The Sādhanas

The General Content

In this chapter, we tread upon holy ground and treat a subject fertile in its scope for misunderstandings. The adept, with his powers of visualization heightened by the preliminaries and his mind disciplined by the daily practice, now embarks upon the Sādhana selected by his Guru. His knowledge of the words and gestures of power must be exact, and his skill in visualization considerable. For some Sādhanas, he will need instruction in psycho-physical exercises which produce results that, to the uninstructed, must seem incredible; but this is a matter treated under the heading of advanced practice, although the term “advanced” has but an arbitrary meaning in that the kind of mental practice to be described in this chapter can, if all other requirements are fulfilled, lead to Liberation in this life, without recourse to physical yoga.

The Lamas teach that such Sādhanas are intended for adepts dedicated to bringing about the union of wisdom and means, of void and non-void consciousness, in order to be fully prepared for their task of assisting the Liberation of all beings. Unfortunately, the unscrupulous have discovered that, in other contexts, the Sādhanas can be perverted to serve mundane ends; for the psychic force acquired and the power of Mantras can also be used for evil, just as Milarepa in his unregenerate youth employed them to destroy his enemies and bring ruin upon their friends and neighbors.

That is why Sādhanas are rarely, if ever, expounded to the uninitiated and why, in books for general publication, they must be set forth in such a way that no practical use can be made of them. Even in the Tibetan manuscripts and blockprints that the Lamas carefully guard from profanation, certain essentials are deliberately omitted, and sometimes passages are jumbled so that they cannot be unraveled without qualified guidance; moreover, the mystical language in which

they are couched yields up the whole of its meaning only to those who have received the teaching that is “whispered in the ear.” A few years ago, one English Tibetologist published a text which, on the face of it, requires the deflowerment of a young virgin as part of the rite; the translator seemed unaware that the text deals in veiled terms with a type of yoga that takes place within the adept’s own body — “the very young virgin” being in fact the female power (or goddess) at the base of his spine, which has to be yogically united to the male power in the Cakra (psychic center) in his head.

The aim of the Sādhanas is to transcend duality — including the acceptance and rejection of the other vehicles of Buddhism — by achieving vividly conscious experience of the non-dual state. As already explained, the peaceful and wrathful deities invoked during a Sādhana correspond to components of the adept’s own being and are the forms they assume in certain states of consciousness, such as the state that follows death, certain dream states, and some of the states

reached during meditation. Furthermore, for the successful performance of his Sādhana, the adept — if he cannot actually perceive all sounds as Mantra, all beings as Buddhas, and the entire universe as Nirvāza — must, at any rate, act and think as though these three truths were fully apparent to his senses. He must behold the universe as a vast expanse of spotless purity, as the “container” or “field” inhabited by “deities,” whose very nature he recognizes as pure void and whose immense power is the creative power of void manifested in its non-void emanations.

Similarly, the adept’s reactions throughout the day to objects of the senses and the objects themselves must be recognized as “deities enjoying deities and the Void enjoying void.” In welcoming the sensations they arouse, he must avoid attachment to any particular object or perception of it. Enjoyment is not for him an evil, nor to be avoided, provided no attachment results. It becomes harmful if either depravation of it or, on the contrary, inability to have the

sanctimonious satisfaction of being rid of it causes regret. He must eliminate the idea cherished by Buddhists unable to transcend dualistic distinctions that taking this or rejecting that leads to merit or demerit. If he is far advanced, he will recognize that taking and rejection are impossibilities, since taker and the object grasped, or rejector and the object shunned, are identical. Taking, he takes himself; rejecting, he rejects himself, which, of course, cannot be left behind. As the Tantric saying puts it: “giver, gift, receiver — all these are one.” Whether or not his senses perceive this, the adept must be free from grasping; for as long as his mind remains like a cloudless sky, no harm can result from his relations with any object whatsoever. For such a man, nothing is commonplace, nor the human body a skin sack filled with horrid substances and with animal-like propensities — everything, without exception, is seen as a manifestation of pure, undifferentiated Void (Emptiness, Śūnyatā).

The Sādhanas provide the powers and the mental, psychic, and (if necessary) physiological practices for attaining this result. By their performance, the adept gradually releases himself from delusions based on ordinary concepts and perceptions; he directly experiences and masters the psychic forces that can be used to transmute concrete-seeming emanations of the Void back into their subtle state. The “deities” that arise in his mind, though but abstractions of

consciousness, assume, for a time, a very potent reality. They are for him more “real” than his material surroundings, and it is essential that he repose perfect trust in their reality. By his union with them, the internal is manifested, and the external is internalized. During union, there must be no shred of doubt in his mind; he is Vajrasattva (or Mahā Ārya Tārā, or whichever deity it may be).

Therein lies the key to success

Traditionally, each Sādhana has seven sections, though what constitutes a section may differ slightly from sect to sect. A common list is as follows:

1. Taking refuge in the Triple Gem (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha). 2. Generating Bodhicitta. 3. Making a protective enclosure — the “universe” of the deity or deities to be visualized. 4. Evoking the appropriate deities.

5. Worship: (a) salutation; (b) taking refuge in the deity invoked as the embodiment of the Triple Gem; (c) offerings; (d) confession; (e) rejoicing in the work of Liberation; (f) urging that the Dharma-wheel be turned, i.e., that the work of spreading the Dharma to sentient beings go forward apace; (g) the offering of the adept’s body and the renewal of his resolution not to enter Nirvāza before other beings. 6. Taking empowerment. 7. Dedication of merit.

Each detail of the principal deity visualized during the Sādhana has a symbolical significance, of which the following are a few examples:

One face the Dharmadhātu, or realm of Void, seen as a spherical drop Two arms the working in union of wisdom and means (compassion) Two legs crossed with the soles of the feet turned upward the Trikāya, or Three Bodies of the Buddha, inseparably united Elaborate ornaments the objects of the senses perceived as the five qualities of desire corresponding to the five wisdoms, not as things to be abandoned Yab-Yum figures all pairs of opposites in union, especially form and void, means and wisdom

The Sādhana of the Essence of the Profound Meaning

Many Sādhanas can be practiced at four levels in turn; or, if the adept has been given the four kinds of initiation and mastered the four ways of understanding, he can practice them at all four levels simultaneously. These levels correspond with the four main divisions of the Tantras, the lowest of which is for those unable to grasp abstract concepts and likely, at first, to conceive of the deities as independently existing gods and goddesses. At the highest level, the mind is exalted from the start, and the techniques used are “the techniques of the Void.” The Sādhana described in considerable detail

below is one performed to free sentient beings from rebirth in the various sub-human states of existence. Its full title is “The Essence of the Profound Meaning, Being the Undiffuse Mudrā of He Who Annihilates Avīci.” It is a Nyingmapa Sādhana containing the gist of a much longer and more widely known Sādhana, the Māyājāla, or Web of Brahmā, which means the Realm of Illusion. Containing elements of the four principal divisions of the Tantras, it requires the invocation of all the MazTala deities in their wrathful guise, but combined in the person of Vajrasattva, who himself appears first in the terrible Heruka form and later as a tranquil deity.

The fact that a few complete texts of Sādhanas have been published in English has emboldened me to give the Essence of the Profound Meaning in rather more detail than I should otherwise have ventured to do, because the Sādhanas have much in common as regards method, and the essence of that method is already well known among people interested in the subject. I sincerely hope that there is nothing in my version that the Lama who gave it to me could regard as a betrayal of his confidence; since he does not read English, I have had to trust my own judgment. The translation from the Tibetan is closely based on one made by John

Driver, my fellow-initiate, or “Vajra-brother,” whose fluent Tibetan made it possible for the rest of the initiates (an English and a Chinese monk, a Chinese layman, and myself) to follow the Guru’s exposition easily. If all that has been set forth in the previous chapters is kept in mind, even those parts of the Sādhana that, without explanation, might be mistaken for magic will be seen in their true perspective as part of a lofty spiritual technique for exploring and bringing into play the psychic powers stored in the depths of the adept’s consciousness. One of my purposes in revealing more than I have withheld is to help combat the ignorant supposition that the secrecy surrounding the Sādhanas guards something reprehensible. Whether the technique appeals to mystics of other faiths remains to be seen, but no one can have reasonable cause for not esteeming the Sādhana as a rite fully consonant with the doctrines of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

The Obeisance

“We fervently prostrate ourselves, with all that we possess, Before the All-Pervading Lord, who conjures up the Sphere Of Tranquil and of Wrathful Ones, where changing Dharmas blend Existence and Quiescence in Sahaja unity Of single taste, free from outflows, the Vajra of Great Bliss.”

The devotee now seats himself comfortably in an agreeable and auspicious place; whereupon, he adopts the Mudrā of evocation and prays the sacred throng — Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Gurus, Devas, and Dākinīs, etc., to appear before him.

The Refuge

“Ourselves and all those sentient beings who fill the endless Void Salute the glorious Vajra-Host, Buddhas of Triple Time! Transcending dualistic thought, we have come for refuge To the Triple Gem, which now appears within the MazTala.”

The Offering

“Accept these pure offerings of all that we call ‘ours’ Transmuted into precious gifts by the wondrous power of mind.”

Confession

“Those dams which stem the mighty flood of supernormal powers Our countless crimes of thought and deed we now confess in full.”

Rejoicing

“All deeds of pure dispassion, all Dharmas throughout space When void of Three False Elements call forth our deepest joy.”

Generation of Bodhicitta

“We now commence to generate the perfect Bodhi-mind Possessed of four pure qualities,82 forever undefiled.”

The Offering of the Body

“We offer to the Blessed Ones ourselves now purified Of all the foul defilements of body, speech, and mind.”

The Dedication of Merit

“The merits gained in countless lives past, now and yet to come, We dedicate to all sentient beings — may they all gain Buddhahood!”

(All these verses are to be recited three times with deep sincerity and with the reflections appropriate to each.)

THE PRELIMINARY VISUALIZATION

The adept reflects that all those Beings to whom he has just offered his accumulated merits and mind-projected aggregations have come pouring into his body from every direction, and that, for a little while, his mind has been purified of all that must be discarded; whereupon, he enters into the sky-like state of void.

The Circle of Guardians

Now, syllables of power spring forth from that state of void, and the adept himself is instantly transformed into the body of Vajra Heruka (dark blue in color, grasping a vajra-scepter and a human skull brimful of blood); whereupon, he adopts the appropriate posture (Āsana) and gesture (Mudrā). The Heruka is manifested in Yab-Yum, the exact posture being specified. Next, the adept recites words of power; whereupon, a shower of Wrathful Ones armed with every kind of weapon emerges from the Yab-Yum figure, spreads out, and fills the sky.

Incited by another Mantra, these Wrathful Ones filling the sky strike, drive off, and destroy all hindering forces. In response to the next Mantra, the throng of Wrathful Ones coalesces to form a vast vajra-pavilion composed of the own-nature of the transformed Wrathful Ones. Beyond it is a fierce fire like that which rages when the universe is periodically destroyed at the end of a Kalpa,85 encircled by a black wind like that which rages when an eon draws to its close; and this, in its turn, is encircled by an ocean of huge, violently agitated rollers. These circles of fire, wind, and water fill the Void in all directions, isolating the adept and making him impervious to destruction.

THE MAIN BODY OF THE SĀDHANA

The Generation of Relative Bodhicitta The Generation of Absolute Bodhicitta

“E Ma O!

O wondrous Dharma most marvelously rare, Profoundest mystery of the Perfect Ones, Within the Birthless, all things take their birth, Yet taking birth is naught which can be born!

E Ma O!

O wondrous Dharma most marvelously rare, Profoundest mystery of the Perfect Ones, Within the Ceaseless, all things cease to be, Yet ceasing thus is nothing that can cease!

E Ma O!

O wondrous Dharma most marvelously rare, Profoundest mystery of the Perfect Ones, Within the Non-Abiding, all abides, Yet, thus abiding, there abideth naught!

E Ma O!

O wondrous Dharma most marvelously rare, Profoundest mystery of the Perfect Ones, In Non-Perception, all things are perceived, Yet this perceiving is quite perceptionless!

E Ma O! O wondrous Dharma most marvelously rare, Profoundest mystery of the Perfect Ones, In the Unmoving, all things come and go, Yet in that movement nothing ever moves!

The Meditation on the Three Kinds of Samādhi

1. The adept reflects that, in none of the seemingly substantial objects, is there the smallest hint of substance. In their true form, each of them transcends discursive speech and thought. Their thusness is one with the realm of Void, and their apparent solidity very far from real. Thus, all Dharmas that give rise to appearances are of unimaginable nature, free from duality, and utterly void. This realization is the Samādhi pertaining to Suchness.

2. Though their thusness is a single whole — world-manifesting space —, out of pity for sentient beings, sky meditates on sky. Towards sentient beings (themselves illusory), the vast (but illusory) compassion of the Blessed Ones, devoid of attachment, is as extensive as the sky. This realization is the Samādhi pertaining to the manifested universe.

3. The clouds of transient Dharmas rise amidst the substanceless, each rooted in that rootless mind that is the root of all — its substance is now to be manifested as written syllables seen as wish-fulfilling gems, of which the syllable from which they spring must first be visualized. Our original Mind, at once manifest and uniformly void, now takes the form of a white Ah. This realization is the Samādhi pertaining to causation.

(It is not sufficient merely to reflect that those three Samādhis are thus and thus. It is essential to enter into the states in which what is said about each is experienced as vividly as the warmth of fire, the feel of wind against the skin, and every clearly recognizable sensation.)

Generating the MazTala of Container and Contained

From Original Mind now appearing as a spotless-white Ah, six syllables spring forth, and the adept recites the Mantras for sending forth and recalling. During the issuing forth, contraction, and transmutation of the syllables, the first of them expands to fill the Dharmadhātu (Realm of Void) and then contracts to form the triangular sky MazTala. In it, and arising from the next of the syllables, appears the green MazTala of the wind element marked by waving

pennants. From the third syllable arises the round white MazTala of water; from the fourth, the square yellow MazTala of earth; from the fifth, the sharp-edged MazTala of Mount Sumeru composed of precious substances. From the sixth appears an encircling ring of fire blazing beyond the outermost limits of the sky. And from the top of Mount Sumeru, the syllable Bhrūg splits off from the causal Ah, which is the seed from which the whole magnificent panorama arose. The adept then recites a Mantra which can be interpreted: “By opening up the Void, the MazTala is produced.”

The Bhrūg now condenses into a hall of enormous proportions, blazing with Jñāna-jewels and extending to infinity in all directions. To symbolize its immeasurable virtues, it is in the form of a square adorned with portals of precious substances created by Supreme Jñāna; and its pinnacle is identical with the Jñāna of the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and the Four Times — all of them, without exception, not seen separately but as being of the same pure essence.

Excellent indeed is that hall with its five walls composed of precious substances of the five colors ornamented with pearls and precious stones, its Chinese roof and richly decorated gates — a place of beauty, lovely to behold. Perfect are its proportions, shape, and form, its embellishments, and the color of its Jñāna-jewels that are peerless on account of the all-surpassing nature of Jñāna. Moreover, that great hall is filled with every sort of object of outflowless desire, limitless as the sky in number and lacking nothing.

In the midst of all is a magnificent throne of precious jewels and substances, supported by eight lions (the symbols of Buddha supremacy), two to each edge holding it up with their forepaws.

Now, the adept intones a Mantra containing the words lotus, sun, and moon; whereupon, three syllables appear, from the first of which springs a lotus; from the second comes a solar-disc above the lotus; and, from the third, a lunar-disc which tops them both. Then, his own Original Mind, after remaining for a little while in a state of voidness, appears as a stainless-white Ah and drops upon the lunar-disc, where it is transmuted into a clear, blazing Hūg. Two words of power cause rays of light to issue from the Hūg, and these rays, falling upon all beings, establish them in Buddhahood.

At the words of recall, the rays are withdrawn and merge into the Hūg, which, in response to a Mantra, is transformed into the adept now in the peaceful guise of the Blessed Vajrasattva. The Body (of the adept in Buddha-form) is a mass of deep sapphire blue, blazing with light-rays like the rising sun. One-faced and two-handed, he radiates tranquil smiles, whose changes indicate the play of Void and Bliss in union. His figure shines with the sacred Buddha-signs. Grasping a vajra-scepter close to his heart and a vajra-bell above his hip, he prepares to manifest himself in Yab-Yum form.

From his heart comes forth a Mūg, which pours forth light rays that are then, in response to a Mantra, withdrawn into the Mūg; this straightway becomes the Yum, Vajra Dhatiśvarī, whose body is of lighter blue. She, too, grasps a vajra-scepter and vajra-bell. Their white upper garments are of divine silken material ornamented with bold designs in gold. (There follows an elaborate description of ornaments and garments.) Soft of hand, supple of body and limbs, sleek of skin, sinuously waisted, youthful, shining, pure of form, they possess countless sorts of excellence and splendor.

Seated as the essence of non-dual bliss and voidness, within a sphere illumined by red, yellow, white, blue-green, silver, and purple light, they now appear as a cloud-like mass of Buddhas spreading forth and blazing gloriously. Each band of color splits into a further six, and so on again and again until sixty million separate beams shine forth.

Now, in the hearts of Yab and Yum (who are one with the adept) appear two Jñānasattvas with a tiny white Hūg in the heart of one and a tiny white Mūg in the heart of the other, each resting upon a lunar-disc. Such, then, is the mode of visualization.

The Conferment of Power and the Transmutation

Light-rays now emerge from the little Jñānasattva forms in the hearts of the Yab and Yum. By words and a gesture of power, the adept invites the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and Four Times, who now appear as the divinities of the initiation MazTala arranged in their five classes, all in Yab-Yum form. The adept prays them to fulfill their bond of ardent compassion; whereupon, streams of nectar born of non-duality rain down upon the adept, conferring power. To obtain this power, he pronounces the Mantras pertaining to the five Buddha-wisdoms, and attracts it to himself by five appropriate Mudrās.

By the power thus conferred, the stains of the five Kleśas (mental defilements) are cleansed, and the five Skandhas, or aggregates, of the adept’s body, speech, and mind now abide as the Buddhas of the five circles in the core of the MazTala. The excess of nectar remaining at the crown of his head is transformed into the Buddha Ak[obhya. The adept now glories in the transformation of his purified aggregates into the Five Jinas.

In the center of his skull, at forehead level, a white Og appears, resting upon a lunar-disc; its rays move the mind-stream of all the Buddhas, and the Vajra-Bodies of the whole great assembly of deities fill the sky. These now merge into the Og that thus becomes identical with the Body of all the Buddhas; whereupon, it is transformed into a white Vairocana Buddha, whose symbol is a wheel. The adept presses his hands joined in the Vajramudrā against the top of his head and recites a sacred Mantra; whereupon, a white A appears at his throat resting upon an eight-petalled red lotus, and the Speech-Vajras of the whole great assembly of deities fill the sky. These now merge into the Ah, which thus becomes identical with the Speech of all the Buddhas; whereupon, it is transformed into a Red Amitābha Buddha, whose symbol is a lotus. The adept presses his hands joined in the Vajramudrā against his throat and recites a sacred Mantra; whereupon, a blue Hūg appears outside his heart resting upon a solar-disc, and, in a way similar to what went just before, the Hūg becomes identical with the Mind of all the Buddhas and is transformed into a blue Ak[obhya Buddha, whose symbol is the vajra-scepter. Accordingly, the devotee recites the Mantra whereby he acquires the Buddha-Mind. He now glories in becoming one with the Body, Speech, and MindVajras of all the Buddhas.

The Four Processes for Achieving Identity with the MazTala of Wisdom-Void

The adept visualizes the life-essence at his heart in the form of a blue Hūg of the own-nature of the five wisdoms ever dawning. The rays emanating from it stimulate the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and Four Times to emerge from the Dharmakāya and take upon themselves the Yab-Yum form. Thus thinking and forming the hook-Mudrā, he cries:

“Hūg!

Oh you Blessed Ones, sky-like yet holding the bond, By Void itself and that High Yoga which overleaps All opposites, I conjure You! Deign to descend! Ha! Diamond-Being, how radiant is the state we share! Come here! Look down on us! The time has come!”

The Invitation

“Og!

Compassion’s hook now moves the Yidam; The noose of kindliness constrains him to appear, Likewise the iron chain of sympathetic joy. The Perfect One comes forth and sits in serene joy.”

Having pronounced this invocation, the adept recites a Mantra and employs Mudrās that constrain the Void One to appear. Now the adept reflects:

“I am seated in the MazTala of the Samaya with the flames of its fire-mountain mingling with those of the MazTala of Wisdom-Void in which Vajrasattva appears before me.”

The Casting of the Flowers of Consciousness

Reciting five brief Mantras, the adept casts a flower each time, while reflecting:

“The Body, Speech, Mind, Qualities, and Actions of myself and the Void Ones are identical.”

Imploring the Gift of Supernatural Powers and Dissolving the MazTalas

“Og!

How wondrous the Body, Speech, and Mind, The Qualities and Deeds of Void-Wisdom’s King! Ah that my own may flow into his, for thus Is union with the Mahāmudrā gained!” Thereupon, using appropriate Mantras and Mudrās for soliciting the blessing of Vajrasattva, he thinks of the flame MazTala in which he is seated and the MazTala of Wisdom-Void in which the deities appear before him as merging like water into water and becoming one and invisible.

The Recitation

The adept sees at his heart a Void-Being resembling himself but who is really Vajrasattva as the Being united with him by the Samaya-pledge, in whose heart is the syllable Hūg surrounded by the Hundred Syllable Dhārazī of Vajrasattva; the syllables are white in color and blaze with light. The rays they emanate stir the Mind of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the [[Ten

Directions]] and Four Times. From the adept’s own mouth and from the mouths of that assembly of divinities vast as the sky, pour forth the sounds of the Hundred Syllable Mantra accompanied by light-rays of compassion, which illuminate the Triple World, purging the realms of evil rebirth and releasing into the Bodhi-Sphere all sentient creatures (whom the adept now visualizes). Then, he watches the light-rays dissolve into himself, so that the Triple World and all the deities and other sentient beings are contained in Vajrasattva’s shining Mantra, which the adept now repeats a hundred and eight or a thousand and eighty times.

To ensure that this Mantra will benefit other beings, after each recitation, he should repeat a short Mantra which will somewhat mitigate their miserable state despite their evil Karma — but only an accomplished Lama cleansed of fault can perform this part of the rite successfully.

Closing the Rite Before Getting Up from the Seat

From the syllable Hūg in the adept’s heart emanate purifying light-rays; his body becomes a great hall, which dissolves back into himself, that is to say, into the body of Vajrasattva. Thereupon, the Yum dissolves into the Yab, the Yab into the tiny Jñānasattva, or Wisdom-Void Being, in his heart, and that small Dharmakāya figure merges into the minute Hūg within its own heart. The miniature Hūg dissolves into itself until even the tip has vanished, and the adept enters with perfect equanimity into a spontaneously produced state of void that is wholly free from intellectualization.

(The End)

The Fruits of the Practice

Performing a lofty Sādhana of this kind cleanses the adept from karmic hindrances, greatly helps to calm the passions and negate the ego, and opens the mind to the inflow of intuitive wisdom. The advanced adept fully experiences the phenomena visualized and the resulting states of consciousness which rise step by step to the state of pure void — that marvelous, shining void which, so far from being a dreary waste, is the container and the source of a myriad of objects. Merely knowing about it from books and teachers is useless; it is the untrammeled experience of it that liberates. Adepts who send forth their minds to dwell

in those high places day after day, night after night, for years on end, cease to be as other men. Their personalities, their thoughts, their words, and their actions are permeated through and through with the brilliant, objectless, attachment-free consciousness of men approaching the holy state of Liberation. Into them, wisdom flows like pure white milk pouring into a shining crystal vessel. Theirs is the fruit of mighty achievement, provided, of course, that their

practice is well done and properly conjoined with the conduct and attitude that constitute its basis. Mystical communion with the divine forces of the universe requires as concomitants conduct steeped in compassion and unerring skill in transforming the passions that drive men further and further downward

into delusion so that the direction of their force is reversed and their whole being united in a swift progression upwards in the direction of Enlightenment. It would be easy to misunderstand the nature and purpose of such a Sādhana. It is, in Christian terms, not just a rite but a sacrament in the sense that power

and purification are conferred. Yet, since Buddhism denies the existence of a supreme deity, it may be asked by whom these benefits are conferred. As was suggested much earlier in this book, the difference between god-based religions and those such as Buddhism and Daoism (Taoism), which are, to coin a term,

“god-free,” is to some extent a verbal one. In the former, supreme divinity is conceived as a being, in the latter, as a state. Now, where space and form are transcended and we are considering an invisible, omnipresent source of blessedness, the difference between a being and a state of being is obviously hard

to define. The link between the two concepts is provided by the Christian mystics’ recognition that even God (as a being) is subordinate to the Godhead (a state). In the Sādhana, the empowerment and purification come from the union of the individual (temporarily drawn out of his puny egohood) with the divine Source that is the shining Void.

Two points must be emphasized, even at the cost of repeating what has been said in earlier chapters. First, Vajrasattva and the hosts of deities who spring from and return to him are not really regarded as gods; they are personifications of the divine forces that pour through the adept’s being at the time of union. Even the name Vajrasattva, which means Adamantine Being, connotes not a person but a state of being. It is this state that the adept enters into and

takes upon himself when their two bodies are visualized as becoming one. The adept is Vajrasattva, i.e., he has temporarily achieved the state that, in permanent form, is the very goal of all his practice — the conversion of his ordinary human body into a Vajra-body, an adamantine being impervious to ill and ready for Liberation.

Second, the visualization of mystic syllables and so forth — the liturgical part of the Sādhana — are not ritualistic in intent. There is no suggestion that these are pious actions (like singing a psalm) and that, by doing them, we shall earn commendation and blessings from on high. Each of those syllables, and everything else that is visualized, has a precise correspondence with a psychic reality existing within the adept. Thus, the Sādhana is no ordinary religious ceremony but analogous to an exercise carried out in a laboratory during which certain substances are heated, mixed, separated, and so on in the proper

sequence in order to achieve a foreseen and inevitable result. In the West, where the sciences of the mind lag far behind the others, the point has not yet been reached at which so much is known about all the psychic entities and forces that experiments can be conducted to achieve results as precise as those achievable in chemistry and physics. It is in this respect that the Tibetans are our mentors. There would be no difficulty in proving this, were it not that

adepts sufficiently advanced to perform spectacular feats such as modifying the shape and size of material objects, making them vanish, or moving them in space solely by power of mind are strongly averse to giving demonstrations. Instances can be seen only by chance or by dealing with persons who, having acquired some limited powers, have, to their own detriment, left the path and no longer feel bound by the rules.

People unfamiliar with the Vajrayāna might think it wonderful enough if the adept merely saw and experienced all that is described in the Sādhana text as clearly as he sees the walls of the room where he is sitting and the view from the window. But ,of course, he does very much more than that. To train one’s mind merely to see such things for the sake of the experience would be pointless. It is because everything he sees and experiences corresponds to a psychic

reality and brings about the desired results that the Sādhana is of inestimable value. Producing a vision of the great ring of fire, for example, is not an end in itself but a means to achieving an infinitely more worthwhile purpose. If the Sādhana is looked upon either as a pious ritual like matins or evensong, or as a fascinating exercise in creating mental projections rather like a motion picture, then the whole of this chapter (indeed, the whole of Tantric practice) loses ninety-nine per cent of its meaning.

The Essential Core

This Sādhana, besides resembling other Sādhanas in its general form — the seven sections (eight in this case) and so forth — shares with them three vital points, which are: the pouring of light-rays and of the white nectar of non-duality into the adept’s body, the union and perfect identification of worshipper and worshipped, and the final contraction into a single syllable, which dissolves into itself and thence into a state of pure void. If mystics of other faiths

adopt this potent method of achieving the mystical experience at will, they will doubtless make wholesale changes to ensure that the new Sādhanas are consonant with their own beliefs; but, whereas all the detail and symbolism can be reconstructed, the conferment of power through the light-rays and nectar, the union with the deity worshipped, and the ultimate contraction into the Void cannot, I feel sure, be omitted without robbing the practice of its miraculous results.

The Ārya Tārā Sādhana

Since Dr. Conze’s work, Buddhist Meditation, includes a more or less complete and beautifully worded version of the Ārya Tārā Sādhana, I have decided not to include another version here. For the sake of comparison, however, I have selected some parallels that demonstrate that the Ārya Tārā Sādhana, though simpler than the Essence of the Profound Meaning Sādhana, includes the same essential practices.

The Ārya Tārā Sādhana opens in much the same way as the Essence of the Profound Meaning; but, inasmuch as it is a form of Guruyoga, Ārya Tārā appears as the embodiment of the Guru and the Three Precious Ones, just as in the other Vajrasattva in Heruka (wrathful) guise embodies all the deities of the MazTala. When the preliminary sections of the rite have been performed, Tārā’s heart reveals the syllable Dhag surrounded by her special Mantra from which light-rays shine

in all directions. The adept draws these rays “like nectar or rain” through the crown of his head and down into the heart; whereupon, his body becomes “pure as a crystal vessel filled with spotless-white curd.” Thereafter, he recites her Mantra, which revolves around the seed-syllable in her heart a hundred and eight times. Next, Tārā gazes at him with great joy and, gradually diminishing to the size of a thumb, enters his body through the crown of the head and comes

to rest upon a solar-disc atop a lunar-disc and lotus in his heart. Now the adept’s own body begins to diminish in size, getting smaller and smaller until it is coextensive with the diminutive figure of Tārā. “Tārā, Guru, and adept are truly one with no distinction whatever.” Possibly because the rite is meant for less advanced devotees, nothing is said about their unified body melting into the syllable contained in the heart, which then contracts into its apex and vanishes into the Void, although this is a common feature of Tantric Sādhanas.

The Suitability of Sādhana Practice for Westerners

It is likely that some people’s reaction to the Sādhanas described will be that they are unnecessarily complicated; that it would be better to sit down Zen-style and get right to the heart of the matter by entering into the pure state of void without intermediate steps. This is a reasonable viewpoint and one that would surely commend itself in principle to Tantric Buddhists themselves, but with a proviso. They would probably answer: “By all means get directly to the heart of the matter without the assistance of psychic forces visualized as deities if you can!” Indeed, that is precisely what Tantric adepts do when they have transcended the need for supports.

My own experience and that of a number of Zen followers among my Chinese and Western acquaintance incline me to think that, even after long years of effort, relatively few people using the direct approach manage to get beyond the elementary stage of stilling the mind for a little while. Undoubtedly, there are some who succeed in entering deep Samādhi, reaching the state of bliss and going beyond that, but there would seem to be many more who do not. Now, the Tantric

method, with its exacting preliminaries and elaborate techniques, may intimidate people not willing to cope with so much “extraneous detail;” yet, it can be said that, of those who carry out the preliminaries faithfully and then perform the Sādhanas with zeal and regularity, very few fail to make notable advances. However, I do not want to be led by my own predilection into making false comparisons, so I hasten to add that most of my successful Tantric friends are Mongols or Tibetans. It could be argued that Tibetans, a people who have for a thousand years been ardently pursuing the mystic’s goal, do not constitute a fair comparison with Westerners or with modern Chinese and Japanese. That may indeed be so.

In any case, it is obvious that each man’s choice between the more and the less complicated forms of mystical endeavor must depend on his personality and on whether or not he is irrevocably committed to the view that rituals are cumbersome. It is true that mysticism, by its very nature, suggests simplicity. Union with the pure, undifferentiated Void is a concept according well with absence of formalism. And yet? The history of most mystical sects includes accounts of initiations and elaborate symbols; this seems to bear out Lama Govinda’s contention that a special imagery based on psychic correspondences is needed for cutting through the barriers separating everyday consciousness from the states lying beyond discursive thought.