Buddha’s Numerous Vehicles

Although it is impossible to describe them all in full, I shall try to explain some of these traditions briefly in order to point out a few of their differences.  

The Lion of the Shakya clan, the All-Knowing Master, turned the wheel of Dharma on three separate occasions. With the first, he spoke to turn back demeritorious (behavior); with the next, to turn back the view truly existent identities; and with the last, to turn back any foundation for such views.

Shakyamuni, the Lion-like Sage of the Shakya clan, is the fourth and current Buddha of the present world age. He lived in India during the sixth century BCE as the son of a royal family. Having renounced his life of princely luxury after realizing how all-pervasive and fearful are the sufferings of sickness, aging and death, he sought a permanent end to all suffering. He came to see that misknowing generates insecurity, due to which you act out disturbing emotions, thus building up karmic potential for compulsive rebirth, and that this is the root cause of all suffering. He understood further that if you eliminate this cause, you are free of its result. By personally doing this, he achieved within himself a complete cessation of all suffering, demonstrating his full enlightenment under the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya at the age of thirty-five. Thereafter, he traveled extensively throughout India teaching or “turning the wheel of Dharma” until he passed away during his eighty-first year as a demonstration of impermanence. His teachings of the paths to cessation are prophesied to last for 5000 years, after which will follow a very long dark age before the coming of the next universal Buddha, Maitreya.

Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma three times, which means that he gave three rounds of transmission of sutra teachings, differentiated according to their subject matter, rather than their temporal sequence. The explanation here follows Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Verse Treatise (bZhi-brgya-pa’i bstan-bcos kyi tshig-le’ur byas-pa, Skt. Catuḥśataka-śastra-kārika) (VIII.15):

First, you turn away from demeritorious (actions); intermediately, you turn away from (grasping at a gross) “self”; and, finally, you turn away from all views (of truly established existence). Anyone who knows (these stages for leading a disciple) is wise.

Buddha Shakyamuni’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma was at the Deer Park in Sarnath with The Wheel of Dharma Sutra (Chos-kyi ’khor-lo’i mdo, Skt. Dharmacakra Sūtra). In it he taught the ethical path of cause and effect. If you are cruel and act destructively, creating suffering all around you, it is you who will suffer in the end. On the other hand, if you are a good person and behave ethically, building up positive force (merit) by your kindness, you enjoy happiness as its result.

With the second turning, The Sutras on Far-Reaching Discrimination (’Phags-pa shes-rab-kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa, Skt. Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra) delivered at Vulture’s Peak outside Rajgir, the Buddha refuted the mistaken notion that limited beings have truly established identities and thus dispelled their delusion of grasping for one. It is this grasping that drives you to prove yourself, be defensive, act aggressively or crave gratification – all of which bring you more dissatisfaction and pain. If you realize that you have never had a truly established identity and that thus there is nothing for you to prove or feel insecure about, you eliminate the misknowing that drives your compulsive behavior and, in this way, bring to an end the suffering you experience. 

The third turning was at Vaisali with The Sutra Unraveling What Was Intended (dGongs-pa nges-’grel, Skt. Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra). Some masters also include in this turning The Sutra on the Womb for a Thusly Gone One (De-bzhin gshegs-pa’i snying-po mdo Skt. Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra), on which is based Maitreya’s The Furthest Everlasting Continuum (rGyud bla-ma, Skt. Uttaratantra). This teaches about the permanent Buddha-nature in every limited being, the pure underlying substratum of their thoughts, which is free of all mental fabrications of true independent existence. Implied in these teachings are advanced meditation techniques for realizing that there is no substantial, truly existent foundation for disturbing mental factors and distorted views, namely through awareness of the pure Buddha-nature.

Je Tsongkhapa, however, considers this sutra to be part of the second turning. Therefore, according to him, the actual third turning consists only of the seventh chapter of the Samdhinirmochana Sutra, in which the Buddha established the Chittamatra tenets that some phenomena have true existence, while others do not. It is on this basis, then, that he asserts that the second turning establishing the Prasangika-Madhyamaka tenets is supreme. In doing so, Je Tsongkhapa is not disputing the validity of the Buddha-nature teachings of the Tathagatagarbha Sutra and the Uttaratantra. He is merely classifying them as part of the second rather than the third turning.

The contents of these three sets of teachings are the three higher trainings, and their specific words are the Buddhist scriptures, classified into twelve categories. 

The words of Buddha Shakyamuni were not written down during his lifetime, but a year after he passed away, a council of 500 elders was convened at Rajgir, at which all his discourses were recited from memory by three of his foremost disciples. A succession of seven holders of the teachings followed, and in this way the integrity of his exact words was maintained. After 110 years, the Second Council was held at Vaishali to purify the monastic community of those who did not strictly adhere to Buddha’s injunctions. Fifty years later, the Third Council was assembled at Pataliputra (modern Patna) under the patronage of King Ashoka, who was largely responsible for the spread of Buddhism throughout India and to Ceylon. By this time, the Buddha’s words were being transmitted in four different North Indian languages, some classical and others more colloquial. At the last council, all four were recited. Although various disciples favored one over the others, all four were true to what the Buddha had said, and the teachings were still complete and intact. Eventually, these four lines of oral transmission became eighteen.

Thus, much time passed before Buddha’s teachings were ever written down. In the beginning, they were passed only orally to successive generations of disciples. The earliest to appear in written form were the Hinayana or Modest Vehicle teachings concerning methods for achieving liberation. Of the eighteen lineages that had emerged, the most outstanding Hinayana ones were the Sarvastivada, which spread from North India to Central Asia, and the Theravada or Doctrine of the Elders, which still survives today. The texts of the former appeared in Sanskrit, while those of the latter appeared in the Middle Indic language known as Pali. The Hinayana vehicle preserves purely these earliest recorded words of the Buddha.

The Mahayana or Vast Vehicle teachings on the means to attain the full enlightenment of Buddhahood were taught to a more select group of disciples and at first disseminated less widely than Hinayana. When they were finally recorded several centuries after the Buddha passed away, they appeared in Sanskrit and a variety of Middle Indic and hybrid languages.

The Tantrayana or Tantra Vehicle teachings of special Mahayana methods to attain Buddhahood were kept the most secret of all. Transmitted orally for centuries, they became more widely known only much later in the history of Indian Buddhism. 

These three vehicles are thus all equally founded on the Buddha’s direct teachings of one or more of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma. As people have different dispositions and inclinations, the Buddha skillfully taught a wide variety of methods to suit each of them in reaching their goals. Ultimately the discrimination required by anyone to break through misknowing and achieve a true cessation of suffering must be the same. Thus, the voidness (emptiness) realized by the most advanced practitioners of each of these vehicles is the same. What differs is the type of mind that realizes it.  

For those who see that ultimately it is you who have to free yourself and who are thus focused primarily on their own spiritual journey, the Buddha taught the Hinayana vehicle. With such a motivation, the realization of voidness overcomes the obstacles preventing liberation, and you attain the state of a Hinayana arhat.

There are two styles in which this may be done. As a shravaka, a listener to the teachings, you rely on a guru or spiritual teacher throughout your entire path. As a pratyekabuddha, a self-realizer, however, you travel the final stages on your own without a guru’s close guidance. Furthermore, shravaka arhats openly teach others how to achieve an attainment similar to their own, whereas pratyekabuddha arhats teach others only through gestures.

Even though everyone must ultimately eliminate their own misknowing, some people nevertheless wish strongly to be able to help others as much as possible in their individual quests. Such people are called bodhisattvas. By the added force of such a Mahayana motivation, the realization of voidness overcomes both the obstacles preventing liberation and those preventing omniscience. Thus, bodhisattvas attain the full enlightenment of a Buddha – a state in which they are able to help others most efficiently.

For those having a Mahayana personality, who are so moved by others’ suffering that they wish their enlightenment as soon as possible, the Buddha taught the Tantrayana methods for achieving a Buddha’s body and mind more immediately by practicing simultaneously causes similar to both of them. Moreover, the most advanced of these teachings indicate how to build up an enormous amount of positive force (merit) quickly and achieve the subtlest level of consciousness. With such a strong motivation, direct method and buildup of positive force, the realization of voidness by the subtlest level of consciousness brings bodhisattvas the enlightened state of a Buddha in their very lifetime. 

At different times, Buddha’s words concerning these vehicles were compiled from different lineages of their oral transmission, deriving from their recitation at the First Buddhist Council. These various collections are known as the Tripitaka or Three Baskets. The Pali version was the one that emerged from the Theravada lineage of the Hinayana vehicle, which had passed from India to Ceylon in the fourth century BCE and then further to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. 

The various editions of the Chinese canons were translated much later, between the first century BCE and the sixth century CE. These were made from the Sanskrit and Gandharan versions of the Sarvastivada Hinayana, Mahayana and Tantrayana texts found recorded by this time in India and the Indian cultural areas of modern Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and Chinese Turkestan. From China, the use of these canons spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam.  

The Tibetan Tripitaka was translated starting in the seventh century CE, mostly from the Indian-language texts of whatever Buddhist traditions were found at that time in North India, Nepal and Kashmir. By then, the largest amount of Buddha’s direct teachings had already been recorded in India, and thus the Tibetan canon is the most extensive in size. Some translations were also made from the Chinese texts. From Tibet, these versions were further disseminated back to China and to Mongolia, Manchuria, Turkestan and Siberia, as well as to the Himalayan regions of Ladakh, India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. 

The contents of the various Tripitaka can be divided into the three higher trainings. The Basket of Sutra deals mostly with the training in higher concentration, the Basket of Vinaya with that in the higher discipline, and the Basket of Abhidharma with the training in higher discrimination (wisdom). In order to cut through misknowing, the root of suffering, you need all three: ethical self-discipline, concentration and discrimination. 

These baskets can further be divided so as to include the twelve scriptural categories. The Basket of Sutra includes five classes of Hinayana texts and two of Mahayana. The five are: 

• Sutras that present what the Buddha had to say in a brief and condensed format
• Geyas, verses that the Buddha uttered during the course of and at the end of his sutras
• Vyakaranas, the Buddha’s revelations of the past and prophesies of the future
• Gathas, two- to six-lined verses
• Udanas, joyous praises that the Buddha proclaimed for the sake of the long life of his teachings. 

The two Mahayana classes of this first basket are: 

• Vaipulyas, presentations of the vast and profound aspects of such topics as the six perfections and ten bodhisattva stages
• Adbhutadharmas, which are the Buddha’s descriptions of such wondrous things as the discriminating awareness, extraphysical powers and hallowed deeds of the Buddhas, pratyekabuddhas and shravakas.

The Basket of Vinaya contains three classes of Hinayana texts and one of Mahayana. These are respectively: 

• Nidanas, rules codified by the Buddha for those who are ordained concerning which actions constitute a breach in their vows
• Avadanas, teachings given with examples for ease of comprehension; (10) itivrttikas, stories the Buddha told from ancient times
• Jatakas, accounts of the difficult ascetic practices that the Buddha performed in his previous lives while engaging in the conduct of the bodhisattvas. 

The Basket of Abhidharma contains the last scriptural category:

• Upadeshas, which are common to both the Hinayana and Mahayana vehicles. In these, Buddha indicates precisely the meaning of the works in the Basket of Sutra by specifying the individual and general definitions of things.  

As for the Mahayana teachings of the secret tantras, some people say they belong to the inner teachings of abhidharma (concerning the training in higher discriminating awareness). It is more correct, however, to consider the Basket of Tantra as being in a category of its own.

When the sutras are differentiated from the tantras, the term “sutra” is used to refer to all twelve scriptural categories in general. This word, however, can also mean the five categories of the Basket of Sutra as opposed to the other two baskets or, in its most limited sense, only the first of the twelve categories.

Although the Buddha delivered tantras at the same time as he taught the Prajnaparamita Sutras, the tantras are not included in any of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma.

The teachings of the Buddha translated into Tibetan are contained in over one hundred sets of volumes, but their actual extent cannot be measured. Moreover, there are also a great many commentaries to these texts, such as the Mahavibhasa Shastra belonging to the Hinayana Tradition and, as for Mahayana commentaries, those by numerous Indian pandits such as the Six Ornaments of the Southern Continent and the Two Wondrous Gurus. With respect to the secret tantra teachings, there are commentaries to all four classes of tantra, advanced meditations (sadhanas) and oral teachings beyond all imagination. Because of the great kindness of the ancient translators and pandits, more than two hundred sets of volumes of such commentaries have been translated into Tibetan. It is these texts, then, that form the foundation for Buddhism in Tibet.

The collection of Buddha’s direct oral teachings of the Tripitaka translated into Tibetan is called the Kangyur (bKa’-’gyur), and the Indian commentaries the Tengyur (bsTan-’gyur). This latter compilation includes works not only on exclusively Buddhist subjects, but also on such topics as medicine, astrology, logic, art and Sanskrit grammar and poetry, which are studied in common with the non-Buddhist traditions of India. The Indian masters who wrote these commentaries range over the period of time roughly from the first century BCE to the eleventh century CE. 

Not all such works were translated into Tibetan, but many were, and some are no longer extant in their original Sanskrit or Middle Indic languages. This is because, after this period, Buddhism seriously weakened and declined in India with the advent of the Turkic invasions, and many texts were lost. 

Buddha’s teachings concerning ethical self-discipline, concentration and discriminating awareness encompass a wide range of topics, many of which are difficult to approach and understand directly. Appreciating the differences in varying people’s abilities and levels of sophistication, the Buddha used skilful means to teach subjects in a way that others could relate to them. If he only explained things in the most subtle and detailed profundity, hardly anyone would have been able to grasp his meaning. For this reason, the Buddha taught graded levels of theories and explanations so as to introduce his disciples gradually to the deepest insights. The Buddha realized that one learns by a process of elimination or by narrowing in on the truth. Thus, in presenting graduated levels of explanations, he taught first very general descriptions and then further refined them to become more accurate. 

For example, concerning seemingly solid matter, the Buddha first instructed his disciples to consider how all physical objects are made of particles. Once they had become accustomed to seeing things this way and their grasping had somewhat lessened, the Buddha went on to teach about the nature of particles, their relation to the mind and its preconceptions and so forth. In this way, he led them to the most profound realization of voidness.

These explanations that the Buddha taught are known in progressive order as the Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Chittamatra (also called Yogachara or Vijnanavada), Madhyamaka-Svatantrika and Madhyamaka-Prasangika systems, although they were not necessarily expounded or recorded in that order. The first two are categorized as Hinayana tenets, and the latter three as Mahayana.

Various Indian masters and commentators specialized in explaining certain aspects of them. The most outstanding were known as the Six Ornaments of the Southern Continent, namely Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti, and the Two Wondrous Gurus, Shantideva and Chandragomin. Thus, the wide array of Indian commentaries translated in the Tengyur covers the entire range of theories taught by the Buddha. By studying each of these levels in their proper order, you can come to the highest realizations overcoming the obstacles preventing liberation and omniscience.

In India there was no division of Buddhist texts into old and new. 

Nor was there in Tibet with respect to the scriptural texts of the sutra vehicles.

However, as some (tantric) scriptures were translated into Tibetan later than others, there is a differentiation made among them with the work of the translator Rinchen Zangpo being considered the dividing point. All translations prepared before his time are referred to as old texts (Nyingma). Those done by Rinchen Zangpo himself and all who followed are called new texts (Sarma).

Although Buddhist influences may have first been felt from Chinese and Western China, Buddhism was officially brought to Tibet in the seventh century during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo (Srong-btsan sgam-po). This famous king had two princesses as his queens, one from China and the other from Nepal, and under his rule the huge Tsuglagkang Temple (Tsug-lag khang) was built in Lhasa. He sent his minister Tonmi Sambhota (Thon-mi Sambhota) to India to devise a written script for the Tibetan language, and shortly thereafter the first translations were begun. 

After a brief decline, Buddhism was revitalized during the eighth century by the efforts of King Tri Songdetsen (Khri Srong-lde-btsan), who invited Shantarakshita to Tibet from Nalanda Monastery in North India. He, in turn, suggested that Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, follow to exorcise all obstructions. This was done, and as a result the first Tibetan monastery was founded at Samye (bSam-yas), with Shantarakshita as its abbot.

Shortly thereafter a famous debate took place there between Shantarakshita’s Indian disciple Kamalashila and a Chinese monk known as Hoshang Mahayana, who taught a nihilist position. The Indian was declared the victor, and although Hoshang Mahayana might not have been representative of any established Chinese Buddhist tradition, from that time onwards the Tibetans turned primarily to India rather than China as their source for the teachings. This decision may have been made on the basis of political considerations as well.

During the reign of the next king, Tri Ralpachen (Khri Ral-pa-can), the first dictionary was compiled to standardize the translation terms from the Indian languages. However, in the late ninth century, during the short rule of the next king, Langdarma (gLang-dar-ma), there was a serious repression and persecution of Buddhism. Many of the teachings and lineages went “underground” or were hidden. 

During the ensuing century and a half, Buddhism gradually reemerged, and the process of translating the scriptures and Indian commentaries into Tibetan continued. All translations from the earliest to those done by Pandit Smriti are included in the category of “old texts.” The “new texts” refer to those done after this under the new system devised by Rinchen Zangpo (Rin-chen bzang-po) (958–1055). According to his innovations, all Sanskrit terms were to be analyzed for their roots, prefixes and various endings, and each component to be precisely represented by a Tibetan equivalent. Moreover, Sanskrit word order was to be followed, rather than a more colloquial Tibetan idiom. Because of the precision of his rules, the “new translations” are so faithful and accurate that many of the lost Sanskrit originals can now be reconstructed.

During the earlier flowering of Buddhism, almost all the sutra, vinaya and abhidharma texts, as well as those of the three outer tantras were translated into Tibetan.  

This refers to the period prior to King Langdarma’s persecution, when most of the Baskets of Sutra, Vinaya and Abhidharma were translated, as well as part of the Basket of Tantra. This latter “basket” has four divisions. The kriya, charya and yoga tantra texts are known as the three outer ones, and it is these that were mostly translated by this time. The fourth was anuttarayoga tantra.

According to many masters, the voidness ultimately realized in all sutra and tantra practices is exactly the same; what differs is the type of mind that realizes it. In the tantric vehicles, this consciousness is characterized as blissful, with the bliss and energy harnessed being progressively greater on the paths of its four divisions. In kriya practices, emphasis is placed on purification through external rituals. Charya tantra places equal weight both on external physical and verbal actions and on internal yogic techniques. In yoga tantra, more stress is found on the internal procedures of yoga. All these Mahayana practices can bring you enlightenment more quickly than those taught in the sutra vehicles. By extending your lifespan, they can do so even within your very lifetime. However, the quickest methods are the unsurpassed internal yogic techniques of the fourth or highest classification of tantra, the anuttarayoga.

Although the majority of anuttarayoga tantra texts – such as Heruka, Hevajra, Kalachakra and Yamantaka – were translated later, many of them were also prepared during the earlier period. It is precisely some of the latter that were criticized by several of the best scholars of the new period as being invalid. But those who are unbiased and nonpartisan praise these texts as being indeed valid, and I agree fully. I truly believe, as they do, that these (earlier translations) are faultless. This is because they convey the exact meaning of the profound and vast teachings of the Kangyur and Tengyur, and it is therefore entirely proper for them to be given full respect. 

There have been many editions of the Kangyur and Tengyur, one of the earliest complete versions having been compiled in the fourteenth century by Buton Rinpoche. In all of them, the material concerning the sutras, the three outer tantras and the subjects studied in common with the non-Buddhists is mostly the same. In general, there are “old translations” for what was completed prior to Rinchen Zangpo, and “new translations” for whatever remained to be done. When more than one translation was made of a text – and this was not necessarily with one being in the old style and the other in the new – both would very often be included. Thus, the fundamental canons followed by all Buddhist traditions in Tibet contain translations from both the old and new periods.

The main discrepancy among the various editions concerns the anuttarayoga tantra material. Different editions include different texts and commentaries, as many of the compilers disagreed over which translations were valid. The entire corpus of the “old translation” tantras, however, is available, published separately as the Collection of Nyingma Tantras (rNying ma’i rgyud ’bum).  

The Nyingma tradition, which follows the old translations of the (anuttarayoga) tantras, accepts nine graded vehicles. When grouped together, these can be classified as the causal and resultant vehicles.

Both are stages of practice, involving the building up the networks of positive force and deep awareness. These two collections are the causes for attaining liberation and enlightenment, and therefore the Hinayana and Mahayana vehicles that deal with methods for accumulating them are termed “causal.” They are also known as the sutra or perfection (paramita) vehicles. The resultant are the tantric vehicles, all of which belong to the Mahayana. 

While following these, you have complete authority to visualize yourself, while still unenlightened, as having the forms and bodies you will attain once enlightenment is achieved and as performing the actions appropriate to this state. Because you are focusing here on the result or end-product of the path, rehearsing for when you will actually achieve it, tantric practice is called the “resultant” vehicle.

There are three causal vehicles: those of the shravakas, pratyekabuddhas and bodhisattvas.

These are known as the common vehicles. The first two are Hinayana, the last is Mahayana. They are “common” in the sense that their basic teachings are studied and practiced in common by followers of both the sutra and tantra traditions.

The general basis for all Buddhist practice is the realizations of: 

• The preciousness and rarity of a human rebirth fully endowed with the opportunities to pursue spiritual training
• The impermanence of such a rebirth and the immanence of death
• The possibility of a less fortunate rebirth without liberty for self-improvement if no effort has been made in this lifetime
• The protection and refuge (safe direction) from such an awesome fate that is afforded by entrusting yourself fully to the Buddhas, their teachings and the community of those who have mastered them
• The law of karma or behavioral cause and effect, which explains how you alone are responsible for your own happiness or pain
• The ultimately unsatisfactory situation of life in general when ruled by misknowing
• The necessity to master the three higher trainings in ethical self-discipline, concentration and discrimination in order to eliminate misknowing and the suffering it causes you to bring on yourself.

The specifically Hinayana common teaching expounded extensively in the shravaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles is the development of renunciation – determination to be free. This is the attitude of being totally disgusted with your own state of suffering and being fully committed to eliminating the misknowing, karma and disturbing mental factors in your mental continuum, which drive you compulsively to cause yourself more misery. Shravakas and pratyekabuddhas share such a motivation in common, and although their styles of practice differ slightly, they achieve the same goal, which is liberation from uncontrollably recurring rebirth.

Bodhisattvas also have a renounced mind, but in addition develop an enlightening aim, known as bodhichitta. With such an attitude, you are unable to bear not only your own suffering condition, but that of all others as well. Feeling the responsibility to help them as much as possible and realizing that you will only be able to do so if you become a fully enlightened Buddha yourself, you strive with all your might to achieve this goal. It is these Mahayana teachings of the bodhisattva vehicle, as well as the full explanation of voidness found in their tradition, which, together with the Hinayana teachings of renunciation, form the common basis for all tantric practice. Without at least an intellectual understanding of renunciation, bodhichitta and voidness, you cannot embark on any of the tantric paths. This basic lam-rim or “graded path” material is covered more fully in the second chapter of this present work.

The resultant are the three outer tantric vehicles and the three inner ones of great methods. 

The former refer to the first three classes of tantra: kriya, charya and yoga, while the three latter are subdivisions of the highest class, anuttarayoga. In the Nyingma classification scheme for the old translation texts of the latter class, the three inner vehicles are called mahayoga, anuyoga and atiyoga. Buton Rinpoche (Bu-ston Rin-chen grub) in the fourteenth century and earlier scholars of the new translation period also divided anuttarayoga into three categories, but they refer to them as father, mother and nondual. Although the material being divided is slightly different, the general criteria for both three-fold divisions are roughly the same. The mahayoga corresponds to the father tantras in that both emphasize the method aspect of the anuttarayoga teachings and the transformation and elimination of the energy of anger; the anuyoga corresponds to the mother classification for the discrimination (wisdom) aspect and transforming desire; and the atiyoga corresponds to the nondual category for the unified pair (zung-’jug, Skt. yuganaddha) of method and wisdom and eliminating closed-minded misknowings. 

These two division schemes, however, are not exactly equivalent. According to the Nyingma system, the anuttarayoga practice has three parts: the generation stage, the complete stage and dzogchen, or great completeness. These form an orderly progression. On the first stage, you practice elaborate visualizations of how things will appear when you are enlightened, in order to overcome seeing and grasping at the ordinary appearance of things. On the second stage, you visualize your body’s energy-systems and practice various breathing exercises, in order to achieve the subtlest level of consciousness and energy, known as the illusory body, for the blissful realization of the clear light of voidness. On the ultimate or dzogchen level, you fully realize the blissful primordial unified pair of voidness and appearance – that is, wisdom and method – and thus, on the grounds of the Buddha-nature, you experience everything in its pristine purity beyond all duality.

Although all anuttarayoga tantras include all three practices, the mahayoga ones give more extensive treatment to the methods of the generation stage, the anuyoga to the discriminating awareness achieved through the unsurpassed yogic techniques of the complete stage, and the atiyoga of the dzogchen to the unified pair of nondual method and wisdom.

The scholars of the new translation period divide anuttarayoga practice into only two instead of three levels: the development and complete stages. The achievement of the unified pair of method and wisdom is included as the final step of the complete stage, sometimes referred to as the complete stage without signs, and not counted as a separate category. Like the old translation texts, all anuttarayoga tantras have both stages. Here, however, the division into father, mother and nondual is according to which aspect of the complete stage receives the most emphasis. Father tantras have more detail about the methods for achieving the illusory body, whereas mother tantras deal more extensively with the clear light deep awareness, in which there is no duality of voidness and the blissful awareness realizing it. Nondual tantras have equal emphasis on both the method and wisdom aspects of the complete stage.

According to Je Tsongkhapa (rJe Tsong-kha-pa bLo-bzang grags-pa) (fourteenth century), there are only two divisions of the new translation anuttarayoga tantras: father and mother, with the differentiation drawn by the same criteria used by Buton Rinpoche. Furthermore, he considers both these classes as nondual, because if it is an anuttarayoga tantra, it teaches about the state of unified pair beyond the duality of voidness and bliss.

Thus, regardless of how the anuttarayoga tantras are subdivided and classified, their practice can bring you enlightenment quickly within your very lifetime. 

Although a vast number of different explanations can be given concerning the theories, meditations, practices and results of these various tantric vehicles, there is no room to deal with them here.