488 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages it as referring to the attainment of self-consecration This is because illusory body is attained in dependence upon mind isolation, and designating that to the tenth level is the meaning of the Compendium o f Practice assertion This is the earlier portion of the Perfection Vehicle tenth level Placing clear light and the stage of union as the later parts of the tenth level can be understood from the earlier section on adding highest yoga practices to those of a tenthlevel Perfection Vehicle practitioner Therefore it can also be understood that the union of no further practice is assigned to the eleventh Light Everywhere level The two tantras that describe clear light as the thirteenth level so on the basis of the initial stage of belief That position also illustrates the prac tice stage of union If that is the way the levels are assigned, then when the various paths at the times of the generation stage and so on are completed, are the qualities of the levels of Joyous and so on completely attained? Or is it a case of a correspon dence of similarities, in the same way that one level is assigned to each of the fourteen initiations, or the five paths are assigned to a single practice of the sadhana, or when the imagined deities being withdrawn into the clear light and so on are assigned to the three bodies? [315] If you have attained thirdstage illusory body but have not actualized clear light, it is taught that you can be returned to samsara by the force of the mental afflictions Therefore, merely by completing the path at this point, not only have you not attained the tenth level you have not even attained the arya levels, and so this way of assigning levels is not done on the basis of gaining all the qualities associated with the levels of Joyous and so on Moreover, this also harms the position— as well as many other positions—of assigning the completion of the genera tion stage to the actual attainment of the Immovable level Just as traveling by the Perfection Vehicle up to the tenth level is explained as a substitute for traveling by this path from its generation stage up to illu sory body, so too can the paths of this vehicle leading to buddhahood be a substitute for other vehicles traveling up to that level Thus the attainments of this path are spoken of as being attainments reaching as far as the tenth level, but the attainment of qualities is not necessarily reciprocated across the paths Moreover, the generation stage is the ripening agent for the com plete generation of the insights of the completion stage Therefore the ripen ing of the last of these insights is designated to the moment the eighth level is attained, and any previous ripening before that moment is designated to the seven previous levels However, not apply such and such feature of the generation stage to such and such feature of the seven levels The Two Truths Inseparably Combined 489 W hen the generation stage has been perfected, you are able to engage just as you wish in a very stable samadhi of no conceptuality of ordinary appear ances You also gain a pure appearance of the world and its inhabitants as being a celestial palace inhabited by deities This is similar to the eighth level W ith the generation stage as a prerequisite, and having trained in speech iso lation built on the completion of body isolation, you attain, as the Compen dium o f Practice describes, one of the states of tolerance o f unborn dharmas\ and having purified the wind, which is the root of speech, you gain control over the winds This is similar to gaining control over the exalted wisdom of the perfectly pure speech of teaching Dharma gained on the ninth level In dependence upon the completion of speech isolation, mind isolation is accomplished, and from the wind and mind of mind isolation comes the accomplishment of the illusory body, and you gain initiation from the buddhas This is similar to the attainments of the tenth level, because with the attainment of the illusory body, the wind and mind—the causes for the ordi nary body—are transformed into the causes for the sambhogakaya Simi larly, on the tenth level by gaining control over karma, the bad imprints of karma, which are the cause for the ordinary body, are transformed into causes for the perfect body, and you will receive the initiation of the great rays of light On the tenth level the accumulations gathered on the paths, which are the causes for the understanding of emptiness to become a force capa ble o f destroying the obscurations, are complete, and there is nothing new to train in on your path In the same way, on the basis of the illusory body, you engage in the clear light, and after that you will attain the no-furtherpractice stage of union Because of the similarity these are assigned to the tenth level [316] W hether you have reached the arya levels or not is determined by whether you directly perceive reality or not, and on this basis the paths are divided into those of ordinary beings and those of arya beings The paths of ordinary beings are the paths of accumulation and preparation If the practices are to be applied to these paths, then beginning from the shared paths, and for as long as you are not able to actually induce the empty states by bringing and dissolving the winds into the dhutl through the power of meditation, that is designated as the path of accumulation From the point of developing that ability, but without the bliss direcdy cognizing reality, up to and including the illusory body is designated as the path of preparation From the actual clear light onward, but before the attainment of the stage of union, is the path of seeing From the practice stage of union, but before the attainment 49 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages of the no-further-practice stage o f union, is designated as the nine levels of the path of meditation Answers to questions three andfive As long as those who have attained the illusory body have not actually per ceived the ultimate truth, they can still fall back The reason for this is that as long as the illusory body is not purified by the three appearances, there will be the conceptualizations o f the consciousnesses For as long as they are present, the continuum of imprints of afflictions remains, and that will bring about existence again This is how it is explained in the Compendium o f Practice**1“Not actually perceived” means “not directly perceived.” W ith out such a perception, none of the seeds of the afflictions can be permanently eliminated, which means that birth through the force of afflictions has not been eliminated This is the meaning of the above statement that the con tinuum of imprints of afflictions will bring about existence again, because “imprints” (bag chags, vdsana) here refers to the seeds of the afflictions and not to imprints as the obscurations to omniscience W ith the attainment of the illusory body, buddhahood in this life is certain, and so you will not be born again in samsara through the force of karma Saying “if direct percep tion of reality is not attained” is merely a hypothesis For example, it is like saying, “If Siddhartha, the son of Suddhodana, does not follow the monastic path, he will become a universal sovereign.” The above teaches that until the attainment of the fourth stage you not directly perceive the meaning of reality Therefore the three pure appear ances at that time are purified o f even the subtlest dualistic appearance, and the corresponding exalted wisdom is of one taste with the reality, like water poured into water Continuing from the above explanation, the Compendium o f Practice states, “that which is separate from other mental activity888 is the state of purity.” As a source for this the Supreme Original Tantra is cited, which says that the state of the three poisons purified is the state of bodhisattva.889Also cited is the master Kampala, who says in Sadhana o f the Inner Nature*^ that the nature of sound is coarse, the nature of mental activity, or thought, is subde, and that the absence of mental activity, or thought, is the supreme state of the yogi [317] The Chak translation of this citation has “that which is the absence of all thought.” This refers to the clear light of the three pure appear ances This is a state that is purified of some of the seeds of the afflictions The Two Truths Inseparably Combined 491 W ith such an attainment “existence” will not be brought about by the force of karma and affliction, and so there is no return to samsara The Lower Vehicle practitioners directly perceive emptiness, but until they become arhats, they have not overcome birth caused by the force of karma and affliction Great Vehicle practitioners, having directly perceived reality, will negate birth and death brought on through the force of karma and affliction; this is the same for both types of Great Vehicle practitioners In the second stage of Five Stages, after saying that by the generation stage you attain the eighth level and by the three appearances you attain the tenth level, it states: Having well attained complete actual enlightenment, the purified state is closely perceived, and in this birth of no returning, you become omniscient in the buddha realm.891 This teaches nonreturning from clear light onward Before that state, though, returning can be inferred The “purified state” is the one explained previously Therefore this passage is best as translated by Chak Lotsawa The older trans lation was cited earlier W hat is the reason for stating that in this vehicle, once you directly perceive reality, you are freed from birth caused by karma and affliction? Right after the Kampala citation the Compendium o f Practice states: In this way, through this process of enlightenment, you gain the perfected clear light, and body, speech, and mind, untainted in their nature, become the all-empty state Thus the three con sciousnesses, the nature of the pure perfection of wisdom, are beyond mental activity, beyond speech This is the realm of nir vana, without form, difficult to find, freed from karma and birth, resplendent like the sun, the moon, fire, and a jewel.892 This teaches the reason “In this way” refers to the method by which the three appearances enter the clear light This is a method by which the achiever o f the illusory body enters clear light by relying upon an external consort and the two meditative absorptions The above refers to an illusory body that replaces the limitless accumulation of merit and to a very special objectholding consciousness of great bliss directly perceiving reality It teaches here 492- A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages that this path has the ability to block the force of mental afflictions causing birth into an existence This means that in terms of the reality to be cognized, it may be no different from the direct perception of emptiness by the Lower Vehicle, but the power of the consciousness is vastly greater In that case, the Perfection Vehicle practitioner on the path of seeing and the Lower Vehicle practitioner on the path of seeing are no different in terms of their direct experience of reality [318] W hen that experience occurs in the Great Vehicle practitioner, however, the ability to negate any returning to samsara through karma and affliction is developed, as are the twelve sets of a hundred excellent qualities and so on These not occur in Lower Vehicle path-of-seeing practitioners because whether such an insight will produce this ability is dependent on whether they have trained in the limitless col lection of merit on the path o f accumulation and the stage of belief Also, although there is a great difference in the speed with which a direct percep tion of emptiness is attained, the respective qualities that arise from the Great Vehicle perception are like the sky compared to the palm of the hand, and so you should know that this is also a reason that the Great Vehicle practi tioner, unlike the Lower Vehicle practitioner, does not quickly gain a direct perception of reality.893 Here [in tantra], the direct perception of reality is very quick indeed But not only is it fast, you also attain a collection of excellent qualities supe rior to those of other Great Vehicle paths So this path is truly wondrous The difference between this path and the other two paths in eliminating the obscurations to omniscience is one life in these degenerate times as compared to three countless eons Similarly, there is a great difference in the speed of elimination of the obscurations of afflictions W ith the supreme feature not found in other paths of having great power to eliminate the obscurations, it is not necessary for this path to follow the kind of presentation found else where, which says that the elimination of the intellectually contrived afflic tions occurs on the path of seeing and the elimination of the innate afflictions has to begin from the path of meditation Similarly, according to the position of the Perfection Vehicle, the Lower Vehicle is fast in its elimination of afflic tions, whereas the Great Vehicle is not In this vehicle, however, from the point where you are able to mostly meditate with innate bliss and emptiness joined, you so by being absorbed into that state Therefore, as explained previously, this is a process that differs from other paths and will eliminate the afflictions very quickly In this regard also, it is different from other Great Vehicle paths ... of arya beings The paths of ordinary beings are the paths of accumulation and preparation If the practices are to be applied to these paths, then beginning from the shared paths, and for as long... In the second stage of Five Stages, after saying that by the generation stage you attain the eighth level and by the three appearances you attain the tenth level, it states: Having well attained... for the ordi nary body—are transformed into the causes for the sambhogakaya Simi larly, on the tenth level by gaining control over karma, the bad imprints of karma, which are the cause for the