We are looking then just at the Gelug explanation. And we have a sequence, which is explained in all the Tibetan traditions, but now we’ll give the Gelugpa version of it, of what’s called a dissolution process and a re-emergence process of the grosser levels of mental activity into and out of clear light mind.

In the anuttarayoga tantra system that derives from the Guhyasamaja Tantra we have an explanation of seven stages, with the clear light mind being the eighth, seven stages down, seven stages up. In Kalachakra this is described in a ten stage process. All the anuttarayoga tantras other than Kalachakra accept the presentation in Guhyasamaja. The presentation coming from Guhyasamaja, all that is true in the Chakrasamvara system, the Yamantaka system, all these other systems. The only system that explains it differently is Kalachakra.

These levels are associated with making appearances, so we can’t say that they are really associated with making the external objects. Although you could have a Chittamatra explanation of anuttarayoga tantra and a Svatantrika explanation, from the Gelugpa point of view the only one that will really bring you all the way to enlightenment is the Prasangika understanding. So let’s just stick to the Prasangika understanding.

I should inform you before I go into this explanation that the way that I’m explaining it is merely my own understanding of it. Whether that is totally correct or not, I can’t swear to you. I’m not like a Buddha that I can touch the ground and ask the ground to bear witness to the fact that I have a correct understanding. But I’ve been thinking about this for a very, very long time and trying to put many, many different pieces together, so this is what I’ve come up with.

Non-Gelugpa has these seven stages involved with making an appearance of what something is and how it exists together. It’s mixed together in a package. Gelugpa doesn’t explain it that way, because the clear light mind can give rise to an appearance of what something is as dependently arising. And when it does that it is not making that appearance in terms of these grosser levels of energy-wind and consciousness. So what you would have to say is that underlying the process of the mental construction of an appearance of true existence through these seven stages, underlying it is a basic appearance of what something is.

In other words, the clear light mind – this is my understanding – clear light mind, the subtlest energy-wind gives rise to an appearance of what something is. On top of that, from these grosser levels, it superimposes on that the appearance of truly established existence. Because when you get rid of that, then you can see the appearance of what something is as dependently arising. The clear light mind, if that’s responsible for the appearance of what something is, colored shapes, then that level is responsible for that aspect of our mental holograms, whether we are a limited being or a Buddha.

On top of that there is a projection of the appearance of a false manner of existence. And what is responsible for that are these grosser levels of mind that ride on, that use, these grosser levels of subtle energy. Within the subtle energy, there are grosser subtle energies that are involved in the holograms of what you see and subtler subtle energies that are involved with the hologram of what you think. That’s why I said I didn’t want to go into all the different divisions within the subtle energies, that’s complicated.

Which to present first? I think it’s easier to present this sequence in terms of the emerging sequence going from the most subtle to the grosser level. And here we have to introduce different levels of conceptual cognition.

Remember we had personal conceptual experience – what we’ve been talking about. And I would say, using very lightly Western terminology, this would be conscious personal conceptual cognition. We have our own personal idea of what is beautiful and so on and that’s fairly conscious to us. Then there are what are called the eighty preconscious primitive conceptual cognitions (rang-bzhin kun-rtog brgad-cu) it’s called in Tibetan. It’s very, very difficult to understand, so this is my personal understanding of it.

That first level, the personal conscious ones are involved with words. So humans have that and you have to be taught language and so on. These eighty are more primitive; animals have them. It is a category, in a sense, that comes from some sort of habit or something like that. It’s sort of the mechanism of how mind works for limited beings that gives, let’s say, a category of “kissing” or “embracing” or “sucking” for a mammal. And so how does an animal know how to do that? There is a concept of that, there is a category of that; you don’t have to be taught that. So it’s something which is, I call that, “preconscious.”

Or “anger” or “desire.” “I’m going to show affection,” so there’s a concept of how you show affection through kissing or through embracing. “I’m going to feed,” so there’s a concept of how you feed, that you suck a nipple of a mother. Or “I’m going to show anger,” so there’s a certain category of how you show anger. Your face becomes like this and your voice becomes loud or you growl as a dog, or something like that. So there’s a category, it’s like, “This is the way,” and each time that you do it might be slightly different, but there’s a general concept of how you do it. This is what I think it’s talking about when we look at the list of the eighty. So that’s this preconscious primitive conceptual cognition.

And then we have the completely unconscious subtlest appearance-making conceptual cognition. This is what is making the appearance of true existence and it’s a very, very subtle conceptual mind. It’s the most subtle conceptual mind; it’s there unconsciously. It’s operating all the time. Even in our grosser levels of non-conceptual cognition, still underlying it there’s this subtlest conceptual mental activity going on. Because it’s giving rise to an appearance of true existence, the implied object of which – actual true existence – doesn’t exist.

There are three levels of it. These three levels are usually translated as “black appearance, red appearance, white appearance.” That doesn’t give us very much information. That has to do with when you are just at this level and you’ve blocked off every other level, what actually seems to appear, what it looks like. And that has to do with the subtle energy drops, called the white drop and the red drop. We don’t have time to go into that, but there’s a reason why it’s white and red and black. Going down, the white drop comes to the heart and there’s the white appearance; when the red drop comes down to the heart, the red appearance; when the two join together, black appearance.

But there’s another level that we can look at this, in terms of appearance-making. Not just appearance, but the activity of appearance-making. Remember, we’re talking about mental activity. Now we have to look at the Tibetan names for this. This gives us a clue of what it means. The black one is referred to as nyertob (nyer-thob), it is “nearly attained.” What that means is it’s like a threshold. If we think of consciousness as coming out of clear light mind, this is the threshold level. It’s the threshold where you’re starting to now make the appearance of true existence.

This has two phases, one with mindfulness and one without mindfulness. What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is a mental glue. First we have no mindfulness, so there’s no mental glue to sort of hold on to an appearance of true existence and then there is the next phase, there is now the mental glue that would cause an appearance of true existence to cohere and would hold on to it.

The next phase, the red appearance, in Tibetan that’s cheypa (mched-pa), I call that light diffusion. The actual Tibetan word means that there’s a diffusion “going out” literally “increasing”, so if we use light in terms of what is creating an appearance of true existence from this threshold, now there’s a light diffusion coming out to make an appearance of true existence.

And then there is the white appearance, which is nangwa (snang-ba) in Tibetan literally, “appearing”. This is light congealing. The light has gone out, of a making of an appearance of true existence, and now it congeals into an appearance of true existence. Because an appearance of true existence is like an appearance of solidity, isn’t it? Concreteness. And then it is at this stage that the eighty primitive preconceptual conscious minds arise, after the white.

After that we have four more and so now there are subtle elements within the body. There’s the gross elements externally, there are the subtle elements in the body: wind, fire, water and earth.

First what appears is like a dot of light. And now the subtle winds – so the wind is getting grosser and grosser here – the subtlest energy wind connects with the internal wind element. The wind element of a body can be the support for this “dot experience,” or “a candle at the bottom of a well.” It’s described in many ways in terms of how it appears. Now we’re talking about how an appearance can congeal. So what is it going to congeal as? So the next step after the primitive conceptual minds arise is the appearance like a dot of light.

What’s happening is that now the subtle elements of the body can be the basis for these winds, what it congeals into, how it looks, and the quality of it, the quality of the appearance of solidity, of true existence. If we think of like a picture coming up on the screen of the computer, first there’s a dot of light. First it’s come out of the off-mode, the threshold, and then the electrons go all over the screen, so light diffusion, and then it is congealing, so now it has the ability to give rise to some sort of concrete form, and now it starts with a dot of light.

Remember what we’re talking about is not the appearance of what it looks like; we’re talking about the appearance of how it seems to exist. We’re talking about the formation of a quality of solid existence, true existence, even though we use the analogies of light.

Then, in addition to the subtle wind element, the subtle fire element can act as a support of this mental activity and then the appearance is like a diffusion of lots of dots of light, “like fireflies,” it says, “in the sky,” so now the dots of light are all over the screen.

On the next level the consciousness, the appearance-making of how it exists, is supported by the subtle liquid element of the body and now the appearance is “like smoke.” So it’s not quite solid yet, but it seems more solid, like smoke seems more solid than dots of light.

And then the earth element can support it as well and now it’s “like a mirage.” And after this we have a full-blown appearance of solidity of true existence to the appearance of what it is. What’s been underlying all of this, happening at the same time, but just on the basis of the clear light mind, is the appearance of what it is. We were talking about how it appears to exist. In our ordinary experience we can’t separate the two, but if we can stay with the clear light level, then this whole appearance-making of true existence does not occur.

What Kalachakra adds to this, with a slightly different sequence of ten steps, rather than these seven – if you include clear light mind, eight – is that there are four creative energy-drops. And these energy-winds that we’ve been talking about that make these appearances of true existence, they’re called “the winds of karma.”

So, if it’s a mental hologram when we’re awake, then – in terms of the “projection” – it projects through the creative drop of the awake situation. And if it’s an appearance during a dream, it’s through the creative drop of the dream occasion. And if it’s the mental hologram of when we’re in deep sleep with no dreams – a mental hologram of darkness etc. – it’s through the creative drop of deep sleep. And if it’s an experience of what’s called the fourth occasion, which has to do with experiences of great bliss and happiness, then it’s through this fourth drop. Remember, we’re also talking about an appearance of a feeling of happiness, we’re not just talking about an appearance of colored patches.

But remember, all these subtle winds that we’re talking about, and in Kalachakra these creative energy-drops of the four different occasions, all of that is part of a samsaric limited body. A Buddha does not have these. A Buddha doesn’t have this limited hardware with which mental activity functions. Everything from a Buddha’s side is just functioning on the basis of clear light mind and the subtlest energy-wind.

[See: Kalachakra: The Four Creative Drops & Mental Holograms.]

If we can stay with this clear light level without ever going back into the grosser levels, the clear light level does not give rise to these appearances of truly established existence because it requires a grosser body to do that. We’ll still have mental holograms, but the mental hologram will be of what something is and how it exists will be in terms of dependent arising. Then we can see the interconnectedness of absolutely everything, especially in terms of cause and effect. And then we know all the causes for this individual’s problems and what will be the effect of anything that I teach. And so we become a Buddha; this is what a Buddha does. So, that’s what we are aiming for.