How the Path o f Tantra M ust Occur on the Sutra Path 473 of attaining buddhahood—namely, that of the jewel-like disciple entering his own path from the beginning and attaining buddhahood in a single life and that of adding on paths at the end of the Perfection Vehicle path I think that the explanations of being roused by the buddhas and becoming a bud dha and so on, which occur at the completion of the levels described above, are traditions within their own paths This should be well examined [306] According to the highest yoga tantras, if the two additions to the path described above are not developed within the mind, buddhahood cannot be attained, and because those two are not found in the three lower classes of tantra, they have to be added to the paths of those who have entered the three other classes of tantra It seems that the thinking behind the teaching found in both types of tan tra that after the completion of the levels you become a buddha by way of the five enlightenments involving moon, vajra, and so on refers to the Vajra Gar land statement that as a replacement for the generation-stage practitioner s creation of a deity of mantra through visualization processes involving a vajra, moon, and so on, the completion-stage practitioner creates a com pletely pure deity form from the four empty states By doing this, it is true that the actual phenomenon referred to, which is behind the literal aspect of the teachings above, is an exclusive feature of the path of highest yoga tan tra, but it is not contradictory to use literal language that is other than that referred to and for that to appear in the paths of the lower tantras This is because in many of these instances, such arrangements are very necessary for explaining the teachings This analysis of the way that the principal points of the completion stage of this tradition occur at the end of other paths will bring about an exclusive conviction in the main features o f this path Based on this you will ascertain the power this kind of path has, and so such an analysis also becomes a won derful method for not falling back to other paths Furthermore, it is a topic very difficult to understand, and so I have explained it here 31 H ow Clear Light Is Incorporated into the Six Yogas Explanation o f the teachings on the yoga o f apprehending found in the Later Tantra The stage of mastery or fourth-stage clear light, as taught in Nagarjuna’s F ive S tages , is spoken of in L a te r T a n tra as being the branch of apprehending from the six branches; Self, powers, and the jewel cease Apprehended, it is explained as apprehending Mind has become vajra cessation; signs, closely apprehended, will arise The elements o f the signs are five in number This, Bodhivajra has explained The mirage-like is the first, the smoke-like, the second, that like lights in the sky is third, fourth is that like a burning lamp, and fifth is a constant clarity, like a cloudless sky By the vajra path made stable, emanate into the realms of space.“ In Candrakirti’s Illum inating Lamp as translated by Lochen Rinchen Sangpo, it says, “Apprehending’ refers to the fourth branch” immediately after explaining the first two lines The Patsap translation is similar In the Go translation, it says, “‘These are the branch of apprehending’ refers to the fourth branch,” immediately after explaining all the lines above, [307] thereby making all the above lines refer to the branch o f apprehending The Chak translation is similar There are clearly two versions of the Indian text, 47 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages but the Go translation is better, as can be seen from the explanation in the commentary “Self” refers to the objects of form and so on “Powers” refers to the eyes and so on These two “cease” or dissolve, and then the “jewel,” which refers to the mind together with the life-sustaining wind, also ceases and sets W hen this is “apprehended,” it is the “apprehending,” or the clear-light limit of per fection The dissolution of mind with the winds refers to the dissolution pro cess of the three minds The dissolution of the sense powers and their objects refers to a dissolution like that of the death process In Ekadasasvaras Secret Ambrosia Instructions it says that “Self, pow ers” refers to the fault of not knowing mind isolation, which means that you cling to the apprehending and the apprehended, thereby causing you to wander in samsara To know the mind isolated from apprehending and the apprehended is to generate the jewel wisdom of the buddha Therefore “jewel” refers to isolation from the ordinary He continues by saying that “cease” and the next line, “Apprehended, it is explained as apprehending,” refer to the vajra and lotus being in meditative union while the bodhicitta travels through the vajra from the base, the middle, and up to the tip, from which arise the three appearances to create the mind isolation isolated from the yogi I not see this explanation as representing the meaning of the root text “Vajra cessation” is clear light For the mind to “become” that means that the mind has reached that stage In order for the mind to enter the clear light, a “close apprehension” o f the “signs”—meaning an appearance of the signs—of the mirage and so on “will arise,” or be created These sign appear ances are “five in number,” and the first three, from mirage-like to the one resembling lights in the sky, arise from earth, water, fire, and wind dissolv ing successively one into the other The “lights in the sky” look like fireflies, as Patsap has translated The assertion that it refers to seeing tiny parts of space is not correct.863Illuminating Lamp says that the subtle element moves into the three all-encompassing appearances, from which arises the flame like appearance.864Here, “subtle element” refers to the winds that greatly stir the intrinsic-nature conceptual minds W hen that is dissolved, an appear ance like a lamp flame unmoved by the wind will arise The Compendium o f Practice says: The aggregates and so on enter the subtle element The subtle ele ment enters mind.86s Ho w Clear L ight Is Incorporated into the Six Yogas 47 The first sentence refers to the earth, water, fire, and air dissolving succes sively one in the other The second sentence, which speaks of the subtle ele ment entering mind, does not contradict with the Illuminating Lamp citation above, which speaks of the subtle element entering the three appearances, because the former is a rough explanation while the latter is very detailed For example, Nagabodhi s Analysis o f Karma and the Vajra Garland both speak of the appearances entering clear light without differentiating them, whereas the Compendium o f Practice does differentiate them and speaks o f the closeto-attainment appearance withdrawing into clear light [308] Most older translations of Compendium o f Practice have: From the dissolving of the intrinsic-nature appearances comes that resembling the cloudless sky and becomes just the constant clarity of clear light This is the fifth.866 Some editions and some translations have “dissolving into the intrinsic nature all-encompassing appearances,” but the former is correct, because for the clear light to appear, the three appearances must dissolve The way this point is taught in the above Illuminating Lamp citation is in an abridged manner If it is expressed more extensively, it should speak of mind dissolv ing into states of mind, states o f mind dissolving into close-to-attainment, and close-to-attainment dissolving into clear light, as is done in Aryadevas Stage o f S elf Consecration and Compendium o f Practice Also, on the man ner in which these appearances arise, it should say something like, “Second is appearance, like the light of the moon,” and so on, which was cited earlier The Compendium ofPractice when it says “First, the mirage-like with five rays of light” without mentioning smoke and so on is abbreviated, because if it were more extensive it would mention all four signs, as is done in the Later Tantra and in Illuminating Lamp Illum inating Lamp says that by these five signs the nirvana of the actual clear light is gained and quotes Analysis o f Karma as a source for earth dis solving into water and so on The actual words of this text are: Just as these arose previously, by this process they will dissolve First, earth enters water, water dissolves into fire, fire dissolves into wind, ... thereby making all the above lines refer to the branch o f apprehending The Chak translation is similar There are clearly two versions of the Indian text, 47 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages. .. ow Clear Light Is Incorporated into the Six Yogas Explanation o f the teachings on the yoga o f apprehending found in the Later Tantra The stage of mastery or fourth-stage clear light, as taught... bodhicitta travels through the vajra from the base, the middle, and up to the tip, from which arise the three appearances to create the mind isolation isolated from the yogi I not see this explanation