The Tibetan Wheel of the Law
Described on page «xiii
Deities had shone upon thee, one by one; and thou hadst been set face to face, but, owing to the influence of thine evil propensities, thou wert awed and terrified by them and hast remained here till now.
If thou hadst recognized the radiances of the Five Orders of Wisdom to be the emanations from thine own thought- forms, ere this thou wouldst have obtained Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-K aya, through having been absorbed into the halo of rainbow light in one or another of the Five Orders of Buddhas. But now look on undistractedly. Now the lights of all Five Orders, called the Lights of the Union of Four Wisdoms,! will come to receive thee. Act so as to know them.
O nobly-born, on this the Sixth Day, the four colours of the primal states of the four elements [water, earth, fire, air] will shine upon thee simultaneously. At that time, from the Central Realm of the Spreading Forth of Seed, the Buddha? Vairochana, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant
They correspond to the four stages of dhyana which arise in the same order. They probably also correspond, but in a less exact manner, to the Four Wisdoms: the Mirror-like Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, the All-Discrimi- nating Wisdom, and the All-Performing Wisdom.
‘Dhyana consists of progressive mental states: analysis (Skt. vifarka), reflection (Skt. vichara), fondness (Skt. priti), bliss (Skt. @nanda), and conzentra- tion (Skt. ekagrata). In the first stage of dhyana, the devotee asks himself, ‘‘ What is this body? Isit lasting; isit the thing tobe saved?”’ and decides that to cling to an impermanent, corruptible bodily form, such as he thereby realizes it to be, is not desirable. Similarly, having gained knowledge of the nature of Form, he analyses and reflects upon Touch, Feeling, Volition, Cognition, and Desire ; and, finding that Mind is the apparent reality, arrives at ordinary concentration,
‘In the second stage of dhydna, reflection only is employed; in other words, reflection transcends the lower mental process called analysis. In the third stage, reflection gives way to a blissful state of consciousness ; and this bliss, being at first apparently a physical sensation, merges into pure ecstasy, in the fourth stage. In the fifth stage, the sensation of ecstasy, although always present in a suppressed or secondary condition, gives way to complete concen- tration”—Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup.
[deities], will come to shine upon thee. From the Eastern Realm of Pre-eminent Happiness, the Buddha Vajra-Sattva, the
to shine upon thee, From the Southern Realm endowed with Glory, the Buddha Ratna-Sambhava, the Divine Father-Mother,
From the Happy Western Realm |? of Heaped-up Lotuses, the Buddha Amitabha, the Divine Father-Mother, along with
the Northern Realm of Perfected Good Deeds, the Buddha Amogha-Siddhi, the Divine Father-Mother, along with the attendants will come, amidst a halo of rainbow light, to shine upon | thee at this very moment.
O nobly-born, on the outer circle of these five pair of
[Ones]: the Victorious One,? the Destroyer of the Lord of Death,? the Horse-necked King, the Urn of Nectar;° with the four female Door-keepers: the Goad-Bearer,® the Noose-Bearer,’? the Chain-Bearer,2 and the Bell-Bearer ;? ‘awakened [from sleep of stupidity]’ + rgyas = ‘developed fully [in all attributes of perfection (or moral virtues)]’.
nectar (in the esoteric sense of Tantric Yoga), amrita meaning ‘nectar’ exoteri- cally, and, esoterically, ‘voidness’. He is the Door-keeper of the North.
® Text : Dril-bu-ma (pron. Til-bu-ma) : Skt. Kinkini-Dhari: ‘ She holding the Bell’, the shakti of Amrita-Dhara.
All the Door-keepers and their shaktis possess occult significance in relation
along with the Buddha of the Devas, named the One of Supreme Power,’ the Buddha of the Asuras, named [He of] Strong Texture,’ the Buddha of Mankind, named the Lion of the Shakyas, the Buddha of the brute kingdom, named the Unshakable Lion, the Buddha of the Pretas, named the One of Flaming Mouth, and the Buddha of the Lower World, named the King of Truth:*—I[these], the Eight Father- Mother Door-keepers and the Six Teachers, the Victorious Ones—will come to shine, too.
The All-Good Father, and the All-Good Mother,‘ the Great Ancestors of all the Buddhas: Samanta-Bhadra [and Samanta-Bhadra], the Divine Father and the Divine Mother— these two, also will come to shine.
These forty-two perfectly endowed deities, issuing from within thy heart, being the product of thine own pure love, will come to shine. Know them.
O nobly-born, these realms are not come from somewhere outside [thyself]. They come from within the four divisions of thy heart, which, including its centre, make the five direc- tions. They issue from within there, and shine upon thee. The
to the four directions and to the mandala (or conclave of deities) to which they belong. As Tantric faith-guarding deities (Tib. Ch’os-skyon : Skt. Dharmapala) they rank with Bodhisattvas. They symbolize, too, the four tranquil or peace- ful methods employed by Divine Beings for the salvation of sentient creatures (of whom mankind are the highest), which are : Compassion, Fondness, Love, and Stern Justice.
Power’).
(Skt. Virdchdra): a name referring either to the bodily strength of, or else to the coat of mail worn by, this Lord of the Asura-loka, the world wherein warfare is the predominant passion of existence.
deities, too, are not come from somewhere else: they exist from eternity within the faculties of thine own intellect.1 Know them to be of that nature.
O nobly-born, the size of all these deities is not large, not
their colours, their sitting postures, their thrones, and the emblems that each holds.
These deities are formed into groups of five pairs, each group of five being surrounded by a fivefold circle of radiances, the male Bodhisattvas partaking of the nature of the Divine Fathers, and the female Bodhisattvas par- taking of the nature of the Divine Mothers. All these divine conclaves will come to shine upon thee in one com- plete conclave? They are thine own tutelary deities.® Know them to be such.
O nobly-born, from the hearts of the Divine Fathers and Mothers of the Five Orders, the rays of light of the Four Wisdoms united, extremely clear and fine, like the rays of the sun spun into threads, will come and shine upon thee and strike against thy heart.
On that path of radiance there will come to shine glorious orbs of light, blue in colour, emitting rays, the Dharma- Dhéatu Wisdom [itself], each appearing like an inverted turquoise cup, surrounded by similar orbs, smaller in size, glorious and dazzling, radiant and transparent, each made
round about with five starry spots of light of the same nature, leaving neither the centre nor the borders [of the
From the heart of Vajra-Sattva, the white light-path of the Mirror-like Wisdom, white and transparent, glorious and dazzling, glorious and terrifying, made more glorious with orbs surrounded by smaller orbs of transparent and radiant light upon it, each like an inverted mirror, will come -to shine.
From the heart of Ratna-Sambhava, the yellow light-path
[of radiance], each like an inverted gold cup, surrounded by smaller orbs, and these with yet smaller orbs, will come to shine,
From the heart of Amitabha, the transparent, bright red light-path of the Discriminating Wisdom, upon which are orbs, like inverted coral cups, emitting rays of Wisdom, extremely bright and dazzling, each glorified with five
with orbs and smaller satellite orbs,—will come to shine.
These will come to shine against thy heart simultaneously.’
O nobly-born, all those are the radiances of thine own intellectual faculties come to shine. They have not come from any other place. Be not attracted towards them; be not weak ; be not terrified ; but abide in the mood of non- thought- formation. In that state all the forms and radiances will merge into thyself, and Buddhahood will be obtained.
The green light-path of the Wisdom of Perfected Actions will not shine upon thee, because the Wisdom-faculty of thine intellect hath not been perfectly developed.
O nobly-born, those are called the Lights of the Four
2 ‘The mood of non- thought-formation’ is attained in samddhi-yoga. This state, regarded as the primordial state of Mind, is illustrated by the following figure: So long as a man afloat on a river passively submits to the current, he is carried along smoothly; but if he attempts to grasp an object fixed in the water the tranquillity of his motion is broken. Similarly, thought-formation arrests the natural flow of the mind.
NS
the Inner Path through Vajra-Sattva.?
At that time, thou must remember the teachings of the setting-face-to-face which thou hast had from thy guru. If thou hast remembered the purport of the settings-face- to-face, thou wilt have recognized all these lights which have shone upon thee, as being the reflection of thine own inner light, and, having recognized them as intimate friends, thou wilt have believed in them and have understood [them
And believing in the unchanging nature of the pure and holy Truth, thou wilt have had produced in thee the tranquil-flowing Samadhi; and, having merged into the body of the perfectly evolved intellect, thou wilt have obtained Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-K aya, whence there is no return.
O nobly-born, along with the radiances of Wisdom, the impure illusory lights of the Six Zokas will also come to
white light from the devas, a dull green light from the asuras, a dull yellow light from human beings, a dull blue light from the brutes, a dull reddish light from the predas, and a dull smoke-coloured light from Hell. These six thus will come to shine, along with the six radiances of Wisdom; whereupon, be not afraid of nor be attracted towards any, but allow thy- self to rest in the non-thought condition.
human world light-path. The necessary corrections have been made in the translation herein and in the corresponding passages in folio 46 following,
If thou art frightened by the pure radiances of Wisdom and attracted by the impure lights of the Six Lokas, then thou wilt assume a body in any of the Six Lokas and suffer sang- saric miseries; and thou wilt never be emancipated from the Ocean of Sangsara, wherein thou wilt be whirled round and round and made to taste of the sufferings thereof.
O nobly-born, if thou art one who hath not obtained the select words of the guru, thou wilt have fear of the pure radiances of Wisdom and of the deities thereof. Being thus frightened, thou wilt be attracted towards the impure sangsaric objects. Act not so. Humbly trust in the dazzling pure radiances of Wisdom. Frame thy mind to faith, and think, ‘The compassionate radiances of Wisdom of the Five Orders of Buddhas ! have come to take hold of me out of compassion ; I take refuge in them.’
Not yielding to attraction towards the illusory lights of the Six Lokas, but devoting thy whole mind one-pointedly towards the Divine Fathers and Mothers, the Buddhas of the Five Orders, pray thus:
‘Alas! when wandering in the Sangsara through the power of the five virulent poisons,”
On the bright radiance-path of the Four Wisdoms united,
guard ;
Lokas ;
And, being saved from the ambuscades of the dread ardo,
By thus praying, one recognizeth one’s own inner light ; *
and, merging one’s self therein, in at-one-ment, Buddhahood is attained: through humble faith, the ordinary devotee cometh to know himself, and obtaineth Liberation; even the most lowly, by the power of the pure prayer, can close the doors of the Six Zokas, and, in understanding the real meaning of the Four Wisdoms united, obtain Buddhahood by the hollow path- way through Vajra-Sattva.?
Thus by being set face to face in that detailed manner, those who are destined to be liberated will come to recognize
not the least predilection for any religion—and some who have failed in their vows—through the power of #armic illusions, not recognizing, although set face to face [with Truth], will stray downwards.