Mantra Repetition
When meditators gain the capacity to remain within visualization of their own body as a deity’s, they proceed to cultivate the meditative stabilization of exalted speech. The stated general purpose of cultivating the meditative stabilizations of exalted body and exalted speech is to achieve calm abiding, a powerfully focused mind that, when teamed with wisdom and brought to the level of direct perception of emptiness, can overcome—from the root—afflictive
emotions such as desire and hatred. At that point, afflictive emotions are not just replaced through thinking about something else, not merely suppressed through thinking about their faults, not merely repressed through defense mechanisms, and not merely sublimated through becoming conscious of them. They are totally and forever removed in a gradual process that extirpates increasingly subtle levels of desire, hatred, and ignorance until they are entirely uprooted.
This is the claim that we are exploring through gaining a comprehensive picture of the path in Action Tantra; it would be difficult to come to a conclusion on whether the practices could be this effective, but detailing the complexity and profundity of this religious culture will tease our minds into considering the possibility.
A question that needs first to be settled is just when a meditator is to proceed from cultivating the meditative stabilization of exalted body to cultivating that of exalted speech. It is clear that actual calm abiding is achieved at the end of the meditative stabilization of exalted speech, but when, during the well laid out process of cultivating calm abiding, does one switch from mainly concentrating on divine body to concentrating on mantra? To appreciate
speculation on this question and gain a sense of one of the chief purposes of the meditative stabilizations of exalted body and speech, let us consider briefly the process of developing calm abiding from Sūtra system presentations, since even though calm abiding is integral to Mantra, it is described in more detail in the Sūtra systems.
Tibetan descriptions of the process of achieving calm abiding often combine two Indian presentations—Maitreya’s depiction of five faults and eight antidotes in his Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes a and Asaṅga’s depiction of nine states called “mental abidings” and of four mental engagements in his Grounds of Hearers and Summary of Manifest Knowledge. I will give a brief synopsis of this combined exposition.
About achieving calm abiding, Maitreya’s Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes says:b
It arises from the cause of implementing The eight activitiesc abandoning the five faults.
“Activities” here are antidotes counteracting the five faults, which are:
1. laziness
2. forgetting the instruction on the object of meditation
3. laxity and excitement—the mind’s being too loose or too tight
4. nonapplication of antidotes when laxity and excitement arise
5. overapplication of antidotes when laxity and excitement are no longer present.
Laziness includes not only the indolence of attachment to sleeping and so forth, procrastination, and a sense of inadequacy in which one thinks, “How could someone like myself accomplish calm abiding!” but also attachment to bad activities such as those of desire or hatred.
dbus dang mtha’ rnam par ’byed pa, madhyāntavibhaṅga. The exposition of calm abiding is drawn to a great extent from Hopkins, Meditation on Emptiness, 67-88. For lengthy treatments of calm abiding, see Gedün Lodrö, Calm Abiding and Special Insight, trans. and ed. by Jeffrey Hopkins (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1998), 11-213, and Lati Rinbochay, Denma Lochö Rinbochay, Leah Zahler, and [[Jeffrey
Hopkins]], Meditative States in Tibetan Buddhism (London: Wisdom Publications, 1983), 52-91. b IV.3b. The Sanskrit is: pañcadoṣaprahāṇā ’ṣṭasaṃskārā ’sevanā ’nvayā. See Ramchandra Pandeya, ed., Madhyānta-Vibhāga-Śāstra (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971), 129. For English translations see the Bibliography.
That is to say, antidotes.
Chart 1: Faults of Meditative Stabilization and Their Antidotes
Faults Antidotes
laziness faith aspiration exertion pliancy
forgetting the object of meditation mindfulness
[nonidentification of ] laxity and excitement introspection
nonapplication application
application desisting from application
Of the eight antidotes, four are prescribed as counteragents to laziness—faith, aspiration, exertion, and pliancy. In this context, faith refers to being captivated with the advantages of meditative stabilization as well as wishing to attain those qualities and being convinced of those advantages. The cultivation of faith calls for reflecting on the disadvantages of not having meditative stabilization—namely, the faults of distraction—as well as the
beneficial results of being endowed with meditative stabilization, such as being able, when teamed with wisdom, to remove afflictive emotions from their root. In dependence upon such faith, aspiration seeking meditative stabilization arises. This, in turn, induces the exertion
necessary to achieve it. Eventually, exertion at the process of meditative stabilization yields pliancy which makes laziness impossible; however, since pliancy comes only after long experience, it is not relevant at the beginning, except in that reflection on the advantages of meditative stabilization induces enthusiasm for practice.
The fifth antidote, mindfulness, is prescribed as an antidote to the fault of forgetting the object. As cited by Tsong-kha-pa in his presentation of Yoga Tantra, Shākyamitra quotes Bhāvaviveka’s graphic description of the process of bringing the mind under control. Tsong-kha-pa says:
With regard to the way to hold the mind, Shākyamitrab cites Bhāvaviveka’s Heart of the Middlec and says to do it that way:
The crazy elephant of the mind behaving wildly Is tied to the pillar of an object of observation With the rope of mindfulness.
By degrees it is brought under control with the hook of wisdom.
“Wisdom” here is introspection. Hence, the example of taming an elephant indicates the achievement of a serviceable mind by way of the two—mindfulness and introspection. The subtle vajra that is the base on which the mind is being set is like the stable pillar to
which the elephant is tied. The unserviceable mind is like an untamed elephant. Causing the mind not to be distracted from its object of observation through relying on mindfulness is like using a rope to tie an elephant. Setting [the mind] free from fault— when it does not hold the object of observation as [originally] set—through immediately recognizing such by means
of introspection is like a herder’s hitting an elephant with his hook and correcting it when it strays from the tie-up. The elephant of the mind is being tied to the pole of an object of observation—in this case, one’s own divine body—with the rope of
mindfulness so that it can be brought under control by the hook of introspection. Mindfulness is a faculty that, in increasing degrees, keeps the mind from losing its object; it is gained by constantly returning the mind to the object. The sixth antidote, introspection, inspects from time to time to determine whether laxity and excitement (the third fault) are present.
Laxity primarily refers to the mind’s being too loose; in its worst form, one has as if entered into darkness, losing the object of meditation entirely. A middling form of laxity occurs when the mind stays on the object but without clarity—“clarity” here referring to a quality of mental alertness; a subtle form occurs when the mind stays on the object and with clarity but without intense
clarity. Thus, it is possible for meditators to be deceived into thinking they have achieved meditative stabilization when they are actually stuck in subtle laxity because the object appears clearly and the mind remains clearly and stably on it, but they have not recognized that the clarity of mind lacks intensity.
Excitement, on the other hand, is primarily a scattering of the mind to an object of desire, although, by extension, it includes all types of scattering, whether the object be virtuous, nonvirtuous, or neutral. Again, there are levels of excitement; in the worst version, the object is entirely captivated with something else, but in the subtler version the mind remains on its object with a tendency to fast-moving thought underneath. The latter is compared to water moving about under a frozen river.
The sixth antidote, introspection, is a counteragent to nonrecognition of laxity and excitement. The actual antidote to these two is the application of techniques to rid the mind of whichever of these faults is present; thus, the seventh antidote is called “application” of the antidotes, which serves to counteract the fourth fault, nonapplication.
The techniques for removing laxity and excitement are presented in series beginning with the least intrusive. (As will be seen, in Action Tantra the meditative stabilizations of exalted body and speech contain important factors enhancing these techniques.) For
laxity, there are five levels of counteragents to apply. Since laxity is a looseness in the mind’s mode of holding the object, the first and least intrusive method is merely to tighten the mode of apprehension of the mind a little. The process is compared to tightening the strings on a musical instrument; how much to tighten can be known only through experience. If this
does not work, the next level is to increase the object’s brightness or to notice the details of the object, or to move it higher. (In the Action Tantra system of meditation that we have been considering, the technique of blessing parts of the body into a state of magnificence, this being during the “seal deity,” helps in this regard as does the very process of the style of meditation called “concentration” in which
the practitioner reviews the appearance of the various parts of the deity’s body, adjusting for color, brightness, and so forth—the act of attention to detail itself being a way of making the mode of apprehension of the mind more taut. Also, the spreading out of light rays removes laxity.)
Then, if that does not work, since laxity must nevertheless be removed, one leaves the main object of observation—here, one’s own divine body—and invigorates the mind by reflecting on something joyous, such as the marvelous fortune of having attained a [[Wikipedia:Human
life|human life]], the wonderful qualities of the Three Jewels, the benefits of altruism, or the benefits of meditative stabilization. This level of technique requires that the meditator has previously engaged in analysis of these topics so that, as soon as they are considered, their respective impact manifests, thereby invigorating the mind. Otherwise, a neophyte at these
contemplations would have to engage in multifaceted analytical meditation in order to generate the requisite feelings, in which case the attempt at creating one-pointedness of mind would become diverted. The Dalai Lama, speaking about applying this level of antidote to laxity and excitement, says:
A person who is cultivating calm abiding needs to be in a state where such reflections will move the mind immediately. Therefore, prior to working at achieving calm abiding, it is necessary to have become convinced about many topics—such as those involved in the four establishments in mindfulness—through a
considerable amount of analysis. In an actual session of cultivating calm abiding, one is performing stabilizing meditation, not analytical meditation, but if one has engaged in considerable analysis of these topics previously, the force of the previous reflection remains with the
mind and can be recalled. Thus, when you switch to such topics in order either to elevate or to lower the mind, the mind will be immediately affected. In this way, if ascertainment has been generated previously, then reflecting on the value of meditative stabilization or the value of a human lifetime will immediately heighten the mind, and
reflection on sobering topics such as the nature of the body or the ugliness of objects of desire will immediately lower its mode of apprehension.
Considerable prior reflection is needed is order to make use of the force of such attitudes when they are needed. Then, as soon as the mind heightens, one returns to the original object, so as not to become distracted.
Similarly, one could take to mind a particularly luminous object or imagine great acts of charity (one could imagine putting groceries on every table, for instance). However, if even these do not work, there is what is called a “forceful method,” which is to imagine one’s mind as a drop of white light at the heart and, with the sound phaṭ, imagine that it exits from the crown of the head high into the sky and mixes with the sky. (It is said that the technique is
not dangerous, but I nevertheless wonder whether it is suited for all.) If laxity is still not overcome, then the only recourse is to leave the meditative session, since to remain in the session would mean that one is cultivating laxity, and this would have the counterproductive effect of promoting general dullness of mind. It is recommended that one walk about, throw cold water on the face, look far off into the distance, and so forth.
With respect to corresponding techniques to counteract excitement, the first level is to loosen the mode of apprehension of the mind. Then, if that does not work, the object can be lowered and imagined as being heavy (dense) and oily in nature. If that does not work, then since one has not been able to remove excitement within staying on the object, one temporarily switches objects, reflecting on a topic that sobers the mind, such as impermanence, death, the
sufferings of the various levels of cyclic existence, and so forth. As before, it is said that unless the meditator has previous acquaintance with these topics, it is hard for them to be effective, although with acquaintance they are very effective. Still, if this does not remove excitement, the forceful method is to observe the breath, thinking, “Inhaling, exhaling,” or counting to ten and back to one. If this does not work, the only choice is to leave the session.
If, in applying these antidotes, they are successful, then to keep applying them when they are no longer needed is counterproductive, and thus the fifth and last fault is overapplication of the antidotes, which is countered by the eighth antidote, desisting from application of them.
When meditators successfully work at removing these five faults through the eight antidotes, they gradually pass through nine states, culminating in a tenth, which is calm abiding itself. The states are called the “nine mental abidings.” (See the chart on the next page.)
Chart 2: States and Factors in Achieving Calm Abiding
(Read from bottom to top.)
Six Powers Nine Mental Abidings Four Mental Engagements
familiarity 9. setting in equipoise spontaneous engagement
8. making one-pointed uninterrupted engagement
effort 7. thorough pacifying interrupted engagement
6. pacifying
4. close setting
mindfulness 3. resetting
thinking 2. continuous setting forcible engagement
hearing 1. setting the mind
At the first level, called “setting the mind,”a through the power of having heard about the value of meditative stabilization, one tries to set the mind on the object of observation. During this state, distraction far exceeds periods of remaining on the object, and, due to the fact that one is trying to keep the mind on the object and thus is noticing that the mind wanders from topic to topic, there is the sense that thought is increasing. Then, the second level,
“continuous setting”b is achieved when, through the power of thinking about the object over and over, one can extend the continuum of attention a little, even though distraction still exceeds being able to stay on the object. With the third state, called “resetting,”c mindfulness is able to re-tie the mind to the object, like putting a patch on clothing, through recognizing distraction. At this level, the ability to remain on the object exceeds the periods of
distraction, and thus one has risen to the level of “meditating” from among the triad of hearing, thinking, and meditating. This level of mind is required for actual analytical meditation, although that is not its usage here.
The description of these stages may make it seem as if progress is gradual and also sure of success if one only keeps at it, but this is not the case, as is made clear by Geshe Gedün Lodrö when he points to the need for employing analytical techniques to counteract afflictive emotions. The problem is that, with the channeling of
sems ’jog pa, cittasthāpana. b rgyun du ’jog pa, saṃsthāpana.
c slan te ’jog pa, avasthāpana.
mental energies thereby strengthening the mind, one’s problems become more manifest. He says:
During the first three mental abidings, or placings of the mind on the object of observation, the greatest faults are laziness and forgetfulness. Thus, as we have said, it is very important to rely on the antidotes to these during this time. If, during these three mental abidings, you are so beset by laziness or forgetfulness that even though you rely on the antidotes—faith, aspiration, exertion, and mindfulness—you do not succeed in overcoming the faults, you must
analyze the situation. There are many such cases in which meditators cannot conquer the difficulties and cannot go on. A very sharp person can do her or his own analysis at this time. Otherwise, as in the Ka-gyu-pa tradition, you offer your realizationb to your teacher—that is, you tell her or him
about your meditation. Your teacher will then tell you what to do. The practice of offering one’s realization to a spiritual guide comes at this point in the nine mental abidings. Thus, if you arrive at the third mental abiding and, because of a predominant afflictive emotion such as hatred, are unable to progress to the fourth mental abiding, you ask for advice.
In cultivating meditative stabilization, one must draw the mind inside. At that time, whatever is strongest in the mind will become manifest. For example, a person much accustomed to hatred is unable to advance because hatred becomes manifest when she or he cultivates calm abiding. When this person is not cultivating meditative stabilization, however, hatred does not become manifest because the mind is distracted.
Most people have a particular afflictive emotion, and some also have unusual diseases which impede progress at this time; thus, it is necessary to reduce these. To do so, it is necessary to set aside the previous cultivation of calm abiding and engage in the cultivation of
love, for instance, by way of analytical imputed special insight. There is no stabilizing meditation here, just analytical meditationb to reduce the force or vibrancy of the hatred. One must rely on the antidotes to hatred from the viewpoint of many reasonings. No stabilizing meditation is permitted at this juncture because it would only cause the afflictive emotion to return. Thus, the meditator must analyze.
The great danger I see is that because the mind has become much more powerful than usual, one could mistake this for profound spiritual realization such that when, within this state, afflictive emotions manifest strongly, one could mistake them for expressions of spirituality. This may be one avenue leading to systems of corrupt ethics in which “gurus” have unlimited sex, greed, and even rage. Rather than
agreeing with the manifestations of one’s afflictive emotions, one needs the full force of the tradition, either in the presence of a competent guide or in knowledge of techniques transmitted in the tradition, to counteract the situation. The process is clearly fraught with dangers, such as in Jung’s calling for confronting contents but not identifying with them.
Many of the preliminary practices in Action Tantra yoga that place the practice within an ethical tradition make one accountable to that tradition and thus provide a context in which peer-pressure can operate to prevent aberrations. Also, the intense altruism cultivated in the presence of the deity imagined in front of oneself frames relationships with others, thereby creating an effective counterforce when previously unmanifest afflictive emotions come to the
surface. In addition, it may be that the techniques of expelling and binding obstructors provide a more forceful method of controlling these impulses, given that the prime technique is to melt them into the clear light. However, as mentioned earlier, the dangers of suppression and distorted manifestation that could attend such techniques should not be belittled. Over and over again, the tradition in general praises compassion and realization of emptiness as powerful
techniques for restoring balance to the mind; thus, it makes a great deal of sense to attempt the practice of calm abiding after gaining some progress in developing compassion and rough knowledge of the emptiness of inherent existence. This may be the astuteness behind the frequent call for a practitioner to have developed recognition of suffering, realization of the imminence of death, experience of
compassion, and some understanding of emptiness before being considered a suitable receptacle for tantric initiation. Tsong-kha-pa’s student Gyel-tsapa speaks eloquently about the need for such practices prior to receiving initiation:
It is necessary to practice the common path, ranging from contemplating the difficulty of gaining the leisure and fortune [that in a human lifetime provide conditions for practicing the doctrine] and their meaningfulness through to generating your mind altruistically toward the supreme of enlightenments as well as
the deeds of the six perfections— giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom. If your [[[mental]]] continuum has not been well trained by means of those paths, you will not have eliminated attached involvement in this lifetime, whereby your wish to practice the doctrine will not be firm. Since nothing more than verbal faith will have been generated, a full entrusting of your mind to the sources of refuge will not come.
Since firm ascertainment with respect to actions and their effects will not have been gained, you will become a coarse practitioner, without the refinement of keeping even any vow. Since an actual sense of reversal of attitude away from cyclic existence will not have been generated, your seeking liberation will be merely intellectual. Since you will not have generated a nonartificial aspirational intention to become enlightened, which has love and compassion as its roots, your being a person of the Great Vehicle will be merely in name.
Since a strong wish to train in the general deeds of Bodhisattvas will not have arisen, the actual form of the vow of the practical intention to become enlightened will not be generated. Since pure understanding of general calm abiding and special insight will not have formed, you will err with respect to subtle meditative stabilization and will
a rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432. b How to Practice the Two Stages of the Path of the Glorious Kālachakra: Quick Entry to the Path of Great Bliss (dpal dus kyi ’khor lo’i lam rim pa gnyis ji ltar nyams su len pa’i tshul bde ba chen po’i lam du myur du ’jug pa), Collected Works of Rgyal-tshab Dar-ma-rinchen, vol. 1 (Delhi: Guru Deva, 1982), 2a.2/91.2.
not generate ascertainment of the view of selflessness. In particular, your assumption of the general and specific vows of the five lineages will also have become a mere verbal repetition of [what] the master [said when giving the vows], and thus a strong wish to keep the pledges without deterioration and a strong wish to attain the state of Vajradhara will not have arisen. Therefore, purification of the mental continuum through the paths common to Mantra and the Perfection Vehicle is a necessary prerequisite.…Understanding this, [a master] should not in any form bestow the profound initiations on a beginner whose mind has not been purified in the least.
Gyel-tsap’s admonitions make clear that this form of “Eastern yoga” at least is not amoral, as Jung thought (above, p. 67).
It seems to me that a similar admonition to cultivate the basic paths would be appropriate before attempting to achieve calm abiding, whether in the Sūtra or the Mantra systems. Such paths provide a foundational framework of techniques for avoiding problems. They bring with them a greater possibility of success when faced with manifestations of inner turmoil brought out by the practice of meditation itself, since greater concentration strengthens a mind embedded in distortion.
Through drawing on the resources of the tradition and of personal knowledge, one’s uncommon afflictive emotion is sufficiently conquered so that progress can again be made, at which point one returns to the original meditation. Now, mindfulness can reach maturity, due to which the object is
no longer lost, and the fourth level, called “close setting,” is achieved. At this point, coarse laxity and excitement do not occur, but subtle versions persist. Since the factor of stability has greatly increased, this is likely the point at which a person cultivating the meditative stabilization of exalted body switches to cultivating
the meditative stabilization of exalted speech, since Tsong-kha-pa says,b “Prior to repetition it is very important to achieve a firm meditative stabilization observing a deity.” He is not indicating that one switches to mantra repetition after achieving actual calm abiding, since calm abiding is gained during the meditative stabilization of exalted speech in the phase called “concentration of abiding in sound.” The inception of mantra repetition must be at a time of considerable but not complete stability, this likely being the fourth mental abiding.
Since, to achieve such stability, the mind has been strongly withdrawn from scattering to outside objects, the mind tends to become overly withdrawn, at which point powerful introspection is required to recognize subtle laxity. Thus, the fifth mental abiding, called “disciplining,”a is achieved when introspection and application of the antidotes to laxity are able to relieve the mind of this fault.
Then, since the mind was revivified through tightening its mode of apprehension, the danger on the fifth mental abiding comes from subtle excitement; through introspection that has matured to full force, one recognizes subtle excitement and applies the antidotes, thereby achieving the sixth level, called “pacifying.”b Through this process, one eventually arrives at a point when even subtle laxity and excitement cannot interrupt meditative stabilization to any
significant degree; this seventh level, therefore, is called “thorough pacifying.”c At this time it is difficult for any sort of laxity or excitement to create problems, but because strong effort is needed, it is said that this level is achieved through the power of effort, though indeed effort has been required all along.
When a meditator is able to remain on the object for an entire session without interference by laxity and excitement, either coarse or subtle, this is the mark of having achieved the eighth mental abiding called “making one-pointed.”d At the beginning of the session, the practitioner initiates a little effort directed at maintaining mindfulness of the antidotes to laxity and excitement, and this alone is sufficient to keep these faults away. Then, through having become
accustomed to this state, meditative stabilization dawns of its own accord, without requiring effort, this being the ninth level, called “setting in meditative equipoise.”e Now, the object is engaged spontaneously, whereas on the eighth level, though uninterrupted, it was not spontaneous.
Still, one has not yet achieved calm abiding which requires—in
a dul bar byed pa, damana. b zhi bar byed pa, śamana.
c nye bar zhi bar byed pa, vyupaśamana. d rtse gcig tu byed pa, ekotīkaraṇa. e mnyam par ’jog pa, samādhāna.
addition to being able spontaneously to remain on the chosen object free from laxity and excitement and endowed with both clear appearance of the object and intense clarity of the subject—a full complement of mental and physical serviceability called “pliancy.” Pliancy is attained by becoming used to the state of spontaneous placement on the object, whereby a series of experiences occurs:
• Gradually the “winds” (currents of energy) that are involved in unhealthy physical states are calmed and leave the body through the top of the head, where a tingly sensation is created.
• Thereupon, a mental pliancy, which is a pacification of unhealthy states making the mind heavy and preventing its usage in virtue according to one’s will, is generated; this makes the mind serviceable. • Through its force, a “wind” of serviceability move
s throughout the body, inducing a physical pliancy that causes separation from physical states of roughness and heaviness, whereupon one is able to use the body at will in virtuous actions (including meditation) without any sense of hardship. This physical pliancy itself is an internal object of touch, an internal smoothness and lightness; the body is light like cotton and as if filled with this serviceable wind.
• Experiencing this special internal object of touch, one has a bliss of physical pliancy, and due to the mental consciousness paying attention to this bliss accompanying the body consciousness, a bliss of mental pliancy is generated. At this point, one’s body seems to have dissolved, and nothing but the object of observation appears—in this case, one’s divine body. The mind is so buoyantly joyous that it is as if it is now almost unable to remain on its object.
• The excessive buoyancy is gradually removed, at which point one attains an immovable pliancy, in which the mind remains stably and joyously on the object of observation. This is calm abiding.
The Questions of Subāhu, one of the four general Action Tantras, speaks of the immovable, serviceable, and clear nature of this state:
Look at the tip of the nose and abandon thought. When, though moving about, one is immovable, And a purity from states of unclarity is attained, The mind is certain to become serviceable.
It also speaks of pliancy and bliss:
In a person having a one-pointed mind Mentally arisen joy is strongly produced.
Through joy, physical pliancy is attained.
Through suppleness of body, one has the fortune of bliss.
Through physical bliss, one-pointed mind, and meditative stabilization,
Repetition is then unobstructed.
Putting this passage together with the process outlined above, we could say that the “one-pointed mind” refers to the eighth and ninth mental abidings; “mentally arisen joy is strongly produced” refers to excessively buoyant joy; “through joy physical pliancy is attained” refers to the generation of physical pliancy; and “through suppleness of body one has the fortune of bliss” refers to the generation of the blisses of physical and mental pliancy. As with
Tsongkha-pa’s statement cited above, the last lines misleadingly seem to indicate that repetition is begun after the attainment of calm abiding, since “meditative stabilization” most likely refers to calm abiding. However, it is clear that actual calm abiding is achieved during the meditative stabilization of exalted speech since the new objects of observation of that phase are especially geared to removing laxity and excitement, as will be detailed below.
A mind of calm abiding has many advantages; the Dalai Lama describes them vividly:
When such mental meditative stabilization has been achieved, external good and bad objects, such as visible forms and so forth, that generate desire, hatred, and obscuration do not appear to be as solid as they usually do; through the force of having familiarized with meditative stabilization, they appear to be less concrete. When, from the perspective of experiencing meditative stabilization, one views such objects, they seem to dissolve of their own accord, and the mind
immediately withdraws inside. Consequently, at this time there is no danger at all from the usual scattering of the mind outside. Again, as external distractions lessen, one’s mind remains experiencing its natural entity of mere luminosity and knowing; due to this, the internal generation of good and bad conceptions lessens. Even when conceptions are generated, they are like bubbles produced from water—they are not able to keep their own continuums going, they disappear immediately.
Actual calm abiding has such qualities, and Tsong-kha-pa is concerned that it be properly identified, lest it be confused with lower levels of mental stability:
In all four tantra sets the time of initially achieving a fully qualified calm abiding is chiefly when being instructed in deity yoga. Therefore, if you do not distinguish between fully qualified calm abiding and a similitude of it and do not finely differentiate the time of achieving calm abiding in accordance with how it appears in the great texts, you will not know the extent to which you must be led when initially being instructed in deity yoga.
(“Deity yoga” at the end of the passage refers not just to the meditative stabilization of exalted body but includes the meditative stabilization of exalted speech.) Tsong-kha-pa is concerned with the proper identification of calm abiding not only so that a lower state is not mis-identified as calm abiding but also so that it is not confused with the greater bliss of Highest Yoga Mantra. As the Dalai Lama says about the bliss of calm abiding:b
Though it is indeed blissful, it has no connection with the bliss described in [[[Highest Yoga]]] Mantra; it does not involve concentrated emphasis on important points in the body but is merely due to withdrawing the mind onto an object of observation—it is due to the power of just such meditative stabilization.
Calm abiding is a powerful tool to be used in the service of enhancing the force of the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence so that it can
overcome intellectually acquired and innate conceptions of inherent existence. The aim is to undo the ideational process behind afflictive emotions and then to remove even the appearance of inherent existence that prevents Buddhahood. The details of the process of achieving calm abiding yield a picture of how the human condition is viewed in these traditions. Humans are trapped in a situation of repeated suffering not just by false assent to the seeming solidity of
objects but also by a mind that is so mired in the extremes of either being too loose or too tight that attempts at correction push the mind between these two extremes. Also, the very structure of the ordinary mind prevents manifestation of certain chronic psychic problems, such that when this structure is disturbed by attempting to focus it and develop powers of concentration, deeply seated problems appear with greater force and others newly manifest.
Also, the mere fact that mindfulness and introspection need to be developed means that even though at present we have small versions of these, we have little idea of their potential—we are in a state of deprivation, sometimes arrogantly convinced of our wholeness and sometimes disparagingly reluctant to take cognizance of our potential. The system points to attainable states of mind that dramatically enhance the quality of life and that, of themselves, eliminate a
host of problems, but whose attainment requires exposure to psychological pressures fraught with danger. In one way, the systematic layout of stages gives the impression that mere application of the prescribed techniques would yield definite incremental results, but, in another way, examination of the complex techniques prescribed in the process of training yields a far different view of a mind that balks at improvement and enhancement, erects barriers, and places
pitfalls in one’s path. In such a context, we can appreciate the plethora of techniques employed in the tantric systems to attempt to counteract and undermine these forces. Whether they could be successful is no easy matter to determine; a claim that they definitely are would be superficial and do disservice to the complex vision of the human situation that a system such as that found in Action Tantra evinces.
Meditative stabilization of exalted speech
We have been discussing the meditative stabilization of exalted body from within the concentration with repetition. (It is important to remember that “repetition” means repetition of mantra but there has been no repetition of mantra until this point except as a technique for resting.) Now meditators pass from the meditative stabilization of exalted body to the meditative stabilization of exalted speech, which
itself has many phases that span not only the remaining half of the concentration with repetition but also the first two of the three phases of the concentration without repetition. This means that the meditative stabilization of exalted speech does not necessarily involve repetition of mantra, as will be explained below.
Having achieved stable appearance of their own bodies as divine and having established a stable sense of themselves as deities designated in dependence upon pure mind and body, practitioners move to a more subtle level—the three meditative stabilizations of exalted body, speech, and mind being a series of increasingly more subtle levels of meditation. As Tsong-kha-pa says:
Here [with respect to the concentrations of Action Tantra] three meditative stabilizations are to be generated: observing divine body, observing divine speech mantra, and observing suchness—the divine mind. The first is a “very gross” or very coarse meditative stabilization. The second is subtler than that, and the third is very subtle. Hence, the order is definite, since they must be generated in the mental continuum in stages, beginning with the coarse.
Within the meditative stabilization of exalted speech itself, there are levels of coarseness and subtlety structured around the objects being observed, meditators always beginning with the more coarse. Also, mantra repetition is done first in whispered form, which is coarser, and then mentally, which is subtler.b Success with the former undoubtedly opens possibilities for greater success with the latter, even if it appears that one could perform the latter right away.
The part of the meditative stabilization of exalted speech that is included within the concentration with repetition is basically in two sections—repetition of mantra within observing the form of the letters and repetition of mantra within observing the sound of the letters. In the first, the practitioner observes the form of the letters (or syllables) of the mantra initially in the heart of the deity in front and then the letters are moved to the practitioner’s own heart where the meditation continues. Let us consider these stages.
Repetition of mantra within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front
In the first stage, the mantra letters are set on a flat brilliantly white moon disc at the heart of the deity in front, the moon and the letters being the remaining two branches of the four-branched repetition. “Branch” (yan lag, aṅga) sometimes has the sense of prerequisite, and perhaps here also it suggests four factors that must be brought together prior to repetition of mantra. The first branch, it will be remembered, is the deity in front which is “not too
distant and a little higher than yourself”; the second branch is oneself imagined as a deity; the third branch is the moon disc imagined at the heart of the deity in front; and the fourth is the form of the mantra letters set around the edge of the moon standing upright and facing inward.
About this phase of the meditative stabilization of exalted speech, the Concentration Continuation Tantra says:
Flow to sound, mind, and bases.
Dwell on the immutable secret mantra base [the deity].
Repeat secret mantra without losing the branches. If becoming tired, rest yourself.
One “base” is the deity in front; the second “base” is oneself imagined as a deity.c “Mind” is a moon disc at the heart of the deity in front. “Sound” is the forms of the letters of the mantra set on the moon disc. “Flow” means to adhere to these (especially the deity in front with moon and mantra letters) with uninterrupted observation. Because a meditator continuously and without deviation imagines the deity in front, which is the base where the moon and letters
are placed, the text says, “Dwell on the immutable secret mantra base.” “Immutable” here has the sense that the base—in observation of which repetition is performed—should not deviate from appearance as a deity. Since repetition is to be done within constant imagination of the four branches (three in front: the
letters on the moon at the heart of the deity in front which are the focus; and oneself as a deity but not as a central part of the meditation), the tantra says, “Repeat secret mantra without losing the branches.”
Tsong-kha-pa reports that although neither the Concentration Continuation Tantra nor Buddhaguhya mentions it, other Indian masters advise that one imagine beams of light streaming from the mantra letters, making offerings to Buddhas and bringing about the welfare of sentient beings. According to the process described earlier during the “form deity” in self-generation, from the light rays innumerable forms of the deity emerge, pervading all of space, and the
deities, in turn, emanate great clouds of offerings through which they make splendid offerings to all the Conquerors. Also, they emanate great clouds from which a rain-stream of ambrosia descends, extinguishing the fires of the sufferings of all beings— hell-beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demigods, and gods— satisfying those beings with whatever they want. This technique enhances considerably the therapeutic power of the meditation, although it would have to
be done in a secondary way so that it did not interfere with the central concentration on the forms of the letters at the heart of the deity in front. It seems likely that the curative influence of this additional highly moral visualization (quite contrary to Jung’s depiction of amoral yoga) would indeed help to remove some of the emotional obstacles to developing a strongly focused mind and would dispel laxity.
About repetition of mantra, the Questions of Subāhu Tantra says:
Reversing quickly from the objects to which
A lazy, desirous, and nonvirtuous mind
Is distracted and runs, apply the mind well To the supreme letters of secret mantra.
The Susiddhi Tantra warns against being distracted even to virtuous objects:
When reciting with repetition,
Except for knowledge-mantra and deity
Do not apprehend in thought at all
[Other] meditations though cherished as supreme.
The process begins with whispered repetition of the mantra, about which the Questions of Subāhu Tantra says:
When performing repetition be not fast nor slow, Be not loud nor very soft.
Do it not while speaking nor while distracted.
Lose not the vowels, anusvāra, or visarga.
When, through becoming familiar with whispered repetition, one becomes able to remain single pointedly on mainly the form of the mantra letters, one switches to more subtle, mental repetition within still mainly focusing on the form of the mantra letters on the moon disc at the heart of the deity in front. Throughout the many phases of the concentration with repetition, when mental repetition of mantra is done, one is as if listening to one’s own recitation,
whereas later during the first two phases of the concentrations without repetition called the concentrations of abiding in fire and in sound, the meditator is as if listening to mantra recited by someone elseb—this being why, even if mantra is still present, the concentrations of abiding in fire and in sound are classed as concentrations without repetition.
With mental repetition, it is possible to engage in the practice of holding the breath, prāṇāyāma—the restraining of vitality (breath or wind) and exertion (distraction). Therefore, after inhaling, one holds the breath, mentally repeating the mantra while focusing on the letters standing upright around the edge of the moon at the heart of the deity in front, while also maintaining the sense of oneself as a deity but not focusing on that. With exhalation, one views one’s own divine body without repeating the mantra. Then, with inhalation, the same procedure is reenacted.
When whispered repetition is performed within observing the form of the letters of the mantra standing on a moon at the heart of the deity in front, one is as if reading the lettersc—neither swiftly nor slowly and such that only oneself can hear it. Buddhaguhya describes the meditation as having three objects of observation—(1) the deity in front, (2) the moon at the deity’s heart, and (3) the letters of the mantra that stand along the rim of the moon disc. Still,
during this period one does not lose the appearance of one’s own body as a divine body, since a capacity for continual imagination of oneself as a deity has been gained through previous cultivation of the meditative stabilization of exalted body. Also, during exhalation one switches from observing the letters at the heart of the deity in front to viewing one’s own divine body without reciting the mantra.
Gradually, as the mind stays more and more on its object, one desists from whispered repetition and, holding the breath, repeats the mantra mentally. This is the only change in procedure between whispered and mental repetition of mantra, the objects of observation being the same, and when exhaling, one views one’s own divine body without repeating the mantra.
Resting
As the Concentration Continuation Tantra, cited above, says, “If becoming tired, rest yourself.” Buddhaguhyab explains how, at the end of the session, meditators should rest so as to avoid becoming excessively distracted by discursiveness. The process reenacts the steps of all the meditations so far but in reverse order:
• First, one ceases repeating the mantra.
• Then, one ceases visualizing the forms of the mantra letters and observes the moon on which they stood at the heart of the deity in front of oneself; one thereby has moved backwards from the sound branch to the moon branch.
• Then, one ceases visualizing the moon and observes the deity in front—the branch called “other-base.”
• Next, one ceases visualizing the deity in front and observes one’s own divine body—the branch called “self-base” which is the sixth deity, called the “sign deity,” as well as the fourth deity, called the “form deity.”
• Next, one ceases visualizing one’s divine body and observes the letters on the moon disc in space—the second part of the third deity, the “letter deity.”
• Then one ceases visualizing the letters on the moon and observes the moon disc in space—the first part of the letter deity.
• Then one ceases visualizing the moon disc and observes the sounds of the mantra reverberating in space—the second deity, called the “sound deity.”
• Then one ceases observing the sounds of the mantra and observes the pride of the sameness of the nature of oneself and the deity—the last part of the first deity, called the “ultimate deity.”
• Then one ceases observing the pride of the sameness of the nature of oneself and the deity and observes the suchness of self, one’s own emptiness of inherent existence, this being the first part of the ultimate deity.
• The meditator remains in meditative equipoise on his/her own emptiness and then all at once rises in a divine body, which is the same as that visualized earlier though in simpler form.
Even between sessions practitioners remain within deity yoga, albeit not as complete as before, going about daily activities. In this way, the periods between sessions and actual meditative sessions are mutually supportive.
Repetition of mantra within observing the form of the letters at one’s own heart
In the next phase of concentration with repetition, the meditator inhales the moon disc, together with the mantra letters standing at its edge into his/her own heart from the heart of the deity in front. Again, whispered repetition is performed first, but when the mind becomes
steady, one holds the breath and recites the mantra mentally, as if one’s mind is in the center of the moon disc and is reading the letters of the mantra on it facing inward. When exhaling, repetition of mantra is stopped, and the moon and letters move with the breath back to the deity’s heart, and then with inhalation the moon and mantra letters again move to one’s own heart, and repetition is resumed.
The Concentration Continuation Tantra indicates this phase with:
Likewise contemplate a mental purity [that is, a moon disc],
Possessing immutability and letters, Which is imagined for your mantra.
It moves from the base [in front] to the base [yourself ].
“Likewise” indicates that this is another mode of observation in which a “mental purity,” a moon disc, is contemplated. The moon disc is called “mental” because it is a manifestation of the mind realizing the emptiness of inherent existence; it is a “purity” in the sense that it is unpolluted by the stains of
desire and so forth, is complete in all respects, and appears without any taint. The moon “possesses” (in the sense of having on it) the mantra “letters,” which are endowed with “immutability” since they do not deviate from vivid appearance because of the thoroughness of the yogi’s meditation. In another way, the mind realizing emptiness that appears as a moon disc has “immutability” in the sense that it does not become separated from the mantra letters.
Since, as before, the moon disc is the base on which the mantra is set, it “is imagined for your mantra.” With the inhalation of breath, the moon “moves from the base to the base,” that is to say, it moves from one of its bases, the deity in front who is a little higher and
not far from oneself, to its other base, which is the meditator. With exhalation, it moves from oneself back to the deity in front. Repetition is performed when the moon disc and letters are at one’s own heart, but then during exhalation repetition of mantra is stopped. With inhalation, the process begins again. As before, whispered repetition is performed first, and then mental repetition.
Repetition of mantra within observing the sound of the letters
In the next phase, the sounds of the mantra become the principal object of observation. This does not mean that the four branches of repetition—the deity in front, oneself as a deity, the moon, and form of the letters—disappear; rather, the meditator focuses on the sounds of the letters. Initially whispered and then mental repetition is performed; with the latter, the breath is held, as before. Neither the Tantra, nor Buddhaguhya, nor Tsong-kha-pa mentions what to do when exhaling; perhaps one observes the forms of the mantra letters.
About this phase, the Concentration Continuation Tantra says:
Having again retracted the mind through withdrawal
And restrained vitality and exertion, Join the mind of secret mantra to the mantra And begin mental repetition.
Otherwise, by means of just this rite Whispering is also suitable.
One wishing feats of mantra knowledge Should not perform other repetition.
“Having again retracted the mind through withdrawal” refers to the process, described in the previous chapter, of withdrawing inside the movements of the breath throughout the body, like a turtle’s retracting its limbs and like drinking water with the tongue. Also, the usual intense movement of the nonequipoised mind out through the senses is withdrawn inside. The four branches of repetition are to be visualized, and then the meditator’s mind is to concentrate principally on the sounds of the mantra as is indicated by “Join the mind of secret mantra to the mantra.”
Although the Concentration Continuation Tantra mentions breath control and mental repetition first and then speaks of whispered repetition as also suitable to be done through “just this rite” of observing the sounds of the mantra, Buddhaguhya’s commentaryb makes it clear that whispered repetition is coarser and to be done first, after which mental repetition induces a subtler meditative stabilization. He also makes the point
that indeed it is impossible to practice breath control when whispering mantra. Moreover, although whispered and mental repetition as well as the restraining of breath and distraction are explicitly prescribed for this phase, Buddhaguhya emphasizes that they are also to be performed during the earlier phases of observing the form of the mantra letters at the heart of the deity in front and in one’s own heart.
When this meditative stabilization becomes firm, the concentration of the four-branched repetition is complete, as is the first part of the meditative stabilization of exalted speech. The meditation has proceeded in three phases from coarser to subtler objects of observation. Even though the four branches of repetition—deity in front, oneself as a deity, moon, and the form of the letters— always provide the context of the meditation and thus never entirely
disappear, Buddhaguhya describes the first phase— repetition of mantra within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front—as having three objects of observation, these being the deity in front, the moon, and the forms of the mantra. Similarly, the
second phase—repetition of mantra within observing the form of the letters at one’s own heart—is said to have two objects of observation, just the moon and the forms of the letters at one’s own heart. The last is said to have only one object of observation, the sounds of the mantra. However, these counts refer only to the main objects of meditation, for as the Dalai Lama says in commentary:
These refer to the main objects of observation on which the mind focuses and should not be taken as meaning that the other factors do not remain vividly appearing to the mind. One must remain undistractedly on whatever the object is at that point. Similarly, Tsong-kha-pa says:
When meditative stabilization observing a [[[divine]]] body becomes firm, you leave that and train in meditative stabilization observing a speech mantra. “Leaving” should be understood as setting aside the training of continuously holding the mind on the [[[divine]]] body and mentally apprehending another object of observation. It does not preclude the later [continued] clear appearance of the deity because there are many descriptions of observing a deity during the three
repetitions [observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front and at one’s own heart and observing the sounds of the letters] as well as during [the concentrations of ] abiding in fire and in sound.
It might seem to be extremely difficult to simultaneously keep so much in mind, but for someone who has become thoroughly accustomed to the clear appearance of, for instance, one’s own body as a deity’s, it must be easy to shift the focus to something else and yet not lose the earlier appearance, much as we can think of a street that we know well and focus on a particular building on that street without losing the appearance of the general locale.
