The Generation Stage - Yidam Practice (1/5)

The generation stage (utpatti-krama) 

In the generation stage, one dissolves one's reality into emptiness and meditates on the deity-mandala, resulting in identification with this divine reality. 

What is the generation stage in Vajrayana Buddhism?

The generation stage or creation phase (Tibetan : bskyed rim) (Sanskrit : utpatti-krama), also known as "the phase of imagination" and "the yoga of fabrications," the first phase of tantric deity yoga in the Unsurpassed Yoga Tantra of the later schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It also equates to the Mahayoga of the Nyingma school. 

(Tibetan : bskyed rim) (Sanskrit : utpatti-krama) is the ‘generation’ or ‘development phase’ of practice—otherwise known as visualisation practice—the goal of which is to purify our perception into the purity of our inherent nature.

The first phase of meditational practice (Sadhana) is associated with the anuttara-yoga-tantras in general and especially with the so-called ‘Father Tantras’ such as the Guhyasamaja Tantra. The generation phase involves the use of creative imagination or visualisation as a means of personal transformation through which the practitioners either visualise a divine being before them (front generation) or as themselves (self-generation) in order to alter their perception and experience of the appearance aspect of reality.  

All Vajrayana practices can be subsumed under the categories of the generation stage and the completion stage.

The practice of the generation stage is to purify phenomena primarily through visualization of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and their mandalas. The practice of the completion stage is to realise emptiness with practices based on the channels, wind energies, and essences of the subtle body.

To practice the union of the generation and the completion stages is to visualize the yidam (the meditational deity) as an illusion, as a dream. 

Normally, the proper sequence of practice is to practice the generation stage first, then the completion stage, but there is no need to follow this sequence in the practice of the union of the two stages. From the standpoint of phenomena, it is the generation stage; the dream-like, illusory emptiness represents the completion stage. 

Why this teaching is necessary

In this Age of Dharma Decline, practitioners always tend to have myriad problems. For example, they pay less attention to the foundational elements of achieving accomplishment in Vajrayana practice, such as visualisation, recitation, cultivation of the right view, mindfulness, etc., but instead busy themselves with just the formalities of practice, such as the mandalas, rituals, offerings, vajra dance, and so on. 

In so doing, the result from practice cannot manifest, nor can the four activities (pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and subjugating) be accomplished. 

All yidam practices, whether the deity is peaceful or wrathful, involve the generation stage. One cannot do deity practice without knowing how to practice the generation stage. 

To properly practice the generation stage in a retreat, one should first complete all the preliminaries and also pay particular attention to the process—there are many complicated requirements regarding the time, place, and format of the retreat, the time and format of ending the retreat, and so on. 

We don’t need to know the details for the time being, as many people have not yet undertaken the preliminary practice; even if some people have completed the preliminaries once, the quality of the practice is still less than satisfactory. However, the method of visualisation is very important. 

If one is unable to visualize clearly, the entire result of practice will be adversely affected. The preliminary practices, such as the ones for taking refuge, Vajrasattva, and Guru Yoga, also entail the practice of the generation stage. Therefore, it is necessary to briefly explain this practice.

Of course, this is just a brief introduction to the general structure of the generation stage or deity practice, which applies to all practices and serves as the steps and standard that all should follow. To understand the generation stage in more detail, it is best to refer to the text and sadhana of the individual practice. 

*Footnote

For those who have received the empowerment of this Tantric practise, you are reminded not to intentionally or unintentionally disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practise, and disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.

Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practise! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practise, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind. 

Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.  

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Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

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