The Tree of Enlightenment

think is really neutral and empty. If we take these sights, sounds,
and thoughts to be manifestations of the pure vision of enlightenment,
we can utilize these elements of experience to contribute
to our progress toward enlightenment. I will explain this in
greater detail in the chapters that follow, but let me give you
an example at this point. e cup that I am holding belongs to
the aggregate of form, which is a manifestation of the celestial
Buddha Vairochana. e object, which belongs to the aggregate
of form, is therefore not simply a cup but a dimension of
the Buddha Vairochana. is is what is meant when it is said
in the Vajrayana that one regards all sights as the deities, as
the particular manifestations of a purified reality. By a particular
act of the mind, we can similarly regard all sounds as mantras
and all mental states as the transcendental dimension of
Buddhahood.
is careful utilization of sights, sounds, and mental states is
especially evident in the form of the Vajrayana ritual of meditation.
In this context the Vajrayana practice of meditation may be
likened to a raft – a raft that is composed of sights, sounds, and
mental states. In the Vajrayana ritual, for example, there is a visual
component, which is the visualization of any one of the deities of
the pantheon; an auditory component, which is the recitation of
the mantra; and a mental component, which is the identification
of the meditator with the object of meditation and the cultivation
of the understanding of nonduality and emptiness.
is will become clearer in later chapters. For the time being,
I would like to conclude by observing that the ritual of Vajrayana
meditation practice employs these three components – visual,
auditory, and mental – in order to create a ‘raft of ritual’ that uti-
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