[Enhancement]

For the sake of enhancing such a view and meditation, there are concluding activities such as the white distributions of peaceful severance, the red distributions of wrathful severance, and the assorted distributions of half-peaceful, half-wrathful severance. Those are what is known as elaborate severance. Alternating meditation on love and compassion with the blending of awareness and basic space is unelaborate severance. To rest in equipoise in the meaning of the Mother alone is highly unelaborate severance. When you put all three of those into practice, it will be complete from beginning to end.

In raising the spirits, if you become attached to visions of gods and demons or frightening dreams, you will not feel secret arisings in the mind. You must cut through [that fixation] by holding your seat in the haunted retreats. There is much that is not severed. Therefore, it is crucial to remain physically unmoving, verbally silent, and mentally unyielding to whatever perceptions occur by conveying them to basic space with phaṭ.

Even though you understand that you must sever the three poisons and other negative thoughts in basic space, when you are bound by the knots of fixation on the goodness of your good thoughts, gods will deteriorate into devils. This is very common. So if you also practice devotion, compassion, creation phase with characteristics, completion phase, and so forth, while conveying them into basic space with phaṭ, your practice of virtue will increase and you will get very close to the supreme spiritual power. In short, the basis of Severance is to be without hope and fear.

Since discursive thought is conditioned,

we are bound by the bonds of four devils;

the Mother’s meaning, severing in basic space,

and unifying view and conduct are supreme.

When the manifestation of virtue thus obtained

conquers the whole web of discursive thought,

may we quickly attain the state of the Mother,

unborn and free of inflation.

Merely in order not to disobey the command of Jampal Khyentse,14 who is the embodiment of the perfection of wisdom, Yönten Gyatso wrote this at the seat of Palpung. May virtue and goodness increase.

14. ’Jam dpal mkhyen brtse, this was Kongtrul’s friend, teacher, and disciple Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892). ’Jam dpal and ’Jam dbyangs are both Tibetan names for Mañjūshrī.