Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Chapter 13. Practicing Tantra
Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the 2014 Light of the Path retreat in North Carolina. Photo: Roy Harvey.
Heruka, Guhyasamaja and Yamantaka
I have already mentioned the absolute guru, the unification of no more learning, the
inseparability of the two kayas, the two bodies of a buddha. This is the goal of tantric
practice, the unified state of Vajradhara that is achieved as the final result, with its seven
qualities such as embracing, great bliss, completely full, unceasing and so forth; the union of
clear light and illusory body, the inseparability of the holy body—the rupakaya—and the
holy mind—the dharmakaya. Then the dharmakaya manifests as the sambhogakaya and the
nirmanakaya to benefit the numberless sentient beings until they achieve enlightenment.
Before the unification of the clear light and illusory body, we first have to achieve the clear
light and illusory body separately. Although both the isolation of clear light and the isolation
of illusory body are stages in any Highest Yoga Tantra practice, some tantras emphasize clear
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