༄༅། །བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་དཔལ་འཁོར་ལོ་སོམ་པ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་ལྷ་ལྔའི་སྒྲུབ་འཁོར་བཞུགས་སོ། CHOM DEN DE PEL KHOR LO DOM PA HLEN KYE HLA NGE DRUB KHOR ZHUG SO
Sadhana of the Five Coemergent Deities of the Glorious Bhagavān Chakrasamvara Footnotes and Mandala Drawing Instructions
This Guru Yoga is not part of the Tibetan Sadhana but practiced before, as done in Pyang monastery during the Chakrasamvara conference in May 2009 with HH Chetsang Rinpoche. It was translated by Rachel Dodds. 1
Yab is the father or masculine principle; yum is the mother or feminine principle; yab/yum are the masculine and feminine principles in (sexual) union. 2
གཅིག
With the vase empowerment one gets permission to meditate as yidams and on their mandalas (appearance and emptiness are inseparable). That is, we get permission to meditate on the generation stage. LC 3
The second empowerment purifies our speech, which becomes the same as the speech of all buddhas. We get permission to recite mantras (sound inseparable from emptiness). That is, we get permission to meditate on the recitation stage. LC 4
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‚From the throat of the guru and Chakrasamvara yab/yum red light rays and the stream of the mingled white and red bodhicitta of meditative absorption descend from their place of union and dissolve into the disciples’ throats.‛ Ganges Mahamudra Practice Instruction CD #2, track 12, translation by Ari Kiev of live commentary on the mahamudra upadesha given by Garchen Rinpoche in Tucson, Arizona, June 2005 5
With the fourth empowerment the mind-instruction empowerment is given, which is similar to the vajra master empowerment. LC
Vajratopa in this case (or in other texts it is Vajra Surya or Dorje Nyima) is the consort of Vajrasattva (in other occasions she is the consort of Ratnasambhava). LC 6
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
2 This symbol is added into the text to indicate ringing of the bell according to practice at Phyang monastery. DK According to Lati Rinpoche, ‚*this part of the mantra+ has eight sections. While reciting this, ring the bell in the eight directions. This symbolizes the churning movement within the eight channels of the secret places of Heruka and Vajravarahi, which induces the experience of the serial and reversed joys‛ LR, p.95 7
In the Vajrayogini sadhana there appears an alternative prayer for the blessing of vajra and bell, which is much shorter, probably suitable for times when one cannot do the full puja. This short prayer is: ‚Om Mahavajra Hung‛ (blessing of vajra); ‚Om Vajra Ghanda Ah‛ (blessing of bell). 8
Footnotes with additional instructions from Drupon Lama Champa (LC) as taught during the 3 year retreat in Almora 2004-2007; HH Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche (DK) as taught during the Chakrasamvara conference at Phyang monastery in Ladakh in May 2009—most of his teachings come from the Tibetan commentary —most his teachings come from the commentary ‘bde mchog lhan skyes lha dril bu’i zhal lung’ (Instructions of Drilbupa) written by the previous Trichen Rinpoche; Drupon Thinley (DT); Gabe Lama (GL); Traga Rinpoche (TR); notes which derive from translations of the Chakrasamvara long sadhana text commentaries (LTCT = Long Text Commentary Translation); notes which derive from the mostly written Drikung Kagyu Oral Tradition (DKOT); Mantra translations from Elizabeth English’s Vajrayogini (EE); commentary by Lati Rinpoche (LR) in his Commentary and Sadhana of the Generation Stage Practice of Mahasiddha Ghantapa’s “Heruka Body Mandala”; visualizations on the Heruka Body Mandala by Lozang (LZ); comment from Robert Thurman’s (RT) Circling the sacred mountain. Footnotes are by Rachel Dodds and Manu Fernandez, participants in the 2004-2007 Drikung Kagyu Almora retreat, and Mark Riege.
Introduction Some kalpas ago, human beings first appeared on Earth. They came from the god realms. At that time, there was no Dharma—only god-being ways. Gradually, the concept of ‚I‛ and ‚mine‛ emerged and thus afflictive emotions arose. Life span became much shorter. Human beings needed a king [to rule them], so kingdoms arose. Then gradually the symbol of the male and the female arose. Then desire [and reproductive sex] began, and children were born. 9
གཉིས་
After some kalpas, the first buddhas appeared. Buddha Shakyamuni was the fourth buddha of this kalpa, so this kalpa is relatively new. In the human realm, in the region of the Indian subcontinent, two gods became prominent: Shiva and his consort, Uma. Shiva and Uma had a strong [sexual] desire toward each other. They made love four to five times a day. They always wanted to be together.
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Branching out from Shiva and Uma, there were other powerful beings who dwelt at certain places, like Mt. Kailash, Godavari, Kulu, Bangladesh, and so forth. People thought that the best, most powerful beings on Earth were Shiva and Uma. They prayed to them in all these different [power] places. But Shiva and Uma were too busy making love. A strong desire to have intercourse was in their nature. They did not have any time to go to other places, so they sent statues, lingams (phalluses), and yonis (symbols of vaginas) in lieu of themselves. Their followers were very impressed by this and thought these were very powerful symbols, so they put the lingams and yonis in several places of worship. Until today Hindus pray to them. Gradually, because of their strong desire and
Shiva, Uma, [and their followers] were always drinking blood, eating flesh, and so forth. It looks as if Chakrasamvara is also eating these [impure] substances, but what he is actually doing is transforming them into nectar (Skt. amrita, Tib. dutsi), by blessing them. That is why these substances are still used [symbolically] in the [tantric] Buddhist sadhana. LC (oral translations and explanations by Lama Chamspa during his English lectures of Chakrasamvara in December 2001) Preparation You should have a picture or thangka of Chakrasamvara in front of you. You should also have a bell (ghanda), thunderbolt scepter (vajra), hand-drum (damaru), and skullcup (kapala). The best place for the practice is in an isolated area. This sadhana was practiced by mahasiddhas such as, Luipa, Nagpo Chopa, and Drilbupa, who achieved realization through it. Chakrasamvara has many different forms, but this present Chakrasamvara sadhana is called The Five-Deity Chakrasamvara. It was Drilbupa’s main practice, also known as ‚Drilbupa’s Five-Deity Chakrasamvara.‛ 10
གསུམ་
This practice was introduced from India into Tibet and translated to Tibetan by mahasiddha Ga lotsawa. He gave its transmission to Phagmo Drupa, and Phagmo Drupa gave it to Jigten Sumgön. We have the unbroken mahasiddha realization lineage until today. Chakrasamvara remains the main practice of our lineage.
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བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
The practice is divided into different parts: Developing stage: Because sentient beings have four ways to take birth (miracle, humidity, egg, and womb), the developing stage is also divided into four parts as a way to [purify these births and] exercise the nirmanakaya: (1) Instantaneous developing stage (resembling the miracle birth). (2)Three steps (resembling the humidity birth). (3) Four steps (resembling the egg birth). (4) Five steps (resembling the birth through womb). (Numbers 3 and 4 (the four-step and five-step births) form the main part of our sadhana’s developing stage.)
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(1) Instantaneous developing stage is like wind agitating water. Instantly we can see some form arising, such as ripples on the surface of water. Likewise, some beings take up a form instantly (like a miracle). That is why we have an instantly developing stage. (2) Three steps is like taking birth by humidity. Rain and the conditions of the five elements and the power of the sun (heat), makes life grow in humidity. Beings’ consciousness gets caught in this humidity. The condition of the five elements gives way to their form. They do not have father or mother.
emotions, people started making offerings to the lingams and yonis. They did blood offerings, too. Many beings were killed [in the sacrifices]. Human beings also were sacrificed sometimes.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Then buddha Vairochana (or according to other sources it was Vajradhara) manifested as Chakrasamvara in the sambhogakaya form. At that time also all five dhyani buddhas manifested as different deities. Out of his great compassion toward all the beings that were being killed in sacrifices, Chakrasamvara subdued Shiva and Uma by crushing them under his feet (when crushed under Chakrasamvara’s feet they are called Jigched or black Bhairava and Dutsen or Uma or Kalaratri). To show the power that Chakrasamvara [and Vajravarahi] had over Shiva and Uma, the former couple took the outfits of the latter, consisting of bone ornaments, tiger skin, and so forth. Immediately after that, Shiva and Uma became enlightened. They were not worldly beings any longer thanks to the compassion of Chakrasamvara. They do not propitiate blood sacrifices anymore. At the same time, the deities, which were emanations of the five dhyani buddhas, subdued the (beings in the 24) different places. Thus all the important places where lingams and yonis were worshipped have now the presence of the five-dhyani buddhas, always helping beings. That is why now some holy places are visited both by Hindus and Buddhists. For Hindus it is more significant, because their symbols (lingam and yoni) are still there. But Buddhists also go there because Chakrasamvara is there; e.g., Kulu, Rameshwaram, and so on.
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(3) (four steps) and (4) (five steps) [They constitute] the main part [of] the five-step developing stage. This corresponds to beings taking form either through egg or through womb. Copper in earth, by melting and molding it, takes some form, like a cup, for example. Egg is like copper, a stone, or a mineral, in the sense that because of the mother’s heat, a being develops (is molded) inside it. So there is a connection with the parents in the case of an egg as well. LC
བཞི་
Note on Purification by womb Birth by womb is purified by the ‚five preliminary practices‛ or five steps of the developing stage, which are: (1) place, (2) seed syllable, (3) instrument, (4) activity, and (5) complete body. Birth by egg is purified by the ‚four vajras‛ or four steps of the developing stage, which are: (1) emptiness, (2) seed syllable (mind), (3) Om Ah Hung (seed syllables of body, speech, and mind), and (4) complete body. Birth by humidity is purified by the ‚three sadhanas‛ or three steps of the developing stage, which are: (1) sun and moon, (2) seed syllable, and (3) complete body. Miracle birth is purified by the ‚one call‛ or instantaneous developing stage, which is: the complete body.
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According to Jamgön Kongtrul, (<) the five actual enlightening factors, the four vajras, and the three rituals, (<) purify, respectively, womb birth, egg birth, and moisture-warmth birth. Miraculous birth is purified by the instantaneously complete creation. (<) Briefly, the way in which the rituals purify is as follows: Meditation on the absorption of suchness purifies the previous death experience. All-
In the heart chakra you must visualize a padma (lotus) and when you really succeed and visualize this padma, the padma itself can prevent you from rebirth in any kind of womb. (<) The padma symbolizes the womb of the mother, so once you have visualized the padma, the womb birth may be prevented and you need not come into a mother’s womb again. To prevent the transformation birth, you must visualize a moon upon the lotus and confirm it. The moon is round and bright and gives off a white light and if you visualize this moon there will be no more birth for you by being transformed (<).
ལྔ་
To prevent being born of a vapor, we visualize ourselves standing on the moon; we repeat an incantation which spreads outward and returns to shine light, and this light becomes the yidam. By meditation alone, one can reach the realm of non-form, the so-called mind-made birth. For to be born in any way, in any form, one must have a seed of consciousness which enters first. In karmic birth, the eighth consciousness is this very seed, but by visualizing a seed syllable as Hung or Hri, called the bija, this can be prevented and so birth in an egg can be prevented. Creation and completion by Jamgön Kongtrul with commentary by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; ‚On Padmasambhava’s Rainbow Body‛ in http://www.yogichen.org/chenian/bk93.html, by Yogi C.M. Chen, p.3; DKOT
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Practicing in Retreat For this practice we need the following qualities of mind and place. We need the best kind of mind, like that of Vajrasattva, whose vajra mind is the symbol of inseparability (representing the unification of the clear light and illusory body, bliss and emptiness, etc.). We do not want for this practice a middling type of mind which is lost in wordly concerns or a low type of mind which is lazy. Regarding place, we need a location which is ideally solitary, like the top of a mountain, near a big river, beside the ocean, or in the jungle. In the place we need all tantric substances (implements and offerings). We do not need to have the offerings, such as bodily fluids and wastes, forbidden flesh, and so forth, in their raw form or natural state, as prescribed in the tantras. Instead it is possible to have these in symbolic form. The water of the vase symbolizes urine, and the other substances are in the form of nectar pills (which contain extracts of sandal wood, kakola, and so on). These pills are mixed with (and dissolved into) the nectar inside the skullcup. The complete set of tantric implements or substances (ordered from your left to your right if they are placed in front of you) is: vajra, bell, damaru, skullcup, khatvanga staff, chanteu (long hand-drum), vase, and torma. Or, if it is not possible to have all these implements, at least place in front of you (from left to right): a vajra, bell, damaru, skullcup, vase, and torma. According to Lati Rinpoche (Gelugpa), the order is skullcup, vajra, bell, and damaru. If you do not have a khatvanga staff, you can put a drawing of it in the altar. The best skullcup is perfectly oval, like the shape of an egg, and in one piece only. Having as complete a tantric set of implements as possible with you during the sadhana would automatically attract dakas and dakinis like meat attracting flies, according to tantric wisdom. 11
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
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arising absorption purifies the mental body of the intermediate experience. Absorption of the cause, meditation on the lotus, sun and moon seat, purifies the physical base, the parents’ sperm and ovum, white and red. Meditation on the seed syllable purifies the entering consciousness. The transformation into implements and again the meditation on the seed syllables purifies the fetal stages of round, oval, oblong, and so on. The fully complete form purifies the birth of the developed body, speech, and mind. (pp.43 and 45, see full citation at the end of this note).
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
According to the commentary by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche on Jamgön Kongtrul’s work on creation and completion, Womb birth is purified by the style of generation called five enlightening factors, egg birth is what is called the four vajras, and birth from heat and moisture by what is called the three procedures or three rituals. The fourth type of birth is the way that beings in certain realms who have particularly subtle bodies appear. It is an instantaneous birth occurring in the absence of womb, egg, or even heat and moisture. This instantaneous birth is purified by what is called instantaneous generation, or ‚generation that is complete in an instant of recollection.‛ (<) However, practicing any one of these *four types of visualization] purifies all four [types of birth]. (p.107, see end of this note). Yogi Chen describes a visualization in which all four types of birth are purified:
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དྲུག་
On the outer part of the altar (outside the glass) place, from left to right, ten outer offerings (instead of the usual eight). The two new ones to be added, which are only used for the Chakrasamvara sadhana, are placed together in between Argham and Padyam. They are Añchamanam (water for washing the face) and Prokshanam (water for sprinkling) and are represented with water bowls, just as Argham and Padyam. Inside the altar (behind the glass) ideally four big tormas should be placed in addition to the Amitayus tormas. They are (if you are looking to the altar, from your left toward the right): the Mahakala torma surrounded by four little tormas (the khor or retinue), the Chakrasamvara torma, the Vajrayogini torma, and the Achi Chökyi Drolma torma, the latter also surrounded by four khor. These tormas should not be moved or touched throughout the entire time the yidam is being practiced. For example, for Chakrasamvara, the entire time of practice would go from the start of the yidam practice and until the end of the fivefold path of mahamudra; and for Vajravarahi it would be from the time of the yidam practice of Varahi until the end of the practices of the Six Yogas of Naropa. In the Almora temple there are five big tormas instead of four. They are (from your left to right): the Mahakala torma with four khor, the Chakrasamvara torma, the guru or lama torma (it is identical to the Vajrayogini torma, but it does not have the four skulls on the four corners), the khandro (dakini) or yum torma (which is triangular in shape), and the Achi Chökyi Drolma torma, also with four khor. In addition to these five big tormas, in the gompa there also are twenty one tormas placed in a row on a piece of wood, one for yidam Yamantaka and the other twenty for the dharmapalas. The twenty tormas for the dharmapalas have the shape and size of a regular outer torma, but in different colors and some have certain minor variations in shape and ornamentation. Thus the twenty one
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of influence (powerful or magnetizing)? The red tormas represent wrathful deities, and the white represent peaceful deities, according to Lama Chamspa.
བདུན་
The first day of the retreat you need to offer three special tormas. The first two look the same and are like the regular daily outer tormas as done in amitayus or peaceful practices, that is their base, instead of having four ‚pillars‛as in Chakrasamvara, is wrapped in four petals. The first of these two tormas is for the few peaceful (or higher order) spirits that may be floating around our retreat area with no commitment (Tib. damtsig, Skt. samaya) to become a dharmapala; this is, with no commitment to become a spirit who protects the Dharma. By doing a special prayer and offering this torma to them, these spirits are bound by oath to protect the retreatant for the duration of the retreat session. The second of these tormas is done for the same purpose, but directed to the semi-peaceful, semi-wrathful spirits (this is, for most spirits) that lurk around us. Then there is a third torma, which looks completely different from the previous two. It is much smaller or shorter than the previous two and has a different shape. It looks like a sphere placed on a kind of pedestal. The
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བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
sphere has a pointed end on its superior part (the ornament mentioned above). There is also an elongated piece of tsampa dough with a few little balls attached to its front. Its shape is the result of squeezing a tsampa lump once in one’s fist. According to Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, this offering is called chang bu, a fingerprint torma. For more details on how it is made and used, see Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s Healing with Form, Energy and Light, pp.53-54. According to tradition, this squeeze done to the dough represents the binding (or crushing?) of five hundred pretas. The little or third torma is directed to very wrathful and harmful spirits, who are very negative and cannot be bound by oath to protect the Dharma. They cannot become lokapalas or worldly protectors. However, by offering the torma to them one keeps them away so they do not come into the retreat premises and disturb the retreatant. The three tormas are placed in the same plate, side by side. 14 Oneself (or the lama) then does a short ritual usually outside near the boundary of the retreat using vajra, bell, damaru, and incense. One thinks of the people who will be allowed to enter the retreat premises during the session, such as the cook, the manager, the lama, and so on. If one forgets to think of someone who should be allowed to enter the retreat, then that person may not enter the retreat for the duration of the session. As the ritual continues, the two tormas that look the same are placed outside of the retreat premises. If possible the first one can be placed in a higher place and the second in a lower place. The third torma is thrown out as far as possible from the retreat boundaries and one visualizes an ocean of protection appearing between the place where the torma falls and the retreat boundaries.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
tormas (from your left to your right if you are looking to the altar) are: Yamantaka (Tib. Shinje) torma, four red tormas (Mamo, Za, Damchen, and Hara), one white torma (Tseringma), four red tormas (Namse, Zhingkyong Yab, Zhingkyong Yum, and Khyabjug {Skt. Rahula}), one white torma (Gyalpo), two red tormas (Chökyong and Damchen {Sumchu Tsasum}), three white tormas (Thanghla, Tsangpa, and Barhla), one red torma (Sogra), and four white tormas (Chuphenklu, Terdrommen, Tsogna Namgyal Karpo, and Nepo {Yulhla}). To the left of the twenty one tormas (before the Yamantaka torma) and outside the piece of wood where the twenty one tormas are standing, there is a big torma, which is just food (Skt. nevedyam) and does not represent any deity or dharmapala. The white tormas are for peaceful purposes and the red tormas are related more to the activity
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If one does a ritual in one’s room, one can throw mustard seeds to the four directions while saying the Om Sumbha Nisumbha mantra and doing a hand mudra at the end of the ritual. (For more details on this ritual, see the special text devoted to it called Ngöndro Torma Zhugso, pp.335-348, which is part of a volume called Drubdre Gyun Khyer Kuntu Ratne Zhallung Zhe Jawa Zhugso in short, Ratne Zhallung.) The rest of the days of the retreat only regular lokapala or outer tormas as in the yidam sadhanas are offered to the spirits that were bound by oath, so they do not forget their commitment and continue protecting the Dharma and the retreatants for the duration of the retreat session.
བརྒྱད་
According to Garchen Rinpoche, When one offers tormas, they are offered to the four types of guests, or in brief, to deities and demons. Torma is the nature of wisdom nectar. Just as one can apply wisdom as an antidote to every conceptual thought, one can make a food offering to each demon and obstructing spirit. But this is only in accord with ordinary thinking. In the moment of abiding in the nature of mind, one is free of fixation. Thus, demons and obstructing spirits are rendered harmless. Whether or not one can practice in this way will depend on the strength of one’s view. On the level of the supreme attainment, the deities are realized as the nature of emptiness. On the level of common attainments, demons are recognized as deities. The beings in the retinue of the deity are like demons. In order to engage in activities, these demons arise from the deity. In this context, you should
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Do the first session to begin the retreat after 4:00 pm but before sunset and do only a 100 counts of the mantra. If you start after sunset it is considered a sign that you may be mentally too busy during the retreat. On the other hand, if you start before sunset, it might mean that you will feel too relaxed and lazy during the retreat. The first evening you do not need to do the third part of the sadhana (tsog, etc.). Do only the first two parts, the opening prayers and the preparation and generation stage of the sadhana up to and including the mantra recitation. Ali-kali, the interdependence mantra, Vajrasattva, and the increasing mantras, should all be done 21 times each on the first and last day of retreat.
དགུ་
When going to sleep, remember to visualize yourself as Chakrasamvara. Do the same when you wake up. To wake up as Chakrasamvara means to wake up quickly, as if urged by [a feeling of] love, compassion, joy, and equanimity toward all sentient beings. An Indian mahasiddha said that Chakrasamvara wakes you up, though it is mostly thought that the four-energy deities (the four heart dakinis—Dakini, Lama, Khandarohe, and Rupini) wake you up. Before saying any mantra or prayer, recite ali-kali. Before eating or drinking think, ‚I offer this to Chakrasamvara, myself.‛ The five elements, five senses, five limbs, and the channels all are blessed by dakas and dakinis. Since inside the channels are dakas and dakinis, before eating offer the food to them, along with Chakrasamvara. Always, before eating or drinking, bless the food or drink by
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saying OM AH HUNG. Also, before putting on the clothes, bless them with OM AH HUNG. Think, as you are saying this, that you are offering to the deity (yourself) precious clothes of the best quality. Then put on your clothes while thinking, ‚may this result in the vajra body.‛
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
In the retreat area we are inside the mandala. People outside the retreat area are outside the mandala. Visualize the fence of the retreat as the dharmapalas. If one looks at someone outside the retreat, discount the mantra count you accrued in one full session (of the four daily sessions). If someone outside the retreat sees you, discount one mala count. If words come out of your mouth, discount one mala count, too. This includes talking to the cook or the manager. You are only allowed to talk to the lama and in special situations, such as if you are sick and so forth. Otherwise, if you need to communicate, do it by writing only, even to the lama.
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Keep your practice and implements (mala, bell, damaru, vajra, and so forth) secret. The mantra you recite also is secret. The reason for keeping them secret is that other people cannot understand them, and if they see or hear anything they may generate wrong view or misconceptions, which will be an obstacle for them to turn to the dharma. Do not eat garlic, onion, radish, meat, eggs, and fish. Eggs and fish, especially, are the worst because they hinder the correct pronunciation of the mantra as they affect negatively the ability of the tongue to move quickly and skillfully.
understand demons to be thoughts. If one remains undistracted from mindful awareness, there is no difference between the arising of deities and the arising of demons. (27 November-4 December 2005)
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Before starting the retreat, find a comfortable place where you will sit in your room to do your practice, like a mattress, big cushion, and so forth. On a sheet of paper draw a white double vajra or a white svastika and place the drawing under the mattress. The purpose of drawing this symbol under the meditation seat is to have a stable practice. Then, above the mattress, traditionally a human skin is placed (which you would sit directly on). Since it is not easy to obtain a human skin these days, a piece of cloth with the drawing of a human corpse on it will do. It is believed that traditionally mahasiddhas sat on an animal skin, such as the skin of a tiger. However, today this is considered a misunderstanding, as sitting on such a skin could make the mind of the meditator more aggressive (like a tiger’s mind). Thus today it is not recommended that the yogi sit on a tiger skin. Originally the idea was to sit on a real human corpse, not just a mere skin, and then do the sadhana while sitting there. Even better was if you could do the sadhana in a cemetery late at night. This was done to prove that one did not have any doubt left in one’s mind, that one had abandoned all hesitation. Furthermore, the purpose of the corpse seat was to remember impermanence, death, and samsaric suffering. Put a small cushion or a rolled cloth below your buttocks. This will make your body a little bit higher and it would be easier to sit with a straight spine. Sitting in this way it would also be easier to visualize the standing deities.
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Men are not allowed in women’s rooms and women are not allowed in men’s rooms. If you break any of the rules above, you need to apply an antidote, such as doing special pujas and dharmapala pujas. Also if some incident occurs (an obstacle), the performance of other special pujas is also sometimes necessary.
བཅུ་
Do not touch any being, including animals, until the end of the yidam retreat. Be careful that no dog or monkey (or any other hairshedding animal for that matter, as these belong to the lower order of animals, according to the texts) eat the tormas offered to the dharmapalas. It is believed that they do not have the capacity to eat them, and they may lose their fur. Especially, lama Chamspa says that it is thought to be an inauspicious sign if a dog eats a torma or the remainder of the tsog or even if a dog comes close to the retreat hut. Birds, on the other hand, are thought to be acceptable recipients because they belong to the family of the dakas and dakinis, to the family of the flying beings.
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Do not clean the room or wash your clothes. If you clean your room, do not take trash out of the room but collect it inside the room, the same with the dust you collect after sweeping the floor. Do not wash your body. You can only wash your mouth and face. However, if you have to take a bath, pour water on your body with the left hand only and visualize water as nectar. There are three ways to do the ritual bath. The lower one is when you visualize the five dhyani buddhas giving you a bath by pouring nectar on you. The middling one is when as you are taking the bath you think that by this you are purifying all obscurations of body, speech, and
Indian mahasiddha said that in each hair resides a daka or dakini, so to cut one’s hair one needs this special ceremony. However, it is okay to cut the nails after the yidam retreat is over and no ceremony is needed for that. Do not change the direction of the bed during the yidam retreat. If you change the direction of the bed you may have to prolong the duration of the retreat. Do not sleep during the daytime as this harms the drop (Tib. thigle). Do not lose the drop (i.e., sexual fluids). Do not pay attention to dreams, even if they are strange or bad. Just say the lineage prayer and visualize the protection mandala.
བཅིུག་
Whatever you drink or eat, bless it visualizing it as nectar. Best is to eat inside your room during the yidam retreat. During yidam retreat use your left foot and left hand first for doing everything: ‚do all actions with the left,‛ e.g., walking, eating (after saying prayer or mantra for eating, visualize your tongue as a HUNG and think everything we eat has the same taste of emptiness), and so on. Use only your left hand for counting with the mala, and arrange your altar’s offering from left to right (opposite of usual direction). We do all this because the left symbolizes wisdom, the characteristic of all mother tantras, like Chakrasamvara. During yidam retreat you are not allowed to blow. Especially do not blow forcefully from deep inside your lungs, like when blowing a balloon or blowing out a candle, because it is thought that the mantra energy is lost in that way. And particularly, do not blow against
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an animal or insect, because they would not have enough capacity to handle the power of the mantra accumulated in your breath, it is said. Do not mix Chakrasamvara mantras with other sadhanas’ mantras during the recitation stage of your sessions. After finishing the recitation stage say ali-kali, OM AH HUNG, and then do tongul; that is, offer to Chakrasamvara and all the sentient beings the merit of the recitation you have done (for the tongul text, see last endnote to the sadhana).
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Spend in oil for butter lamps. This will help you in accumulating more relative merit. If you are not using all the tsog provisions for the retreat, do not give them to other people. Instead, consume them yourself. After completing the yidam retreat we have to do one hundred tsogs, one hundred tsa-tsas, and one hundred butter lamp offerings. And, of course, we have to do a fire puja.
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From now on we do not need to wear amulets or protections or perform special protection pujas. Now the Chakrasamvara practice and our mala are our best protections. We should keep the same mala for the rest of our lives, always with us as protection. This is called ‚the secret mala‛—do not show it to other people. The best kind of mala is made out of bodhi tree seeds or skull bone. The bodhi tree seed mala is the best. The skull mala is only used for the Chakrasamvara sadhana. After the yidam retreat is over, you will continue placing the outer offerings in the altar from left to right for the rest of the three-year retreat, and for the rest of your life if you
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
mind. The highest one is when you think that this is not ordinary water but the great bliss (bodhichitta, semen) from Chakrasamvara and the lamas (when they enter in union with their consorts). According to Lati Rinpoche, ‚There are many different aspects to the yoga of washing: external, internal, secret, and suchness. External washing refers to visualizing Vajravarahi and the four heart dakins shower nectars down upon your body while Heruka consents. This visualization is the same as in the empowerment section of the sadhana. Internal washing is imagining that your obscurations and negativities are purified by the nectars. Secret washing is done by meditating on your root guru in the aspect of the deity on your crown entering into union with his consort. They melt into bodhichitta which flows into and throughout your body. You experience great bliss. Suchness washing is meditating on the emptiness of the circle 2 of three: the washer, the washed, and the washing.‛ (p.86 in Lati Rinpoche’s comentary, see full reference at the end of this endnote). After taking the bath, collect the water you have used in a bucket and throw the water on the grass inside the retreat premises. Do the same with the water you have used to wash your clothes. Do not spit outside your room either. We do not spit nor throw trash outside the room so as not to attract obstacles (spirits). You are allowed, though, to wash your cooking and eating utensils (pots, plates, and so forth).
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You cannot cut your hair, nails or beard, because all our aggregates, elements, senses, and so forth are now visualized as the yidam deities and thus to cut any of them off the body would be to harm the deity. Even after the yidam retreat is over, you are not supposed to cut your hair anymore for the rest of the three-year retreat. You can only cut your hair after a special ceremony is performed. An
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wish. The skullcup is not to be emptied after the yidam retreat is over. The skullcup can be refilled on a regular basis as the nectar naturally tends to evaporate and also is consumed during pujas and so forth. The important thing is that always a little bit of the old nectar should remain in the skullcup. If you need to change a great part of the old nectar, do not throw away what you take out of the skullcup, but mix it with barley tsampa until it becomes a thick mass of dough and then make some nectar pills out of it; after they dry out, these pills can be placed in a container for future use as medicine, blessings, and so forth. The rice used for the hand mandala offering can be thrown on the roof after the yidam retreat is over. The saffron water in the vase also ideally should not be changed until the end of the yidam retreat.
བཅིུས་
The inner torma or big Chakrasamvara torma remains in the altar along with the other big tormas for the duration of the three-year retreat. These should not be touched or moved until the entire three-year retreat is over. If repairs are needed, they should be done after the dedication section of the fivefold path or check with the lama. The little tsampa buttons placed on the side of the inner torma can be thrown on the roof after the yidam retreat is over. Do not stop doing the trulkhor exercise and purification of breathing—they are meant to be done for the rest of the three-year retreat. Continue doing outer torma and tsog offerings everyday.
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Starting with yidam retreat and for the rest of the fivefold path teachings, every time one receives formal teachings from the lama on any of the five parts of the fivefold path, first one has to do the Chakrasamvara sadhana. This is why every time Lama Chamspa gives formal teachings in the afternoon, earlier that morning the group of retreatants would do the Chakrasamvara puja in the temple.
བཅུ་གསུམ་
the experience of birth (and the waking state) into the experience of the nirmanakaya (samayasattva section). 2. Purification and blessing of one’s speech by transforming the experience of the bardo of death (and the dream state) into the experience of the sambhogakaya (samayasattva section and blessing of the mala). 3. Purification and blessing of one’s mind by transforming the experience of death (and deep sleep) into the experience of the dharmakaya (samayasattva and dissolution stage section). 4. Development of divine tantric pride (seeing oneself as the yidam deity). This helps in the attunement of arrogance (all throughout the sadhana, especially the samayasattva and jñanasattva sections). 5. Development of pure appearance (seeing the world as the mandala and its inhabitants as the mandala deities). This helps in the attunement of envy (especially the developing stage {samayasattva and jñanasattva sections}). 6. Purification of channels and chakras of the vajra body and preparation for tummo practice (dzogrim tummo and samadhisattva sections). Instant developing stage visualization: because it is ‚instant‛ developing, one has to think of the visualization before it actually arises. LC If it is difficult to visualize the instant transformation, one can also visualize first that out of emptiness a vertical ray of blue light the length of a forearm begins growing until it reaches an adult human’s size, and then it becomes Heruka yab/yum. Or one can start by 14
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visualizing that out of emptiness a blue, vertical ray of light already the size of an adult human becomes Heruka yab/yum. LTCT, DKOT Turn the hands in the lotus mudra as in the eight offerings, then with both hands in tarjani mudra (threatening mudra) as if holding vajra and bell cross the arms in an embrace with the right arm on the outside, like the position of the Chakrasamavara arms (vajrahunkara or embracing mudra). In the Tibetan rendering of the Sanskrit mantra the 2 circles indicate a lengthening (hold the AH for one finger-snap) and the ྅ character (paluta) indicates a further lengthening (3 snaps of a finger.) DK 15
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
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In some monasteries the following is recited after the Svabhava mantra:
སོང་པ་ཉིད་དུ་རྒྱུར།
TONG PA NYI DU GYUR ‚All becomes
emptiness.‛ However HH Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche explained that this was already included in the SVABHAVA mantra so it does not need to be recited. DK Dark blue HUNG in the center transforms into blue urine, white OM in the East transforms into yellow feces; green KHAM in the North transforms into white brains; red AM in the West into white bodhicitta; yellow TRAM in the South into red menstrual blood. Red BAM in the center transforms into human meat, white MAM in the South East into black beef, blue LAM in the South West into red dog 17
‚If we keep the samayas well, we will achieve everything we attempt.‛ DKOT, LR, p.83. (See endnotes to Dharmakirti’s Chakrasamvara ‚long version‛ commentary for additional retreat rules.) The complete set of tantric implements or substances (ordered from your left to your right if they are placed in front of you) is: vajra, bell, damaru, skullcup, khatvanga staff, chanteu (long hand-drum), vase, and torma. Or, if it is not possible to have all these implements, at least place in front of you (from left to right): a vajra, bell, damaru, skullcup, vase, and torma. According to Lati Rinpoche (Gelugpa), the order is skullcup, vajra, bell, and damaru. If you do not have a khatvanga staff, you can put a drawing of it in the altar. The best skullcup is perfectly oval, like the shape of an egg, and in one piece only. Having as complete a set of tantric implements as possible with you during the sadhana would automatically attract dakas and dakinis like meat attracting flies, according to tantric wisdom. 12
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
This is the beginning of the actual Sadhana. Some of the most important aspects of this Chakrasamvara sadhana are: 1. Purification and blessing of one’s body by the recognition that the five aggregates, six senses, and five elements are those of Chakrasamvara; and by purifying the state of birth (womb birth), transforming
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Outer Torma
meat, red PAM in the North West into white elephant and green TAM in the North East into green horse meat. DT Another version has yellow urine and white LAM in the South East, and yellow or blue MAM in the South West according to Lama Champa’s tradition corresponding to the crown of Akshobya. LC Also some monasteries recite LAM before MAM. DK The steam forms a HUNG which becomes an upside-down khatvanga. It is melted by the steam into bodhicitta which then drops into the scull cup and mixes with the nectar, so that it becomes the nature of bodhicitta—an ocean of nectar. DK 18
བཅུ་བཞི་
Light radiating from OM AH HUNG draws blessings from all the Buddhas which melts back into the OM AH HUNG. Again light radiates from the syllables and becomes the deities of the three chakras. They turn all beings into the deities of the three chakras who all dissolve back into the OM AH HUNG. DK 19
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The full visualization with commentary is: In the middle of my heart chakra there is a letter HUNG blue in color. It is the seed syllable of Chakrasamvara’s consciousness. Red light arises from the HUNG as I repeat the mantra OM KHANDAROHE HUNG HUNG PHET. (This mantra cleanses the impurities of the offering.) As I say it, I sprinkle saffron water from the vase onto the object to be purified. The red light coming from the HUNG at my heart chakra becomes the dakini Khandarohe (Tib. Dumkyema). She is the activity dakini of 20
of Khandarohe’s mind and my mind become inseparable. Meditate on the inseparability of bliss and emptiness, by saying OM SVABHAVA (‚nature‛) SHUDDHA (‚pure‛) SARVA DHARMA (‚all phenomena‛) SVABHAVA SHUDDHO HANG (‚all phenomena become emptiness, which is pure by nature‛). *Meditate in emptiness.+ (This mantra purifies the mundane dualistic fixation of the offering.)
བཅོ་ལྔ་
Out of emptiness, a blue syllable YAM appears. It transforms into a wind mandala, which has the shape of a half-moon or bow (this mandala represents the downward-voiding wind {Skt. apana, Tib. thursel} located at the secret place). In the middle of the wind mandala stands a blue YAM. The flat part of the half moon is toward us. On each corner there is a banner (two in total). Above this, a red RAM appears. It transforms into a fire mandala, which has the shape of a triangle, one angle pointing toward us. In the middle of the triangle there is a red RAM. RAM is on fire. At the three corners of the triangle there are syllables OM (white), AH (red), and HUNG (blue). OM is on the corner to our left, AH is on the corner to our right, and HUNG is on the corner closest to us. OM, AH, and HUNG transform into three fresh human heads. Above the heads, a white syllable A appears, which transforms into a perfect human
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བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
skullcup, vast as the universe. (It corresponds to the skullcup I am using for the sadhana.) The inside of it is red and the outside white. It is in one piece (symbolizing the union of bliss and emptiness—the clear light). The skullcup’s ‚face‛ (where the forehead was) is toward us. In the middle of the skullcup there is a blue HUNG, representing urine, yellow in color (in its purified form, this urine symbolizes the wisdom of Dharmadhatu and buddha Akshobhya). To its front, in the eastern direction (toward us), there is a white OM, representing excrement, yellow in color (mirror like wisdom, buddha Vairochana). In the north there is a green KHAM, representing the brain, white in color (all-accomplishing wisdom, buddha Amoghasiddhi). In the west, a red AM represents semen or white drop (Skt. bindu, Tib. thigle), white in color (wisdom of discrimination, buddha Amitabha). In the south, a yellow TRAM, represents blood (Skt. rakta) (red drop? menstrual blood? vaginal fluids?), red in color (wisdom of equanimity, buddha Ratnasambhava). These are the five ‚nectars‛ (Skt. amrita, Tib. dutsi). Also in the middle of the skullcup there is a red syllable BAM, representing human flesh, red in color (which in its purified form represents the wisdom of clear light). In the SE, a white LAM represents cow meat, black in color (symbolizing ‚love‛). In the SW, a yellow MAM represents dog meat, red in color (symbolizing ‚compassion‛). In the NW a red PAM represents elephant meat, white in color (symbolizing ‚joy‛). In the NE a green TAM represents horse meat, green in color (symbolizing ‚equanimity‛). These are the five meats or flesh. All nectars and flesh syllables are standing. The substances are visualized before the flesh because Chakrasamvara is a mother tantra and in mother tantras the substances (nectars) are visualized first because they symbolize wisdom and the clear light. The flesh are visualized second and they symbolize skillful means and the illusory body (which is stressed more in father tantras).
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Chakrasamvara. The liquid we sprinkle from the vase is also dakini Khandarohe and the vase itself is the palace of the deities. Another name for her is ‚beauty‛ (Tib. Zesma). She is red in color, two hands, grinding teeth, loose hair, one face, laughing, three eyes, naked. She stands in front of me holding a hooked knife with her right hand and skullcup of blood and a khatvanga with her left. She purifies and removes impurities and obstructing forces from the nectar in our skullcup; she chases away evil spirits (geg), so they are not able to come to the place where we meditate. The basis of the nectar is the emptiness of the offering. The cause of the nectar is our nature of mind and great bliss. The material of the nectar is the inseparability of great bliss and wisdom. (Torma and tsog offerings also are considered and visualized as the nectar in the skullcup.) Then Khandarohe dissolves back into red light and into the HUNG at my heart chakra. The natures
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བཅུ་དྲུག་
Now comes the purification and expansion/increasing of the nectar: As I breathe out, the downwardvoiding wind goes to the YAM, moving the two banners. From YAM a strong wind goes to the syllable RAM and feeds the fire of RAM, which strengthens. This fire (which symbolizes the fire of tummo) heats up the skullcup and the substances inside melt like butter, getting cooked. Impure things become pure. The cooked substances become radiant orange nectar (the samaya nectar). As the substances get cooked, steam rises up and becomes an upside down white HUNG. This becomes an upside down khatvanga staff, mercury, quick silver or white in color, with an inverted HUNG inscribed on its center. As the cooking continues more heat rises up, and bodhichitta nectar (which is Heruka’s ‚essence‛ = semen) starts oozing out from the HUNG in the khatvanga. The nectar drips through the khatvanga and falls into the skullcup, mixing inseparably with the commitment nectar. The new nectar, the mixture of the two, increases in quantity and becomes very vast, like an ocean, white in color and more radiant than before, very smooth, cool, and delicious. It becomes the nectar of the bodhichitta.
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Above this ocean of nectar I recite the ali-kali mantra, whose multicolored (or white) syllables are arranged above the nectar. The ali-kali then dissolve into the syllables OM AH HUNG arranged vertically with the OM on top.
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བཅུ་བདུན་
OM KHA KHA KHAHI KHAHI (eat, eat, take, take) SARVA (all {the guests}) YAKSHA (obstacle-making spirit) RAKSHASA (human-flesheating spirits) BHUTA (spirits of dead people) PRETA (hungry ghosts) PISHACHA (flesh-eating spirit) UNMADA (spirits who make beings crazy) APASMARA (spirits who make beings forgetful). The above guests are some of the fifteen king spirits. They are invited to partake of the torma because if the kings are on our side then all their followers will also be (i.e., it is believed that all the many minor spirits that lurk around our retreat place will become friendly to us). One has to offer to them with a loving and compassionate attitude and not think that they are evil spirits but that their essence is inseparable from Chakrasamvara. We offer and request also. These spirits—now worldly protectors (lokapalas)—should be visualized as being inside the wall of the mandala, which coincides with the limits of the retreat, they face toward us, looking to us and looking after us. DAKA (hero) DAKI (heroine) ÑADAYA (and so on) IMAM (this) BALING (torma) GRIHANTU (take) SAMAYA (vow) RAKSHANTU (keep or protect) SARVA (all) SIDDHIM (siddhis) ME (to me) PRAYACHCHHANTU (grant completely = grant me all the siddhis completely) YATHEBAM / YATHESTAM (according to my wishes) BHUÑJATHA (take it, eat it) PIVATHA (drink it) JIGRATHA (taste it) MATIKRAMATHA (do everything as I order) MAMA SARVA KARTAYA (accomplish all activities for me or make me successful in accomplishing all my activities) SADSUKHAM (great bliss or promise of it) VISHUDDHAYE (fully pure) SAHAYAKA BHAVANTU (give your support). The snapping finger mudra is an order; it represents a verb in imperative tense: ‚do it!‛; ‚eat it!‛; etc. When offering to enlightened beings one snaps the fingers with the palms facing upwards. When one is offering to worldly deities, then one snaps the fingers with palms facing down. DKOT
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KHANDRO (daka, male spirit who flies in the sky, also known as pawo or vira = hero) KHANDROMA (dakini, female spirit who flies in the sky, also known as pamo or virini heroine, also known as mamoi or naljorma = yogini). DKOT 23
All the spirits invoked above are bound by oath to protect the Dharma and the Dharma practitioners; they are (now) good, positive spirits—lokapalas (worldly protectors) who confer siddhis to us. They become dharmapalas (Dharma protectors) of a lower order. 24
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Sprinkle one time from the vase onto the altar’s tenfold offering and visualize Khandarohe, red coming from a HUNG in my heart chakra, purifying the offerings and then dissolving back into the Hung as before. DKOT 25
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From an AH (other traditions say from a Kam) appear ten skullcups lined in front of you, where the altar is (one skullcup for each outer offering). In every skullcup appears a syllable HUNG, which transforms into the respective offering as you say the blessing mantra OM VAJRA ... AH HUNG. The drawing to the right shows an example of this visualization but for eight outer offerings only. In this sadhana one should visualize ten offerings. Each skullcup and its offering can be visualized as being of vast dimensions.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Light radiates from the three syllables filling all space, mainly the buddha lands, collecting the essence of the body, speech, and mind of all the tathagatas. Light returns and dissolves into the three syllables. Light arises again from the syllables, goes to the ocean of nectar, collects its essence and returns to the syllables. Again light arises from the syllables, this time transforming into the deities of the three chakras, who purify sentient beings, transforming them into the mandala deities of Chakrasamvara. Then all the beings/mandala deities unite sexually with their consorts, and by the bliss they feel they melt into light and dissolve into the three syllables. Now the three syllables, step by step, dissolve into each other: OM dissolves into AH; AH dissolves into HUNG; and HUNG dissolves into the nectar. The commitment nectar becomes wisdom nectar which is white with a tinge of red. It is very vast and has a delicious taste. It is uncontaminated bliss. Its essence is all the deities. It is inexhaustible. It is said that if one takes of this nectar, one will not get sick. Saying OM AH HUNG I taste the nectar with my left ring finger (or with the benkyog spoon, but not by using the vajra) and feel uncontaminated bliss and wisdom in my body. Whenever we feel we are getting sick we can take from this nectar. Also if you are feeling tired after recitation, take from it. In addition, whatever one eats or drinks, one should transform it into nectar. When making the nectar, if you do not want to use alcohol it is acceptable to use fruit juice or milk, especially for those who have vows that forbid them from drinking alcohol. However, using juice or milk has the disadvantage of the nectar spoiling quickly. DKOT (for more details on this visualization see LR, pp. 98-100) When practicing multiple times offering the torma once a day is sufficient. In that case continue with the blessing the Outer Offering on p41. GL 21
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In the Chakrasamvara mandala, the deities of the three chakras are located in three concentric circles (or chakras) inside the divine palace, at the center of the mandala. This is clearly represented in the 62-deity mandala of Chakrasamvara, but in the five-deity one it is not so evident. In the body of Heruka, the deities of the three chakras are not located inside the three chakras of the head, throat, and heart, but at the skin level, at the external extremities of the subtle channels originating at the three chakras just mentioned. 27
The complete visualization is: Around my navel chakra, arranged in three concentric circles from the outside to the inside, counterclockwise, are the ali and kali mantra syllables ending in HUNG HUNG PHET, repeated three times. Another version is that the three circles are about the same size but one above the other, so the first circle is on the top, the second in the middle, and the third below the other two, on the bottom. The first circle is white, represents OM and the nirmanakaya. The second circle is red, represents AH and the sambhogakaya. The third circle is blue, represents HUNG and the dharmakaya. The flow of light/mantra ali-kali is rather in a spiral and in a downward, counterclockwise movement, completing the three circles, one below the other. The circles are big enough to penetrate both the bodies of yab and yum, who are in sexual interlock. The navel would be somewhere in between these three circles. Say the mantra three times. When reciting the mantra, five colored light (blue, white, red, green, and yellow or orange) radiates from the mantra in a counterclockwise motion. Rainbow light of five colors radiates as each circle is being completed. Light transforms into the deities of the three chakras. These deities (white from the body chakra, red from the speech chakra, and blue from the mind chakra) 28
བཅུ་བརྒྱད་ བཅུ་དགུ་
3. Perception (or discrimination, recognition) (Skt. samjña), throat chakra (seat of the namshe consciousness), red HRI, Pema Garwang (Padma Narteshvara {Amitabha}), who holds a lotus with his raised right hand; bell at his heart level. His consort is Pandara (also known as Benzarahi). 4. Activity (or compositional factors, impulses, tendencies, volition, mental formations) (Skt. samskara), ankles (seat of the twenty great negativities or poison-miseries {nyenyon nyishu}), (also forehead), green HO, Dorje Gyalpo (Raja Vajra {Amoghasiddhi}), who holds a double vajra with his raised right hand; and a bell at his heart level. His consort is Tara (forehead). 5. Consciousness (Skt. vijñana), heart chakra (seat of the life-supporting wind), white HUNG, Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva {Akshobhya}), who holds a vajra at his heart level with his right hand; and a bell at his waist level. As Akshobhya, his consort is Vajravarahi (at the navel) (who perhaps is called Pema Drawachenma when she descends from the navel to the secret place?) 6. All aggregates, crown of the head, dark blue HI (or HE), Shri Heruka (Vajradhara), who sits in the vajra posture but with the right hand holding a vajra in the earth touching mudra, and with the left hand holding a bell at the waist/hip. His consort is Vajradhatu Ishvara. Six Senses (Skt. ayatana) (Syllable/deity removes conflictive emotion by using antidote. Male deities (which correspond to a bodhisattva each) all have three eyes, sambhogakaya/Chakrasamvara dress, topknot, sit in the half-lotus position, and hold bell with the left hand. Each syllable/deity transforms into a vajra of the same color of the respective syllable/deity and in the same location, purifying/removing the respective
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བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
defect by the use of the corresponding antidote.) 1. Stupidity (or delusion, ignorance) (Skt. moha), eyes, white OM, Timug Dorje (Skt. Mohavajra) (bodhisattva=Kshitigarbha), who holds a chakra with his raised right hand and a bell at his heart level (antidote = bodhichitta enlightenment). 2. Anger (or wrath) (Skt. dvesha), ears, black HUNG, Zhedang Dorje (Skt. Dveshavajra) (bodhisattva = Vajrapani), who holds a vajra with his right hand at his heart level and a bell at his waist level (antidote = love {Skt. maitri}). 3. Envy and jealousy (Skt. irshya), nostrils, yellow TRAM, Thragdog Dorje (Skt. Irshyavajra) (bodhisattva = Akashagarbha), who holds a precious stone (Tib. rinpoche) with his raised right hand and a bell at his heart level (antidote = ?). 4. Desire (or covetousness, grasping, attachment, lust, passion, greed) (Skt. raga), root of the tongue, red ANG, Dochag Dorje (Skt. Ragavajra) (bodhisattva = Avalokiteshvara or Lokeshvara), who holds a red lotus flower with his raised right hand and a bell at his heart level (antidote = joy, bliss {Skt. ananda}). 5. Pride and selfishness (or stinginess) (Skt. pishuna, matsarya), forehead (representing all the body), green KHAM, Serna Dorje (Skt. Matsaryavajra) (bodhisattva = Sarvanivaranavishkambhin), who holds a double vajra with his raised right hand and bell at his heart level (antidote = equanimity {Skt. upeksha}). 6. Power (Tib. wangchug, Skt. aishvarya), mind (heart chakra), white HANG, Wangchug Dorje (Skt. Aishvaryavajra) (bodhisattva = Samantabhadra), who holds a vajra with his right hand at his heart level and a bell at his waist level (antidote = compassion {Skt. karuna})
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come out of my body throught my right nostril and purify all sentient beings. The deities return and enter my body through the left nostril and dissolve, as light, back into the mantra around my navel: OM AA II ... HUNG HUNG PHET (three times). LTCT, DKOT 29
The following visualization is to recognize the purity of one’s aggregates, senses, and elements.
The complete visualization is: In their primordial, absolute state, the body, speech, and mind of oneself are perfectly pure. Similarly, the five aggregates, six senses, and five elements are the different aspects of the yidam. First visualize the syllable; immediately after that visualize how it transforms into the corresponding deity; then proceed with the next syllable. 30
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Five Aggregates (Skt. skandha) (Male tathagatas, the first five have three eyes, sambhogakaya/Chakrasamvara dress, sit in the half lotus position, have a topknot, and hold bell with the left hand. All tathagatas are the same color of their syllable.) 1. Form (or body) (Skt. rupa), head chakra (seat of white bodhichitta), white BUM, Nampar Nangdse (Vairochana), who holds a dharmachakra with his raised right hand; the mouth of the bell faces his body at the heart level. His consort is Lochana (at the navel). 2. Feeling (Skt. vedana), navel chakra (seat of warmth, heat, nutrition, and assimilation), yellow ANG, Dorje Nyima (Vajra Surya {Ratnasambhava}), who holds a jewel with his raised right hand; and a bell at his heart level. His consort is Mamaki (at the heart).
36
ཉི་ཤུ་
Five elements (or inner senses or inner feelings or characteristics of the senses, Tib. kams) Female tathagatas, naked, three eyes, hair down, five mudras or bone ornaments, sambhogakaya, standing with right leg outstretched. The first four have one face and four arms. All of them hold a hooked knife with their second right hands, a skullcup with their first left hands, and a khatvanga with their second left hands. Five-element syllables/female tathagatas are standing on respective element’s mandala (earth, water, fire, wind, and space). They all are inside one’s body. First four are facing a male tathagata, very close to him, but not touching him, since he is not their consort. 1. Earth element (Skt. prithivi), navel, yellow LAM, Tungjema (‚she who causes *one to+ fall‛) (Skt. Lochana), her first right holds a dharmachakra. She stands on a yellow square mandala. (She is in front of Dorje Nyima but not touching him, as her consort is Vairochana, at the head.) 2. Water element (Skt. apas), heart chakra, black MAM, Söjema (‚she who kills‛) (Skt. Mamaki), her first right holds a vajra. She stands on a white circular mandala. (She is in front of Dorje Sempa, but not touching him, as her consort is Ratnasambhava, at the navel.) 3. Fire element (Skt. agni), throat, red PAM, Gugjema (‚she who summons‛) (Skt. Pandara ,or Benzarahi}), her first right holds a lotus. She stands on a red triangular mandala. (She is in front of Pema Garwang, who is the emanation of Amitabha, her consort.) 4. Wind (or air) element (Skt. vayu), forehead, green TAM, Pema Gargyi Wangchugma (‚the lady of dances‛) (Skt. Tara), her first right holds a sword. She stands on a green half moon mandala. (She is in front of Nampar Nangdse, but not touching him, as her consort is Amoghasiddhi, at the ankles {or at the forehead}.)
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tips of the prongs of these vajras are not meeting with the central pong, but are bent slightly outward at the tip, so that there is an opening. With these openings the vajras lock together. The swirling net of vajras becomes denser and denser and the vajras interlock to form a dome above and then even denser to form a canopy of vajras leaving no gap. Outside this is a mass of flames turning counterclockwise. English Sanskrit Tibetan Vajra ground VAJRA MEDINA dorje sashi Vajra fence VAJRA PRAKARA dorje rawa Vajra roof (or tent) VAJRA PAÑJARA dorje gur or dorje teng Vajra canopy (or ceiling) VAJRA VITANA dorje ladre Shield of vajra arrows VAJRA SHARAJALA dorje de dawa Fire fence VAJRA JVALANALARKA* dorje me (JVALANALARKA= ‚very strong fire‛: JVALA = flame (Tib. dsola); ANALA = fire; ARKA = very strong, like the sun light). DKOT 33
ཉྐྱེར་གཅིག་
A more detailed description of the mandala protection visualizations and mantras: Light arises from the HUNG at my heart and transforms into the four-direction mantras. (I am at the center of the future mandala, 34
41
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
looking to the east). The first mantra is in the east (in front of me) and is blue. The second one, going counterclockwise, is in the north (to my left) and is green. The third one is in the west (behind me) and is red. The fourth one is in the south (to my right) and is yellow. Visualize these four mantras big in space. They reach all the way from Brahma’s heavens to the golden ground. The syllables of the mantras are surrounded by a halo of flames. Snapping the thumb and index finger of both hands once towards each direction starting in front (east) as described above, say, OM SUMBHA NISUMBHA HUNG HUNG PHET (east, blue) / OM GRIHANA GRIHANA HUNG HUNG PHET (north, green) / OM GRIHANA PAYA GRIHANA PAYA HUNG HUNG PHET (west, red) / OM AH NAYA HO BHAGAVAN VAJRA HUNG HUNG PHET (south, yellow). The mantras become solid walls made of four huge vajras, one in each of the four directions and each the color of that direction. From these vajras, rays of light radiate to the center of the mandala, forming a syllable HUNG. The HUNG becomes a huge crossedvajra, with a HUNG inscribed in its center. From the HUNG light descends and transforms all the ground down to the golden base into the nature of variegated vajras. This is the vajra ground. Then rays of light emanate from the HUNG and transform into five-pronged vajra arrows which circle everywhere, in all directions, up and down in space. Below these the light makes an impenetrable vajra fence outside the four huge vajras. Then the light forms a vajra tent. Below the vajra tent and on top of the vajra fence the light creates a vajra canopy. This is a ceiling that fills every single space below the vajra tent. Finally, the light from the HUNG makes a divine-fire fence, adamantine in nature, strong and compact, which is located outside and around the vajra fence. The arrows in the ring of the vajra arrow protection are like ‚bullets flying around in the circle of fire. The purpose of setting this protection circle of moving arrows
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5. Space (or ether) element (Skt. akasha), secret place, smoky (grey) KHAM, Pema Drawachenma (‚she who has the net of lotuses‛) (Skt. Dharmadhatuvajra or Padmajvalini), she has three faces and six arms. Her main (central) face is smoky color, her right face is white and her left face is red. Her first right hand holds a hook or goad, her third right hand holds Brahma’s head with four faces, and her third left holds a rope or noose. She stands on a smoke colored dharmadhayu mandala (six pointed star formed by 2 triangles). DKOT, LTCT, Vajrayogini by Elizabeth English, p. 118 Snap with the index fingers of both hands: for SUMBANI in front with the left hand more outward and the right hand closer to the body; then GRIHNA: left hand is turned to the left; GRIHANAPAYA: left hand is pointing over left shoulder; ANAYAHO: right hand is pointing to the right and left hand is closer to the body. Then when we repeat the mantra later, snapping twice for the intercardinal directions: for SUMBANI the right hand points to the right front; GRIHNA: right hand to the right back; GRIHANAPAYA: left hand points to the left back; ANAYAHO: left hand points to the left front. DK 31
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Light radiates from the letters of the mantras and eliminates obstructers. It returns and turns the mantras into a vajra fence: a giant vajra in each direction and all the spaces in between filled with smaller vajras. From a HUNG below arises a giant crossed multicolored vajra having a square center and a different color in each direction (front blue, left green, back red and right yellow). From the radiating light the spaces in between are filled with smaller vajras and above a swirling net of vajras is turning counterclockwise. The 32
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is to impede certain types of spirits which are able to transverse fire unharmed‛ from entering the core of the mandala. However, ‚when the Dharma protectors see the protection circle *from the outside, it does not look threatening or impenetrable to them but] they see a multicolored rainbow enveloping the protection circle *and thus they are able to come inside+.‛ ‚The tent is on top of the fence and below the fire circle with the arrows < Inside and below the tent, and at the level of the top of the vajra fence is a vajra canopy, which is like a ceiling.‛ LR
ཉྐྱེར་གཉིས་
Now, visualizing the protection of the mandala say mantras (according to Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s translation, the Shrichakrasambhara Tantra, (Tantrik Texts vol. VII, Arthur Avalon. ed.), here one uses threatening (Skt. Tarjani) mudra with the left hand and snaps the thumb against the middle finger, as this would make the protection of the mandala very strong; but in the tradition of Lama Chamspa no mudra is done here): OM MEDINI-VAJRA BHAVA VAJRA-BANDHANA HUNG HUNG PHET (vajra ground) / OM VAJRA-PRAKARA HUNG PAM HUNG (vajra fence) / OM VAJRA-PAÑJARA HUNG BAM HUNG (vajra ceiling) / OM VAJRA-VITANA HUNG KHAM HUNG (vajra canopy) / OM VAJRA-SHARAJALA TRAM SHAM TRAM (vajra net) / OM VAJRA-JVALA ANALA ARKA HUNG RAM HUNG (fire fence). (Also in the Shrichakrasambhara Tantra it says {in another part of the sadhana} to visualize the vajra ground as the heels of Heruka; the vajra fence as his ribs; the vajra ceiling as his skin; the vajra net as his body hair; and the fire fence as the nails and hair of Heruka.)
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Then say the four-direction mantras again with the same mudra and motion of hands and arms and visualize that the four huge vajras
now two times each and going clockwise. Thus for the SE it would be the mantra of the east twice: OM SUMBHA NISUMBHA HUNG HUNG PHET, OM SUMBHA NISUMBHA HUNG HUNG PHET, for the SW it would be the mantra of the north twice< and so on, the mudra of the hands and arms also done twice for each interdirection. Visualize first the SE’s Krodhini, Shinjetenma (Skt. Yamadridha), her right half blue as the east, her left half yellow as the south; then do the same with the SW and visualize Shinjephonyamo (Skt. Yamaduti), yellow/red; and NW, Sinjechewama (Skt. Yamadamshtri), red/green; and NE, Shinjejomma (Skt. Yamamathani), green/blue. The four krodhini in the interdirections are looking toward you.
ཉྐྱེར་གསུམ་
Many emanations arise from all eight krodhini, filling the space in the eight directions. In addition, from the krodhini in the east emanations go up (zenith) and from the krodhini in the west emanations go down (nadir), so the ten directions are covered. All obstructing evil spirits (geg) from the ten directions are drawn together and away. Every time the krodhini wrathfully cry HUNG! a well is formed outside the vajra fence. Eight wells are formed in total. Obstructors are put in the wells. We, as Heruka, command the eight krodhini and their emanations in the four counterclockwise main directions and in the four clockwise interdirections to wrathfully pound the geg in the wells into dust by the strokes of their vajra hammers against their vajra daggers, the latter which are placed on the crown of the geg (the daggers pierce the geg’s bodies as the latter are being hammered): (*1) OM GHA GHA GHATAYA GHATAYA / SARVA-DUKHAM VIJÑANA HUNG PHET / (*2) KILAYA KILAYA SARVA PAPAM HUNG PHET / (*3)
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HUNG HUNG HUNG VAJRA-KILAYA VAJRADHARA ADYA JÑAPAYATI / SARVA-DUKHAM VIJÑANA KAYA VAKA CHITTA VAJRA-KILAYA HUNG PHET. With the left hand in tarjani mudra (representing the vajra dagger) and the right hand in hammer mudra (representing the vajra hammer), motion with the right hand toward the left hand three times (at *1, *2, and *3 above), holding the mudra throughout the entire recitation of the mantra. Then the right hand with the hammer mudra stays up.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
According to Arthur Avalon, the literal meaning of the mantra is: ‚Kill them, kill them; crush them, crush them! All evil from geg is cleansed. Stick your vajra daggers in their heads and immobilize them! Clean the evil of all the sin-minded with your vajra daggers! Listen to the command of myself as Vajradhara! By the action of your vajra daggers all evil from geg’s body, speech, and mind is cleansed.‛ And the symbolical meaning is: ‚OM: may the dispersal of the dense mass of darkness of delusion of avidya be brought about. May all misery be destroyed. Bind, bind: may all sin be destroyed. Bind firmly; hold firmly. Bind all consciouness, body, speech, and mind: may all (enemies) be dispersed.‛
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With their vajra daggers, the krodhini transfix the gegs’ bodies from crown to foot. The geg who turn into great bliss (mahasukha) may stay, the rest are pulled away, far from the mandala. According to the Shrichakrasambhara Tantra, the geg who turn into mahasukha do so because they have died and their consciousness transformed into the essence of Chakrasamvara. According to Lama Chamspa,
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
transform into the four main direction gatekeepers (Skt. krodhini)—Khvadongma (Skt. Kakasya = the crow-faced one), blue, crow head, in the east; Ugdongma (Skt. Ulukaysa = the owl-faced one), green, owl head, in the north; Khyidongma (Skt. Shvanasya = the dog-faced one), red, bitch head, in the west; and Phagdongma (Skt. Sukarasya = the pig-faced one), yellow, sow head, in the south. They are naked, have female bodies, three eyes, one face, two arms, the lower part of their body is the blade of a dagger, and they hold a vajra hammer (Skt. vajradanda) with their right hand and a vajra dagger (Skt. kilaka or vajra kilaya; Tib. Dorje phurbu) with their left hand. According to Lama Chamspa, the vajra dagger actually is an emanation of the corresponding krodhini and therefore has the same animal face as its holder. Kakasya,the crow-faced krodhini or gatekeeper of the eastern direction Then say the four mantras again, but this time pointing to the four interdirections and going clockwise, starting from the SE and visualizing the krodhini of the four interdirections. They also are naked, have female bodies, three eyes, one face, two arms, hold a vajra hammer with the right hand and a vajra dagger with the left, and the lower part of their body is the blade of a dagger. They, however, do not have animal but human faces, and the right half of their body is the color of one of the main directions and the left half the color of the next main direction going clockwise. According to Lama Chamspa, you simply repeat the mantras in the same order as you said them when you did the main directions but
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however, geg are not killed; being transfixed by daggers would rather be a symbolic way to represent that an emanation of a krodhini is entering the geg through his crown’s aperture and enlightening him by putting his mind into the clear light of bliss. Say, (*4) OM VAJRA-MUDGARA VAJRA-KILAYA AKOTAYA HUNG PHET (‚Hit with your vajra hammers and daggers‛ or ‚Om vajra clubs, hold (under you) firmly; break in pieces Hung Phet‛). In *4 above left hand in tarjani mudra goes up so now both hands stay up.
ཉྐྱེར་བཞི་
Concentrate the mind on the absolution of the sins of mischievous spirits and imagine that their consciousness principles (Skt. vijñana) have been transferred to the realm of buddha Akshobhya. The krodhini melt in light which dissolve into the vajra fence, and just as when something is thrown into water and it splashes, light ‚splashes‛ from the vajra fence, making the three walls of vajra, padma, and chakra tightly fixed together, creating one solid barrier or protection wall around the mandala.
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Say, (*5) OM VAJRA PRAKARA HUNG / OM PADMA PRAKARA HUNG / OM CHAKRA PRAKARA HUNG. (*5: Hands in previous mudras go down to resting position.) These mantras represent the fences of the three chakras: mind (Skt. citta), speech (Skt. vak), and body (Skt. kaya) (inside the palace or around the center of the mandala, above the crossed vajra). In the body mandala tradition of Chakrasamvara the eight gatekeepers or krodhini are to be visualized at the eight gates of the body: mouth, navel, tip of sexual organ, anus, mideyebrow, ears, eyes, and nostrils. DKOT, Shrichakrasambhara Tantra, translated by Kazi Dawa-Samdup, Tantrik Texts vol. VII, Arthur Avalon, ed., LR pp.15, 24, 143.
Sixteen offering consort-goddesses: Visualize that light having the nature of ali-kali emanates from the HUNG at your heart and transforms into an offering goddess. Then with the appropriate mudra and mantra visualize the sixteen consort-goddesses (Tib. lhamo, Skt. vidya) offering their respective offering. They all have one face and four hands and are standing. After each goddess has offered, she dissolves back into the HUNG before the next one emerges. 39
ཉྐྱེར་ལྔ་
Four goddesses holding a musical instrument with their first right and left hand, a vajra with their second right hand and a bell with their second left hand: (1) VAJRA VINA (Tib. Phyiwongma) = blue color, holds a vina (lute). Hand mudra (H.m.): playing a string instrument. (2) VAJRA VANGSHA (Tib. Linguma) = yellow, holds a vangsha (flute). H.m.: playing a vertical flute. (3) VAJRA MRIDANGA (Tib. Nachenma) = red, holds a mridanga (horizontal drum). H.m.: playing a double-headed horizontal drum. (4) VAJRA MURAJA (Tib. Dsarnama) = green, holds a muraja (vertical drum). H.m.: playing a single-headed vertical drum. Four goddesses of dance, holding a vajra or chanteu (skull hand drum with an elongated shape) with their second right hands and a khatvanga, bell or skullcup with their second left hands: (5) VAJRA HASYA (Tib. Jhenpanma) = pink, 1st right and left hands do hasya (smiling gesture). H.m.: Hold both hands in mudra like gandha but not touching from sides of mouth and down in outward circles indicating with the hands a curve in the shape of a ‚U,‛ like
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བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
a smile, and also smile with the lips. (6) VAJRA LASYA (Tib. Gyegpama) = blue, 1st right hand holds a vajra and 1st left holds a bell at the hip; both 1st right and left hand do lasya (posing with a boasting attitude). H.m.: Hands are at the respective hip and from the waist one leans to the right but with head and shoulders upright (like Vajrasattva’s posture). (7) VAJRA GITA (Tib. Bluma or Hui Dorje) = yellow, 1st right and left hand hold cymbals for gita (singing). H.m.: playing the cymbals in a vertical manner (it looks similar to the mudra for playing the vertical drum, but here the fingers are retracted as if holding two small cymbals). (8) VAJRA NIRTYA (Tib. Garma or Gargyi) = green, 1st right and left hand are simulating nirtya (dancing), 2nd right hand holds a skullcup, 2nd left hand holds a changteu drum. H.m.: Like the issuing light mudra, with fingers moving in waves.
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The others holding an offering with the 1st right hand, a skullcup with the 1st left hand, a damaru or chanteu drum with the 2nd right hand, and a khatvanga with the 2nd left hand – four goddesses with traditional offerings: (9) VAJRA PUSHPA (Tib. Metogma or Drolkar Dorje) = white, holds a vase of pushpa (flowers). H.m.: pushpa mudra. (10) VAJRA DHUPA (Tib. Dhupogma or Drolkyin Dorje) = pearly-blue, holds dhupa (incense). H.m.: dhupa mudra. (11) VAJRA DIPA (Tib. Marmema or Drogmar Dorje) = orange, holds an aloka (lamp). H.m.: aloka mudra. (12) VAJRA GANDHA (Tib. Drijangma or Drogjan Dorje) = green (or red), holds a vase of gandha (perfume). H.m.: gandha mudra.
‚White‛ here means ‚crystal-clear.‛ In fact, the syllable HUNG, vajra, and Vajra Heruka (Vajrasattva in the form of Chakrasamvara yab/yum) are to be visualized as crystal-clear and blue in color. DKOT 35
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In mother tantras like Chakrasamvara ANU RAKTO MEBHAVA goes before SUPOSHYO MEBHAVA. LC
Another version of this visualization: At the heart of myself as Heruka a yellow PAM transforms into a variegated lotus. From AH arises a moon mandala, upon which stands a blue syllable HUNG, the letter of the glorious primordial being, which is in nature the five wisdoms. It radiates five-colored light that fills me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet and cleanses the non-virtues of body, speech and mind accumulated since beginningless time. My body becomes as clear as crystal. From every pore light radiates, cleansing the bodies of all beings and purifying their three doors. The light from the syllable HUNG invites my spiritual master in the aspect of Vajradhara, the groups of deities of the actual Chakrasamvara mandala, as well as buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods, goddesses and wrathful deities, who completely pervade the space before me. The light then dissolves back into the HUNG at my heart. LR, p.11 37
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
For each of the outer offerings visualize that light emerges from the HUNG at your heart chakra and transforms into an offering goddess or dakini with one face and four arms, who goes in front of Chakrasamvara (in the sky in front of yourself), and offers to him the respective offering. Then she is reabsorbed back into the HUNG. DKOT 38
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ཉྐྱེར་དྲུག་
And four goddesses with sense offerings: (13) RUPA VAJRI (Tib. Zug Dorjema or Zugyi Dorje) = white, holds a rupa (mirror). H.m.: mirror mudra. (14) RASA VAJRI (Tib. Ro Dorjema or Rojyi Dorje) = red, holds rasa (juices, honey, or nectar-like foods, like a tray with food or a vase of honey, and so forth) (sense of taste). H.m.: like the nevedya mudra but with tips of thumbs and index fingers of each hand joined, making circles, like in the padyam mudra. The only difference with the padyam mudra is that the straightened fingers are not overlapped but like in nevedya mudra, just side by side with little fingers touching on the sides. (15) SPARSHA VAJRI (Tib. Reg Dorjema or Regyi Dorje) = green, holds sparsha (garments) (sense of touch). H.m.: Like the gandha mudra but hands separate as if holding up a piece of cloth, then circle the hands clockwise. (16) DHARMADHATU VAJRI (Tib. Chojin Dorjema or Chojin Dorje) = white, holds a dharmadhatu (phenomena source, with a shape like an inverted, three-sided pyramid). H.m.: Chojun (dharmadhatu) mudra, making a triangle with little fingers of each hand touching each other and index fingers touching each other, middle and ring fingers are folded over thumb of respective hand. LTCT, DKOT, Shrichakrasambhara Tantra translated by Kazi Dawa-Samdup, Tantrik Texts vol. VII, Arthur Avalon, ed.
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Refuge tree and Chakrasamvara yab/yum, surrounded by the deities of the mandala, buddhas, and bodhisattvas dissolve into light and this light dissolves into the HUNG at our heart chakra (snap middle finger and thumb of left hand once, making a sound). 40
ཉྐྱེར་བདུན་
are situated below the four continents {the earth realms}, which themselves are on the sides of Mt. Meru) and that is why OM is placed at the bottom of the three syllables. In other commentaries the OM is on top and HUNG on the bottom. From these three syllables light radiates forth and transforms into the assembly of deities of the three chakras [of the Chakrasamvara mandala]. Then the light touches all sentient beings (light from HUNG at the mind mandala radiates and touches the beings from the “above-realms‛ or heavens, light from the AH at the speech mandala radiates and touches the beings from the ‚in-between realms‛ or surface of the earth, and light from the OM at the body mandala radiates and touches the beings from the ‚below-realms‛ or water and the underground), who transform into and become the same as the assembly of the deities of the three chakras. All deities-beings return and absorb into the three syllables, which dissolve one into the other: OM dissolves into the AH, AH into the HUNG, and the HUNG dissolves itself from the bottom part up to the nada. The nada becomes like a ray of light as thin and particle-like as a hundredth of a hair. This light slowly disappears into emptiness, so do our thoughts. LC, LR p.181 Detailed dissolution visualization from a practice session led by Lozang based on translation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche of The Supreme Bliss‛ sadhana (LZ) and LR: ‚Light beams go forth from the syllables, and as the light touches sentient beings they are completely purified and liberated. With compassion my mind stretches out to the limits of space, touching every sentient being and their environment and transforming them all into Heruka. The whole universe becomes the nature of blissful enlightened wisdom. 43
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བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Gradually the universe and sentient beings dissolve back into the syllables and when they dissolve the mind becomes more subtle. The senses one by one stop functioning. I imagine the earth element is dissolving into the water element and when the power of the earth element ceases there is a relative manifestation of the water element. When this happens I have the internal vision of a mirage shimmering, a blue mirage in the sky. I remember that this whole experience is like a dream experience and none of it truly exists, soon I am going to wake up and when the clear light comes I’ll recognize it. Remembering my body in the form of light, it dissolves from the bottom and top into the HUNG at the heart. When this happens the mind grows more subtle and the mirage vision fades away and is replaced by the smoke-like vision – like billowing clouds of smoke. I imagine the water element has dissolved into the fire element - I recognize these appearances as not truly existent, like a dream experience, assuming the clear light is near. Remembering this, my mind grows more subtle; the bottom of the HUNG, the U, dissolves into the HA, the smoke-like vision fades and is replaced by a spark-like vision – like the sparks above a bonfire at night. I imagine the fire element has dissolved into the wind element - All this is an illusory experience, with the mind growing even more subtle. My mind as the HA dissolves up into the head of the HA, this is my mind, and the sparks-vision fades away and is replaced by a vision of a faint glow lamp that is about to go out. The wind element has dissolved into consciousness - I remember this all like a dream experience having no truth - the clear light will soon be here and I’ll recognize it. I, my mind, am in the form of the head, crescent moon, drop (tigle) and nada; the head dissolves up into the crescent moon and the
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Because beings do not understand the real meaning of HE-RU-KA they become attached to phenomena and need our help, as Heruka. Meditate on this and accumulate wisdom. DKOT, LTCT 41
When practicing this text in retreat for 4 sessions daily in the 2nd , 3rd and 4th session you can start practicing the sadhana from here, after having done your regular opening prayers, Ali-kali and OM YEDHARMA… mantras and a mala of OM AH HUNGs. In these sessions you can accumulate the mantras, practicing the text up to the dissolution. Then in the 4th session you continue and finish the whole sadhana, including the hand offering and ganachakra, etc. LC
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
First there is emptiness. We cannot see any form. Out of emptiness, by the power of one’s aspirations from past lives our nature of mind appears as an OM (white, the body), AH (red, the speech), and HUNG (blue, the mind). According to Lama Chamspa, this time, following the Chakrasamvara system of accumulating merit in the absolute way, the HUNG is at the top, AH below the HUNG, and OM at the bottom, below the AH. This order has to do with the type of beings that these syllables are related to in the Chakrasamvara tantric cosmology. Thus HUNG (mind) is related to the beings from the ‚above-realms,‛ such as the gods, and that is why is placed on the top of the three syllables. AH (speech) is related to the beings from between ‚above‛ and ‚below‛; this is, the beings that dwell on the surface of the earth (such as animals and humans) and that is why is placed in between the HUNG and the OM. Finally, OM (body) is related to the beings from the ‚below-realms‛; this is, beings living in the ocean and under the earth, such as the nagas (the oceans 42
52
ཉྐྱེར་བརྒྱད་
mind grows incredibly more subtle. Consciousness dissolves into appearance. The faint light dissolves away and the whole sky becomes filled with whiteness – a vacuity filled with whiteness, like a very clear sky at night lit up by moonlight. My mind is getting more subtle and blissful clear light is coming soon. This is all completely ephemeral like a dream. Then the crescent moon dissolves up into the drop and the nada, which is all that is left of my mind. I imagine experiencing the dissolution of appearance into increase and attaining the vajra speech. The white vision dissolves and is replaced by the red increase, the whole sky being filled with copper-like light, like a clear autumn sky illuminated by the reddish glow of sunlight. The mind of clear light is really near here. Then the drop as well dissolves up to the nada, which is all that is left of ‘me’. I visualize experiencing the dissolution of increase into the black near-attainment. The red appearance fades and the whole sky becomes dark thick blackness as if swooning unconscious, like a black-out after a very bright light and the clear light is near. This nada, my mind, is teaming with incredible bliss, realizing all this is illusion, and with that it completely fades – disappears to the complete vacuity, and the black vision also completely disappears into the vacuity of clear light. All the winds dissolve completely into the indestructible drop. There is the experience of the clear light, like the sky at dawn, very clear and pure and free from moonlight, sunlight and darkness. I have the conviction, this is ME - I, the dharmakaya, am the dharmakaya! This mind of clear light has no center, no circumference, no true existence, just the experience of incredible innate bliss ecstasy which is realizing emptiness of all (true) existence including the I. I AM voidness experiencing bliss. This is the meditation taking the impure death as the path of dharmakaya.‛
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Then I, the dharmakaya, because of my previous intention of wishing to liberate all beings, think: if I remain in this blissful state of dharmakaya, I will not be able to benefit many sentient beings. Therefore I must arise into a form body. From emptiness in which all appearances have ceased: My mind takes the form of a nada, standing in space, very thin and white with a red tint, incredibly subtle and made of light, blissful light, radiant and glittering – this is me, the sambhogakaya, the resultant enjoyment body. This illusory appearance came from emptiness, its nature is emptiness.‛ LR Light means clarity of mind. But when the light disappears, the mind (still) remains clear and without any thoughts (we are collecting absolute merit). Again, because of the power of past habits, thoughts arise in our mind. Our nature of mind is like a nada— very thin, but shining with white and red colors. We are exercising the sambhogakaya, bringing the bardo onto the path. LC (free translation with commentary) 45
ཉྐྱེར་དགུ་
When dying the essence of the father comes down from the head, and the essence of the mother comes up from the bottom. This is the time to practice Phowa. Good practitioners can feel when the essences of the father and mother come closer and closer. When they meet at the heart there is a flash of clear light. This is the clear light of dharmakaya, the meeting of the mother, and the father. If we recognize this, our mind is clear, like a bright autumn morning. This is shunyata, the emptiness of Dharmakaya. When the nada appears, this is the Samboghakaya. DK 46
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The order of appearance of the elements refers to the order in which the elements manifest when the minds of beings are reborn after death (it follows the reverse order of the elemental dissolution at death) and it also refers to the formation of the cosmos: first there was only space (ether element), then wind, then fire, on them there appeared the water, on the water the earth, on the earth the beings, and so forth. DKOT 47
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
58
The sequential emergence of the elements and their mandalas, Mt. Meru, lotus, and double vajra, which are the seats on which stands the divine palace “The top of the square Mt. Meru is marked in the four cardinal and four intermediate directions with pinnacles or pillars which are shaped like small pointed hills.‛ A 6448
44
‚Mediate on the 4 attributes of emptiness:
1. I imagine having the appearance of nothingness and remain in that state for a while.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
2. I reflect upon emptiness of inherent existence: All phenomena — both the object being cognized and the subject, the cognizing consciousness — exist only as mental constructs by merely being labeled by conceptual thought. All phenomena do not exist by way of their own nature, but like illusions, they are merely imputed by preconceptions. Since all phenomena exist in dependence upon other factors — their causes and conditions, their parts and differences, and their being labeled by term and concept — their mode of existence is relative and dependent. They cannot exist independently, they are empty. Although they lack inherent existence from their own side, they do exist conventionally, designated upon their basis of designation by conventional thought. All phenomena – illustrated by the subtle base of designation of I, my subtle body and subtle mind – lack inherent nature. This negation of inherent existence, this purity of phenomena, is the ultimate nature of myself, of my mind. This leaves nothing but the non-dual flow of consciousness, empty of subject and object. 3. With one corner of my mind, I generate that ascertainment and apprehension of emptiness into a state of great bliss. 4. When I focus upon this great bliss integrated with the object, emptiness, I develop the divine identity. This is me, the resultant dharmakaya, I develop the divine pride of having attained the omniscient mind of Heruka, the blissful wisdom fused with the object, emptiness. The body is pure, aggregates and constituents are naturally divine, I develop divine pride.
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petalled variegated lotus is on top of Mt. Meru and can be visualized either on top (covering) the eight hills or within them. LR p.145. The eastern direction is white when relating to the four activities and blue for the Chakrasamvara practice. [Lama Chamspa.] The differences in colors can also be due to different crowns. Thus, for the crown of Verochana the eastern direction should be dark blue, and for the crown of Akshobhya the eastern direction should be white. 49
In the center of the lotus appears a moon disc, which is the white drop that comes from our father. Above the moon are the vowels of the Sanskrit alphabet. They are white in color and represent the mirror-like wisdom. The 16 vowels are arranged above the moon disc twice (first in a clockwise circle and then outside this circle in a bigger counterclockwise circle). They are thus doubled into 32, representing the essence of the 32 major marks of a buddha. DKOT 50
གསུམ་བཅུ་
59
Above the moon disc there is a sun disc, which is the red drop that comes from our mother. Above the sun are the consonants of the Sanskrit alphabet. They are red in color and represent the wisdom of equanimity. The 40 consonants are arranged above the sun disc twice (first in a clockwise circle and then outside this circle in a bigger counterclockwise circle). They are thus doubled into 80, representing the essence of the 80 minor marks of a buddha. DKOT The sun disc is inverted, so its upper side is facing down, toward the moon, and the consonants are as if hanging from the sun, so both the vowels standing on the moon below and the consonants hanging from the inverted sun above are facing each other. 51
The OM SARVA VIRA YOGINI... mantra establishes the pride of the deity. Initially the pride of the deity and attachment to it is needed. So there is still some ego, but you are feeling everything in the form of the deity. This is necessary to break ordinary perception. However to avoid the vajra pride turning into ego pride we are reminded of emptiness with the following OM VAJRA SHUDDHAH... mantra. DK 54
The actual developing stage starts here. Chakrasamvara (oneself) gradually dissolves into the HUNG at his heart chakra. The HUNG dissolves from the bottom up to the nada and the nada stays in space. 55
སོ་གཅིག་
The essence of BHRUM is the five (six) dhyani buddhas. The BHRUM transforms into the [divine] palace [at the center of the mandala]. 56
BHRUM and the six buddhas
Mandala’s palace
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Mandala’s basic structure (detail from sand mandala, Chakrasamvara empowerments, Almora, May 2005). The order in which the eight cemeteries are visualized is (you are in the center of the mandala looking to the east, so the east will be in front of you, the north to your left, the west behind you, the south to your right and so forth for the intercardinal directions): (1) tumdrag (east); (2) tsang-tsing-thrigpa (north) (3) Dorje-barwa (west) (4) kengruchan (south) (5) misadshadpa (southeast) (6) tashi- tsal (southwest) (7) munpa-dragpo (northwest) (8) kili-kila-drogpa (northeast). 57
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
62
Our consciousness in the form of a nada goes in between vowels and consonants (between moon and sun), and slowly becomes a HUNG, starting to form at the top of the HUNG—at the nada—down to the U at the bottom, until it becomes a complete HUNG, blue in color. (the HUNG is built from top to bottom, as the nada is always first to appear and last to disappear.) The nada should be very small. The size of the Hung does not matter so much. Different lamas say different things about the HUNG’s size, depending on their experiences. It can be wrist-to-elbow length or human size. LC The formation of the HUNG (drop, moon, headline, body, shabju) corresponds to the development of the fetus in 5 stages (curd, jelly, fleshy, round, and with limbs) which represent the 5 Buddhas in the Nirmanakaya. DK 52
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
‛The light rays completely liberate all sentient beings and make offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, so that the whole universe becomes the nature of blissful omniscience, all the beings become Herukas. Simultaneously the accomplished heroes and heroines from beginningless time, who abide in the worlds throughout all directions, are invited. They enter into union and melt into light. This whole universe of Herukas, this pure environment from the vast reaches of space dissolves back into the nada of the HUNG which becomes incredibly powerful blissful ecstasy! All is completely dissolved in me as if about to explode with bliss. The syllable HUNG becomes endowed with simultaneous great bliss and transforms into the mandala of dependence and dependent beings which I all actualize simultaneously. This is the meditation of taking the impure rebirth as the path of Nirmanakaya.‛ LZ 53
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Chakrasamvara’s blue color represents the immutable dharmakaya. His tied up hair means that he liberates all worldly activities. The five-skull diadem symbolizes the five wisdoms. The precious and bone ornaments of the diadem tied together with a vajra thread means that Chakrasamvara understands the nature of dharmadhatu. Holding a vajra means that he cuts all thoughts; holding a bell means that he abandons preconceptions. Holding vajra and bell with hands crossed at his chest, right hand in front of the left, means that appearance and emptiness are 58
སོ་གཉིས་
63
The skullcup has a red lotus flower inside, which may symbolize one of the five chakras, perhaps the throat or the secret place chakra. In the yum, the secret place chakra is said to be located at the cervix and known as the conferrer of the nectar of great bliss, which is precisely what the skullcup contains. Passionate Enlightenment by Miranda Shaw. 59
The four dakinis represent the characteristics of the four elements. The four directions symbolize the accomplishment of the four activities. The four vases with nectar symbolize the giving of supreme bliss. That they are inside the palace represents the appearance of the five wisdoms. 60
སོ་གསུམ་
The four dakinis are Heruka himself—his emanations, his attendants. The four close mindfulnesses are: body (Dakini), feeling (Lama), dharma (Khandarohe), and mind (Rupini). LC To strengthen the visualization: exercise seeing dakinis both clockwise and counterclockwise. Also exercise doing the visualization looser and tighter. After the visualization is mastered, look for detail, like the dakinis’ face, etc. After the visualization of the dakinis has become stable, visualize the yum, and then the rest of the mandala. LCTC 61
Hands in padma mudra (while holding bell and vajra) are placed in front of OM AH HUNG locations. DKOT In solitary practice: in front of the forehead (OM), palms are together, like a lotus bud. In front of the throat (AH), tip of fingers 62
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(pointing up) separated, like a blossoming lotus. In front of the chest (HUNG), hands assume the mudra representing a vajra (fingers interlocked with the exception of middle fingers, which are slightly bent and touching each other at their tips). For the Yab: OM HA (white), heart, hero Dorje Sempa (hero Vajrasattva, who is the wrathful manifestation of buddha Akshobhya). He has three faces (white, red, and black) and six hands. The three rights hold vajra, damaru, and head, and the three lefts hold bell, skullcup, and khatvanga. His consort heroine Vajravarahi is at the navel. NA MA HI (yellow), forehead, hero Nampar Nangdse (hero Vairochana, who is the wrathful manifestation of buddha Vairochana). He has one face and four hands. The two rights hold a dharmachakra and a dhamaru and the two lefts hold a bell, skullcup, and khatvanga. His consort heroine Yamini is at the heart. 63
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
inseparable. Having a lotus seat means that samsara’s defilements don’t stick to him. Standing on a sun disc symbolizes the ripening of the sprouts of bodhichitta. Standing on Shiva and Uma represents the subduing of all harmful beings. Being surrounded by the fire of wisdom means that the two kinds of obscurations (emotions and habitual tendencies) are burned up. A half moon on the left side of his topknot means that he clears away the suffering of conflictive emotions. A double vajra on the head means he continuously helps all sentient beings so they can accomplish their activities. Wearing a wishfulfilling gem on top of his hair knot means that he gives satisfaction to beings like a wishfulfilling gem. The six bone ornaments signify the completion of the six perfections. Wearing a tiger skin shows his power to subdue. Wearing a mala of human heads shows his ability to abandon that which needs to be abandoned. Exposing his fangs symbolizes the removal of the four maras. His slight smile shows kindness. DKOT Heruka’s body is slightly bent to the right in order to subdue the channels through which the winds of delusions flow. LR p. 94
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སོ་བཞི་
SVA HA HU (red), crown of head, hero Pema Garwang (hero Padma Narteshvara, who is the wrathful manifestation of buddha Amitabha). He has one face and four hands. The two right hands hold a lotus and damaru, the two lefts hold a bell, skullcup, and khatvanga. His consort heroine Mohini is at the mouth. VAU SHAT HE (dark blue), shoulders, hero Shri Heruka (the wrathful manifestation of buddha Vajradhara). He has one face and four hands. The two rights hold a vajra and damaru, the two lefts hold a bell, skullcup, and khatvanga. His consort heroine Kshobini is at the forehead. HUNG HUNG HO (orange), eyes, hero Dorje Nyima (hero Vajra Surya, who is the wrathful manifestation of buddha Ratnasambhava). He has one face and four hands. The two rights hold a jewel and damaru, the two lefts hold a bell, skullcup, and khatvanga. His consort heroine Trasini is at the crown of the head. PHET PHET HANG (green), four limbs, hero Tachog (hero Parameshva or Paramashava, who is the wrathful manifestation of buddha Amoghasiddhi). He has one face and four hands. The two rights hold a sword and damaru, the two lefts hold a bell, skullcup, and khatvanga. His consort heroine Chandika is at the limbs (or the forehead).
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Vajrasattva stands on a moon disc in an aura of moonlight. The other five stand on sun discs in auras of sunlight. All six heroes are adorned with the six ornaments, a head ornament of five human skulls, a necklace of 50 moist human heads and a tigerskin loincloth. They have three eyes and stand with their right legs extended.
For the Yum: OM BAM (red), navel, heroine Dorje Phagmo (heroine Vajravarahi, who is the wrathful aspect of Vajravarahi herself). Vajravarahi has three faces (red, blue, and green) and six hands. The three rights hold hooked knife, Brahma head, and iron hook. The three lefts hold skullcup, khatvanga, and noose. Her consort is hero Vajrasattva at the heart. 64
སོ་ལྔ་
HANG YONG (blue), heart, heroine Shinjema (heroine Yamini or Yamani, who is the wrathful aspect of Lochana). Yamini’s consort is hero Vairochana at the forehead. HRING MONG (white), mouth (or root of tongue, i.e. throat), heroine Monjema (heroine Mohini or Mohani, who is the wrathful aspect of Pandara or Benzarahi). Mohini’s consort is hero Padma Narteshvara at the crown of head. HRING HRING (yellow), forehead, heroine Gyunjema (heroine Kshobini or Kshobani {or Sachalani}, who is the wrathful aspect of Vajradhatu Ishvara). Kshobini’s consort is hero Shri Heruka at the shoulders.
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HUNG HUNG (green), crown of the head, heroine Tragjema (heroine Trasini or Samtrasani, who is the wrathful aspect of Mamaki). Trasini’s consort is hero Vajra Surya at the eyes. PHET PHET (smoky), four limbs, heroine Tungmo (heroine Chandika, who is the wrathful aspect of Tara). Chandika’s consort is hero Parameshva at the limbs (or the forehead).
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Each of the dakinis has ‚one face and four hands, the right two holding damaru and *hooked+ knife, the left two holding *skullcup], khatvanga and bell. Mohini stands on a moon disc in an aura of moonlight and the other five stand on sun discs in auras of sunlight. They have three eyes, naked bodies, and their hair hangs loose. They are adorned by the five ornaments, a head ornament of five human skulls, and a necklace of fifty human skulls. They stand with their right legs extended.‛ DKOT, LR pp. 27-28
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PHEM consists of four mudras: (1) leg mudra: right knee raised in front of the body (or left big toe stepping on right big toe); (2) hand mudra: the hands are raised in front of us, slightly above our head level, touching each other at the tips of the thumbs and index fingers with the remaining fingers outstretched like flames, palms facing to the front; this creates a hole in between the two hands; (3) eye mudra: eyes look through the hole formed by the hands, then rotate the hands clockwise; and (4) sound mudra: the sound PHEM actually consists of three sounds; PHE, A, and M (or of four sounds: PHA, HE, A, and M). We use this four-fold mudra to invite the wisdom beings. 65
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
The “twenty four” vajrayana places with their current names Jalandhara = Jalandhar (Punjab); Oddiyana (Ottiyana) = Swat Valley (Pakistan); Paurnagiri (Pullira Malaya) = ?; Kamarupa = Assam; Malava (Malavar) = West coast of India; Sindhu (Sindhura) = Sindh in Pakistan or Kashmir?; Nagara = ?; Karunyapataka = ?; Devikota = ?; Karmarapataka = ?; Kulata (Kuluta) = Kullu, Himachal Pradesh; Arbuda = Mount Abu, Sirohi district, Rajasthan; Godavari = origin of the Godavari river at Devagiri (modern Daultabad), Aurangabad district, Maharashtra; Rameshvara = Rameshvaram, Tamil Nadu; Himadri = ?; Ote[visa] (Odivisha) = Orissa; Harikela = ?; Tishakune = ?; Lampaka = ?; Kanchika (Kanchi) = Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu; Himalaya = Himalayan region; Saurashtra = ?; Pretapuri = Puri, Orissa?; Kalinga = Bhubaneshwar, Orissa; Isle of Gold = ?; Kokana = ?; Caritra = ?; Koshala = Shravasti (Sahet-Mahet), Uttar Pradesh; Vindhya Kaumara Paurika = ?; Grihadevata = ?; Suvarnadvipa = ?; Maru = ? (Also regions of Zanskar, Kashmir, Kulu, Hazara District, and Swat.) Shrichakrasambhara Tantra, translated by lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup; The Hevajra Tantra by David Snellgrove
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Visualization of wisdom being (Skt. jñanasattva, Tib. yeshe sempa or yeshepa) and commitment being (Skt. samayasattva, Tib. damtsig sempa or damtsigpa) becoming inseparable: 66
སོ་དྲུག་
From my heart chakra light arises and becomes the syllable JA, white in color, meaning ‚love.‛ The syllable becomes the love-dakini Jampama, white in color, who is carrying in her hand a flower hook. She invites the wisdom beings to come above my head and they sit on my crown. With my hands in the threatening mudra (this is, with thumbs folded against the palm of respective hand, tip of the thumb pressing the root of the ring finger of respective hand, and middle and ring fingers folded on thumb of respective hand, so only the index and little fingers are straightened) the fleshy part of my right index finger near its tip touches the same part of the left little finger as I say JA (Dza) (‚come‛).
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Light then becomes the syllable HUNG, yellow in color, meaning ‚compassion.‛ The syllable becomes the compassion-dakini Nyingjema, yellow in color, who is carrying in her hand a flower rope. She puts the wisdom being Chakrasamvara inside the commitment being Chakrasamvara (the wisdom being enters and dissolves into the commitment being). I do exactly the same mudra and motion as above but with opposite hands; this is, now my left index finger touches my right little finger as I say HUNG (‚be present‛) (or ‚enter‛) (or ‚dissolve‛). Light then becomes the syllable BAM, red in color, meaning ‚joy.‛ The syllable becomes the joy-dakini Gawama, red in color, who is
Skt.: OM SARVA TATHAGATA ABHISHIÑCHA TUMAM. Visualize that from the Hung at your heart light arises and invites the five tathagatas, who come in the form of Vajravarahi and the four dakinis, to position themselves above the crown of your head, with their vases full of nectar ready to be poured onto your head as an ablution and consecration. DKOT 67
The 5 Buddhas are arranged like a crown above one’s head with Akshobia in the center for Heruka, Vairochana for Vajrayogini, etc. To determine the different crowns, take the crown of Vairochana as the standard crown, and then exchange Vairochana’s position for the main tathagata of the crown. The standard crown, or crown of Vairochana, has Vairochana, white in color, on the top of the crown (center), Akshobhya, blue, at the front of the crown (east), Amoghasiddhi, green, at the left of the crown (north), Amitabha, red, at the back of the crown (west), and Ratnasambhava, yellow, at the right of the crown (south). Thus, to determine the crown of Akshobhya, simply switch the places of Vairochana (originally in the center) with Akshobhya (originally at the front or east). The rest of the tathagatas remain in their same positions and with the same colors. LC 68
སོ་བདུན་
The initiation tathagatas, now in the crowns, dissolve into the respective bearer of the crown. Thus the tathagatas in the crown of Akshobhya dissolve into Chakrasamvara, those in the crown of Vairochana dissolve into Vajravarahi, and those in the crown of Ratnasambhava dissolve into the four dakinis. DKOT 69
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The offering goddesses emerge from light arising from the HUNG at your heart chakra, as usual, but since wisdom being Chakrasamvara is inside you and you have become the wisdom being, this time the goddesses are facing you and do the offerings to you. As usual, after offering they dissolve back into the HUNG at your heart, one by one. DKOT 70
Visualize the goddess with the offering she is carrying in the following colors: ARGHAM = white; AÑCHAMANAM = white; PROKSHANAM = red; PADYAM = red; PUSHPA = white; DHUPA = blue; ALOKA = orange; GANDHA = green; NEVEDYA = yellow; SHAPTA = light blue. Also visualize that the deities are offering you with the sixteen offering consort goddesses. DKOT 71
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Deities receiving inner offering have a HUNG in their tongues. From the HUNG, a white, three-spoked vajra emerges. From the ‚mudra of vajra-drinking‛ (this is, through a hole produced by vajra and tongue) a beam of light projects onto the nectar in the skullcup. This beam has the shape of a tube (like a long drinking straw), through which the deities suck the essence of the nectar. Visualize this while reciting the inner offering. DKOT 72
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For the inner offering hold the skullcup with the right hand making a kind of tripod with the thumb, index, and middle fingers while holding the vajra with the last two fingers on the palm of the hand, below the skullcup. Sprinkle nectar from the skullcup to the front, just above or at level of your left shoulder, by using the ring finger (or the last two fingers) of the left hand, still holding the bell. His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang Rinpoche teaches to sprinkle to your front for all the lineage lamas, to yourself for the yab 73
carrying in her hand a flower chain. The wisdom being becomes one (inseparable) with the commitment being. With my hands still in threatening mudra, my right hand is placed on my left hand, palms facing upward, so my little fingers and index fingers make a square shape, as I say BAM (‚stay‛) (or ‚bind in nonduality‛) (or ‚become inseparable‛).
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Finally, the light becomes the syllable HO, green in color, meaning ‚equanimity.‛ The syllable becomes the equanimity-dakini Dangnyomma, green in color, who is carrying in her hand a flower bell. She stabilizes the experience of inseparability and I (as the wisdom being) feel pleased. With hands still in threatening mudra, my left little finger clasps the right little finger and my left index finger clasps the right one (right palm up, left down), as I say HO (‚ho!‛) (or ‚be pleased‛) (‚stabilize and remain with delight‛). 72 There is another Drikung Kagyu version that in JA the wisdom beings are invited, in HUNG the wisdom beings come closer to us and position themselves above the crowns of our heads, in BAM the beings enter and dissolve in us through our crowns and become inseparable, and in HO the experience of inseparability becomes stabilized and oneself (the wisdom being now) feels happy and pleased because of that. LC According to Gyatrul Rinpoche, after the wisdom being has entered the commitment being, the wisdom being’s sambhogakaya remains (for the rest of the sadhana and possibly longer) [in a reduced size (guru yoga texts say the size of a thumb)] at the center of the heart [chakra] of the practitioner (who is visualizing him or herself as the commitment being). Generating the Deity by Gyatrul Rinpoche
(OM SHRI VAJRA HE HE <), right in front of you and a bit down (because she is shorter) for the yum (OM VAJRA VAIROCHANIYE <), right in front, beyond the yum, for Khandroma (OM DAKINIYE <), to the left for Lama (OM LAME <), to your back (above your shoulder) for Dumkyema (OM KHANDAROHE <), to your right for Zugjenma (OM RUPINIYE <) and in front of you motioning from your right to your left for all the dharmapalas. DKOT Think of your thumb and ringfinger as the two secret organs of Heruka and Vajravarahi, and the bodhichitta (sexual fluids) from their union is what is sprinkled. LR p. 102
སོ་བརྒྱད་
The drop is what descends, producing a feeling of bliss. One has to be careful not to let the drop go beyond the tip of the jewel, because it may be lost. It is important to preserve the drop, because it is the body’s seed that holds our energy and consciousness or different states of mind (that is why it is sometimes called ‚bodhichitta‛). When we lose the drop it is like losing a branch of the essence drop. The essence drop protects the branch drop [from being lost]. There is only a limited number of times we can lose the drop in a row. People who lose their drop sixteen or seventeen times in a row while having sex die immediately. When the drop goes down to the tip of the jewel during the secret offering (or when we imagine it does) one does not offer the relative feeling of ‚it feels good, interesting,‛ and so forth, but the absolute experience of clear light inseparable from emptiness. If we control the movement of the drop, it turns into wisdom. LC 74
Praise of Vajrayogini: APARAJAYE, APARAJITE, AJITE = The one who cannot be defeated by others; conquering over others; TRILOKYA MATE = The mother of the three worlds; MAHAVIDYA SHVARI = The great lady of mantra; SARVA BHUTA BHAYA = The one who threatens all spirits and demons; VAJRASANA = The one with the vajra seat; VAHE MAHA VAJRE = The great vajra bringing all under her control; VASHYANG KARI NITRA BHRAHMANI = The one who rules over the others with twisted eyes; SHOSHANI = The one who causes the poison to dry out; ROSHANI KRODHE KARALINI = The fearful, wrathful one showing her teeth in angry expression; STRASANI MARANI PRABHEDANI = The one who threatens and kills the mara, separating evil from good; VIJAY = The victorious one; JAMBANI STAMBHANI MOHANI = The one who stupefies the maras, etc., by making them senseless, standing solidly like a fixed pillar on the ground; MAHAYOGINI = The great yogini; KAMESHVARI KAGE = The dakini-consort who fulfills all desires. DKOT
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སོ་དགུ་
The three channels are: central channel, right channel, and left channel. The central channel is blue on the outside and red on the inside. The right channel or sun channel is red and male (as the sun) and as such it represents method. The left channel or moon channel is white and female (as the moon) and as such it represents wisdom. LC From the head chakra of great bliss emerge 32 spokes, from the throat chakra of the 5 senses 16 spokes, from the heart chakra of dharma 8 spokes and from the navel chakra of manifestation 64 spokes. DK In the Nyingma system in women the right channel is considered red and the left white. In men the right channel is white and the left is red. The central channel is blue in both men and women. However in the Drikung Kagyu practice of winds, channels and drops men 79
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and women’s channels are considered the same. Healing with Form, Energy and Light by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, pp. 41-42 Actually, the fire blazes not from the AH but from the A-stroke or short A, which is located four fingerwidths below the level of the physical navel and inside the body (nearer to the spine than to the skin of the abdomen), at the trijunction of the central, right, and left channels (for a more detailed description of how the short A looks and its location, see The Bliss of Inner Fire by Lama Thubten Yeshe). 80
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
By breathing in through the two side channels these will get inflated, and by holding the breath at the lower abdomen one will produce an effect like bellows blowing from the right and left channels into the central channel at the tri-junction and onto the short A, which ignites at the moment it is touched by the air. A tongue of fire arises from the short A and goes up through the central channel, reaching and ‚burning‛ (meaning making red-hot) the red syllable AH in the middle of the navel chakra, which is located two fingerwidths below the physical navel.
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Then the fire keeps rising through the central channel and ‚burning‛ the other syllables, as explained in the sadhana text. When the fire reaches the HANG at the head chakra, the heat melts the white drop, which drips from the HANG down the central channel ‚like melted butter‛ and repairs the three burned syllables below. After the AH is repaired and the fire returns to the short A, a full cycle of the visualization has been completed.
According to Lati Rinpoche, these syllables (yellow PHAT and red HRI) are lying down, the head facing inward. Being the nature of diamond, the syllables and their light rays block the holes of the secret places very tightly. LR p. 171 75
At this point, it is important to try to generate some experience of bliss by imagining the arts of love and by having some sexual feelings. Try to generate a blissful mind, and then reflect upon the experience of the four joys. LR p. 184 76
Praise of Chakrasamvara: Homage to the Blessed Lord, the Lord of Heroes, Who is like the world-ending conflagration, Endowed with a crest of dreadlocks, Whose mouth is terrible, with awful projecting fangs, Splendid with a thousand arms, Wielding an axe, lasso, upraised spear, and khatvānga staff, Wearing a tiger hide And who has a great smoky-dark form. The Cakrasamvara Tantra by David Gray 77
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
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Do the entire visualization while holding ‚one breath.‛ Hold the breath for as long as possible but without straining. You can inhale in little bits while holding the breath but exhale only at the end. This is considered ‚one breath.‛ If you can hold the breath for longer, then you can do the visualization of the fire going up and down the central channel several times, up to seven times. However, once you have reached the limit of your capacity for holding the breath you should exhale gently. Do not strain or push yourself beyond your capacity. It should be done gently. Exhale softly, in little bits. Do only one exercise (i.e. hold the breath only once) per session, otherwise you risk developing some kind of wind disorder (lung disease).
བཞི་བཅུ་
Along with the tummo exercise, an exercise to purify the breath that consists of nine exhalations and so forth, and the first trulkhor (Tibetan yoga) exercise were taught. The trulkhor exercise was taught broken down into two parts—the first part consisting of rubbing the limbs and the second part consisting of hopping and whirling while seated cross-legged. The first part of the trulkhor exercise has two versions—a soft version without touching the body, and a wrathful one in which one actually slaps and rubs the limbs and its channels energetically. Thus it looks as if the trulkhor exercise was several exercises when actually it is only one (or two if we consider the nine exhalations of the breath as a trulkhor exercise).
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Khyung Ka Rinpoche’s lineage recommends that at this stage of the retreat you do the nine exhalations of the breath and the first trulkhor exercise (with its two parts and the two versions of the first part) in the morning as soon as one wakes up. However, doing them at any other time during the first session is also acceptable. Furthermore, you can do the first trulkhor exercise (but not the nine
ཞྐྱེ་གཅིག་
and reabsorbs back into the Hung. Now say OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHAH SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SUDDHO HANG and visualize the mala dissolving into emptiness. Out of emptiness a red lotus appears (where my mala was on my right knee). On the lotus there is a sun disc. On that a red syllable HRI appears. It becomes Padma Narteshvara (Tib. Pema Garwang), red in color. Padma Narteshvara has three eyes and four arms. The first right hand holds a red lotus flower. The second right hand holds a damaru. The first left holds a bell and the second left a skullcup in front of the chest, with folded arm. In the crook of the second left arm Padma Narteshvara holds a khatvanga staff. His hair is tied up in three knots like Chakrasamvara’s. He is adorned with the six mudras or six bone ornaments, a diadem of five dry human skulls, and a long garland-necklace of fifty freshly cut human heads dripping blood. He wears a lowered tiger skin and stands on a sun disc, with his right leg outstretched and left leg slightly bent. At his forehead chakra there is a white OM; at his throat chakra a red AH; and at his heart chakra a blue HUNG. From the HUNG light shoots forth, inviting the wisdom beings. Say JA HUNG BAM HO and the wisdom being dissolves into the commitment being of Padma Narteshvara. The wisdom being and commitment being become one. Say the eight-fold offering to Padma Narteshvara: OM VAJRA ARGHAM/PADYAM…PRATISHTHA SVAHA. Then say mantras for blessing of the mala: OM SVAHA HU HUNG HUNG PHET (7 or 21 times) or (108 times), OM PADMA NARTESHVARA HUNG HUNG PHET (108 times) or (7 or 21 times). (We have to count with another mala, as we still should not touch the mala on knee.) During mantra 1+2 recitation, visualize that Padma Narteshvara’s power of speech becomes stronger and stronger. As we finish reciting these mantras, Padma Narteshvara disappears and instead of him we find the mala on our knee. Now we can touch the mala.
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The mala beads have to be made of human skull. Traditionally it is thought that the string that holds the beads together ideally should be strung together with a thread of raw cotton spun by a sixteen year-old maiden. During the main recitation of the mantra for pacifying results, use the thumb against the index finger; for increasing results use the thumb against the middle finger; for powerful results use the thumb against the ring finger; and for wrathful results use the thumb against the little finger pushing the beads in the reverse motion (away from us). In general, when we count mantras we pull the beads toward us and imagine we are inviting Padma Narteshvara and other deities to come out of the beads and dissolve in us (in each bead a deity is supposed to reside). LTCT, DKOT, LR p. 37
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
The recitation that stabilizes the wind of thought: I am Heruka Chakrasamvara embracing the yum. In my heart chakra there is a sun disc, like a mandala plate upside down. On the sun disc there is a dark blue syllable HUNG, very firmly and straightly fixed on the disc, like a needle stuck on a mattress. All the mantras together (the two Heruka mantras plus the two Vajravarahi mantras plus the four dakinis mantras) are arranged counterclockwise around the HUNG. As I say the mantra (the one I am repeating at this moment, only), a mala of light (and wind and sound) emanates from the mantras in a counterclockwise direction around the syllable HUNG, and goes up and out of my body through my left nostril. Light touches all sentient beings, who transform into Heruka, with a HUNG and sun disc in their heart chakras, the mantras also arranged counterclockwise around their HUNG. Light with wind (sound) enters the sentient beings’ bodies through their right nostrils, goes down to their HUNG at their heart chakras and dissolves into it. Then by 82
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exhalations of the breath) other times during the day, especially the second part of it (i.e., hopping, whirling and so forth), if you feel your body is overheated or you are experiencing bad heat, uncomfortable sweating, loss of drop, and so on.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Before doing the nine exhalations of the breath and/or the first trulkhor exercise, visualize the refuge tree above and in front of you and do the abbreviated Rig Kun ma prayer (in the Long Form of the Recitations for the Fivefold Path of Mahamudra, pp. 129-130): Dor-Je ChangWang Til-Li Na-Ro Dang / Mar-Mi Dag-Po Phag-Dru Jig-Ten Gon / Ka-Drin Sum-Den Tsa-We La-Ma Zhab / Tsa-Gyu La-Ma Yi-Dam Chö-Kyong La / Sol-Wa Deb-So Dag-Gyu Jyin-Gyi Lob / (‚I supplicate to the great Vajradhara, Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo Drupa, Jigten Sumgön; to the feet of the root lama, who possesses the three kindnesses; and to all the root and lineage lamas, yidam deities and Dharma protectors.‛). To end the session, first dissolve the refuge tree and meditate in emptiness. Then do the dedication prayer: Söd Nam Di Yi Tam Ched Zig Pa Nyid / Thob Ne Nye Pe Dra Nam Pham Je Te / Khye Ga Na Chi Ba Long Dhrug Pa Yi / Sid Pe Tso Le Dro Wa Drol Bar Shog / (‚May we harvest the fruit of the seed we have sown. May I and all sentient beings be freed from the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death and achieve perfect enlightenment.‛) Put the mala on the right knee. From now until one finishes the blessing do not touch the mala. Say OM KHANDAROHE HUNG HUNG PHET and visualize how Khandarohe emerges from the Hung at your heart chakra, places herself on top of the mala, removes obstacles, 81
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rotation of light and sound around their HUNG, light goes up their bodies, and out through their left nostrils, reaching back to me, and entering my body through my right nostril, and then down dissolving into my HUNG. Light again goes out of my body and into the sentient beings, back and forth during the recitation stage. But before leaving the body of the yum the mantra-light dissolves into the seed syllable at her heart chakra. DKOT If one is visualizing the HUNG inside the wisdom being’s heart, and the wisdom being inside the commitment being’s heart, then the mantra-light first has to exit the sambhogakaya of the wisdom being through his mouth and rise through the commitment being’s body before leaving through the commitment being’s mouth. Generating the Deity by Gyatrul Rinpoche, p. 95 83
ཞྐྱེ་གཉིས་
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Repeat the mantras for Heruka 500,000 or 400,000 times. For the fire pujas do a 10% of the total recited (i.e., 50,000 or 40,000). Traditionally, reciting Heruka’s essence mantra has been considered helpful for accomplishing everything one does successfully, and obtaining worldly siddhis and the supreme siddhi. Heruka’s near essence mantra has been considered helpful for getting rain, finding terma treasures, and attaining siddhis of speech. Repeat Vajrayogini’s mantra 50,000 or 40,000 times. For the fire pujas do a 10%of the total recited (i.e., 5,000 or 4,000). LTCT If you need to drink or go to the bathroom during the mantra accumulation, finish the current mala round, say the Ali Kali and go. Then before starting the next mala, drink a little from the vase water to purify and say the Ali Kali again. LC 84
visualize the jñanasattva, the pure wisdom being, seated thereon. The jñanasattva is a tiny replica of yourself as the deity seated in your heart. Although you are the meditational being, the samayasattva, at this point in the sadhana you have invoked the pure wisdom energy and possess the ability to radiate innumerable manifestations of yourself. Consider the tiny wisdom being in your heart to be the sambhogakaya aspect and consider yourself, as the major deity, to be the nirmanakaya aspect. (<)
ཞྐྱེ་གསུམ་
Within the heart space of the wisdom being, there is another circular tent-like area. In that radiant space, clear and free of obscuration, visualize the hand emblem for your particular main deity. (<) The hand emblem in the pure wisdom being’s heart is visualized in a vertical position. For example, a meditator who is generating a deity of the vajra family (like Chakrasamvara) might visualize a (<) vajra in the wisdom being’s heart. It would be an error to conceive it as a solid, material vajra. A vajra is the weapon of primordial wisdom and should be visualized by the meditator as translucent and devoid of tangible substance, similar to a rainbow. In the hollow center of the hand emblem, the meditator will visualize a solar or lunar disc seat. Atop the solar or lunar seat visualize the samadhisattva, the single-pointed concentration being. The samadhisattva is the seed syllable of life, the very essence of the
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deity. This syllable could be a HUNG (<) Visualize it very clearly, like a candle flame. It stands vertically, facing in the same direction as the deity in whose heart it appears. If the deity faces east, then the syllable faces east. It possesses the same brilliant color as the deity and shines radiantly. To summarize: first, the meditator visualizes himself or herself as the meditational being; second, he or she visualizes the pure wisdom being in his or her heart; and third, in the heart of the wisdom being he or she visualizes the single-pointed concentration being (the HUNG).
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
This is the sequence for visualizing the three sattvas. Some sadhanas, however, do not incorporate visualization of all three beings. More common and extensive practices include all three sattvas (<)
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[The mantra around the seed syllable] is visualized as a closed loop, without gaps. [The first and last syllables of the mantras are located in front of the seed syllable.+ (<) Generally speaking, the mantras of male deities (or of father tantras), representing skillful means, circle clockwise. The mantras of female deities (or of mother tantras, like Chakrasamvara), representing wisdom, usually circle counterclockwise. Generating the Deity, by Gyatrul Rinpoche, pp. 91-93
Visualization for dakinis’ recitation: syllables MAM, TAM, PAM, and LAM stand on sun discs at Dakini’s, Lama’s, Khandarohe’s, and Rupini’s heart chakras, respectively. Each syllable is surrounded counterclockwise by the respective mantra. Recite each of the four dakini mantras 10,000 or 4,000 times. For the fire pujas do 10% of this (i.e., 1,000 or 400 for each dakini). LTCT Reciting all these mantras properly is like water that cleanses all bad karma of body, speech, and mind accumulated through thousands of kalpas because of the two ignorances—ignorance of desire, hatred, etc., and ignorance of wrong knowledge. LTCT 85
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
According to Gyatrul Rinpoche for a detailed visualization, the samadhisattva or single-pointed concentration being—another name for the recitation stage—is the seed syllable (in this case HUNG) which is surrounded by the mantra, upon which the rest of the recitations’ visualizations depend. The seed syllable, according to Rinpoche, is to be visualized at the hub of the deity’s hand emblem (in this case a vajra), which itself is in the center of the heart of the wisdom being (who, as explained in a previous endnote, is to be visualized in the center of the commitment being’s heart). In Rinpoche’s own words: (<) meditate on the deity’s (the commitment being’s) precious heart, which should be visualized as a hollow, circular area, like the empty space inside a tent. This space has neither outer nor inner existence, yet it appears as a clear, translucent space devoid of any obscurations. Within the deity’s heart, clearly visualize a tiny seat formed of a solar and lunar disc. Then, according to your particular sadhana,
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Among the Drikung Kagyu, a similar system of visualization is also used. In the Drikung Kagyu Vajrayogini fire pujas the wisdom being is to be visualized in the heart of the commitment being; it is possible that in the main sadhana of Chakrasamvara or Vajrayogini the same could be done. This is supported by the fact that in the Chakrasamvara sadhana the generation stage section before calling the wisdom beings with the PHEM is called the samayasattva, the section between the PHEM and the recitation stage is called the jñanasattva, and the recitation stage is called the samadhisattva.
ཞྐྱེ་བཞི་
According to the Tsongkhapa’s commentary on the five stages to produce the illusory body as understood from commentarial literature on the Guhyasamaja Tantra, one should meditate on a subtle mandala at the center of the heart of the mandala deity. It has the form of a drop on a moon disc, its nature is wisdom, it is subtle, and it is said to be the wisdom being. Then at the center of the wisdom being one should meditate on a five-spoke vajra. At the hub of the vajra one should visualize the syllable HUNG, supreme and with an immutable nature. This syllable arises from the indestructible drop at the heart and it is the samadhisattva. (Dalai Lama’s lecture on Tsongkhapa’s commentary Lamp Thoroughly Illuminating the Five Stages, Dharamsala, 28 May 2007).
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The dissolution can be repeated several times in a row, if desired, but only at the end of the session. The dissolution of the five elements (the first signs of death) occurs while the palace and all sentient beings dissolve into you and you into the HUNG. Next, the dissolution from the bottom of the HUNG to the nada corresponds to the “four empties” (white appearance, red increase, black near 86
reappearance in the deity’s form purifies the intermediate existence. Without going further, this summarizes it. The initial going for refuge and generation of the intention of enlightenment, and the concluding dedication and aspiration are indispensable in the Great Vehicle approach. Consecration of offerings, feast gatherings, and so on are additional ways through which you can effortlessly complete the two accumulations. Creation and Completion by Jamgön Kongtrul, p. 45 The ‚inner‛ torma is the big Chakrasamvara torma that is kept always inside the altar (as opposed to the ‚outer‛ tormas that are taken out of the room twice a day). Before starting with the purification of the inner torma put a small tsampa button inside the altar, near the Chakrasamvara torma. (You can do this before starting the session.) 88
ཞྐྱེ་ལྔ་
On the left hand, ali vowels become a moon disc. On the right hand, kali consonants become a sun disc. On both moon and sun discs a HUNG appears in the middle (so now there is one HUNG on each palm above a moon in the left hand or a sun disc in the right hand). Then these become vajra hands (no visualization, only perform the nevedyam mudra). 89
Regarding the Chakrasamvara torma in the altar, it is actually only offered to the deities the first day of the retreat. From day 2 until the end of the retreat we make fresh tsampa buttons, one of which is offered every day as a substitute representation of the Chakrasamvara inner torma. Why do we do this? To offer something fresh to the deities every day. It is not considered nice or 90
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respectful to the deities that we offer the same old Chakrasamvara torma from the altar every day. The first day, when it was fresh and new it was fine, but after that we must offer fresh, new tormas every day. Since it would be so time-consuming to make a Chakrasamvara big torma every day for the deities, we make instead the tsampa button and we imagine it actually is the Chakrasamvara big torma at the altar. In fact, this small tsampa button in Tibetan is called torsö, which means ‚renewal of the torma.‛ Therefore it is as if by putting this torsö near the Chakrasamvara inner torma in the altar, the torma itself renews, becoming fresh again. Then we can offer the inner torma to the deity.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
We do the purification ritual to transform the Chakrasamvara torma into nectar, as we do with the outer torma, and sprinkle toward the altar (where we already have placed the torsö near the Chakrasamvara torma). If you have time, you can make, instead of the tsampa button torsö, a more elaborate torsö by placing five little discs one above the other from the biggest at the bottom to the smallest at the top. However, making the tsampa button torsö would be enough.
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Then, after the inner torma has been purified and transformed into nectar, when we say JA HUNG BAM HO we visualize that the mandala deities and many dakas and dakinis of the ten directions enter the torma. The torma is not just a representation of Chakrasamvara but of the entire mandala and its deities: the multicolored lotus at the base corresponds to the
attainment, and clear light). After that, one rests in emptiness/clear light for as long as possible. By practicing this we exercise the experience of the dharmakaya/clear light. Emerge from your meditation as soon as the first thought arises (even if your meditation has lasted only for a couple of seconds, at this stage of your training it is better to interrupt your meditation when the first thought arises than to continue trying to meditate with a mind full of thoughts. The latter would only create a bad habit of meditation, so it is better just to stop. LC Here the second part of the sadhana ends. When doing 4 sessions during retreat you finish here in the 1st through 3rd session. In the last session you continue through to the end. LC 87
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
According to Jamgön Kongtrul, this part of the generation stage of the sadhana mainly accomplishes purification purposes: the ‚cause vajra holder‛ corresponds to the clear light of the death experience, the ‚result vajra holder‛ to achieving the intermediate existence, and the emanation from the organs in union corresponds to the habitual pattern of sperm, ovum, and vital wind combining, and purifies the physical basis of existence. The sequential absorption of the three purifies the three stages of experience: appearance, increase, and attainment; and the vital drops purify the white and red appearances, and so on—there is much more, but just knowing this much illuminates the rest. The entrance of the wisdom beings purifies skilled activities and trainings. Sealing with the empowerments purifies the inheritance of one’s birth right. Homage, confession, offerings, and praise purify the enjoyment of sense objects. Recitation of the mantra purifies irrelevant speech. The dissolution phase purifies the death experience of that life, and the
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multicolored lotus ring around the vajra ground outside the palace and gardens; the fire fence can also be seen at the base of the torma as a rainbow spiral ring; and the color stripes on the sides of the torma are the surrounding dakinis, and so on. Thus the deities enter the torma and mix with it, like water mixing with water (becoming inseparable and undistinguishable from each other). The joy of the union allows the deities to absorb the essence of the torma and the torma receives siddhis (Tib. ngödrub) granted by the deities. Later in the sadhana, when we say OM VAJRA MU the deities vacate the torma. SAPARIVARA = with attendants; AKARSHAYA JA = come quickly; JA HUNG BAM HO = binding them; SAMTRAPAT = be well satisfied; SARVA DEVATA = all deities; SADHA KASYA = toward the practitioner, me; SHANTINGKURU = do the activity of pacifying; PUSHTINGKURU = do the activity of increasing; SARVA KARAYANTU = do all the activities; SIDDHIRBHAVATU = bestow the siddhis; YATHA = like that; SUKHAM SUKHE = give the joy of bliss. 91
ཞྐྱེ་དྲུག་
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Visualization of the hand mandala offering: first put six piles of rice on the left hand, one pile in the middle surrounded by five piles representing the 6 female armor deities. Then prepare a plate with 6 tsampa buttons in the same manner. These pellets should be red in color if possible, representing meat as the food offering. Visualizing dakini Khandarohe, say OM KHANDAROHE HUNG HUNG PHET and sprinkle one time from the vase on both the hand mandala and the six-pellet offering on the plate (to cleanse the impurities of the offering). Then say OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SUDDHO HANG and meditate on emptiness. Out of emptiness, in the palm of one’s left hand, there are: 92
The yum’s syllables are on a five-petalled lotus in the center of the palm, arranged counterclockwise.
ཞྐྱེ་བདུན་
The yab’s syllables are on the fingers, arranged clockwise. All of the yab’s syllables are on sun disc cushions with the exception of OM HA, which is on a moon disc cushion. PHET PHET HANG is on sun disc cushions on all fingernails. Then visualize the syllables as the deities. As one visualizes the yab and yum deities in one’s hand, one also visualizes these deities in one’s body. The female deities are standing, holding hooked knives and skullcups. If you can, visualize them with consorts. First visualize the female deity and then her consort. When you visualize the male deities on the fingers also visualize them with their consorts. Here first visualize the male deity and then his female consort.
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Then visualize the five-deity mandala of Chakrasamvara in the hand like a reflection in a mirror; the ground of the mandala corresponds to the back of one’s hand. Then visualize the five elements as the five dakinis (visualize them in one’s body as well). They all are standing, naked, in sambhogakaya form, with four arms and one face, with the exception of Pema Drawajenma. They all hold a hooked knife with their second right hand, a skullcup with their first left hand, and a khatvanga with their second left hand.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
LAM, yellow, Dungjema, she holds a dharmachakra with the first right hand; the earth element, which is flesh and bone of the hand. MAM, black, Sodjema, she holds a vajra with the first right hand; the water element which is the blood in the veins of the hand. PAM, red, Gugjema, she holds a lotus with the first right hand; the fire element which is the heat of the hand. TAM, green, Pema Gargyi Wangchugma, she holds a sword with the first right hand; the wind element which is the wind running inside the subtle channels of the hand. KHAM, smoky, Pema Drawajenma, she has three faces and six arms. Her main face at the center is smoky color, her right face is white, and her left face is red. Her first right hand holds a hook, her third right hand holds Brahma’s head with four faces, her third left hand holds a rope. She represents the space element, which is everywhere inside the hand. LTCT, DKOT, A Chat about Heruka by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
Female deities on the petals of a lotus in the middle of the palm going counterclockwise: OM BAM (center), red, Dorje Phagmo (Skt. Vajravarahi) or Nampar Nangdsema (Skt. Vairochani); HANG YONG, blue, Shinjema (Skt. Yamini); HRING MONG, white, Monjema (Skt. Mohini); HRING HRING, yellow, Gyunjema (Skt. Kshobini); HUNG HUNG, green, Tragjema (Skt. Trasini); PHET PHET, smoky, Tungmo (Skt. Chandika) Male deities on the fingers: OM HA (thumb), white, Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva); NAMA HI (index finger), yellow, Nampar Nangdse (Vairochana); SVAHA HU (middle finger), red, Pema Garwang (Amitabha); BOSHAT HE (ring finger), dark blue, Heruka (Akshobhya); HUNG HUNG HO (little finger), orange, Dorje Nyima (Ratnasambhava); PHET PHET HANG (nails), green, Tachog (Amoghasiddhi).
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Here you do two offerings to the deities of the hand mandala. The first time you do a tsog offering to the hand mandala with the plate of six small tsampa pellets. Holding the plate in the right hand, offer it to the deities on the left hand one by one, as their mantra is recited. Then drop the pellets on the main tsog offering plate (which you have prepared for the main tsog that follows). 93
ཞྐྱེ་བརྒྱད་
When repeating the mantras the second time, offer nectar to the hand mandala with the benkyog spoon to each deity as their mantra is recited. Then sprinkle the remaining nectar in the spoon on the main tsog offering plate. At the end of the two offerings put both palms together cupping the rice. Then while saying OM AH HUNG, HUNG AH OM put the hands to the crown, throat and heart and then in reverse order to the heart, throat and crown. Finally you can eat one grain of rice and return the remaining rice to the bowl of rice on your table. DKOT
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If you wish at this point you can also recite the 8 lines of praise starting on p184 with: ‚I bow to the great hero, the glorious Heruka...‛ and continue with ‚The goddess is valid, the commitments are valid...‛ through to the end of this prayer on p186. 94
Tsog means ‚assembly‛; this is, a gathering to feast together. Anything you eat or drink can be offered as tsog, especially meat (and wine), but first you have to transform the food and drink into nectar by doing the appropriate visualization. If you do not transform them into nectar you cannot offer them as tsog. Tsog is visualized like other offerings—in a skullcup. LC 95
of Vajrayogini. There are other protectors propitiated by the Drikung Kagyu, too. All protectors possess the third eye of wisdom, meaning that even though some of them might have had worldly origins like Achi, at present they all are enlightened beings. During the Mahakala puja one visualizes oneself as Chakrasamvara. The dharmapala practice is done mostly to dispel outer obstacles, such as sickness or spirits that might disturb the retreatant during his or her practice. After playing the bell and damaru you can proceed to throw the tsog-lag on the roof or you can just leave it aside in your room and take it out of your room along with the outer torma later. DKOT 98
ཞྐྱེ་དགུ་
This refers to the five dhyani buddhas’ mandalas (in the five chakras). LC The distribution of the five dhyani buddhas’ mandalas in the five chakras of the vajra body should be, for the crown of Akshobhya: mandala of Vairochana in the head chakra, mandala of Ratnasambhava in the navel chakra, mandala of Amitabha in the throat chakra, mandala of Amoghasiddhi in all the body limbs or in the mid-eyebrow chakra (or even in the secret place chakra), and mandala of Akshobhya (or Vajrasattva) in the heart chakra. The mandala of Amoghasiddhi sometimes appears in the limbs or joints or the whole body, and as such he is also represented in the head, because the head chakra is representing the body in tantric subtle physiology. The five dhyani buddhas have a correspondence to the five root winds and five branch winds (and also probably to the five drops) and the winds’ distribution or predominance in the five chakras. 99
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According to Garchen Rinpoche, the five drops ‚abide in the body, and they are the basis of giving rise to psychological bliss, and also the basis for all the love and affection we feel emotionally.‛ Ganges Mahamudra Practice Instruction given by Garchen Rinpoche in Tucson, AZ, on June 25-26, 2005. The Hevajra Tantra by David Snellgrove, Meeting the Buddhas by Vessantara. The seven limbs of supreme qualities of buddha Vajradhara are: (1) sambhogakaya, (2) union of method and wisdom (yab/yum together), (3) great bliss, (4) nature of emptiness, (5) compassion, (6) unborn, (7) unceasing. LC 100
Tongul dedication: ‚(1) In this session I have recited a total of (____) mantras of the yidam. I offer the merit I have accumulated to yidam (Chakrasamvara). May this offering benefit all sentient beings and purify the two obscurations and habitual tendencies since beginningless time. (2) May I thus instantly obtain the supreme state of Vajradhara, including the four kinds of accomplishments. (3) Through the immense power and blessed word of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, may this aspiration be fulfilled!‛ The Vajrayana Retreat Manual by the 1st Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye. Translated from the Tibetan into Chinese by the 37 th Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche and from the Chinese into English by Linda Liew, a participant from Singapore at the 2004-2007 Almora retreat. 101
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The dakini and daka songs are chanted while offering the tsog to the lama. If women are present they first drink a little water from the vase to purify their mouths and then prostrate to the lama. They hold the tsog plate, nectar, incense, and various other offerings depending on the number of women (traditionally there is one for each of the five buddha families). They hold their left hand in the 3banners mudra with the three middle fingers erect and the thumb resting on the bent pinky. They hold the offerings and this mudra throughout the dakini song and the daka song sung by the men. Then they present the offerings to the lama and prostrate three times again before returning to their seats. 96
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
After the tsog song and before before blessing the remainder by saying OM AKARO< you can do the dharmapala puja (or it can also be done after ending the Chakrasamvara sadhana). The tsog remainder (Tib. tsog-lag) also does not go out of the mandala—it can be thrown outside or on the roof. The tsog-lag is an offering to the lower spirits. (OM AKARO = multiply number, increase quantity, taste, beauty, and so forth. UCCHISHTRA = left overs.) 97
Regarding the dharmapala puja, in the Drikung Kagyu tradition of Chakrasamvara mostly two dharmapalas are propitiated: fourarmed Mahakala and Achi Chökyi Drolma. Four-armed Mahakala is propitiated because he is the activity emanation of Chakrasamvara. The lokapala or worldly protectress Achi (also known as Palden Lhamo) is propitiated because she was Jigten Sumgön’s main protectress and as such she became the main protectress of the Drikung Kagyu. Achi is considered to be an emanation
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Appendix 1: Chakrasamvara Step-by-Step Mandala Drawing A. Making the mandala’s proportion grid design in 22 steps (refer to images 1 and 2 below)
ལྔ་བཅུ་
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Draw a vertical line with ruler and pencil. Mark the middle point. With compass opened about 3 centimeters make two points (points (3) and (3) ) on the line, at each side of the middle point. Open compass double the length as before (6 centimeters) by placing its needle on one of the points (3) and the pencil of the compass on the other point (3). To find the horizontal line, putting needle of compass on both points (3), mark the horizontal center on both sides. Draw a horizontal line through the (5)s by using ruler and pencil. With compass’ needle on central point (2) and compass opened 3 centimeters, make new points on horizontal axis. Open compass double the length as before (6 centimeters) by placing it on (7) and (7). To find the lines in the inter-cardinal direction, put needle on (7) and then (3) and mark the center of all 4 inter-cardinal directions. Draw diagonals with ruler and pencil. Now you have lines in all cardinal and inter-cardinal directions. To make corner points of palace, open compass as big as you want one half of the palace to be, and mark a point on the axes of the
ང་གཅིག་
18. Draw lines parallel to (16) cutting through middle points of four small corner squares. 19. Draw lines parallel to (16) but on the other side, so (16) is between (and parallel to) (19) and (18). You now have 5 equidistant lines on the edge of the big square. 20. Draw lines parallel to (14), like (16) but on the other side, dividing the center of the square. 21. Draw the remaining lines parallel to four main direction axes, so on each side of axis there are eight small squares, all of the same size, forming a grid as in image 1. 22. Each of the eight squares is divided with three vertical lines into quarters (lines go across through the whole biggest square to the opposite side; so, in other words, if we think of eight columns rather than eight squares now, each of the eight columns is divided with three vertical lines inside, each column becoming four little columns). However, not all vertical lines are visible. So going from center to periphery counting from left to right: square (or column) 1 has the first subdividing line (the one farthest to the left) invisible. Square/column 2 has all three subdividing lines visible. Image 2
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Square/column 3 and 4 do not have any visible subdividing line. No. 5 has only the middle line invisible. No. 6 has the first line invisible. No.7 and No. 8 have no subdividing lines visible. Now the same has to be applied to the left side of the big square, as a mirror; this is, the center to the periphery is now from right to left, as well as to the top and bottom. The visible lines are displayed in image 2.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
B. Making the mandala palace’s line design in 54 steps (refer to images 3 and 4 below) (wall) 1. Draw a big square inside, leaving two squares of margin on the outside (i.e. the square is comprised of columns 1-6). This is the outer boundary of the palace. 2. Make another square inside (1), with a two square margin to the outer square (1), leaving an opening of one square in the middle of each line. These are the inner walls of the palace and the opening are the doors. 3. From each opening of the inner square draw two lines, one on each side, of one square length outward. The lines then branch sideways ½ square (3.1) length on each side, then outwards again ½ square (3.2) and then connect them with a line (3.3). Do this in each of the four openings. These are the four doors of the palace.
12. 13.
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14.
15. 16. 17.
four main directions (11A), by putting the needle of compass in the center point (2). Then put needle of compass on these new points (11A) and mark a point on the inter-cardinal direction axes (11B). These are the corner points of the palace. Draw lines connecting corner points, making a big square. Then erase all compass’ marks. Draw diagonals on each of the four sub-squares by connecting the big square sides’ middle points. Draw lines parallel to the four-direction axes that cut through the middle points of the four sub-squares. You now have 4 sub-squares with lines in each of their inter-cardinal directions. Draw lines parallel to (13) as diagonals in the four small corner squares. Draw lines parallel to (14) cutting through middle of four small corner squares. Draw diagonals in four smallest new corner squares. Image 1
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4. Then make a border of ¼ square thick around square (2) and door lines. This is the 5-layered wall of the palace. 5. From inner edge of the door border (3.1) draw lines parallel to square (2) to complete another square (5). This is the veranda for the 16 goddesses. 6. Draw three lines parallel to doors (3.2) 1 ¼ length, connecting veranda (5) with outer wall (1). Those are the pillars with designs (see drawing above) 7. Draw another square outside and ¼ apart from veranda (5), starting on the most outward line of (6). 8. Draw another square, ½ square outside of (7) and ½ square inside of (1) ) starting on the most outward line of (6). 9. Draw another square between (8) and (1). 103 (outside of palace) 10. With pencil draw two more larger draft squares outside the big square (1), each 1 square distance. You now extended your draft grid by 2 square size for the porticos. 11. Lengthen subdivision lines (in pencil) around the doors until they reach the new outer square (10). These will mark the edges of the porticos. 12. Draw two more subdivision draft lines parallel and ¼ square distance from the other subdivision lines, one on each side of the gate. These are the edges of the bottom portico above the door (see drawing below). 13. Divide the first and third draft squares outside into quarter columns, by drawing 3 more draft lines each above the gates.
ང་གསུམ
19. Connect (16) and (18) by drawing perpendicular line two little squares length. 20. Moving to the next square to the right, draw lines of 1 ½ little square length at 3 ½ little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis (both above and below axis for each door). 21. Connect (18) and (20) by drawing perpendicular line of ½ little square length. 22. Moving to the right, draw lines of one little square length at three little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis (both above and below axis). 23. Connect (20) and (22) by drawing a perpendicular line of ½ little square length. 24. Moving to the right, draw lines of 1 ½ little square length at two little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis (both above and below the axis). 25. Connect (22) and (24) by drawing a perpendicular line of one little square length. 26. Connect (24)s above and below axis by drawing perpendicular line of four little squares (or one square) length, which cuts across horizontal axis. These (15-26) are the outside borders of the raised ceilings above each door (see drawing above right). 27. With pencil, add three draft points on the outside of square (10) each 1 square further outside, lengthening the central axes. These will be for the circular fences: (27.1), (27.2), and (27.3). 28. To draw the outside edges of the porticos: draw lines of one little square length at 8 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis in first and 6th subdivision draft column counting from outside border of palace (1).
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29. Draw lines of three little squares length at 9 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis in columns 2, 3, and 4, counting from external border of palace (1). 30. Draw lines of 1 ½ little squares length at 7 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis in column 5. 31. Draw lines of 1 ½ little squares length at 6 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal line in column 7. 32. Draw lines of three little squares length at 7 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis in columns 8, 9, and 10. 33. Draw lines of one little square length at 5 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis in column 11. 34. With perpendicular lines across, connect all end points of previous lines (28-33) but do not go into the center door opening beyond the ceiling frame. You have now completed the various layers of the portico roof. 35. Draw a double border of ½ little square on the inside of the door ceiling frame:
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36. Draw a triangle on top of door portico roof. The base and height are both one square width: 37. For the curved heads of the crossed vajra under the palace: draw pencil draft lines with compass by placing needle of compass first on junction of first parallel line from horizontal axis (or 2 little squares) and fifth parallel line from palace wall. On on same side of
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
14. Divide the second draft square outside into three parts by drawing 2 lines, the space between both lines ¼ of a square and to the outsides 1 ½ that. These (13 and 14) are for the levels of porticos above the doors (see drawing right). 15. To start drawing the raised ceiling above each door: next to the outside wall (1) starting from the horizontal center axis, counting the little ¼ size squares of subdivision draft lines, count 5 ½ squares up and draw a small horizontal line of one little square length. Do this twice, i.e. once 5 ½ above and once 5 ½ below horizontal axis. Repeat for each door for the outside border of the raised ceiling. 16. Moving one little square to the right, draw another little line two little square lengths also parallel to mid-horizontal axis, but six little squares apart from horizontal axis, only ½ little square beyond (15). Repeat above and below horizontal axis for each door. 17. Connect lines (15) and (16) by drawing a perpendicular line of ½ little square length between their ends. 18. Moving to the next square to the right, draw a line of one little square length at 4 little squares distance and parallel to horizontal axis (both above and below axis for each door).
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38. 39. 40. 41.
ང་བཞི་
42. 43. 44. 45.
axis, put pencil of compass on junction of seventh parallel line from axis (or 8 little squares) and line of palace wall and establish aperture of compass. Draw a semicircle from this point until reaching side of little triangle above the door. Without changing aperture of compass, place needle of compass 4 ½ little squares distance from horizontal axis on the sixth line from palace wall. Draw semicircle between palace wall and side of little triangle. The portico sides appear inside the curved lines. Do same on other side of horizontal axis and for all 4 vajra heads. Draw 2 draft lines with pencil (parallel to the palace wall) to divide the draft square with triangle inside, at ¼ square and 3/4 square. Put needle of compass on central point of this square and pencil of compass on the intersecting point of divisory line and axis and draw circle of ½ square diameter within the triangle. On the horizontal axis, divide next square (27.1) beyond tip of triangle into three thirds. Put needle of compass at center of mandala and pencil on the second third. Draw circle around palace. Keeping needle in center of mandala, put pencil on tip of triangle and draw a concentric circle around palace. The lotus fence is between circle (42) and (43) which makes it 2/3 square width. On horizontal axis put pencil on point (27.1), which is one square distance from tip of triangle and draw another circle. The vajra fence is between circle (42) and (44) which makes it 1/3 square width. Repeat steps in (44), but put pencil on a point (27.2) two squares distance from tip of triangle. The fire fence is between circle (44) and (45) which makes it 1 square width.
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axes (diagonals and perpendiculars) and pencil on point of intersection of same axis and circle (49). Then draw eight semicircles outside squares (51). 53. Draw the 8 sides of lotus pedals by making a line from the outside intersecting point between each of two lotus petals and center of mandala (see figure below). The lines end on second inner circle (48), do not draw them all the way to the center. You have now completed the lotus and border of drigug curved knives.
ང་ལྔ་
(outside) 54. To find the outer rim of the mandala, mark another point on horizontal axis one square beyond outermost point (27.3), beyond circle of cemetries. Put needle of compass on center of mandala and pencil of compass on this point. Keeping this aperture in compass, mark a point on horizontal axis at other side of mandala as well as on perpendicular axes both above and below horizontal axis. These four points mark the border of a big square that encloses the whole mandala. To find the corners of this square, keeping same aperture in compass put its needle on each of these four points and mark diagonals. Where lines intersect, that’s a corner. Repeat for each corner and draw the big square that is the outer rim of the area which is filled with the colored sand.
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Image 3 (full view)
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
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Image 4 (detail)
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
46. Repeat steps in (45), but put pencil on a point (27.3) three squares distance from tip of triangle. The cemeteries are between circle (45) and (46) which makes it 1 square width. (inside of palace) 47. To draw the center of the lotus inside the palace, put needle of compass on central point of mandala and pencil of compass three lines (4 little squares) away from center and draw circle. 48. Keeping needle of compass in center, place pencil of compass 1 ½ little squares beyond circle (47) and draw another circle. 49. Set the compass aperture to the diameter of the inner circle. Place needle of compass on point where outer circle’s edge (48) and horizontal axis intersect, and mark a point outside on horizontal axis (49). Place needle of compass in center of mandala and pencil of compass on point (49) and draw larger, concentric circle. This marks the size of the lotus petals. 50. Set the compass aperture to two little squares width (other sources say 1 ½ width). Place needle on point (49) and mark new point (50) two little squares distance on horizontal axis with pencil of compass. Place needle in center and pencil of compass on point (50) and draw a larger, concentric circle. This should be almost but not quite touching the door openings. 51. Draw two draft squares with pencil inside third concentric circle (49) so the corners of first square intersect with junction point of this circle and diagonal axis of mandala, and the corners of second square intersect with junction point of this circle and perpendicular axes of mandala. 52. Draw the round tips of the eight lotus petals by putting needle of compass in the intersection of (51) squares’ sides and four main
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ང་དྲུག་
C. Filling the illustrations in the mandala in 27 steps 1. Choose which side is east and draw a vertical vajra in center circle (slightly smaller so the tips are not touching the circle) 2. Inside center circle draw skullcup on left side of vajra. 3. Draw curved knife standing on right side of vajra, hook on the left. 4. Draw vases with skullcups on top in inter-cardinal petals, with bases of the vase sitting on outer rim of inner circle. 5. Draw curved knives on each of 4-direction petals, facing towards the center, hooks left. 6. 16 small curved knives on ring outside petals, also facing towards center, in 4 cardinal and inter-cardinal and points in between. 7. Leafy ornaments around borders of petals. 8. 16 offering goddesses: vina, vamsha, mridanga, muraja, etc. standing on the terrace outside the inner wall of the palace, two
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14. Vajras in second, thin outer ring, alternating with jewels. 15. Portico ornaments: each level has different pattern. 16. Fire in third outer ring (some texts switch fire and cemetery rings, but according to HH Drikung Kyabgon fire should be inside cemetery ring). 17. Parasol in tip of triangle above circle. 18. Dharmachakra wheel in circle inside triangle above door. 19. Deer on each side of triangle, underneath vajra spoke. 20. Cemetaries in fourth ring, a stupa in cardinal and intercardinal directions in center of each cemetery. 21. A tree inside each cemetery. 22. A fire inside each cemetery. 23. A cloud inside each cemetery.
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24. A yogi inside each cemetery. 25. In tree, a human-like figure with an animal face (elephant, horse, etc.) inside each cemetary 26. Mountain inside each cemetery. 27. Water below mountain with female naga inside cemetary. These are the traditional steps to draw the mandala. According to Garchen Rinpoche, if you do it another way, for example with a computer, you might not get all the blessings.
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D. Filling in the colors 1. Center: blue vajra, green background, white scullcup red or yellow inside, yellow vajra knife handle and silver blade, yellow ring around center. 2. Lotus: red petals in cardinal directions, yellow in south-east and north-west, blue in north-east, green
9.
བདྐྱེ་མཆོག
10. 11. 12. 13.
on each side of each door. Either a goddess, or a small yellow circle, or a circle of respective color of offering goddess can be drawn. Leafy ornamentation of heads of crossed vajra underneath palace, and a sea monster face at the base of each spoke of the vajra head with the spoke of the vajra coming out of its mouth. Parasols in each corner on the ground outside the palace, inside first outer circle which forms the lotus fence. Vases with wish-fulfilling trees on side of sea monster heads. They can be ornamented with 7 royal emblems. Between vase and parasol a banner, like the one that hangs from damaru. Multicolored lotus petals in first outer ring: 64 in total, alternating a petal red inside and blue outside, and a petal yellow inside and green outside.
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3. 4. 5. 6.
ང་བརྒྱད་
7. 8.
9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
in south-west, small orange petals in between 8 big petals, orange petal borders, dark-blue ring with curved knives around lotus. All outlines around lotus petals, walls, steps, etc. in white. Palace inside: blue in the east, yellow south, red west, green north. 5-layered palace wall from inside to outside: black, green, red, yellow, white. Outside palace from inside to outside: red terrace, thin orange roof eve with yellow jewels, wide blue roof eve with yellow garlands, thin blue roof eve with triangular wood blocks, thin roof eve with multicolored lotus leaves. Door frame: thick black frame, inside pillars in color according to direction, outside pillars with multicolored banners. Portico: according to direction inside, 1st bar with yellow/red meander, 2nd bar blue and white or yellow triangles (same as roof eves), 3rd bar red with yellow jewels, 4th bar green with garlands, 5th and 7th thick bars black with cross pattern, 6th bar with red/yellow meanders, 8th bar like 2nd with triangles, 9th like 3rd red with jewels, 10th like 4th with garlands and 11th with lotus petals. Vajra ground: green, vajra heads according to directions with 2 shades of the color (i.e. for east: blue and light blue). Lotus ring: alternating lotus petals blue outside and red inside and green outside and yellow inside. Vajra ring: black with 16 vajras in directions and jewels in between. Fire ring with alternating flame colors going counter-clockwise: red, blue, yellow, green, white (sometimes white is omitted). Outside ground in 4 colors according to direction or all one color.
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ISBN: 0-937938-35-1. The complete Drikung Kagyu fivefold path of mahamudra, or nga den, with the meditations on bodhichitta, Chakrasamvara yidam deity yoga, four-session guru yoga, mahamudra meditation, and dedication of merit, including also the preparatory practices of ngöndro: refuge, Vajrasattva purification, mandala offering, and guru yoga, are presented and explained here in a reasonably clear, although not exhaustive, fashion.
ང་དགུ་
Zopa Rinpoche, Lama. A Chat About Heruka: The Skillful Means of Taking an Everlasting Holiday in Tagpa Kachö, the Pure Land of Vajrayogini. (Edited by Thubten Chodron.) Boston: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, 2000, 128 pp., ISBN: 1-891868-05-5. This book provides a very clear explanation of the concept of emptiness, with meditations to practice it. It also provides very detailed commentaries on the hand mandala and on the three purifications of the Chakrasamvara sadhana (third and first sections, respectively). There is also a detailed commentary on the eight-line praises of Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini, and some teachings on the ‚left-side conduct‛ (vamachara). Lati Rinpoche, Sadhana, Tsog and Oral Commentary of the Generation Stage Practice of Heruka Body Mandala According to the System of Mahasiddha Ghantapa. (Translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa; transcribed and edited by Thubten Chodron.), 1990, 208 pp. Based on the commentary that Lati Rinpoche gave after the Chakrasamvara body mandala empowerment at the second
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Enlightenment Experience Celebration (EEC2) held in Dharamsala, India, in April 1986, this must be the most complete book on the how’s of the Chakrasamvara body mandala practice and on the Chakrasamvara sadhana in general ever published. It is a must-read book, especially for those earnesly engaged in the practice of the Chakrasamvara sadhana, as it explains visualization details wonderfully, and gives precious commentary from the secret oral tradition that you will not find anywhere else explained so clearly. This is a jewel of a book, in the same Gelug-Sakya tradition of Tsongkhapa and Phabongkhapa. Lati Rinpoche’s commentary only focuses on generation stage and does not say much on completion stage Chakrasamvara. This book has not been published for the outer, general public. To get a copy of it you have to contact one of the addresses below and say that you have been initiated into the Ghantapa’s Chakrasamvara tradition. Ang Hwee Lay,
[email protected], Blk 3, Rivervale Link, #02-17, SINGAPORE 545119. or: Dharma Friendship Foundation, Box 30011, Seattle, WA 98103, USA.
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Also there are several Chakrasamvara-related publications in English done by the Karma/Shangpa Kagyu/Shambhala/Rime groups, but these are only available to initiates in these traditions or to people who have some special karmic connection to them. For example, Heritage Buddhist Charitable Trust, Summerlaw, Linton Bankhead, Kelso TD5 8AF, Scotland, U.K., Tel/Fax 01573-440558, email:
[email protected] has published a Chakrasamvara Sadhana, which is an edited transcript of oral instructions by Thrangu Rinpoche, 1999. In the Shambhala website, restricted vajrayana texts section, other Chakrasamvara texts in English are listed as well.
Appendix 2: Chakrasamvara Annotated Bibliography
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Dawa-Samdup, Kazi, editor and translator. Shrichakrasambhara Tantra: A Buddhist Tantra (Tantrik Texts vol. VII, under the general editorship of Arthur Avalon). New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1987 [1919], 155 pp., preface by Lokesh Chandra, foreword by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), introduction. This was a groundbreaking work when it was first published in 1919. Even today it remains a valid work of good scholarship and does not have too many errors in content like other pioneering books. Arthur Avalon was certainly a great sanskritist and indiologist and an intelligent, earnest, and meticulous researcher. The new edition has an excellent scholarly preface by Lokesh Chandra. Best known and certainly the first translation into English done of a full Chakrasamvara sadhana, this book is an extremely interesting and useful reading. It has very good commentaries by both lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup and Arthur Avalon. The translation is based on a text from 1253-1258 AD, and because of its antiquity it provides details of great value and has supposedly fewer added transcription errors than more recent copies of the sadhana. The text comes from the Sakya-Kagyu tradition. Khenpo Könchog Gyaltsen, and Katherine Rogers, translators and eds. The Garland of Mahamudra Practices: A Translation of Kunga Rinchen’s Clarifying the Jewel Rosary of the Profound Fivefold Path. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1986, 139 pp., foreword, preface by H.H. the Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang Rinpoche, introductions, appendix with life story of Kunga Rinchen, endnotes, index.
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