29 The Tw o Meditative Absorptions Explanation o f the two meditative absorptions, which are methods to actualize the stage o f mastery As explained previously, the practitioner who has perfecdy achieved the illu sory body has to strive to develop the actual clear light within his mindstream At the time for realizing the actual clear light, the disciple must be taught how the two stages of mastery come about and before that how to meditate on the two meditative absorptions, namely, held-as-a-whole and subsequent dissolution The two stages of mastery have been explained and now the two meditative absorptions will be explained The fourth stage from Five Stages says: The disciple who has received the teachings then practices the two yogas: the held-as-a-whole and the subsequent dissolution From the head to the feet, traveling as far as the heart, the yogi entering the limit of perfection is known as held-as-a-whole The animate and the inanimate at first become the clear light, after which, in similar fashion, is the subsequent dissolution Just as breath dissolves on a mirror, likewise the yogi enters again and again the limit of perfection.821 The Compendium o f Practice also says: Having actualized the all-empty scate, on this stage you focus on the two meditative absorptions Its process is as follows: The yogi 454 Á Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages constantly meditates upon its gradual dissolution like a mass in a clean river or pond The yogi should also look upon it like breath gradually disappearing on a mirror, thereby performing the medi tation on the held-as-a-whole process.822 The first sentence on actualizing the fourth empty state and then focusing on the two meditative absorptions is saying that at the end of the explanations, you understand the two masteries and the two meditative absorptions Also, the two lines beginning “The disciple who has received the teachings” speak of receiving the teachings and then practicing them In the held-as-a-whole process, the withdrawal begins downward from your head and upward from your feet The limit of these two withdrawals is the heart, therefore “travel ing as far as the heart.” [293] Samayavajra says that the withdrawal from the head to the feet proceeds to the seed syllable of the heart, which withdraws into the drop, which withdraws into emptiness Having withdrawn into the heart, the yogi enters the limit-of-perfection clear light An illustration of that process is expressed by the lines beginning “Just as breath ” The vapor that collects from breathing on a mirror withdraws from all sides into the center Similarly, the withdrawal process within the body begins from above and below, front and back, left and right, and withdraws to the heart at the center In the subsequent dissolution, first the inanimate and animate environ ment withdraws into the clear light, and subsequently your body withdraws into the clear light The phrase “in similar fashion” Samayavajra glosses as “similar to the held-as-a-whole.” This is good The phrase “again and again” means that both processes should be practiced many times An illustration of the subsequent-dissolution process is that of a ball of snow, for example, floating in a pond and gradually melting On this line, the Chak translation has “a drop” [instead of “mass”], but the older translation is better The grad ual disappearance of your aggregates is common to both processes; the dif ference between them being only the separate and preceding withdrawal of the animate and inanimate The etymology of subsequent dissolution is as has been explained On the term held-as-a-whole, Abhayákaragupta says that the body is the “whole,” which is “held” by emptiness Therefore the body enters into clear light and is held Making the heart the final place for the withdrawal process of the two meditative absorptions is a wonderful assertion of the Arya master and his disciples The reasons for this have been explained many times before and should be known accordingly As a focus of this withdrawal process, the fact The Two Meditative Absorptions 455 chat it is a withdrawal of the winds is not clearly stated, but if they are made the focus, know that it will become a peerless withdrawal of winds This is the meaning of the citation from Tantra Requested by the Four Goddesses that says: constandy located in the center of the heart, ablaze with great rays of light As far as the nine openings, winds dwelling in the brow, as far as the soles of the feet, withdraw solely into that drop to dwell within its center.823 The winds in the brow, or head, to as far down as the soles of the feet with draw into that drop and are brought to dwell in the center of the lotus of the heart Therefore you should know that during speech-isolation practice, all three pranayama meditations are methods for withdrawing the winds and the bodhicitta into the heart and inducing the four empty states Through the power of developing that practice, in this section too the focused with drawal process withdraws the winds and bodhicitta into the heart and brings about an entrance into clear light This is the reason why the achiever of the illusory body is taught to meditate on the two meditative absorptions as methods for entering clear light [294] Moreover, the need for meditative union with an external consort is taught in the Vajra Wisdom Compendium , and the function expressed there is similar to the function here Saying that the illusory body enters clear light through the two meditative absorptions means that the wind and mind withdraw into the heart, the four empty states are generated again and again, from which the actual clear light is realized, and at that time the illusory body is purified and disappears For the achiever of the illusory body to meditate on the two meditative absorptions, followers of the Marpa tradition not mention stacking the three sattvas of the three vajras In the core teachings of the Go tradition, however, it is asserted that meditation on these three is the intention of the eleventh chapter of the Root Tantra and commentaries Because this is tan tra and commentary passages emerging as core teachings, this is an excellent assertion The Root Tantra states: Dwelling amid the buddha mandala, your body is placed as Vairocana 45 A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages Visualizing the syllable om at your heart, meditate on consciousness in the mantra When the cessation vajra has become your mind, the supreme state of every buddha is apprehended, as if endowed with glory and every wish Dwelling amid the buddha mandala, the vajra is meditated on as Aksobhya Meditate on the syllable hum at the heart, and the mind is set as the drop Dwelling amid the buddha mandala, meditate well upon Amitabha Visualize the syllable ah at the heart, and the vajra is placed as the drop This greater than the great samaya— meditation on the three vajras inseparable— is the exalted wisdom of the cessation samaya, and you will gain the siddhi of the buddhas.824 On the term “buddha,” [it is stated in the Dhatusutra:], “buddha means ‘comprehend.’” So, in keeping with that rule, the “mandala” is the man dala of knowledge to be comprehended, which refers to the bodies, speech, and minds of the three realms “Amid” means as the nature of those three “Dwelling” there means that you imagine that these three become the nature of your own body, speech, and mind “Placed as Vairocana,” and the refer ences to the meditations on Aksobhya and Amitabha, means to meditate on the two types of body described above as inseparable and so become Vairo cana, the two types of mind as inseparable and so become Aksobhya, and the two types of speech as inseparable and so become Amitabha At the heart of these three visualized pledge sattvas you meditate on the syllables om, ah, and hum These are the wisdom sattvas “Mantra” refers to syllable om, and “con sciousness” refers to the drop of the samadhi sattva W ithin the syllable hum, the samadhi sattva of your consciousness becomes the drop W ithin the syl lable ah, the samadhi sattva of the “vajra,” or consciousness, is placed as the drop The yogi who meditates in this way places his mind in the midst of the cessation-vajra clear light, thereby abandoning the meditation of it as the The Two M editative Absorptions 457 drop, and at that time generates the finality of clear light W hen this occurs, [29$] “the supreme state of every buddha is apprehended,” or “held,” and it is as if you have become a wish-granting jewel fulfilling every wish or are endowed with the glory of the two accumulations This meditation on the inseparability of the three vajras of the body, speech, and mind of every sen tient being with your own body, speech, and mind is “greater than the great samaya” of the generation stage Thus it will generate the exalted wisdom of those who know the teachings of apprehending the cessation-vajra samaya of clear light They “will gain the siddhi of the buddhasm eaning “of the aggre gates,” because they are divorced from the ordinary aggregates and thus will gain an exalted-wisdom body of the vast and profound This whole explana tion is taken from Candraklrtis Illum inating Lamp In order to bring your body, speech, and mind into clear light, having achieved the illusory body, you meditate on the three-stacked sattvas\ begin ning with the body vajra, followed by the speech vajra, and then the mind vajra Having meditated perfecdy, not only on the first two but also on the drop that is the samadhi sattva, you enter clear light All three samadhi sattvas are repre sented by the short vowel a The place where they are put is inside three-sided drops This is stated by the Go tradition After this the tantra continues, “Dwelling within the realm of vajra space ” and so on Some ascribe these verses to the subsequent-dissolution pro cess within the meditation on the three vajras, while assigning the previous verses to the held-as-a-whole process The Illum inating Lamp commentary, however, says that the meaning of the previous verses “is clarified in another way” by these subsequent verses So the former verses are to be divided into both held-as-a-whole and subsequent-dissolution processes Their medita tions are as follows: From whatever seed syllable there is in the heart, light rays emanate, and by the upper process beginning at the head of the pledge sattva and the lower process beginning at the soles of the feet, withdrawal is taken into the wisdom sattva at the heart The wisdom sattvas also withdraw into the short vowel a, which is the samadhi sattva indestructible drop That in turn withdraws into clear light, in which the mind is held without mov ing This process is common to both types of meditative absorptions The way that the subsequent-dissolution process withdraws sentient beings, not including oneself, and their environment into clear light is found in Illum i nating Lamp' On the animate and inanimate, “the syllable kham transforms them into space This is the subsequent-dissolution process ... Dwelling amid the buddha mandala, your body is placed as Vairocana 45 A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages Visualizing the syllable om at your heart, meditate on consciousness in the mantra When the. .. Aksobhya Meditate on the syllable hum at the heart, and the mind is set as the drop Dwelling amid the buddha mandala, meditate well upon Amitabha Visualize the syllable ah at the heart, and the vajra... vajra is placed as the drop This greater than the great samaya— meditation on the three vajras inseparable— is the exalted wisdom of the cessation samaya, and you will gain the siddhi of the