One should understand all phenomena in the light of the simile of an illusion. For example, the illusory things created by a magician’s spells, such as the horses and elephants that he causes to magically appear¹, are empty of actually being present [as living, breathing horses and elephants], yet still can be perceived by an audience of spectators. Their actual nature is utterly different from their ostensible presence.

This can be likened to the way in which we perceive the things of the world, such as persons and so forth. Although the objects of perception have forever utterly lacked a final self-nature or objective existence, nonetheless they indisputably appear with the nature of having real, inherent existence. The living beings who are perceived, such as humans and gods, and the forms, sounds and so forth that occur, are all in a state of continual transformation. And even though the living beings and other phenomena are without even the slightest inherent nature, nonetheless on the conventional level there are living beings who collect karma, there are the activities of seeing and hearing, and so forth. These things function conventionally on the basis of the laws of interdependence and causality.

In this way conventional activity is accepted as omnipresent, and the extreme of nihilism is avoided. Conversely, because one appreciates the emptiness nature, the extreme of realism [or reification] is avoided.

This awareness of emptiness is simply an appreciation of the primordial non-inherently abiding nature of things. It is not a mental fabrication. Nor is it a partial emptiness that [is the nature of merely some phenomena and] does not pervade all objects of knowledge. By placing one's awareness on this final mode of being, all the forces that eliminate the syndrome of grasping at an "I" are strengthened.

That profound nature [i.e., emptiness] is not an inaccessible object of awareness. By ascertaining the pure view of emptiness and acquiring familiarity with meditation upon that quintessential aspect of being, it arises as an object of the mind. Thus it is not an emptiness, as some would say, that cannot be engaged at the time of practice, nor an emptiness that cannot be perceived or realized.

In brief, one examines one's person, the apprehender of an "I," and asks whether this "final nature" that appears exists as either one with or separate from the body-mind aggregates. One discovers that it does not even slightly exist in either place. Thus the living beings are seen to utterly lack true existence. One makes one's experience of his awareness firm. This is the training on the emptiness side of things.

As for the training on the conventional side, i.e., that of interdependent co-existence, here one turns the mind's awareness to how on the functional level all things indisputably appear as existing. Living beings manifest as objects of conventional perception, as collectors of karma, and as experiencers of the results of karma. We should cultivate a definite realization of how, although having no self-nature, all phenomena conventionally function with validity according to the laws of interdependent arising.

Whenever these two levels of being seem contradictory, use the simile of an image reflected in a mirror to appreciate their non-contradictory nature. Contemplate how the reflected image of a face, including the eyes and so forth, are empty of existing in the manner of their appearance. Based on the presence of an image to be reflected, as well as the mirror and so forth, the reflection is created. When one takes away the supporting conditions, such as either the face or the mirror, the image disappears. The two [emptiness nature and appearing nature] have a commonly shared base.

Therefore there is not a single particle within living beings to represent a final self; yet living beings collect karmic seeds, experience the results, and take rebirths according to their previously collected karmic seeds and the presence of the spiritual distortions within themselves. One must appreciate the non-contradictory nature [of emptiness and relativity] in this way.

When one has achieved stability in this realization one extends it to the world, which is seen as the mandala; and to living beings, who are seen as tantric deities. Then one trains in the method of the playful view that dwells within ecstasy and emptiness conjoined.

By practicing in this way, all appearances become mandala and deities. These in turn appear as illusions, and the illusions arise as great ecstasy. These are the three stages of the process.

During meditation sessions one invokes the great ecstasy, uses this as the driving force in the focus upon the view of emptiness, and then rests single-pointedly within that absorption of beyond-conceptuality mind. Between sessions one cultivates the awareness of how emptiness and conventional interdependent existence complement one another.