a zillion eons. When attained through clearlight nonconceptual cognition gained through anuttarayoga methods, it needs much less time.
A second zillion eons is required in bodhisattva sutra to reach the eighth bhumi and attain yogic nonconceptual
cognition of voidness effortlessly and spontaneously, so as to eliminate forever:
(1) the first six out of the nine grades of unawareness regarding persons which are merely
habits,
(2) the first six out of the nine grades of disturbing emotions and attitudes which are merely
habits,
(3) the first six out of the nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness regarding
phenomena and their habits.
The first two are items eliminated forever on the path of accustoming, but, unlike the Nyingma and Kagy
presentations, they are not included among the obscurations preventing liberation. All three groupings are among
the obscurations preventing omniscience.
Yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness requires a third set of zillion eons to eliminate forever:
(1) The final three out of the nine grades of unawareness regarding persons which are
merely habits.
(2) The final three out of the nine grades of disturbing emotions and attitudes which
aremerely habits,
(3) The final three out of the nine grades of automatically-arising unawareness regarding
phenomena and their habits.
As Nyingma and Kagy also assert, the first two of these three groupings are items eliminated forever on the
path of accustoming, but not included among the obscurations preventing liberation. All three groupings are
among the obscurations preventing omniscience.
The Anuttarayoga Path
Sakya does not assert practitioners for whom everything happens at once. As in Gelug, all practitioners of
bodhisattva sutra and tantra progress in stages.
According to the Sakya presentation, anuttarayoga practitioners eliminate forever the same items on the paths of
seeing and accustoming as do bodhisattva sutra practitioners. The more efficient anuttarayoga methods,
however, obviate the necessity for this process to take three zillion eons.

Alaya and Impure Appearance-Making

Berlin, Germany, December 30, 2001
Sakya Explanation
The mainstream Sakya tradition asserts, in a similar manner to Gelug, that when clear-light mental activity is
manifest, it gives rise to only pure appearances (dag-pai snang-ba). The habits (bag-chags) of unawareness
(ma-rig-pa, ignorance) imputed on the clear-light mind do not give rise to impure appearances (ma-dag-pai
snang-ba) at that time. They only give rise to impure appearances when clear-light mental activity is not
manifest. In this context, impure appearances refer to appearances that are not beyond words and concepts, while
pure appearances refer to appearances that are beyond words and concepts.
[See also: Divisions, Causes, and Elimination of Impure Appearance-Making According to Non-Gelug]
Sakya calls clear-light mental activity the causal alaya continuum (kun-gzhi rgyui rgyud, the causal
everlasting continuum of the all-encompassing foundation) and the ultimate alaya (mthar-thug-gi kun-gzhi,
ultimate all-encompassing foundation). It is the ultimate foundation or source of both impure and pure
appearances as defined above. Gelug does not apply the term alaya to clear-light mental activity and restricts its
usage to the Chittamatra and Yogachara-Svatantrika-Madhyamaka contexts.
As in Gelug Sautrantika-Svatantrika Madhyamaka and Gelug Prasangika-Madhyamaka, the Sakya versions of
these two schools of Madhyamaka do not assert an alayavijnana (kun-gzhi rnam-shes, all-encompassing
foundation consciousness, storehouse consciousness) that serves specifically as the basis for imputation of the
habits of unawareness and of karma.
The provisional alaya (gnas-skabs-ki kun-gzhi, provisional all-encompassing foundation), uniquely asserted by
Sakya, refers to the four mandala-seats (gdan dkyil-khor bzhi):
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

energy-channels,
subtle syllables within them,
creative energy-drops,
energy-winds.

Based on these, the appearance-making aspects (gsal-cha, clarity) of ultimate alayas produce two inseparable
quantum levels of appearances of our bodies, speech, minds, and the inseparable simultaneity of the three. The
two quantum levels are their gross appearances in our usual human forms and their subtle appearances as
Buddha-figures. In this context, impure appearances refer to the former and pure appearances to the latter.
Karma Kagy Explanation
The Karma Kagy tradition differentiates the deep-awareness alaya (kun-gzhi ye-shes, deep-awareness that is an
all-encompassing foundation) from the specific-awareness alaya (kun-gzhi rnam-gzhi, specific awareness that is
an all-encompassing foundation).
Although the two alayas are mixed like milk and water, the habits of unawareness are imputed only on the latter.
When clear-light mental activity is manifest, these habits do not give rise to impure appearances, not beyond
words and concepts. They give rise to them only when that activity is not manifest.
Nyingma Explanation
The Nyingma tradition differentiates basis pure awareness (gzhi-i rig-pa, basis rigpa), as the primordial deepest
alaya (ye-don kun-gzhi, primordial deepest all-encompassing foundation) from the alaya for constant habits
(bag-chags-kyi kun-gzhi, all-encompassing foundation for habits).
Before enlightenment, the everlasting continuum of basis rigpa has with it a factor of dumbfoundedness
(rmongs-cha). This factor is equivalent to the unawareness of not knowing how rigpa exists a type of

unawareness included within unawareness regarding all phenomena and preventing omniscience. Because of this
factor of dumbfoundedness, basis rigpa functions as an alaya for constant habits and, through a complex
mechanism, produces impure appearances, not beyond words and concepts, during conceptual and
nonconceptual cognition with limited awareness (sems).
When we access essence pure awareness (ngo-boi rig-pa, essence rigpa), which is the primal purity (ka-dag)
aspect of rigpa primally pure of all fleeting stains such as habits basis rigpa does not function as an alaya for
constant habits. It gives rise only to pure appearances, beyond words and concepts.

Conventional and Deepest Bodhichitta and the Two Truths in Anuttarayoga Tantra
Alexander Berzin
Berlin, Germany, January 27, 2002
Conventional and Deepest Bodhichittas
Conventional bodhichitta (kun-rdzob byang-sems, relative bodhichitta) focuses on the superficial truth (kunrdzob bden-pa, conventional truth, relative truth) of enlightenment, such as its qualities of omniscience. Deepest
bodhichitta (don-dam byang-sems, ultimate bodhichitta) focuses on its deepest truth (don-dam bden-pa, ultimate
truth), namely its voidness (stong-nyid, emptiness). Gelug does not accept deepest bodhichitta as actual
bodhichitta; the non-Gelug traditions accept it as such.
Focus on the Two Truths
According to the Gelug assertions, if we use mental or yogic cognition (rnal-byor mngon-sum) to focus on
voidness as an absolute absence (med-dgag) of true existence, we cannot simultaneously produce and focus on
an appearance representing the superficial truth of anything, including enlightenment. This is because such levels
of mental activity can only produce appearances of superficial truths as truly existent. Only when we use clearlight cognition (od-gsal) to focus on voidness can we simultaneously produce and focus on an appearance
representing the superficial truth of something as non-truly existent.
Only a Buddha, however, can focus nonconceptually on the superficial truth of enlightenment. This is because
only a Buddha can directly know, for instance, omniscience. Before Buddhahood, we can only focus on the
superficial truth of enlightenment conceptually, through the medium of an accurate idea of what enlightenment
means (don-spyi).
Conceptual cognition always produces an appearance of true existence. Therefore, nonconceptual cognition of
the absolute absence of true existence cannot simultaneously produce an appearance of true existence.
Consequently, although clear-light cognition of voidness can simultaneously give rise to appearances of
superficial truths as non-truly existent, it cannot simultaneously produce an appearance of the superficial truth of
enlightenment as non-truly existent. It can only do so when it is the omniscient clear-light cognition of a Buddha.
In summary, on the anuttarayoga path of seeing, clear-light cognition of voidness can already simultaneously
produce an appearance of the superficial truth of a purified illusory body (dag-pai sgyu-lus) as non-truly
existent. It cannot do so with an appearance of the superficial truth of enlightenment. Therefore, illusory body is
a more efficient method to unite with clear-light cognition of voidness than is conventional bodhichitta.
Gelug Assertion of Deepest Bodhichitta as not Actual Bodhichitta
On the path of seeing, however, not only in anuttarayoga, but also in sutra and the three lower tantra classes, we
can focus nonconceptually on the deepest truth of enlightenment. This is because, as the third-century Indian
Buddhist master Aryadeva has stated in Four Hundred Stanzas on Madhyamaka (dBu-ma bzhi-brgya-pa, Skt.
Madhyamaka-catuhshataka) The way in which (the mind) becomes the seer of one phenomenon is the way it
becomes the seer of everything. The voidness of one thing (suffices) for the voidness of all things. Thus, a mind
on the path of seeing can focus nonconceptually on the voidness of enlightenment, despite being unable to focus
nonconceptually on the basis for that voidness (stong-gzhi) the superficial truth of enlightenment. For this
reason, the thirteenth-century Gelug founder Tsongkhapa (rJe Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang grags-pa) did not accept
deepest bodhichitta as actual bodhichitta.
In other words, if deepest bodhichitta were actual bodhichitta, the absurd conclusion (thal) would follow that
cognizing the voidness of a vase would be deepest bodhichitta. This is because cognizing the voidness of a vase
suffices for cognizing the voidness of enlightenment, despite the voidness of a vase and the voidness of
enlightenment being individual voidnesses due to their having different bases for voidness. Therefore, in Gelug,
bodhichitta as method is exclusively conventional bodhichitta.
The Assertion of Shakya Chogden
In non-Gelug, deepest truth is the inseparable pair: pure appearances and voidness beyond words and concepts.
Although clear-light cognition on the path of seeing can nonconceptually cognize deepest truth, it cannot do so
with equal prominence of both pure appearance and voidness beyond words and concepts until enlightenment.
Nevertheless, deepest bodhichitta is actual bodhichitta because it focuses both on the qualities of enlightenment,
such as omniscience, and the voidness of enlightenment.

For this reason, the fifteenth-century Sakya master Shakya Chogden (gSer-mdog Pan-chen Sha-kya mChogldan) asserted that deepest bodhichitta may be simultaneous with yogic nonconceptual cognition of voidness. In
such cases, bodhichitta and deep awareness of voidness are both nonconceptual.
The Mainstream Sakya and Nyingma Positions
When Nyingma masters and mainstream Sakya masters, such as the fifteenth-century Gorampa (Go-ram bSodnams seng-ge), assert that bodhichitta may be simultaneous with yogic nonconceptual cognition, they specify
bodhichitta here as conventional bodhichitta. Conventional bodhichitta is always conceptual and focuses merely
on the superficial truth of enlightenment through the medium of an accurate idea of it. The object on which it
focuses might be, for example, a conceptual appearance representing omniscience. It is a superficial truth about
enlightenment, however, because omniscience cannot be put into words and concepts. Its manner of existence is
beyond them.

Relationships between Two Objects in Anuttarayoga Tantra

Berlin, Germany, February 7, 2002
[As background for this discussion,see Relationships between Two Objects in General.]
Natural Inseparability, Joined Inseparability, and Unified Pairs
Two facts about the same attribute of an object share the same essential nature (ngo-bo gcig). They are
inseparable (dbyer-med), in the sense that when one is the case, so is the other. The two facts, however, do not
necessarily have to be naturally or innately inseparable (rang-bzhin dbyer-med).
The two truths about something (bden-pa gnyis), as defined in Madhyamaka, are naturally inseparable. A blissful
awareness (bde-ba) and an awareness of voidness (stong-nyid, emptiness), on the other hand, are not naturally
two facts about an understanding of an object. They need to be joined (sbyor-bcas) through the power of
meditation.
Simultaneously Arising
Two inseparable (dbyer-med) items simultaneously arise with each other (lhan-skyes). Whenever one arises, the
other arises inseparably with it. Just as the inseparability of the two items may be natural or may be joined by the
power of meditation, the same pertains to simultaneous arising.
From the Gelug point of view, blissful awareness, cognition of voidness, and clear-light cognition (od-gsal)
need to be made to arise simultaneously. The three do not naturally arise simultaneously with each other. We
need to join blissful awareness and cognition of voidness together on the path, through applying the
progressively more intense four joys (dga-bzhi) to deep awareness (ye-shes) of voidness. Consequently, our
cognition becomes progressively more subtle and we reach the clear-light level of cognition. We do not merely
access the clear-light level, however. Greatly blissful awareness (bde-ba chen-po) inseparable from cognition of
voidness now simultaneously arises with each moment of manifest clear-light cognition.
From the Nyingma viewpoint of dzogchen (rdzogs-chen, great completeness), the clear-light level of pure
awareness (rig-pa) naturally arises simultaneously with a blissful awareness and reflexive deep awareness (rangrig ye-shes) of its own void nature.
Unified Pairs and Joined Pairs
The relationship between the two items of a joined inseparability may be that of a unified pair (zung-jug, unity,
unification) or of a joined pair (zung-brel), although the term zung-jug sometimes appears as a general term for
both relationships.
In the case of a unified pair, the two members are both attained for the first time with the actualization of the
unified pair. For example, in the unified pair consisting of a purified illusory body and an actual clear-light
cognition of voidness, both components are achieved for the first time with the actualization of the unified pair.
In the case of a joined union, at least one of the members is attained before the actualization of the union. In the
case of the joined union of shamatha and vipashyana, for example, we achieve shamatha before the union. With
the attainment of vipashyana, we simultaneously attain the joined union of shamatha and vipashyana.
Analysis of the Unified Pair: Purified Illusory Body and Actual Clear light
Consider the case of a unified pair (zung-jug) comprised of a purified illusory body (dag-pai sgyu-lus) and an
actual clear-light cognition of voidness (don-gyi od-gsal) in general Gelug anuttarayoga tantra. A purified
illusory body is purified of the obscurations preventing liberation (nyon-sgrib). An actual clear-light cognition of
voidness is nonconceptual in the deepest sense.
The natal source (rdzas) that functions as the obtaining cause (nyer-len-gyi rgyu) for a purified illusory body is
an unpurified illusory body (ma-dag-pai sgyu-lus). The natal source that functions as the obtaining cause for
actual clear light is comparative clear-light cognition of voidness (dpei od-gsal).

An unpurified illusory body is not yet purified of the obscurations preventing liberation. A comparative clearlight cognition of voidness is comparatively nonconceptual. Although, before attainment of the path of seeing,
it serves as an example (dpe) of clear-light nonconceptual cognition, it is still conceptual on the unconscious
subtlest level.
The simultaneously produced causes (lhan-cig byung-bai rgyu) of the unified pair and of the natal sources of
its two components are the energy-wind and mental activity that comprise them when they exist. In the case of a
unified pair, the simultaneously produced causes are the subtlest clear-light levels of energy-wind and mental
activity. In the case of the two natal sources, the simultaneously produced causes are subtle levels of each,
slightly grosser than the subtlest clear-light level.
The energy-wind and mental activity of each of the three occasions are two facts about the subtlest continuum of
an individual: they have the same essential nature, but different logical isolates (ngo-bo gcig ldog-pa tha-dad).
They are naturally inseparable and naturally arise simultaneously with each other. Nevertheless, the energy-wind
and mental activity of each occasion are different (tha-dad) from those of the other two occasions. They are not
the identical (gcig) energy-wind and mental activity.
The unified pair does not constitute a natural inseparability; it arises from the power of meditation. The natal
sources for each of its components, on the other hand, are neither naturally inseparable, nor joined together by
the power of meditation. In fact, when either an unpurified illusory body or a comparative clear-light cognition
of voidness arises in a mental continuum, the other cannot simultaneously arise.
Through the power of meditation on voidness, we purify the two natal sources of the obscurations preventing
liberation. Consequently, a purified illusory body and an actual clear light cognition of voidness simultaneously
arise inseparably as a unified pair. At the time of the unified pair, the unpurified illusory body and comparative
clear-light cognitions that served as the obtaining causes for its components no longer exist.
Thus, a purified illusory body and an actual clear-light cognition of voidness have the same essential nature,
although different logical isolates. They are the two truths (bden-gnyis) about the mental continuum of an
anuttarayoga practitioner who has achieved a true stopping (gog-bden, true cessation) of the obscurations
preventing liberation. They are the two truths about such a mental continuum, however, only during total
absorption on voidness (mnyam-bzhag, meditative equipoise).
An unpurified illusory body and a comparative clear-light cognition of voidness, on the other hand, do not share
the same essential nature and do not illustrate the two truths about something.
The Basis for the Actualization of Something and the Basis for the Nullification of Something
The devoid-form (stong-gzugs, void-form) and unchanging blissful awareness (mi-gyur-bai bde-ba) of
voidness that substitute (dod-thub) in Kalachakra for a purified illusory body and an actual clear-light awareness
of voidness in general anuttarayoga do not constitute a unified pair.
In a unified pair, each component has its individual basis for actualization (sgrub-gzhi). The basis for the
actualization of a purified illusory body is the subtlest energy-wind, while the basis for the actualization of an
actual clear-light cognition of voidness is the subtlest clear-light mental activity.
Note that the voidness of a purified illusory body as an absolute absence (med-dgag) or nullification of its true
existence is not the basis for the actualization of that illusory body. The purified illusory body is the basis for
the nullification (gog-gzhi) of its true existence in other words, the basis for its voidness (stong-gzhi).
In the case of Kalachakra, unchanging blissful awareness is the basis for the actualization of the devoid-form that
arises simultaneously with it. Ultimately, both have the same basis for actualization. Both are actualized from
clear-light mental activity.
Same Similar-Family Cause
Moreover, devoid forms and unchanging blissful awareness share the same similar-family cause (rigs-drai
rgyu).
A similar-family cause is one that is in the same family of phenomena as its result and, in a sense, serves as the
model for its result. For example, the model of a vase is the similar-family cause for both a clay vase and a

visualized vase, although the two vases have different natal sources. The model of a vase, a clay vase, and a
visualized vase are all in the same family of phenomena vases.
The term family (rigs) here is the word for caste, Buddha-family, and Buddha-nature. For example, each of the
five types of deep awareness (ye-shes lnga, five Buddha-wisdoms) is a Buddha-nature factor (sangs-rgyas-kyi
rigs) and generates a Buddha-family. Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, Tara, and Hayagriva are all Buddha-figures of
the lotus Buddha-family. They all share the same similar-family cause or model, in the sense that they are all
representations of a Buddhas individualizing deep awareness (so-sor rtogs-pai ye-shes).
In general Gelug anuttarayoga tantra, illusory bodies and blissful clear-light cognitions of voidness have
different similar-family causes.
(1) The similar-family cause of an illusory body in general is the deep awareness of subsequent
realization of voidness (rjes-thob ye-shes, post-meditation exalted wisdom).
(2) The similar-family cause of a blissful clear-light cognition of voidness in general is the
deep awareness of total absorption on voidness (mnyam-bzhag ye-shes, exalted wisdom of
meditative equipoise).
In other words, the meditations that we practice as the model for achieving illusory bodies and clear-light
cognitions of voidness are different classes of meditation. The former is meditation focused directly on
superficial truths; while the latter is meditation focused directly on deepest truths.
In Kalachakra, on the other hand, devoid-forms and unchanging blissful clear-light cognition of voidness derive
from the same similar-family cause the deep awareness of total absorption on voidness. The meditations we
practice as the model for achieving each are the same.
Same Functional Nature
An item has the same functional nature (rang-bzhin) as something else if it exists and functions in the same way.
For example, five aggregate factors of body and mind (phung-po, Skt. skandha) comprise each moment of our
ordinary experience, while five types of deep awareness, symbolized by five dhyani Buddhas, comprise each
moment of a Buddhas experience. Dhyani Buddhas are the principal male figures of the Buddha-families.
The Sakya tradition explains that the five aggregates and the five types of deep awareness both arise from clearlight mental activity as the causal alaya continuum (kun-gzhi rgyui rgyud, the causal everlasting continuum of
the all-encompassing foundation). Another name for the causal alaya continuum is the ultimate alaya (mtharthug-gi kun-gzhi, ultimate all-encompassing foundation).
When clear-light mental activity is obscured with unawareness (ignorance, confusion), it gives rise to moments
of experience comprised of five aggregates. When, as a Buddha, that activity is completely purified of all
obscurations, it gives rise to moments of experience comprised of five types of deep awareness. Both sets of five
function similarly to comprise experience. Thus, they have the same functional nature. Because of that, the five
aggregates have the same functional nature as the five dhyani Buddhas.
The Sakya tradition refers to this relationship between the five aggregates and the five dhyani Buddhas as the
natural inseparability of samsara and nirvana (khor-das dbyer-med). It is not the case that through the power of
meditation we need to join the two sets of five inseparably. We need merely to realize what is already the case.

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