A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages by Je Tsongkhapa

Author:Je Tsongkhapa
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781614290353
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

PART 7

The Conventional-Truth Illusory Body

24. Gaining Instructions on the Illusory Body

[240] Completion stage of the two truths

1.The completion stage of each truth

2.The completion stage of the two truths inseparably combined

The completion stage of each truth

1.Completion stage of the conventional illusory body

2.Completion stage of the ultimate clear light

Completion stage of the conventional illusory body

1.Actual instruction on the illusory body

2.Associated instruction on the illusory body

Actual instruction on the illusory body

1.What kind of listener should perform what kind of activity

2.Stages of explanation by the teacher

What kind of listener should perform what kind of activity

Five Stages says that the disciple endowed with four attributes, in order to receive the instructions on illusory body, should first praise the guru and then make requests.731 The first of these four attributes is “to have followed the generation stage and to have received the initiations,” meaning to have first received the initiations and to have followed, or trained in, the generation stage. The second is “to be possessed of the wisdom that has understood the thinking of the four kinds of tantra,” meaning to have the wisdom of having trained in the four classes of tantra. The third is “to possess the learning of the three isolations,” meaning to have trained well in the path of the three vajras. The fourth is to have “great faith in the two truths,” meaning to have a very firm faith in the completion stage of the two truths individually and of the two truths inseparably joined. Such a disciple should please the guru for a long time. After pleasing the guru, he should make a host of offerings and offer to the guru a sixteen-year-old girl. He then offers praise, beginning “In your body there are no cavities.” This is followed by the requests, beginning “An accumulation of omniscient wisdom …” An older translation of Five Stages says that the nine initiations of the garland and so on, together with the secret initiation, are given after the core teachings on illusory body have been imparted, and this is followed by the praises. The Chak translation says, however, that after having received the nine initiations and the secret initiation, praises and requests are made in order to receive the illusory-body core teachings. This is the better translation. Lakṣmī also explains it this way.

Those of the past say that this passage from Five Stages teaches that with the learning of the three isolations you then receive the secret initiation. [241] Holding to this they say that if you have received the vase initiation completely, then even if you have not received the higher initiations, it is acceptable to meditate on the three isolations. This is very wrong because to those who have not received the higher initiations—which make them a fit vessel for the completion stage—the secrets of the completion stage should not be revealed. Also, the meaning of the text is that those possessing the learning of the three isolations receive the secret initiation as a prerequisite for the praise and requests that are to be made in order to receive the illusory body instructions.

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