appears. It is important to feel that our mind of clear light has become one with emptiness, like water mixed with water. This inseparable union of our very subtle mind and emptiness is called ‘clear light emptiness’. We identify this as the Dharmakaya, or Truth Body, of Vajrayogini, and then fall asleep maintaining this recognition throughout our sleep. When we wake up the next morning we immediately remember emptiness. This practice increases our wisdom, causing us to gain experience of the clear light and eventually to attain the Truth Body of a Buddha.
The clear light mind manifests automatically during sleep and death, but only those proficient in completion stage meditation are able to retain mindfulness at these times. Most people are unable to recognize either the clear light of sleep or the clear light of death. Besides sleep and death, the only other time the clear light manifests is when all the winds are deliberately gathered and dissolved within the central channel through the force of completion stage meditation. Yogis or Yoginis who can cause the clear light mind to manifest in this way are able to use this mind to meditate on emptiness. When they fall asleep they remain mindful throughout their sleep and use the clear light of sleep to deepen their experience of emptiness. In deep sleep the winds naturally and forcefully gather and dissolve within the central channel, and the clear light that manifests at that time is purer than that which a novice completion stage meditator can induce through meditation alone. Therefore, sleep becomes extremely valuable for these Yogis. Their most profound experience of emptiness occurs during deep sleep.
Meditators who are familiar with transforming the clear light of sleep into the spiritual path will also be able to transform the clear light of death. They will remain mindful throughout their death process, and when the clear light of death dawns they will be able to transform it into the mind of ultimate example clear light. This realization directly prevents ordinary death. For this reason, transforming sleep into the path is one of the principal practices of Secret Mantra and one of the most important methods for attaining enlightenment.
THE YOGA OF RISING
There are two ways to practise the yoga of rising, depending upon the way in which we practise the yoga of sleeping. If we sleep according to generation stage we should practise the yoga of rising according to generation stage, and if we sleep according to completion stage we should practise the yoga of rising according to completion stage.
THE YOGA OF RISING ACCORDING TO GENERATION STAGE
Immediately upon waking we should recall our visualization from the previous night and try to prevent ordinary appearances. We should develop three recognitions: (1) the world is the Pure Land of the Dakinis, with our room as the phenomena source mandala; (2) we are Vajrayogini; and (3) all other beings are Heroes and Heroines. We imagine that in the space around us Dakas and Dakinis are reciting Vajrayogini’s mantra. This causes us to rise with the joyful motivation to benefit others. Throughout the day we regard any sound we hear as the sound of this mantra.
While dressing, instead of putting on ordinary clothes we imagine that we are offering the five ornaments, such as the crown and the earrings, to ourself generated as Vajrayogini. We then prostrate three times to our root Guru on the northern petal of the lotus, which causes him to generate a joyful wish to enter our body and mind. We imagine that he melts into light and diminishes to the size of a small egg. He then enters through our crown and dissolves into the letter BAM at our heart.
Throughout the day we should remember that our Guru is at our heart in the aspect of a letter BAM. We should also maintain the divine pride of our body and mind as Vajrayogini’s body and mind, our room as the phenomena source mandala, the world as the Pure Land of Vajrayogini, and all beings as Heroes or Heroines. If we find that we are about to develop negative states of mind we should immediately recall these recognitions. If we can maintain this pure appearance there will be no basis for delusions to arise. We should try to maintain these three recognitions until we go to sleep, when we once again practise the yoga of sleeping.
The yoga of rising is practised continuously throughout the day, and the yoga of sleeping is practised continuously throughout the night. If we practise these two yogas diligently, all our daily actions become a quick path to enlightenment and we will definitely attain Buddhahood before very long.
THE YOGA OF RISING ACCORDING TO COMPLETION STAGE
If we have slept according to completion stage yoga, absorbed in the clear light of emptiness, then upon waking we imagine that from that state of emptiness we arise instantly in the form of Vajrayogini, just as clouds might suddenly appear in a clear sky. As in the practice of generation stage we should develop the three recognitions: ourself as Vajrayogini, the world as the Pure Land of Keajra with our room as the phenomena source mandala, and all other beings as Heroes, Tantric male Deities, and Heroines, Tantric female Deities. The previous night we dissolved all phenomena into emptiness, and our mind of clear light was mixed inseparably with this emptiness and identified as the Dharmakaya. From this union of bliss and emptiness a new world now appears, arising from the substance of our blissful mind and having the same nature as our mind. If we think like this it will be easy to generate pure appearance and develop the three recognitions.
We should maintain the three recognitions strongly throughout the day, recalling them again and again until we go to sleep. To sustain this practice we need both mindfulness and alertness. By relying upon mindfulness we should maintain the motivation and the three recognitions that we generated upon rising. From time to time we should apply alertness to check that we are still holding these recognitions. If we fail to apply alertness our practice of maintaining the three recognitions will quickly degenerate. We will lose pure appearance and revert to viewing ourself as ordinary. This happens because we are so accustomed to ordinary appearance. Whenever we find that we have forgotten our initial motivation or the three recognitions we should recall them immediately. To maintain pure appearance we do not need to recite words or sit on a cushion. If we perform our daily actions with mindfulness of the three recognitions they all become a method for attaining enlightenment quickly.
When we are able to maintain these three recognitions all the time, everything we see will help us to develop great bliss. Nothing will appear as ugly, irritating, or disgusting; rather everything experienced by our senses will seem attractive and will stimulate pure pleasure. Because at this stage we will be very familiar with meditating on the union of bliss and emptiness, even our sense pleasures will remind us of emptiness. Thus, by maintaining the three recognitions all our daily experiences can be transformed into the wisdom of great bliss and emptiness. The practice of the three recognitions is the supreme moral discipline of the Vajrayana. If we understand and really believe that our self, our world and all other phenomena that we normally perceive do not exist, as explained in detail in Modern Buddhism, we will not find it difficult to maintain these three recognitions day and night.
THE YOGA OF EXPERIENCING NECTAR
The main purpose of practising the yoga of experiencing nectar is to transform pleasures into the spiritual path. Because we are beings of the desire realm we always take delight in seeing attractive forms, listening to beautiful sounds, smelling fragrant scents, tasting delicious food, and touching smooth and sensuous objects. These five objects of enjoyment are known as the ‘five objects of desire’. We usually enjoy them with a mind of attachment, and so most of our actions related to these objects are non-virtuous and lead to experiences of suffering in the future.
It is only through Dharma practice, particularly the practice of Secret Mantra, that our experience of these five objects of desire can be transformed into a spiritual path. According to Sutra teachings we prevent attachment to the five objects of desire by recognizing their faults and avoiding contact with them. In the practice of Secret Mantra, however, we transform our enjoyment of desirable objects into the spiritual path. This transformation is one of the special attributes of Secret Mantra.
The practice of transforming enjoyments is very extensive because it applies to every object of desire. One method is to regard all visual forms as being in essence Rupavajra Goddesses, all sounds as Shaptavajra Goddesses, all smells as Gändhavajra Goddesses, all tastes as Rasavajra Goddesses, and all tactile objects as Parshavajra Goddesses. When enjoying a delicious meal, for example, we should overcome our ordinary appearance of the food by dissolving it into emptiness, and then in its place