The Five Stages 153 knowing consciousness is mind isolation Therefore the criticism does not apply [87] Although self-consecration and conventional truth are found both in the Arya master and disciples tradition and in the Kalacakra corpus and have the same names, they have different meanings For example, in the five stages as explained by Ghantapada, meditation on the drop inside the heart is said to be self-consecration There are many such examples Explanations by other Tibetan masters incorporating the Kalacakra six yogas into the six stages also seem to fall into the position of explaining them as if they were similar in meaning Their invalidity can also be understood by the above presentation Naropa too, in his commentary on the Later Tantra, explains the six yogas of the Later Tantra in keeping with the explanation found in Illuminating Lamp, but in his Commentary on a Short Teaching on Initiations, he explains them according to Kalacakra Therefore it is not right to treat them as synon ymous, but it is perfectly acceptable to examine them and find how they can act as alternatives, because such an analysis will bring about a decisive under standing o f each tradition I will explain this point a little The individual withdrawal and meditative absorption of Kalacakra are purifiers of the dhutl and act as preliminaries for the pranayama, which brings the winds into the dhutl So although you not meditate exactly as it is taught in that tradition, since it is evident that the dhutl is to be purified before the winds are induced into it, they can act as alternative practices Similarly, Kalacakra pranayama brings the winds into the dhutl Holding that intake of winds firmly at the center of the cakras is apprehending Therefore you not meditate on pranayama and apprehend ing as explained there, but if such explanations clearly exist as methods to accomplish those needs, then they can be employed as alternative practices Likewise, through the power o f meditation built on the previous prac tice, the candall fire blazes, melting the bodhicitta, which falls to the tip of the secret place, producing the experience of joy This is recollection The unchanging bliss of the bodhicitta being prevented from emission issamadhi Again, you not meditate exacdy as taught in that tradition, but if they are seen to exist as paths with the ability to accomplish these needs, they can be alternatives Therefore, for the sake of being able to accomplish those needs, if other paths such as the five stages are examined and they are asserted as not being identical, these paths may be mutually incorporated, and what is needed at a particular time will still be accomplished In this way, you will gain a fearless ¡54 A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages confidence in the points of a particular path o f any tantra you engage in This way of thinking should be applied to other paths too You should regard this as a way to analyze exclusively for those of great intelligence As for Len ascribing individual withdrawal to tantric activities, they may share similar features, [88] but tht Later Tantra teaches these activities quite separately from the six branches Putting that aside, if the six-branch yoga is to be applied to the six stages of the completion stage, assigning individual withdrawal and meditative absorption to body isolation, as Ekada^asvara has done, is correct In the explanations from Illuminating Lamp, there are three kinds of pranayama involving meditation of the three “tips of the nose.”301 Thus there are pranayama practices that are not actually speech isolation or vajra repetition If speech isolation and vajra repetition are labeled, however, as pranayama because of being the main pranayama practices, then the others can be incorporated into these two By sharing similar characteristics with the single-pointed state o f the branch of meditative absorption, and with the three kinds of empty states preceding the entrance into clear light, mind iso lation may be compared to meditative absorption, but nowhere is this writ ten Apprehending is described in Illuminating Lamp as being synonymous with clear light Therefore it is not right to say that it teaches mind isolation and illusory body Recollection refers to the arising of the appearances that occur in the clear-light reversal process, and samadhi is union, as Illum inat ing Lamp makes perfectly clear Any other interpretation makes no sense This will be explained in detail later The illusory body of the third stage may compare to the illusory body of the stage of union by having similar features, but there are no actual words stating this in the explanations commenting on texts dealing with the six branches It will be explained later that it makes no sense to say that the line “All the buddhas in reality” is teaching the illusory body W hen these points are explained in greater detail, the illusory body and mind isolation will emerge, and so there is no fault of not incorporating within the six branches important completion-stage paths that produce the supreme siddhi Determining the order of the stages In Nagarjunas Five Stages, the two stages of generation and completion are said to be like the steps of a stairway It is similar with the five stages of the completion stage because the text says that by abiding in vajra repetition you attain focus on the mind, that the illusory body is purified by the ultimate The Five Stages 15$ reality302 that is clear light, and that arising from that state you achieve the nondual union From this we can also understand that by abiding in focuson-mind you also attain the illusory body This is also an order, therefore, in which the latter arises in dependence upon the former W hat is not extensively taught in Five Stages on this order is explained more extensively in Aryadevas Compendium o f Practice, which talks about a sequence of “trained in the thinking of the Buddha Vehicle,” meaning devel oping the two kinds of bodhicitta followed by the coarse single-thought deity yoga, the subtle conceptual yoga, and the stages from body isolation to the stage of union, whereby you train in the preceding level in order to move on to train in the succeeding level Also, beginning from body isola tion, it states that without the preceding level, the succeeding level will not arise Therefore this definitive order has to be accepted [89] Apart from this particular explanation, the root and explanatory tantras and the works of the five, the Arya master and his disciples, not offer any clear teachings on the reasons for the establishment o f this order Kashmiri LaksmI says: First the ordinary body has to be purified This is performed by the generation stage from the first yoga up to the body isolation of the hundred families Then comes speech isolation for purify ing speech followed by mind isolation for purifying the ordinary mind Then, in order to bring previous prayers to fruition, to cast aside the doctrine of nihilism as taught by Mahesvara, to be able to work for living beings until the end of the eon, and to aban don the truth of cessation as found in the enlightenment of the sravakas, the illusory body is taught If there is attachment to that, there will be apprehension of it Therefore, for its purification, this is followed by clear light In order to abandon the extreme of nihilism with respect to the clear light, union is taught.303 An earlier Tibetan scholar says: Until the inside of the lute is thoroughly cleaned, no sweet sound will emerge Likewise, until the body is isolated from its basic state by the body-vajra samadhi, speech isolation will not emerge If it is isolated, however, it will emerge Until you gain control over the horse-like winds, the mount of the mind, you will not gain control over the rider-like mind From gaining control over 156 A Lamp to Illum inate the Five Stages the winds through speech isolation comes mind isolation In mind isolation, if there is no awareness of all phenomena as being merely the entity of the natural-awareness state of mind, which is the coarsest level of mind isolation, then there will be no aware ness of the conventional as just an illusion, which is the subtlest level Alternatively, if there is no samadhi on the bliss of natural awareness, the illusory body will not emerge because the illusory body is brought about by just that W ithout analytically discern ing a pot, its characteristic of impermanence cannot be discerned Similarly, until the illusory body, which is the possessor of char acteristics, is completed, the clear light of its dissolution by way of the two meditative absorptions will not emerge W ithout the preceding non-appearance clear light, the union of inseparable emptiness and appearance cannot be understood For example, in order for the mind to discern the inseparable emptiness and appearance of an image in a mirror, it first has to discern that the image lacks the reality of being a face.304 Some from the Marpa tradition describe the order as follows: The first two stages are similar to the description by Laksml Then, to show that body and speech are incorporated into mind, mind isolation is taught To abandon the apprehension of the reality o f mind isolation, illusory body is taught To abandon the apprehension of that as just an illusion, clear light is taught And to abandon the extreme of nihilism, union is taught In the first of these three traditions, the three isolations purify the taints of the three gateways of body, speech, and mind, [90] and these taints are to be removed in order, beginning with the coarsest Therefore it is thought that this is how the order is ascertained Also, it is asserted that the extreme of nihilism occurs in mind isolation, and so to remove it, the accomplishment of the illusory body is taught Then to remove any perception that holds to the extreme of permanence with regard to that illusory body, clear light is taught And to abandon any nihilism with regard to the clear light, the stage of union is taught It is not explained here that a preceding isolation necessar ily induces a following isolation Also, the path that is being taught in order to abandon the extreme of nihilism will develop into the extreme of perma nence, and the path to abandon that will develop into the extreme of nihil ism That would be like washing an elephant.305Therefore this is not suitable to be a true path The Five Stages 157 The Compendium o f Practice says: W ithout realizing the conventional truth, you cannot actualize the ultimate truth.306 This is saying that before actualizing clear light, you have to “know”— meaning “achieve”—the illusory body Therefore this must be presenting a reason from the standpoint that actualizing the clear light has to be preceded by the creation of the illusory body How can it possibly be saying that in order to abandon apprehending with regard to the illusory body you have to enter the clear light? The reasons for the sequence that runs mind isolation, illusory body, clear light, and union must be similarly explained I cannot see sense in any other explanation Furthermore, to say that mind isolation is taught to generate the understanding that body and speech are incorporated into mind is an error that reveals a none-too-subtle analysis of the genera tion of the aspect and focus o f mind isolation The Compendium o f Practice says that having precisely understood the truth of the mind, you enter into the practice of the illusory body.307 Therefore it makes no sense to say that in mind isolation any doubts concerning holding to true existence are sev ered later by the illusory body, because it is taught that right from the time of the generation-stage meditations, the meaning of emptiness has to be well ascertained The second position above states that speech isolation brings the winds under control, the power of which will induce mind isolation; that mind isolation acts as the foundation for the creation of the illusory body; that the clear light has to be actualized by the power of the two meditative absorp tions bringing the illusory body into the clear light; and that to accomplish one component of the stage of union, the clear light must necessarily pre cede it The reasons for determining this order are excellent Nonetheless, giving the example of the lute as a reason for the order of the first two isola tions does not establish the correspondence between the example and what it is supposed to signify Determining the number o f stages Main point How other paths are incorporated ... withdrawal and meditative absorption to body isolation, as Ekada^asvara has done, is correct In the explanations from Illuminating Lamp, there are three kinds of pranayama involving meditation of the. .. of the nose.”301 Thus there are pranayama practices that are not actually speech isolation or vajra repetition If speech isolation and vajra repetition are labeled, however, as pranayama because... Determining the order of the stages In Nagarjunas Five Stages, the two stages of generation and completion are said to be like the steps of a stairway It is similar with the five stages of the completion