Resolution of doubts on the isolation of body (Chapter Two)

CMP 2.1

In brief, the five aggregates (skandha (the five constituents of the person)) are proclaimed to be the five Buddhas; the adamantine sense-fields (āyatana (sense-bases)) themselves are the foremost maṇḍala (ritual circle, divine palace) of the bodhisattvas.

CMP 2.2

Earth is declared to be Locanā; the water-element is remembered as Māmakī; fire would be the one named Pāṇḍarā; wind is proclaimed [the consort] Tārā.

CMP 2.3

By means of form, sound, and the rest, the mantra-practitioner should always meditatively cultivate (bhāvanā (meditative cultivation, realization)) the deity.

CMP 2.4

Thus it was spoken by the Blessed One in the glorious Guhyasamāja (the Secret Assembly tantra, root tantra of this tradition) Great Yoga Tantra.

CMP 2.5

The [buddha-]families are taught to be of a hundred kinds, but in brief fivefold; and again they become threefold through the division into body, speech, and mind.

CMP 2.6

"In brief, the five aggregates are proclaimed to be the five Buddhas."

CMP 2.7

Resting on the five hearts [of the buddha-families], issued from the five [subtle] bodies, conjoined with the five winds, [the body] is made for the enjoyment of the five sense-pleasures. Thus [it is said].

CMP 2.8

Because it goes forth as the [out-]breathing (prāṇāyāma (breath/wind control)) and runs forth at all times through the sense-doors along their threads, it is called prāṇa (the forward-moving breath).

CMP 2.9

Because it carries away wind, urine, feces, and likewise semen and the rest, this is apāna (the down-voiding breath), as the yogins always observe.

CMP 2.10

That which constantly assimilates from every side what is eaten, chewed, licked, drunk, and sucked is called samāna (the digestive, equalizing breath).

CMP 2.11

By upward motion, by drawing together, and by the consuming of foods to be chewed and eaten, this [breath] is to be known as the action of udāna (the upward breath), through its union with cognition.

CMP 2.12

Pervading and sustaining, and going and coming and the like—because it pervades all the joints, it is called vyāna (the diffused breath).

CMP 2.13

Earth is declared to be Locanā; the water-element is remembered as Māmakī; fire is declared to be Pāṇḍarā; wind is proclaimed [as] Tārā.

CMP 2.14

Aggregate, element, and likewise sense-faculty—each fivefold, divided into five—each one of them is blessed and empowered by a Tathāgata: whence then could the deeds of saṃsāra arise [from them]?

CMP 2.15

Likewise the five external objects too, each one of them, are by the five Tathāgatas—each by its own—forever blessed; and the threefold knowledge rests upon the five.

CMP 2.16

One should contemplate the maṇḍala born of the all-adamantine, situated in the midst of the space-element, and should also perform the dissolution, if the bearer of the peaceful vajra so wishes. Thus [it is said].

CMP 2.17

The body of human beings is seen to be of fivefold nature, fixedly [composed] of just the five elements; cultivating their own mind, [also] fixed, by the existence and non-existence of those [elements], [practitioners] become Buddhas. Thus [it is said].

CMP 2.18

In the Khasama-tantra too he says (in Apabhraṃśa-flavored verse): "This whole world has the nature of the five Buddhas—behold the wondrous, variegated divine play! Therein indeed One, called Great Bliss, dances—One [yet] manifold—through the [varied] savor [of experience]." Thus [it is said].

CMP 2.19

"But in brief, fivefold."

CMP 2.20

Through the [meditative] settling of body, speech, and mind, [their] inherent nature is not apprehended; through the practice of the mantra-as-embodiment there is neither awakening nor [any reified] cultivation.

CMP 2.21

Having examined this in brief—the characteristic of body, speech, and mind—one should cultivate the concentration (samādhi (meditative absorption)) framed by mantra, conjoined with the [ritual] procedure. Thus [it is said].

CMP 2.22

[True] union does not arise in mere reflected images, in cast [icons] and the like; therefore, for the yogin of the great yoga of bodhicitta (awakening-mind; here also the subtle wind/seminal essence), the deities [are the practitioner's own reality].

CMP 2.23

The self is indeed the buddhahood of all the Buddhas, and the very heroic nature of the [awakening] being; therefore, through union with one's own tutelary deity, one should accomplish [realization in] the self alone. Thus [it is said].

CMP 2.24

With a body settled in mantra, with speech, and impelled in the mind, one should accomplish the supreme attainment (siddhi (spiritual accomplishment)), beloved as the contentment of the mind.

CMP 2.colophon

[Here ends] the second chapter, the resolution of doubts about the integration [of the stages, concerning] the isolation of body (kāyaviveka (isolation of body, a completion-stage phase)). // 2 //