all the Heroines, the female Tantric Buddhas, enter Vajravarahi’s body through her mouth and melt into her red bodhichitta, the red drops. These white and red drops unite at the tip of Guru Heruka’s sex organ, and Guru Heruka then places them on our tongue. Through tasting this secret substance, which is the nature of all the Heroes and Heroines, all the defilements and obstructions of our speech are purified. In particular, our channels, drops and inner winds are purified. We imagine that we experience great bliss, and thus we receive the blessings of the secret empowerment.
If we experience even a slight feeling of bliss through imagining that we taste the white and red bodhichittas of Guru Heruka Father and Mother, this bliss is the actual secret empowerment. This empowerment causes us to accomplish the completion stage realization of illusory body, called the ‘realization of conventional truth’, and the Enjoyment Body of a Buddha. It is called the ‘secret empowerment’ because it is granted by using a secret substance.
RECEIVING THE WISDOM-MUDRA EMPOWERMENT
We imagine that a knowledge woman, who is an emanation of Vajravarahi, appears in front of us. Guru Heruka introduces her to us, saying:
This is a supremely qualified knowledge consort for you. By relying upon her, you should accomplish the Union of Buddha for the benefit of all living beings.
We promise to do this, and the emanation woman is delighted. We recall that no phenomenon exists from its own side and, by concentrating on this firm knowledge, we dissolve all our ordinary appearances into emptiness. From the state of emptiness we generate ourself as Heruka with a blue-coloured body, four faces and twelve arms, embracing our consort Vajravarahi, who has a red-coloured body, one face and two arms; and we engage in union. Through this, our bodhichitta melts. As it descends from our crown to our throat we experience joy, as it descends from our throat to our heart we experience supreme joy, as it descends from our heart to our navel we experience extraordinary joy, and as it descends from our navel to the tip of our sex organ we imagine that we are experiencing spontaneous great bliss inseparable from emptiness. At this point we have received the blessings of the wisdom-mudra empowerment.
If we experience any of the four joys through concentrating in the way described above, this is the actual wisdom-mudra empowerment. This empowerment purifies all the defilements and obstructions of our mind and causes us to accomplish the completion stage realization of meaning clear light, called the ‘realization of ultimate truth’, and the Truth Body of a Buddha. It is called the ‘wisdom-mudra empowerment’ because it is granted by our Guru giving us a wisdom mudra. In this context the term ‘mudra’ means Tantric consort. A wisdom mudra is a Tantric consort who is a manifestation of omniscient wisdom, whereas a knowledge woman (Tib. rigma) is a woman who is a Tantric consort.
RECEIVING THE PRECIOUS WORD EMPOWERMENT
In this empowerment, Guru Heruka gives us a special instruction on what the Union of No More Learning is and how to attain it. We imagine that we hear the following words directly:
When you received the third empowerment, the wisdom-mudra empowerment, you generated your body as Heruka’s body. This is an imagined divine body. You also generated your mind as Heruka’s mind, an imagined Deity mind. Finally, through continual practice of this meditation you will attain the actual body and mind of Heruka, the resultant union of the illusory body and the mind of great bliss and emptiness of a Buddha. This is the Union of No More Learning, the final goal.
Through hearing these words, we imagine that we experience great bliss, and through this we receive the blessings of the precious word empowerment.
If we experience a feeling of joy through imagining that we hear Guru Heruka’s words, this is the actual word empowerment. This empowerment purifies all the defilements and obstructions of our body, speech and mind together, and causes us to accomplish the union of Buddha Vajradhara’s body and mind. It is called the ‘word empowerment’ because it is granted by instructions in the form of words.
REQUESTING THE LINEAGE GURUS
In the auspicious prayers in the sadhana, it says:
May there be the auspiciousness of a great treasury of blessings
Arising from the excellent deeds of all the root and lineage Gurus,
Who have accomplished the supreme attainment of Buddha Heruka
By relying upon the excellent, secret path of the King of Tantras.
As mentioned above, this prayer reveals that all the lineage Gurus of these instructions, from Ghantapa up to Vajradhara Trijang Losang Yeshe Rinpoche, are actual examples of practitioners who have attained the Union of Buddha Heruka through the practice of Heruka body mandala. We now rejoice deeply in their lives and accomplishments, and make a strong determination to follow their example. With strong faith we recite the request prayers from the sadhana, in particular requesting the lineage Gurus to bestow their blessings so that we too can attain the Union of Buddha Heruka’s holy body and mind, and thereby benefit all living beings without exception.
ACCOMPLISHING SPONTANEOUS GREAT BLISS BY DISSOLVING THE GURU INTO OURSELF
As a result of our sincere requests, we imagine that all the other holy beings in the Field of Merit melt into light, gather from the edges, and dissolve into our root Guru Heruka, the Principal of the Field of Merit. Out of affection for us, our root Guru develops the wish to unite with us, and from our side too we strongly wish for this to happen. Then we imagine that Guru Heruka becomes smaller from below and above, diminishes to the size of a thumb, enters our crown, and descends through our central channel to our heart, where he mixes inseparably with our root mind. Since the essence of Guru Heruka is the wisdom of spontaneous great bliss, we think, ‘Through mixing my root mind with Guru Heruka, my mind transforms into spontaneous great bliss.’ We meditate single-pointedly on this experience of spontaneous great bliss for as long as possible.
Darikapa
Bringing the Three Bodies into the Path
THE ACTUAL PRACTICE OF GENERATION STAGE
This has six parts:
1 What is generation stage?
2 Bringing the three bodies into the path
3 Checking meditation on the mandala and basis Heruka
4 Generating the mandala and Deities of the body mandala
5 Adorning our body with the armour Deities, inviting and absorbing the wisdom beings, and making offerings
6 The actual generation stage meditation
WHAT IS GENERATION STAGE?
Generation stage is defined as a realization of a creative yoga that purifies the three basic bodies and causes the three bodies of the path to ripen. It is called a ‘creative yoga’ because its object is generated, or created, by a mind of pure concentration. For example, when we perform self-generation as Heruka, there appears to our mind a form of Heruka with a blue-coloured body, four faces and twelve arms; and this object is generated by our mind through the force of correct imagination. However, even though it is generated by mind, it exists. If we continue with this meditation, our mind will become more and more familiar with the object, and eventually we will attain the actual body of Heruka; but if we do not first create it with our mind we will never accomplish the actual body of Heruka
