The Five Stages 16 if it is understood how they ripen the roots of virtue to create the comple tion stage in its entirety, then, from the perspective of their essential mean ing, they all can be understood as being similar Hence, a good understanding of how these paths are incorporated will produce a fearless confidence with regard to all points of the tantras In this connection, some people comment on the citation from Clear Compilation o f the Five Stages that comes after the verse ending “meditated upon in a single sitting,” quoted previously, and which says: In order to understand this, the five-stage supreme path is explained and applied in a single sitting to the birth existence and a single day, and to the Perfection Vehicle, and various vehicles.313 They assert that this means: In the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, the Teacher sitting with upright body illustrates the generation stage The millions of light rays radiating from his body teach vajra repetition The eighteen variet ies of emptiness express focus-on-mind His words “Forms are like illusions” and so on teach the illusory body “Form is without nature” and so on teach clear light, and “Nondual, never to be made dual” and so on teach union When applied to “various vehicles,” the meaning is: The Sravaka Vehicle is incorporated into the generation stage, because the coarse appearance aris ing from the gathering together of subtle particles, as asserted by the sravakas, corresponds to the generation-stage conceptual yoga The Pratyekabuddha Vehicle is incorporated into vajra repetition, because the vajra-repetition practice of the twelve wind shifts is correlated to the twelve links o f the pratyekabuddhas The Cittamatra Vehicle is incorporated into the stages of focus on the mind because both concentrate on the mind The illusion-like state of Madhyamaka is included in the illusory body, because for both all phenomena are illusions The nonabiding state of Madhyamaka is incorpo rated into clear light, because for both all phenomena are empty All Secret Mantra Vehicles are incorporated into the stage of union, because all views found in mantra are the one-taste union of the two truths This explanation is taken from Five Points The same can be found in Five Stages with Mantra Circle and Quintessence o f Father Tantra,314 In Clear Compilation o f the Five Stages the five stages are “explained and applied” to the Perfection of Wisdom Vehicle and various vehicles The 16 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages meaning of “applied” here is not like the five stages of the basic state being applied to birth and death existence and to a “single day” as was explained previously The teachings of the various Great and Lower vehicles generally, and the essential points of all the profound Perfection of Wisdom sutras specifically, are incorporated into the Guhyasamaja tantra, and the essential points of the Guhyasamaja path are incorporated into the five stages It is to express this point that they are “explained and applied” accordingly [96] The same work states: The path endowed with the five stages will illustrate the various words of the sutras that teach the dharmas belonging to enlightenment, the three hidden meanings, and the ultimate.315 Therefore the meanings of the various words of the sutras that teach the dharmas belonging to enlightenment and of the tantras that teach the three hidden phenomena316 and the two ultimate phenomena are illustrated and explained as the five stages The paths as they are actually taught in those other texts are not explicitly taught here; that is not the way that they are incorporated Instead, the essence of these paths, which is gaining the free dom of liberation from samsara and accomplishing the level of omniscience, and more than that besides, are complete within the path taught here Also, those other paths must finally culminate here This is why it is the root of those other paths The reasons given by other traditions for other paths being incorporated into this path are uncertain and not established Pa r t Body Isolation 12 Identifying Body Isolation Description o f each division [97] Training in the samâdhis of the three isolations Training in the samâdhis of the two truths Training in the samâdhis o f the three isolations Training in the samadhi of the body-vajra body isolation Training in the samadhi of the speech-vajra speech isolation Training in the samadhi of the mind-vajra mind isolation Training in the samadhi o f body-vajra body isolation Examining which of the two stages body isolation belongs to The sequence of generation stage and the special body isolation Identifying body isolation Divisions of body isolation How body isolation becomes the branches o f individual withdrawal and meditative absorption The way to practice body isolation Examining which o f the two stages body isolation belongs to Presentation o f individual traditions Examining their validity Presentation o f our own tradition ... Guhyasamaja tantra, and the essential points of the Guhyasamaja path are incorporated into the five stages It is to express this point that they are “explained and applied” accordingly [96] The same work...16 A Lam p to Illum inate the Five Stages meaning of “applied” here is not like the five stages of the basic state being applied to birth and death existence and to a “single day” as was explained... phenomena are illustrated and explained as the five stages The paths as they are actually taught in those other texts are not explicitly taught here; that is not the way that they are incorporated