The Cult of Tara

78
MAGIC AND RITUAL. IN TIBET
In the practice of "ego," one generates an ego which thinks
"I am that deity," and one dwells thereon one-pointedly. If its
strength should fade, one should nurse back the strength of the
deity's ego as we have described previously [for "vivid appearance,"
above] and settle oneself therein. Doing it in this way, at
first it will be but an artificial thought; but if, after contemplating
it . . . the deity's ego becomes firm, he can abandon his mind
therein and be able to exchange the ego of a deity for his own ego
of an ordinary being, and do so throughout all of the contemplative
periods, and even between them.
Of the two things—the vivid appearance of the deity and the ego
of the deity—he should visualize each in turn, beginning with the
former, and nurse that along. Then, if he can contemplate the
"special appearance" of the residence and its residents and bear
it continually in mind, if he can cast out from his mind the "ordinary
appearances," so that they can no longer arise, and form the
"special appearance" alone—then will his mind be purified of
"ordinary appearances": and if he can exchange for his own a
genuine divine ego, as we have explained above, then will his
mind be purified of its clinging to his "ordinary ego." Then,
arising from his deep contemplation, whatever "appearances"
there may be of the animate or inanimate worlds, he sees them
all as the deities and their divine mansion; his deep contemplation
becomes both firm and natural, and hence he is counted as having
purified, with the Process of Generation, his "ordinary appearance"
and his clinging to "ordinary ego." . . .
As Aryadeva says: "If you know that all these various things
are the retinue of the mandaia, how can you ever be confused?"
And again, Tsongk'apa says: "On these occasions, one must evoke
the 'vivid appearance' of the deity, and so one must make him more
and more vivid through discriminating contemplation. Here, one
first performs the ritual of Generation: then, after the particular
residence and its residents have been vividly visualized (but before
proceeding to the recitation of the mantra) . . . one should generate
as well the ego which thinks ' I am really he'—and both of these must
be done. . . . This is not simply bearing in mind such aspects as the
body-color, the faces and hands and so on of Vairocana or Aksobhya,
etc., taking those things to be their 'ego': but rather one must
visualize oneself as really being a Buddha who has obtained all
qualities and has exhausted all obscurations. . . . Thus if one gains
the ability to root out one's 'ordinary appearances' and clinging to
'ordinary ego,' with the power to exchange them for 'special
appearance' and 'special ego' from the beginning of each contem-