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Machik’s Complete Explanation
fresh awareness blend inseparably together as one, then settle in the equipoise of the great pervasiveness where awareness and emptiness are inseparable. Measuring a breath as one exhalation and inhalation, remain in that equipoise for twenty-one breaths. Then, whether you do the instantaneous transference described below or this one, in any case, do the mind transferring into the sky, then mixing, then settling in equipoise, and then again transference—in that way [a total of] twenty-one times for one session, twenty-one [times] during the day, and twenty-one [times] at night. Finally, when it is time to end the session, imagine in your heart a red lotus with eight petals. Imagine that the consciousness is there on the center of it, and then visualize the lotus closing. This is the esoteric instruction of training in transference with the visualization for falling asleep or for doing daily activities. “If you want to do the instantaneous transference, and also for application to activity at the time of death, meditate on me in saªbhogak›ya form one cubit above the crown of your head. Imagine in your heart a red lotus with eight petals, opening upward. Above the eight petals is the central channel. It is white outside and red inside, about the size of a cane whip. The upper end emerges at the brahma aperture in the crown of the head and reaches into my heart. The lower end rests pressing on the lotus petals. Imagine the consciousness inside it, on the lotus stamen. When the signs of death occur, invigorate the awareness, arouse the strength of awareness, and then, with the sound of p’e, it comes out through the tunnel of light and dissolves into my heart ma˚˜ala. Imagine that the lotus and channel are also the nature of light. The lotus is a symbol of freedom from attachment. The blue center is love, and the red petals are compassion. The white stamen and anthers indicate the resolve for enlightenment. The channel being white outside indicates skillful means, and the red inside is transcendent knowledge. The channel disappears at the same time as the consciousness, while the radiance of the lotus gradually dissipates. That is the transference with visualization, and it includes the esoteric instruction for the time of death. It is the instruction for separating body and mind with reference to a supporting substance. It is called the transference accomplished with substance because the substance of consciousness is visualized as a bird’s egg based on the white and red drops and is then transferred to unborn space. This is the dharma system of this yoginı, noble son. “To benefit the dead, imagine that the abode of hell is in the soles of your feet, the abode of the hungry ghosts is in the genital area, animals are in the