zyS A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages and half-white short vowel a within a white drop Another talks o f a short vowel a like a punctuation stroke550within a half-white and half-black drop Yet another work talks o f visualizing a white drop with a reddish hue The tra dition o f the white-and-red conjoined drop is in keeping with Mahâsiddha Kukkuripas description o f the drop as the basis o f vajra repetition: Visualized in its center, sun mandala drop, moon on top, shaped like a closed amulet, sun method and moon wisdom.551 Only here a syllable replaces the drop in the center Buddhasrljnanas Oral Teachings o f M anjuiri describes it as white and slightly reddish These two traditions describe the parents’ blood and semen containing the conscious ness o f the intermediate state that had previously entered the womb as being at the heart, and say that this drop is the basis for the mind Therefore the meditations practiced by these two traditions contain the essentials for puri fying the basic state The size o f the drop is described as that o f a mustard seed, because when the mind is held on a tiny object, it is easier to sever the conceptions and to gather the winds On the syllables, the Vajra Garland speaks o f both the let ter a and the syllable hüm in the center o f the heart, but the Compendium o f Practice speaks only o f the letter a These are meditated on as symbols o f the indestructible, but there is nothing on the actual form o f a letter or syllable, and so there is no certainty concerning the actual syllable Nevertheless, here meditate on either a or hum As for the color o f the letters, both can be dark blue, or as the Samvarodaya Tantra states, the hum can be white The letters illustrate the indestructible wind, and the white and red drops illustrate the indestructible bodhicitta The description o f five colors refers to the radiance of the five rays o f light and can be applied to the letters and the drop Other traditions talk o f a drop on top o f a syllable within a hand implement, but here it is as described above Therefore, without the faults of squeezing the mind too tightly or having it too relaxed, hold the mind on the indestructible at the heart This is highly praised in Drop o f Freedom: [17 z] Vivid, indestructible, the form o f a drop the size o f a grain o f mustard Pranayama M editations 279 shining with five different rays o f light, constandy present within the heart; focusing upon it, great wisdom will blaze in just an instant within the yoga O f this there is no doubt.552 It is also praised in other tantras The Later Exposition Tantra says: Constandy abiding in the heart, the single drop, unchanging, those who meditate upon it will without doubt gain the wisdom.553 The meaning o f this is described in Cakrasamvara Five Stages: Mind, together with letter and drop, is placed in the heart, and then the lord and master Bhagavan will arise to destroy the darkness o f its ignorance.554 This is saying that by meditating on the indestructible drop at the heart, the innate wisdom will appear and destroy ignorance from its root The Samvar- odaya Tantra says: W ind arriving at the lotus o f the heart, visualize as a white syllable hum , and from that meditative equipoise, you are no longer bound by objects and so forth The winds pass above samsara and travel below nirvana, the nonabiding nirvana dwelling within the filaments o f the lotus at the heart.555 Using the special methods explained previously and so forth, the winds are gathered into the center o f the cakra o f the heart, where they are stopped W hen you have the ability to make that state stable, you will not be bound by the conceptual minds that engage with sound, sights, and the other objects 280 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages This brings about the level o f nirvana that does not dwell in either samsara or nirvana This occurs when the twelve apprehending and apprehended winds arise from the heart as described earlier Therefore, if you practice the pen etrative focusing method o f holding the mind at this location, the winds will gather there, and by their dissolving, it becomes easier to sever the conceptu alization concerning the apprehending and apprehended Praises o f the kind cited above are found in many tantras and works o f the mahasiddhas To develop strong certainty about that praise, make strenu ous efforts in the pranayama meditation on the indestructible mantra at the heart tip Meditation on the mantra circles Clear Compilation o f the Five Stages says: Various memories, conceptualizations, arise perfectly from the mind Therefore meditate on mantra circles at the heart, the support for consciousness and prana.556 The various conceptualizations arise from the mind, and the place where both winds and mind gather is the heart Therefore meditate on the mantra circles with penetrative focus at the heart On the circles o f the mantra syl lables, the text continues: First, engage in meditative absorption on an eight-petal lotus with layers in the form o f outer, inner, and secret.557 Therefore you meditate on an eight-petal lotus of three layers at the heart Then: [173] The outer layer, wisdom symbolized by vowels, the middle has the consonants o f method, the nondual are found in the inner Samadhi on the layers in the cardinal and intermediate directions Pranayama M editations 181 is o f the nature o f the three applications In the middle, the indestructible drop, with the letter a,, the prdna, essence o f all, emanating and withdrawing.558 This is saying that on the eight outer lotus petals is the entity o f wisdom, sym bolized by the twelve vowels; on the eight intermediate petals are the con sonants whose nature is method; on the inner layer is the entity o f nondual method and wisdom, symbolized by the four neutral letters; in the center is the indestructible drop; and one meditates accordingly In connection with this passage, Five Points o f the Five Stages, Five Stages with Mantra Circle, and Five Stages Complete on One Seat559 say that you meditate on the mantra cir cle before vajra repetition; while in Serdingpas Four Points, it is explained in the mind-isolation section In the root text, however, meditation on mantra circles is explained first followed by vajra-repetition practice Therefore fol low the position o f the former three Serdingpa describes the lotus petals as red, their shape as being like upright mirrors, and the letters as white Other instruction texts from the Marpa tra dition say that the channels are in the aspect o f a lotus, white with a reddish tinge, and the letters are white The lotus that contains the drop as the foun dation o f vajra repetition and placed at the heart is described by Kukkuripa both as a white four-petal lotus as well as a red four-petal lotus, and is seen as being o f the nature o f the four elements These are to be visualized as the four channels in the vicinity o f the heart Other works in their sections on completion-stage practices describe as “channels” the lotuses at the navel and elsewhere drops and letters are placed You can follow that practice, or you can regard the lotus petals themselves as being channels There is no defini tive color o f the lotus at the heart, and many descriptions speak o f it as a sin gle eight-petal cakra There are also descriptions o f two cakras but not many describing three Even if you meditate on it as resembling a lotus flower, it makes no sense to have the petals standing like an upright mirror Serdingpa has the consonants on the outer layer and the vowels on the middle layer This contradicts the root text, and they should be placed as they occur in the root text, as others o f the Marpa tradition have done This order can also be known by the root text s description o f the vowels as appearance, the consonants as increase o f appearance, and the neutral letters as close-toattainment.560Therefore it is good to have the outer letters white, the middle red, and the inner letters blue or black The root texts expression “Twelve i8 i A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages letters with drop”561 means that the eleventh vowel, not including the four neutral vowels, includes a drop,562 and a drop is placed above the remain ing eleven [174] It does not mean that a drop is placed in front o f them or that they are arranged without a drop The way these letters are arranged is as follows: Starting from the east, two letters are placed in each o f the four directions, and beginning from the southeast, one letter in each o f the inter mediate directions Alternatively, they can be arranged sequentially from the east as Serdingpa has taught The consonants are sequenced similarly On the placement o f the consonants, the root text says: The letters from ka to ha, leaving out ksa, together with four.563 The meaning o f this has been said to be that the five consonant groups ka, ca, ta, ta, and pa are placed on the first five petals starting from the east For the remaining three petals, two petals contain the and sa groups, and the last petal has the letters kla, bla, sla, and sla These last four letters are said to be hidden and “uttered from the root o f the tongue.”5641 cannot see this as mak ing sense The meaning o f the above text is that each o f the eight petals has four letters ranging from ka to ha, leaving out ksa In this way, the five con sonant groups ka, ca, ta, ta, and pa have four letters, the na, na, na, and na group is four letters, and t h e a n d sa groups each contain four letters These make up the eight petals The letter ma has become the drop on the vowels The four cardinal directions o f the inner petals have r and / in long and short form The four intermediate directions are left empty If these letters are placed on the channel petals, the nonindividual groups o f letters are within the channels and arranged standing up in sequence from the outer edge inward If they are placed as the actual lotus petals themselves, they are arranged as a chain o f letters In the center is the indestructible drop with the letter a Its placement has been described The root text says: In the middle o f the realm o f space, visualize the radiant mandala.565 This occurs in the section on mantra-circle meditation As for its meaning, some say that you meditate on the mind arising in the form o f a nada squiggle ... o f the mahasiddhas To develop strong certainty about that praise, make strenu ous efforts in the pranayama meditation on the indestructible mantra at the heart tip Meditation on the mantra circles... ha, leaving out ksa, together with four.563 The meaning o f this has been said to be that the five consonant groups ka, ca, ta, ta, and pa are placed on the first five petals starting from the. .. Alternatively, they can be arranged sequentially from the east as Serdingpa has taught The consonants are sequenced similarly On the placement o f the consonants, the root text says: The letters from ka to