Tantric Techniques (8 page)

At the point of nonapplication [when it no longer is necessary to apply the antidotes to laxity and excitement], a similitude of special insight is attained. Through meditation within sustaining its continuum you attain a superior pliancy, a serviceability of body and mind induced by analytical meditation. It greatly exceeds the bliss of physical pliancy induced earlier at the time of calm abiding through the power of meditative equipoise. When this superior pliancy is attained, actual special insight is attained, and thus you have gained a path consciousness that is an actual union of calm abiding and special insight.

The Fourth Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama,
L
o-sang-pel-den-ten-pay-nyi-ma
c
describes the mind of space-like meditative equipoise from two points of view, in terms of appearance and in terms of

a
’dus ma byas kyi nam mkha’
,
asa
ṃ
sk
ṛ
t
ā
k
āś
a
.

b
sngags bla med
,
anuttarayogamantra
.

c
blo bzang dpal ldan bstan pa’i nyi ma
, 1781-1852/4. See Geshe Lhundup Sopa and Jeffrey Hopkins,
Cutting Through Appearances: The Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1990), 98.

S
ū
tra Mode of Meditation
35

ascertainment. To that consciousness only an immaculate vacuity— an absence of inherent existence—
appears,
and that consciousness
ascertains
(that is, understands, comprehends, and realizes) the absence of inherent existence of the “I.” Although reasoning has led to this state, the mind is not now reasoning; it is experiencing the fruit of reasoning in a state of continuous, one-pointed ascertainment of emptiness; the only thing appearing is an utter vacuity—an absence—of inherent existence. The Fourth Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama says:

At that time you should sustain single-mindedly the following two facets of understanding emptiness. From the point of view of ascertainment, firm definite knowledge determines that the “I” does not inherently exist. Second, from the point of view of appearance there is an utter, clear vacuity that is only the absence of what is negated, that is, the true existence of “I.” Sustaining these two single-mindedly is how to sustain the space-like meditative equipoise.

There is controversy within Ge-luk-pa over whether in an earlier stage the object being ascertained as empty of inherent existence appears to an inferential consciousness realizing emptiness; however, most monastic textbooks hold that even on that level all that appears is a vacuity, the non-finding of the object under such analysis. In any case, all agree that in space-like meditative equipoise only an immaculate vacuity that is a negative of inherent existence appears—nothing else. What is ascertained is also an absence of inherent existence. The same is also true for direct realization of emptiness, though any sense of duality, knower and known, has vanished.

Appearances subsequent to meditative equipoise

When the state of one-pointed concentration on selflessness is left, that is, when the meditator takes to mind any object other than emptiness, the object is viewed as
like
an illusion, appearing one way but existing another. Just as a magician’s illusory elephant appears to be an elephant but in fact is not, so forms, sounds, and so forth appear to exist inherently but are understood as not existing inherently. The meaning of being like an illusion is not that the “I” or forms, sounds, and so forth appear to exist but actually do not; rather, their mode of existence appears to be concrete but is understood not to be so. The same is true for the “I.” The Fifth Dalai

36
Tantric Techniques

Lama addresses this issue directly:

Question:
Through having practiced the space-like meditative equipoise, what occurs after equipoise?

Answer:
The
King of Meditative Stabilizations S
ū
tra
says:
a

Like a mirage, a city of Scent-Eaters, A magician’s illusions, and dreams,

Meditation on signs is empty of inherent existence. Know all phenomena to be like that.

After meditative equipoise, the appearance of a merely nominal “I” remaining after the negation of the object of negation should be like a magician’s illusion.

The Fifth Dalai Lama proceeds to point out that mere realization that a magician’s illusions or dream objects are not real does not constitute realizing phenomena to be like a magician’s illusions, nor does realization of phenomena as like illusions mean that one merely desists from identifying appearances:

Its mode of appearance in this system is not the realization

a
ting nge ’dzin rgyal po’i mdo, sam
ā
dhir
ā
jas
ū
tra,
stanza IX.11; Toh. 127,
sde dge
edition,
mdo sde,
vol.
da,
26a.6; Sanskrit and Tibetan texts and English translation in Cristoph Cüppers,
The IXth Chapter of the Sam
ā
dhir
ā
jas
ū
tra: A Text-critical Contribution to the Study of Mah
ā
y
ā
na S
ū
tras,
Alt-und Neu-Indische Studien 41 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1990), 27:
yathaiva gandharvapura
ṃ
mar
ī
cik
ā
yathaiva m
ā
y
ā
supina
ṃ
yathaiva / svabh
ā
va
śū
ny
ā
tu nimittabh
ā
van
ā
tathopam
āṃ
j
ā
natha sarvadharm
ā
n //.
The Tibetan is on 28, and an English translation on 93-94.

The
Four Interwoven Annotations on (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path”
(674.5) explains this stanza in detail:

With respect to how all phenomena are signless, the
King of Meditative Stabilizations S
ū
tra
gives examples. Just as there is no water in a mirage but it appears to be water and just as a city of Scent-Eaters does not exist as the actualities of a city and so forth but appears to be a city and so forth and just as a magician’s emanations do not exist as horses, elephants, and so forth but appear to be horses, elephants, and so forth and just as in a dream there are no men, women, and so forth but there ap-pear to be (that is to say, just as mirages and so forth appear to be water and so on but are empty of water and so on), so forms and so forth, which are like signs of capacity to appear and manifest, are meditated on—that is to say, adhered to by way of taking them to mind—as manifestly evident (
mngon rtags
), are empty of inherent existence, and adher-ers to them are also empty of inherent existence. Know that this mode of emptiness is to be applied to all phenomena.

S
ū
tra Mode of Meditation
37

of the untruth of illusory horses and elephants or of appearances in dreams. If that were the case, even magicians and mature people who know language would know the Middle Way mode of illusory appearance. Also, the illusions referred to on this occasion are not the shimmering ephe-meral appearances
a
—unidentified as being this and not that—which occur from having practiced analysis of the view.

Question:
Then, what is needed?

Answer:
Realizing that horses and elephants manifested by a magician are not horses and elephants does not dam-age the inherent existence of horses and elephants. The glorious Dharmak
ī
rti in his
Commentary on (Dign
ā
ga’s) “Compilation of Valid Cognition”
says:
b

Without refuting their objects, they cannot be abandoned.

Desire, hatred, and so forth which are related to [perception

Of ] good qualities and defects [beyond what is actually there]

Are abandoned by way of not seeing those in the object, not by an external means.

[To overcome an afflictive emotion] it is not sufficient to [try to] pull it out like a thorn; the misconceived object must be refuted.

It is undeniable that illusory horses and elephants are seen by an eye consciousness due to its being affected by a superficial cause of error [a magician’s spell]. However, even mature worldly beings know that such horses and elephants do not exist as perceived. Just so, horses and elephants also undeniably appear to a conventional consciousness [to exist inherently] due to a deep cause of error [namely, the predispositions established by ignorance], but