The nineteen samayas of the six Buddha groups according to Kalacakra
The list that follows is as taught by the Venerable Lati Rinpoche at the Institut Vajra Yogini, France in July, 1996.
1. The four Vajra group samayas:
Keeping the vajra. Keeping the bell. Keeping the mudra. Following a Master.
2. The ten Ratna group samayas:
To practice the ten types of generosity, i.e. giving
Iron. Copper. Precious metal (or gold). Cow. Horse. Elephant. Girl (or daughter). Ground (or earth). Mother/consort. One’s own flesh.
3. The two Chakra group samayas:
To do the practice of the five meats and the five nectars (That is, not to feel disgusted by them). To control or guard one’s five senses. 4. The one Padma group samaya:
To follow a mother/consort without letting the drops flow out of one’s sex organ.
5. The one Sword group samaya:
To pray to or worship the Three Jewels.
The one Buddha Vajradhara group samaya:
"Compassion with the nature of emptiness", i.e. to meditate on compassion with the special method, the special method meaning the perception of emptiness. In his Presentation of the Four Great Secret Tantra Sets, Ngak-wang Pelden, a nineteenth century Mongolian gelug scholar, lists them as follows:
With respect to the pledges of the individual lineages that are explained in Kalacakra:
In the vajra lineage there are the four retentions of vajra, bell seal and lama.
In the jewel lineage, in accordance with the statement " jewels, iron, copper, oxen, horses, elephants, girls, nor’dzin, consorts and one’s own flesh are asserted as the ten gifts", there is the giving of the ten gifts.
In the wheel lineage one is [to make use of ] the five fleshes, the ambrosias, and guarding the collection of the sense powers.
In the lotus lineage one sustains the restraints of pure behaviour that is without emission.
In the sword lineage one worships the Three Jewels and so forth.
In the sole vajra lineage, progenitor of Conquerors, one generates the feat of the Great Seal having an essence of Emptiness and Compassion.
This material is of great interest and we are very grateful to Thubten Wangchuk for taking the time and effort to send it to us for publication in this newsletter.
