The Tree of Enlightenment

eally understand emptiness, one has to transcend conventional
limitations. e rest of the verse means that, although emptiness
may be touched by monks and Brahmins, only the yogi – the new
type of religious figure who has no prejudices – can make emptiness
his maid, that is, identify with emptiness.
A second example runs:
e wine woman brews her wine. e wine drinker sees the sign
on the tenth door of the wine shop, and enters.
Here ‘the wine woman’ is a symbol of Nairatmya. ‘Wine’ is the
wine of nonduality, of going beyond this and that. ‘e sign on
the tenth door’ means the tenth stage of the Bodhisattva path,
the threshold of Buddhahood. us the verse means that the
wine drinker enters the door of Buddhahood through abiding
in nonduality.
With the increasing popularity of magic, ritual, and symbolism,
and the gathering strength of the democratic currents
that promised the highest fruits of religion to all types of persons,
the Vajrayana became exceedingly widespread throughout
India within the space of a few centuries.
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