$48 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages aspects of reality,” accompanied by five consorts If even that is not possible, you should practice the unelaborated activities accompanied by just one con sort In this way, including the practice of unelaborated activities with the complete abridged mandala and the necessary resources, the text speaks of three procedures.1034 Therefore being unable to complete the abridged mandala refers to not having the necessary requisites of costumes and so on for yogis and yoginls equal to the number of deities in the mandala It does not refer to not being able to perform the ritual of meditating on the complete mandala Illum i nating Lamp on the fifteenth chapter, in the section on the Aksobhya yogi performing unelaborated activities with his consort, says that you adorn the mandala with the deities of the meditated mandala of Aksobhya.1035 Such a meditation on the complete deities of the mandala applies to all three types of unelaborated activities In this way, the extensive form of unelaborated activities is to have thirtyone seats covered with colorful lotus cloth upon a mandala drawn in watercolor arranged into the appropriate deity places [356] with twenty-three yogis and nine yoginls, all in masks, placed upon them The intermediate type of unelaborated activities is the activity of the reality of the five secrets.1036 On this practice, Illuminating Lam p, commenting on the root text o f the fif teenth chapter, says that on the central seat is the practitioner meditated upon as Vajradhara, and that day and night in the places of Locana and so forth are women well trained in mantra and the tantras and visualized as Locana and so forth.1037The Compendium o f Practice speaks of four women in the form of Rupavajra and so on placed in the four intermediate directions, and of one woman in the form of Spariavajra seated on the practitioner s lap.1038 If there are no more than five women, then clearly you can choose between these two practices In the Compendium o f Practice, the assertion from the sixteenth chapter that the yogis of the three families perform activities with Locana, MamakI, and Pandaravasinl is cited as a source for unelaborated activities performed with one consort Therefore in that text it is not definite that the consort for the main deity is always generated into Sparsavajra This should be applied to the other two types o f unelaborated activities W hen practicing the intermediate unelaborated activities, there are five seats, consisting of one in the center of the mandala and four in the inner cir cle or in the second circle, all covered with colorful lotus cloths There are six costume transformations W hen practicing the abridged unelaborated activ ities, there are two seats and two costume transformations Rituals fo r the Three Activities 549 O n th e actu a l ritual, th e C om pendium o f Practice says: Create a celestial palace with a vajra-jewel pinnacle, and with a well-trained external mudra and accompanied by disciples of the same family, accomplish the mahamudra The procedure is as fol lows: First of all, having focused on the ultimate truth, you are self-consecrated Arising from that as Aksobhya, you enter and take your place as master o f the mandala.1039 The generation of the entourage in the Patsap translation is clearly described: Then, for the mandala deities of Vairocana and so forth, ordinary conception is cleared away, and the indivisible entourage is visu alized as being the sections of the mandala of your own body The entire entourage of the mandala is to be pleased The text [ngi ioib3] goes on to say that, accompanied by your consort, you enter the ultimate truth by the practice of held-as-a-whole dissolution and by subsequent dissolution The goddesses Locana and the others exhort you with the verses beginning “Vajrasattva, yo u ” and you arise by the process of self-consecration Then, in order to experience the taste of supreme joy, with the nine expressions in dance, you first enjoy form, sound, odor, and taste, and then, by taking a consort from a choice of a meat seller1040and so on, [357] you enter into union and engage in the enjoyment of tactile sensations Just how many preparatory rituals are required for the above is not made clear According to Master Go, you meditate on the complete preparatory practices beginning from the protection wheel According to Yosa and Balaka the generation-stage practitioner performs the three rituals of gener ation and so on according to the sadhana, while the completion-stage practi tioner performs an instant generation In other texts there are explanations that speak of mastering the generation stage and then instantaneously gener ating the whole cycle of self-generation Judging from what is taught in the Compendium o f Practice, the practi tioner as Vajradhara or Aksobhya is acceptable However, in general, gen eration of the main figure using any of the six buddha families is also found, and that is the same for both stages Generating the celestial palace on the peak of Mount Meru was taught previously during the description from the mother tantras, but here it is not necessary The generation-stage 550 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages practitioner at this point will have the ability to generate a special innate state by the process of the four joys on three separate occasions: during the initial yoga, while entering the clear light at the completion of the sover eign mandala, and having risen from that clear light, while relying upon an actual consort In this way they are unlike any other generation-stage occa sions For the sovereign mandala practice, the supporting and supported mandala is generated inside the lotus of the mother from meditative union with an actual consort Aksobhya emerges and, at the end of the emanations and so on, merges with you to become Dvesavajra This procedure is based on two buddha families, and the same process should be applied to each of the other main deities Having performed the emergence and so forth of the figures from Vairocana up to Sumbha, think that they absorb into and become indivisible from the thirty-one yogis and yoginls By meditating on deity yoga, your entourage dispels all ordinary pride and remains insepara ble from such thoughts The meaning of “being the sections of the mandala of your own body” is that you visualize that entourage as being the “sections,” or components such as the aggregates, of your own body, and this meditation is to be performed equally by yourself and your entourage W ith the five-consort and one-consort practice, absorption is performed into those actually there, and for those not actually there, after emerging, they are placed in their respective places like the others Concerning the sentence “the entire entourage of the mandala is to be pleased,” the Chak translation says “is to be desired.” The actual meaning is that completing the sovereign mandala and entering union with an actual consort will please the deities by way of them being incorporated into the parts of the body The practice is not complete by meditative union and entering the clear light alone; rather by adding the yoga meditation of the two meditative absorptions, [358] the winds and mind withdraw into the heart to generate the four empty states, as has been explained earlier Apply ing this to the completion-stage practitioner, know that this refers to other occasions of meditative union also The arousing from the state o f clear light by singing [ngi ioia3] is per formed in the extensive unelaborated practice If there are four women med itated upon as being the inner circle of Locana and so forth, the rousing is performed with actual singing If they are meditated upon as the five Vajras or if there is one consort, the singing is imagined Alternatively, for the for mer it is clearly acceptable for the four women on this occasion to hold the Rituals fo r the Three Activities $$i pride o f being the four goddesses— Locana and so on— and to perform the arousing by song Having arisen from that state, the instruction to enjoy the good, bad, and indifferent from the first four sense objects evidently refers to the fact that from around this point in your practice, even inferior objects are aids to the creation o f inner bliss From the three occasions that these activities are performed on the com pletion stage, if activities are being performed in order to gain the illusory body, having already achieved the beginning o f the path o f mind isolation, then generation is not actuated by way o f syllables and hand implements but is done in an instant Before the creation o f the celestial mansion, the ground o f exalted wisdom is generated, and at the time o f the imagined deities with drawing into the clear light, withdrawal is carried out by the power o f the winds being absorbed Those who have achieved the illusory body and those on the practice stage o f union are also able to this, and so the difference in ability between the two stages is great If the generation-stage practice of arising in the form o f the primordial lord from the sphere o f emptiness is per formed by practitioners who have attained mind isolation, they will have the ability to arise from the wind and mind as a simulated third-stage illusory body If it is performed by those who have attained the illusory body but have not realized actual clear light, entering emptiness is not carried out by the illusory body disappearing through purification When arising in the form o f the primordial lord, the mind arises from the illustrative clear light but not in a new body Once the stage o f union has been achieved, the continuum o f the illusory body is never lost, and so entering into and arising from clear light are both performed from the mind and not from the illusory body Therefore, in these two situations o f arising from the clear light, bring to mind the form you already possess by the process o f visualization For taking the nirmánakáya, you reenter the coarse body you have separated from and generate the coarse body as the nirmanakaya Even those who have attained only the sim ulated illusory body will have the ability to create in their minds something similar to the real thing Through these explanations, you also understand the procedures at the times o f the generation-stage initial yoga, the creation o f the innate from entering union with a consort at the end o f the sovereign mandala, the arising from that state, and so on The commentary on the seventeenth chapter speaks of arising through the arousal by song, holding the pride of Vairocana and so on, [359] and enter ing into union with Locana and so on.1041 It is evident that this procedure should be applied here and is similar for both stages This is also in keeping 552 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages with the four goddesses being assigned to the four women who act as the inner companions of the main figure The women who make up the sub sequent companions are also consorts of the main figure, and so it is clear that he also engages with Rupavajra and so on Because of this, the inter mediate and abridged unelaborated practices are determined by the number of consorts in the entourage and not by the number of males In the Com pendium o f Practice when it says that you should rely upon one of the five types of women—the meat seller and so on—it is saying this on the basis that there are no specific types of women set out for the completion-stage practi tioner whereas it is taught that the generation-stage practitioner relies upon a consort o f his own buddha family Whichever of the two types o f consort is taken, the actual activity involves a meditation on developing innate joy through relying upon your particular consort and applying that to the union of bliss and emptiness This is not a meditation where the generation-stage practitioner meditates primarily on the mantra body while the completionstage practitioner meditates mainly on the illusory body It is not clear how many times a day you should perform this activity rit ual, but the root text and the commentary on chapter 16 in the section on activities states that the secret offering of union with a consort should be performed four times.1042 Thus there should be four sessions a day The Illu sory Samvara Tantra states that the great gathering ritual using the mandala assembly is performed once a year or once a month, and the Compendium o f Practice says that this statement refers to the last two activities These are not activities described in the context of being divided into four sessions, and so based on the latter citation, it makes no sense to enter into an explanation of whether activities performed while training in the high paths of the two stages have elaborations of time W hen elaborated activities are performed after the enjoyment of tactile sensations, they are performed with the gestures and their responses using the appropriate meditative states of mind This is not done with the unelabo rated activities Therefore at this point the phrase “the drali is completed” as found in the old translation of the Compendium o f Practice is better rendered “the drali is practiced,” as in the Patsap translation The instructions [ngi ioibz] to purify the five meats and the five nectars and so on and to consume them in an isolated place apply to all activities of the two stages The Compendium o f Practice also says that you not form the gestures; that there is no drawing or offering of mandalas; that you not perform fire offerings in an external hearth, perform reliquary rituals such as ... from that as Aksobhya, you enter and take your place as master o f the mandala.1039 The generation of the entourage in the Patsap translation is clearly described: Then, for the mandala deities... times.1042 Thus there should be four sessions a day The Illu sory Samvara Tantra states that the great gathering ritual using the mandala assembly is performed once a year or once a month, and the Compendium... mother tantras, but here it is not necessary The generation-stage 550 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages practitioner at this point will have the ability to generate a special innate state by the