Female Energy and Symbolism in the Buddhist Tantras

by Alex Wayman

INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS

The worship of divinity under sexual emblems is very ancient in India, presumably as old as the Mohenjo-daro civilization, which is usually held to be pre-Aryan. The Buddhist Tantras have numerous references to male and female deities; and the latest class of that literature, called the Anuttara-yoga-tantra is pervaded with sexual symbolism. This is true both of the traditional scripture (dgama)and the later commen- taries. We should know that these works and the associated practices were evolved among peoples who took the spirit world for granted, believed that human beings could develop supernormal powers granted by deities, and assumed that in certain esoteric groups the appropriate procedures for such ends has been handed down from time immemorial. Since the Tantric literature. Hindu as well as Buddhist, is often abruptly dismissed as unworthy of serious attention, we shbuld con- sider its possible worthiness as a topic of study.'

There are two pre- In each case I shall give (preceded by "Toh." for "Tohoku University") the catalogue numbers as found in the two catalogues published by Tohoku Univer- sity: the one on the translated canon (Hakuju Ui, Menetada Suzuki, Yenshb Kanakura, and Tbkan Tada [eds.], A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canms [Sendai, Japan, 19341) having numbers from 1 to 4569; the one on native Tibetan works (YenshB Kanakura, Ryujo Yamada, TBkan Tada, and Hakuyu Hadano [eds. ,A Catalogue of the Tohoku University Collection of Tibetan Works on Buddhism ISendai, Japan, 19531) having numbers from 5001 to 7083. Unless other- wise mentioned, all folio number references to the former refer to the Derge edi- tion; and references to the latter refer to Lhasa editions.

eminent fields in which intelligence may be focused :the open or pub- lic, and the closed or private. This division involves no necessary value judgment. For example, the form of man and the form of woman are two superficial commonplace aspects that according to the Tantras conceal two mysteries of heightened consciousness. These two forms are not less worthy than their two mysteries; and to the extent that a society realizes this worthiness, indeed sacredness, that society is civilized, removed from the brutes. In the same sense, the Buddhist Tantric literature is neither more nor less worthy of study than non- Tantric Buddhism. It should be recognized that Tantrism falls in the domain of

the esoteric. The esoteric is also of two kinds: natural and intentional. In illus- tration of the first kind, a man may have a great talent which to his distress is unnoticed by the world: it remains hidden, perhaps through what the Chinese philosophers called Li,the principle of things. Also the Buddhists claimed that the twelvefold formula of Dependent Origination is profound and therefore not easily understood: it eludes solution by its intrinsic difficulty. In illustration of the second kind, there are those

numerous government documents stamped 'lconfiden- tial" and "secret." And there are the secrets of the Tantras. In his great commentary on the fundamental Yoga-tantra called Tattva- samgraha, Xnandagarbha writes: " 'This secret' means dwelling in [or upon] the disk of the full moon; . . .that is secret because it is not proper to be taught to all person^."^ In addition, some Tantric mate- rials are naturally esoteric. The present article consults the small number of Buddhist Tantric texts that have been edited in the

original Sanskrit. Among the com- mentaries, originally in Sanskrit, some important passages have been taken from the Tantric authors Saraha, Indrabhfiti, Candrakirti, and NZigiirjuna, as found in the Tibetan translations of their chief works. Moreover, the native Tibetan works are often of superlative value, especially because they integrate the former written traditions (trans- lated canon) with the oral precepts of the line of teachers (guru). Among these, I employ the works of Tson-kha-pa (1357-1419 A.D.), founder of the Gelugpa school, and of his disciple Mkhas grub rje.3

THE PRAJ~X Modern scholars have been somewhat confused on this subject by wholesale use of the term Sakti ("power") in reference to Buddhist goddesses. This term, general in Hindu Tantras, seldom occurs in the 2Toh. 2510, the Tallv~lokakari,Tanjur, Li, 228a-3. 3 See n. 1.

Buddhist Tantras, which actually employ the following generic words for the goddesses or females: prajfia ("insight"), yoginx ("female yogin"), vidya ("occult science" or "know-how"-"wisdom" in its his- toric meaning including all academic learning), devZ ("goddess" or "queen"), matr ('Lmother"), m&tyk8 ("mother" or "letters"), &kin% ("fairy"), ddtx ("female messenger"), SurZ ('lheroine"), and mudra (seal" or "gesture"). The word prajfid is especially important because in both Tantric Buddhism and in non-Tantric

Mahiiyiina Buddhism it contrasts with the term updya (L'means," "approach"). A certain Tantric tradition holds that after the fall from Paradise the phase involving division into male and female constituted a separation of "means" from "in- sight": henceforth men were a source of means and women of insight.4 But the means are various and insight is one: so in non-Tantric Bud- dhism Prajfiiipiiramitii ("the Perfection of Insight") is called "mother of the disciples (Srdvaka), self-enlightened ones (pratyekabuddha), and

Buddhas," who have diverse fathers or approaches (~pdya).~ This is a sort of mystical polyandry that curiously parallels the well-known Jungian thesis about the man's shadowy anima (his unconscious fe- male) and the woman's shadowy animus (her unconscious males), be- cause Jung states: "A passionate exclusiveness therefore attaches to the man's anima, and an indefinite variety to the woman's anim~s."~ According to Buddhist metaphysical treatises, an element of prajfid occurs as one of the momentary ingredients in every idea we have.' But as long as human beings (whether male or female) are enveloped in lust, hatred, and delusion, this prajfia element can be called "im- pure."s Such is the historically foisted condition of prajfid. But some

'A Tibetan account of this view is presented in my "Buddhist Genesis and the Tantric Tradition," scheduled for publication in Oriens Extremus, Vol. VIII, No. 2, one of the articles as a memorial of the late F. D. Lessing. In his Snags rim chen mo (Toh. 5281), Peking ed. (cited hereinafter as Snags rim), Tson-kha-pa mentions at folio 9a-2,s that the Mother Prajriiipiiramitii is the common cause (sadharana-hetu) of the four sons (i.e., irBvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhm), while the means (upaya) is the

diversifying cause of the Hinayiina (lower vehicle, with the former two sons) and the Mahiiyiina (great vehicle, with the latter two sons). Hence, from the standpoint of Prajfiiipiiramit%, there is only one vehicle (ekayana); from the standpoint of the means there are several. The Basic Writings of C. G. Jung, ed. Violet S. de Laszlo (New York:

Modern Library, 1959), p. 180 (from: The Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious). 'Technically, prajfid in this context is one of the ten mahdbh6mikm; cf. Louis de la Vallbe Poussin, L'Abhidharmako.4~ de Vasubandhu, Premier et DeuxiBme Chapitres (Paris and Louvain, 192Y), pp. 153-56. Hence the entry hchal bahi $es rub, glossed as ies rub +ion moh can, "corrupted insight," in the native Tibetan dictionary by Dge-bSes-chos-kyi-grags-pa (Chinese ed., 1957), p. 283.

persons become monks, restrict their worldly activities, withdraw their grasp upon the world. Becoming in a sense more like women, they alter the environment of prajfid and specialize it out, so to say, ulti- mately gaining its perfection (prajcdpdramitd). What is at issue here is not the obvious, but the subtle-those potentialities of human beings that in the manner of seeds hide their natures until nurtured. These natures-whether of men or women-are fostered like plants raised in hothouses when the person withdraws from society. In Jung's language: "Isolation by a secret [? alchemy] results as a rule in an animation of the psychic atmosphere as compensation for loss of con- tact

with other people. It causes an activation of the unconscious, and this produces something similar to the illusions and hallucinations that beset lonely wanderers in the desert, seafarers, arid saint^."^ The ex- treme limit of such isolation is illustrated by the experience of Gauta- ma Buddha beneath the Tree of Enlightenment. In traditional ac- counts of Mars's onslaught, we find the future Buddha beset by hosts of demonic beings and tempted by the three daughters of Mars." Somewhat as a tormented liver motivates a snake dream, the be- sieged foundation of human nature objectifies a malicious panorama. Gautama is unmoved by this vivid display: he knows it is all an illusion. Then the

Earth Goddess, Mother of the World, moves: shaking [lit- erally: earth-quaking] in six different ways she disperses the hosts of Mars. This celebrated encounter suggests a number of considerations: 1. Indian symbolism does not necessarily assign to male the active, to female the passive role. 2. The proposition "All mental objects (dharmdh) are an illusion" has one meaning for the ascetic, another for the metaphysician. For the yogin who has developed the intense visualizing power called eidetic imagery-natural to many children in certain years prior to puberty-the proposition is the rule of mental health. For the meta- physician, unliberated from discursive thinking, the proposition is

the basis of an impractical world denial. 3. It is one matter to recognize something as an illusion, another matter to get rid of that thing. This contrast is the topic of a simile in the KdSyapa-parivarta-satra, as quoted in Tsoli-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo: "Kasyapa, thus for example, when two trees are rubbed together by the wind, and fire arises [from the friction], [that fire] having arisen

9 C. G. Jung, I'sychology and Alchemy, trans. R. F. C. Hull ("Bollingen Se- ries," Vol. XX [[[New York]], 1953]), p. 40. '"For some data on the three daughters, including their names, cf. E. 11. Johnston, The Buddhacarita, or Acts of the Buddha (Calcutta, 1936), Part 11, p. 188. 76

burns up the two trees. In the same way, KBByapa, by reason of the most pure discrimination [analyzing mental objects], the power of noble insight (dya-prajfid) is born; and [that Fire] having been born, burns up that most pure discrimination."ll Elsewhere in the Lam rim chen mo, this "discrimination" (pratyaveksa~a) is treated as a form of prajfid. It is prajfia on the intellectual level; the prajfid born from it is of a mystical nature and eliminates both discrimination and its object, which by "rubbing

together" during intense concentration, have given birth to that prajfid. Hence Dayal is not quite right in saying: "The two great MahByanist schools of Buddhist philosophy do not agree in their interpretation of prajfid. The Vijiidna-vddins (Yog&c&ras) explain prajfid in a positive manner. . . . The Madhyamika philosophers have interpreted prajfid in a negative sense."12 The latter prajfid is the one sometimes called the "eye of prajfid," which sees noth- ing (the void),13 but as it springs from the intellectual prajfid

("know- ing things as they really are") stressed by the Vijiiiina-vgdins there is no essential disagreement in the alternate explanations of the term. The real difference is in the emphasis, and there is no denying the im- portance of this factor. However, the feature of ascending levels of prajfid is a doctrine of Buddhism prior to the rise of Mahsyiina: there is the insight consisting of hearing or learning (Sruta), the insight con- sisting of pondering (cinta), and the insight consisting of cultivation [in one's

own life] (bhdvand). In the third case, one no longer hears or ponders: one is that thing formerly heard and pondered and hence no longer "sees" it. 4. In the myth, the illusion-destroying power is a Woman, the Earth Goddess; in non-mythic language this power is arya-prajfid. In the myth, this Woman is external to the future Buddha; in non- mythic language it is a power produced in himself. In the myth, the future Buddha is seated beneath the Tree of Enlightenment touching Earth with his right hand, and Earth (the

World Mother) shakes. In the Order (samgha) founded by Gautama Buddha the monk is not allowed to touch a woman. Besides, the Indian Buddhist reformer AtiSa (eleventh cent.) writes that in final meaning (nitartha) one does

"Toh. 5392, Tashilunpo ed., 476a-4. The Sanskrit is not extant in Stael Hol- stein's edition of the KaSyapa-Parivarta Satra. Cf. Richard Ilobinson, (trans.), Chinese Buddhist Verse (London, 1954), p. 28, for a translation of the same passage frorn Chinese. '2 Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature (London, 1932), pp. 236-37. la Edward Conze, Selected Sayings from the Perfection of Wisdom (London, 1955), p. 80.

not need to go to the Bodhi tree considered as an external tree in order to achieve Enlightenment (bodhi).14 5. But why is the Earth Goddess represented mythically as an Other when in more prosaic terms "she" is an interior power? The question confronts us with the mystery of all mythic composition. On this point, Eliade properly emphasizes that the myth is detached from profane time; it provides an entry into the "Great Time, the sacred time."15 The non-mythic Buddhist description of impending Xnlight- enment provides the

intellect with technical terms. The scholar can "grasp" it; he may think he understands it. Still, the description is profane and likewise the understanding. Reverting to that Tantric tradition about the separation of LCmeans" and "insight," it, of course, constitutes a rationale for (re)uniting those two along with the merit and knowledge collected since the original fall. Both the Tantric and non-Tantric Buddhist purposes are colored by the "nostalgia for Paradise" discussed by Eliade in consideration of both archaic societies and Christianity.16 In the non-Tantric tradition the "means" are usually explained as these five Bodhisattva perfections (pdramita) : giving, morality, for- bearance,

striving, and meditation. In the Tantras, the "means" may also be explained as the mandala or consecrated circle in which initiation takes place.'? This mandala may be the initiate's body. But while the "means" is associated with men, and "insight" with women, this by no means implies that ordinary human marriage unites the "means" and "insight" in either the non-Tantric or Tantric sense. Indeed, that type of marriage generally confirms the loss of Paradise. This is not to deny the legitimacy of the literal

interpretation some- times made by the Tantras, to wit, that they teach salvation through sexual union. But this symbolism by its very nature is capable of mul- tiple interpretations, and thus separates the mahdtmans ("great-souled ones") from the alpatmans ("small-souled ones") as well as from those in between. This view of ours is borne out by Eliade's remark while

'4 Toh. 3948, the Rodhimdrgapradipapafijikd-nama (catalogued with the au- thor's alternate name, DipamkaraSrijriiina), Tanjur, Dbu ma, Vol. Khi. AtiBa is commenting on verses (8b.-9, in my numbering) of his Bodhipathapradipa (Toh. 3947). 16 Mircea Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, trans. Philip Mairet (London, 1960), p. 23. '6 Ibid., pp. 59-72. 17 Ati~amentions that in the Tantras the "means" is the man$ala; this in his Bodhimdrgapradipapafijikd-ndma (n. 14, above), while commenting on verse 42 (my numbering) of his Bodhipathapradipa, which states: "Hence, in order to eliminate all the obscuration of corruption and the knowable, the yogin should con- tinually cultivate praj6dpdramita together with the means."

considering Hindu and Buddhist sexual Tantric statements: "We have already noted that the tantrics are divided into two classes: the samayins, who believe in the identity of Siva and Sakti and attempt to awaken the kundalint by spiritual exercises, and the kaulas, who venerate the Kaulini (= kundalint) and employ concrete rituals."18 Of course, the classical commentators could not avoid this issue and used expressions preserved in Tibetan translation as sgra ji biin pa and sgra ji biin ma yin, the Sanskrit originals for which were probably yathdiabda and ayathaiabda. The former seems to mean the "literal sense," the latter the "figurative sense." Thus, Jfiiiniikara discusses these terms and

concludes that in the "literal sense" the sixteen-year- old girl (the prajfid aged sixteen) is the concrete sixteen-year-old girl, while in the "figurative sense" that aged girl refers to the sixteen voids.lg Again, using the generic term mudr6, the two kinds are called the karmamudr6 ("seal of action") and jfi6namudrd ("seal of knowl- edge") :"The karmamudrd has breasts and hair, is the basis of pleasure in the realm of desire (Ic6madh6tu) ...involves transient pleasure (kgarasukha). ...The jfi6namudrd is imagined by one's mind . . . is the basis of pleasure in the realm of form (r~padhdtu) . . . involves contact pleasure (~pariasukha).~~ The problem is whether the syncretism of Buddhism

with Tantric lore giving rise to the Buddhist Tantras is consistent with non-Tantric Buddhist traditions. My own solution involves an interpretation of the "dissoluteness" of the prajfid or "woman" frequently mentioned in certain Tantric texts. Thus, with reference to the Tantric consort called the outcast (dombi), Eliade cites Kiinha's line, "0 dombi! no woman is more dissolute than thou!"21 We are not denying that some of the Tantric authors may denote a concrete woman by their domb~ when we hold that there scarcely could have been a more appropriate symbol for the inner faculty of prajfia than the dissolute outcast. This "woman" is the initiatress of the yogin, and for this function had

best be "dissolute." For in the world we know the man is initiated sexually by a woman who is temporarily dissolute-however moral she may be at other times. Besides, woman is the initiator par excellence: she obviously ushers one into life and, obscurely, into death. Indian mythology reminds us of this with the stark figure of KBli, the World Is Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, trans. Willard R. Trask ("Bollingen Series," Vol. LVI [[[New York]], 1958]), p. 262. l9 Toh. 3719, the Mantr~vataravrtti,Tmjur, Rgyud, Tsu, 204a-b. Mario E. Carelli (ed.), SekoddeSafika of Na&zpGda (Ndropa) (Baroda, 1941) p. 56. Eliade, Yoga, p. 261.

Mother as destroyer. Hence also, that dombx as "insight" initiates one into knowledge, whether mundane or divine, commonplace or awe- some. This prajfib is found in all circumstances, foul and pure, as an in- gredient of every idea. We do not have the introspective power to trace the ordinary praj.lib to the glorious state free from the three psycho- logical poisons, because just as that point is reached our discrimina-, tion, itself a form of prajfib, would vanish according to the sfitra cita- tion. We only assume it is the same prajfib (or is it an alter ego?) that is the Perfection of Insight as dissolute as ever, for she consorts as freely with giving, morality, forbearance, striving,

and meditation, as her wicked elder sister does with lust, hatred, and delusion. And she discloses the same ultimate truth to all the spiritual heroes. So we can present our solution of the problem: if that dissolute woman the Tantras talk about is really an interior power and is rep- resented externally as an Other in purely mythical language, this may well be consistent with non-Tantric Buddhism, for that woman may be no other than the Earth Goddess who shook in six ways (whether or not she was rising through six cakras of the body). And if that woman is the kind we would call a woman in profane time, when time is added to a place, such Tantric interpretations have little in common with the teaching of Gautama Buddha.

THE THREE MEANINGS OF "E-VAM"

The remarks in the preceding section about praj4ci and upciya suggest that the Tantras do not bring up in isolation the subject matter in- volving female symbolism. Usually male symbolism occurs side by side, especially in the discussion of euam, the word which begins both the non-Tantric sermons called Siitras and the esoteric literature called Tantras. The opening lines, setting the occasion for the work, are called the nidana, a word which means "fundamental cause," "theme of the "introd~ction,~~"introductory chapter," and so on. The numerous commentaries on Buddhist SMras and Tantras naturally afforded no end of opportunity for the learned commentators to ex- pand on the meaning of the nidana according to their respective schools. No matter how the nidana would subsequently diverge in the various works, its standard form for the first sentence was: evam may& $rutam ekasmin samaye, which interpreted as words in an ordinary sentence means "Thus by me it was heard on an occasion." Brough challenges the modern punctuation established by the PBli school, which interprets the adverbial phrase ekasmin samaye with the mean- ing "on one occasion" as inaugurating the second sentence to add a

time to the place where the Bhagavat dwelt (vij~hara).~~ When the adverbial phrase goes with the first sentence it adds a time to the "hearing," which might have occurred "all at once" in Great Time. Insofar as the present writer has inspected several Mahiiysna com- mentaries, they agree with Brough's indications; and one may refer to the Mahaprajrlapararnitaic~st~a for onf fin nation.^^ The Tantric commentaries also employ an interpretation not found in non-Tantric works: they comment on the nidana as composed of individual syllables. The Tantric commentary summarizes the teach- ing of the whole work as will be shown extensively in the rest of its commentary by arbitrarily assigning meanings to the syllables of the nidana, interpreted as the "theme of the discourse," starting with the initial e of evam down through the ra of oijahara ("dwelt"). For ex- ample, the work Hevajrapindarthat'ika identifies the first six syllables with six goddesses, in order, LocanB, MBmaki, PBndarZ, TBrB, VajradhBtviSvari, and PrajfiBp%ramitB. The next six syllables are the six Buddhas, the usual five and Vajrasattva, who here represent the six personality aggregates (skandha), the usual five and a sixth not specified here but probably jrlana-skandha (the aggregate of knowl- edge).24 This particular syllabic commentary on the nidana continues down through vijahara and thus announces the main deities as well as indicates the sixfold nature of the correspondence system. In effect, the Tantric commentaries on the Anuttara-yoga-tantra literature interpret the language of the basic Tantra in two ways: as words having the meanings that they seem to have; and as words having arbitrarily assigned meanings, especially when the words are decomposed into syllables. In illustration, evam has its ordinary mean- 22 John Rrough, "Thus have I heard . . . ," BSOAS, XIII, No. 2 (1950),416-26. 23 Lamotte (trans.), Le Traitd de la grande vertu de sagesse (Louvain, 1944), I, 56 ff. 24 Toh. 1180, Hevajrapinddrthafikd, Tanjur, Rgyud, Ka, 7a-5 ff. The author, Vajragarbha (T. Rdo rje siiin po), gives six goddesses, representing elements, for the syllables of evam mayd Brutam; six Buddhas, representing skandhas, for those of ekasmir~ samaye; six goddesses, representing sensory objects (visaya),for those of bhagavdn sarvata- and six bodhisaltvas, representing sense organs (indriya), for those of -thdgatakdyavdk-, these two groups of six

constituting the twelve sense bases (dyatar~a);six fierce goddesses and six fierce gods, ordinarily located in twelve spots of the body, such as the limbs, for the syllables of -cittavajrayogdbhages?~ tijahd-; and finally Vajrasattva, the chief one, thirty-seventh, who is prajrid and updya, for the syllable -ra. For purposes of this arbitrary interpretation of the syllables, amounting to the cast for the Hevajra drama, the author has not hesi- tated to omit the word hrdaya which appears among the opening words in the Sanskrit text of the Hevajra-tantra. His repetition of Vajrasattva is quite normal; this deity is playing two roles, one as a Buddha and another as the central deity. In the Mother Tantras, such as the Hevajra, the correspondence systems generally go by sixes. The usual way of increasing the elements and the slcar~dhasto six is to add "knowledge" (jridna),i.e., jridna-dhdtu and jriana-skandha.

Female Energy and Synzbolis:,~ in the Buddhist Tantras ing of thus," and has two syllables each with their arbitrary mean- ings as assigned in a particular Tantric tradition. Perhaps the appearance of the letters e and va in certain Indian alphabets suggested their use for symbolizing the female and male principles, as is done in the Guhyasambja-tantra cycle. Following this tradition, Tson-kha-pa

writes: "states three meanings of E-vam: (I) the E-vam of the fruit to be attained; (2) the E-vam of the path of attainment; (3) the E-vam as 'signs' guiding that [[[path]]]."25 He goes on to illustrate the three meanings: 1. E is the secret place for teaching the doctrine (dharma), such as the sky, the bhaga ("female organ," metaphorical), the dharmodaya (source of natures"), the lotus, and the lion's seat. Vam is whoever the Tantra sets forth as the Teacher, be he Vajradhara, Heruka, and so on, who dwells in the bhaga, lion's seat, and so on. (These deities symbolize the inseparable union of the void and compassion.) 2. E is "insight" (prajfid), l'voidness" (S~nyatd). Vam is "means" (upaya), "great compassion" (mahakaruna). Together they constitute the bindu (T. thig le). 3. E is the mother's bhaga place (bdhara) (yum gyi bha-ga rten). Vam is the father's vajra

("male organ," metaphorical) placed (bdheya) therein (de la brten pahi yab kyi rdo rje). This again is of two kinds: (a) the external E-vam as "signs," the union with the "seal" (mudra); (b) the internal E-vam as "signs," the guiding agent for the path of piercing the vital centers of the cakras (the "wheels" imagined along the spinal column). "Here, 'signs' means signs of the genitals in the sense of shape."26 These shapes associated with the cakras are the triangle and the circle. Tson-kha-pa's treatment enables us to add some information to each of the three. 1. The first meaning of e-vam is the literal meaning of the nidana of the Tantra. Both the Guhyasamcija-tantra and the Hevajra-

tantra, as edited in Sanskrit, begin with two sentences that can be rendered as follows: "Thus by me it was heard on an occasion. The Bhagavat dwelt in the bhagas of the diamond ladies who are the essence of the Body, Speech, and Mind of all the Tathagatas." These bhagas belong to the four goddesses Locana, Miimaki, Pandura, and Tara, who are respec- tively associated, in this stage, with the cakras of navel, heart, neck, and head.27 25 Toh. 5284, Collected U'orks, Vol. Ca, Mthah gcod, 6413-3. 26 Zbid., 6th.

27 Cf. my review of D. L. Snellgrove, The Hevajra Tantra, Parts I and I1 (Lon- don, 1959), in JAOS, LXXX, No. 2 (1960), 160. 82

2. The second meaning of e-vam is the union of "insight" and 11means," or in alternate terminology, the union of "void" and "com- passion." As discussed in our preceding section, this union involves aspects of the male and of the female but is not the union of ordinary marriage. The union, as mentioned above, constitutes the bindu. This is the mystical androgynous element composed of the white (male) and red (female) elements, whose ordinary function is to rise and descend in

the central channel of the body (imagined to be in the spinal col- umn), causing, as we shall soon point out, the states of consciousness. Tsoli-kha-pa in his Guhyasamcija commentaries often refers to the bindu as composed of the winds and mind-only (vciyu and cittamcitra) ; and instead of "mind-only" the word "perception" (vijficina) is some- times used. In this terminology apparently the winds are in the "means" category and the mind-only or perception in the "insight" category. The bindu is also called bodhicitta ("mind of enlightenment"). The second meaning of e-vam concerned with the path, as well as the third meaning concerned with the signs along the path, is made explicit by the

arbitrary commentarial explanations of the syl- lables of the nidcina. 3. The external E-vam as "signs" may mean the symbolic Father- Mother (yab-yum) unions of a god and goddess frequently depicted in Tibetan art. The internal E-vam as "signs" is explained by Tsoli-kha- pa in this passage: "Thus that work [the Samputa] explains the mean- ing of the E-vam with locus in the shape of the cakras of head and navel-the shape of the E-triangle; as well as in the shape of the cakras of heart and neck-the shape of the Vam-circle."28 When Mkhas grub rje describes these cakras in his commentary on the Hevajra-tantra he especially clarifies the emphasis on four cakras for the Tantric manipulation

of the "winds": The cakra of the navel with triangular shape faces upward; the cakra of the heart with circular shape faces downward; and the former has 64 petals (or "veins"), the latter 8. The cakra of the neck with circular shape has 16 petals and faces upward; the cakra of the head with triangular shape has 32 petals and faces downward. The total of those "vein" petals of the four cakras is 120; and since they form the support for the winds and perception, they are ex- plained to be the 120 chief "veins."29

We can appreciate these symbols somewhat better by noticing what Tson-kha-pa says in a different work: "Among those, the cakras of navel and neck are praj5d with the shape of the E-triangle; and the cakras of heart and head are upciya with the shape of the Vam-circle."30 28 Mtha!, gcod (op. cit.), 6th. 29 Toh. 5483, Collected Works, Vol. Ja, Brlag hgrel, C,81)4. 3O Toh. 5292, Collected Works, Vol. Cha, Rdor bzlas, 21b-1.

The neck and head cakras are now assigned shapes differently than in the two foregoing citations. However, Tson-kha-pa is here following the Guhyasamdja (Father Tantra) tradition, whereas the Samputa and the Hevajra are in the Mother Tantra tradition. It follows that these tantrics do not believe that there are triangles and circles in the respec- tive places. Those signs are meditative props imagined at those centers to facilitate concentration; and it is only important that the symbol- ism be consistent in a

particular Tantric tradition. In agreement with this conclusion, IndrabhCiti writes: "For the reason that the conso- nants are updya and the vowels are prajrla, there are four cakras. There is the combination of upaya with prajrla, the combination of updya with updya, the combination of prajfia with prajrid, and the combination of prajfid with updya. Hence four kinds are stated."31 When these Buddhist Tantras deal with seven cakras, one is added at crown of head in the position of the usnx~a with four petals; and two below, one at the sacral place (gsan ba) with thirty-two petals and another, the lowest of all, at the "tip of the jewel" (nor but~irtse) with eight petals.32 This system of seven

cakras is obviously parallel to the Hindu Tantra series named, in order from top to bottom, Sahasriira, Ajaii, Visuddha, Aniihata, Maniptira, Sviidhisthiina, and Mfilsdhiira. The fundamental group of four cakras of the Buddhist Tantras there- fore corresponds to the &fig, ViBuddha, Aniihata, and Manipfira cakras of the Hindu systems, although there are some differences in the respective descriptions. The cakra of the head, sometimes called the Mahdsukha-cakra, thus corresponds to the Hindu Xjfia cakra in the head between the eyebrows, hence in the position of the urnd-koia, one of the main charasteristics of the Buddha. It is of interest to observe that in the Hindu Tantras much is said about

the goddess Kundalini, who lies sleeping in the lowest cakra, the Muliidhara; whereas the equivalent goddess in the Buddhist Tantra system, called CandBi or Nairiitmys, is at the navel cakra. It may be noted that while the Heuajrapindarthat?kd, above cited, sets forth six basic goddesses for the first six syllables (euam may6 Srutam), the basic Tantra of the Hevajra gives only the first four god- desses, Locanii and so on (euam rn~yd).~~ This is consistent with the Guhyasam6ja-tantra cycle, which has an Explanatory Tantra entitled Caturdev?pariprccha (LLQuestions of the Four Goddesses"); and in Tson-kha-pa's commentary on this work we learn that a chapter is

31 Toh. 2472, the Ratnacakr6bhi~ekopadegakrama,Tanjur, Rgj ud, Zi, 151a. 12 Accoi-din:: to Al)hay%liara's Am~~a:~(z-nzaiijari (Toh. 11!)8), as quoted and explained in the Si~ags rim, 436b. 33 Snellgrove (ed.), op cit., I, 49, or 11, 4. 84 devoted to the questions of each goddess, Locanii, and so on, with the same names and same order as above.34 The primacy in this system of four cakras for physiological manipu- lation in ascetic practices may well go back to the old Upanisadic theories of the four states of consciousness. The Brahmopani~ad, one of the Samnyasa Upanisads, later than the early Upanisads but preced- ing the Tantric literature as we now have it, teaches that the Purusa has those four states when dwelling in the four places, namely, waking

state in the navel, sleep (i.e., dream) in the neck, dreamless sleep in the heart, and the fourth, Turiya, in the head.35 In agreement, Tsoli-kha- pa writes: When one has gone to sleep, there is both dream and absence of dream. At the time of deep sleep without dream the white and red elements of the bodhicitta, which is the basis of mind, stay in the heart, so mind is held in the heart. At the time of dreaming, those two elements stay in the neck, so mind is held in the neck. At the time when one is not sleeping, they stay at the navel, so mind is held there. When the male and female unite, those two stay in the head.36 This passage shows a belief that the orgasm or climax of ordinary coitus yields a fleeting experience of a fourth state. At least the Anut- tarayoga-tantras seek to bring about

this pleasure-void (sukha-idnya) experience in a non-fleeting form (ak~ara), whereupon it is called "great pleasure" (mah&sukha), hence the name of the forehead cakra. It is the sexual union not of a man and woman but of a god and goddess. It is more prolonged in certain states of religious exaltation, mystical climax, and heightened consciousness in general, than it is in human orgasm. Moreover, if this fourth state be understood as all three of the waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep states taken to- gether, it becomes comprehensible that one could be in this fourth state and at the same time be emphasizing one or other of those or- dinary three states. Another way of stating this

proposition is that, once the mind has attained the fourth state, it could then evolve from this state in a more or less prolonged experience of an extraordinary type of waking, dream, or dreamless sleep. Along these lines, the Tan- tras speak of three light or void stages that evolve from the fourth, the Clear Light. According to our next section, "The Female, Male, and Androgyne," the form of woman is a symbol of the heightened state of consciousness that emphasizes the waking state, the form of man is a symbol

of such a state that emphasizes the dreaming state, while the 34 Toll. 5285, Collected Works, Vol. Ca, Bkis ius. Eliade, Yoga, p. 128. 36 'roll, .5301, Collected Works, Vol. Cha, Yig chun, 65a-5 ff.

theoretical form of androgyne is a symbol of such a state that empha- sizes the dreamless sleep state. Moreover, employing the terminology of "pleasure-void" (sukha-i%nya), Tsoli-kha-pa says: "Among them, 'means' is Spread of Light; 'insight' is Light; neutral (or androgyne), the merger of those two, is Culmination of Light. Among pleasure and

void, Light is predominantly the cognition of void; Spread of Light is the reverse of that; and Culmination of Light has the two in equal prop~rtion."~~ This statement implies that the secret state of mind during a woman's climax and other exalted states of consciousness of the same nature, however achieved, are predominantly the cognition of voidness among the two factors of pleasure and void. There are similar implications for the secret states of mind typically male and androgyne. Another late Hindu text, the Rgvidhana, speaks of the yogin's at- tempt to raise manas (the mind) from the navel to the heart, then to the neck, to the place between the eyes, and finally to the skull,

where- upon to make the manas revert to the The last state in the ascension is the one usually referred to as "beyond the fourth" (turyat~ta) ;and in the Hindu system the Sahasriira cakra is beyond the body comparable to the usflsa, which is depicted in Buddhist art as emerging from the top of the head. Some Buddhist Tantras also speak of this final state as corresponding to a fifth body. Thus in the com- mentary on the MafijuSr%-ncima-samgzti by mi-mahi dpal-ye-Ses (*SfiryaSrijfiiina) we read: "He has the nature of

the five bodies by reason of waking, dream, dreamless sleep, the fourth, and beyond the The text goes on to explain this person as the Pervading Lord (vibhu, T. khyab bdag) who possesses the five knowledges. Later on, the same text mentions that the symbol of five tufts of hair on the head (paficaSikha) stands for the five states.40 The Buddhist usn%sa may be a variant of this symbol; and in any case, the corresponding state in Buddhism is Complete Enlightenment, according to Tantrism when the Goddess Candiili ascends

to the crown of the head. If this Pervading Lord or Complete Buddha then descends to teach, he as the union of "insight" and "means," the second meaning of E-vam, is the Vam and wherever he teaches is the E of the first meaning of E-vam. 37 Mthah gwd (op. cit.), 49b-2. 38 Eliade, Yoga, p. 137. 39 Toh. 1395, the Amytakanika-nama 6ryaniimasamgiti-[ippa*, Tanjur, Rgyud, Pha, 60b-2. Ibid., Pha. 73a-3.

THE FEMALE, MALE, AND ANDROGYNE

In this section the female symbolism is portrayed within sets of three- fold correspondences, especially involved with the three syllables Om, Ah, Ham. This treatment is expected to lead to some important con- siderations concerning a table, "The Great Time," but first we must lay the groundwork by citation of a number of passages of threefold correspondences. Indeed, the analogical way of thinking is basic to the Tantras. Among the correspondences to the triad of male, female, and an- drogyne, there is the set of

body, speech, and mind, as well as the set of three gunas, sattva, rajas, and tamas; but inconsistencies appear in the respective correspondences. For example, Mkhas grub rje in his commentary on the Hevajra-tantra quotes from the Xamputa that sattva is the intrinsic nature of body, rajas that of speech, and tamas that mind;41 while Tson-kha-pa in his commentary on the Catur- dev%paripyccha says: "Tamas is the thunderbolt of body (kayavajra); rajas is the thunderbolt of speech (vdgvajra); sattva is the heart, the

intrinsic nature of mind (or the ~ittavajra)."~~ These inconsistencies can be resolved for the most part by placing the textual passages con- taining the correspondences in two groups labeled the basic time (gli dus) and the fruitional time (hbras dus), or profane time and Great Time. The Tibetan terminology of the two times is mentioned this way in Tson-kha-pa's discussion of the Kcilacakra-tantra: "The twelve members of the basic time are the twelve [members of Dependent Origination, viz.] unwisdom (avidya) and so on, and the twelve transits of the wind. The twelve members of the fruitional time are [stoppage of Dependent Origination, viz.] stoppage of unwisdom, and so on, and the stoppage

of the twelve transits."43 The tantric Niigarjuna presents many of the threefold sets near the beginning of his commentary on the Guhyasamaja-tantra. But at least there he does not speak of a division into two groups, and he does not clarify the respective order in which a number of the sets of three things correspond to each other. Fortunately, the writings of Tsoli- kha-pa on the Guhyasamaja cycle provide the necessary further infor- mation, but for every topic it proves best to compare with what he says in another one or more of his works.44 NBgRrjuna writes concerning the three syllables Om, Ah, Ham: "By

41 Brtag hgrel, op. cit., 67a-5, 6.

42 Bzis ZUS, op. cit., 3213-2.

43 Toh., 5381, Collected Works, Vol. Na, Brjed byan, 49b-5.

44 These correspondences are presented elaborately in Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan

Painted Scrolls (Rome, 195Y), pp. 24&41.

reason of the nature of the three syllables, the yogin should dispose them in the head, the neck, and the heart, and then mutter them in the thunderbolt manner."45 He mentions that the vowels have the nature of prajfia, the consonants the nature of upciya, and the semi-vowels, ya, etc., the nature of both. "For that very reason, they are the nature of female, male, and androgyne. Hence Bh, which condenses the vow- els, is the intrinsic nature of prajfici. Ham, which condenses the con- sonants, is the intrinsic nature of upciya. Om, which condenses ya, ra, la, va, is the intrinsic nature of the andr~gyne."~~ Niigiirjuna continues wibh further identifications: "Those three syllables are also the

three elements; the nature of body, speech, and mind; the nature of moon, sun, and fire; the intrinsic nature of Vairocana, Amitiibha, and Aksobhya; the intrinsic nature of inspiration and so on; and the in- trinsic nature of the three transitional experience~, death and so on."47 By "inspiration" Niigsrjuna means inspiration of the breath. Tsoli-kha-pa explains these correspondences as follows: "Here one should recite in the sequence of drawing in the wind with an Om, holding the wind inside with an Ah, and exhaling

with a Ham; and recite in a manner that does not violate the ancillaries of dharanz (incantation) m~ttering."~~ The disposition in head, neck, and heart concerns the movement of the four lord (ncitha) winds that are updya (thabs mgon po blihi rlun) along with their four [fractional] queen (devi) winds that are prajfici (Ses rub lha mo biihi rlun) from their ordinary locations during basic or profane time in extraordinary com- binations within those three centers during fruitional or Great Time. Tson-kha-pa explains

these mixtures of winds this way (in my summa- tion): Om, the prana wind of the heart cakra, the udana wind of the neck cakra, and the bindu in the position of the usn;isa, is the thunder- bolt of body at the Mahiisukha-cakra of the forehead. Ah, the initial prcina of the heart cakra, the apcina wind of the sacral center, along with the udcina of the neck center, is the thunderbolt of speech at the neck cakra. Ham, the apcina wind of the sacral center, the udana wind of the neck center, and the pervasive prana normally in the forehead, is the thunderbolt of mind at the nave of the heart lotus. And the winds mixed that way dissolve the knots (mdud) of those center^.^" Moreover, Tson-kha-pa writes: "Thus, the three syllables are made into body, speech, and mind as follows: Om is made into body, Ah into speech, Ham into mind. They are made into the three bodies in 45 Toh. 1784, ~riguhyasamdjatantrasya tantratikbndma, Tanjur, Rgyud, Sa, 8a4. 46 Ibid., 9b. 48 Rdor bzlas, op. cit., 63a-2, 3. 47 Ibid., 9b. 4Vbid., folios 70-71.

the same order as follows: posited as the Nirmiina-kiiya, the Sambho- ga-kSiya, and the Dharma-kSiya."60 By the three transitional experi- ences, Niigiirjuna means death, birth, and the intermediate state. Tson-kha-pa associates death with the Dharma-kiiya, the intermedi- ate state with the Sambhoga-kiiya, and birth with the Nirmiina- kii~a.~~ (hrdaya) Again, he explains that Om is the secret "heart" incantation of Vairocana, the Body of all the Tathiigatas; Ah likewise of Amitiibha, the Speech of all the Tathiigatas; and Ham likewise of Aksobhya, the Mind of all the Tathiigata~.~~ The three elements are the red, the white, and the bodhicitta; and Tsoli-kha-pa gives the cor-

respondences for these as well as for a number of other sets of three.53 Without further citation of these passages, I shall present my solution of the two groups of correspondences. The first group (basic time) has correspondences to the right, left, and middle "veins" of the body; the second group (fruitional time), to sequences of lights or voids. The first group involves the usual rhythm of breaths or winds in the various cakras. The second group involves a Tantric manipulation of those winds in a succession

of wind mixtures to engender a controlled sequence of photism experiences. In both groups, and customarily in other contexts of the Tantras, the sequence of imagining and muttering the three syllables is Om, Ah, Ham. The contrast between the two groups will be clearer by placing some essen- tial elements in brief tabular form (Table 1). The basic or profane time correspondences are more fully stated as follows: Androgyne, the semi-vowels, mind, bodhicitta or bindu, [in some texts: Rshu,] or tamas among the gunas,

is in the central "vein," called the AvadhMi. Prajfiii, the vowels, speech, the red element, the sun, or rajas among the three gunas, is in the left "vein," called the Lalanii. Upiiya, the consonants, body, the white element, the moon, or sattva among the gunas, is in the right "vein," called the Rasanii. The meaning of the sequence Om, Ah, Hum (Androgyne, Prajfiii, and Upiiya) is shown in part in Mkhae grub rje's great commentary (Txk chen) on the Kdlacakra-tantra: During the first five (lunar) months of the womb, developing the five per- sonality aggregates and the five elements, under the power of taam.s, in the 50 Toh. 5316, Collected Works, Vol. ma, Sbas don, 152a-3. "Toh. 5290, Collected Works, Vol. Cha, Don gsal, folio 25s-b, as cited in rny "Buddhist Genesis and the Tantric Tradition," op. cit. 52 Ildor bdas, op. cit., 51b. 63 E.g.,in Sl~agsrim,437a-3 ff.; in Bkis Bus, 3213-2 ff. Some of these correspond- ences are already in my "Notes on the Sanskrit 'I'errn Jiiar~a," JAOS, LXXV, No. 4 (October-December, 1955), 258 ff. My studies in that article constitute a decisive step toward my present understanding.

state of dreamless sleep which has no manifestation of discursive thought (vikalpa), there is the bodhicitta of the Jina (i.e., the Bhagavat) which is the diamond (vajra) Dharmakiiya. During the sixth and seventh, under the power of rajas, experiencing "objects" (vi.yaya)like a dream, in the state of dream, there is the Sambhoga-kiiya. Then, from the beginning of the eighth month up to birth, under the power of sattva, in the waking state, there is the Nirmiina-kii~a.~~ Now, various Buddhist Tantric texts identify the four basic cakras (cf. our preceding section) with the Buddha bodies, that is, the nirmanacakra is at the navel, the dharma-cakra at the heart, the sambhoga

Left Right Middle ----- om Ah Hiim Body I'rajfiii, form Speech UpBya, form Mind Form of of woman Tamas of man Rajas Androgyne Sattva cakra at the neck, and the mah8sukha-cakra at the head.55 Combining this information with the data in Mkhas grub rje's passage, we see that the heart cak~awith eight '(veins" develops first, the neck cakra with sixteen "veins" develops second, inferentially the forehead cakra with thirty-two "veins" and the navel cakra with sixty-four "veins" develop last. The inference requires the Nirmiina-kiiya to be associ- ated with the head and navel. As a matter of fact, when Mkhas grub rje in this same Kalacakra-tantra commentary mentions the positional

64 Toh. 5463, Collected Works, Vol. Ga, rik chen, Nali le, 18a-6 ff. For some further information on what develops during those ten months, see my "Studies in Yama and MZra," Zndo-Iranian Journal, I11 (1959), 7@72. &For example, Snellgrove (ed.), op. cil., I, 49.

correspondences of the Buddha bodies, he associates the Dharmakiiya with the heart and the Sambhoga-kiiya with the neck, but places the bindu generating the waking state, and accordingly also the Nirmiina- kiiya, at the level of the forehead (dpral b~).~~ The correspondences of basic time associate the Nirmiina-kiiya with the navel, but the cor- relation with the forehead cakra in fruitional time is referred to when Dasgupta writes: "It is said that when the Bodhicitta is produced in the navel region the goddess Candiili is also awakened, as it were, in the Nirmdna-cakra. When she is awakened the moon situated in the forehead begins to pour nectar and this nectar rejuvenates and tran- substantiates the body of the Yogin."57 We may assume that upon birth as an ordinary male or female, the World Mother goes to sleep by the navel, which is then the nirmana-

cakra in place of the forehead cakra, hence given a different name, mahasukha-cakra. One of the chief aims of the tantrics is to reawaken the forehead cakra as the nirmana- cakra. We shall touch upon more matters related to the basic time in our next section, "The Groups of Four and Five." Passing now to fruitional time correspondences, this sequence is initiated by the Om at the forehead, where the moon is said to melt when Candiili at the navel blazes, with the dissolution of the four ele- ments, which are Locanii and so on, and the dissolution of the five personality aggregates, which are the five Tathiigatas or Buddha~.~~ This event signals the end of profane or basic time. The

dissolution of the elements is associated with certain signs or appearances. According to a Tson-kha-pa commentary on the Guhyasamaja cycle, the dissolu- tion of the earth element into water yields an appearance like a mirage (marici), of water into fire an appearance like smoke (dhuma), of fire into wind an appearance like fireflies (khadyota), of wind into the three Lights an appearance like a lamp (prad~pa), and of the Lights into ultimate nature an appearance like a cloudless sky (nirabhragagana).69 However, the

three Lights are also distinguished as being like moon- light, sunlight, junction of day and night;60 so now we can understand 66 Tik chen, Nan le, 30a-b. 67 S. B. Dasgupta, An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism (Calcutta, 1950), pp. 189-90. Snellgrove (ed.), op. cit., I, 50. 69 Toh. 5286, Collected Works, Vol. Ca, Ye rdor, 15a-2. Tson-kha-pa says he is following the Sgron gsal (Candrakirti's Pradipod?/otana,Toh. 1786). The Sanskrit terms corne from the Sekodde$afzkd, text 39.28, in comparison with the Tibetan translation, Toh. 1351, Tanjur ltgyud, Vol. Na, 252h-7 ff. The SekoddeSafik6 reverses the order of the first two appearances, taking smoke as the first sign. Cf. also the Svet6ivatara Upanivad (11, 11). 60 Cf. my "Notes on the Sanskrit Term Jfiana," op. cit., p. 260; in Mthah gcod, op. cit., Tson-kha-pa says that the moonlight is white, the sunlight is red or yellow- red (54a-4 ff.).

Female Energy and Symbolism in the Buddhist Tantras better Niigiirjuna's set of moon, sun, and fire. In fact, the Om corresponds to the first of the three Lights and hence assumes the preced- ing appearances of mirage, smoke, and fireflie~.~~ Let us proceed to the table of fruitional time correspondences (Table 2), of which several lines were already given. However, the Fire listed under Hum probably means here "the fire of time" (kdagni), that is, the fire superior to time, because it puts an end to the cosmic eon and hence brings even Great Time to an end,

l'rajfiii, the form Upiiyu, the form Androgyne of woman of man 8-petalled lotus 5-pronged thun- derbolt hZoonlight Sunlight Fire Night Day Juncture of day and night Left Right Middle Waking Dream Dreamless sleep Void Further Void Great Void Light Spread of Light Culmination of light Body Speech Mind Vairocana Amitahha Akgobhya Birth Intermediate Death State Nirmltnaknya Sanlbhogaksya Dharmakaya Tamas Rajas Sattva Head Neck Heart Inspiration Retention Expiration

ushering in the Clear Light, the Fourth Void, from which the other three evolve; whereas the dragon Riihu in basic time only temporarily eclipses the sun and moon. It is of interest that the set of moon, sun, and fire is also found in the Hindu Tantra~.~~ Our chief intention is to expose the female symbolism, but it is pos- sible to do this only within a larger framework of symbolism. In basic time, Speech is female---a bit of symbolism prominent in Indo-Euro- pean mythology; and in fruitional time, Speech is male. In the former time, Body is male; in the latter time, Body is female. In both times, Mind is androgyne or neutral. The correspondences in basic time ex- Mlhah gcod, op. cit., 51a. 6 ZEliade, Yoga, 238.

actly agree with the genders of the Sanskrit nouns: va, feminine (speech); kaya, masculine (body); and citta, neuter (mind). An alter- nate word for mind, manas, is also neuter. We note that the corre- spondences of sun and moon to prajAa and updya are also reversed when passing from the former to the latter time. This shift seems to coincide beautifully with the contentions about a recessive male in the human female and a recessive female in the human male, or the animus and the anima of Jung's system. That is to say, when the yogin attains the Great Time his recessive female becomes actualized; when the yoginx attains this time her recessive males become actualized. This casts a flood

of light on the sexual symbolism of mystical visions. Al- most all of the Buddhist scriptures were composed by men, as far as is known. Hence these works speak so much about attaining prajfid, the void, the state of waking, and light. Hence that large body of scrip- tures entitled Prajfidparamitd ("The perfection of insight"), and the personification of Prajfkipdramitd as the "Mother of the Buddhas." These men were seeking to externalize or objectify what is referred to by our first column of the Great Time under Om. When successful, they achieved a more or less prolonged state of mystic consciousness, without reliance on a sexual partner, that is the birthright of all earthly women, who achieve a transitory experience of this secret state of thought in a climax with the aid of a sexual partner. But women are always representing this state by means

of body. Hence the correspondence to body in fruitional time. Those corlclusions imply that if women had been writing the books, the titles and contents would have diverged considerably. If they renounce earthly men and seek fulfilment in an exalted mystical consciousness, when successful they realize what is suggested by the Ah column in the Great Time, as Briffault describes it: ('The primal function of the primitive religious magic of generation is re-echoed throughout the long line of female votaries of the Divine Bridegroom, in the lascivious ecstasies of a St. Theresa, of a St. Catherine, of a Madame G~yon."~~ But Briffault evinces no evidence in his essay that he understands

the true state of affairs: men ordinarily attain transitory experiences of this conscious- ness of predominant pleasure (sukha) and negligible void (S~nya) through their sexual conquests. And generally men represent this state by means of speech. Anyway, such is the outcome of the table; the reader may judge for himself or herself whether the above state- ments are true in fact or simply a forcing of issues to make the columns "come out right." The Tantric procedure is to master the techniques Robert Briffault's "From Sex to Love in Religion," in A. M. Krich (ed.), The Anatomy of Love (Laurel Edition [[[New York]], 1960]),p. 45.

of passing through the three Lights to the experience of the Clear Light, to thus carry away the three bodies of a Complete Buddha; and Tsoli-kha-pa teaches that if one does not know how to proceed with skill he simply has momentary experiences of all these states when dying, passing through the intermediate state, and being reborn.64

THE GROUPS OF FOUR AND FIVE A

fine summary statement of the goddesses considered as consorts in the Anuttara-yoga-tantra is given by the Tibetan author Klon-rdol bla- ma : The "means path" of another's body is the four families of "seals" (mdra), namely: Padmini, Sahkhini, Hastini, and Mrgi. Moreover, each of those has the three varieties "together-born female" (sahaja), "field-born female" (ksetraja), and "incantation-born female" (dharantja). The "together-born female" enables one to attain the illusory body and the Goal Clear-light. The "field-born

female" enables one to attain the Symbolic Clear-light with the arcane state of body, of speech, and of mind. The "incantation-born female" is the yogini at the final limit of the "stages of production" (utpatti-krania). The families (kula) are explained as follows: the butcher maiden belongs to Akgobhya's family; the washerman maiden to Vairocana's; the necklace- stringer maiden to Ratnasambhava's; the dancer maiden to Amitabha's; the artisan maiden to Arnogha~iddhi's.

The four terms, Padmini and so on, derive from the Hindu ka- maSastra literature. They represent a classification of women. How- ever, the explanation in Kamasatra (chap. ii) of the three terms Mrgi, Vadavii, and Hastini, is not applicable here. The set of four terms have explanations according to Apte's dictionaryGG somewhat along the lines of the "characteristics of maidens" (kanyctlaksanam) in Vara- hamihira's work on omens, although the latter author does not use such terms as Padmini.G7 These expressions (sometimes with citripx in place of mygz) have been adopted by the Buddhist Tantric authors, and not necessarily with the same meanings as in the former literature. Lva-va-pa says:

"Padmini belongs to the Deva family; Hastirli has the lineage of Yaksas; Sankhini is known among the humans; Citrini is in the Preta family."68 This passage could be interpreted to mean that all four have human form, while Sankhini is really human. An- 64 E.g., in his Ye rdor, op. cit., 17b-4 ff. Toh. 6534, Collected Works, Peking ed., Vol. Ga, 31a-7. 66 Vaman Shivram Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Bombay, 1924). The definition of Padmini on p. 585 is from the Ratimagjari. 67V. Subrahmanya Sastri, Varahamihira's Brihat Samhita (Bangalore City, 1947), 11, 57&84. Toh. 1401, Sadhananidana-Bricakrasawara-ndma-pagjik,Tanjur, Rgyud, Ba, 38a-6.

other interpretation is that none are human, while Sankhini is a fairy that has assumed a human form. And perhaps Lva-va-pa has some- thing else in mind. However, Tsoli-kha-pa writes: The object to be summoned is (a) the god maiden (surakanya), (b) the demi-god maiden (daityakanya), (c) the four kinds of human maidens- Padmini, garikhani, Hastini, and Mrgi. They on all circles (mandala)of earth, are summoned from everywhere. The first is summoned from above the earth; the second, from beneath the earth; the third, from upon the earth.="

Tsoli-kha-pa is following a tradition more consistent, literally speak- ing, than Lva-va-pa's with the Hindu meaning of the four terms. Indrabhtiti also places the gods above earth, men on earth, and the demi-gods (asura or daitya) beneath earth.70 Whatever the meaning of this classification into Padmini and so on, the fourfold group leads immediately to the fivefold group, or vice versa. This is because four entities are naturally arranged in a square, implying a "center" of a "squared circle" (mandala)with the

implied or given fifth entity in the middle. This is not to say that the group headed by Padmini is to be equated with the fivefold group headed by the butcher maiden. If all nine were included in one "squared circle," the group of five would be in the cardinal directions and the center, the group of four in the intermediate directions. The one in the center depends on the correspondence system. Thus, the correlation to "space" (akdSa)among elements or to "Knowledge of the Natural Realm" (dharmadhatujfi~na)among divine

knowledges determines the center.71 When the system takes Vairocana as the chief Buddha, then the washerman maiden (rajakr) in this set of correspondences is regarded as an embodiment of the central goddess. The fourfold group usually represents the situation of basic time, as portrayed in the preceding section, while the fifth entity either in- volves fruitional time or suggests it. We should also recall that various important non-Tantric five-termed sets divide into a four and a one. The five personality aggregates (skandha) include four on the side of I Iname" (nama) and one on the side of "form" (r~pa).The "form" aggregate in turn consists of the four elements and their evolutes. While Buddhism, consistent with Hindu systems, includes the five elements of wind, and so on, in one group, calling them "realm" (dhdtu), Buddhist metaphysics does not include the

fifth element, space, among the "great factors of becoming" (mahabhuta).A certain 69 Biis ism, op. cit., 41b-I. 70 Toh. 1413, ~ricakrasa~varatantrardjasambarasamuccaya-nma-vtti,Tanjur, Rgyud, Tsa, 30a-7. Cf. my "Totemic Beliefs in the Buddhist Tantras," History of Religions, I (Summer, 1961), 88, Table 1, and discussion, 89, note.

treatise of this category explains that wind, fire, water, earth, are both "great" (mah6), that is, pervasive, and "factor of becoming" (bh~ta). Space is just mah6 in the pervasive sense, and the nama personality aggregates are just bhct~.~~ The four-and-one symbolism is used for the eaved palace (k~tagara) described as having a single courtyard (ekaputa) and as follows in a verse: "Having four corners, four entrances that are ornamented with four portals, as well as four balconies that are resplendent with nymphs (apsaras) and with garlands and other decoration^."^^ Already in the biography of the Buddha called the Lalitavistara one finds this verse about the Tree of Enlightenment: "The

ornamented 'essence of Enlightenment' (bodhimanda) is therefore distinguished by four 'divinities of enlightenment' (bodhidevata) like the paradise tree (parijata) in hea~en."~4 The Tibetan translation interprets bodhidevata as "goddesses of the Tree of Enlightenment."75 According to Dowson in A C2assical; Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, the PBrijEta kept in Indra's heaven is the delight of the nymphs of heaven. Also, the four daughters of Sakka (Indra) seem to be connected with this tree.76 In these cases four

goddesses make up the fourfold group. The word manda ("core," "essential part") substituting for "tree" (vyksa) espe- cially shows that the tree represents the central or fifth entity. To illustrate the case of goddesses in both cardinal and intermediate directions, we may refer to the "Mandala of the Diamond Realm" (vajradhatu-mandala). The Indo-Tibetan form of this mandala is inter- preted in the Yoga-tantra literature class, and the Sino-Japanese Tantric school elaborates it into a highly complex mandala that is one of the two main ones of the Shingon sect of Japanese B~ddhism.~~ There are four female deities belonging to the inner sanctum (garbha- kfitagara) who are located in the four intermediate directions (south- east, southwest, northwest, northeast) and called, respectively, Wan- ton Movement (Lasya), Garland (MBla), Song (Gita), and Dance (Nytya). A commentary of the Yoga-tantra class, while discussing this

72 Toh. 4365, Arthavinibcaya(i1;d (no author catalogued), Tanjur, Sna-Tshogs, No, 13a-6, 7. 73 Sadhanu-mala, No. 239, text 459.11. 74 Lefrnann edition, p. 281. 7sT~h.95, Arya-~alitavistara-nama-mahdYdna&a Kanjur, Mdo-sde, Vol. Kha, 138h-7. 7G Odctte Viennot, Le culte de l'arbre duns l'lnde ancienne (Paris, 1054), 79-(cf. Malalasckera, Uzctionary of I'ali Proper Names, 11, 964, for thelr natnes-As%, Saddha, Hiri and Siri. These names signify, in the respective order, "hope," "faith," "shame," and "splendor"). 77 Hcnoytosh Bhattacharyya (ed.), Nypannayogdvali of Mahapandita Abhaydkaragupta (Haroda, l949), introductory section, pp. 54-56. 96

very mandala, calls these four the secret goddesses (gsan bahi Zha mo According to the mandala text, they belong, respectively, to the Buddha families, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitiibha, and Amoghasiddhi. Of a different type are the four goddesses on petals of the first circle of the same mandala, who are located in the cardinal directions starting with east: Sattvavajri ("Diamond of Sentient Being"), Ratnavajri ("Diamond of Jewels"), Dharmavajri ("Dia- mond of the Law"), Karmavajri ("Diamond of Ritual Acts"). The text

states that they belong respectively to the same four Buddha families as do the other fourfold group. In the present case, however, three of the names directly show this relationship. Ratna is a standard name of the Ratnasambhava family, and Karma of the Amoghasiddhi family. Dharma in the sense of enunciation of the doctrinal syllables is usually correlated with Amitabha in this literature. Hence, these four represent a definite female essence of family, and their names could not have been formulated until after the theory of the five Buddhas (the four now in point and Vairocana) had arisen. Since the text already relates the two fourfold groups by means of four Buddha families, it is feasible to relate the individual entities under headings as follows:

Buddha Family Abstract Goddess Sensuous Goddess Aksobhya Diamond of Sentient Being Wanton Movement Ratnasambhava Diamond of Jewels Garland Amitiibha Diamond of the Law Song Amoghasiddhi Diamond of Ritual Acts Dance

In the Anuttara-tantra terminology, since the fourfold group begin- ning with Padmini and the fivefold group beginning with the butcher maiden seem both to refer to types of concrete women, we may theorize, for want of noticing in the texts an explanation which may be restricted to oral precepts, that the former group refers to the con- crete "femaleness" going with four of the latter group, all five of which are identified with the "Mothers" or the praj6bs of the five Buddha families. This would involve an interpretation of this literature which the present writer feels is consistent both with Hindu kbmaSbstra usage and the general tenor of the Anuttara-tantras, namely, that what the world considers to be the signs and characteristics of female- ness is in fact the phenomenalization of the "Mothers" of the Tantric families and hence falls into distinct types. Of course, similar state- ments could be made for the signs of maleness. Such ideas are consist- Padmavajra's Tant~d~thEvatErazytikhydna(Toh. 2502), Tanjur, Itgyud, Vol. Ifi, 225a-5.

ent with the world outlook prevalent in the old Vedic period when different deities were in charge of the departments of nature, and with the later Indian astrological texts which identify the various parts of the body with the twelve zodiacal signs or with the nine planets. The Tantric formulations simply carry out the identification by classifying under one or another of the Buddha families: all things are invested with the sacredness of Buddha nature, and this may be a mental prep- aration for initiation into the Great Time. The four "great factors of becoming" are identified with goddesses who are the "Mothers" of the families: "Locanii is said to be earth, Miimaki held to be the realm of water, Piindarii known as fire, TarB proclaimed wind."79 Here elements do not mean the gross ones with which we are ordinarily familiar, but pure forms of the

elements. Johnston shows that these elements are already regarded as divine forces in Upanisadic literat~re.~~ The four in the standard order of wind, fire, water, earth, are symbolized this way: "He should see the mandalas of the four 'great factors of becoming' each next one upon the preceding one; blue, red, white, yellow; a bow (i.e., a semi-circle), a triangle, a circle, a square; the transformations of the syllables Yam, Ram, Lam, V~m."~l In the same order the elements are associated with navel, throat, heart, and privities; and, if the correspondences are mutually consistent, Tarii, PBndarii, Miimaki, and Locanii would be the consorts, respectively, of the Buddhas Amoghasiddhi,

Amitabha, Aksobhya, and Ratnasambhava. This is the logical consequence of the identification of Amoghasiddhi and so on with the various winds hav- ing their bases in certain centers of the body.82 These particular cor- respondences are the ones in this Tantric passage on the four bases of magical power (rddhi-pdda) : The certainty regarding the four bases of magical power:-(1) Rightly sit- uated as the heart-based [[[wind]], i.e., pmna] with the magical power of Mdmalci, belonging to the water-wind Vajra Lord (i.e., Akgobhya); (2) Said to be in the neck as uddna with the magical power of Pandarg belonging to the fire-wind I'adma Lord (i.e., Amitabha); (3) mentioned to be in the sacral region (or privities) as apdna with the magical power of Buddhalocani? belonging to the earth-wind Ratna Lord (i.e., Ratnasambhava); (4) in the navel as the wind- mandala, the samdna along with the fire [of the sleeping goddess Cancj~li], with

79 Guhyasamdjatantra,chap. xii, p. 137. 80E.H. Johnston, Early Samkhya (London, 1937), p. 20. 81 Sddhana-mdld, No. 251, text pp. 4YO-91. This is the usual three-staged evoca- tion after attaining the void: (1)germ syllable (bija), (2) emblem (n'hna),(3) body of deity (kaya).Hence, the Yam is transformed into a bow, the latter into a blue wind; and likewise with the others. 82Cf. my "Totemic Beliefs in the Buddhist Tantras," op. cit., p. 88, Table 1, and p. 87, n. 14. the magical power of devZ TBra belonging to the family of the Karma Lord (i.e., Amoghasiddhi). Each one of the four goddesses belonging to each [[[family]] Lord] is mentioned with

the force of magical power along the channel [of the body] equipped with the four manhlas [of the "factors of be~orning"].~~ However, as was pointed out in the section "The Three Meanings of E-vam," the order, Locan%, Miimaki, PiindurB, and TBra (evam may6 represents an association with the cakras of navel, heart, neck, and head. As compared with the preceding correspondences, this moves up Locanii from the sacral region to the navel and Tiirii from the navel to the head. The section "The Female, Male, and Androgyne" touches upon the mysterious communication between the navel and the head which may explain this shift of Tiirii's position. Moreover, one finds some difference in relating these "Mothers" to Buddha families in the Arya school of the Guhyasamdja, the Kd- lacakra-tantra, and in the Heuajra-tantr~.~~ the The association of green Tar%, also called SamayathrB, with Amoghasiddhi is standard. The next most frequent agreement is that Pandarii, or the white- dressed red TiirB, goes with Amithbha. However, the Miimaki and

Locanh associations differ considerably. The reason is that the corre- spondence of four goddesses to five Buddhas always leaves out one Buddha. This is the chief Buddha of the particular Tantra, and this Buddha is placed in the center when one has a "squared circle." The corresponding realm is space or ether (cikciia), which Lva-va-pa equates with the "Diamond Sow" (Vajra~iiriihi),~~ who is also called "Queen of the Diamond Realm" (VajradhhtviSvari) and "Fairy of Divine Knowledge" (Jfiiinadiikini).86 In mandala representation of the Buddha pentad the central Buddha is usually Vairocana or Aksobhya, and this particular emphasis causes one or more of the "Mothers" to be assigned an association apparently inconsistent with other Tantras. The goddesses as "great factors of becoming" are regarded as multi- plying factors of the Lord winds, the male aspects of the elements. Thus Tso~i-kha-pa writes: "Regarding 'PBndarii and so on,' the wind of the Lotus Lord (i.e., Amitiibha) is dominated by 225 winds each of fiery PiindarB of fire, windy Tiirii of fire, earthy Locana of fire, and

83 Toh. 453, the AduayasamatcZvijaya, Kanjur, Rgyud, Vol. Cha, 148a-5. For our identification of the navel fire with the sleeping goddess Candali, cf. Toh. 2330, Tilli-pa's Saddharmopadega-mima, Tanjur, Ilgyud, Vol. Zi, 270b-1: / lte bar tsa- nda-li yi me / "at the navel the fire of Candali." For the Guhyasamaja Arya school the correspondences are in Niiglrjuna's commentary (already cited, nn. 45-47 above), 26b and following folios. For the Kdacakra, cf. Bhattacharyya (ed.), op. cit., p. 77. For the Hevajra, cf. Snellgrove (ed.), op. n't., I, 128. "In his pa+ijikd, op. cit., Ba, folio 43. 86Bhattacharyya (ed.), op. cit., Sanskrit text, p. 79.

watery Miimaki of fire; and the same goes for the other three [Lord winds]. This amounts to twenty-four divisions of 'watches' according to the Amn~iya-rn~fijari."~~ Hence there is the fiery PBndarB of fire, of wind, of water, and of earth. As each of the four goddesses regularly rotate as consorts of each of the Buddhas in the aspects of the winds or purity of elements, it seems a matter of convention for a certain Tantra to associate one of these goddesses with a certain Buddha as though it were always the case. Nevertheless, in the phase when a goddess is involved with the particular Buddha of her own element, when, for example, Piindarii goes with AmitBbha, this appears to be a special case of juncture.

THE THREE GRADES

The cited passage of the Klori-rdol bla-ma mentions three varieties for each of those four kinds of females, Padmini and so on. This type of language is found in the "Mother Tantras," of which the most impor- tant is the Sr~cakrasamaara-tantra and associated literature. When that passage speaks of the illusory body as well as the Goal and Symbolic Clear Lights, it is employing terminology found especially in the "Father Tantras," of which the most important is the Guhyasa- mda-tantra and associated literature. Because the passage incorpo- rates materials derived from those two major classes, it becomes pos- sible to clarify the meaning somewhat by using both commentarial traditions. It will perhaps be a modest step toward this understanding to demonstrate the following equivalences in alternate terminology of the two great divisions of the Anuttara-yoga-tantra:

Bather Tantra Grade Mother Tsntra Language Language Highest Together-born female Mother Intermediate Field-born female Sister Lowest Incantation-born female Daughter Thus Indrabhiiti is following "Mother Tantra" tradition when he writes: "The location is the circle of 'women,' namely together-born, field-born, incantation-born; and the butcher maiden, she of great power, the dancer maiden, the washerman maiden and so on."88 In his commentary on the third chapter of the Samputa he says: "In regard to the passage, 'All women . . . ,' 'all women' means all the god- desses. They are the illusory goddesses field-born, incantation-born, and together-born, the yoginis located in the locations and secondary "7S'f~:lagsrim, 442a-3, 4.

88 T~IP op. cit., Zi, 147h-1. fZ~tnacakrdbhi+ekopadefi:lakrama,

10cations."~~Tson-kha-pa quotes Lva-va-pa: "Highest is the together- born female; middling is the field-born female; lowest is the incanta- tion-born female."gO Accordingly, Tson-kha-pa writes: "Then, having taken recourse to the power of the incantation-born, one moreover achieves the assembling of the field-born [ones]; taking recourse to the latter, one is able to exhort the together-born and make the latter the consort."g1 Furthermore, these goddesses called "messengers" (d~t'i) are held to grant occult powers, as

the same writer comments: "The passage 'Oc- cult power (siddhi) is speedily produced' means that the speedy pro- duction of the occult power is attained by taking recourse to the 'mes- senger.' "92 Tson-kha-pa goes on to compare the female messenger with the sharp edge of a sword. To take proper recourse to either ob- ject one must be fearless. In the case of the d~t'i one would then achieve the siddhi. However, "If there is a fault in the recourse, one achieves not the benefit but rather no end of great troubles."93 Now let us turn to the "Father Tantra" Cuhyasam&ja: The adept who carnally loves the "mother," "sister," and lLdaughter"- Achieves the extensive siddhi at the true nature of the Mahiiyiina ~umrnit.~4

The tantric Candrakirti comments on this by citing an unnamed agama, probably one of the Explanatory Tailtras of the CuhyasamCija cycle, which relates these three grades of women to the graded Buddha bodies: The "mother" is the Prajiiiipiiramitii Mother, the sole characteristic in the Dharmakiiya; By the practice of non-dual thusness, there is the indulgence called l'unsubstantiality. The one like the Sambhoga [-kiiya] is referred to as "sister." The one to be carnally loved by the incantation body belonging to the

practitioner of tutelary-deity, The "daughter" having the forrn of the Nirmiinakiiya, Should be creatively contemplated by the adept. In that way the yogin carnally loves the "mother," "sister," and "daughter," And attains the extensive siddhi at the true nature of the Mahiiyiina summit.95 89 Toh. 1197, ~risa~putatilaka-ndma-2/ogi.nitantraraja-tika~m~tisamdar~a.nd~okandma, Tanjnr, Itgyud, Ca, 152b-2. 90 Sbas don, op. cit., 145b-1. g1 Toh. 5320, Collected Worlcs, Vol. Ta, Hdod hjo, 132a-6. 92 Sbas dm, op. cit., 136b-4. 93 Ibid. 94 Chap. V, p. 20. 95 Toh. 1785, Pmdipodyotana-ndma-iika, Tanjur, Rgyud, Ha, 36b-2 ff.

While Klon-rdol bla-ma's passage provides the basic data for cor- relating the symbolism of the two traditions, we are able to take ad- vantage of his remarks only by correlating the Tantric theory of initia- tion (abhigeka) attainments. Tson-kha-pa writes: "The initiation of the flask accomplishes the NirmB~akiiya, the secret initiation the Sambhogakiiya, the insight-knowledge initiation the Dharmakiiya; the Sambhogakiiya here mentioned is also explained as the illusory body."96 Mkhas grub rje states that the initiations of the flask (kalaSa- abhigeka) are conferred in the initiation phase of the "stages of produc- tion" (utpatti-kr~ma).~~ The secret initiation (guhya-abhigeka) involves the three arcane states of body, speech, and mind, the insight-knowl- edge initiation (prajfiajfiana-abhida) is associated with together-born joy, and both these

initiations are conferred during the "stages of completion" (sampanna-kram~).~~ Except for the apparent disagree- ment regarding the placement of the illusory body, it follows immedi- ately that the "daughter" is the incantation-born female, the "sister" the field-born female, and the "mother" the together-born female. However, this "solution" has perhaps brought up more difficult points than it has solved. According to Tson-kha-pa, the yogin's body developed in the "stages of production" is the incantation body (*mantra-deha); while the one developed in the "stages of completion" is the knowledge body (*jfiana-deha), which is of two kinds: the impure illusory body and the latter body purified in the Clear Light.99 The illusory body (mayd- deha) is the ole formed of the winds and mind only (rlun serns tsam) and said to be the body of Vajrasattva.loo

According to Niigiirjuna's Paficakrama, it appears like an image in a mirror, and may well be the "body made of mind" (manomaya-kdya) of non-Tantric Buddhism.lol Reference to Table 2 will clarify somewhat the Vajrajapa-krama of the Pafkakrama. Recitation of the Om, Ah, Ham is called "thunderbolt muttering" (vajrajapa), or arcane speech, and involves visualization of the mantras (mantranidhyapti). Along with this muttering there is Tantric manipulation of the winds. On this foundation, one proceeds g6 Snags rim, 31410-5. 97 The initiation phase is made explicit in the formulation of these stages with six members; cf. my "Totemic Beliefs in the Buddhist Tantras," op. n't., p. 90, note. 98 Toh. 5489, Mkhas gub rje's Collected Works, Vol. ma, Rgyud sde spyi mum. The late F. D. Lessing and myself have prepared in collaboration an annotated translation from the Tibetan of this work, The General Summary of the Tantras. The present writer expects to submit this to a publisher in 1962. g9 Snags rim, 410b. looIbid., 406b. mlAs discussed in my "Studies in Yama and Miira," op. cit., p. 120.

to the CittaviSuddhi-krama, namely to visualization of the mental sub- stance (cittanidhyapti) as the three light stages or three voids, the arcane mind. The arcane body or illusory body consisting of the winds and that mental substance is the topic of the Svddhigthdna-krama (stage of personal blessing). Stationed in the illusory-like sumadhi (m6yopama-samddhi), one enters the Clear Light with the illusory body by means of the two simultaneous meditations called "contrac- tion" (pindagraha) and "expansion" (anubheda), described in the Abhisambodhi-krama. The Yuganaddha-krama then describes the non- dual knowledge of a Manifest Complete Buddha who proceeds down- ward through the three light stages in a manner that carries off the three bodies.lo2 For this the Tantras speak of a Fourth Initiation, yielding the maturation for the fruitional attainment of the three bodies, while the previous three initiations make this possible for those bodies. Hence we can add further correspondences to Table 2 by plac- ing under Om the initiations of the flask as well as the "daughter," under Ah the secret initiation as well as the "sister," under Hum the insight-knowledge initiation as well as the "mother."

But what is the meaning of the "carnal love" for those three classes of "women"? They must be separately discussed. 1. The incantation-born female.-She is called a vidyd and is evoked by a vidya-dhdranZ. The male deity can be called a mantra and the incantation evoking him is called a mantra-dhdrapz. Buddhaguhya ex- plains: "Among those, the vidya is the deity with the form and shape of a woman, as well as the sounds, mudras, and so on, which manifest that [[[deity]]]. The opposite of that is the characteristic of the mantra."103 Lva-va-pa, when speaking of the five initiations of the flask, says: Those five initiations which have the nature of the five Tathsgatas (i.e., Buddhas) are also referred to by the expression "wisdorn initiation" (vidyiia6higeka)-because they accomplish the five "wisdom knowledges" (widya- jfidna) whose natures are the transmutation of

the five unwisdorns (avidya), and because in every case the initiation is conferred by the vidya goddess, Buddhalocans and so on.1°4 The meaning of this last remark is clarified in Mkhas grub rje's treat- ment of the initiations of the flask. He states that when the hierophant (vajrcicdrya) sprinkles the disciple with the "diamond water" (vajra- udaka) of the Victorious Flask (vijaya-kalaSa) it is imagined that in lo2 This summary of the Paricakrama is based on the sampanna-krama section of Tson-kha-pa's Snags rim, esp. 405a, where he quotes and discusses three verses of the VajTajdpa-krama (4-6). 1°3 Toh. 2670, Dhydnottarapatala@hxi, Tanjur, Rgyud, Thu, 4a-3. Io4 Toh. 1444, ~ricakrasarnbararnandalavidhi~atnapradipodrna,Tanjur Rgyud, Wa, in a passage beginning 365b-3.

reality the vidyds, Locan% and so on, hold the flask and pour the initia- tory water.lo5 Furthermore, these vidyds such as Locan% can be identi- fied with the maidens mentioned in the Kloli-rdol bla-ma's passage, using the same or other names. Thus Saraha writes: "Locan% is the brahmin maid (Brahmani) ;MBmaki is the outcast (I?ombi) ;PBndar% is the dancing girl (Narti); TBrB is the washerwoman (Rajaki)."lo6 Of course, when incantation-born, they are not concrete. 2. The field-born female.-The expression "field-born"

refers first of all to those located in fields and secondary fields (kgetra and upakgetra) which are eight in number, as Indrabhiiti states: ('Now, so as to teach the families of the eight field-born yoginis. . . ."lo' The intention of the number eight is to describe the fields rather than the yoginis. Besides, the expression ('field-born" indicates a larger group of yoginis who are headed in lists by the eight field-born groups. These yoginHs are usually placed in locations (geographical or in the body itself) numbering twelve, twenty-four, or thirty-two. Various Anuttara-yoga-tantras belonging to the "Mother Tantra" category and the commentarial literature describe the characteristics of

these yogin'is, place them in locations, and group them under families of Buddhas, whether five, six, or seven.lo8 From a Sanskrit manuscript of one of these works, the Abhidhanottara, Bagchi cites "They are faithful to their true religion and brave sisters (saddharmaratd nitya?n vkabh~ginyah)."VTao (talk) This is said in reference to one kind of the goddesses named lama, but the appellation "sister" is of interest as being consistent with our previous identification of the "field-born" with the "sister." These yoginis are of course non-human. This is not only shown by some of the descrip- tions, but also follows from the fact that they can coalesce with the yogin's body in the sense of becoming located in different spots. The descriptions indeed amount to a classification of the fairy world. The implication is that the yogin, upon developing the illusory body, be- comes aware of a world whose nature is compatible with that body. NBgsrjuna writes in his Paficakrama (Cittavikuddhi-krama, vs. 36) : lo6 In the Rgyud sde spyi mum; see n. 98 above.

106 Toh. 1652, &i-~uddhaka~alatantra~a.~jikr~-j.iicinavat, ndma, Tanjur, Rgyud, Ra, 137a-2. '07 The SmytisamdarS.anrZloka, op. cit., Ca, 123a4-7. 108 Among these works of great importance is a Continuation Tantra of the basic Cakrasamvara Tantra (Ton. 368) entitled Abhidhana-uttaratantra (Toh. 369). Among the Tanjur texts there is, e.g., Indrabhnti's work, just referred to. There is a great deal of information in Tson-kha-pa's Hdod hjo, op. cit., n. 91. See Snell- grove, The Hevajra-tantra, I, 66-70, and his annotations. 109 Prabodh Chandra Bagchi, Studies in the Tantras (Calcutta, 1939), p. 59.

Of all illusions, the illusion of woman is supreme. Just here, the variety of three knowledges is clearly marked."O

The expression ((three knowledges" means the three lights, Light, Spread of Light, and Culmination of Light, constituting the arcane mind. 3. The together-born female.-Candrakirti in his commentary on the Guhyasam6ja cites this verse about her: The great goddess located in the heart, Who is generated by the yogin's yogaThe Mother of all the Buddhas- Is explained to be Vajradhiitviivari (Queen of the Diamond Realm) .lll

As the incantation-born female yielded a predominance of void, the field-born female a predominance of pleasure, so now the together-born female yields the experience of pleasure-void (sukha-Sunya) in equal measure. This pleasure-void involves a sequence of four joys (dnanda), produced by the melted white element in the central channel of the body. The "carnal love" for these respective females who initiate the male called the yogin takes four forms in accordance with the initiation, as Snellgrove translates: '(The first is represented by a smile, the second by a gaze, the third in an embrace, and the fourth in The yogin smiles at the "daughter," gazes at the '(sister," embraces the "mother," unites with the latter in the Clear Light, and must stay united upon emerging from the Clear Light and proceeding through the three light stages in the reverse order so as to hold onto the three bodies of the Buddha associated with those three stages. The wife was a daughter, a sister, and a mother.

THEIR AGES The many textual references to these goddesses in terms of their ages are not particularly calculated to give assurance regarding their true nature. Especially is this the case with the most complete list of ages noticed by the present writer. Saraha associates five ambrosias (amyta) with praj5ds of five different ages. The first kind issues from the eye of the eight-year-old Kum8ri. The second, from the hollow vein (rtsa khon ston) of the twelve-year-old Salika. The third, from the union with the sixteen-year-old one who flowers (pugpavat~, woman with This verse is quoted in the Snags rim,313b-2, during Tsoli-kha-pa's discus- sion of the three Higher Initiations (the secret one, insight-knowledge, and the fourth). "1 Pradipodyotana, op. cit., Ha, 36a-7. Snellgrove, op. cit., I, 95-96.

menses), called Siddhii. The fourth, from the union with the twenty- year-old one who has menses for the first time, called *Biilikii. The fifth is the (?)menses (kha ba, perhaps corruption of khrag, "blood") of prajfid, the semen of upaya, or the burnt fat of praj%d, whichever be the case, of the twenty-five-year-old one, named *Bhadrakapiilini (thod bzaris can ma).u3 Besides the maiden, these texts also speak of a lad. Thus the Guhyasamaja has a verse about the maiden aged twelve and the lad aged twelve.l14 The same work has a verse: When he sees the delightful daughter of the gods replete with all ornaments, the lad, [or] the maiden, He gains the occult power (siddhi).l16

Candrakirti explains that he, the yogin, attains the mundane occult powers (laukika-siddhi),lL6 usually eight in number. This is indeed a "fairy tale." Jung might have explained that masculine consciousness has come '(face to face with its feminine counterpart, the anima."l17 The material of our preceding section suggests that the yogin now sees a "sister" or "brother." It will help our control of the data to organize it into classes of meaning, whether concrete or figurative, already illustrated in an earlier section by the interpretation of the sixteen-year-old girl as the sixteen voids. But it is doubtful that such organization of textual data can yield a native understanding that one has through having been born and reared in a country whose usages are commonplace and sub- consciously noticed, while startling to the foreigner. The usual way to be a native in this case is to have gone through it all.

A. AGES OF THE YOGIN~SBELONGING TO BUDDHA FAMILIES

Bhavyakirti writes: '(Among them, the butcher maiden, aged twelve, is the mudrd belonging to the yogin of Akgobhya's family. The washerman maiden, aged twenty, is the mudra belonging to the yogin of Vairocana's family. The dancer maiden, aged sixteen, is the mudra belonging to the yogin of Amitiibha's family."l18 The passage by the 113 The Jfidnavati, op. czt., n. 106, Ra, 129a-1 ff. In this assage the name of the twelve-yeared female is written Ba-rz-ka. In Toh. 1654, ~bhayBkaragupta's SriBuddhakapdlamahdtantrardjatikd-abhayapahatz-ndma,Ra, 190a-5, the name is transcribed 66-li-ka; and Ra, 193a-6, transcribed $6-1%-kd. 114 Chap. xv, pp. 100-101. 116 Chap. xv, p. 108. Pradipodyotana, op. cit., Ha, 154a-2-3. 117 Violet S. de Laszlo (ed.), Psyche and Symbol: A Selection from the Writings of C. G. Jung (Anchor Original. [[[New York]], 1958]), p. 96; in Jung's essay, "The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales." 118 Toh. 1793, Pradipodyotandbhisa~hzprakdiikd-ndmaavy6khydfikd,Tanjur, Rgyud, Khi, 41b-6, 7.

Klon-rdol bla-ma earlier cited contains such expressions as ('butcher maiden." We may assume that either the necklace-stringer maiden or the artisan maiden, or both, is more than twenty years old. Saraha's list has a lower age of eight and a higher one of twenty-five. However, Candrakirti's commentary on the Guhyasamaja which is followed by Tson-kha-pa does not entirely agree with Bhavyakirti. When Candrakirti comments on a verse of the Guhyasamaja (chap. xvi, p. 125) about the sixteen-year-old maiden, he says: "The practice to be practiced by the yogin of Vairocana's family is together with the mudra aged sixteen years."ug Here the mudra is the goddess Locanii. Candrakirti agrees that the butcher maiden is aged twelve; but when he comments on a Guhyasamaja verse (chap. xv, p. 94) about the dancer maiden, he does not mention the latter's age.120 Candrakirti's position, insofar as he did give ages, and Tson-kha-pa's as well, is con- sistent with the sizes of mandalas in the Guhyasamaja-tantra. Accord- ing to Tson-kha-pa, ('The

Guhyasamaja states that the mandalas of mind, body, and speech in that order have 12 hastas, 16 hastas, and 20 hasta~."'~' This data is not all in one place in that Tantra. Thus, chap- ter iv (p. 18) shows that the mandala of mind (citta), which normally is associated with Akgobhya, has twelve hastas. Chapter xvi (pp. 113- 14) show that the mandala of body, associated with Vairocana, has sixteen hastas, and that the mandala of speech, associated with Amitiiyus (= Amitiibha), has twenty hastas. Unfortunately, no mandala sizes are set forth for the categories of merits (gupa) or acts (karma), the superintendence going with Ratnasambhava and Amogha- siddhi, re~pective1y.l~~ B. THE NUMBER OF YEARS TO THE MAGICAL POWER (['SIDDHI") According to Mkhas grub rje, "Certain scholars say that if the bindu oozes at the end of sixteen years, the together-born joy occurs directly, and that it (i.e., the bindu) is called the together-born body (sahaja-kaya)."123 This interpretation of "age" agrees with these re- marks by Indrabhtiti: ('One's own pleasure generated at the end of the death obtained from the father is precisely the pleasure experienced in the phase of the oozing. At the end of sixteen years a man practices by himself. At the end of twelve years a woman practices by herself."124

"Tradipodyotana, op. cit., Ha, 173b-4. Iz0 Ibid., Ha, 136a-5 and Ha, 137a4. lZ1 Shugs rim, 160a-2. Izz Cf. my "Totemic Beliefs in the Buddhist Tantras," op. cit., Table 1. lZ3 Tik chen, Nan le, op. cit., 30a-1. lZ4 The SmrtisamdarSanQloka, op. cit., Ca, 134b-1.

This "oozing" refers to the melted white element in the central channel of the body. The white element is the father element; and the phase of oozing corresponds to dreamless sleep and to death in the correspond- ences in Table 2. During his exposition of the secret initiation, Tso~i-kha-pa cites this from the Mahamudratilaka: If one does not obtain a twelve-yeared, or sixteen-yeared female, adorned with good features, long eyes, attractive figure and youth, then a twenty- yeared one is proper. Other "seals" (mudra) above twenty put the occult power far off. One should offer his sister, daughter, or wife to the "master" Tsoli-kha-pa is concerned in this context with the method of the secret initiation and does not stop to explain the symbolism of the ages. Since the symbol is multi-valued, the present writer may be spoiling it by presenting a one-valued interpretation, namely, that it means the number of years elapsed when siddhi is attained since someone turned his back on worldly affairs to practice yoga-an event as memorable to him as is the marriage contract to worldly persons. But the fact that "seals" over twenty put the siddhi far off does lend weight to our inter- pretation. Concerning the "master," the &%-~ahakha-tantrara says: "The master (guru) is said to be of two kinds-the outer master who is that person; the inner master who is the ruling deity (adhipati- deva).11126 The problem still remains of why the numbers increase by fours, starting from age eight in Saraha's list, and so continuing to age twenty, then jumping over twenty-four to twenty-five. There seems to be involved an idea that the yogin can attain the goal in certain defi- nite numbers of years.

C. THE VOWELS AND YOIDNESSES Previously we have referred to Jfi%ntnskarals figurative interpreta- tion of the sixteen-year-old girl as the sixteen voids. In agreement, Candrakirti quotes this verse, presumably from an Explanatory Tantra of the Guhyasamaja cycle: Who has sixteen years by reason of the voidnesses of the varieties "inner" and so forth, Whose quiescence is unhorn- She is explained to be the "woman."127 The sixteen Sanskrit vowels are identified with the sixteen void- nesses in the $rk~a~arcija-tantraraja: 125 Snags rirn, 281a-1. 126 Toh. 387, Kanjur, Rgyud, Ga, 203a-6. 127 Pradipodyotana, op. cit., Ha, 34a-2.

A is the voidness of inner and outer, is the voidness of voidness, I is great voidness, 7 is the voidness of ultimate reality, U is the voidness of constructed things, U is the voidness of the unconstructed, R is the voidness of the limit- less, is the voidness of the beginningless and endless, L is the voidness of the undeniable, ];; is the voidness of ultimate nature, E is the voidness of all na- tures, A1 is the voidness of individual characteristics, 0 is the voidness of the unobserved, AU is the voidness of the non-existent, AM is the voidness of intrinsic nature, A13 is the voidness of the intrinsic nature of the non- existent.lZ8

This Tantra continues: "The seed syllable (hydaya) of the Sambhoga- kaya at the neck is Om; the prajfici is the sixteen void 'veins.' "lZ9 Also, Ghandha(?) writes: "At the left side of the yogin is the prajfici vowelled sixteen."130 Tsoli-kha-pa cites an unnamed cigama as it was quoted in a Tantric commentary which mentions the sixteen spots of the body where one contemplates the sixteen vowel letters, beginning with A at the base of the thumb.131 In the same context he shows that one disposes the six- teen letters on the right side of the body for upciya, and again on the left side for prajiici, the total of thirty-two yielding the thirty-two characteristics (lalc~ana) of the great person (mahcipuru~a). The idea here is that the sixteen vowels are the sixteen parts of the bodhicitta which is the union of prajiici and upciya as the red and white elements, hence a total of thirty-two sub- part^.^^^ The Tantric texts have comparable remarks for the twelve-year-old girl. Thus, Saraha says: "Those yogin'is, adorned with various orna- ments, having the form of youth, aged twelve, are accomplished from the twelve vowel letters and in this Tantra are called 'the prajiia aged twelve.' In the Caturp'ithatantra, according to Bhavabhadra's commentary, one arrives at the twelve vowels by leaving out "the two neuters" (ma niri gfiis), explained to be R, R, Id, and c.134 The present writer has not noticed in these texts the method of applying the vowels to praflcis aged eight, twenty, or twenty-five.

lZ8Toh. 405, Kanjur, Rgyud, Ga, 241a-4 ff. Cf. T. R. V. Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (London, 1955), pp. 350-51, for the list of twenty void- nesses, which minus Nos. 1, 2, 17, and 20, amounts to the present list of sixteen voidnesses. Murti points out that the standard list of eighteen voidnesses leaves out Nos. 17 and 20. IZ9hi-~Q~arCja-tantrarQja, ibid. lJ0Toh. 2404, AlikQlimantrajrlCna-ndma, Tanjur, R~ud, Zi, 2810-7. S~iags rim, 380b4. 132 Ibid., 3818-5. 133 The JAdnavati, op. kt., Ra, 121b-2, 3. 134 Toh. 1607, &icaturpi?hatantrarQjasm~tinibandha-ndma-k,Tanjur, Rgyud, Ha, 149a-2.

Presumably one could leave out further vowels for the lesser age or could repeat certain vowels for the two greater ages. For the twenty- year-old maiden, one might apply the standard list of twenty void- nesses. D. THE TRANSITS OF BODY WINDS Indrabhiiti states: The females aged sixteen and so on,

The "sixteen-yeared femaleH-

This has a purport explained otherwise,

Expressed as the sixteen transits.

Thereby the yogin'i wanders-

As to place, namely--onto sixteen places,

Onto the wheel's spokes numbering sixteen,

Onto all of them, the vital winds wander.135

Ratnaraksita says, "The wind has sixteen member transits in a single day."136 One may arrive at this figure by the winds in eight watches along the right and left channels. It is of interest that sometimes the age of sixteen is expressed as twice eight, as in the case of the goddess Kurukulle, who is colored red and is twice-eight years.137 Padmavajra's detailed explanation of the sixteen transits as the sixteen digits (kala) of the moon is too long to translate here. In short, the first twelve transits are of the twelve interior zodiacal signs, start- ing with Aries (S. mesa, T. lug). The thirteenth through the fifteenth concern the right and left channels in whatever order (not specifically mentioned) as well as the middle channel (specifically mentioned), symbolized respectively as the "food of solar manifestation," the "food of lunar manifestation," and the demon Rtihu (who causes eclipses). The sixteenth has the name bindu ("the drop").138 Obviously, one can arrive at the number twelve here by leaving out the last four transits. This gives the number of transits in Tson-kha-pa's passage, cited in the section on "The Female, Male, and Androgyne," which in fact also refers to transits through the twelve interior zodiacal signs.

CONCLUDING CONSIDERATIONS

Since the Tantras were traditionally handed down in esoteric circles, for many centuries they were read only by persons who had a genuine interest in understanding the subject and would spend the necessary

136 The Sm~tisamdarianGloka,op. cit., Ca. 169b-6. 136 Toh. 1420, Srisam~aroda~amahc~tantraraja-padmini-nma-pajik,Tanjur, Rgyud, Wa, 24a-2. 137 Sadhanu-malo, No. 183, Sanskrit text p. 381. 138 Toh. 1419, Tanjur, Sri-~dkd~uvamahd~o~initantrariijavdhika~ma, Rgyud, Dza, 309a-1 to 309b-4. 110 time and endeavor under a guru's direction to achieve maturity. The candidates had to adhere to various vows and pledges. If this symbol- ism is drawn out of context and

presented to the general public in a mutilated, ignorant fashion, these works reap much scorn and con- demnation. Even so, the Tantric adepts like Saraha would probably not regret the aversion of the "moral" person. The morality prerequi- site for the Tantras in the reform of AtiSa (the Indian pundit who came to Tibet around A.D. 1040), a reform revived by Tsoli-kha-pa three centuries later, is far too lofty for most persons. This reform requires the Bodhisattva vow to precede the vows and pledges of the Tantras,

referred to in brief as the "mantra vow." And the reform requires the morality of the PrSitimokga (non-Tantric Buddhist morality) to pre- cede the Bodhisattva vow. Our study shows that much of the female symbolism of the Anut- tara-yoga-tantra is derived from the human experience of sexual union -meaning both the physical and the mental state. Just as the moral- ity or immorality of this union is independent of the act itself but is derived from the circumstances in which it is conducted, so also the symbolism based

thereon is per se amoral but properly or improperly assessed by persons according to their mental orientation. Finally, one may wonder about the truth of certain strange ideas of this literature, but the Tantras have been scarcely touched by modern scholarship. It is premature to dismiss the Tantras as sheer supersti- tion, as some have done, content to begin with certainty and spared the sleepless night of deepening insight.