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The mandalas of the Celestial Buddhas are made of jewels. Ratnasambhava, the Celestial Buddha of Harmony and Golden Light, is not a proper name but rather an attribute - he is the one born from jewels. His true form is brilliant, radiant light before it takes form. By meditating on the name, you are looking at one form of an infinite deity.

The Vajra world is made up of Buddhas who exist as pure light and who also form a great diamond by their interactions. Each one creates a facet in the cosmic diamond. Millions of interactions create millions more facets. They are sharp as crystal and powerful as thunder. Entering the Vajra world is entering the diamond.

The pathway into the diamond is full of illusions. Staircases lead to the middle of other staircases, and fountains and pools hold millions of layers of reflections. There is a pathway thin as the edge of a razor that goes through this mass of confusing imagery. Whole worlds are reflected into the surfaces of prisms, which are composed of both worldly experience and vivid colors. How does the novice find his or her way through this gallery of reflections?

The lightning of initiation speeds through the masses of illusion, showing itself as a bright light that goes from edge to edge of the moving facets. The guru's presence is shown in the ability to navigate a path through the chaos.

The sharp edges of the diamond worlds cut away greed, hatred, and ignorance. Sometimes the path moves through nets, which catch and hold attachments as the novice moves through them.

There are endless distractions. Mirrors reflect the loved ones calling the novice to return to the family. The echoes of these distractions create a whirlpool sucking the novice back into the outer rings of the mandala.

Outside the diamond world, the guardians and traps for the unwary circle around. There are circles of death that continue forever, and gates that open into walls and endless labyrinths. There are doorways which open into other worlds of distraction and traps that drag the soul into the hell worlds. The guardian circles are realms of fire and ice. Their illusions are like sirens that call people to their doom.

The golden road to Ratnasambhava is like lightning that shoots through the chaos providing a pathway across the wastelands of illusion.