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The Heart Essence of Profound Meaning
The Quintessence of all Source Texts and Esoteric Instructions of Severance, the Perfection of Wisdom

{17.1} Homage to the Guru and Mother of the Buddhas.

Dharmakāya free of elaboration, unspeakable, unthinkable, unimaginable realm of space,
saṃbhogakāya fully possessing major and minor marks,
nirmāṇakāya as anything to tame whomever for others' benefit:
I bow down to the consummate aspiration of emptiness and compassion.

Mahāyāna dharma outshining the four devils,
neither inhibiting nor indulging samsara and nirvana, the meaning of  perfection,
making adverse conditions the path; the approach of the Lord Mother:2
I write of the Severance instructions that befriend adversity.3

[The master should be]4 realized in the words' meanings, full of loving kindness, endowed with eight skills,5
finished with personal benefit, accomplished in emptiness and compassion, and skilled in clearing away faults.
[The disciple should] have faith, diligence, devotion, armor, and fortitude, 
and desire protection, higher status, the aspiration to excel, or to gain omniscience.

Receiving supreme empowerment, [the disciple] becomes a vessel for the profound teaching.6
Introduce the seeking mind itself through the path of accumulation and purification.
Fortunate ones should adhere to this path of the victorious ones
in order to sever the lack of realization, perverse realization7, biased realization, and doubts.

The devils are the gods, afflictive emotions, aggregates, and the death devil.
The special four are tangible, intangible, exaltation, and inflation.
[Practice in] charnel grounds, desolate valleys, temples, isolated trees, deserted houses, and so forth.
Stay in places where your mind is anxious and afraid.
At night, the terrifying gods and demons gather and thoughts abound.
This is the time to sever doubts, clear away obstructers, and enhance realization.
Those who desire omniscience go for refuge and supplicate.
With the sublime thought of enlightenment aroused [it becomes] the path of emancipation for all beings. {18}

By entrusting the resident [practitioner] to the devil, host and guest mix as one. 
Entrusting adversaries to be escorts, one is free in a secure stronghold.
Entrusting the patient to demons, thrive in wellbeing without disease.
Be free of negative adverse circumstances by integrating circumstances on the path.8

Free the mind of self-fixation by relinquishing the body aggregate as food.
Scatter the master of self-fixation by separating body and mind.
Liberate fear on its own ground by inspecting the fearful one.
Tossing away fixation on the body as self, obstacles will arise as glory.9

Obstacles will subside in emptiness by pursuing circumstances.
Grabbing hold of evil spirits will scatter the master10 of fearful objects.
Knowing that everything is mind will liberate on your own ground without fixation.
Letting go at will and sending off [means that] no one can carry you off.

Whenever someone rests evenly in the meaning of the nature of phenomena,
devils and such can't bear it and display various apparitions at that time.
Outer, inner, and secret experiential appearances manifest,
various forms show up in dreams, and unpleasant sounds echo predictions.

When the mind becomes agitated, self-fixation emerges from objects.
Once the inner demons of one's mind are tamed, the outer demons vanish in emptiness.
If feelings of intolerance and insecurity occur, equalize and trample them.
If fear and anxiety occur, focus intently on the thoughts.

Once apparitions increase, sever painlessly and cut off thoughts:
regret, doubts, wrong views, weariness with dharma,
disease, duḥkha11, drowsiness, and scattered practice—
as these resistant thoughts and obstacles occur, exert effort for accomplishment.

Liberate hopes and fears on their own ground by focusing on the limits of major resistance.
Mahāyāna's overwhelming brilliance ascertains pleasure and pain.
Putting the constellations under thumb collapses the false cave of samsara and nirvana.13
Smiting pestilence directly in haunted places destroys gods and demons as illusions.14

If fierce apparitions are big, suppress15 the gods and demons in place.
If they challenge you, then do crazy yogic discipline.
If apparitions still display, delight in illness and be happy to die.16
Hold them by the hook of a compassionate mind that benefits all. {19}

Know that the times and signs17 of termination occur in actuality, visionary experience, and dreams,
arising to oneself outwardly, inwardly, and secretly.
If you rest in one-pointed meditative stability within emptiness,
no doubt the delusion of samsara and nirvana will be distinguished in unity.18

If there are no signs of uprising in the preliminaries, remove the anticipation of uprising.
If there are no signs of suppressing in the main practice, turn your back on anger and desire.
If there is no evidence of termination at the conclusion, remove the anticipation of evidence.
The hopes and fears of a desiring mind are devils, which the wise reject.

Helpers and harmers are subdued by gentle and fierce conduct.
Do aspirations to establish them in enlightenment through various means.

Desiring the attainment of omniscient Buddhahood for oneself and others,
fortunate ones rely on this path of emancipation.

This idea that it is hard to give up long-familiarized habitual patterns
is the single cause that gives rise to the variety of duḥkha in existence.

Here in this charnel ground of collected aggregates and elements of the support and supported,
sever [mental] motion in this place of fluctuating thoughts and memories.

The yogin who has actualized the meaning of empowerment19 [and] introduction 
[should practice] severance until this devil of discursive thought is cut off.

The nature of phenomena primordially possesses incidental stains.
View, meditation, and conduct conquer them in analysis through ground, path and result.20

When phenomena's nature is ascertained, harmful thoughts abound.
Thoughts about the various objective appearances of knowables come and go. 

Without the courage of realization and the experiences of meditation,
equalizing and subjugating by engaging circumstances does not occur and you regress. 

Cut through the trunk of thought-provocation with the axe of view, meditation, and action,
and all the leaves of mental events and concepts will be systemically stopped.

As the warm rays of sunlight overcome all humidity and gloom,
the dawning of primordial awareness removes flaws and you traverse the stages of grounds and paths.

[There are three methods:] natural nonconceptuality, the transformer's ability to relinquish through remedies,21
and the knowledge to make offerings with the awakening mind of emptiness and compassion.22

Devils and spirits cannot lead you to the lower realms.
Since toxic emotions give rise to the duḥkha of existence, overcome them. {20}

The place is this haunted charnel ground of channels and elements collected in one's own body,
where all afflictive emotion spirits abide as in a dwelling.

Light rays of luminous primordial awareness of realization expand.
Until they banish the darkness of ignorance, keep severing.

Whenever afflictive emotions arise, grasp them with the remedy through view, meditation, and action, 
and at that time be totally victorious over devils.

Just as the unpleasant taste of poison in food will rise up,
afflictions of anger and passion will rise up under the influence of practice. 

Without attaining tolerance of dharma, the path evinces terrifying conditions.
Regret, wrong views, doubts, and annoyance with dharma will surface.

When afflictive emotions arise, oppose them with method and wisdom.
Realization of emptiness, transformation methods, and offerings are the supreme remedies.

The unbearable net of afflictive emotions in the ocean of existence
is best conquered by the equal taste of primordial awareness, the supreme measure.

With faith, compassion, comprehension and the vital points of instruction,
yogis and yoginis practice Severance for the purpose of attaining emancipation.

Intense sickness, duḥkha, and toxicity are everyone's devils.
They rob the life force of attaining freedom if suchness is not realized.

The support that produces all happiness and sadness, faults and qualities, samsara and nirvana,
is the abode of four elements, afflictions, winds, phlegm, bile, and aggregates. 

When sickness and duḥkha arise in body, speech, and mind,
you are tormented by painful discordant adverse conditions.

The support for sickness and duḥkha and every fault and problem
is body and mind; if those two are separated, liberation is assured.23

Snakes cannot bear the threatening finger pointed at them.
Whoever meditates on the meaning of emptiness quells the sickness spirit and it flees.

Whenever you are afflicted by intense sickness and duḥkha,
you become discouraged and lack confidence, and then give up and become blocked.

Vigor increases with mental heroism, experience, and realization.
The arsenal of view and conduct of acute confidence conquers the devil's hordes.

Sickness and duḥkha subside by the profound integration of method and wisdom.
Free of faults, qualities increase like the waxing moon.

With the confidence of realization, the force of experience, education, {21}
courage, magnanimity, determination, path,24 vigor, and yogic conduct,

sever the devils of various worldly adversities such as
sickness, corpse spirit-contamination, the eight concerns, attachment and aversion.

Sever the places that give rise to afflictive emotions such as
one's own house, area, city, country, monastery, and so forth.

The duration is long or short, straightforward time, or until awakening;
[practice] for as long as joy and sorrow, obstacles and adversities arise.

Integrate sickness, spirits, violation-contamination, the eight concerns, happiness and sadness and so forth
by meditating on their lack of intrinsic nature and knowing them as karma.

As sickness, duḥkha, and so on become more blatant than before, 
various discords occur, such as outer and inner adverse conditions.

Doubting cause and effect, the instructions, and the spiritual friend,
fearing circumstances, the conditions of the path wear you down.

Since it is non-existent, how is this appearance of a bad spirit hurting me?
Vanquish this unreal delusion of an enemy with a mental antidote.

When this devil of attachment and aggression, the afflictions of existence, is finished off,
it opens the coffers of all qualities, the source of joy and wellbeing.

Recognize dreams through diligent accumulation and purification, and intentional conditioning.
When under control, refine, increase, and then meditate on lucid clarity.

Drawing up energy currents and consciousness is the path of transference.
The arising of lucid clarity from subtle and coarse melting sequences is the bardo [practice].

Physical diseases and various mental problems occur when gods and demons are agitated.
Meditate on emptiness and giving various gifts [of the body] with the courage of possessing the remedies.

Karmic causes and the conditions of afflictive emotion produce all sickness.
Expel them by channel and energy current methods and yogic exercise visualizations. 

Depression, pervasive duḥkha, and lethargy are mental problems. {22}
Meditate on methods and interdependence, do energy current and yogic exercise visualizations.

Boundless devotion, vast compassion, reversing, and taking on adverse conditions
become the enhancement of all qualities.

Whoever grasps this supreme Severance Object, the victors' intent,
finds the treasure of the path to freedom and vast, immeasurable qualities.

Profound and vast, this precious holy teaching that benefits everyone
is especially elevated in its adherents, tenets, continuity, harmony, and renunciations.

Uphold this priceless precious teaching with devotion,
like someone who grasps the value when finding a real gem.

By arranging this Severance source text Heart Essence of Profound Meaning, distilled from the huge ocean of manifold and profound [teachings], may all migrators realize the meaning of severance in consummating Severance Object and attain the supreme mother perfection, the totally pure space of phenomena.

This completes the esoteric instruction pertaining to Severance of Evil Object, the intention of the perfection of wisdom, the personal advice of the gurus and adepts, the esoteric instructions pertaining to Severance of Evil Object called Heart Essence of Profound Meaning, a teaching difficult to find in the world.25

Note: This is the root of most of the later instructions. There are many commentaries and guidebooks and such. 

• Footnotes