10 C t he t reasury of knowled ge Kongtrul points out the means to realize these three continuums: The cause-continuum is understood through the wisdom arising from broad and impartial study and reflection The method-continuum is to be applied in such a way that it becomes a personal experience, based on meditation accompanied by intense faith and effort The result-continuum is realized through the utmost cultivation of one’s positive potential, pristine awareness, and ethics The Practice of Tantra and the Nature of Mind The message of the Buddha—avoid negative actions, practice positive ones, train and understand your mind—is simple and direct, yet the path of tantra as a means to understanding the mind seems anything but simple The Venerable Bokar Rinpoché, Karma Ngedön Chökyi Lodrö (19402004), a highly esteemed teacher with an extraordinary ability to elucidate the deepest and most complex of teachings, spoke about tantric practice as it relates to the nature of the mind and body:15 How mind is ultimately, that is, how mind is present, is the same in all beings What is mind? It is the experiencing of happiness and suffering, the discriminating between good and bad, the thinking of thoughts How can we describe mind? What is its nature? Because mind is not a thing, because it is empty, we say it is the dimension of what is true, reality itself (dharmakāya) Because it is clear, it is the dimension of enjoyment (sambhogakāya) Because it is active, it is the dimension of manifestation or expression (nirmāṇakāya) Thus, mind, by virtue of what it is, has these three dimensions They not arise separately When we not know mind directly, we separate out these three aspects We also separate them for the purposes of description They are, in fact, not separate What mind or experience is, ultimately, cannot be understood conceptually and cannot be expressed in words It is an immense profundity that cannot be fathomed through intellectual or conceptual processes For this reason, Buddha Shakyamuni declared, shortly after his awakening: tr anslator s’ introduction c 11 Depth and peace, utter simplicity, luminous clarity not made of anything: I have made a discovery that is like the nectar of the gods Why tell others about it? No one would understand I will live silent in the forest You cannot know the peace, depth, and simplicity of mind through conceptual processes Yet, although mind cannot be described and cannot be known by the intellect, a practitioner truly knows it in the experience of pristine awareness—knowing itself, free from the projections of thought and emotion We not know mind as the three dimensions of awakened mind For time without beginning, we have lived not knowing this Not recognizing the emptiness of mind, the dimension of what mind ultimately is, we fall into the illusion of being some thing, an “I.” Not recognizing the clarity of mind for what it is, the dimension of enjoyment, we experience the natural activity of emptiness, which arises without restriction, as other, as external objects Because we don’t experience emptiness and clarity as one, we live in duality: I-other, subject-object In other words, we are subject to illusion You can find detailed descriptions and explanations of this fundamental misperception in the sutras and tantras Both acknowledge that mind, by virtue of what it is, is not born and does not die It is empty, the dimension of what is ultimately true That being said, the tantras also describe a connection between the nature of mind and the manifestation of the physical body, a connection that depends on subtle elements Because we not recognize the clarity of mind, the natural activity of emptiness, the system of subtle channels (nāḍī )16 arises and supports a body that seems to exist Because we not recognize emptiness, what mind is, the winds (prāṇa),17 or subtle energies, arise Because we not recognize that clarity and emptiness are one, the vital essences (bindu)18 arise Under the influence of illusion, the nature of our body is organized according to this system of subtle channels, winds, and vital essences We not know that the elements of this system are actually clarity, emptiness, and the union of clarity and 12 C t he t reasury of knowled ge emptiness, respectively, and thus, in essence the three dimensions of awakened mind It is only because of our confused perception that we experience clarity as the channels, emptiness as the winds, and their union as the vital essences The dualistic framework of subject-object experience is associated with our ordinary body, which is maintained by this system of subtle elements The dualistic framework causes us to see mind and body as separate and different entities Thus, our perceptions of the mind and of the body are both false Mind or experience is the capacity for bliss, intrinsic unchanging pristine awareness The body is the expression of the clarity of the mind It is the form or expression of what is true The relationship between mind as the dimension of ultimate reality and the body as the expression of that reality is like the relationship between the sun and rays of sunlight The rays are the natural expression of the sun They are not different in nature from the sun When we don’t know that mind and body are the two aspects of reality, and thus are of the same nature, we experience an ordinary body and an ordinary mind and experience them as two separate entities In order to dispel this illusion, vajrayana uses especially deep methods such as cultivating deities and reciting mantras Right now, we are convinced that our bodies really exist All ordinary beings have this illusion in common To dispel this illusion, we cultivate the experience of being the deity, of having the deity’s body Whether we are practicing Avalokiteshvara, Vajravarahi, or any other deity, we think, “I am this deity.” And we imagine that all beings are deities Mind is what cultivates this experience What we are cultivating is the experience of having the deity’s body as our body If we don’t practice this way, we remain stuck in our ordinary way of experiencing our body Thus, we experience the body as existing as matter Consequently, we are attached to our own body and regard other peoples’ bodies with aversion, as something other Our belief in having a material body is the source of much mental activity based on attachment and aversion To remedy this disturbance, we use a method of practice in which we consider our body and the bodies of all beings as tr anslator s’ introduction c 13 being the deity’s body When we practice this way, we don’t see the deity’s body as made of matter, but as empty yet appearing, appearing yet empty Form and emptiness are one, like a reflection in a mirror or an appearance in a dream We apply this principle to the experience of our own body as the deity’s body, to the experience of others’ bodies as deity bodies, and to the environment as the deity’s domain of pure presence When what arises as sensory experience is no longer perceived as matter, the mental and emotional turbulence associated with attachment and aversion no longer arises The deity is an expression of what is true, an expression of what mind or experience is The cultivation of our sense of identification with the deity makes the dimension of what is true progressively accessible to us In the beginning, this form of meditation is a conceptual notion Imagining our body as the deity’s body, as Avalokiteshvara for example, is only a mental production But it is still useful As long as we are thinking, “I am Avalokiteshvara; I am not this ordinary body of matter,” the turbulence of attachment and aversion subsides As our ability in meditation is refined, the deity in our meditation appears naturally, through the inherent power of the mind It is no longer a mental production but is the experience of appearance and emptiness arising as one, like an enchantment This is the deity that represents what is ultimately true In the early stages of our practice, the deity we generate is only the deity that is what appears to be true The ultimate deity is how mind is, the bliss of awareness, which we experience free from distraction and confusion To experience this awareness and to rest there is to know the ultimate deity Beginners are not able to know it directly, but move closer to it because of the connection between the ultimate deity and the apparent deity The Qualified Practitioner of Tantra As Kongtrul writes,19 A person on this path of tantra must possess three special qualities: one, inalienable faith in the principles of the ground, path, 14 C t he t reasury of knowled ge and result that constitute the vajrayana system; two, unremitting diligence in the pursuit of areas of study, reflection, and meditation with the wish to awaken within the same lifetime or at least within the intermediate period before rebirth, for the sake of all beings; and three, the supreme good fortune of being endowed with wisdom and other qualities derived from the awakening of the special potency of one’s affinity for mahayana Kongtrul further points out that a practitioner of tantra must have three kinds of confidence: confidence in the profound path of tantra upon which one embarks; confidence in the person who leads one on the path, an authentic master; and confidence in oneself as a practitioner Having confidence in tantra, he explains, means being convinced of the path’s validity based on the fact that tantra was taught by the Buddha Having confidence in the teacher means being convinced of his or her authenticity since the teacher holds an unbroken transmission and preserves the tantric vows and pledges Having confidence in oneself means being convinced of one’s own ability based on the various experiences arising from the efficacy of practicing the path one has learned Kongtrul contends that a person endowed with the first two kinds of confidence should study the tantras and their commentaries Once having gained a sound understanding of the contents, the student should receive an authentic initiation by which he or she assumes tantric pledges and vows The person is then ready to begin to cultivate the two phases of tantric practice: the phase of creation and that of completion Thus, all the stages of the tantric path are contained in two steps: first, receiving initiation to bring oneself to spiritual maturity and assume tantric pledges; and second, the main element of the practice, cultivating the two phases of the path It is by following these two steps that one achieves the third kind of confidence The Two Phases of Tantric Practice Although the highest yoga tantras differ greatly from one another in emphasis and methods of application, they all consist of the two phases of practice Kongtrul writes:20 The highest yoga tantra’s distinctive features are its clarity of profound meaning in the completion phase; its infinitude of ... nature of mind and the manifestation of the physical body, a connection that depends on subtle elements Because we not recognize the clarity of mind, the natural activity of emptiness, the system of. .. essences (bindu)18 arise Under the influence of illusion, the nature of our body is organized according to this system of subtle channels, winds, and vital essences We not know that the elements of. .. emptiness, and the union of clarity and 12 C t he t reasury of knowled ge emptiness, respectively, and thus, in essence the three dimensions of awakened mind It is only because of our confused perception