248 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages On the function of the evacuative wind: Life, winds, and excrement, semen, and so forth carried below: this is the evacuative wind, the yogi should always know.475 Carrying semen and so on to the lower areas of the body is the function of the evacuative wind Other translations have “urine” instead of “life,” which is better Carrying “winds” below means carrying them to the lower areas, par ticularly to the two openings in the secret area and then back up to the navel as explained previously The accompanying wind: Laughing, eating, and licking, all drinking and sucking, always in their accompaniment, known therefore as the accompanying,476 The Chak translation says, “Explained as accompanying eating and drink ing.” The verse as cited in Sheaves o f Instructions says: Abiding at the navel region, and bringing together food and drink, it is known as accompanying,,477 The meaning is explained by Secret Ambrosia: “Food, drink, and so forth are digested together.”478Therefore it digests all partaken food into a single taste in the stomach The function of the upward flowing wind: Moving up and gathering, and by knowing eating and tasting, it adheres to them Know this as the function of the upward wind.479 There are also translation versions that say, “It knows eating and tasting and joins with them,” and, “It knows eating and tasting and adheres to them.” On the meaning of this verse, earlier commentators explain it as meaning sending Divisions, Functions, and M ovement ofthe W inds 2.49 food to the tongue consciousness, which is in keeping with Secret Ambrosia Instructions In Abhayakaraguptas Sheaves o f Instructions it is explained as “moving the flow of the ten winds.” Although Secret Ambrosia Instructions describes this wind as sending out the karmic winds through the sense gate ways, and although “moving up” does teach that this wind travels upward, this is not the only function being taught here; hence the phrase “and gath ering” means that it is also responsible for bringing the winds in The other lines teach that by knowing the partaking of food, this wind comes together with the tongue and performs the functions of chewing and so on [151] The function of the pervading wind: Pervading and holding, going and reversing, pervading every joint, it is known, therefore, as pervading.m In the first line the Chak translation has “nourishing.” The functions of the individual branch winds are to assist the five senses in apprehending their objects and have been explained previously Having explained the way the winds perform in common with ordinary beings and yogis, now the way they specifically perform in yogis is explained By applying vajra repetition to the four winds, you are performing an activ ity for the accomplishment of deeds such as those of pacification and so on In this way the ordinary siddhis are achieved Also, by applying vajra repeti tion to the winds, the four empty states are induced and the subtle wind will bring about the creation of the illusory body In this way the supreme siddhi is accomplished By applying vajra repetition to the five branch winds, the five kinds of extrasensory perception, such as visual clairvoyance,481 will be attained, and the appearance of objects will bring about the blazing of great bliss Scholars of the past have said that applying vajra repetition to the per vading wind brings about the experience of clear light when accomplishing the supreme siddhi in the intermediate state How to understand the essentialpoints o f practice in dependence on the above By depending on the description of the natures and functions of the winds, how can you come to know the vital points of the body for the practice of penetrative focusing? The Vajra Garland states that the wind as the chariot 15o A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages of the consciousness is mixed with the imprints of consciousness, and when objects are engaged, this will create the intrinsic conceptual minds Through the contamination of the imprints, you wander in samsara, and there is no samsara other than that After this the text continues: Therefore, in order to leave samsara, attain the stage that divides the drop, make efforts in meditation, and by opening the central knot, which is the ignorance unseen by others, you will gain the siddhi.482 Therefore, to remove the imprints for wandering in samsara, you “divide the drop,” meaning to meditate on vajra repetition, which is to open the knots that bind the dhutl at the heart Therefore you understand how the four empty states arise at times of movement or non-movement of the intrin sic conceptual minds, as explained previously, and then, in order to recre ate those stages in the mindstream, you have to meditate on vajra-repetition pranayama and so on To know that is the peerless knowledge o f the essential points of practice arising from the explanation of the winds The great scholars are agreed that, having sought the wisdom of under standing no-self, which means to have repudiated the objects held as the two types o f self [152] and perfectly ascertained the meaning of no-self, to then meditate upon that no-self, the two obscurations will be uprooted and destroyed Having thoroughly determined the above through listening and thinking, to then meditate upon profound emptiness, however, you need the special subject consciousness o f great bliss taught in this vehicle This is some thing not found in other vehicles or in the lower classes of tantra and is there fore a feature of this ultimate vehicle W hether it is the four joys or the four empty states that are induced by this special method, they are induced by way of the great bliss, and that bliss is not complete until the winds that move the intrinsic conceptual minds are stopped This practice means to make effort in those methods that stop the winds Therefore it is said that by meditating on the winds, their movement is pacified, and immediately the mind dwells in a state of stability If, however, you know how to cultivate the mind in a state of nonconceptuality without dullness and agitation, through constant famil iarization with that, you will also reach a stable samadhi, even without wind meditation, and so you may wonder what is the point of meditating on the Divisions, Functions, and M ovem ent ofthe W inds 151 winds? Also, you might think that if the mind is stable within a state o f non conceptuality, then that itself brings the winds into the dhutl, and so there is 110 need for any separate meditation This will be explained Generally, merely holding the mind in the stability of a nonconceptuality is common to both Buddhists and non-Buddhists and to both the Great and Lower vehicles In particular, a noncontaminated samadhi dwelling nonconceptually on the significance of emptiness is also common to the Perfection Vehicle So, to develop these states, there is clearly no need to meditate on penetrative focusing on the body through wind meditation Also, it makes no sense to say that such a samadhi will bring about great bliss through the force of the winds dissolving in the dhutl Therefore“stable mind” in the instruction to develop the stability of the mind by stopping the movement of the karmic winds refers to the mind of innate bliss Saraha says: Gathering the mind is influenced by the winds; moving and carried, it becomes uncontrolled If it knows the nature of the innate, that will make it of stable nature.483 Developing this depends upon the winds dissolving in the dhutl and the candali fire blazing Thus the nonconceptual minds and bliss of the above may have similar names but are completely different in meaning This has been fully explained previously Although the view of emptiness has been clearly ascertained, when you come to meditate on it, that meditation will have to be performed by the bliss of melting, and you will enter the completion stage At first there will be teachings on the many gateways for penetrative focusing on the body as a method for developing great bliss Do not think that these are teachings on a less profound completion stage that only deals with channels, winds, drops, wind yogas, and so on, and where there is no meditation on emptiness [153] If the karmic winds are halted through the wind-yoga meditations, then the ten winds that come through the sense gateways in dependence upon the two channels in general and the main flow of the life-sustaining wind and evacuative- wind in the left and right channel in particular are also halted Unless these winds are brought into the dhutl, then by the force of com ing and going in other channels, the eighty intrinsic conceptual minds are induced and therefore become a hindrance to the actualization o f the four empty states To complete the generation of great bliss, a powerful melting 252 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages of the bodhicitta is necessary, and for that, a powerful blazing o f candall is necessary For a special blazing of this fire, the evacuative winds must have reversed into the dhütl and dissolved, and so the evacuative wind must be prevented from coming and going through the lower gateway Therefore, as explained previously, the coming and going of this wind has to be divided into the upper and lower gateways Also as explained previously, if you understand the process of engaging in samsara that is common to both vehicles, then you will understand the neces sity of reversing the holding to true existence, and a search for the ascertain ment of the view of no-self will begin If you understand the uncommon view of the process of engaging in samsara through the force of the winds, you will see the need to halt the karmic winds that move the conceptual minds, and a search for instructions on penetrative focusing on the body as the method to halt these winds will begin The great bliss induced by that method will ascer tain the meaning o f no-self, a cultivation of the resulting union o f bliss and emptiness as the heart of the path will begin, and the essence o f the instruc tions will be unmistaken If this is not followed, you will not differentiate the subtle features of great bliss from other forms of bliss, nor will you find the ultimate view by differentiating coarse and subtle types of emptiness There fore you may praise the union o f bliss and emptiness, but you are just rejoic ing in the name This is the essence of the teachings of the two classes of tantra and the exclu sive and prime cause for the accomplishment of the dharmakàya Neverthe less, the exclusive accomplishment of the form body is also clearly taught in this tradition That has been explained before and will be explained again ... of the imprints, you wander in samsara, and there is no samsara other than that After this the text continues: Therefore, in order to leave samsara, attain the stage that divides the drop, make... of the intrin sic conceptual minds, as explained previously, and then, in order to recre ate those stages in the mindstream, you have to meditate on vajra-repetition pranayama and so on To. .. holding the mind in the stability of a nonconceptuality is common to both Buddhists and non-Buddhists and to both the Great and Lower vehicles In particular, a noncontaminated samadhi dwelling nonconceptually