Luminous Clarity [dd']
The fourth, luminous clarity, the heart of the path, has two parts: a general presentation of the meaning of the name and the arrangement of the divisions, and a specific discussion of the meditation topics.
The Name and the Divisions [1"]
- Luminous clarity, the heart, is twofold: example and actual,
- experience and realization,
- Or classified as four or five, such as natural, and so on.
The yoga of luminous clarity (’od gsal) is the heart of the path because the root of all practice is to realize that the abiding nature of all phenomena is naturally luminous clarity. The meaning of the name is that the inherent luminosity (rang ’od) of the abiding nature clarifies [or illuminates] (gsal) without restriction. Or "luminous clarity" is used because even though there is no intrinsic nature, there is spontaneously present
luminous appearance (snang ba).[1]
Of many divisions, the twofold ones are the most prominent: example and actual; experience and realization; day and night; thin and thick;
mother and child luminous clarity, and so forth. But there are also divisions into four or five, such as natural luminous clarity and so forth, as in The Concise Illumination of the Five Stages, where it speaks of four kinds of luminous clarity: natural, of meditative absorption, conceptless clarity, and ultimate. Ronyam Dorjé’s Guhyasamāja Commentary[2] describes five:
- Natural luminous clarity is illustrated; the luminous clarity of
- sleep illustrates it; one familiarizes with luminous clarity of the
- path; connects with luminous clarity at the time of death; and
- the luminous clarity of dharmakāya is the result.
