The Tantric Mode of Meditation

Deity yoga, as is made clear in Tsong-kha-pa’s lengthy treatment of the difference between Sūtra and Mantra in his Great Exposition of Secret Mantra,a is the distinctive essence of tantric meditation. It provides a unique combination of method (compassion) and wisdom (realization of selflessness) in one consciousness and thus an additional mode of meditating on selflessness. Let us consider the process of cultivating deity yoga in meditation through the example of Action Tantra as presented by Tsong-kha-pa’s students, Düldzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen and Ke-drup Ge-lek-pel-sang.b The process is structured around successively more profound stages of meditative stabilizations of exalted body, speech, and mind. Our concern in this chapter is with the first.

See H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, Tantra in Tibet (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977; reprint Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1987), 81-169. A condensed version of this chapter and the next has appeared in my article “The Ultimate Deity in Action Tantra and Jung’s Warning Against Identifying with the Deity,” Buddhist-Christian Studies 5 (1985): 159-172. b For exposition of the procedure of meditation on selflessness and on appearance in Tantra I shall use short explanations of Action Tantra yoga by two of Tsongkha-pa’s students, Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen (’dul ’dzin grags pa rgyal mtshan, 13741434) in his Presentation of the General Rites of Action and Performance Tantra and Their Application to the Three Lineages, Set Down by Dül-dzin According to the Foremost [Tsongkha-pa’s] Practice (bya spyod kyi spyi’i cho ga’i rnam par bzhag pa rigs gsum la sbyor tshul rje’i phyag bzhes bzhin ’dul ba ’dzin pas bkod pa), Collected Works of Rje Tsoṅ-kha-pa Blo-bzaṅ-grags-pa, vol. 17 (na), 437-449.6, and by Ke-drup Ge-lek-pel-sang (mkhas grub dge legs dpal bzang, 1385-1438) in his Extensive Explanation of the Format of the General Tantra Sets (rgyud sde spyi’i rnam par gzhag pa rgyas par brjod pa). With

respect to the latter, the edition used is that published by Ferdinand D. Lessing and Alex Wayman in their Mkhas Grub Rje’s Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantras (The Hague: Mouton, 1968), 158-163; see the same pages for their translation. Tsong-kha-pa’s own exposition of the difference between Sūtra and Mantra

in general (found in his Great Exposition of Secret Mantra which I have translated in H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Hopkins, Tantra in Tibet) and the procedure of Action Tantra in particular (found in H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, The Yoga of Tibet London: George Allen and Unwin, 1981; reprinted as Deity Yoga with minor corrections, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1987]) are very much the foundation even if not cited. Meditative stabilization of exalted body

There are basically two types of deity yoga, generation in front and self-generation—imagining a deity in front of oneself as a visitor and imagining oneself as a deity. Preliminary to this are extensive preparations (to be described in chapter four), after which the meditator begins the four-branched repetition which basically is in two parts—first the four branches and then repetition. The meditator enacts four distinct stages, these being the four branches, or members, that make repetition possible:

1. generating a deity in front called “other-base”

2. generating oneself as a deity called “self-base”

3. a step called “mind”

4. a step called “sound.”

These four are included within the meditative stabilization of exalted body; the repetition done after succeeding in visualizing these four is included in the meditative stabilization of exalted speech. The practice of visualizing an ideal being in front of oneself and making offerings and so forth, although a form a deity yoga, is not the deity yoga that distinguishes Sūtra from Mantra. The distinctively tantric practice is self-generation, imagining oneself as a deity, the second of the four branches, and thus we shall consider this first, leaving the other Action Tantra meditations for chapters four, five, and six. Imagining oneself as a deity

In Action Tantra the process of imagining, or generating, oneself as a deity is structured in six steps called six deities, which supply a basic tantric paradigm for meditation on selflessness and subsequent relation with appearance. This process is referred to but not described in the Concentration Continuation Tantra (to be cited in chapter four) and is known from the Extensive Vidāraṇa Tantra, available only in citation in Buddhaguhya’s commentary, which is extant only in Tibetan. The Extensive Vidāraṇa Tantra says: Having first bathed, a yogi Sits on the vajra cushion

And having offered and made petition Cultivates the six deities. Emptiness, sound, letter, form, Seal, and sign are the six.

The six deities are:

1. ultimate deity (also called emptiness deity or suchness deity)

2. sound deity (also called tone deity)

3. letter deity

4. form deity

5. seal deity 6. sign deity.

Let us consider these six steps in detail, using the commentaries mentioned above.

Ultimate deity. Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen describes the ultimate deity very briefly:a

The ultimate deity is meditation on emptiness:

Oṃ svabhāva-śuddhāḥ sarva-dharmāḥ svabhāvaśuddho ’haṃ (Oṃ naturally pure are all phenomena; naturally pure am I.) Just as my own suchness is ultimately free from all the proliferations [of inherent existence], so also is the deity’s suchness. Therefore, in terms of nonconceptual perception [of the final mode of subsistence of phenomena] the suchness of myself and the suchness of the deity are undifferentiable, like a mixture of water and milk.

The brevity of his description of this initial and crucial step of meditation on emptiness is due to the fact that although realization of emptiness is obviously integral to Mantra, descriptions of how to do it, though present in tantras such as the Concentration Continuation Tantra,b are found in far more detail in the Sūtra systems.c The

a Collected Works of Rje Tsoṅ-kha-pa Blo-bzaṅ-grags-pa, vol. 17 (na), 447.2-447.3. b See Deity Yoga, 104-106, 168-171.

See Gung-tang (gung thang dkon mchog bstan pa’i sgron me, 1762-1823), Beginnings of a Commentary on the Difficult Points of (Tsong-kha-pa’s) “Differentiation of the Interpretable and the Definitive,” the Quintessence of “The Essence of Eloquence” (drang nges meditator is expected to bring such knowledge to this practice. The description of the ultimate deity by Ke-drup in his Extensive Explanation of the Format of the General Tantra Sets speaks to this point directly:a

Meditation within settling well—in dependence upon a Middle Way reasoning such as the lack of [being] one or many and so forth—that one’s mind is empty of inherent existence is the suchness of self. Then, meditation [on the fact] that the suchness of whatever deity is being meditated and the suchness of oneself are undifferentiably without inherent existence is the suchness of the deity. That twofold suchness is the suchness deity from among the six deities. It is the equivalent of meditating on emptiness within saying svabhāva [that is, oṃ svabhāva-śuddhāḥ sarva-dharmāḥ svabhāva-śuddho ’haṃ: “Oṃ naturally pure are all phenomena; naturally pure am I”] or śūnyatā oṃ śūnyatājñānavajrasvabhāvātmako ’haṃ: “I have a nature of indivisible emptiness and wisdom”] in higher tantra sets.

A Middle Way reasoning such as the lack of being an inherently existent one or an inherently existent plurality is used for the sake of realizing first that oneself (or, alternately, one’s own mind) does not inherently exist. Thus, this first step in imagining oneself as a deity incorporates the Sūtra style meditation described in the previous chapter (14 ff.):

1. ascertaining what is being negated—inherent existence

2. ascertaining entailment of emptiness

3. ascertaining that the “I” and the aggregates are not inherently the same

4. ascertaining that the “I” and the aggregates are not inherently different

5. realizing the absence of inherent existence of the “I” in spacelike meditative equipoise.

Tsong-kha-pa and his followers emphasize over and over again that

rnam ’byed kyi dga’ ’grel rtsom ’phro legs bshad snying po’i yang snying) (Guru Deva: Sarnath, no date), 21.7-21.11. a The text is Lessing and Wayman, Fundamentals, 158.16ff; for their translation, see the same.

the view of emptiness in Sūtra and in Mantra is the same,a this preferably being as explained by what is considered to be the final philosophical system, the Middle Way Consequence School.b Thus, these five steps are to be brought into the tantric meditation in toto.

The difference is that tantric practitioners, after meditating on their own lack of inherent existence, proceed to reflect on the emptiness of the deity as whom they will appear and then reflect on the sameness of themselves and the deity in terms of their own and the deity’s ultimate mode of subsistence, an absence of inherent existence. The ultimate reality of oneself and the ultimate reality of the deity are viewed as like “water and milk” which mix so completely that they cannot be distinguished. Thus, the first step in meditating on oneself as a deity is to realize that, from the viewpoint of the perception of suchness, oneself and the deity are the same; this realization serves to break down the conception that either oneself or the deity inherently exists.

Tsong-kha-pa refers to the conception of sameness of ultimate nature as “pride”:c

Just as the suchness of oneself is ultimately free from all proliferations [of inherent existence], so is the suchness of the deity. Therefore, create the pride of the sameness of oneself and the deity in terms of nonconceptual perception of the undifferentiability of those two, like a mixture of water and milk. Concentrate without appearance [of the two as different] until your knowledge is very definite. This is the ultimate deity.

Meditating thus on the emptiness of all [coarse and subtle] selves of persons and [other] phenomena is the same essential as when in other tantras, prior to meditating on a deity, one says a mantra, such as svabhāva [that is, oṃ svabhāva-śuddhāḥ sarva-dharmāḥ svabhāva-śuddho ’haṃ: “Oṃ naturally pure are all phenomena; naturally pure am I”] , and meditates on its meaning.d

a See Tantra in Tibet, 110. b dbu ma thal ’gyur pa, prāsaṅgikamādhyamika.

c Tantra in Tibet, 106. d

Since both Tsong-kha-pa and Ke-drup speak of the ultimate deity as the equivalent of meditation on the meaning of the mantra in the higher tantra sets, That the meditator takes pride in ultimately having the same nature as the deity suggests that the meditator develops a conscious willingness to identify himself or herself with the deity in terms of their final nature. The word “pride” suggests the boldness of making the identification—a force of will being required to overcome the reluctance to make such a grand identification in the face of analytical unfindability which is commonly associated with diminution in

a beginning stage, since, as the Fifth Dalai Lama says (see 31), the initial experience of unfindability is of losing something. This additional step of conscious identification of the sameness of final nature of oneself and of the deity drastically alters the space-like meditative equipoise which is a state of concentration solely on a nonaffirming negative, a mere absence of inherent existence. Now, one comes to meditate on an affirming negativea—that is, on the

sameness in final nature of oneself and the deity as being without inherent existence. Even though this is done through the route of an initial space-like meditative equipoise meditating on the nonaffirming negative of first one’s own and then the deity’s inherent existence, the conclusion of the first step in selfgeneration is a positive affirmation of the sameness of oneself and the deity in terms of a pure final nature, itself a mere absence of inherent existence.

The relation between the emptiness realized and the being who appears subsequent to space-like meditative equipoise is made more explicit through this conscious identification. The passage from space-like meditative equipoise to taking cognizance of other objects is now no longer, as in the Sūtra system, a matter of merely letting other objects appear to the mind within the context of seeing them as like illusions. The meditator now consciously takes the ultimate deity as the basic stuff of the appearances yet to come. A bridge is made between emptiness and appearance—going beyond realization of their compatibility as in the Sūtra systems.

that Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen puts the mantra at the head of this Action Tantra meditation is clearly a case of bringing a practice from other Tantras to this one. Still, since he claims in the title of his work, Presentation of the General Rites of Action and Performance Tantra and Their Application to the Three Lineages, Set Down by Dül-dzin According to the Foremost Tsong-kha-pa’s Practice, to be presenting Tsong-kha-pa’s system of practice, the suggestion is that Tsong-kha-pa advised him to use the mantra in the actual practice of Action Tantra, perhaps because of its familiarity. a ma yin dgag, paryudāsapratiṣedha.

Appearances are no longer just allowed to re-appear; instead, the meditator deliberately reflects on her own final nature as being the stuff out of which they will appear.

The fact that emptiness (and the mind fused with it in realization) is called a deity is similar to calling the emptiness of the mind the Buddha nature, Buddha lineage, or naturally abiding lineage in that it is all-powerful in the sense of being that which makes everything possible. As Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Middle says:b

For whom emptiness is possible For that person all is possible.

Due to the emptiness of inherent existence, change and transformation are possible, whereas without it everything is frozen in substantial existence. Here in this first step of deity yoga the meditator identifies himself, in terms of ultimate nature, with this basic stuff. Sound deity. In the second through fifth steps the mind of wisdom, fused with and realizing emptiness, is used as a basis of emanation—the mind itself appearing in form. Rather than merely letting phenomena appear as is done after space-like meditative equipoise in the Sūtra system, the yogi uses the mind of wisdom as the stuff out of which and within which first sounds and then visible forms and so forth will appear. About the sound deity Dül-dzin-drak-pagyel-tsen says:

The tone or sound deity is the contemplation:

From within emptiness [the wisdom realizing the ultimate deity appears] in the aspect of the tones of the mantra resounding in space. Within continuously realizing the emptiness of inherent existence, the mind of wisdom itself first appears as the sounds of the mantra of the deity whom the meditator will become, resounding in space. Ke-drup indicates that the sounds of the mantra are, in entity, the deity:

Then from within emptiness contemplate what, in entity, is just whatever deity is being meditated but, in aspect, is resounding in the aspect of the sounds of the mantra to be repeated. One-pointed mental observation of this is the sound deity.

Out of emptiness comes mantra—word—which itself is the deity. It is clear that the meditator is not to think of the deity as only appearing when the god with a face, arms, legs, and so forth manifests. Everything that appears from this point on is made from the ultimate deity and is essentially the deity.

Letter deity. The meditator’s mind realizing the sameness of ultimate nature of oneself and the deity transforms into a white, flat moon disc shining in space on which the letters of the mantra appear standing around its edge (facing inward, according to oral explanations). Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen says: The letter deity is the contemplation:

My mind having the subjective aspect of realizing the undifferentiable suchness of myself and the deity becomes a moon disc. The aspects of the mantra tones resounding in space are set on it in the aspect of written letters like very pure mercury adhering to [or completely mixing with] grains of gold. In an explanation of the example by Ye-shay-gyel-tsen, the sounds of the mantra are compared to mercury that mixes with grains of the gold, the written letters. Hence, in his stimulating explanation, the upright letters are not just color and shape but are fused with their respective sounds.

Ke-drup simplifies the example, suggesting that, at least to him, Tsong-kha-pa did not emphasize this fusion of sound and visible form: Then, meditate on what in entity is just whatever deity is being meditated but in aspect is the letters of the mantra to be repeated in the aspect of the color of refined gold standing on one’s own mind which has transformed into a moon in space. This is the letter deity. Despite Ke-drup’s not mentioning the mixture of sound and visible form, it seems to me to be an important connecting link in the gradual evolution from emptiness to sound to visible form.

Form deity. The next step is the transformation of this moon disc with upright letters into the usual physical form of the deity with a face, arms, legs, and so forth. Prior to that, however, there is an intermediary step of emitting from the moon a multitude of compassionately beneficent forms of the deity, through which active compassion is established as the precursor of one’s own bodily appearance. As Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen says: The form deity is creation of the pride that the deity is not different from yourself within meditating on the deity:

[The moon and mantra letters] are transformed such that the hand symbol of the deity [appears on the moon] with the mantra letters. Variegated rays of light are emitted from the moon, hand symbol, and mantra. From the points of the light rays innumerable forms of the deity emerge, pervading the entire sphere of space. Through emanating great clouds of offerings 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 transmigrators—hell-beings and so forth—as well as satisfying those beings with whatever they want]. Then, the rays of light as well as the divine bodies return and enter the moon disc, hand symbol, and mantra which are my mind, whereupon I emerge in the full form of the deity.

The moon and mantra letters transform such that a hand-symbol— a vajra or wheel, for instance—also appears on the moon. Then, from all of these emanate rays of light from which, in turn, myriad forms of the deity emerge. These deities then emanate great clouds piled with offerings which they offer to already enlightened beings. The deities also emanate great clouds from which a rain-stream of ambrosia descends, cleansing and satisfying all other beings. The Dalai Lama movingly describes this phase of the meditation: Imagine that from the moon and the mantra letters light rays are emitted, from the points of which emerge forms of the deity to be meditated. These deities emanate clouds of offerings to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and so forth, as well as clouds with a rain of nectar. It falls on the beings in cyclic existencea and purifies them, giving a good body to those who need it, coolness to those suffering from heat, the warmth of the sun to those suffering from cold, food and drink to the hungry and thirsty—emanating to each just what he or she needs, affording beings the basis for practicing the path as well as teachers to instruct them in the essential paths of the four truths, the two truths, and so forth. They are caused to ascend the paths and attain the final happiness of Buddhahood.

The activity of offering to high beings fortifies the basic motivation toward enlightenment by associating the purpose of worthwhile material things and pleasures with Buddhahood. The activity of cleansing those trapped in suffering makes the very essence of physical appearance be compassionate activity for the welfare of the world.

Psychologically, the meditator must confront and transform many untamed contents of mind which appear as the deprived and depraved beings who receive the bountiful blessings of the rain of ambrosia. One can speculate that a prime reason for the vivid descriptions of the hells and other unfortunate existences found in other textsb is to make manifest to oneself unconscious tendencies of mind and spirit so that such meditative confrontation and transformation can be enacted.

According to Tibetan explanations, imitating the deeds of Buddhahood through raining down this ambrosia establishes patterns and predispositions to be fulfilled after one’s own enlightenment. In addition, an internal transformation is enacted in a process that begins with a step much like Jung’s description of assimilation of unconscious complexes, not through identification,

a ’khor ba, saṃsāra. b See, for example, H.V. Guenther’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Berkeley, Calif.: Shambhala, 1971), 56-62, and Khetsun Sangbo’s Tantric Practice in Nyingma (London:

but through confrontation. Jung says:a

The supreme aim of the opus psychologicum is conscious realization, and the first step is to make oneself conscious of contents that have hitherto been projected.

Recognition of the needy and unpleasant beings to be helped by the beneficent rain constitutes confrontation with one’s own tendencies and predispositions. It is interesting to note that the transformation is not an instantaneous transmutation into divinity but begins with first satisfying the needs of the deprived and depraved contents.b Also, oral explanations from lamas indicate that the rain of ambrosia gradually leads these beings (psychological contents) to higher

and higher levels through providing opportunities for practice, teachings, and so forth. The sense of quasi-otherness under the guise of which this practice is done has, as its basis, the same wisdom as Jung’s warning to assimilate unconscious contents through confrontation, not through identification, in order to avoid being taken over by them, as will be discussed in the next chapter. The step of healingly transforming these contents after recognizing them proceeds a step beyond Jung’s confrontational assimilation in that these forces, once confronted, not only lose much of their autonomous power but also are transformed.

Although only Highest Yoga Mantra mirrors in its deity yoga the afflicted processesc of (1) death, (2) intermediate state, and (3)

The Collected Works of C.G. Jung (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971, second printing 1974), vol. 16, para. 471 (the last number refers not to the page number but to the paragraph number, which is used for coordination between editions). b See the description of a similar practice done in the Vajrasattva meditation and repetition of mantra in Khetsun Sangpo, Tantric Practice in Nyingma, 149-150. c

Tsong-kha-pa gives this opinion in his explication of Yoga Tantra in the Great Exposition of the Stages of Secret Mantra: Cultivation of deity yoga in the pattern of the stages of production of [a life in cyclic existence [mimicking the process of death, intermediate state, and rebirth—the thoroughly afflicted class [of phenomena—is not set forth in any reliable text of the three lower tantra sets; consequently, such is a

distinguishing feature of Highest Yoga Mantra. However, [in the three lower tantra sets] there is a cultivation of deity yoga in the pattern of the very pure class [of phenomena, for the cultivation of the five manifest enlightenments [in Yoga Tantra, for instance] is said to be meditation within assuming the pride of such and such [stage] in

rebirth by (1) mimicking the eight signs of death,a appearing (2) as a seed syllable, and then (3) as a deity with a physical body, it strikes me that these stages of gradual appearance as a deity in Action Tantra mirror, in pure form, an ordinary, uncontrolled process of appearance—the imitation being for the sake of gaining control over it. Given the selfishness of ordinary life, there must be a phase in the process of awakening after sleep opposite to the compassionate

emanation of myriad helpful forms. In ordinary, selfish life, the corresponding psychological structuring of our relation to the environment would be the emanation of forms similar to ourselves for the sake of warding off anyone who would interrupt our pleasure, making sure that disease visits others and not ourselves, wreaking havoc on others for the sake of control, and so forth. It also may be that this process in ordinary life is so out of control that one emanates forms that destroy one’s own welfare, much like dream beings that pursue us or a paranoiac’s attackers.

In this transmutory practice, after the enactment of such compassionate activity, the rays and deities return with actualized (not just potential) compassion to dissolve with all their power and experience into the moon, letters, and hand-symbol which turn into the deity. The meditator now could not view the deity as just a neutral appearance of light in a certain form but must see and feel it as an active expression of compassion and wisdom. Ke-drup says:

Then, from those letters innumerable rays of light are emitted, at the points of which innumerable aspects of the body of just that deity being meditated are emitted. These purify all ill deeds, obstructions, and sufferings of all sentient beings and delight all the Buddhas as well as their children [that is, Bodhisattvas with offerings. Then the rays of light together with the deities again gather, dissolving into the letters, due to which the moon together

accordance with the stages of full purification of Bodhisattvas in their last lifetime. See H.H the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, Yoga Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2005), 76. a Mirage, smoke, fireflies, flame of a butter lamp, mind of vivid white appearance, mind of vivid red or orange increase, mind of vivid black near attainment, and mind of clear light. See Lati Rinbochay and Jeffrey Hopkins, Death, Intermediate State, and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism (London: Rider/Hutchinson, 1980; Ithaca, N.Y.:

with the letters thoroughly transforms into the body of whatever deity is being meditated. Observation of the full generation of this divine body is the form deity. When doing approximation upon cultivating self-generation, except for just the principal [figure] it is not necessary to meditate on the surrounding [figures], inestimable mansion, and so forth.

The rays of light emitted from the moon, which itself is a manifestation of the mind realizing the ultimate deity, are endowed with compassionate potential for appearance in forms working the weal of sentient beings. One has appeared in divine form, the essence of which is the wisdom of emptiness and active compassion. Still, self-generation is not complete. The imagined deity must be further enhanced.

Seal deity. Enhancement is accomplished through uttering mantra at the same time as physically touching important places on one’s imagined divine body with a hand-gesture called a seal. Dül-dzindrak-pa-gyel-tsen says:

The seal deity is to construct the pledge seal of the particular lineage and to bless into a magnificent state the heart, point between the brows, the neck, and the shoulders through touching them with the seal and repeating the pledge mantra. The one pledge seal of the particular lineage may be used or individual seals for each of the places may be used. Ke-drup speaks of touching not five (counting the shoulders as two) but nine places:

Then, touch the crown protrusion, hair-treasury [a single coiled hair in the middle of the brow], eyes, the two shoulders, neck, heart, and navel with the individual mantras and seals if you know them. If you do not know that much, do it with the single mantra and seal of whatever the general lineage is from among the three lineages [One-GoneThus,b lotus, and vajra lineages. Touching and blessing those places into a magnificence is the seal deity. It is the equivalent of blessing the [six] sense spheres [that is, sense organs in the higher tantras.

The word for “blessing” means to transform into a magnificent state. Thus, with each mantra and touch the meditator imagines a heightening of the particular area of the divine body in terms of its brilliance and magnificence. This is a further sanctifying of an appearance that is already sacred due to being a manifestation of wisdom and compassion.

Sign deity. Now that all the signs of a full-fledged deity are present, the meditator, based on clear appearance of pure mind and body, can gain a sense of divine personhood or selfhood. Dül-dzin-drakpa-gyel-tsen says:

The sign deity is, within observing just that deity that has been generated, to perform analytical meditation— visualizing it [more clearly] and so forth—as well as the stabilizing meditation of mental one-pointedness. Two types of meditation are used, analytical, which involves particular attention to details or brightening of the object, and stabilizing, which is one-pointed attention on just one aspect.

For deity yoga to succeed, two prime factors are needed—clear appearance of a divine body and pride in being that deity. Ke-drup says: Then, clearly visualizing the aspect of the deity and making the pride [of being the deity firm, mentally observe it onepointedly. This is the sign deity. With success in visualizing the deity, both mind and body appear to be pure; hence, the sense of self that the meditator has in dependence upon purely appearing mind and body is of a pure self, a divine self. About such divine pride, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama says in Tantra in Tibet:

…initially one meditates on an emptiness, and then, within the context of the mind’s continuous ascertainment of emptiness, the meditator believes that he/she is using this mind as the basis [or source] of appearance. At that time, the sense of a mere “I” designated in dependence on the pure resident—the deity—and residence—the palace and surroundings—is a fully qualified divine pride. As much as one can cultivate such pride, so much does one harm the conception of inherent existence that is the root of cyclic existence.

Divine pride itself is said to harm or weaken the conception of inherent existence, which is at the root of all other afflictions including afflicted pride. Due to the initial and then continuous practice of realizing the emptiness of inherent existence, the meditator realizes that the person is merely designated in dependence upon pure mind and body and is not analytically findable among or separate from those bases of designation. Thereby, divine pride itself serves as a means for eliminating exaggerated conceptions of the status of phenomena including the person; this is how it prevents afflicted ego-inflation.

With success at deity yoga at the level of the meditative stabilization of exalted mind (discussed in chapter six, 153ff.), the practitioner has the factors of wisdom and compassionate method in one consciousness at one time. The “ascertainment factor” of this consciousness realizes the emptiness of inherent existence at the same time as the “appearance factor”b appears in ideal, compassionate form acting to help beings. This is said to be superior to the Sūtra

version of the union of method and wisdom in which method (cultivation of compassion) merely affects wisdom with its force and in which wisdom (realization of emptiness) merely affects compassionate activities with its force, the two not actually being manifest at one time. In Mantra the presence of compassionate method and wisdom in a single consciousness is said to quicken progress toward Buddhahood—a state of nondual realization of the nature of phenomena within spontaneous dualistic appearance for the benefit of others.

A profound development has occurred when a practitioner becomes capable of deity yoga. After realizing emptiness, appearances are no longer just allowed to re-emerge within understanding that there is a conflict between how they appear to exist in their own right and their actual lack of such concreteness; rather, the practitioner’s own mind realizing emptiness

and understanding that one’s own and a deity’s final nature are the same becomes the stuff out of which phenomena appear. The relation between emptiness and appearance, the gap between an experience of unfindability and re-emergence, is bridged.

Paradigm change

Tsong-kha-pa and his followers present the Perfection and Mantra vehicles as an integrated progression; the very foundations of Perfection Vehicle practice, altruism and wisdom, are reformulated in the Mantra Vehicle in the practice of deity yoga. As will be clear in chapter nine on his delineation of the tantric difference—this being the meditative use of a mind of wisdom to appear in compassionately active form—he stresses the continuity between the two vehicles, two

models or paradigms of the relation of the fundamental emptiness (or the wisdom realizing emptiness) with appearance. But is the progression from the Sūtra to the Mantra model of relation with appearance necessarily a smooth transition, a harmonious, incremental putting together of two models, or could it also be fraught with tension?

In preparing for a Buddhist-Christian Encounter conference in Hawaii in 1984 in which Hans Küng’s theological adaptation of Thomas Kuhn’s theory of paradigm change in the sciences was used as the focus, I was struck by Kuhn’s and Küng’s emphasis on crisis in the development and movement from one paradigm to another. For me, Küng’s description of a critical period during which inadequacies and discrepancies of the old paradigm lead to uncertainty such that

conviction in the adequacy of the old paradigm is shaken rang true with my own experience of the transition from Sūtra practice to tantric practice. Thus, I have found it helpful to use the language of paradigm change—of an initial period of crisis, then a new formation, and finally a sense of continuity with the old paradigm—to appreciate the distinctiveness of tantric deity yoga and the issues remaining from the Sūtra model of meditation that it resolves.

My suggestion is that an individual practitioner’s change from the Sūtra to the Mantra model may not, in some cases, be a harmonious gradual acquisition of a new technique but may be fraught with psychological crisis. Despite the structural harmony that Tsong-kha-pa presents with such brilliance and clarity, the history of a particular practitioner’s personal incorporation of this paradigm change may not be a smooth tr ansition. I recognize the autobiographical nature of these reflections and offer them only as a stimulus to appreciation of the profundity of deity yoga.

From one model to another

In that the content to be understood through the meditations of both the Sūtra and Mantra models is the nature and basis of appearance, we are dealing with two macro models, for they are both experientially oriented explanations of the very phenomena of life. Despite being taught by the same school (in this case, the Ge-luk-pa order of Tibetan Buddhism), they are purposely kept distinct, not just to preserve schools of teachings from India, but, I would contend, to induce—through initial practice of the Sūtra model of meditation on selflessness—the crisis that will lead to appreciation of the tantric. Some Ge-luk-pa scholar-practitioners choose only to follow the Sūtra model, resisting the change to the tantric model.

This can occur

(1) by refusing to engage in tantric practice,

(2) by engaging in tantric ritual but not believing it,

(3) or by incorporating an external show of the practice of both Sūtra and Mantra but actually not penetrating either.

The change, or evolution, from the Sūtra to the Mantra model cannot actually be made until one learns in meditative experience to use the mind “realizing” emptiness and the emptiness—with which it is fused—as a basis of imaginative appearance, in imitation of a Buddha’s ability to do this in fact. Thus, the change cannot be made superficially merely through using the tantric descriptions or through sitting through a ritual that incorporates this process. A

somewhat successful Sūtra practitioner, who is able to experience something resembling space-like meditative equipoise, may arrive at a point of hiatus during which he/she is not satisfied with merely letting objects re-appear after reflecting on emptiness. The question, the crisis, of comprehending the stuff of appearances may be sufficiently pressing that he or she becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the break between the space-like realization and the subsequent

plethora of appearances, despite appearances being marked with realization of the emptiness of inherent existence through the force of the earlier cognition. There is a retraction of mind when moving from space-like meditative equipoise—in which the mind is fused with the emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena—to a condition in which the meditator’s mind only affects those appearances in the sense of marking or sealing them with this realization.

There can be a period of transitional uncertainty during which the Sūtra model is challenged for its inability to address the problem of the relation of this deep mind realizing emptiness to appearances. The problem of the relation of one’s own mind to those appearances can assume crisis proportions, creating openness to drastic change. The breakdown of the Sūtra model at this point and the crisis, induced not only by this breakdown but also by the difficulty of

comprehending the tantric model despite its availability, leads to new thinking seeking a way to solve the puzzle, a withdrawal of sole commitment to the Sūtra model even though the practitioner might not express it this way. The crisis—the breakdown of the available rules—cracks and softens the rigidity of the devotion to the old model.

The new paradigm candidate, the tantric model, was in a sense always at hand in the form of lectures and ceremonies but was hardly available since only through considerable experience with searching for objects, not finding them, and then practicing illusory-like appearance can the additional technique of using this mind realizing emptiness as the basis that itself appears in physical form be appreciated. This is partially due to the general Buddhist analytic tendency,

breaking things down to basic parts and those, in turn, to smaller and smaller units since, in the face of this basic perspective, such a grandly synthetic view as is presented in the tantric model might seem even non-Buddhist. A version of the synthetic view is present in the Sūtra system in that all appearances are viewed as the sport of emptiness in the sense that the emptiness of inherent existence makes them possible; however, this does not take account of the relation of mind to those appearances as the tantric system does.

The change to the new paradigm constitutes a revolution in outlook, lending an entirely new sense to the meaning of mindonly beyond the one rejected earlier, as a “lower view,” in the progress toward the view of the Middle Way School. When the mind realizing emptiness is itself used as that from which phenomena are emanated, the practitioner’s orientation toward the world of appearances undergoes a fundamental re-

organization; the model of understanding appearance changes. As I have suggested, this is not done without opposition and struggle both from within and from without, the latter being from concern with teachers and members of the monastic community in the old camp. A period of doubt, loss of faith, and uncertainty

due to the pressing inadequacy of the old model is transcended through conversion to a model that copes better with the relation between mind and appearance on an experiential, practical level. The conversion could be prompted by attending a rite where the tantric model is used or by one’s own daily rehearsal of a rite that previously did not have much meaning.

The new, tantric model absorbs the old, preserving in its procedures an important place for the space-like meditative equipoise in the first phase of cultivation of deity yoga, the ultimate deity. Hence, the meditator experiences, after the conversion, a continuity with his or her earlier practice through

enactment (at least six times daily) of a ritual that also incorporates the old model. Due to the continuing, and even essential, importance of realization of the absence of inherent existence and of altruism, a fundamental continuity is experienced: the very structure of the old model, wisdom and compassion, is literally reshaped to appear in ideal form, wise and compassionate.

Mantra, in this light, can be seen as a new formation of the Buddhist tradition, not a new invention of a tradition; the primordial importance of wisdom and compassion remains the basis. In the progression I have outlined, the process of moving from one model to the other, at least for some persons, may not be a simple matter of the incorporation of a new technique, deity yoga, as the Ge-luk-pa tradition in its emphasis on the integration of two vehicles gives the

impression that it is. Crisis and shift may better describe the person’s progression from the Sūtra vehicle to the Mantra vehicle; still, from the new perspective the continuity can be seen. Perhaps, the deity yoga that constitutes the difference between the two vehicles according to Tsong-kha-pa and his followers is not merely a distinctive, important factor of the tantric path not found in Sūtra but also a difficult one the comprehension of which is fraught with developmental crisis.