The Tree of Enlightenment

ated with a combination of practices belonging to the kriya and
charya classes. Practices associated with the yoga class seek to
arrive at a balance between the external and internal practices.
is balance, or union, between the internal and external practices
is reflected in the term yoga, which means ‘combination’ or
‘union.’
In the case of the anuttarayoga tutelary deities, we have a
transcendence or dissolution of the barriers that define the first
three classes of practice (external, internal, and the combination
of the two). Anuttara means ‘transcendence,’ in this case, a
transcendence of external and internal practice alike. us the
anuttara class of tutelary deities and practices is the most highly
developed within the Vajrayana tradition. It is at this level that
we achieve, in its fullest sense, complete integration of experience
into the Vajrayana path, integration that leads spontaneously
to the transformation of being. is is the ideal I referred
to in Chapter 24, when discussing the purpose of the methodology
of the Vajrayana – namely, complete integration of experience
into the path.
Initiation itself can be of three varieties. e first of these
is the major initiation, which has a kind of comprehensive, allencompassing
function. To use a rather prosaic analogy, a major
initiation might be likened to a license empowering you to drive
all kinds of motor vehicles, or to the broad powers that a government
might give a special envoy to take up all decisions regarding
a particular set of questions. A major initiation is a kind of
complete empowerment that usually requires two days. e first
day is given over to preparatory practices, which in general have
to do with the purification of the disciple. e second day is
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