sgyu lus;illusory body;illusory body;māyākāya;Third of the five stages;a form created during completion-stage practices that is composed of the subtle winds and able to separate itself out from the ordinary body. In the aspect of the deity, it is the substantial cause for the resultant form body at the enlightened stage. +
snang bagsum / rnam shesgsum;three appearances/consciousnesses;three appearances/consciousnesses;Appearance (''snang ba''), increase (''mched pa'') of appearance, and close-to-attainment (''nyer thob''), or culmination of appearance. During the normal death process, the four elements withdraw, followed by the gradual withdrawal of the mind itself, during which these appearances occur. In tantra this natural process is brought into the path and even initiated through meditative techniques before death occurs. This is done in order to make use of the subtle mind of clear light that dawns after the third appearance. In their aspects of appear ing like the sky at various times, they are known as "appearances". As entities, however, they are mental consciousnesses. They are indicative of their respective sets of intrinsic conceptual minds and accompanying winds. These three appearances recur in reverse order when the mind leaves the clear light and enters the intermediate state. +
bed sting;bliss and emptiness;bliss and emptiness;Bliss is generated through a number of completion-stage practices, all of which should involve bringing the winds into the central channel. This bliss consciousness is then brought to focus upon emptiness, the ultimate mode of existence of all phenomena. These two become as one, like "water poured into water." This is the union of bliss and emptiness and is one of the key features distinguishing tantra from sutra. +
mtha drug;six sides;six sides;Along with the four modes these are six "gateways" for the complete understanding of a tantric text that is sealed by these six. The first two are text understood literally and text understood nonliterally. An example of the first is "holding the vajra" understood as the literal hold ing of the five-pronged deity implement. An example of the second would be the same phrase understood as fifth-stage union. Here one text has two "sides" of meaning. The third and fourth refers to text using unrelated lan guage that has to be understood as something else and text that does not do this. The first is for intelligent students, and an example is the phrase from the ''Guhyasamāja Root Tantra'' "young, with wide eyes" referring to the stage of union. The second is for lesser students of tantra and does not use unrelated language. An example would be "engaged in the meditative equipoise of the samādhi of the vajra of no self" which refers to clear light. In these two, one meaning is expressed with two "sides" of text. The fifth is factual or instructional text, such as instructions on how to draw mandalas. The sixth is text exclusive to the tathāgatas that has no literal meaning and is not found in grammar treatises or conventionally known. Examples would be the name Koṭākhya as an epithet of Vajrapāṇi or the special names given to the ten winds in the ''Illusory Samvara Tantra''. These last two are differentiated by the typeof language they use and so depend upon "sides"of both text and meaning. Here the term ''six sides'' refers to six different "gateways" to the understanding of the intended meaning. The above explanation of these six has been translated from Phüntsok's ''Lord of the Stars Excellent Explanation''. +
las bzhi;four feats;four feats;Pacification, increase, power, and wrathfulness. These are powers gained through tantric practice and are used to remove obstacles and hindrances for self and others. +
ems dben;mind isolation;mind isolation;cittaviveka;The second of the five stages but third of the three isolations. This completion-stage practice correlates to the death- withdrawal practice of the generation stage, only here the withdrawal of the winds into the central channel and into the drop at the heart actually occurs. +
kha sbyor;conjoined winds;conjoined winds;Usually a process of bringing the upper life- sustaining wind and lower evacuative winds together at the navel. +
mi gnas pai myang 'das;nonabiding nirvana;nonabiding nirvana;The resultant state of a fully enlightened buddha that dwells in neither samsara nor nirvana. +
bar do;intermediate state;intermediate state;antarābhava;The state of existence between death and the start of the next rebirth. The being of the intermediate state has a body composed of subtle wind. In advanced completion-stage practice, this state is replaced by the illusory body in the form of a deity. +
dyer hob;Generally refers to the generation stage where conceptualization is used to "create" divine forms, as opposed to the more nonconceptual completion stage. Within the generation stage, it refers to the more advanced practices of subtle yoga and drop yoga. +
lhan skyes kyi ye shes;innate exalted wisdom;innate exalted wisdom;The wisdom arising from the subtle consciousness characterized by great bliss focused upon the ultimate truth of phenomena. +
ting nge 'dzin;samādhi;Like ''meditative absorption'' this term refers to a concentrated state of mind, and these two are sometimes synonymous. ''Samādhi'',however, has a wider range of application, to the point of there being specific samādhis named according to their particular power. In this work the term often refers to the sixth of the six yogas, which equates with the stage of union from the five stages. See also six-branch yoga. +
bsre ba;mixing;mixing;The completion-stage practice of taking basic-state experiences and "mixing" them with the three enlightened bodies in order to bring one closer to the resultant state.There are three categories of experience_ sleep, death, and meditative experience—each divided into three, thereby making nine mixings. +
don gyi 'od gal;actual clear light;actual clear light;The fourth of the fifth stages. When third-stage illusory body withdraws into illustrative clear light, the illusory body itself disappears, but the remaining clear light becomes the ''actual'' clear light. Its nature is the very subtle mind focused on the ultimate truth of phenomena, and its function is to serve as the substantial cause for the exalted-wisdom dharmakāya. +
bden 'dzin;holding to true existence;holding to true existence;The fundamental ignorance that acts as a cause for the continuation of the cycle of suffering and whose characteristic is the mistaken perception that the phenomenon Held by the conscious ness exists in its own right, from its own side, without depending on other factors. +
rdo rje bzlas pa;vajra repetition;vajra repetition;Included in the stage of speech isolation, this is the exclusive form of mantra repetition on the completion stage. It is not vocalized chanting but an identification of the tones of the movement of the inner breath with the three fundamental syllables. +
dmigs med snying rje;nonapprehending compassion;nonapprehending compassion;Great compassion focused on all living beings but grasped by the wisdom that characterizes these beings as not existing inherently. +
mnyam gzhag;meditative equipoise;meditative equipoise;samāhita;Often used to describe an advanced meditative session, often involving absorption in emptiness, and is contrasted with "post-meditation". +