བརྙན་འཕྲིན། སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་གསང་སྔགས་བསྟན་འཛིན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། རྫོགས་ཆེན་གྱི་ལྟ་བའི་སྒོ་ནས་ལུས་དང་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན།

So, I welcome all of you, everyone who has come here.

Our topic today is the nature of the body. Later there will also be the nature of mind, but in this first session we will speak about the nature of the body.

This is a very important topic, because we have a body and we have a mind. If we understand the nature of the body and the nature of mind, we will gain great benefit from them.

[Tibetan prayer] And so, when we listen to a Dharma teaching, motivation is very important. That is, first of all we need to give rise to what is called bodhicitta — to give rise to bodhicitta, to give rise to the enlightened attitude. We need to think like this: I am listening to the Dharma, I am, as it were, a representative, I do this for all beings. I am here a representative of all beings. I do this for their benefit. I understand that all beings were once my parents, in past lives.

And so now I am listening to the Dharma for their benefit. [Tibetan prayer] [Tibetan prayer] And then both the listening to the Dharma and the practice of the Dharma will be filled with power. That is, now for one hour I will tell you about the Dharma, and you will listen to the Dharma. But then such an attitude, the attitude of bodhicitta, we need to maintain it afterwards as well, in everything we do, and then our practice too will be filled with power.

And how broad our attitude is, how broad our vision is, determines how much we can receive the blessing of Dharma practice. This depends on our own mind, on how truly and continuously we can sustain such an attitude, the attitude of bodhicitta, and how broad our view is — on this depends to what degree we can receive the blessing of Dharma practice. [Tibetan prayer] So, we have a body and a mind, and we want to have happiness both on the level of the body and on the level of the mind. And this is what makes today's topic important. It is not enough for us to have happiness on only one of these levels. We have both.

[Tibetan verse] And for practice, preparation is very important. Preparation is the attitude of bodhicitta, or it can also be called the view. It can also be called the foundation for practice. How well we understand why we are doing this determines how much benefit we can draw from our practice.

[Tibetan verse] And so there is what is called the three kinds of sacredness, also called the three sacred principles. The first is the preparation — the attitude, the attitude of bodhicitta. Then the practice itself, the main practice, whatever practice we do. What is important for the practice itself is that it be free from anything contrived. That is, that we do not invent or add anything while practicing. And then the third sacred principle is the dedication of all the benefit we draw from the practice, dedicating it to all beings.

If we keep to these three sacred principles, we can draw the maximum benefit from our practice.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] What does bodhicitta mean in our case, if we want to understand the nature of the body? We think like this: I want to understand the nature of the body for the benefit of all beings. I will understand the nature of the body that I have. The body is what I have. I want to understand its nature in order to bring as much benefit as possible to all beings. This is what the motivation should be while listening to today's lecture.

And we need to think this way, to develop such a view: I want to develop bodhicitta for the benefit of all beings, I want to understand the nature of the body for the benefit of all beings, I want to understand the nature of mind for the benefit of all beings.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so if we understand something, an understanding, a clarity arises in us, and this means that we are freeing ourselves from ignorance. We, ordinary beings, are in the grip of ignorance. And in many situations in the past we were in the grip of ignorance, we did not understand what was happening. And so we want, starting from today, we want to understand, to clarify what is happening, and then the force of ignorance will diminish.

[Tibetan verse] And so if the force of ignorance diminishes, then there will manifest such qualities of our consciousness as purity, clarity, and luminosity. That is, this is a quality inherently present in it from the beginning.

As the force of ignorance diminishes, when we strive to understand the nature of mind and body, body and mind, the more we understand the nature of body and mind, the less we are in the grip of ignorance, the more these true qualities of mind manifest, the true quality of awareness: purity, clarity, and luminosity.

[Tibetan verse] And one cannot say that we understand nothing at all. We do understand something. But we understand very little. That is, this can be compared to a situation when we see things at night. That is, one can... In general, we see that there are some things there, but what their color is, red, white — this we do not distinguish.

[Tibetan verse] And we should not think like this: I am in the grip of ignorance, I know nothing at all, I understand nothing at all. We understand a great deal.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] Or this can be compared to walking along a road at night, where in general we see something, we go somewhere, but we do not see everything clearly.

And in the same way we should not belittle our abilities, we should not belittle ourselves, but we should understand that the absolute level we are not yet able to see. This is comparable to that situation.

[Tibetan verse] And so we can imagine that the situation of ignorance is like when we see poorly at night, while the situation when primordial wisdom and awareness manifest and unfold in us is like now, like daytime, when we see everything clearly.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And the same applies to understanding the nature of the body. That is, do we understand the nature of the body? We understand something, we know something about it. But as for the absolute level of understanding, that is, full, absolute understanding, that we do not have.

[Tibetan verse] And so if it is dark at night and we turn on the light, the darkness instantly vanishes. And if we have confidence in the nature of our mind — and the nature of our mind is luminosity, that is, the nature of our mind is luminosity — then through this confidence, by the force of this confidence, we can likewise dispel the darkness of ignorance. [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] Imagine such a situation: an empty house that is dark, and it has been dark there for a thousand years. If we turn on the light, will the darkness vanish, or is it so strong that it will not vanish?

[Tibetan verse] And in just the same way, even if it was dark there for a hundred years or a thousand years, it does not matter, that is, it does not matter. That is, if we turn on the light, it does not mean that the darkness will not vanish. No. The darkness...

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] In the Buddhist Dharma we call this ignorance. It is simply not knowing. Not knowing what is, not knowing what is happening — ignorance. We say that we have it, that is, we are in the grip of ignorance, as it is said, from beginningless time. That is, there is no beginning to the time during which we are in the grip of ignorance. But just as with the situation of the dark house, where it was dark for a hundred years or for a thousand years — if we turn on the light, that is enough for the darkness to vanish.

That is, even if for what we call countless kalpas — kalpas are world ages — for a countless multitude of world ages we have been in the grip of ignorance, and as a result of this we have there have also arisen various afflictions, various harmful states of mind, harmful emotions, disturbing emotions. We were in their grip. And being in these states, we have, as it is said, accumulated much karma, accumulated much negative karma. Despite all this, it is enough to recognize the nature of one's own mind and body. That is enough for the darkness to vanish.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so we may think: I am so ignorant, I know nothing, I understand nothing. I have accumulated many sins, transgressions, that is, I have committed many bad deeds.

In fact, what matters is a different view, a view based on the true nature of mind and body. If we receive essential instructions from the lama, we hear that the actual nature of our mind and body is luminosity. We need to give rise to and develop trust in this, in the fact that this is our nature, confidence in this. And this is called the view. That is, on the basis of such a view, as was already said, even though somewhere, in some place, it was dark for a very long time — it was dark there for a hundred years or a thousand years — we can, by means of such a view, drive away this darkness. That is, even if for many lifetimes we were in the grip of ignorance with all the corresponding consequences, such a view, based on what we truly have, on the true nature of what we have, can drive away this darkness of ignorance.

[Tibetan verse] And so when we speak of not knowing, of ignorance, what do we mean? We mean precisely the not knowing, the failure to understand what we have. We have a body, we have a mind — the failure to understand the nature of the body and the nature of mind, that is ignorance.

[Tibetan verse] And so if we recognize the nature of our body and the nature of our mind, then we can understand everything. That is, through this there arises the capacity to know and understand absolutely everything.

[Tibetan verse] And so what happens as a result of such not knowing, such ignorance. We think that we have a body, and since we have attachment to the idea or to the sense of a "self," that there is some "self," this "I," then we associate it with our body: this body of mine is "I." This is such a view, based on belief in the truth of one's "self." That is, we consider that my "self" truly exists. And we associate it with our body.

And this ingrained belief, this mistaken belief in the truth of one's "self" — what is it? It means that I think I am one, I am alone, just myself alone. I am alone. And also I was such before. I came here from the past in this way, this single "I." And in the future too I will be alone, existing just like this.

Well then, if there is such a single "I" in which we believe, we can consider, look for where it is: is it in the mind or is it in the body, where is it there.

And if we consider that "I" is my body, and this single "I" in which we believe is my body, then we see that the body consists of many parts. So it is not one single thing, so I am many.

And so, for example, let us consider: the hand. Is the hand "I" or not "I"?

There are people who have no hands, so they have no "I." [Tibetan verse] And so what is our body? It is also that which has come together from many parts, composed of many parts — that is, there are hands, legs, a head, hair. All of this is put together. And we call this "I." That is, we stick on such a label, a tag: this is "I."

But if we search properly for where this "I" is, we will be quite unable to find it in the body. [Tibetan verse] Thus the body cannot serve as such a confirmation, cannot serve as a support for the truth of our "self." Because, first, it is composed of different parts, and second, it is not so unchanging either. That is, right now, well, how to put it... the example of the hand: if the hand too is "I," then what about people who have no hand, do they have no "I," how is that?

[Tibetan verse] And so we also have skin, bones, blood. Is the skin... Can we say that the skin is "I"? The skin is "I." And so if we analyze in this way carefully, that is, attentively analyze this concept of "I" that we have, this idea, then we will see that in the body it is quite impossible to find any confirmation of this concept.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so if we think that "I" is my consciousness, that is, there are different kinds of consciousness. There is the consciousness of the eye, consciousness... consciousness of taste, consciousness of sight, consciousness of hearing, consciousness of touch, consciousness of hearing... consciousness of the body, also called, the consciousness of the mind. Further there is also the so-called consciousness of the universal ground. And then also a seventh consciousness.

That is, the consciousness of the universal ground is the eighth, so there are eight in all. It turns out that we have eight consciousnesses, and we have eight "selves," yet we think we have one "self," that "I" is something single.

Thus, if we search for our "self" in the mind and search for our "self" in the body, we find it nowhere, and this leads us to the conclusion that this idea of oneself, that "I" is one, that I am a single one, is a mistaken view.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] So, if this is a mistaken view, if this is a delusion, then what is there, what view would be correct? The correct view is called in Tibetan tendrel — this is dependent origination. That is, it means that what we perceive as the body, what we perceive as consciousness, all of this is an assemblage of many factors that join with one another, separate, and depend on one another. That is, it is such a such a situation. A situation of dependent origination.

And so what have we come to? Do we have a "self" or do we not have a "self"?

[Tibetan verse] What will please us more? That is, if we come to the conclusion that we have a "self" or that we have no "self"? What will be more pleasant for us?

Raise your hand, who would be glad if it turned out that they have a "self."

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] But it seems there are very few such people. And for the majority it is more joyful to know that they have no "self."

Well, if someone is glad to think that they have a "self," that too is permissible.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] Well, that is, if someone wants to think that they do after all have a "self," fine, that is also possible. But there are these words of Maitreya, this teaching of Maitreya, that when we remove both concepts — the concept that "I" exists and also the concept that "I" does not exist — then we will find the true "self," then we will find the sacred "self."

Therefore, for beginners, for novices, this advice is given: to think that there is no "self." That is, to switch to a different view, that precisely this "self" does not exist.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so if, on the contrary, we become attached to the concept of the non-existence of "self," that too is a concept, merely a thought. That is, "I" exists, "I" does not exist — both are merely concepts, merely thoughts. Now in the absolute sense, what is non-existence in the absolute sense — that too is just some concept. In the absolute sense, this does not exist. We need to cut off all attachment to any concepts whatsoever. We need to stop thinking that thoughts contain some reality, some truth — both thoughts that something exists and thoughts that something does not exist.

And then we will discover this sacred "self." That is, what is the sacred "self"? It is the true nature of our mind, which is, as it is described, purity, clarity, and luminosity. This is the sacred "self."

[Tibetan verse] And this view means not falling into any extremes, that is, neither into the extreme of existence nor into the extreme of non-existence. That is, if we become attached to this idea that I do not exist, that is, that "I" does not exist, that too is an extreme view. And we need not to fall into either of them, but to keep to the so-called middle way. This is called the middle way. And so if we can keep to the middle way, we will come closer to recognizing the actual nature of our mind.

And what is most important, what is most essential on the path of the Buddhist teaching, is wisdom. That is, if we have wisdom, then that is the best thing we can have on the path of the Buddhist teaching.

And with the help of this wisdom we will see and come to know both the nature of our body and the nature of our mind.

For example, if we consider that this body of mine is "I," then we do not understand the nature of the body.

And what do we need to understand, how do we need to? We need to see this. We need to see it like this: that this is a situation of dependent origination. It is something like this — an assemblage of many factors that have joined together in this way, dependent origination.

And what is the essence of this dependent origination? The essence of dependent origination is emptiness.

And so from what is our body composed, from what was it formed? It was formed from the so-called five elements. It was formed from them.

So, what are these five elements? They are... Perhaps many have already heard of this. They are earth, water, fire, air, and space. [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so when these five elements are in balance in us, then we feel well, then we are healthy.

But if these elements fall out of balance — for example, if the air element becomes too strong — then we get illnesses of air, or illnesses of wind, as it is also called. And the same with the other elements.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so we simply need to know how to use our body in such a way that these five elements remain in balance. But if we do something such that they fall out of balance, we... we develop poor health, ill health, and so on.

Perhaps we should take a break?

I am not tired, perhaps you are tired? Okay.

[Tibetan verse] Now, each element has its essence, its main properties. Each element has a form, a color, and various other qualities. [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And what is the function of earth, what is the function of the earth element? It gives firmness, stability to our body. This is the property, this is the function of earth.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And earth alone, of course, is not enough. There is also water, and the function of water is to bind. Water binds.

Next, fire. What does fire do? It gives us warmth.

Besides that, the function of fire is to burn.

If we have a deficiency of the fire element, we will feel cold. The function of fire is such that it gives warmth and it also burns.

Besides that, next we have the element of air, or wind, which is responsible for movement. Without this element we could not move, could not approach one another, or even see one another. All factors of movement are wind.

And finally, space. The function of space is openness. Openness. [Tibetan verse] And so in what way does our body exist, how is it formed? It is formed through a multitude of causes and conditions. This is that of which it is composed.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And right now our body is in such a healthy state. This is because the condition of our elements, of our five elements, is now so mature, as it is called, so good. And therefore, thanks to this, we can do whatever we want. But further on, as we grow up and grow old, their condition will deteriorate.

So, inside our body we have channels through which prana moves, through which...

In these channels that exist in our body, the movement of prana takes place.

[Tibetan verse] And we have two kinds of this prana, two kinds of this air, pure and impure — that is, there is karmic prana, karmic air, and the air of primordial wisdom. [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so if this wind of primordial wisdom is strengthened in us — for this is primordial wisdom, not merely wisdom, but that which has always been — then this karmic wind stops, it ceases.

[Tibetan verse] And so if this karmic wind of ours is pure, thanks to this we see all external phenomena.

And so in this way we again come to the point that the most important thing for us is the view.

And there can be a pure view, a pure outlook, or an impure view, an impure outlook. [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] So, what is this view? It means understanding both the temporary and the absolute nature of the body.

And this confidence of the view, the confidence of the correct view, allows us to use both mind and body correctly. In any practice we use both mind and body, and to use them effectively is made possible by the correct view.

And so we have a body, and it has a nature, and we have a mind, and it has a nature, there is the nature of mind. Just as fire has a nature. The nature of fire is heat, warmth.

And understanding the nature is very important, and this is called the view.

Now, as for the body, regarding the body there can be various views.

For example, there is the view presented in the well-known Buddhist text the Bodhicharyavatara, where, in order to cut off attachment to "self," precisely the impure aspects of the body are emphasized — that it consists of blood, lymph, pus, and so on; that is, that it is impure, in order to cut off attachment.

[Tibetan verse] And so, since for very many lifetimes we have had attachment to our "self," then in order to cut this off, the method for it is pointing to the impure aspects of the body, to the fact that it consists of blood, pus, and so on.

And this is simply such a method of training the mind for beginners, so that they can dissolve their attachment to "self," the habitual attachment to their "self." This is such a means, and then they can switch to a different view, an alternative view — that in fact there is no "self"; from attachment to the existence of "self" they move to the view of non-existence.

But if we look at this more broadly, such an understanding of the body, that it is impure, consists of blood — this too is generally an extreme view. That is, one must understand what such teachings are for. It is not that one must always adhere to them and that they assert the absolute truth.

[Tibetan verse] But if we look at this from the standpoint of Mantrayana, then if a practitioner thinks that my body is imperfect, impure, and so on, this will contradict the basic principle of Mantrayana, that is, pure vision. In order to enter the mandala, the mandala of the deity, and then carry out the practice, pure vision is necessary. Without pure vision it is impossible to enter the mandala of the deity. [Tibetan verse] And so for the practice of Mantrayana such a view of vajra purity is necessary. The view of vajra purity.

And this again is a matter of the view, and the view in this case is a view of a high level.

This is called the path of the Vajra, the path of the Vajra, and to it corresponds such a view.

For example, there are the five skandhas, the five aggregates, of which our ego, our "self," is composed. In Mantrayana they are called the five vajra skandhas.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And in Mantrayana it is pointed out that these five skandhas, which are called the vajra skandhas, by their nature correspond to the five buddha families. The five buddha families.

[Tibetan verse] And so if someone wishes to practice mahamudra, or chagchen, mahaati, Dzogchen, then for them it is very important from the very beginning the correct view is very important.

And so, with the correct view present, then it will truly be possible to practice Mantrayana. [Tibetan verse] And so if there is no confidence of the view, then we cannot speak of an actual practice of Mantrayana. That is, it would rather be like this: we may do some meditations, recite mantras, but in fact it would be like a reflection in a mirror, rather than something real.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And this confidence of the view determines what we are doing. That is, there are two aspects of the path. There is the actual path, the true path, and there is the reflection of the path. What are we actually doing? The actual path or a reflection of the path — this depends on ourselves, on whether we have a confident view or not.

For example, in the practice, in the view of Dzogchen, the basis is primordial purity.

[Tibetan verse] And if one asks where this purity came from — it came from nowhere, it has always been; that is, from the beginning our body and mind are such, they possess this purity. And this is the basis of the view.

[Tibetan verse] The basis of primordial purity is not something we obtain from somewhere out there, but something that is in each of us.

[Tibetan verse] And so if we have confidence that our body and mind possess primordial purity, then this will be the basis. This will be the basis for investigating the path, and then our path too will be primordially pure.

And this primordial purity is inherent not only in our body and mind, but in all phenomena. That is, the absolute purity of all phenomena is the basis of the view.

And so as for the view, here confidence in the view is necessary. You all have a mind.

[Tibetan verse] And so both the mind has a nature and the body has a nature.

Just as the nature of fire is heat, the ability to burn, and the nature of water is wetness and the ability to bind, in just the same way the mind has some nature.

And so the Lama gives us essential instructions, pointing out to us that our body and mind are primordially pure, they possess primordial purity, clarity, and luminosity. And this is the basis of the view.

But if we only understand that the nature of mind is luminosity, that the nature of mind is primordial purity, that is not enough.

After all, we have not only a mind, there is also a body.

And the nature of the body too must be understood.

And if we understand the nature of the body, then our path, our practice will be strengthened.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] In the practice of Dzogchen there is such a way of attaining the rainbow body, or transforming into the rainbow body. And on what is it based? It is based on understanding the nature of the body.

And so of what is our body composed, from what is it formed, of what does it consist? It consists of the five elements.

And so we need to understand what the absolute nature of these five elements is. We need to develop our understanding, to train, that is, to develop, to carry out the methods of training the mind.

And this will allow us to attain very special abilities.

And so we have earth, water, fire, air, and space. And, for example, what is the quality of earth? It is firmness, density.

[Tibetan verse] This is a temporary quality, a relative quality of earth. And these temporary, or relative, qualities of the elements we see as such due to ignorance.

If we look at the five elements from the standpoint of primordial wisdom, of awareness, then everything will be different. [Tibetan verse] And in such a conditioned, temporary sense we can say that the function of water is to bind, the function of fire is to burn. This is admissible, of course, in such a temporary, relative sense.

[Tibetan verse] And so all of this depends on our perception. That is, there is pure and impure perception. That is, on the absolute level the elements are not such.

And if we use the impure ones, that is, those notions, those terms based on impure perception, we too can do much, can do much.

But if we rely on pure perception, this will be the absolute level. And this is the view we need to develop.

That is, our practice consists in trying to use pure perception instead of impure.

And this pure perception is quite well-founded. It is founded on the fact that all phenomena are primordially pure.

Such pure perception, a pure view.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so pure perception means that we try to rely on the fact that all phenomena are primordially pure. [Tibetan verse] And so in order to understand the difference between the pure and the impure — that is, whether there is this primordial purity or not — the notion of the aspects of the four elements is used. Here we speak of four elements: earth, water, fire, air. We speak of their aspects.

And so we can only... In our ordinary perception we can know only how they manifest, their appearance, their appearance, but their appearance does not yet allow us to realize them.

[Tibetan verse] And so in practice we use pure forms that allow us to understand the essence, to grasp the essence of all phenomena.

And this is the high view, this corresponds to the approach of Dzogchen, and according to Dzogchen these five elements of which our body consists we regard — that is, our body we regard as the mandala of the buddha. And these elements are the constituents of the mandala of the buddha.

And so if we understand these five elements as impure, as dirty, this will not allow us to maintain such a view.

[Tibetan verse] And so there is a teaching about how, of what, this mandala consists — that is, how, for example, the earth element corresponds to a buddha in female form, the buddha Lochana, and so on.

[Tibetan verse] And so we have the earth element, that is, the one that imparts firmness, solidity to our body; according to the higher view, where does this firmness, this solidity come from? It arises through buddha-activity, or buddha-action, of the buddha-bodhisattvas. If there were no buddha-actions of the buddha-bodhisattvas, then this would not be, it would not be possible.

And, of course, in our perception we perceive this firmness, solidity of our body, but the buddha-actions from which it arises, from which it arises, these we do not perceive.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And these buddha-actions, which impart firmness, solidity to the bodies of all beings in general, we perceive in our perception only to an insignificant degree, quite insignificantly.

And these buddha-actions, the buddha-actions of the buddha-bodhisattvas, are inconceivable. And they take place on the outer, inner, and secret levels.

And the actual nature, the true nature of these five elements is the five buddhas in female form, who form the mandala of the buddha.

[Tibetan verse] That is, by means of the pure view we must recognize this nature of the five elements as the manifestation of these five female buddhas, these mothers. If literally, then the great mothers.

So, the true essence of the earth element corresponds to the buddha Lochana.

And the activity, the action of Lochana, who imparts firmness to our body through the earth element, we understand only to some insignificant degree.

[Tibetan verse] And the nature of the water element corresponds to a buddha in female form whose name is Mamaki. In Sanskrit. [Tibetan verse] And so Mamaki, through the water element, bestows enjoyment, a feeling of enjoyment, to all beings.

[Tibetan verse] Now if there were no such actions, this activity of Mamaki, then we could not make use of water, could not drink water. And when we drink water, we feel satisfaction.

That is, if there were no such capacity, such possibility of receiving enjoyment through the water element, then beings would have no other options. [Tibetan verse] And so the great mother Mamaki, or the buddha in female form Mamaki — in what way does she manifest, in what way do beings perceive her in the form of water?

And so through the water element Mamaki manifests in various ways for beings. For some she manifests as something to drink, for others as a habitat.

[Tibetan verse] But if gods drink that same water, that is, the gods perceive it as nectar.

That is, to us it seems to be water; according to our tendencies, it is water that can be drunk, but the gods perceive it as nectar.

And in just the same way, a yogi with a high level of spiritual development will perceive water as the great mother Mamaki, as the buddha Mamaki.

And so in this way the buddha-actions that Mamaki manifests through the water element for all beings are inconceivable.

And so there are six kinds of beings.

Six realms, six kinds of beings, and to all of them Mamaki appears in various ways. [Tibetan verse] And just as the karma of the various beings of the six kinds is inconceivably diverse, in just the same way Mamaki can manifest for them all in an inconceivably diverse way.

[Tibetan verse] And so from the standpoint of the pure view of Mantrayana, one can perceive water in such a way that this is the great kindness of the buddha Mamaki, which allows me to receive satisfaction. This is how we can develop pure vision.

[Tibetan verse] And so if we in this way recognize the pure essence of the five elements, this will also help us on the ordinary level — that is, we will have robust health, we will live long.

[Tibetan verse] And in this way our capacity to enjoy will also increase, the possibility of enjoyment both of water as such and in general.

[Tibetan verse] And, of course, the development of pure vision does not end here, does not end with our understanding, understanding that water is a manifestation of the buddha-actions of Mamaki.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] One simply needs to understand that Mamaki, by means of water, through water, brings benefit to all beings.

So, then: earth is Lochana. Water is Mamaki, fire is in Tibetan Gökarma, in Sanskrit Pandaravasini.

Air or wind is in Tibetan Tamdin Droma, in Sanskrit Samaya Tara.

Namkha. [Tibetan verse] Namkha. And further, space — that is, space is where we all arise, and we, all the beings whom we see. And to the space element corresponds Yangchugma in Tibetan and in Sanskrit Dhatvishvari.

So, we need to try to remember, to recognize, that the pure nature of the five elements is these five female buddhas. To earth corresponds Lochana, to water Mamaki, to fire Pandaravasini, to wind or air Samaya Tara, and to space Dhatvishvari. [Tibetan verse] And these five buddhas in female form, as it were, bring benefit to all beings, they provide them with all that is needed, everything they require.

And what are these five great mothers, or five female buddhas? They are...

[Tibetan verse] And so if we understand, perceive our own body in this way, that it consists of five elements whose nature is primordially pure, this will be very beneficial for our practice. [Tibetan verse] And so our own body is the mandala of the buddha-bodhisattvas, in it dwell the hundred peaceful and wrathful deities, and so on.

And so with such an understanding of the nature of the body we need to engage in meditation.

That is, we need to remember that the nature of our body is primordially pure. [Tibetan verse] And so in fact body and mind are inseparable, and so we need to bring to liberation both body and mind in their inseparability. And the nature of both mind and body is primordial purity, clarity, and luminosity.

And when we remember that the nature of the body and of its five elements is primordial purity, then in this way we can understand, realize the luminosity of our mind. In doing so we will not even think of the body, that there is a body — this will allow us to realize the luminosity of our mind. This is called the mandala of Vajrasattva.

And so with such awareness, with such confidence, with confidence in this, we need to engage in practice.

And then, on the basis of this body, it will be easy to attain the rainbow body.

[Tibetan verse] [Tibetan verse] And so if we think how it is that we can attain the rainbow body, how this is possible on the basis of this ordinary body — it is precisely through understanding that the nature of our body is primordial purity, clarity, and luminosity, and that body and mind are inseparable.

On the basis of such awareness it is possible to attain the rainbow body.

That is, confidence is needed that body and mind are not different, but on the absolute level they possess one and the same nature.