ASSUMING THE VOWS AND BEING BLESSED INTO MAGNIFICENCE
Identify well for the students and cause them to understand in detail8 the thought of how to assume, in stages, the common and uncommon Great Vehicle vows and the meaning of keeping the vows.
In the texts of Indian scholars, various modes of taking the Mantra vows are presented – just during the preparatory phase, just during the actual initiation, and both. Since today we seem to be taking a long time, the Mantra vows will be given tomorrow during the actual initiation. Hence, the Bodhisattva vows will be sufficient today.
To take the Bodhisattva vows, imagine that those objects from whom you are taking the vows, the Buddhas and their “Children” – the Bodhisattvas – are present. We are making a great determination: “I will try to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of other beings. Without actual practice, there is no possibility to achieve Buddhahood; therefore, I will not only create the determination to attain Buddhahood but will also implement all the Bodhisattva practices. In order to do this, I will take the Bodhisattva vows, promising with strong will to train in the trainings of Bodhisattvas. Therefore, I am requesting the Bodhisattva vows.” Repetition of the words of the following passage should be done within mindfulness of such meaning.
Then, the students repeat [after the lama] three times: [297]
I go for refuge to the Three Jewels,
Individually disclose all ill-deeds,
Admire the virtues of beings,
And mentally take up the enlightenment of a Buddha.
Through that, the [Bodhisattva] vow common [to the Sūtra and Mantra Great Vehicles] is taken.
When, during the third repetition, you say the last line, “And mentally take up the enlightenment of a Buddha,” think that you have gained the complete, pure Bodhisattva vows in your continuum. At the least, think that you have gained special merit. However, those who feel that they are incapable of training in the Bodhisattva precepts or who are not interested need not think that they have made a promise to engage in the Bodhisattva practices.
[The rite for taking the Mantra vows is included here for the sake of completeness. For commentary see Part Two, Chapter Two.]
Then, the student makes supplication for the sake of the uncommon [Mantric] vow by repeating three times:
Bestowing on me the excellent
Irreversible initiation of the [mandala] circle,
O Protector, please explain
The principles of the mandala, the deities,
The activities of a master,
The pledges of all Buddhas,
And the supremely secret vows.
In order to achieve the welfare of all sentient beings
I will forever act as a master.
Then, the uncommon Mantric9 vows are taken by repeating three times:
O, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, please take heed of me.
I (your name) from this time henceforth
Until arriving in the essence of enlightenment
Will generate the excellent unsurpassed
Intention to become enlightened
In just the way that the protectors of the three times
Become definite toward enlightenment.
I will firmly keep individually
The three forms of ethics – the ethical precepts,
The composite of virtuous practices,
And bringing about the welfare of sentient beings.
For the five-pointed vajra [lineage of Akṣhobhya] I will sustain with the crown of my head vajra, bell, seal, and lama.
For the jewel [lineage of Ratnasambhava] I will give gifts; for the wheel [lineage of Vairochana] I will keep the pledges of the supreme Conquerors.
For the sword [lineage of Amoghasiddhi] I will make offerings; for the bright lotus [lineage of Amitābha] I will maintain restraint.
So that sentient beings may be liberated, I will, for the [Vajrasattva] lineage of the progenitor of Conquerors, generate enlightenment.
I will liberate those not liberated [from the obstructions to omniscience].
I will release those not released [from cyclic existence].
I will relieve those unrelieved [in bad transmigrations]
And set sentient beings in nirvana. [298]
(BLESSING (THE STUDENTS) INTO MAGNIFICENCE]
Next is a blessing into magnificence. This is done through imagining the six constituents of the student – earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness – as of the nature of the six Wisdom Women. The students visualize themselves as Kālachakra and at six places in their body visualize what, in entity, are these six constituents but which appear in the aspect of six syllables. The water constituent of the student is imagined as the syllable ū, the nature of Māmakī, on a moon at the forehead; the wind constituent is imagined as the syllable ī the nature of Tārā, on a green rāhu disc at the heart; the space constituent is imagined as the syllable ā, the nature of Vajradhātvīshvarī, on a drop at the crown protrusion; the earth constituent is imagined as the syllable 
, the nature of Lochanā, on a yellow kālāgni disc at the navel; the fire constituent is imagined as the syllable 
, the nature of Pāṇḍarā, on a sun at the neck; and the consciousness constituent is imagined as the syllable āḥ, the nature of Prajñāpāramitā, in the wheel of exalted wisdom at the secret region.
Then, [the lama] contemplates:
Setting an ū on a moon at the forehead of the student, an ī on a [green] rāhu disc at the heart, an ā on a drop at the crown protrusion, an on a [yellow] kālāgni disc at the navel, an on a sun at the neck, and an āḥ in the wheel of exalted wisdom at the secret region, they are protected by these, which are the entities of the goddesses of the six lineages, the exalted body, speech, and mind of Method and Wisdom.
Then, within visualizing yourself as Kālachakra, visualize a black hūm on a green rāhu disc at your heart, a red āḥ on a sun at the neck, and a white oṃ on a moon at the forehead. The nature of your own subtle mind, speech, and body appear in the aspect of these three syllables; imagine that the three syllables are the entities of exalted body, speech, and mind. When I repeat the three syllables – hūṃ, āḥ, oṃ – imagine that as I make the gesture of touching your heart, throat, and forehead, I touch you with drops of water from the conch-vase at the heart, neck, and forehead and that light radiates out from the three syllables. Think that all the Buddhas’ and Bodhisattvas’ magnificent blessings of exalted mind, speech, and body dissolve into those places, thereby purifying illdeeds and obstructions of mind, speech, and body together with their predispositions accumulated from beginningless time.
Then, the lama contemplates:
A black hūm10 on a [green] rāhu disc at the student’s heart, a red āḥ on a sun at the neck, and a white oṃ on a moon at the forehead.
The master utters the three syllables [hūm, āḥ, oṃ] in speech, and through touching the three places [heart, throat, and top of the head], starting with the bottom, with perfumed water taken up with the fingers of the hand, which has a vajra, he blessed [the students] into magnificence and makes offering [to the students] with the five enjoyments [flowers, incense, lamp, perfumed water, and food].
Thereby, the three doors of body, speech, and mind are blessed into magnificence. The Tibetan word for “blessing into magnificence” is jin-lap (byin rlabs); jin means “magnificence” (gzi byin), and lap means “transform” (sgyur ba). Hence, a blessing into magnificence means to transform what is ordinary and impure into a pure entity.
To be blessed into magnificence, it is necessary from our own side to make exertion. When encountering various good and bad objects, you should not be attached to their appearance as such but see them as like illusions, thereby not coming under the influence of afflictive emotions when encountering those objects. Through viewing them as like illusions appearing to exist inherently but not actually existing inherently, you bring them within the scope of the practice of understanding dependent-arising and emptiness. Another practice is, when encountering objects, to bring them within the scope of factors that assist in igniting bliss. Thus, this blessing into magnificence is a technique for transforming the body, speech, and mind of oneself – the experiencer of various good and bad objects – into pure entities.
Imagine that a garland of flowers is offered for wearing on your head; this has two purposes, for understanding that phenomena are like illusions and for generating bliss. From conceiving these flowers to exist inherently, obscuration increases; similarly, through the power of conceiving these flowers to exist inherently, attachment is produced thinking, “These flowers are really wonderful,” whereupon desire increases. In dependence upon that, anger against whoever or whatever might interfere with your enjoying them occurs. However, if you view the flowers as like a magician’s illusions in that, although they appear to exist inherently, they do not exist inherently and use this to assist in igniting bliss, then instead of the perception of the flowers harming your practice, it helps. This is why a garland is offered to you.
Offerings of pleasant scent for your nose, lamps for the eyes for removing darkness and dullness, perfumed water for the body, and food for the tongue are also made. The purpose is the same.