Explanation o f Evam and o f Bliss and Emptiness 103 Also: In all of the three worlds as far as the peak of existence, when examined with the discrimination of the path, aggregates are seen to be without truth Those with discriminating wisdom, whatever they analyze here, will strive solely in this, and for as long as they analyze, for that long all is clear light.215 These verses are not talking about the initial seeking of the view but the later time of meditation During the time of bliss and emptiness united, which occurs when innatejoy, which is the fourth type of joy, and clear light, which is the fourth empty state, arise, it is true that you not employ discriminat ing wisdom to repeatedly analyze but you in the post-meditation session after rising from meditative equipoise In order to cultivate special insight in meditative equipoise, those still on the stages of faith analyze again and again with discriminating wisdom This is taught in the Perfection Vehicle and these two practices of discriminating wisdom are no different To summarize, the views on emptiness found in the great texts can be graded into four levels ranging from inferior to superior These are the no-self of persons as determined by the Sautrantika and accepted by all Mahayana proponents of the tenets with the exception of the Prasangika Madhyamaka; the emptiness posited by the Yogacara, which is the emptiness of the impu tation of the apprehending consciousness and apprehended object as being separate entities, and with regard to phenomena, the emptiness of the impu tation that is an existence by way of self-characteristics imputed upon the nature and features o f these phenomena; third, the emptiness asserted by the Svatantrika Madhyamikas, who conventionally not refute mere existence by way of characteristics but who have refuted all true existence apart from that; and the no-nature view of Prasangika Madhyamikas, who have refuted existence by way of characteristics of both truths [51] O f these four tenets, the emptiness of bliss and emptiness united taught on the basis of the best and jewel-like disciple of Highest Yoga Mantra Vehicle is that of the fourth tenet Concerning the emptiness of bliss and emptiness united for other types of disciples, the views of Cittamatra and Svatantrika 104 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages can both occur depending on the type o f disciple These four tenets are clas sified as lowest, intermediate, best, and best o f the best on the basis o f their views on no-self While it is true that in tantric commentaries there is a tradi tion o f explaining united bliss and emptiness on the basis o f the Cittamatra position, there is no tradition o f explaining this union merely on the basis o f the view o f the no-self o f persons as explained previously Therefore, concern ing emptiness in bliss and emptiness united , you should at the very least have ascertained an emptiness that is the emptiness o f apprehending conscious ness and apprehended object as separate, as posited by the Vijnanavadin An extensive presentation o f these points can be found elsewhere The meaning of bliss What is the bliss o f bliss and emptiness united ?By developing just the samadhi o f a single-pointed mind, the mind becomes completely adaptable, and this causes the winds o f the body to become very serviceable, producing a com plete adaptability o f the body itself Because o f this there is bodily pleasure and mental joy This is taught in Asarigas Stages ofYogacdra This bliss occurs in the long-term cultivation o f placing the mind in a nonconceptual state, which is a practice common to Buddhists and non-Buddhists, Great and Lower vehicles, and sutra and tantra This has been taught together with authenticating scripture in [my] Great Treatise on the Stages o f the Path to Enlightenment That kind o f bliss is not the bliss o f bliss and emptiness Furthermore, the practice in the Philosophical Vehicle o f meditating on the incoming and outgoing breath, and the meditations taught in the Later Dhydna action tantra and the Vairocana Enlightenment performance tantra o f preventing the breath from leaving the body and holding it inside, which is taught as “pranayama guru-yoga meditation,” will also produce samadhis that create bliss in body and mind They are not wind yogas involving the penetrating o f the vital points at the cakras o f the body, however, and so this is not the bliss o f the bliss and emptiness found in the Highest Yoga Vehi cle These are not to be confused with wind vajra repetition and pranayama pot yoga Acarya Buddhaguhya assigns the practice o f preventing the breath from leaving, holding it inside, and meditating on the deity to yoga tantra also [53] Apart from the above, the presentation o f a pot yoga in a commentary to the Heart Sutra and vital-point penetration techniques o f higher tan tras described by some commentators in some sections o f the lower tantras Explanation ofEvâm and o f Bliss and Emptiness 105 are just fabricated by those who not properly understand the differences between the paths of sutra and tantra and higher and lower tantras, and are therefore unreliable In short, in the three lower tantras from yoga tantra downward and within the Philosophical Vehicle, there are descriptions of many instances of uncon taminated and nonworldly bliss achieved through meditating without error on the significance of emptiness Nevertheless, they not describe the bliss of the melting bodhicitta brought on by the blazing candali ignited by the force of the winds entering the dhütï from the practice of penetrating the vital points of the channel cakras in the body, and therefore, such bliss does not fulfill the criteria of being the bliss of bliss and emptiness united Sheaves o f Instructions says: “It is taught, however, that those who have gained the first samâdhi experience a bliss like that of a cakravartin emperor Therefore what need to mention the bliss of those who have realized the two types of no-self? Also, is not the first level known as greatjoy so named because of its special and exceptional joy?” That is true, but such bliss is not innate bliss and therefore is not great bliss Moreover, at the beginner stage there is no method for the attain ment of such bliss The hole in the eye of a needle may be a hole of space, but that alone does not make it equal to space.216 It has been taught that even in the attainment of the first samâdhi with no realization of no-self, there is a generation of enormous bliss If that is so, then what need to mention the generation of great bliss from the medita tion on emptiness in a practitioner of the Perfection Vehicle who perceives without error the two types of no-self and then meditates on it over a long period of time? The first level called greatjoy is so called because of the excep tional joy experienced on that level Therefore, you might wonder, “In terms of bliss, maybe the Highest Yoga Vehicle is not superior to the Perfection Vehicle.” The reply: It is true that there is great bliss that comes from medi tating on emptiness, but it is not innate bliss and so it is not the great bliss referred to in highest yoga tantra Furthermore, in the Perfection Vehicle no method for inducing innate bliss is taught in the beginning stages Therefore the vehicle of highest yoga is still superior in terms of great bliss The same text says: i o A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages But in the perfection of wisdom does it not talk of “the bliss o f the highest and perfect enlightenment”? It is true that it does, but it does not teach a method to achieve that because it does not teach the method for achieving innate great bliss Therefore it is only at this level of practice that it can be known.217 The Perfection Vehicle does not teach the causal innate bliss of the path as the method for the attainment of the resultant bliss of enlightenment There fore, although the great bliss of the resultant stage can be spoken of, there is still a great difference between the two vehicles [54] The Guhyasiddhi says: Furthermore, the tattva abiding in the tantras is clear in the glorious Guhyasamaja, much elaborated in great detail, and elsewhere taught in a hidden manner In the action and performance divisions and in the scriptural baskets of sutra, the one supreme joy abides in many forms In the vessel of the precious aggregates, living beings with specific sensibilities strive for the tattva, which was hidden, and then presented by the protector Buddha.218 The tattva of the innate bliss was hidden and not taught in the lower tantras and sutras Therefore the statement that the one supreme joy abides in them in many forms means that you are gradually led to the tattva o f supreme joy and taught it in many different forms It is not saying that this tattva is actually taught there If it were, then the higher initiations would have to be taught there, too, because without the conferring of the secret initiation and so on, teachings on the tattva o f great bliss are prohibited This supreme teaching on innate bliss as an exclusive feature not found in other vehicles and other tantras is described in all highest yoga tantras and their authentic commentaries, but for fear of excessive words, I will not write of that here Nonetheless, for those well trained in this topic, the fact that there are many instances o f bliss that are uncontaminated and arise from meditation that follows on from having correctly ascertained emptiness but that are not the innate bliss can be known from a rough knowledge of the Explanation o f Evam a nd o f Bliss and Emptiness 107 Perfection Vehicle Also, such a bliss that is assigned to a very stable and firm deity-yoga meditation can be understood as not being that of highest-yoga completion stage from a rough understanding of the scriptures of the lower tantras Because their mental capacity remains at a very weak level, however, there are very many who hold even the first of the types of bliss explained ear lier as being the great bliss of bliss and emptiness united Therefore the bliss spoken of as “bliss and emptiness united” is innate joy, and its initial devel opment arises from bringing the winds of the left and right channels into the avadhuti219to ignite the candali fire, which then causes the bodhicitta to melt That bliss and the types of bliss described previously may have the same name but the differences between the two are vast Therefore they should be clearly distinguished This bliss is also called nonapprehending compassion [5$] Sheaves o f Instruc tions says: The method is nonapprehending compassion, working for living beings, and possessing the nature of innate great bliss.220 There are many such references How bliss and emptiness are united Main body i Refutations Main body How is the bliss that is the nonapprehending compassion inseparably united with emptiness? On this the Samputa Tantra says: That with the nature of nonfabrication is known as wisdom, and that which is like a wish-fulfilling jewel working for all living beings is compassion Wisdom abiding in nonapprehension and nonapprehending compassion dwell together in the mind, like space into space.221 ... breath from leaving, holding it inside, and meditating on the deity to yoga tantra also [53] Apart from the above, the presentation o f a pot yoga in a commentary to the Heart Sutra and vital-point... action tantra and the Vairocana Enlightenment performance tantra o f preventing the breath from leaving the body and holding it inside, which is taught as “pranayama guru-yoga meditation,” will also... understand the differences between the paths of sutra and tantra and higher and lower tantras, and are therefore unreliable In short, in the three lower tantras from yoga tantra downward and within