Some Aspects of Tantric Ritual Practice in Tibet
Some Aspects of Tantric Ritual Practice in Tibet
In this article I am using the term ritual in the broad sense of an activity that is carried out according to fixed rules, where each element of the order of events, each formula uttered, and each gesture and so forth contains symbolic value. I cannot claim to have studied Buddhist tantric rituals in great depth or in a very systematic manner. The remarks I have to make here are rather derived from my reading of Tibetan Buddhist manuals of tantric practice together with their instructions and commentaries over several years and they pertain to two perspectives of my investigations, namely (1) the attempts of some Tibetans to include the complete gradual path (Tib. lam rim) within a single ritual session of practice and (2) the complex systems of correlations in tantric theory and practice.
My interest in tantric ritual in Tibet lies—if I may use this nebulous expression—in its spiritual dimension. I am starting out from the assumption that the ritual in the world of tantrism is the answer to the dilemma that began with the inexpressibility of the spiritual experience of the master. This dilemma exists in both directions, namely on the one hand for the master, who has to make his path to experience traceable (in the true sense of the word), and on the other hand for the disciple, who is trying to follow the master’s path. In this sense the Buddhist tantric ritual appears to be like a formula through which the reality of the spiritual experience can be described and made traceable.
In principle, all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism have accepted a particular role for the ritual as a vehicle of the path, even though this does not seem to have been the case at all times. And moreover, I would even argue that all Buddhist scholars of Tibet would agree that the ritual can only be a temporary means, as it is well known that the Buddha taught that the boat is eventually to be abandoned,2 that the prājñāpāramitā literature speaks of the last of the five paths as of the “path of no more training” (aśaikṣa mārga),3 and that for example the final one of the four yogas (rnal ‘byor bzhi) as taught by the Tibetan master sGam-po-pa in the eleventh century is the “yoga of no more practice” (bsgom du med pa’i rnal ‘byor).4 In other words, Tibetan Buddhism is an interesting case to study in this context, since here we have a highly ritualized form of Buddhism with an overall agreement that rituals are both an indispensable means and, in the final analysis, a thing to be abandoned.
1. Including the complete gradual path within a single ritual
In this first part I would like to dwell on a doctrinal position in Tibet, according to which a ritual tantric practice session can, and in fact should include the complete stages of the path (lam rim). This position was maintained by one of the early prominent followers of the Great Seal (phyag rgya chen po) teachings of the bKa’-brgyud-pas, namely ‘Jig-rten-mgon-po (1143-1217), the founder of the ‘Bri-gung bKa’-brgyud–pa tradition and chief disciple of Phag-mo-gru-pa rDorje-rgyal-po (1110-1170), one of the four principle disciples of sGam-po-pa bSodnams-rin-chen (1079-1153). It was clearly formulated in his most prominent
K. Sørensen, 121 pp., 34 pages of faksimile Tibetan text. 2 The theme of the Dharma being a boat to be finally abandoned goes back to the simile of the raft in the Alagaddupama Sutta (Sutta 22, The Simile of the Snake) of the Majjhima Nikaya. See Bhikku Nanamoli, tr. and ed., The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995), pp. 228-29. 3 The path of no more training (aśaikṣa mārga) is the final one of five paths for the bodhisattva as explained for instance in the Abhisamayālaṅkāra, a commentary by Maitreya/Asaṅga on the Prajñānapāramitā Sūtras. 4
On the yoga of no more practice, see sGam-po-pa’s replies to Phag-mo-gru-pa’s questions, the Phag gru zhus lan 34,5 f. (rTsib ri par ma, Darjeeling: Kargyu Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 1978–85, vol. 5): “When awareness and empti[ness] are established together with the mind in the nature through the vital points of the introduction [to the nature of mind], all mental constructions vanish and disintegrate (cha med la 'gro). Because one remains in that for a long time joyfully (sing nge), the ‘yoga that is not practiced’ arises and all appearances arise as the clear light [of] dharmatā” (rig pa dang stong pa ngo sprad pa'i gnad kas ngo bo la blo lhan gyis bzhag tsa na/ rtog pa thams cad gar song cha med la 'gro ba yin/ de la yun ring du sing nge gnas pas bsgom du med pa'i rnal 'byor zhes bya ba skyes ste/ snang ba thams cad chos nyid 'od gsal du 'char ro//). We are awaiting the dissertation of Alexander Schiller on the theme of the four yogas. teaching, the Same Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), and put into practice for instance in the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā (zab lam phyag chen lnga ldan), which is a core practice of the ‘Bri-gung tradition.
The path-structure of the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā
The Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā covers (i) the production of the resolve for awakening (Tib. byang chub sems, Skr. bodhicitta), (ii) the practice of one’s own body as the tantric deity (yi dam, iṣṭhadevatā), (iii) a special guru yoga focusing on the four kāyas of the Buddha, (iv) the practice of mahāmudrā and (v) the dedication of merit (bsngo ba, pariṇāma). In order to be able to compare these practices of the Fivefold Path with the stages of the path (lam rim) teachings and to show how the tradition includes all of these into each single session of practice, it is first necessary to provide a brief overview of this path. Its practical instructions are traditionally divided into two vital points, namely 1. of the body and 2. of the mind. The first refers two the so-called seven-point posture of Vairocana, i.e. to sit with one’s legs folded into the vajra-posture, to keep the spine upright, the shoulders straight, the head bent slightly forward, both hands on top of one another at the navel, the tip of the tongue touching the palate and the eyes gazing along the tip of the nose. The second vital point has three subdivisions, namely
2.1. preliminaries (sngon ‘gro), 2.2. main part (dngos gzhi),
2.3. concluding part (rjes).
Of these, the first has again three subdivisions:
2.1.1. common outer preliminaries (thun mong phyi yi sngon ‘gro),
2.1.2. uncommon inner preliminaries (thun min nang gi sngon ‘gro), 2.1.3. special bodhicitta preliminaries (khyad par byang sems sngon ‘gro). Through the first of these, this path covers preliminary practices that are common in all Buddhist traditions and that function as antidotes to common flaws of men:
2.1.1.1. reflecting the fact that the leisures and endowme nts of the human birth are difficult to obtain; this is an antidote to a lifestyle that fails to notice the great possibilities of human life;
2.1.1.2. reflecting death and impermanence as an antidote to laziness and lethargy and wasting the leisures and endowments of this body;
2.1.1.3. reflecting karma, cause and result as an antidote to a lifestyle that disregards the consequences of one’s deeds,
2.1.1.4. reflecting the disadvantages of saṃsāra as an antidote to the opinion that existence is pleasurable.
These common preliminaries correspond in contents to four sections in the gradual path or gradual teaching scriptures (lam rim, bstan rim), such as sGam–po– pa’s Juwel Ornament (Dwags po’i thar rgyan) where it matches (in this sequence) with chapters two, four, six und five, and Phag–mo–gru–pa’s Entering Gradually into the Buddha’s Teachings, where it matches with chapters three, four, seven and five. This training is also called “the four [ways of] turning the mind” (blo ldog rnam bzhi) as it should turn the mind away from saṃsāra.
Next follow the uncommon preliminaries (2.1.2.), and they are uncommon since they are, at least in the particular manner they are practiced in the Tibetan vajrayāna, not shared by all Buddhists. They comprise refuge, which is to turn the mental continuum into a proper vessel for the teachings and to protect from wrong paths (2.1.2.1.), removing impediments and obscurations through the practice and recitation of the mantra of Vajrasattva (2.1.2.2.), accumulation of merit through offering maṇḍalas (2.1.2.3.) and blessing the mental continuum through the practice of a general guru yoga (2.1.2.4.). The special preliminaries (2.1.3.) consist of three trainings, namely love (2.1.3.1.), compassion (2.1.3.2.) and the production of the resolve for awakening (2.1.3.3.). These are called “special” because they are, at least in the particular manner they are practiced here, unique in the Mahāyāna and they are practiced to cultivate especially the altruistic thought, leading to the production of the resolve for full awakening, which becomes the dominating force on the path.
Then follows the main part (2.2.). In the non-tantric paths, the main part of the practice would consist of practices for the realization of the selflessness of the person and the substancelessness of phenomena, or, as it is expressed in the Mahāyanā, the “two selflessnessess.” In the mantra paths, the main part of the practice is aiming at the same goal, but with a much greater variety of methods. Here the main part of the practice comprises the two paths of ripening (smin lam, 2.2.1.) and liberation (grol lam, 2.2.2.). The first of these is summarily known as “tantric consecration” (dbang), which again has a preparatory part (sta gon), a main part (dngos gzhi) and a communication of its meaning (brda don ‘phrod pa). The second, i.e. the path of liberation (grol lam, 2.2.2.),
consists of the tantric stages of production and completion (bskyed rim, 2.2.2.1. and rdzogs rim, 2.2.2.2.) and may also utilize the special methods of the path of means (thabs lam). If one analyzes the before mentioned path of ripening (smin lam, 2.2.1.) from the point of view of tantric practice that utilize the path of means practices (thabs lam), the first tantric consecration (vase consecration, bum dbang) is connected with the stage of production (bskyed rim, 2.2.2.1.). All subsequent tantric consecrations are connected with the path of liberation (grol lam). In particular, the second tantric consecration is furthermore connected with the practices of the channels (Skr. nāḍi) and winds (Skr. prāṇa), which are in particular practices of the path of method (thabs lam), the third tantric consecration is connected with further path of method practices, namely those of wind (prāṇa) and drops (Skr. bindu) and the fourth tantric consecration is connected with the practice of mahāmudrā.
The Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā is a path of liberation practice (2.2.2.), with a stage of production and a stage of completion. The first (2.2.2.1.) consists of the various stages of the visualization of a deity such as Cakrasaṃvara, including recitation of mantras and a very abbreviated stage of completion in the form of the dissolution of the visualization of the deity. The second (2.2.2.2.) comprises in this context a particular guru yoga and the practice of mahāmudrā in a form that differs from the practices of the path of means (thabs lam). In particular, this mahāmudrā practice does not directly utilize any of the typical path of means practices such as the production of inner yogic heat (gtum mo). Nevertheless, according to one commentator, the particular practice
of viewing the guru as the sambhogakāya Buddha corresponds to the first two tantric consecrations, and viewing the guru as the dharmakāya Buddha corresponds to the last two tantric consecrations. While in the techniques of path of means the breakthrough experience or realization is achieved on the basis of yogic techniques that utilize nāḍi, prāṇa and bindu, namely through such practices as the six yogas of Nāropa, the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā that is discussed here claims that the same result is achieved on the basis of guru devotion, in particular by practicing the guru as the nirmāṇakāya, sambhogakāya,
dharmakāya, and svābhāvikakāya Buddha. In fact, the commentators of this path are claiming that this path of guru devotion is the actual path, the only means of realization, and that other techniques will only work when guru devotion is their driving force—without guru devotion tantric practices such as the six yogas of Nāropa would be mere gymnastics. In reality, it appears to be the case that both paths, i.e. the one that does not utilize path of means techniques and the one that does, are most often practiced in alternation. Finally, in conclusion (2.3.) and as is standard Mahāyāna usage, whatever merit was achieved is dedicated for the welfare of all sentient beings (bsngo ba, Skr. pariṇāma).
Until now we have discussed the path-structure of tantric paths with and without the utilization of the path of means. In particular we have tried to get a general idea of the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā with its preliminaries and five limbs, namely the practices of (1) bodhicitta, (2) the tantric deity, (3) guru yoga, (4) mahāmudrā and (5) dedication of merit. Let us now turn to the rituals, which claim to include all stages of the path within a single session.
The rituals of the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā
There are numerous liturgies of the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā, both detailed and abbreviated, and there are numerous rituals that emphasize particular aspects of the Fivefold Path, such as the preliminaries or the evocation practice of the tantric deity (Skr. sādhana). But no matter what they are, within the ‘Bri-gung traditional teachings they all make the claim to completely include all aspects of the path into one ritual, so that the whole path can be practiced within a single session.
The demand that each ritual – no matter which aspect of the path it emphasized – would have to cover the whole distance of the path within a single session was very clearly formulated by ‘Jig-rten-mgon-po in his Same Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa). The fourteenth vajra utterance in the second chapter reads: “All the stages of the gradual path are to be practiced within a single session.” The great ‘Bri-gung-pa Rig-’dzin Chos-kyi-grags-pa (1595–1659), also known as ‘Bri-gung Dharmakīrti, comments in his commentary on the Same Intention, the Light of the Sun (Nyi ma’i snang ba):14
The intention is that one must practice completely all the stages of the path within each single session, no matter whether one has six, four or two daily sessions. In that manner each session is preceded at the beginning by the [first part of the] stages of the path of the three [kinds of] beings, namely the [contemplation of] death, impermanence, the leisures and endowments that are difficult to find, cause and result, and the disadvantages of saṃsāra. Then the general intention is that the actual practice in the pāramitāyāna is to practice the meaning of the two kinds of selflessness [and] the mantra practitioner practices the two stages [of production and completion]. In particular, the heart intention is to summarize the essential condensation of the paths of sūtra
and mantra within [each] single session into that, which is the heart teaching of lord Phag-mo-gru-pa, the Fivefold Path of Mahāmudrā, and to practice it. And not only that, to bring out from between the paddles of the Fivefold Path the abandoning of each of the subtle mental stirrings of the afflictions and the accomplishing of each of the subtle virtuous Dharmas, too, is the essence of the profound Dharma of the great lord 'Bri-gung–pa [‘Jig-rten-mgon-po]. (…) Some say that these ways [of practice] came to Tibet after Atiśa, but that is not the case! Even all of the general and particular practice methods of this precious bKa'-brgyud such as [of] venerable Mar-pa and rNgog are completely included within this [[[path]]] and the essential intention of them is just this! And rDo-rje-shes-rab (13th c.), the first and one of the chief commentators of the Same Intention, explains in the text that has become famous as the rDor shes ma:
Whoever wishes to be free from suffering, namely the drifting about in the saṃsāric ocean,
should practice so that from practicing on one seat and within one session all the vital points of all basic scriptures and pith instructions such as the wholesome, excellent, vast and well expressed piṭakas, tantra sections, instructions and treatises taught by the Great Sage, the King of Dharma, and his sons, all the stages of the teachings and of the path, are fully complete without exception. This manner of practicing is without error the intention of the Buddhas. Let us therefore have a look at some rituals of the Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā in order to see how they were supposed to cover the whole path within a single session. The first ritual I would like to investigate is the Recitation of the Fivefold Mahāmudrā: Blazing Glory of Blessings (Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan gyi ngag ‘don byin rlabs dpal ‘bar). It was composed in 1629 by the above mentioned ‘Bri-gung-pa Rig-’dzin Chos-kyi-grags-pa. It is of the rgyun ‘khyer genre, i.e. an “uninterrupted continuation [of the practice],” a ritual that is supposed to maintain the commitment of the Fivefold Path on a daily basis.
Blazing Glory of Blessings Element of the path
Recollecting the leisure and endowments of human life, impermanence, death, karma, cause and result, and the disadvantages of saṃsāra, and resolve to abandon saṃsāra and to take this path to nirvāṇa. Common preliminaries:
Turning the mind away from saṃsāra; renunciation.
Visualizing the refuge tree with all of its vajrayāna elements: principle guru, lineage gurus, tantric deity, Buddhas, Dharma, Saṃgha, protectors of the Dharma.
Cultivating love, compassion and the resolve for awakening. Uncommon preliminaries:
(a) Taking refuge. Cultivating love, compassion and the resolve for awakening (relative bodhicitta).
Visualizing Vajrasattva and reciting his mantra. (b) Purifying the mind and removing impediments.
Visualizing the maṇḍala of the universe and making offerings. (c) Accumulation of merit.
Visualizing the refuge tree with the guru in its centre, reciting the names of the gurus of the transmission lineage, taking tantric consecration from him,
dissolving the guru with oneself and becoming one with him. (d) Blessing one’s mental continuum.
Recollecting all sentient beings as one’s mother of past lifetimes, cultivating benevolence, recollecting their unbearable sufferings, cultivating compassion, benevolent joy and equanimity. Recollecting the union of compassion and emptiness. Special preliminaries:
Recollecting the “four immeasurables” (brahmavihāra). All of the before mentioned elements of the path culminate in cultivating the resolve for awakening both on a relative stage and on the level of absolute bodhicitta.
Blazing Glory of Blessings Element of the path
Visualizing one’s own body as the tantric deity and reciting its mantra. Main part of the practice:
(a) Practicing the stage of production (bskyed rim).
Visualizing the principle guru in ones heart. Reciting the names of the gurus of the transmission lineage, making offerings and reciting the mantra of the guru. Dissolving the guru with one’s own mind. (b) Practicing the stage of completion (rdzogs rim).
Practicing mahāmudrā. (c) Experiencing the result.
Dedicating the merit endowed with the three purities of a field (i.e. of recipients being themselves Buddhas in nature), of a (non–dualistic) intention and the thing to be dedicated (i.e. the unproduced, pure Buddhanature). Conclusion of the practice: Dedicating the merit.
In short, the five practices of (1) producing the resolve for awakening (bodhicitta) and of practicing (2) the tantric deity, (3) guru yoga, (4) mahāmudrā, and (5) dedication cover the complete Mahāyāna path from the first cultivation of renunciation to experiencing the final result without entering cessation. Such a session of practice may take between one and several hours, depending on how much time the practitioner dwells on the various aspects such as mantra recitation, visualization, or mahāmudrā. It is also possible that one element of the ritual outlined above is taken as the chief focus of a session, for example when a practitioner enters a retreat for several weeks, months or years. In that case he would practice for example six sessions per day and would finish the prescribed number of recitations of one element before he would move on to the next. The claim, however, would still be that the complete path is covered in a single session. Let us take the example of taking refuge. As is well known, the refuge practice of the vajrayāna Buddhism in Tibet requires one–hundred thousand recitations of the refuge formula, accompanied by the same number of full prostrations of the body. Only after that number of recitations and prostrations is achieved, the practitioner will be allowed to move on to the next element of the path. In such a manner he will practice the four recollections that turn the mind away from saṃsāra (here each recollection would be practiced for a week), and then he would continue with the recitations of refuge,
vajrasattva, maṇḍala offering, guru yoga, and bodhicitta, each with a hundred thousand recitations, and than of the tantric deity (four-hundred thousand mantras), the four guru yogas (each with a hundred thousand formulas), before he would eventually start with the practices of calm abiding (Skr. śamata), insight (Skr. vipaśyanā) and mahāmudrā, for which there exist no prescribed durations. Finally the prayer of dedication will be repeated a hundred thousand times. If we take a practice session of refuge, for example, the ritual elements and their path correlations would be as follows:
Preliminary element (a)
Recollecting the leisure and endowments of human life, impermanence, death, karma, cause and result, and the disadvantages of saṃsāra, and resolve to abandon saṃsāra and take this path to nirvāṇa. Turning the mind away from saṃsāra; renunciation.
Preliminary element (b)
Refuge prayer and cultivation of love, compassion and the resolve for awakening. Refuge and relative bodhicitta.
Main element (a)
Visualization of one’s own body as a tantric deity and of the assembly of refuge in the space in front. Stage of production (bskyed rim)
Main element (b)
Recitation of the refuge formula with prostrations. Taking refuge, purification, removing of impediments, accumulation of merit, blessing the mental continuum.
Main element (c)
Dissolving the refuge visualization with oneself Stage of completion (rdzogs rim)
and remaining in a natural state. Experiencing the result.
Concluding element Dedication of merit. Dedication of merit.
As we can see, even without touching upon many elements of the full ritual outlined above, the ritual is still believed to cover each element of the path from renunciation to experiencing the result and dedicating the merit. Such a practice session focusing on one of the elements of the path is like a looking glass that magnifies that particular element in its center, while all the other practices still appear, albeit in a condensed form within the preliminary and concluding sections. Moreover, since the guru is the central figure of the vajrayāna refuge visualization, there is also a guru yoga involved in this practice, so that the five elements of the ‘Jig-rten-mgon-po’s Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā are complete, namely (1) bodhicitta (as a compulsory element at the beginning of every ritual),
(2) the tantric deity (as which the practitioner visualizes himself), (3) guru yoga, (4) mahāmudrā (through the element of “remaining in a natural state” after the dissolution of the visualization) and (5) dedication of merit (as a compulsory element at the end the ritual).
As in this example, the practices of bodhicitta and dedication, i.e. the first and fifth element of the Fivefold Path, are compulsory elements in every vajrayāna ritual. But what about the three middle elements, namely (2) tantric deity, (3) guru yoga and (4) mahāmudrā? According to oral information, the Fivefold Path is also complete within the practice of the tantric deity alone. Here, as one element of the tantric ritual, namely a recreation of the first tantric consecration, the practitioner visualizes himself as the tantric deity and the Buddhas of the five families in the space in front. The female companions of the Buddhas are bestowing tantric consecration upon the practitioner by pouring water from vases into an opening at the crown of the head. When this water flows over, it produces a whirl, which then transforms into the central figure of the maṇḍala of the five Buddha families. In the case of the tantric deity Cakrasaṃvara this would be Buddha Akṣobhya. According to my informants, this Buddha, who remains on top of the crown of oneself as the tantric deity, is henceforth seen to be identical with one’s own principle guru. This element of the tantric sādhana ritual of a deity is understood to be a guru yoga, since the guru is seen as a Buddha and revered by placing him on the crown of one’s head.
Towards the end of the sādhana, the practitioner dissolves the whole visualization, comprising the outer elements of the visualized maṇḍala and himself as the tantric deity, with a syllable that is visualized in the centre of the heart. Then the syllable itself dissolves into a fine line, which is the wind (Skr. prāṇa) entered into the central channel (nāḍi) of the practitioner, and finally even that dissolves. This comprises the stage of completion (rdzogs rim) within this ritual, and the practitioner remains in the natural state of mahāmudrā. Thereby, the path element of experiencing the result is also contained within the tantric sādhana ritual of a deity.
The practice of the four kāya guru yoga of the Fivefold Path is very elaborated and since that is the focus of another article, I am not repeating its details here. Suffice it to say that during the ritual the practitioner visualizes himself as a tantric deity and each of the four guru yogas concludes in a stage of completion phase, during which the practitioner dwells in the natural state of mahāmudrā. Thus the path elements of the stage of production (visualizing the tantric deity) and of the stage of completion (experiencing the result) are also contained within each of the four kāya guru yogas of the Fivefold Path. It is readily apparent how the ritual practice of the Fivefold Path with each of its elements is charged with power and meaning. Whoever performs even only a single session covers the whole distance of the complete gradual Mahāyāna path. This is perhaps in reflection of the promise of the tantric teachings, according to which the whole Mahāyāna path, which is usually travelled during millions of life times, can be accomplished within one life (or at least sixteen lives). Let us now turn to another aspect of the tantric ritual, namely how the yogi encompasses in the ritual sādhana practice both in a magical and a soteriological sense the whole tantric universe with his own body.
2. A complex system of correlations in tantric theory and practice
There exist certain relations and similarities between the Fivefold Profound Path ritual and tantric sādhanas in general, and while the sādhana is a part of the ritual of the Fivefold Profound Path (in the form of the practice of the tantric deity and as the basis of the four kāya guru yoga), the ritual of the Fivefold Profound Path seems at the same time to go beyond the sādhana, as its scope is the complete path. Yet at the same time, the sādhana is, when seen through the eyes of the Fivefold Profound Path, not different from it, as is argued by the tradition. It is in particular one feature that the commentaries of the sādhana and the path ritual have in common, which interests me here, namely their emphasis on systems of analogies.
The history of the sādhana is a complicated one and we have only begun to explore it. The form and complexity of the sādhana depends on the historical the Culmination of Tantric Buddhism,” Indological and Buddhist Studies: Volume in Honour of Professor Jan Willem de Jong on his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. by Luise Anna Hercus (Canberra: [[[Australian National University]]], Faculty of Asian Studies, 1982), pp. 595–616. Tsuda speaks of the great contribution of the Tattvasaṃgraha–tantra, recognizing the “tantric logic of yoga or logic of symbolism.” He draws a line to the idea of upāsama (identification) in the Brāmaṇa literature, which, according to Tsuda, could be formulated by the tantrist as follows: “If the individual existence successfully reorganises itself to be homologous with the ultimate reality, the former can unite itself with the latter,” p. 596. On the next page he speaks of “imitating Śākyamuni-Vairocana’s
construction of the universe homologously according to the system of four kinds of mudrās.” On p. 598 he says: “We consider (…) Tantric Buddhism to be the religion of yoga to unite (yuj) oneself, the microcosmos, directly with the ultimate reality, the macrocosmos.” Yet he seems to confine this idea to the uniting of the yogi with the deity by means of “the three kinds of symbolic actions of his body (karma-mudrā), speech (dharma-mudrā) and mind (samayamudrā),” and he continues “(…) thus he constructs himself into the symbol of the deity. According to the Tantric logic of symbolism, the symbol itself is identical with what it symbolises,” p. 603. Kurtis R. Schaeffer, “The Attainment of Immortality: From Nāthas in India to Buddhists in Tibet,” Journal of Indian Philosophy
(2002), pp. 515-533, has drawn attention to the correlation of body and cosmos in non–Buddhist Indian sources, p. 521. Another related phenomenon is the vihāra, whose elements of the construction are interpreted as elements of the path, e.g. the columns placed in the east are the four samyaprahāṇas, six pāramitās, four saṃgrahavastus, and four brahmavihāras, etc. Complex systems of analogies can also be found in the Bar do thos grol, commonly (and mistakenly) known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. In the present paper, I am concerned with the analogies between the tantric deity (with which the yogi identifies) and everything else (i.e. the outer world but also elements of the path etc.).
stage of development of the Buddhist tantras: the first pre-sādhana Buddhist tantric(?)23 rituals, later classified as *kalpa or kriyā tantra rituals, probably appearing in India in the first or second century, were predominantly occupied with “mundane” or “outward” rituals for healing and gaining powers.24 During the next several hundred years, some dramatic shifts occurred, namely first when rituals included worship and offering to shrines and visualized Buddhas or bodhisattvas for soteriological purposes, and second when, by the early eighth century, the ritual worship was beginning to be directed inward toward the practitioner’s own body.25 Sometime between the first and second spread of Buddhism in Tibet, the niruttarayoga tantras26 (such as Cakrasaṃvara and Hevajra) with advanced yogic technologies of the inner body gained a foothold in India and were later (around late 10th c.) transmitted to Tibet. It is in Tibetan commentaries on the sādhanas of the yoga and niruttarayoga class of Indian Buddhist tantras, where I found what could be called an “obsession with analogies.”
The analogies found in sādhanas are of various kinds and qualities. An interesting analogy that appears in many sādhanas among the preliminary stages is the visualization of the circle of protection (Skr. rakṣācakram, Tib. srung ‘khor). It is a preliminary stage of the practice, because it prepares the ground for the deity to be visualized later. The visualization of the circle of protection has some striking analogies to the abhidharmic model of the universe, for example when a wall of protective mantras reaches from the top of the brahma world (brahmamaṇḍa) down to the golden base or the underworld (ratsāla). And the mansion that is visualized on top of all of this, which is modelled with its ground (bhūmi), roof (pañjara), canopy (vitāna), and several outer walls (prākārā) according to a temple, is surrounded by several outer protective circles, lotusses, vajras, and fire, like the iron wall surrounding mount Meru. The protective circle, too, is designed to encompass the whole cosmos.
Another interesting analogy is that between the body and the celestial man-
Doxography: How Tibetans Organized Tantra During the 8th–12th Centuries,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 28:1 (2005), pp. 115-179.
23 I classify them as “tantric” because the later Tibetan tradition does so. I am not intending here to discuss what constitutes the “tantric.”
24 On the *kalpa tantras (Tib. rtog pa’i rgyud) see Helmut Eimer, “The Classification of the Buddhist Tantras,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, Supplementband 36 (1993), pp. 221-228.
25 See especially the two recent articles of Jacob Dalton (2004, 2005) mentioned above.
26 The terms niruttarayoga or yoganiruttara can be found in Sanskrit manuscripts, whereas *anuttarayoga, which was commonly used in Western writing, is a mistaken reconstruction (private communication by Harunaga Isaacson).
27 The restriction to the yoga and niruttara class of sādhanas is due to my own limited reading, and it may well be that one finds similar analogies also in other works.
sion of the tantric maṇḍala in a Guhyasamāja ritual:
My mouth and nose, anus, and penis are the four gates; the five-coloured winds of my knowledges (…) are the five-tiered walls; my tongue perception is the jewelled border, my intestines the net (…).
Such correlations of microcosm and macrocosm abound in sādhanas and their commentaries and they are in particular found in the body maṇḍala (Skr. kāyamaṇḍala) where hair, teeth, nails, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, and even the filth, “coiled guts,” sweat and feces of the body are correlated with the thirty–seven factors of awakening, the ten bodhisattva bhūmis, the twenty–four tantric sites, various deities and positions within the maṇḍala. In another instance, the practitioner visualizes for example at the head, navel, throat, ankles of the feet, etc., Buddhas such as Vairocana, Vajrasūrya (= Ratnasaṃbhava), Padmanarteśvara (= Amitābha), and Vajrarāja (= Amoghasiddhi). These spots are explained in the commentaries as being the seats of the skandhas, such as form, and the Buddhas residing in them as their purified state.
The ability to perform such sometimes very complex visualizations is measured by the accuracy and vividness that the practitioner has achieved and sometimes also by the time it takes him to create the visualization. Stephan Beyer describes such a process in some detail, concluding: Finally, when the practitioner reaches the fourth and highest level of contemplative ability he is called “one who has gained power in knowledge.” He has attained a complete control of appearances.
And quoting Tsong-kha-pa:
He is able thereby to empower the appearance of anything he wishes.
What these examples obviously have in common is that it is the body of the practitioner, and not an exterior altar, where the visualizations unfold. In these visualizations, the correlations of the surrounding space, the body and its parts with the universe, and of the skandhas with Buddhas, serve a double purpose, namely to gain power over the concrete, outer landscape and to purify, prepare and empower the body for the actual practice. Furthermore, when the body and the skandhas are purified and empowered, by implication the outside world too is purified and empowered, as the sense organs and consciousnesses through which the outer world is perceived are a part of the now purified and empowered skandhas, and so forth.
So far, it appears that an important aspect of tantric “ritual technique” – or of “ritual logic” – is to analogize. By using an analogy within the ritual, the thing analogized is
– controlled, as in the example of the protective circle,
– incorporated, as in the example where the different parts of the body are visualized as elements of the celestial palace, and
– purified and empowered, as in the example where the practitioner visualizes different Buddhas in the places of the skandhas.
Yet apart from these types of correlations there are also others that go even beyond these purposes I have just described. One of these further correlations is the sequence of visualizations that is known as the “five awakenings” (pañcābhisambodhikrama), which has its roots in the yoga tantras.34 This practice lies at the heart of the stage of production practices (utpattikrama). The practitioner visualizes in a series a moon disc, a sun disc, the seed syllable of his deity (each on top of the previous), the emission and retraction of rays and the transformation of the seed syllable into the deity itself. Here these five elements are correlated with the five kinds of gnosis, i.e. the mirror gnosis (āśajñānam), the gnosis of equality (samatājñānam), the gnosis of discrimination (pratyavekṣaṇājñānam), the gnosis of performance (kṛtyānuṣṭhānajñānam) and the gnosis pure true reality (suviśuddhadharmadhātujñānam). These five awakenings, again, are correlated with the three bodies of a Buddha (nirmāṇakāya, sambhogakāya and dharmakāya).35
Another interesting example can be found in sādhanas of Cakrasaṃvara, where the practice of the five awakenings is introduced through a complete dissolution of the preliminary visualization (which is analogous to the practitioner’s death), followed by a contemplation of compassion. This is, according to the
186.2.2. 34 Elizabeth English, p. 150 ff. 35 Elizabeth English, p. 154.
commentary, to be known as the “integration of death into the dharmakāya” (’chi ba chos skur lam khyer). Then the consciousness reappears as the extremely subtle tip of a drop (i.e. the nāḍi of the bindu) that remains in space. This “waking up” after first falling into deep unconsciousness, which is correlated to the clear light of death (’chi ba’i ‘od gsal), is known as the “integration of the intermediate state into the sambhogakāya” (bar do longs skur ‘khyer ba’i lam khyer). Having then gone through the series of the five awakenings, the yogi arises as the deity (Cakrasaṃvara), which is known as the “integration of birth into the nirmāṇakāya” (skye ba sprul sku’i lam khyer).
These two examples obviously go beyond the before mentioned systems of correlations, where the main purpose of the ritual was to control, purify and empower the outer world and the inner body. Here, now, the purpose is obviously a soteriological one. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the tantric sādhana, it would be very profitable to identify all such elements and to try to pinpoint the period when they were introduced into the ritual. Although this may pose numerous problems as the sādhanas are known to have grown over time (i.e. older rituals were regularly updated to the new techniques), this and other attempts of dividing the material up into periods will certainly be a stimulating exercise.
Conclusion
The complex systems of analogies found in sādhana rituals are evidently of some importance for the understanding of tantric practice. In those parts of sādhanas that apparently stem from earliest periods, we often find a kind of “magic by analogy:” The outer world is controlled, dominated, and mastered; dangers and impediments are averted; healing and longevity is achieved. When visualization is shifted to the interior, further aspects supervene: analogy turns more and more into a soteriological identification—the skandhas are the Buddhas and thus pure. In this way the sādhaka, if he has not spontaneously realized his Buddha nature during tantric consecration, is gradually led through training and habituation to realization. In the sādhanas of the yoga and niruttarayoga tantras we find analogies that are retracing the soteriological process, such as in the case of the five– fold awakening (pañca-abhisambodhi-krama), or they anticipate it, such as in the case where awakening at the moment of death, in the intermediate state, or at birth (following the intermediate state after death) are anticipated. One is tempted to say that in all this the analogy, which is often only spelled out in the commentaries, creates a connection with the meaning comprehended by the intellect, while visualization facilitates the same comprehension intuitively. Thus function and result of sādhanas appear to be made possible by analogy and visualization.
Both perspectives of the tantric ritual sketched in this article—the including of the complete gradual path within a single ritual and the complex systems of correlations in the sādhanas—demonstrate how tantric ritual practice is charged with power and meaning: a person performing even only a single session covers the whole distance of the gradual Mahāyāna path and encompasses both in a magical and a soteriological sense the whole tantric universe within his own body.
Addendum
I am grateful that the editor affords me the chance to add a few remarks shortly before this issue goes to the press. A number of things have come to my notice during the past year through my own ongoing research and through the publication of part 3 of book 8 of the English translation of ‘Jam-mgon Kong-sprul’s The Treasury of Knowledge.
1. The Fivefold Profound Path of Mahāmudrā did, in its earliest form, not necessarily utilize the tantric deity Cakrasaṃvara. I found other deities such as Avalokiteśvara and Vajrasattva mentioned in several sources.
2. The earliest forms of the Fivefold Path appear to have been much less ritualized (in the sense of using elaborate liturgies) than the practices described here on the basis of the contributions by 17th century master Rig-’dzin Chos-kyigrags-pa.
3. The later, much more ritualized practices of the Fivefold Path were apparently introduced in order to make this path more accessible to practitioners with less than highest faculties. In this observation I find myself in complete agreement with the opinion of the present ‘Bri-gung sKyabs-mgon Che-tshang Rinpoche.
4. A short study on the earliest forms of the Fivefold Path by the present author is under way. My remarks in the present article such as regarding the practicing of the complete path within a single session remain valid also in the context of the earliest forms of this path.
5. The peerless Tibetan teacher of the entire path, ‘Jam-mgon Kong-sprul I, makes in his encyclopedic Treasury of Knowledge [[[Shes bya kun khyab mdzod]]] the following interesting remark regarding the stage of production (bskyed rim) in tantric sādhanas:
bskyed rim gyi ngo bo ni ... khyad par skye shi bar do gsum dang rnam pa mthun par bsgom pa'o.
Its special feature is meditation that accords in aspects with birth, death, and the intermediate state, the three [[[Wikipedia:processes|processes]] in cyclic existence].
And again (in the context of both the stages of production and completion):
(…) sbyang gzhi sems can skye ba'i rim pa dang / 'chi ba'i sdud rim gnyis dang chos mthun pa'i rnal 'byor gyis bgrod par byed pa'i lam yin pa.
The two phases serve as paths to cross over [[[cyclic existence]]] using yogas that accord in features with the two processes [in cyclic life] of a sentient being, the process of birth and the dissolution process at death, the [two] bases to be purified.
The two expressions dang rnam pa mthun par and dang chos mthun pa seem to be largely synonymous and as such they appear to be Kong-sprul’s Tibetan terms for the phenomenon that I have focused on in the second part of this paper, i.e. the fact that yoga practice correlates or forms an analogy in some of its aspects or features with certain aspects of saṃsaric reality. Through its practice one gains mastery over these aspects of saṃsāra, thereby using the yoga as a “path to cross over.” The function that has the power to get the yogi across and that is provided by the yoga can therefore perhaps be described as “intimate knowledge of” and thereby “mastery” of saṃsāric reality, as is taught by Nāgārjuna in the
Yuktiṣaṣṭikā:
Existence [= samsāra] and nirvāṇa
—these two do not exist.
Thoroughly knowing existence is called nirvāṇa.
