Perfect Freedom: The Great Value of Being Human

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Dharamsala, India September 1984 (Archive #017)

A lightly edited transcript of teachings given in September 1984 at Tushita Retreat Centre, Dharamsala, India. Edited by Ailsa Cameron. Originally published as a transcript by Wisdom Publications.

Download a Chinese version (pdf) translated by Lobsang Dhargyey.

Chapter 6: Why We Need to Practice Tantra

First of all we need to practice tantra for the sake of other sentient beings; this is the purpose of practicing tantra. We need to plant the seed of the four kayas (svabhavikakaya, dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya) in our mind in order to accomplish extensive works for sentient beings, freeing them from all suffering and leading them to the sublime happiness of enlightenment. Receiving the four Highest Yoga Tantra initiations - vase, secret, wisdom and word initiations - plants the seed of the four kayas and permits us to meditate on and train our mind in the Highest Yoga Tantra path. By giving the four perfect Highest Yoga Tantra initiations, the qualified vajra guru definitely plants the seed of the four kayas in the mind of the disciple.

Because of his compassion, a Mahayanist feels it is unbearable that other sentient beings are in samsara, as if they are caught in the center of a fire. He feels as if a spear has gone into his own heart. Such a Mahayana practitioner wishes to liberate all sentient beings from their obscurations and lead them to enlightenment. He cannot stand the thought that other sentient beings are obscured and in samsara; their being in samsara even one hour, even one minute, is like they are suffering for many aeons.

In order to quickly lead all sentient beings to enlightenment, the only solution is for you yourself to achieve enlightenment, the dharmakaya, in this very brief lifetime. By thinking of what the dharmakaya is, you get an idea of the reasons why you need to practice Highest Yoga Tantra. Dharmakaya involves the subtle wind and subtle mind, which are the same in essence but have different names because of their different functions. The subtle mind of dharmakaya is completely purified of subtle dual view, the appearance of true existence, the obscurations to omniscience. This subtle mind abides in equipoise meditation on emptiness forever, directly seeing the emptiness of all existence without duality of subject and object, like having poured water into water. At no time does this subtle mind leave the object of emptiness.

Arhats and Arya bodhisattvas who are not practitioners of Highest Yoga Tantra also possess wisdom directly perceiving emptiness but it is a grosser wisdom, not the subtle mind of dharmakaya. Even Arya bodhisattva practitioners of Highest Yoga Tantra who have realized the clear light of meaning directly perceive emptiness by submerging, or sinking, dual view, not by cutting it off completely. They still have dual view. During the time of equipoise meditation, while the subtle mind is directly concentrated on emptiness, subtle dual view has been submerged. They still have shedrip, the obscurations to omniscience. Because of this, even the subtle mind of such an Arya bodhisattva cannot meditate in equipoise on emptiness forever, like having put water into water, without needing to arise from that meditation. During the breaktimes when he manifests in the illusory body, the submerged dual view arises again and there is the appearance of true existence.

Dharmakaya is the subtle mind one-pointedly concentrating on the emptiness of all existence by seeing it directly. Dharmakaya is purified completely of even subtle dual view - forever. This subtle mind sees emptiness one-pointedly and directly all the time and is forever inseparable from the emptiness of all existence, like having put water into water. This is dharmakaya, and this is what has to be achieved.

In order to achieve dharmakaya, the immediate principal cause has to be a similar subtle mind. A gross mind cannot be the principal cause of dharmakaya; the principal cause has to be a subtle mind. This is the whole point of why we need to practice tantra in order to achieve enlightenment. The transcendental wisdom of dharmakaya is completely pure subtle mind one-pointedly concentrating on emptiness forever. It is Buddha's holy mind.

The holy mind of dharmakaya is completely free from all stains, even subtle dual view, but we cannot guide sentient beings simply by abiding in dharmakaya. We need to manifest in the rupakaya, which comprises the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. (The unification of no-more learning is the unification of the dharmakaya and rupakaya.) Because sentient beings have different levels of mind, in order to guide each particular sentient being, at different times we may need to manifest in different forms: as a king, minister, beggar, virtuous teacher, butcher, prostitute, judge.

At present, even as ordinary beings, our subtle mind is inseparable from its vehicle, the subtle wind. They are always inseparable and the same in essence. When the path to enlightenment is completed, with cessation of all disturbing- thought obscurations and obscurations to omniscience, the continuation of the subtle mind becomes the dharmakaya and that of the subtle wind becomes the pure illusory body. At the result time, the holy mind and the holy body, the dharmakaya and the rupakaya, are unified.

In order to achieve the unification of the holy mind of dharmakaya and the holy body of rupakaya, the unification of no- more learning, we must train our mind in its principal cause, the unification of learning. This involves unification of the subtle mind of clear light, which directly perceives emptiness, and the pure illusory body, which has the thirty-two major and eighty minor signs similar to a Buddha. To do this we need to receive the fourth initiation, the word initiation, which plants the seed to achieve the unification of no-more learning and gives permission to meditate on the paths of unification of learning and no-more learning.

In order to achieve the path of unification, we first need to achieve separately the causes of this path, clear light and illusory body. In order to achieve clear light, we should receive the Highest Yoga Tantra wisdom initiation, which plants the seed to achieve dharmakaya and permits us to meditate on clear light. Clear light has two divisions: clear light of example and clear light of meaning. Before achieving the clear light of meaning, one achieves the clear light of example and the impure illusory body. One first achieves the clear light of example, which is a subtle mind that sees emptiness mixed with dual view. Because of this dual view, one cannot see emptiness directly.

After achieving the subtle mind of the clear light of example, by continuing to develop this subtle transcendental wisdom realizing emptiness, one achieves the impure illusory body. Why is this illusory body called "impure", and the one you accomplish with the clear light of meaning "pure"? The impure illusory body still has nyön-drip, disturbing-thought obscurations, whereas the pure illusory body is free of these.

The clear light of meaning is the subtle mind that directly sees emptiness by submerging subtle dual view and is the main remedy to cut shedrip, the subtle dual view that is the obscuration to omniscience. From the clear light of meaning one achieves the pure illusory body and by alternately developing these, one achieves their unification. In order to generate the path of the illusory body, we should receive the secret initiation, which plants the seed of the sambhogakaya and permits us to meditate on the illusory body.

To accomplish these paths of the illusory body and clear light through receiving these secret and wisdom initiations, we should train our mind in their preliminary, the graduated path of generation. To meditate on the path of generation we should receive the vase initiation, which plants the seed of the nirmanakaya and permits us to train our mind in the generation stage. To achieve the realizations of clear light and illusory body, we need to have the preliminary gross and subtle realizations of the generation stage.

Why Highest Yoga Tantra is the quickest path

Enlightenment cannot be achieved without receiving Highest Yoga Tantra initiations and practicing tantra. This is why at the end of the preparation for Highest Yoga Tantra initiations, we generate happiness at having the opportunity to practice tantra. In Paramitayana all the minds that directly realize emptiness are gross minds. There is no subtle mind of clear light perceiving emptiness through ceasing all the gross minds that occur before the three visions, and even the more subtle minds during the three visions. This subtle mind does not exist in the Paramitayana.

When following the Paramitayana path, one has to accumulate merit for three countless great aeons. After accumulating this merit, when it is time to achieve enlightenment, one takes the four actual Highest Yoga Tantra initiations and receives the actual wisdom consort. However, by actualizing the Highest Yoga Tantra path, one can finish accumulating all this merit within one brief lifetime - even within a few years. How is this possible? One general way, as His Holiness explained, is through meditating on the four purities: purity of body, place, enjoyments and actions. Doing the meditations in the sadhanas, which contain the practice of the four purities, is a skillful tantric method to complete the accumulation of unbelievably extensive merit in a short time. This is one explanation of how the practice of tantra completes the works of purification and accumulation of merit in such a short time.

However, I think the main reason is that achievement of the impure illusory body helps one to complete the three countless great aeons of merit. It is this that enables one to achieve the unification of no-more learning within this very brief lifetime, even within twelve years, as did the previous great yogis.

The practitioner of the Highest Yoga Tantra path who has realized the clear light of example has no worry at all that he will be reborn in the lower realms. For such a person there is no such thing as the lower realms. When one reaches the higher levels of realization, dirty and clean, avoidance and practice are the same. There is nothing to differentiate between the hells and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana. When you have reached these very high tantric realizations, everything in the teachings becomes your own experience. But if you have not reached this level and try to imitate these experiences, saying that there is no difference between good and bad karma, you become berserk.

When you achieve the clear light of example, there is a definite possibility of achieving the clear light of meaning and enlightenment in one very brief lifetime. In the clear light of example, "example" means that for the completion stage practitioner of Highest Yoga Tantra, the twenty-five absorptions, three visions and clear light, which actually happen at the death-time for ordinary people, occur exactly like this during the time of meditation. With the subtle mind meditating on emptiness, this meditator needs to cease the gross minds and even the more subtle minds that occur during the white, red and dark visions.

The clear light of example, this subtle mind of transcendental wisdom realizing emptiness, is called "the tantra mahamudra realization of non-dual bliss and voidness." You can see that without this realization you cannot reach the illusory body or any other of these high attainments: clear light of meaning, pure illusory body, unification of no-more learning. Without the tantra mahamudra realization, there is no way to achieve dharmakaya, no way to achieve enlightenment.

Since these gross minds have to be stopped to achieve even the clear light of example, you can understand that there is no way the gross consciousness can become the principal cause of dharmakaya. The continuation of the tantra mahamudra realization, the subtle transcendental wisdom concentrating on emptiness, is the principal cause of dharmakaya. Dharmakaya itself is the subtle transcendental wisdom completely purified of even subtle dual view, which one-pointedly and inseparably abides forever on the emptiness of all existence, like pouring water into water. Dharmakaya is the completely pure subtle transcendental wisdom realizing absolute nature. When you understand dharmakaya a little, you can understand the subtle wind, which is the vehicle of this subtle mind. The vehicle of this subtle wisdom is the holy body of Buddha, completely purified of both obscurations.

The blessings of the dakas and dakinis

During meditation, in order to experience the twenty-five absorptions, three visions and clear light of example by stopping the gross consciousness, the winds from all the chakras and channels in the different parts of the body have to enter the central channel, abide and absorb there. Different signs accompany these processes. With absorption of the winds into the central channel, the three visions and clear light appear.

In order to make the subtle wind-mind function and have control over the winds so that you can bring them into the central channel, your drops, chakras and winds need to be blessed by the dakas and dakinis. The dakas and dakinis bless the drops, chakras and winds in order to make them serviceable. To have this happen you need to take Highest Yoga Tantra initiation, as the other three tantras - Action, Performance and Yoga - do not reveal the methods of the body mandala and the very secret, profound meditations of dakas and dakinis blessing the chakras. Only the Highest Yoga Tantra path has these practices.

In order to do body mandala practices, you need to take Highest Yoga Tantra initiations, then practice the sadhanas, training your mind in these meditations every day. This is why the long Vajrayogini and Tara Cittamani sadhanas, which have a body mandala, are so secret and precious. This is also why Heruka practice is particularly precious, with many meditators doing the long sadhana every day. In his tantric teachings Lama Tsongkapa explains the incredible importance of this practice:

In order to experience the simultaneously-born bliss of the completion stage, you need to concentrate one-pointedly on the vajra body. To do this, the chakras and drops need to be blessed by the dakas and dakinis. This is why meditation on the body mandala is highly admired.

This is the very root. By taking initiations, doing body mandala practices and receiving the blessing of the dakas and dakinis, and practicing The Six Yogas of Naropa, you can more quickly achieve the tantra mahamudra realization.

You are fortunate to have been born in this southern continent, where there are the twenty-four holy places of Heruka, with dakas and dakinis like the stars at night. If you do a Highest Yoga Tantra practice such as Heruka or Vajrayogini in this southern continent, especially near the twenty-four holy places in India, Nepal and Tibet, the dakas and dakinis bless your chakras and drops so that you are able to generate quickly the tantra mahamudra realization of non-dual bliss and voidness. You can then achieve the Vajradhara state either in this life or the next. Even if you do not complete the path in this life, at least you can complete it in the intermediate stage or in your next life. This is why this perfect human rebirth is unbelievably precious. Even if you cannot complete the tantric path in this life, you can be born in a pure realm where you have the opportunity to practice, complete the rest of the path and become enlightened. You have the unbelievable opportunity to accomplish all this with this perfect human rebirth - it is incredibly precious!

Meditating on emptiness

Wherever there is existence, there is emptiness and everything exists in dependence upon the valid mind. Another way of saying this, which gives a different feeling, is that existence exists from the side of the mind. This has great significance. Things exist by depending on the valid mind of the subject. Without depending on a valid mind, nothing can exist. There is no way you can define an object as existing if it is not an object of valid mind. Everything exists not only from the side of the object, but from the side of the mind, the subject. Samsara and nirvana, good and bad, enemy and friend: the whole of existence exists in dependence upon the mind. Without dependence upon the mind, there is no way anything can exist.

Space cannot become earth. Something which is permanent cannot become impermanent, because a permanent phenomenon does not have its own cause. Let's say that you smash a brick into pieces with a hammer, then into a powder and use the powder to make a vase. As the brick does not exist any more, the emptiness, or absolute nature, of that brick has also ceased. While it is still a brick, the brick itself is shigpa, which means in decay, or changing due to cause. At the end, when the brick has been broken by the hammer, it is also shigpa. However, the emptiness of the brick is not shigpa as it does not change due to a principal cause, nor can it be stopped by a condition.

When you make a vase with the powder, that vase becomes an object of the valid mind. In dependence upon the base, that particular shape, thought merely labels there on the base - this is the subtle, critical point to understand. After accumulating much merit, if a person is intelligent, fortunate and, especially, experienced, he can understand this subtle point without confusion. His understanding only makes him have more faith in karma, the existence of virtue and non-virtue, samsara and nirvana. This strong faith is an infallible sign that a person has realization of emptiness.

At this point it is very easy to arrive at the extreme belief that things do not exist. Thought merely labels there: "This vase is existing." Each word has great meaning, particularly there, or par in Tibetan. From the side of the mind, there. When you hear the word there, the understanding that should come in your mind is that nothing exists from its own side. The vase does not exist from there, but on there, from the side of the mind. It is clear that it exists by being merely labelled there.

This book exists there; it exists by the mind merely labelling there. When you hear this word there, you should understand that there is a book on this base - not from the side of the base, but from the side of the mind. This word gives a very clear understanding that the book exists on that base with a particular shape.

When meditating on emptiness, it is extremely important not to miss any words, because each word can give an incredible feeling. Each word is very clear, rich, neat, powerful. To have an exact translation according to the Tibetan is very important as each word is very powerful and gives a very clear understanding.

Everything comes from the mind

When all sentient beings become enlightened, there will be no samsara, no six realms, no three lower realms with hell, preta and animal beings. There will be the omniscient mind of enlightenment. The stream of our consciousness - actually, we are talking here about the subtle mind - never ceases. Since the continuation of this subtle mind never ceases, there is always dharmakaya. When everyone has removed the two obscurations, there will be no such thing as samsara, nor even the lower nirvana, which is mere release from the bondage of karma and disturbing thoughts. You can understand from this that enlightenment and samsara exist by depending on the mind.

To use a simple example: While I am seeing someone as very ugly and undesirable, another person may see him as very enchanting and desirable. We are both seeing the same person at the same time. This simple example shows that the way things appear to me comes from my mind, according to my karma; and how things appear to the other person comes from his own mind and karma.

This way of thinking is very useful in controlling the dissatisfied mind of attachment. While an object is appearing to you as beautiful, try to be aware that you have created this beauty. You have made it up. Your view, in which you believe one hundred percent, is that this object exists from its own side as beautiful. You believe that it is permanently beautiful. At the same time as this object is appearing beautiful to you, however, others may see it as ugly. Try to be aware that there are different views of the object. This makes it clear that your view of an object comes from your own mind. How an object appears to you depends on your mind. This helps you to understand generally your own karma and also different karmas. If the way of making commentary on an object, such as someone's face, were not dependent on the mind and karma of the individual observer, there would be no reason at all for the same object to appear differently to different people.

Let's use Tibetan tea as an example. When they taste Tibetan tea, Tibetans - and even some Westerners - experience a pleasant taste, on which they label "delicious." The pleasant feeling arises due to the person's previous karma and the person then labels "delicious" on that feeling. The delicious Tibetan tea exists in dependence upon the drinker's mind labelling on that. Now, when some sophisticated Westerner - particularly an American - comes along and you give them the same tea with thick butter and salt, he feels that he is drinking junk. That uncomfortable feeling also results from the individual's own karma. The unpleasant taste is the result of the person's previous karma and he labels "disgusting" on that particular feeling. When the person drinks Tibetan tea, it makes him want to vomit.

In The Great Lam-rim Commentary Lama Tsongkapa says that sometimes when you eat fruit that is supposed to be sweet, you unexpectedly find it tastes sour or bad. Lama Tsongkapa explains that this is the result of covetousness, one of the ten non- virtues.

The whole of existence, samsara and nirvana, depends on a valid mind labelling on a valid base. Samsara comes from the mind of ignorance not realizing the absolute nature of the I. Samsara comes from the mind. These aggregates, the container of many problems, come from ignorance hallucinated as to the absolute nature of the I. Enlightenment, the indestructible vajra holy body of Buddha free from all suffering, comes from the virtuous mind of method and wisdom. Everything that exists comes from the mind. Without depending on the mind knowing an object, or the knower (I am talking here about the mind, not the person), there is no way an object can exist. Anything that exists is empty of existing without depending on the mind.

A vase that we can use is empty of being a vase that exists without depending on the base and the subject, the mind. And it is the same with all the rest of existence: all the respective existents exist by depending on the base and the mind that labels. They are empty of existing without depending on the base and the mind. This emptiness is the absolute nature of existence. Therefore, wherever there is existence, there is emptiness. Wherever there is emptiness, there is Buddha, and there is dharmakaya, oneness with absolute nature forever, like having poured water into water.

The qualities of the dharmakaya

Wherever there is dharmakaya, the holy mind of Buddha, there is the vehicle of the subtle wind. The subtle mind and subtle wind are the same in essence, simply having different labels because of their different functions. Wherever Buddha's holy mind is, there is Buddha's holy body. Understanding the details about dharmakaya according to tantra gives you definite faith that Buddha is on your crown, even if you have not visualized him there. Even if you do not have a picture of Buddha in your room, Buddha is there in the room at the altar. Wherever you are, whether a clean or dirty place, Buddha is also there. The teachings on Buddhist philosophy say: "There is no place where Buddha does not exist. There is no place where the mind cannot discover Buddha." This helps very much to persuade your mind to practice Dharma and accumulate merit.

You may think that a statue or thangka is just a statue or thangka, but it is the transcendental wisdom of dharmakaya, which understands and directly sees absolute truth, as well as conventional truth. This statue of Tara has two truths: conventional and absolute. The Tara statue and the absolute nature of it are objects of the holy mind of all the Buddhas. It is covered by all the Buddhas' holy mind. It is only because of our obscurations and defilements that we do not see that all the Buddhas are abiding on this Tara statue. Whether it is blessed or not, all the numberless Buddhas are living on this Tara statue.

It is very good to remember the qualities of dharmakaya, Buddha's holy mind, when offering even one stick of incense or one bowl of water. Aware that all the Buddhas are abiding on the statue, you make offerings to all the Buddhas and generate secret bliss in all their holy minds, which is the essence of the offering.

When Lama Atisha was circumambulating the stupa in Bodhgaya, the statue of Tara and the ivory statue of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha spoke to him, saying: "Great yogi, if you want to achieve enlightenment quickly, you must practice bodhicitta." To particular beings with thinner obscurations, these statues give advice and predictions. Actually, I think the great bodhisattva Kunnu Lama Rinpoche said that all the statues around Bodhgaya stupa speak - not only the Tara statue on the outside of the stupa. This means they have spoken in the past when great yogis came on pilgrimage.

One or two years ago, one old lady from Tibet went on pilgrimage to Nalanda, the great monastic university where thousands of pandits such as Lama Atisha and Shantideva studied. Now you can see only a few rooms; only a few piles of stones are left. This old Tibetan lady saw a life-sized Guru Shakyamuni Buddha on a flat area at Nalanda, where there used to be a Buddha statue. The statue is no longer there. However, she did not see a statue of Buddha, but actually saw Buddha for a short time, then it disappeared.

Kadampa Geshe Chagyulwa's life-story is always praised because he was extremely obedient in correctly devoting himself in thought and action to his virtuous friend, Geshe Dolungpa. Every morning when Geshe Chagyulwa cleaned his guru's room, he collected the garbage in his robes, took it downstairs and threw it out. He served his guru in this way every day. Even if Geshe Chagyulwa was offering a mandala, with all the grains piled up, as soon as he heard his guru's voice calling him, he immediately stopped offering the mandala and went to serve him.

One day after he had cleaned his guru's room, Geshe Chagyulwa was taking the garbage down the steps. When he reached the third step, suddenly he saw many Buddhas in nirmanakaya aspect. Normally he couldn't see even one Buddha, but on that morning he suddenly saw many Buddhas right there. This was a sign that Geshe Chagyulwa's karmic obscurations had become thinner because he had devoted himself correctly to his guru.

It is only our own defilements and karmic obscurations that block our seeing Buddha in our room. The Buddhas are always there.

Continue to Next Section