After the clear light Dharmakaya, we usually then arise as an Enjoyment Body of a Buddha.  When we do so, we can, if we wish, adopt a special recognition that the entire self-generation is actually taking place inside of our indestructible drop at our heart.  The entire universe is inside our indestructible drop without the drop becoming any bigger or the universe becoming any smaller.  This recognition enables our self-generation practice to have more or less the same karmic effect as the practice of completion stage.  It is also a powerful way to help cause our inner energy winds to gather and dissolve into our central channel at our heart.  Normally, most self-generations come with a protection circle of wisdom fire.  We can imagine that the wisdom fires are the outside of your indestructible drop, and the vajra protection circle is the inside.  The indestructible drop is our celestial palace.  We are the seed letter of the deity in the middle.  We should feel like our root mind, our Buddha nature, assumed the form of the seed letter.  We should feel like this seed letter is ourselves. 

We then typically imagine that from the seed letter infinite light rays radiate out to each and every living being, and they completely purify the obstructions on the mind of each and every living being.

We then typically do the actual self-generation.  As before, there are some special recognitions we can adopt.

1. The entire self-generation arises out of the emptiness of our very subtle mind.   Geshe-la says we should imagine everything takes place ‘inside of emptiness.’  It should feel like emptiness is this infinitely vast container, and everything is taking place within it.  The most important emptiness is that of our very subtle mind.  This is the ultimate nature of our true self, the most profound level of our being.  The very subtle mind stores all of our contaminated karma. 
2. The self-generation is the living guru deity, complete with all of the details.    Buddhas have the ability to manifest their mind as form.  So by mixing our mind with the form, we are mixing our mind with the quality of their mind which the form represents.  Through mixing our mind in this way, we receive the special blessings of each aspect of the guru deity, and this function gets accomplished within our mind. This is a tantric technology for ‘downloading’ the qualities of the guru’s mind into our own and receiving his care and blessings.  This also plants the karma on our mind to eventually have this qualities ourselves.  The most important recognition is that your living Guru deity is actually inside your mind. 
3. The self-generation has all the power necessary to accomplish the three functions mentioned before.  Ourselves as the guru deity has all of the spiritual power necessary to overcome our biggest delusion and that of others, he has the power to purify the two obstructions of our mind and to realize the union of great bliss and emptiness, and he has the power to karmically reconstruct a new pure world for ourself and for others.  Here we primarily train in the believing faith of his function.  We strongly believe that he can accomplish these functions.  This believing faith functions to purify the obstructions preventing us from him becoming fully manifest within our mind.  It also functions to construct a guru deity with these powers within our mind.  The guru deity, like any Buddha, does not exist from his own side, but needs to be constructed with faith and correct imagination.  How can we understand these three different functions:  He has the power to help us overcome our greatest delusions through his powerful blessings.  He principally bestows the realization of the union of great bliss and emptiness, which functions to purify our very subtle mind of the two obstructions.  Moment by moment as we concentrate on this, it plants a karmic potentiality on our mind, which will later ripen as this as a reality.
4.  It is absolutely fantastic to have a body, speech and as powerful as this. Here we primarily train in admiring faith. So we generate an admiring faith thinking, ‘how amazing that he can do that and that such a being is within my mind.’
5. Please help me to mix my mind completely with you.  Here we primarily train in wishing faith.  On the basis of admiring his function and power, we generate the strong wish to receive this power into our own mind and become the guru deity ourself.  This wishing faith induces us to train sincerely in the practice.
6. My mind is now completely pure.  Here the main idea is to strongly believe that we have received within our mind the purifying nectar of the empowerment and it functions to completely purify our mind of the two obstructions, in particular those related to our biggest delusion.   The conventional aspect of the self-generation itself is the same nature as the Dharmakaya.  We think the gold of the Dharmakaya has assumed the aspect of the self-generation, like play dough.  We can consider how we have attained the completely purified aggregate of consciousness, in other words, our consciousness is now completely purified of all contaminated karma.