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Both the Old Ones and the New Schools agree on the first three levels of Yoga:
The Kriya, the Charya, and the Yoga; the Old Ones call them Kriya, Upa, and
Yoga.
The Kriya involves function. Practice on the Kriya level is generally devoted
to ceremonies of worship towards one of the Lords of the Three Families: (1)
Manjushri; (2) Avalokitesvara; and (3) Vajrapani. Manjushri is know to help in intellectual
difficulties, Avalokitesvara in emotional difficulties, and Vajrapani with
difficulties connected to security, privacy, and secrets. Manjushri and
Avalokitesvara are well known Bodhisattvas, but for the practitioner of
Kriyayoga they are Buddhas, and the Lords of families of Buddhas. Practice at
the Kriya level involves ceremonially worshipping the deity. Deities at this
level are very seldom in sexual union.
The Charya or Upa level involves enactment of the intent of the ceremony
outside the ceremony, it is a ceramonializing of ones own life. It is here that
the Buddhas of the Four Direction, with their four kinds of Power—Peace,
Production, Power, and Wrath, their four colors, the entrance of the
practitioner into a Mandala, and his learning to see it as reality is the
emphasis.
At the Yoga level the Mandala of Five Buddhas is fully represented. The
concatenations of deities into groups of five, with one at the center and one in
each direction is characteristic of Yoga level presentation. The deities may or
may not be is sexual union. There are very elaborate presentations of the
Mandala of the Yogatantra, where each Buddha represents a specific energy, and
the gathering of images in the mandala is a statement about the state of mind
the painting expresses, one beyond the conventionalities of words.
The level above Yoga for the New Schools is called Anuttarayoga, and has two
stages: a stage of engendering the image of the deity to be meditated upon, or
of just imagining oneself to be the deity directly, and a perfection stage. The
Old Ones have a Mahayoga, an Anuyoga, and an Atiyoga. The "generation stage"
type practices of the New Schools are similar to the Mahayoga. The identity or
lack of it in the perfection states is beyond the comprehension of this
writing. For an appreciation of the art, it should be known that most of the
deities portrayed in sexual union (yab yum) are so portrayed for the eyes of a
practitioner of the Anuttarayoga or Mahayoga, for most of these deities are
found only at this level. Included are Kalachakra, Chakrasamvara, Hevajra,
Bairava, etc.
It is important to understand that any single deity may appear at any level of
the path. An example is that Chenrezi (spyan ras gzigs), or Avalokitesvara is
honored as a Bodhisattva, holds the position as Lord of the Lotus Family in the
Kriyatantra, and is practiced at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra.
Each ornament, bit of clothing, or other feature of each deity has a hidden
meaning, and often some story behind it. These accounts are generally reserved
for the initiate.
The ornaments and features of many deities require vast
volumes of description. Many practitioners, once initiated to a particular
deity, devote their entire lives to understanding just this one deity. Some of
the most important of such practitioners were the Mahasiddhas. The impact of
these ascetic practitioners on the tradition is profound. They are often
portrayed in Guruyoga type Thangkas, and at least one will often be found at the
top of a Thangka of the Highest Yoga Tantra.
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