[n_1:29]. Three Kingdoms: World of Desire, World of Form, World of the Formless.

[n_1:30]. Gnam-lchags; "falling from heaven" or "heaven-made." According to tradition certain ritual objects made of heavenly material are allowed to fall upon the earth, where they are discovered and venerated. The Vajra or thunderbolt of the Fierce Guru, referred to subsequently in the text, is one of these objects.

[n_1:31]. Sometimes called the four devils: illness; interruptions; kles'as; death.

[n_1:32]. The Trikaya body of Buddha plus the Dharmadhatu (universal body).

[n_1:33]. The sword, representing the sharp cutting power of discrimination, is always of Wisdom in the hands of Manjus'ri.

[n_1:34]. Four of these Wisdom Accomplishments of the Buddha are: Wisdom of Performance, of Observation, of Equanimity, of the Great Dharmadhatu Mirror. This fourth one has some bearing also on the Tantric.

[n_1:35]. Playwords: the affirmative, arbitrary, limited notions of human beings which might be represented as a long, sharp-pointed knife. In contradistinction to these concepts, the all-inclusive enlightened view of reality is symbolized by a knife whose blade is broad and well-rounded (curved).

[n_1:36]. The Five Poisons: the five kles'as.

[n_1:37]. Tantricists borrow and adopt exoteric Buddhist terminology for their own purposes. Originally Bodhi-heart referred to a special quality of devoutness; here, however, in connection with the nectar, it means fluid or secretion--source of energy and compassion.

[n_1:38]. Crown of head.

[n_1:39]. The third type of initiation; the first two being Initiation of

[paragraph continues] Vase and Inner (Secret) Initiation. The fourth initiation is that of Mahamudra.

[n_1:40]. The universal process in Samsara is a process of reciprocal interchange of energies in which nothing in the universe can maintain its energy very long but must lose it or have it renewed. In the world of Samsara everything "leaks"--is filled only to become empty again; there exists not stability or true "conservation of energy."

[n_1:41]. The translator is very skeptical and critical about this statement, unless the teaching of the third and fourth initiations are given separately in a secret manner.

[n_1:42]. Sky Travelers: Tib. Db'a-wo or Mka-agro. [Usually Mka-agro-ma. This term refers to goddesses or accomplished yogis who without effort can traditionally traverse whole mountain ranges and travel in both the physical skies and the heights of consciousness. Ed.]

Footnotes

^4:* "In the name of the Lord." This expression, in varying states of orthographical corruption, occurs throughout the mantric liturgies of the MS. Ed.