[n_7:1]. The manuscript of these initiations presents a series of colored images of god-forms, with explanatory text on the verso sides and on supplementary folios containing the most profound ideas, most explicitly expressed, of any of the seven initiation texts here given.--Ed.

[n_7:2]. The translator believes the folios of the other four Buddhas are missing. The first few lines of the text are indiscernible.

[n_7:3]. Fiery Water: For human beings, fire is fire and water is water. This is not so for sentient beings in Hell. For them, cool water they try to drink turns to fire, and fire by which they try to warm themselves turns to cold water. Hence the term "Fiery Water" is used to convey the absence of self-nature in this nether-world phenomenon.

[n_7:4]. Cross Symbols (Rgya-gram): In Tibetan, this term may refer either to the symbol of the crossed thunderbolts or that symbol we call the swastika. Here it means crossed thunderbolts.

[n_7:5]. Pointing-Out Practice: This is the practice by which the Guru points out (illustrates) to the disciple, during the initiation, his original Buddha-nature. This is a special practice of the Red and White Schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

[n_7:6]. Alaya Bodhi Heart: "Alaya" is the term meaning "foundation of all." Here the term is used in connection with Bodhi-heart, implying that the Vow of Bodhisattva is the foundation and source of all Buddhist teachings.

[n_7:7]. This refers to the most active and versatile consciousness, generally called mental, which Buddhists classify as the Sixth Consciousness.

[n_7:8]. Four Extremes: (1) The Extreme of Existence; (z) The Extreme of Non-Existence; (3) The Extreme of both Existence and Non-Existence; (4) The Extremes of neither Existence nor Non-Existence.

[n_7:9]. Thought of the Four Births: From the transcendental viewpoint, there is no birth nor death. The Four Births of Samsara are dreamlike and unreal; they are merely thoughts, not the real beings.

[n_7:10] This is the esoteric teaching of this initiation: that all the

[paragraph continues] Wrathful Buddhas are reflected or manifested through the psychic center in the head.

[n_7:11]. White Drops: The life-force (physically, semen) of the male.

[n_7:12]. Red Drops: The life-force of the female.

[n_7:13]. Nadis (Skt.): Follicles; all the tubes and nerves in the body; Tibetan, Riser. [Actually the nadis (rTsa) are not part of the physical body, but are subtle channels for the conveyance of prana.--Ed.]

[n_7:14]. Inner Essence, here, refers to the disciple's consciousness.