Tantric Techniques (39 page)

a
For a brief discussion of the feats, see below, 202; for a presentation of the purpose of these feats, see my supplement in
Deity Yoga,
207-212; for discussion of feats in the context of Yoga Tantra, see H.H the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Hopkins,
Yoga Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats,
64-66 and 110-119.

7. The Practice

As explained in the preceding five chapters, Tsong-kha-pa presents in the second chapter of his
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra
the meditative procedure of Action Tantra mainly through interweaving the
Susiddhi Tantra,
the
Concentration Continuation Tantra,
and their respective commentaries by Varabodhi and Buddhaguhya. While not itself a ritual manual, Tsong-kha-pa’s presentation offers al-most all of the contents of such a ritual, which can be extracted to make just such a formulation. Thus, as a way to both summarize the material presented in the above chapters and to flesh out many of the details of actual practice, the present chapter is devoted to providing a means of achievement (
sgrub thabs, s
ā
dhana
) around the deity Avalokiteshvara, based on the
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra
with supplementary material drawn from his student Dül-dzin- drak-pa-gyel-tsen’s
Presentation of the General Rites of Action and Performance Tantra and Their Application to the Three Lineages, Set Down by Dül-dzin According to the Foremost [Tsong-kha-pa’s] Practice
and from the eighteenth-century Ye-shay-gyel-tsen’s
Illumination of the Meaning of Action Tantra,
along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s commentary to Tsong-kha-pa’s text in
Deity Yoga.
a

First the structure of the meditative ritual is given in outline form for the sake of getting a handle on how the five overarching formats of the practice relate to each other:

prior approximation, effecting the achievement of yogic feats, and activities

yoga with signs and yoga without signs

concentrations with repetition and concentration without repetition

meditative stabilizations of exalted body, speech, and mind

calm abiding and special insight.

a
I have also added descriptions of how to cultivate altruism and how to meditate on emptiness, which an experienced Tibetan practitioner would bring to the practice, these being from His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships,
translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins (New York: Atria Books/Simon and Schuster, 2005) and
How to See Yourself As You Really Are,
translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins (New York: Atria Books/Simon and Schuster, 2006). I was stimulated to put together this means of achievement by a request from Tibet House Guatemala in 2008.

166
Tantric Techniques

Outline

1. Prior approximation: approaching the state of a deity
   

1. YOGA WITH SIGNS
   

   1. Concentration with repetition
      

      MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED BODY
      

      1. Preliminaries to the four-branched repetition
         

      2. Actual concentration with repetition
         

         1. Concentration on the four branches of repetition
            

            1. First branch: Other-base
               

            2. Second branch: Self-base
               

               MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED SPEECH
               

            3. Third branch: Mind/Moon
               

            4. Fourth branch: Sound
               

         2. Repetition in dependence upon the four branches (deity in front, yourself as a deity, moon, and letters)
            

            1. Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters
               

               1. Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front
                  

               2. Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters at your own heart
                  

            2. Repeat mantra within observing the sound of the letters
               

         3. Concluding the concentration of four-branched repetition
            

   2. Concentration without Repetition
      

      1. Concentration of Abiding in Fire
         

      2. Concentration of Abiding in Sound
         

1. 1. 1. YOGA WITHOUT SIGNS
         

         MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED MIND
         

      2. Concentration Bestowing Liberation at the End of Sound
         

2. Effecting the achievement of yogic feats
   

   1. Analyzing dreams
      

   2. Performing the above meditation in modified form and burnt offerings or repetitions of mantra and so forth
      

3. Activities
   

Action Tantra Means of Achievement

The Practice
167

Prior Approximation: approaching the state of a deity

YOGA WITH SIGNS

1. Concentration with repetition
   

   MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED BODY
   

   1. Preliminaries to the four-branched repetition
      

      What to do initially in your place of dwelling
      

      Daily, when you rise from bed in the early morning for the first session and at the beginning of other sessions, construct the pledge seal of the lotus lineage (seal 2
      a
      ) and, holding it at your heart, say:
      

      O
      ṃ
      padma-udbhavaye sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Make homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas: putting your palms together, observe all the Buddhas in the ten directions and bow down at their feet, saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      sarvatath
      ā
      gata k
      ā
      ya-v
      ā
      k-citta-vajra-pra
      ṇ
      amena sarvatath
      ā
      ga-ta-vajra-p
      ā
      da-vandana
      ṃ
      karomi.
      

      Offering yourself, offer your body, saying:
      

1. 1. If until I am in the essence of enlightenments,
      b
      I totally and thoroughly offer myself at all times to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas abiding in the ten directions, may the great Buddhas and Bodhisattvas please take hold of me. Please bestow upon me the unsurpassed feat of Buddhahood.
      

      Go for refuge and generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened:
      

1. 1. To Buddha, Doctrine, and Supreme Community I go for refuge until enlightenment.
      To achieve the welfare of myself and others I will generate the mind of enlightenment.
      

1. 1. Listen, O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Abiding in the ten directions,
      

      

      a
      For descriptions and pictures of the seals (
      phyag rgya, m
      ū
      dr
      ā
      ), see
      Deity Yoga,
      80-152.
      

      b
      The “essence of enlightenments” is the highest form of enlightenment among the three types, those of a Hearer, a Solitary Realizer, and a Buddha.
      

      168
      Tantric Techniques
      

      

1. 1. I now for the sake of perfect enlightenment Will generate the mind of enlightenment.
      

      Create protection by making the seal (seal 4) of the Fierce Unobscured One (
      mnol ba med pa
      ), saying the mantra:
      

      O
      ṃ
      vajrakrodha mah
      ā
      b
      ā
      l
      ā
      hana daha pacha vidhva
      ṃ
      saya ucchu
      ṣ
      - ma-krodha h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      (Create protection with this mantra also when eating, drinking, urinating, and defecating.)
      

      Reflecting on purity, think:
      

1. 1. The two syllables—
      ma,
      the entity of Vairochana, on a moon at my heart and
      ha,
      the entity of Achala, at my head—with inter-connecting flames—are stirred up.
      

      and say:
      

      O
      ṃ
      svabh
      ā
      va-
      ś
      uddh
      āḥ
      sarvadharm
      āḥ
      svabh
      ā
      va-
      ś
      uddho ’ha
      ṃ
      .
      (
      O
      ṃ
      naturally pure are all phenomena; naturally pure am I.)
      

      and imagine:
      

1. 1. All phenomena have become naturally pure.
      

      Then, leaving the house, brush your teeth and so forth. Collect and remove the dirt and dust in the temple and so forth.
      

      Bathing outdoors and entering the place of practice
      

      Go to a shore where beings do not gather and where there is nothing frightful. Construct the pledge seal of the lotus lineage (seal 2) and, holding it at your heart, say:
      

      O
      ṃ
      padma-udbhavaye sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      With seal 5, touch clean earth, saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      nikhanavasude sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Picking up the earth, divide it into three portions, and put them in a clean place. Protect yourself through Am
      ṛ
      itaku
      ṇḍ
      ali by constructing seal 6, pressing the lower lip with the upper teeth, looking with a fierce gaze, and saying:
      

      Namo ratnatray
      ā
      ya, nama
      ṣ
      ca
      ṇḍ
      a-vajrap
      āṇ
      aye, mah
      ā
      yak
      ṣ
      asena-pataye, namo vajrakrodh
      ā
      ya, tadyath
      ā
      o
      ṃ
      hulu hulu ti
      ṣṭ
      ha ti
      ṣṭ
      ha bandha bandha hana hana am
      ṛ
      te h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      To expel obstructors in your body, construct seal 7, and say:
      

      O
      ṃ
      hana hana am
      ṛ
      te h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      To put on vajra armor, construct seal 8, and put on vajra armor to prevent obstructors from entering. Then construct the vajra armor seal (seal 9), and touching it to the head, tops of both shoulders, heart, and neck, make (that is, imagine) the armor, saying:
      

      Namo ratnatray
      ā
      ya o
      ṃ
      khaki
      ḷ
      h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      The Practice
      169
      

      

      To dispel obstructors, construct seal 10, and touching it to earth and water, say:
      

      Namo vajr
      ā
      ya h
      ūṃ
      , hana dhuna matha vidhva
      ṃ
      saya udsar
      ā
      ya pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      Cast this mantra into the water:
      

      Namo ratnatray
      ā
      ya, nama
      ṣ
      ca
      ṇḍ
      a-vajrap
      āṇ
      aye, o
      ṃ
      hana hana, vajra vajra
      ṇ
      aha.
      

      Constructing seal 11, touch this seal of K
      ī
      lik
      ī
      la to the water, and sprinkle the earth with the water, saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      k
      ī
      lik
      ī
      la h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      Mantrafy the earth seven times with:
      

      O
      ṃ
      vajra hara h
      ūṃ
      .
      

      and pick up one portion of the earth. Wearing a bathing cloth, enter into the water just to the disappearance of the navel, and bathe, washing below the navel with the first portion of earth. Then, wash your hands with the second portion of earth, and construct the seal of Sarasvat
      ī
      (seal 12), saying:
      

      O
      ṃ ś
      ruti sm
      ṛ
      ti dha
      ṛ
      ani h
      ūṃ
      ha.
      

      The seal and mantra can serve as ablution. Or:
      

      Squat, stop talking, and put your two hands between your knees. Bend a little the middle and ring fingers of the right hand with the palm turned upwards, and hold this towards your mouth. Wipe your mouth many times with water in which anthers have been soaked, and having touched the two ear-holes, two eyes, nose, mouth, hands, navel, and heart two or three times, drink three gulps of the water, wiping your lips twice.
      

      Tying up the hair on your head, create protection by saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      susiddhikari sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Pick up the third portion of earth, mantrafy it with:
      

      O
      ṃ
      bh
      ū
      r jala h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      and circling it to the right, face it to the sun, and rub it on the en-tire body.
      

      Construct the water-stirring seal (seal 13), and with it stir the wa-ter, saying:
      

      Namo ratnatray
      ā
      ya, nama
      ṣ
      ca
      ṇḍ
      a-vajrap
      āṇ
      aye, mah
      ā
      yak
      ṣ
      asen
      ā
      pa-taye, namo vajrakrodh
      ā
      ya
      ḍ
      a
      ṃṣṭ
      oka
      ṭ
      a bhairav
      ā
      ya, tadyath
      ā
      , o
      ṃ
      am
      ṛ
      taku
      ṇḍ
      ali, khakha, kh
      ā
      hi kh
      ā
      hi, ti
      ṣṭ
      a ti
      ṣṭ
      a, bandha bandha, hana hana, garja garja, vispho
      ṭā
      ya, sarva-vighn
      āṃ
      vinayak
      ā
      na, mah
      ā
      - ga
      ṇ
      a-pati, j
      ī
      vita-antakar
      ā
      ya sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Then, offer three handfuls of water to the Three Jewels, saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      rate rate buddh
      ā
      ya sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      170
      Tantric Techniques
      

      

      Saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      am
      ṛ
      te h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      cup your hands together, and pour three handfuls of water on your head, and wash your hands. With that very mantra confer initiation on yourself with three handfuls of water:
      

      O
      ṃ
      am
      ṛ
      ta h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      Mentally invite Avalokiteshvara and ask him to reside on a lotus imagined in front of you. Bathe his body, saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      sarvatath
      ā
      gata-am
      ṛ
      te sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Then, if repetition is to be done in the temple, repeat the mantra twenty-one times while in the water:
      

      O
      ṃ
      sarvatath
      ā
      gata-avalokite
      ś
      vare sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Go up to the temple, and wash your feet; facing east or north, do ablution:
      

      Squat, stop talking, and put your two hands between your knees. Bend a little the middle and ring fingers of the right hand with the palm turned upwards, and hold this towards your mouth. Wipe your mouth many times with water in which anthers have been soaked, and having touched the two ear-holes, two eyes, nose, mouth, hands, navel, and heart two or three times, drink three gulps of the water, wiping your lips twice.
      

      Enter the place of practice, and visualizing the deities vividly, make homage, bowing down at their feet, saying:
      

      O
      ṃ
      sarvatath
      ā
      gata k
      ā
      ya-v
      ā
      k-citta-vajra-pra
      ṇ
      amena sarvatath
      ā
      gata-vajra-p
      ā
      da-vandana
      ṃ
      karomi.
      

      Repeat this engagement in the pledges:
      

      O
      ṃ
      viraja viraja, mah
      ā
      vajri sata sata, sarate sarate, trayi trayi, vir-dhamani sa
      ṃ
      bhañjani taramati siddha-agreta
      ṃ
      sv
      ā
      h
      ā
      .
      

      Putting on the robe, sitting on the cushion, and blessing the offerings
      

      Put on the robe, and having sat on the cushion, bless the offerings by removing contamination from yourself through pouring scented water in the palm of your hand, repeating the essence mantra three times:
      

      Ā
      rolik
      ā
      rolik
      ā
      rolik.
      

      and sprinkling the water on top of your head, thereby clearing away defects of contamination and so forth. Sprinkle the cushion made of kusha grass or other material while reciting the mantra of Ku
      ṇḍ
      ali:
      

      Namo ratnatray
      ā
      ya, nama
      ṣ
      ca
      ṇḍ
      a-vajrap
      āṇ
      aye, mah
      ā
      yak
      ṣ
      asenapa- taye, namo vajrakrodh
      ā
      ya, tadyath
      ā
      o
      ṃ
      hulu hulu ti
      ṣṭ
      ha ti
      ṣṭ
      ha
      

      The Practice
      171
      

      

      bandha bandha hana hana am
      ṛ
      te h
      ūṃ
      pha
      ṭ
      .
      

      and sit on the cushion in either the lucky, lotus, or vajra cross-legged posture. Then, anoint with incense a bracelet made from an uneven number of threads spun by a girl and wound and tied in an uneven number of knots and with one rosary bead of the lotus lineage set in the center; repeat a hundred times into the bracelet the knowledge-mantra of the lotus lineage, the mantra of the lineage mother: