CARACTERÍSTICAS DEL PRODUCTO

This verse offers the three tantric offerings, men, rakta, and torma. I already explained the outer level of these three offerings. On an inner level, men purifies anger; rakta purifies desire; and torma purifies ignorance. The explanation of the se- cret level belongs to Maha Ati. In this case, the secret level of men or dud-tsi is that

dud means ignorance and tsi means pristine awareness. It is said that the essence of

ignorance is wisdom because at the essence level, there is never any delusion. Rakta is the blood of desire and attachment (chhak-pa du-pai thrak) collected from the three realms of existence (si-sum): the deva realm above the earth, the human realm on the earth, and the naga realm below the earth. It is the blood of no-desire. This definition is attributed to Vairocana who said: “The offering of blood free of desire is the greatest desire.” Usually torma (ba-ling-ta) is visualized as a great heap of sense- qualities, the entire phenomenal world that consists of appearances (nang) -- the physical outer world and possibilities (si) -- sentient existence. The distilled essence

(chu-dril) of the five feminine buddhas and the five masculine buddhas is the embodi-

ment of the Three Kayas.

The Secret Offerings

HUNG. The supreme bliss of bliss and union is most supreme passion;

hung de-chhen de-jyor chhak-pa chhe

The intrinsic lucidity of pristine awareness is most supreme freedom;

ye-shay rang-sal drol-wa-chhe

Nonduality itself is most supreme purity –

zung-juk shin-tu nam-dak chhe

How very marvellous these supreme offerings!

thuk-je thab-khya trul-pai gar

The secret offering is the offering of union and liberation. The first line is the offering of union. It starts with de, exaltation. Chhen means supreme and is glossed as unchanging. De-jyor means that exaltation (de) is in union (jyor) with emptiness. To realize this indissoluble unity is great passion (chhak-pa-che) not contingent on joining or separating. De is prajna and jyor is upaya.

To make the secret offering of union, relatively, we visualize that from our heart-center, feminine consorts of pure awareness, youthful, beautiful, enticing, and graceful emanate forth. They enter into union with the mandala deities and the pri- mordial unity of bliss and emptiness is realized. Ultimately, we abide in pristine awareness free of ordinary passion, also called the wisdom of discernment.

The second line is the offering of liberation. In the general Vajrayana, it is taught that the buddha essence is temporarily veiled by obscurations that must be removed. Based on this viewpoint, it also speaks of outer liberation which is the anni- hilation of obstacles, demonic forces, hindrances, and enemies, and inner liberation which is the annihilation of the dualistic forces of conceptualization. However, in Dzogchen, the view is that the buddha essence is primordial purity (ka-dak), so there is no ignorance to annihilate. Everything is actually supreme freedom (drol-wa chhe), the clear light (rang-sel) of wisdom (ye-shay).

The third line is the innermost secret offering of suchness or nonduality. Nond- uality is described in this verse as the union (zung juk) of the most supreme passion 64

addressed in the first line, with the most supreme freedom addressed in the second line. This union is utter great purity (shin-tu nam-dak chhe). As to the purity of en- lightenment, there are two types. The first is primordial purity and the second is the purification of temporary obscurations in the sphere of primordial purity. This means that as soon as primordial purity is realized, the dualistic obscurations are directly purified in primordial purity.

The fourth line states that the purity of union and liberation or the union of pri- mordial purity simultaneous with purification is the most marvelous, greatest, joyous offering (chhok-gi chho-pa chhe ho).

There is a subtle kind of grasping that can arise when we think that we are pri- mordially pure but at the same time we feel that there are temporary obscurations to be purified. This is not a gross defilement, but it is a subtle defilement. It’s like wrap- ping something smelly into some paper and then throwing away the smelly stuff. The odor still lingers in the paper.

The Praises

HUNG To the unmodified dharmakaya free from elaborations;

To the perfect and complete splendor of spontaneously self-existing supreme bliss;

To the emanational dance of the skillful means of compassion – To the Immortal Lake Born Vajra – praises!

I will not give a word by word explanation for this verse because I have already explained many of these words such as unmodified (ma-cho), supreme bliss, (de-

chhen), and spontaneously manifest (lhun-drup). The King of Zahor spoke these four

lines with great faith and devotion after he tried unsuccessfully to burn Guru Rin- poche and Mandarava. The first line describes Guru Rinpoche's dharmakaya wisdom mind; the second, his sambhogakaya wisdom speech; and the third, his nirmanakaya form and all his enlightened activities and qualities. When we come to these praises, relatively we meditate as we did for the homage, that many powerful beings, such as Indra, Brahma, chakravartins and so forth, emanate from our heart center and stand before the mandala deities reciting the praises.

To the vajra form utterly complete and perfect with the major and minor marks;

This praises Guru Rinpoche’s vajra body that liberates upon sight. His vajra body is invincible, unceasing, unobstructed, partless, timeless, independent of the five aggregates, and free of birth, old age, sickness, and death. It has no size and as a symbol of pristine awareness, it is not definable.

To the speech aspect of enlightenment with its self-occurring unceasing pure melody;

This praises Guru Rinpoche’s speech. The speech of unrealized beings consists of words that convey truth and untruth, but the vajra speech of Guru Rinpoche is the self-arising sound of inconceivable wisdom.

To the mind aspect of enlightenment with its inconceivable wisdom;

This refers to Guru Rinpoche’s inconceivable wisdom mind.

To Padma Thotrengtsel – praises!

The name of the one who embodies all the qualities praised in the previous lines.

To the treasure of limitless positive attributes;

This recapitulates what was described in the four previous lines.

To the one who enacts effortless enlightened activity created without ob- struction;

To the one who sends down a wish-fulfilling rain according to needs and de- sires;

To the combined essence of the Three Roots – praises!

This praises Guru Rinpoche’s enlightened activities and compares him to a wish-fulfilling jewel. The last line praises him as the combined essence of the Three Roots.