n8 A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages This says that through the method of penetrating the vital points inside and outside the body, the sun and moon winds are brought into the dhütï, where they dissolve Because of this, the candàlï blazes and the molten bodhicitta fills the body to produce the bliss and emptiness union, which in turn cuts the root of ignorance, and this is the essence of all instruction If all this is not comprehended as explained above, and these individual gateways to the creation of the innate mind not appear as essentially the same, you will think that they are mutually contradictory Also, some medi tate on the praiseworthy qualities of their own instruction tradition and on the basis of one tradition maintain that it is incorrect to explain that all tradi tions are the same Others ignore traditions other than those they have great attachment to The necessity o f penetrating the vital points on the body in order to create the union that is the inseparability o f the two truths254 The necessity that the paths of the completion stage correspond to the stages of birth, death, and the intermediate state The way to penetrate the vital points of the body by following the above The necessity that the paths o f the completion stage correspond to the stages of birth, death, and the intermediate state The intention of highest yoga tantra is to correlate the creation of the sup porting and supported mandalas of the generation stage to the stages of creation and destruction of the container world and its contained sentient beings This is not found in the lower tantras This process is presented so that the paths are developed according to those stages Moreover, the genera tion stage is meditated upon as a facsimile of the features of the completion stage and is merely the ripening of the roots of virtue necessary for produc ing the completion stage Therefore its prime purpose is the creation of the paths of the completion stage corresponding to the birth and death of sen tient beings A clear presentation of this process is found in the Guhyasamaja literature The Vajra Garland states: Just as fire burns and nothing is left, there is no cause, just dissolution and leaving The Necessity o f Penetrating Vital Points on the Body 129 Again the life wind arises, karmic winds together with consciousness, and again there is existence in the three realms From this comes karma, from this comes birth, from this comes desire, and so on, and imprints, and from this again comes death Like this, you circle like a wheel The previously described vajra repetition and so on become these divisions in order.255 [71] This is the answer to a question on the destruction processof the winds at death W hen fire burns, the wood is reduced to nothing.Likewise, at the time of death, the winds, up to the life-sustaining wind, gradually dissolve and the person dies Again, from the death clear light, the karmic winds appear, and together with the consciousness, they take birth in the three realms From these karmic winds are created the conceptual minds of desire and so on These in turn gather good and bad karma leading to death again and birth again, thereby circling like a wheel The previously described five stages consisting of vajra repetition and so on become the divisions of the stages of birth and death in the basic state The way they become these divisions is as follows: The continuum of breath entering and leaving is the basis for vajra repetition The Vajra Gar land says: Those living beings of the three realms, unaware of the repetition o f the secret mantra king founded upon the pranayama, abandon the study of samadhi.256 At the end of the constant repetition of the breath, day and night, comes death The winds entering and leaving are stopped, and all arising winds are one by one dissolved, and the experiences of appearance, increase, and closeto-attainment arise This is the stage of mind isolation At the end of closeto-attainment, the death clear light arising is the stage of clear light This is also known as base dharmakaya At the end of the death clear light, the body of the intermediate state, which comes into existence solely from the winds and mind that dwell within the old aggregates, and which separates itself from the old body, is the stage of the illusory body, which is also referred to as 130 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages the base sambhogakdya In the basic state there is not a division into pure and impure illusory bodies, but it will be explained later how this form illustrates both types of illusory bodies of the path This base sambhogakaya, which is not an object of sight for the ordinary fleshly eyes, is born into existence, where it becomes an object of sight for ordinary eyes and becomes the base nirmdnakaya On this process Five Stages says: The conventional-truth illusion, the complete sambhogakaya, is tht gandharva151sentient being and also the vajra body.2*8 The third-stage illusory body is explained as being the intermediate-state gandharva sentient being Therefore the illusory body of the path is being labeled as the intermediate state, and the base intermediate state is labeled as the illusory body of the path The reason for describing these states in this manner is that the winds and mind that arise as the intermediate state for those devoid of the skillful core teachings will arise as the illusory body or complete sambhogakaya for those who possess the skillful core teachings The Compendium o f Practice says: [72.] For the ordinary being, the intermediate state of existence becomes a cause for samsara For those possessed of the core teach ings of all the tathagatas passed on by the gurus, it is known as selfconsecration Like a picture on a wall or on a cloth that is reflected in a mirror, you manifest with the entity o f the vajra body, a body possessed of every supreme feature, insatiable to gaze upon, adorned by the thirty-two marks and so on of a great being.259 On the strength of that description of the intermediate state by the mas ter and his disciple, then also birth and death for those who not possess the core teachings is simply birth and death that turns the wheel o f samsara Whereas for those in possession of the instructions, that which would arise as death becomes the dharmakaya and that which would arise as the ordinary taking of birth appears as the nirmanakaya This is why the names of the two bodies of the path are found in the basic state and why the two bodies of the path are also given the names o f the two phenomena of the basic state Nagabodhi s Presentation o f the Guhyasamdja Sadhana also says that by The Necessity o f Penetrating V ital Points on the Body 131 dwelling in vajra repetition, you come to know the second stage offocus on the m ind, and with the two meditative absorptions you actualize the clear light in correspondence with the stages of death Followers of the Go tradi tion describe creation and destruction as the purification basis for the second stage but not ascribe the three bodies and the five stages to the basic state Clear Compilation o f the Five Stages says, however: explained and applied in a single sitting to birth existence and a single day.260 Therefore the Marpa tradition assigns the terminology of the three bodies to birth, death, and intermediate state and employs the terminology of the five stages, of vajra repetition, and so on for the basic state This is excel lent because these descriptions show that the paths are to be generated in the mindstream in correspondence with the stages of the basic state o f birth and death and are therefore necessary If this terminology is used but its pur pose not understood, and these core teachings on death as the dharmakâya and so on are taught as referring to practices performed only at the time of death and at the time of the intermediate state, or if the terminology of the five stages of the basic state is understood in a way other than the above, that is not correct Concerning the correspondence of the five stages to a “single day,” some from the Marpa tradition say that the in and out breaths of a single day is vajra repetition The dissolution of the intrinsic conceptual minds261 into the heart is focus on the mind Sleep is clear light, the arising of a dream is illu sory body, and waking is union Generally when the instructions on sleep and dreams are looked for in the Arya traditions instructions, apart from what can be learned from the explanation in Aryadevas Compendium o f Practice, no clear explanation is found anywhere in the Arya tradition Even though Candrakirti s Illum i nating Lamp has a citation from the Compendium o f Practice at this point, it is left just as a citation [73] To explain these instructions according to the thinking of the Compendium o f Practice, vajra repetition is as described above From the beginning of sleep until the arising of a dream, the first three of the four kinds of emptiness arise, and that is the stage of focus on the mind The fourth emptiness is clear light, and this is also known as sleep dharma kâya “Dream” does not refer merely to the arising of a dream but to a spe cial dream body This is the stage of illusory body, also known as the dream 132 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages sambhogakdya This can symbolize the illusory body of both the third and fifth stages '‘Waking” is the nirmanakaya, and this too is not merely waking but refers to a special way of waking The other Indian followers o f the mas ter and his four main disciples, who were listed earier, not teach the five stages within creation and destruction, the three bodies of the basic state, and the five stages of a single day The relevant explanations from the core teach ings of Naropa, however, expresses the thinking of the texts listed above, and therefore such teachings are necessary If it is understood how the basic-state five stages are arranged throughout the basic state, this will generate great conviction in the important points within the instructions on the mixings Therefore I have explained this here The way to penetrate the vital points ofthe body byfollowing the above As described, the two types of illusory body formed solely from the winds and mind correspond to the formation of the intermediate-state body There fore before that, the four kinds of emptiness must also be produced in corre spondence with the four kinds of emptiness occurring at the time of death On this the Vajra Garland says: The supreme setting of the winds, how is it to be perfecdy known? From the characteristics at the moment of death, where they gather into one another and dissolve like the stages of birth.262 In keeping with the stages of arising at birth, the winds dissolve in reverse stages at death The same text also says: The life wind of the afflicted mind forever travels, and when newly migrating, it has the form of a fish.263 The text explains that in the first period of a new migration, the life-sustaining wind is formed, and from that the nine winds—the evacuative wind and so on—are formed in the proper order The text also says, “The life wind dwells at the heart.”264Because the life-sustaining wind abides at the heart, the winds ... ordinary eyes and becomes the base nirmdnakaya On this process Five Stages says: The conventional-truth illusion, the complete sambhogakaya, is tht gandharva151sentient being and also the vajra... understood, and these core teachings on death as the dharmakâya and so on are taught as referring to practices performed only at the time of death and at the time of the intermediate state, or if the. .. path are also given the names o f the two phenomena of the basic state Nagabodhi s Presentation o f the Guhyasamdja Sadhana also says that by The Necessity o f Penetrating V ital Points on the