CHAPTER 24 & Oral Instructions on the Twenty-four Certainties Pn Dupre SRENES| OM MANI PADME HUM. I prostrate to Great Compassion. The oral instructions of the emanation of Great Compassion, the dharma-protecting king Songtsen Gampo, on the twenty-four certainties, First, for this dharma of Great Compassion, we must produce certainty that the lama is authentic. What is that? From all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, the lineage is unbroken. At first all the dharmas of the different aspects of the doctrine have been heard. In the middle they have been contemplated. At the end they have been meditated on. Therefore, all the dharmas have arisen in experience. In particular, confidence in the view and meditation of Great Compassion must have been attained. The lama must be well known to be a siddha. From that, certain knowledge of Buddhahood must have been produced. Seeking the oral instructions from a lama who is not authentic is like no water coming from a dry pond. If the master does not have the essence, it cannot descend into the vessel of the student. Second, the Word lineage free from quarrels must produce amrita-like certainty. The Word having faults is confusion. Empowerments having faults cannot be carried through. Oral instructions having faults are 413a . er, the dharma of Great Compassion has reat wevel, Therefore amr na e ancient chronic disease of samsara, inauspicious. Ho se ithe oxraty 18 Podoed, ay auspicious blessing: cures the kleshas, the Js and verbs that has b al criticisms, with their bad extreme medicine that een cut off. In the end there is no Dharmas having quarre! views are like a family 4 practice. +d, by hearing, contemplating and meditating in the dharma of the Third, by a / | oral instructions, certainty 18 produc in the dharma of Great Compassion, there is the profound In particular, ; meaning, the nature of dharmas like a deep ocean. First by hearing the special lama, in listening to what is taught, it is grasped. In the middle, by contemplation, the empty luminous nature of dharmas must be known to thin us. At the end, we practise by meditating in the yoga of self- ced that the lineage continues, special exist wi self-liberation, continuously like a river. If we do not practise arising and by hearing, contemplating and meditating, it is like a treasure being in the house of a poor woman, but since the woman does not find it, there is no result, Though the realisation of Great Compassion exists primordially within us, if it is not taught by the lama, by the appropriate secret means, it is not seen. Fourth, certainty must be produced, by that practice, blessing arise. By practising the Six Syllable quintessence mantra of Great compassion, after becoming saddened by the nature of suffering of samsara, an experience arises, such that we do not have to throw it away on the ground like a worn out reversed sheepskin coat. By seeing the essence of awareness, its rising is like the sunrise. The self-illuminating empty essence arises as 414‘ONS On the Twenty-four Certai ies experience of seeing the realisation of Great Cony asi i mind to be confusion, an Xperience of Compassi een vores ion desc for blessing, by having the blessing of Ourselves ag th ending arises. As S the body, speech and mind of Great Compassion, we know how to jo; to join that to the bei e being of students. Ifthe master has no experience and blessing, they 7 can to the students, as a lamp may have a wick and ae not come will be no light, Without fire there Fifth, having finished the practice, a . how to make the measure of heat - vod e 7 win, vee = e elevated in our being, By practising Great Compassion the body is blissful, light, smooth, supple and radiant, explained as being the body of the deity. That is the experience of all appearances arising as the body of the deity and the measure of heat. By reciting OM MANI PADME HUM we can be pure. What we say goes to the dharma. All beings listen to our words. Speech becomes workable and so forth. That is the measure of heat arising. By meditating on mind as the equal unbiased state of realisation of Great Compassion, there is experience of mind as luminous emptiness and as self-arising and self-liberated. Experience of inseparable emptiness compassion and the measure of heat arises. In practice, if the measure of heat is absent, it is like an incompetent physician who cannot recognize diseases. Since the measure of heat is absent in us, we cannot recognize whether the measure of heat has arisen in students or not. Sixth, by realisation certainty must arise that exaggerations have been cut off from within. As for realisation arising from within by the practice of Great Compassion, awareness, bodhicitta, empty, not established as any 415, nan « the realisation of Great Compassion. All dharmas mus ised as that. If we do not realise that, because of not having be realis 7 sly been familiar with that, we will not recognize it when ig jou: it we will be able to teach it to others extreme at all, i previ i occurs. Then it is unlikely tha urselves, it is impossible to teach it to others, Without recognizing it in Seventh, by cutting off exaggerations in appearance, certainty must be hat appearances are without attachment, Certainty must be produced # ced that whatever appearances there may be and however they may produ appear, there is no passion and aggression and that exaggerations have been cut off. If exaggerations of appearances are not cut off, attachments will not be cut off. Like a moth dying by being fascinated with the light of a flame, we will be bound by the suffering of samsara. Eighth, certainty must be produced that the causes, the five poisons are liberated as they are. The five poisons are the kleshas, they are passion, aggression, ignorance, pride and jealousy. By the realisation of Great Compassion, their root is known to be empty. Therefore, the five poisons naturally arise as non-obstructing. Without being abandoned, they are self-liberated and trackless. If the five poisons are not known to be self- liberated and pure on the spot, because of eating the poison we will probably die on the spot. After the five poisons burn the being of ourselves and others, we will all be born in the lower realms. Ninth, certainty must be produced that male and female yakshas are liberated as they are. Demonic yakshas, ruling spirits, rocky mountain spirits, maras and so forth appear to harm our own realisation. Grasping at y rea neta —Enty-f four Certanties parm is merely ordinary Tealisation, harm is inst ay 4 thought, Th, * “ough we into thoughts o} i may go in ights of harm being done to the view, i > there ig no Teal injury: here are No protecting deities, here ar i © harmfiy demons, he - The ed a gods and demons of the phenomenal World are lib, . erat in the view of Great Compassion there are no helpful S they are, Since : Aa . od: obstructing spirits, rest in complete unbiased equality. i S and harmful . If we dc that gods and demons are self-liberated, we Will be lke lo not know . P Servants of two masters. Since the wishes of neither will be accomplished, th oa be no protecting Lord. The class of sons of the Victori , there will (ous One will di like sons of the common people. & will die Tenth, a must be produced that attachment to food and wealth and food and clothing has been cut off. Since the body is established from the four elements, the body needs food and Clothing. The body is attached to soft clothing. The tongue is attached to delicious tastes of food. By food and clothing not being adequate or not occurring, after we have done various evil deeds, the fruition is falling into the lower realms, Therefore, having meditated on Great Compassion, grasping the upper and lower pranas, from the navel, from RAM, the fire of tummo is kindled, hot to the touch and blissful. Think that the body is heated from its inner emptiness. When the force of tummo has been held in the body, attachment to food and clothing is cut off. Also we can eat the food of space. The space of the universe is drunk in one gulp. After the pressed- down pranas have created heat in the body, the belly is satisfied. If attachment to food is not cut off, by collecting evil deeds through attachment to food and clothing, food will be like poison. By eating it, in the end we will die. 417MANE KABUM ducing certainty that enemies and friends are liberated jy is lu ae on anger, enemies are grasped and hatreg Eleventl places. In dependence their own is born. Depending on passion, passion and aggression, we are born i the right, enemies are seen. By looking to the re realisation of Great Compassion, there are neither friends a ae We abide in unbiased equality. We grasp no enemies. The mind is empty of them. From the mind also being empty of grasping friends, fixation of friends and enemies is self-arising and self-liberated. Therefore certainty arises in our being that passion and aggression arising for friends and enemies, is like our own children rising up against us as enemies, By arising as our own enemies, we will be transferred to the lower realms, friends are grasped and desire is born, By n the lower realms. By looking to left, friends are seen. In the Twelfth, the signs of mara are confusion. We must have confidence that they are eliminated. For us yogis who practise Great Compassion, the extemal maras of preoccupations, great material wealth, merit, servants and students all should be cut off for our practice. Recognize that being carried away by distractions is mara. By realising the view, know that everything is confused appearance. Do not engage in activities of merit. We must produce certainty that it is unnecessary. The inner mara is having pride and arrogance in our own dharma, having grasped it as “mine,” and therefore disparaging other dharmas and so forth. Within the dharma of Great Compassion, there are no partiality and bias. There is equality without exclusion. Produce certainty that all dharmas are self- purified and fundamentally pure. The secret mara is attachment to experiences of blessing and signs. The naturally blazing heat of experience naturally arises. We must be certain that we have made 4185 be without desire and attachment ourselve L As long as we do not know ¢ maras, they will create obstacles, Gods and maras wil] Will continue to est vest Cleaning up the maras, we should be without desi aitachment regarding them, “es thirteenth, if only Great Compassion is workable, we create certainty that by his power we can benefit beings, By Visualizing the body as Great comp assion, by the yogic discipline of the body as the deity, the power of plessing of clearing away sickness and Suffering arises. By the blessing of the yogic discipline of OM MANI PADME HUM as wrathful mantra, we can pacify spirits, male and female yakshas, By the yogic discipline of mind as the nature of dharmas, by the blessing establishing self-arising and self-liberation in the realisation of Great Compassion, we can pacify the five poisons and discursive thoughts. By the powers of body, speech and mind, we produce confidence that we are bodhisattvas who benefit beings. If power produces arrogance, there will be harm to ourselves and no benefit to others. If we rely on bad protectors, we will not go to the other side and on this side there will be harm. Fourteenth, produce certainty that the blessing and siddhi of the lama, yidam and dakinis have arisen. Since the lama is the source of blessing, it is important to supplicate. By supplicating the lamas of the lineage of Great Compassion from below, blessing arise from above. If the lamas, yidams and dakinis are not supplicated, no blessing arises. Though a wish-fulfilling gem is a source of what is needed and desired, if it is not supplicated, what is needed and desired will not arise. 419| MANE RABUM roduce certainty in realising the vast view like the ‘teenth, we must PI : ie ves. The view of Great Compassion is the fit for ourse! rmadhatu with nowhere where it does not pervade, The sky, the bene vastness of dhat ; measure of its vastness is like the sky. We must produce certainty that the fruition is realised as the cause. Without depending on that view, we wi}, ww that fruition exists within us. Itis like telling a fairy tale about not kno something we cannot really identify. .enth, we must have certainty of realisation that the vow is luminous Sixtes like a lamp. The vow of Great Compassion, empty and luminous is like a lamp inside a vase. If it is not experienced as self-arising and self. illuminating within our being, it is like searching for things in a dark pit, The luminous meaning is not experienced. Seventeenth, we must produce certainty that the action is without passion and aggression, like a small child being given turquoise and rocks. External appearances, formations in between, and internal discursive thoughts, with no desire and attachment at all, are let go into self-arising and self-liberation. As a small child being given turquoise and stones takes them for a moment, then throws them away again, the action of Great Compassion is without desire and attachment. If we do not become without desire and attachment, we waste all our things and requisites. It is like a bee, when people carry off the honey from the nectar it has collected. If we are bound by desire and attachment, the fruition will be falling into the lower realms. 420 ethtc we must create Certainty that the § 5 Ah . TUitio which are like a wish-fulfilling gem that is the sous, ‘ as, jor and desired, exists within us, The inition Of all g , of Great gem. makay®- Its unobscured luminosity is jiberation is nirmanakaya. Realisation that the dharmas, is like A 01 : ature oF 2 4 precious ™Passion, the "TS et emptn, s SS is ambhogakaya, Its sejp. amano Re SE exist Within us m vt ing that the fruition, trike us and trying to establish it from another is like ity — : a deer pursyj ; The more that is done, the further away it on Pursuing a mirage, Nineteenth, we must produce certainty that appearances of 7 a An eS of cor conceptions are eliminated in this life, the next life and the bard nfused le bardo, A A Havi practised the view and action of Great Compassion, in thi wing in this very a. life by relying on emptiness luminosity without fixation, Tealisation will be Stable at the time of death and stability will be attained, By recognizing the bardo, we are liberated as the body, Speech and mind of Great Compassion. If stability is not attained, we will not be liberated, Receiving a body, we will receive the karma of the six kinds of beings, whirling about in samsara like a water wheel. Twentieth, we must produce certainty of spotless samaya. As for the samaya of Great Compassion, our own minds should be free from obscuring defilements of charlatanism, swindling and so forth. If our own mind becomes wound up in itself, enlightenment will be obscured by bad habitual patterns. It will be like a crystal ball in the mud. 421i, MANEKABUM ust produce certainty of benefitting beings. Ip the e mi t Compassion, mind is grasped by compassion. All sentieny ireat ss B sped by kindness, compassion and bodhicitta. Benefits fo, eee passion having partiality and bing ned co are impartially per! ae ail sentient beings. It even arises inthe Rawk and the wolf, Its sin Twenty-first, action of G exist isattva path. not a dharma of training on the bodhis ‘Twenty-second, we must produce certainty in viewing the self-arising mirror of mind of Great Compassion. Aside from Great Compassion, it i not established. Our own empty luminous minds free from obscurations and coverings are the meaning of the nature of dharmas, which is Great Compassion. In this, both view and viewer are important. True and certain knowledge recognizes dharmas. If cleansing what is viewed is not done, it is like not wiping the dust from a mirror.”” The meaning of the nature of dharmas will be obscured. ‘Twenty-third, we must produce certainty in the root Six Syllable. Since the Six Syllable OM MANI PADME HUM are the quintessence mantra of Great Compassion, by continuously reciting them, obscurations are purified, The gates of birth among the six kinds of beings are cut off. Recite them producing certainty of being led on the path of liberation and enlightenment. If we do not count the Six Syllable, it is as if, though a land of gold exists beneath us, we do not take it in our hands. Because of that, we neither benefit ourselves nor others. Twenty-fourth, we must produce certainty in the true lama lineage. Since I, Songtsen Gampo, am an emanation of Great Compassion, produce 422Oral Instructions on the Twenty-four Certainties certainty that this is not a made-up family of individuals, If a family is made-up, no blessing will arise, As Water cannot do what amrita can, even if it is there, blessing will not arise and so enlightenment will not be attained. That completes the emanated King’s twenty-four instructions on certainty. 423