The Five Perfections and Instruction to Retain the Teaching
UNFOLDING THE BRIEF STATEMENT BY EXPLAINING THE EXTRAORDINARY SETTING OF THE TEACHING
This has two parts. The general: how the teachers of the three kayas turn the Wheel of Dharma. The specific: instruction to retain the teachings that are condensed within the oral instructions.165
THE GENERAL: HOW THE TEACHERS OF THE THREE KAYAS TURN THE WHEEL OF DHARMA
The Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo root text says:
The essence of primordially pure space is Samantabhadra,
The spontaneously present awareness is Padmasambhava,
And their indivisible unity, Dorje Drakpo Tsal,
Is the heruka, the supreme sovereign of all mandalas.
In general, all the teachings of the Great Secret appear endowed with the five perfections. This has two aspects: the ordinary setting, indicating the appearance of the tantras of words and their instructions, and the extraordinary setting, indicating the appearance of the tantras of meaning and their instructions.166 The Tantra of the Union of Sun and Moon explains:
By possessing five perfections,
All the tantras of the Great Secret
Are the seeds of the settings
That are ordinary and extraordinary.167
Of these two, the former has been dealt with above.168 Here the latter is as stated in the Talgyur Root Tantra:
The basis is of five aspects.
The place is held to be of three kinds.169
As indicated here and elsewhere, each of the five perfections can be subdivided into the aspects of the three kayas of the victorious ones.
THE PERFECT TEACHER
The primordially pure and original real condition, the essence of space free from all constructs, is the dharmakaya teacher Samantabhadra. The spontaneously present and self-cognizant awareness, effortlessly liberated in the ground, is the self-manifest sambhogakaya teacher Padmasambhava. Essence and nature indivisible, the natural expression of compassion that is the unity of space and awareness, is the nirmanakaya teacher Dorje Drakpo Tsal, Powerful Vajra Wrath. As the emanator and absorber of the all-encompassing mandalas of peaceful and wrathful ones, this great heruka, the supreme or most eminent sovereign of all mandalas, accomplishes the deeds of the buddhas. The meaning of heruka here is as described in a tantra:170
HE is the emptiness of cause and so forth.
RU is the absence of abiding, destruction, and gathering.
KA is the nondwelling on anything whatsoever.
In this way, the meaning applies to each of the three kayas, since it indicates the meaning of the three gates of emancipation.
THE PERFECT PLACE
The Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo root text says:
In the realm of the great sphere, the all-pervasive dharmadhatu,
In the sambhogakaya palace with the fivefold luminosity,
And in all the indefinite places of nirmanakayas who tame beings . . .
In the self-existing dharmakaya realm of the Great Sphere, the dharmadhatu that is all-pervasive throughout samsara and nirvana; in the palace of the five sambhogakaya families, densely arrayed with ornaments of the space manifestations of luminosity and endowed with the five natural wisdom lights; and in all the various places of nirmanakayas who tame beings, the indefinite displays of pure and impure realms and places.171
THE PERFECT RETINUE
The Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo root text says:
For oceanlike assemblies of disciples possessing potential . . .
The dharmakaya retinue is the ocean of self-manifest wisdom. The sambhogakaya retinue is the space-filling mandala of sugatas, bodhisattvas, and wrathful deities. The nirmanakaya retinues are the supramundane and mundane beings endowed with good fortune. In short, since the retinues of disciples and those possessing a potential corresponding to their individual fortune are inconceivable and uncountable, they are described by the word “oceanlike.”172
The Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo root text says:
The wheel of Dharma of the inconceivable number of causal and resultant vehicles,
In accordance with the various types of suitability and capacity of each individual.
The dharmakaya teaching is the Great Perfection of natural luminosity. The sambhogakaya teaching is the great resultant, unexcelled greater vehicle. The nirmanakaya teaching is primarily the three causal vehicles. In short, the countless Dharma Wheels of the inconceivable number of greater and lesser vehicles taking the cause or fruition of buddhahood as the path appear in accordance with the various types of suitability and faculties of the individual fortunes of the disciples.173
THE PERFECT TIME
The Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo root text says:
They turn throughout the three times . . .
Dharmakaya manifests as the effortless great realization of equality in the inexpressible time of dharmata, the fourth time of equality. Sambhogakaya teaches the meaning through symbols without words or letters in the self-manifest time of spontaneously present wisdom. Nirmanakaya manifests the media that illuminate the Dharma in the time endowed with the threefold ripening of disciples corresponding to their particular fortunes. In short, since the three kayas of victorious ones have the nature of all-pervading and everlasting activity, they turn uninterruptedly throughout the three times the Wheels of the Dharma that influence those to be tamed.174
THE SPECIFIC: INSTRUCTION TO RETAIN THE TEACHINGS THAT ARE CONDENSED WITHIN THE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS
The Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo root text says:
I will now teach to my closest disciples
The quintessence of all these condensed into one,
The essence of my heart, the ultimate counsel,
As a direct instruction that is easy to understand and simple to apply.
Don’t let it dwindle away but practice one-pointedly.
Padmasambhava promised to teach the oral instructions, saying:
I will teach those who delight their master with the three kinds of pleasing actions, my disciples of closest heart sons, the gathering of the king, subjects, and the companion. I shall teach you the quintessence of the words and meanings of all these Dharma Wheels of the three kayas of victorious ones, the profound and vast causal and resultant vehicles, condensed into one, which is the heart essence of all the buddhas, the ultimate counsel of Guru Rinpoche. I shall teach it, not as a mere dry explanation of words, but as a direct instruction stripped to the essentials which, being lucid, is easy to understand by everyone of sharp or dull faculties and which, being moderately extensive, is simple to apply in practice. Such an instruction, profound, rare, and condensed to the essence, is difficult to obtain. Without letting it dwindle away from indifference, retain the words through learning, discern their meaning through reflection, practice one-pointedly through meditation training, and accomplish the welfare of self and others.
Thus, he instructed them.175