I bow down to crocodile-headed Snt, The reddish yellow yogin, holding a jewel and vase.

I bow down to scorpion-headed Amrt, The reddish yellow yogin, holding a jewel and lotus.

I bow down to hawk-headed Saum, The whitish yellow yogin, holding a jewel and vajra.

I bow down to fox-headed Dand, The greenish yellow yogin, holding a jewel and cudgel.

I bow down to tiger-headed Rksas, The blackish yellow yogin, holding a jewel and blood-filled skull.

I bow down to vulture-headed Bhaksas, The greenish red yogin, holding a lotus and club.

I bow down to horse-headed Rat, The red yogin, holding a lotus and human torso.

I bow down to garuda-headed Rudhiramad, The pale red yogin, holding a lotus and cudgel.

I bow down to dog-headed Ekacrin, The red yogin, holding a lotus and vajra.

I bow down to hoopoe-headed Manohrik, The red yogin, holding a lotus and a bow and arrow.

I bow down to deer-headed Siddhikar, The greenish red yogin, holding a lotus and vase.

I bow down to wolf-headed Vyudev, The bluish green yogin, holding a crossed-vajra and ensign.

I bow down to ibex-headed Agny, The reddish green yogin, holding a crossed-vajra and firebrand.

I bow down to sow-headed Varh, The blackish green yogin, holding a crossed-vajra and a noose of fangs.

I bow down to crow-headed Cmund, The reddish green yogin, holding a crossed-vajra and an infant corpse.

I bow down to elephant-headed Bhujan, The blackish green yogin, holding a crossed-vajra and a bloated corpse.

I bow down to snake-headed Varunn, The [bluish] green22 yogin, holding a crossed-vajra and a noose of snakes.

I bow down to cuckoo-headed Vajr [Mahkl], The white gatekeeper, holding a vajra and iron hook.

I bow down to goat-headed Vajr [Mahchgal], The yellow gatekeeper, holding a jewel and a noose.

I bow down to lion-headed Vajr [Mahk.u.mbhakarn], The red gatekeeper, holding a lotus and an iron chain.

I bow down to snake-headed Vajr [Lambodar], The blackish green gatekeeper, holding a crossed-vajra and a bell.

While reciting this prayer, all the male and female yogins present should remove their outer garments and, as they make [successive] full-length prostrations, they should respectfully pay homage [to the deities]. While respectfully narrating this eulogy in a melodious voice and enacting the hundredfold homage, one should mentally admit and feel remorse for all one's negativities and obscurations, which have been, are being and will be acc.u.mulated.

This Natural Liberation of Negativity and Obscuration is an extraordinary [method for] purifying obscurations, by enacting in full the one hundred and ten homages23 to the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities. Whatever other [confessional] practices one may [generally] undertake, such as the Reparation and Confession of the h.e.l.ls,24 the merits accrued by one who practises in this manner are immeasurable. Therefore, one should persevere diligently with the enactment of this Hundredfold Homage.

May [the influence of this] Natural Liberation of Negativity and Obscuration through [Enactment of] the Hundredfold Homage to the Hundred Sacred Enlightened Families of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities not be exhausted until cyclic existence has been emptied.

This most profound teaching is an ancillary chapter of the Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States, a supporting text to the Reparation and Confession of the h.e.l.ls, and a synopsis of the three editions [long, medium and short] of the Peaceful and Wrath ful Deities: The Ritual Purification [ent.i.tled Natural Liberation of Feelings]. It should be propagated everywhere and enacted energetically at all times without interruption.

7.

Natural Liberation through Acts of Confession CONTEXT.

In addition to the experiential cultivation of the nature of the deity, as outlined in the previous two chapters, the act of confession plays an important role in purifying the negativity and obscuration that has, according to the Buddhist perspective, clouded our minds over a beginningless cycle of lifetimes.

In Buddhist practice this process of purification, which includes the reparation of commitments and vows, is enhanced by the engagement of the 'four antidotal powers'. In the context of this cycle of teachings the four powers are:1. The power of reliance, which here refers to the visualisation of the hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities.

2. The power of the actual antidote, which here refers to the recitation of the Natural Liberation through Acts of Confession, together with the practice of the Hundred-syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva.

3. The power of remorse, which is the genuinely remorseful recollection of all negative acts previously committed.

4. The power of resolve, which is the pledge never to engage wilfully in such negative actions again.

Before beginning the confessional practice, it is recommended that the pract.i.tioner should make actual or mentally emanated offerings before his or her altar. Then, each afternoon, while sitting on the floor in front of the altar, the pract.i.tioner should engage in this practice, with the palms of the hands placed together, chanting the words lucidly and with conviction. For as long as pract.i.tioners have not gained full accomplishment in the practices of this cycle of teachings, inappropriate negative actions of body, speech and mind should be continuously confessed.

Herein is contained the Natural Liberation through Acts of Confession, in the Presence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities,1 an extract from the Peace ful and Wrath ful Deities: A Pro found Sacred Teaching, [ent.i.tled] Natural Liberation through [Recognition of] Enlightened Intention.2 I respectfully bow down to Samantabhadra, Mahottara, And the a.s.sembly of Peaceful and Wrathful Deities!

May the degenerations [of our commitments] be purified!

In order that the degenerations [of our commitments] may be naturally purified, without being renounced, the [following] Natural Liberation through Acts of Confession, in the Presence of the Peace ful and Wrath ful Deities, which is an extract from the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: Natural Liberation through [Recognition of] Enlightened Intention, is [now] presented. Be persevering in this regard, O Children of Posterity! SAMAYA!

This [confessional practice] is presented in six parts, namely: confession [in the presence] of the inexpressible truth, confession in the presence of the Peaceful Deities, confession in the presence of the Wrathful Deities, the plaintive confession of rampant egohood, confession in the presence of the view, and confession [in the presence] of all Those Gone to Bliss.

PRELIMINARIES.

The invitation and request for [the confessional field] to be present OMO, supreme buddha-body of pristine cognition, Even though, like the [clarity of the] waxing moon, You are free from conceptual elaboration in this natural mandala, Your compa.s.sion [radiates to all] without bias, like the rays of the sun.

Please be present here, and attend to us!

The homage to the three buddha-bodies, which compose the Peace ful and Wrathful Deities I bow down to the three buddha-bodies of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: To the Buddha-body of Reality, the inexpressible and unwavering discriminative awareness, To the supremely blissful Buddha-body of Perfect Resource, the lords of the five enlightened families, And to the Buddha-body of Emanation: extensive, compa.s.sionate and skilful.

The three fold of fering of [outer] phenomena, [inner] cloud-ma.s.ses, and secret [substances]

By arraying the vast and pure expanse of s.p.a.ce, With [billowing] clouds of unsurpa.s.sed Samantabhadra-like offerings, Whether they be actually gathered together or imagined, We dedicate [to you] oceans of outer, inner and secret offerings.3 The secret of fering of supreme bliss May [the deities] be delighted by the non-dual 'generative essence'4 Whose [blissful] single savour indicates a [pristine] state, Where all the infinite mandalas of the conquerors, without exception, Are established, beyond conjunction or disjunction, In the secret womb of Samantabhadr.

The affirmation of vows within the modality of the view Since the nature of mind is the great expanse of reality, And all things are pure atemporal inner radiance, This yoga is itself the inexpressible and inconceivable expanse.

Everlastingly we bow down to the mind of enlightenment, Which is [the realisation of] sameness!

The call to the a.s.sembly of Peaceful and Wrathful Deities for attention AH In the atemporal omnipresence of the Great Perfection, which is Samantabhadra, Is [displayed] the mandala of the outer, inner, and secret arrays.

Here, the expanse of male and female deities is the [natural] purity of mundane existence, And the spontaneously perfect male and female consorts are the [natural purity] of past and future [events].

All of these are centred in the 'lotus of vast s.p.a.ce', which is that of [Samantabhadr], She who embodies the most secret and most joyous of supreme forms.

Within this [s.p.a.ce, the mandala] radiates as a supreme non-dual seminal point, And within this secret mandala, where there is no conjunction or disjunction, Is [arrayed] the buddha-body of the uncontrived nucleus of enlightenment, free from conceptual elaboration, Where the immutable deities of supreme bliss manifest in myriad forms.

O, you manifold a.s.sembly of [peaceful] emanations, present within the indivisible expanse, Including the male and female [buddhas] of the five enlightened families, who are the Great Embodiment, The [sixteen] male and female bodhisattvas, and the six sages who instruct living beings, Along with the eight emanational gatekeepers, male and female; O, you manifold [wrathful] a.s.sembly of the emanational deities of pristine cognition, [Including] the ten male and female wrathful conquerors, Great and glorious [princ.i.p.als] of the five enlightened families, Who preside over the indestructible matrix of female [wrathful] deities, The [sixteen active] seals [who represent the natural transformation]

Of the cla.s.ses of consciousness and their objects, And the four gatekeepers; O, you twenty-eight outer and inner dkins and yogins, Who, with motherly loving kindness and sisterly affection, Evaluate our good and bad [conduct], And inspect our commitments; And you oath-bound [protectors] of indestructible reality, who have been subjugated - Please, [all of you], attend to us!

CONFESSION [IN THE PRESENCE] OF THE INEXPRESSIBLE TRUTH.

HUM We [aspiring] awareness holders, who are heirs to the compa.s.sionate lineage, Strive to cultivate the mind of enlightenment for the sake of all living beings.

In order that the unsurpa.s.sed state may be attained, We have repeatedly received and earnestly undertaken [Both] the individual disciplines of the ocean-like teachings,5 And the supreme vows concordant with buddha-body, speech and mind, including: The [appropriate] commitments of [the Vehicle of] Indestructible Reality, Which are dangerous to transgress, and must be constantly maintained, Together with all the general and particular higher commitments.

Yet, even though we strive neither to abandon nor to transgress [these commitments], And we strive neither to deviate from the truth nor to allow our minds to fluctuate, Since we idly think that we have the momentary luxury to sit back in relaxation, We have not reached fulfilment and our mental energy has been faltering.

We have lacked alertness, and have been overpowered by carelessness.

If, therefore, under the sway of ignorance, consciously or unconsciously, Our meditation has lacked perseverance, And we have been distracted in our ritual service and means for attainment, We will have contradicted the injunctions of the Teacher and contradicted our vows.

Further, it says in the [Buddha's] scriptures: 'A yogin should not a.s.sociate, even for a moment, with one whose commitments have degenerated.'

Not being [continuously] cognisant of this, we have transgressed the secret approach [of the tantras], And [consistently] we have had difficulty discriminating [between worthy and unworthy a.s.sociates].

Lacking supernormal prescience, we have failed to recognise those that are unworthy.

Thus, now, with heartfelt remorse, we confess all our individual faults, Which have already become the misfortunes of this life and will become the obscurations of future lives.

Whatever faults of degeneration and obscuration have tainted us, Whether they be our own actual degenerations or those acquired through a.s.sociation with others by: Mixing in a.s.semblies with those whose [commitments] have degenerated, Repairing [the commitments of] those who have degenerated, Giving the [sacred] teachings to those who are degenerate and unworthy, Or by committing the degenerate fault of not avoiding [the influence of] those who have degenerated, and so forth, Do not permit the retribution of the sublime [protectors] to fall upon us!

Attend to us with the compa.s.sion of your loving kindness!

And make us secure, so that we never stray from the non-dual expanse.

Having inspired us to abide within the modality of non-referential equanimity, Please grant us the purity of the non-dual truth!

In ultimate truth, inexpressible and without conceptual elaboration, There is no objective referent to any conceptual thought whatsoever.

But if, by the power of illusion-like relative appearances, we should err, [We acknowledge this and seek your forgiveness.]

We confess that we have deviated from the buddha-mind!

If we have committed transgressions, please forgive our deviations.

Throughout beginningless time and throughout the limits of cyclic existence, We have roamed within these turning worlds driven on by the forces of [ripening] past actions - [Endlessly] drinking the poisons of dissonant states and false perspectives on reality.

May The One Gone to Bliss, king among compa.s.sionate physicians, Grant the medicine of liberation, the nectar of the genuine teachings, To those [of us] who are severely afflicted by the [primal] disease, which is suffering!

May all the diseases caused by bewildering dissonant states be pacified!

May we be sustained in the nucleus of unsurpa.s.sed enlightenment!

We take refuge in you, O compa.s.sionate lord of loving kindness!

We confess that we have contradicted the buddha-mind!

If we have boasted of our high view and yet not understood the meaning of actual reality, If we have not clearly visualised the meditational deity, owing to our meditations being excessively brief, Or if we have made an inadequate number of recitations or spoken these defectively, However we have deviated from the buddha-mind of the oceans of conquerors, We confess our transgressions in the presence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Conquerors.

We make confession to you, O Compa.s.sionate Ones!

We make confession in the presence of the entire a.s.sembly of the deities of pristine cognition!

If we have failed to please our spiritual teacher, on account of the feebleness of our effort, If we have failed to be well regarded by our spiritual brothers and sisters, on account of the feebleness of our devotion, If we have divulged the oral teachings to another, on account of our flirtatious intentions, Indeed, whatever extravagances, omissions, deviations or mistakes we have made, With respect to the fundamental commitments of buddha-body, speech and mind, Whilst swayed by the influence of ignorance, either consciously or unconsciously, We confess all such transgressions in the presence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Conquerors.

We make confession to you, O Compa.s.sionate Ones!

We make confession to the oceanic a.s.sembly of the conquerors!

May all [the degenerations] that we now confess be cleansed and purified!

Please grant us the purity of the non-dual truth!

SAMAYA!.

CONFESSION IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PEACEFUL DEITIES, THE EMBODIMENT OF [THE QUIESCENT NATURE OF] REALITY.