sadhana, we can fulfil the commitment taken during the Vajrayogini empowerment to generate ourself as the Deity by practising the following sequence. First we go for refuge, generate bodhichitta, and dissolve the objects of refuge, as explained earlier. We then meditate on bringing death, the intermediate state and rebirth into the path and generate as the Deity Vajrayogini, as just described. We then visualize that at our heart, inside a red phenomena source and on top of a moon cushion, there is a red letter BAM. Standing in a circle counter-clockwise around this is the mantra of Vajrayogini: OM OM OM SARWA BUDDHA DAKINIYE VAJRA WARNANIYE VAJRA BEROTZANIYE HUM HUM HUM PHAT PHAT PHAT SÖHA. With strong faith we concentrate on the BAM and mantra letters and recite the mantra as many times as possible, or at least as many times as we promised to when we received the Vajrayogini empowerment. Finally, we recite a short prayer of dedication. A condensed self-generation sadhana, The Blissful Path, can be found in Appendix II.
It is also possible to do a middling self-generation practice in conjunction with the sadhana called Dakini Yoga, which can be found in Appendix II. However we should not be satisfied with only short practices. If we wish to attain Buddhahood by relying upon Vajrayogini we definitely need to practise the eleven yogas extensively.
BLESSING THE INNER OFFERING
This has five parts:
1 The benefits
2 The basis of the inner offering
3 The visual object of the inner offering
4 How to bless the inner offering
5 The significance of the inner offering
THE BENEFITS
The practice of inner offering is found only in Highest Yoga Tantra. Inner offering can be used as an offering to the holy beings, for ourself as in the yoga of experiencing nectar, or to avert external or internal obstacles. Blessing and tasting the inner offering is a cause of many levels of completion stage realization. Through this practice we can purify our five contaminated aggregates and elements and transform them into the five Buddha families, and we can purify the five delusions and transform them into the five omniscient wisdoms. Making the inner offering is a cause of increasing our life span, accumulating merit and experiencing great bliss.
THE BASIS OF THE INNER OFFERING
The inner offering is so called because its basis is a collection of five meats and five nectars, all of which are inner substances, or substances derived from the bodies of sentient beings. Torma and tsog offerings are based upon external substances which are not obtained from the body and so they are called ‘outer offerings’. For the inner offering, the basis and the visual object are different, whereas for the outer offerings they are the same.
THE VISUAL OBJECT OF THE INNER OFFERING
We set up in front of us a skullcup, or a vessel of similar shape, or any small container that has a lid. Into this container we pour black tea or alcohol, and into this we put a nectar pill that has been blessed by our Spiritual Guide or received from a Dharma practitioner of the same lineage as ourself. This is the visual object. Focusing on this we proceed to bless the inner offering.
HOW TO BLESS THE INNER OFFERING
This has four parts:
1 Clearance
2 Purification
3 Generation
4 Transformation
CLEARANCE
Here, clearance means clearing or driving away obstacles such as harmful spirits who might interfere with the blessing of the inner offering. This is done by reciting the mantra OM KHANDAROHI HUM HUM PHAT. Among the many Deities of the Heruka mandala, the wrathful female Deity Khandarohi is the one responsible for dispelling obstacles and hindrances. She is also known as the ‘Goddess of Action’ and her mantra is called the ‘action mantra’. While reciting this mantra we imagine countless red Khandarohi Goddesses emanating from our heart. They disperse in all directions and drive away any negative forces that might obstruct the blessing of the inner offering. We then reabsorb the Goddesses into our heart.
PURIFICATION
In this context, purification means purifying our ordinary appearances and ordinary conceptions, including self-grasping, by means of meditation. We need to purify the ten substances before we can transform them into nectar. To do this we focus on the visual object of the inner offering and contemplate that it and all other phenomena, including our self that we normally perceive, do not exist. At the same time we recite the mantra: OM SÖBHAWA SHUDDHA SARWA DHARMA SÖBHAWA SHUDDHO HAM, followed by the phrase ‘Everything becomes emptiness.’ The mantra summarizes the meditation on emptiness – OM refers to the visual object of the inner offering, SARWA DHARMA means ‘all phenomena’, and SÖBHAWA SHUDDHO means ‘lack inherent existence’. The whole mantra, therefore, means: ‘All phenomena, including the visual object of the inner offering, lack inherent existence.’
After reciting ’Everything becomes emptiness’ we meditate briefly on emptiness, the mere absence of all phenomena that we normally perceive. We imagine that all conventional appearances have dissolved into emptiness, identify this emptiness as lack of inherent existence, and then try to mix our mind with this emptiness.
GENERATION
This has two parts:
1 Generating the container
2 Generating the contained substances
GENERATING THE CONTAINER
We visualize:
From the state of emptiness appears a blue letter YAM. This is the seed of the wind element and its nature is the wisdom of great bliss and emptiness. The YAM transforms into a huge wind mandala, which is blue, bow-shaped, and lies flat with its curved edge furthest from us. At both corners there is a white banner. The movement of the banners activates the wind mandala, causing the wind to blow.
Above the wind mandala appears a red letter RAM. This is the seed of the fire element and its nature is the wisdom of great bliss and emptiness. The RAM transforms into a triangular fire mandala, which is flat and red. One of its corners points towards us, directly above the straight edge of the wind mandala, and the other two corners are above the curved edge of the wind mandala. This red triangle, which is slightly smaller than the wind mandala, is the core of the fire mandala. When this core is fanned by the wind, red-hot flames blaze and cover the whole wind mandala.
Above the fire mandala appear three AH letters of different colours. The letter AH above the eastern point, the point closest to us, is white; the letter above the northern point, to our right, is red; and the letter above the southern point, to our left, is blue. These letters transform into three large human heads, which are the same colours as the letters from which they developed.
Above the centre of the three heads appears a large white letter AH, which symbolizes emptiness. The AH transforms into a vast skullcup, white outside and red inside, which rests on top of the heads.
GENERATING THE CONTAINED SUBSTANCES
To generate the contained substances we should visualize the following:
Inside the skullcup there instantly appear the ten letters OM, KHAM, AM, TRAM, HUM, LAM, MAM, PAM, TAM, BAM. Gradually these letters transform into the five meats and the five nectars. In the east, the part of the skullcup nearest to us, the white letter OM transforms into yellow excrement, which is marked by a radiant white OM, the seed-letter of Vairochana. In the north, to our right, the green letter KHAM transforms into white brains marked by a radiant green KHAM, the seed-letter of Amoghasiddhi. In the west the red letter AM transforms into white sperm marked by a radiant red AM, the seed-letter of Amitabha. In the south the yellow letter TRAM transforms into red blood marked by a radiant yellow TRAM, the seed-letter of Ratnasambhava. In the centre the blue letter HUM transforms into blue urine marked by a radiant blue HUM, the seed-letter of Akshobya.
In the south-east the white letter LAM transforms into the black corpse of a cow marked by a radiant white LAM, the seed-letter of Lochana. In the south-west the blue letter MAM transforms