by Donald Lopez
Oh! Why search in vain liberation through meditation? Why do you take on the net of illusion? Believe in the truth of the instruction of the best among the masters. This is the teaching imparted by Saraha.
Look at the sky and at first it seems clear, but the more you look at it the more your sight becomes blurred. In the same way effort is useless, the fool does not realize that the problem is in his own mind.
The flaw of pride does not allow you to see reality. This is why, like a demon, you vilify all the vehicles. Everyone is led astray by meditation. No one looks into his true nature.
One cannot see the ground of mind. In the innate, all three are false. My son, dwell where this arises and ceases.
The one who meditates on this groundless reality, will attain it through the instructions of his master. Saraha says: ‘You must see that the variegated forms in the circle of existence are a form of mind.’
Words cannot grasp its true nature. It cannot be discerned by the eye, except with the aid of the master. It does not have an atom of impurity, both dharma and what is not dharma are made pure and enjoyed.
When one has purified his mind, the master’s good qualities enter the heart. Saraha has known all this in his mind, and sings paying no attention to tantra or mantra.
One is shackled by karma. When one is free from karma, the mind is free. And he whose mind is free surely gains the supreme nirvāṇa.
Mind is the seed of everything, from which sprouts both existence and nirvāṇa. Pay obeisance to it, for, like the wish-fulfilling gem, it gives you the fruit that you desire.
If the mind is shackled, one is also shackled. When it is free, one is also free. There is no doubt about this: that which shackles the ignorant liberates the wise immediately.
…
When bound it runs in all directions, but released it stays still. Consider the camel, my friend, to see the same paradox.
Saraha
Caryāgīti 22
People of the world on their own again and again construct existence and nirvāṇa, creating non-existing shackles for themselves.
We cannot understand the inconceivable: how birth, death and existence come about.
As birth is, so is death; between the living and the dead there is no difference.
If one is afraid of birth and death, then one should base his hope on the elixirs of immortality.
Those who wander on this earth inhabited by moving and unmoving creatures, and those who wander in the heavens will not be free in any way from old age and death.
Does karma arise from birth? Or is it birth that arises from karma? Saraha says: ‘This dharma is beyond understanding.’
Caryāgīti 38
The body is the boat, mind is the oar. Hold steady the rudder that is your good teacher’s instruction.
Hold your mind motionless, while steadily steering the ship, O boatman. There is no other way to reach the other shore.
The boatman tows the boat with a rope. Leave it behind. Otherwise you cannot approach the innate.
This is a dangerous crossing: powerful pirates await. We are flooded by the waves of existence.
There is one that sails against the swift current by following the shore. Saraha says: ‘He has reached the heavens.’
Caryāgīti 39
Even in dreams, O my mind, you delight in ignorance by some inherent flaw of yours. As the master’s words blossom, how can you remain in this state?
How wonderful! The heavens arise from hūṃ! You have taken a wife in Bengal, and consciousness has gone to the other shore.
Oh, the illusion of existence is marvellous! It appears as both self and other. Indeed, the world, like a reflection on water, is an inherently empty self.
Although you have ambrosia, you swallow poison. O mind, you are a self at the mercy of others. At home or across the sea, oh, what have you understood? I shall devour the evil ones.
Saraha says: ‘It is better to have an empty stable than a bad ox. Oh, alone after I have destroyed the world, I will roam freely.’
From Kāṇha’s Dohākoṣa
The whole world is intertwined with body, speech and mind; it is pervaded from afar. The secret is that the great bliss and nirvāṇa are one and the same thing.
One should not chant mantras nor carry out the rituals of the tantras when one takes one’s own wife and makes love. Waiting for the wife to enter the house, how much can one enjoy the five colours?
Chanting and making fire offerings, carrying out the maṇḍala consecration, in which practice do you dwell day after day? Without your constant love, O young maiden, how will he attain awakening in his own body?
For one who awakens and understands that which is innate in this very instant, what good will the Vedas and the Purāṇas do? He has broken open the whole expanse of the world of the senses.
He makes the jewel of the mind immobile when he takes his own wife. Indeed he is the master Vajradhara. This I have said is the ultimate goal.
Just like salt dissolves in water, in the same way dissolves the mind of him who takes his own wife. Each instant has the same taste, if he is always with her.
From Kāṇha’s
Caryās Caryāgīti 7
The path is blocked by vowels and consonants. Seeing this Kāṇha feels dejected.
Where shall Kāṇha go to dwell? The field where the mind walked is now indifference.
‘They are three. They are three and they are not different,’ says Kāṇha, for whom existence has been cut off at the root.
The very same that came, are now gone. Kāṇha feels dejected with this coming and going.
O Kāṇha, you must see that the city of the conquerors is near. Kāṇha says, ‘It has not entered my heart.’
Caryāgīti 9
Shattered are the solid pillars of the word evaṃ [thus]. Cut off are the many bonds.
Kāṇha frolics, drunk with wine. He has entered the lotus bed of the innate, he is at peace.
As when a bull elephant lusts for the female elephant, the elephant of the mind in rut pursues suchness.
Beings in the six destinies of rebirth are all inherently pure. In being and non-being not even a single hair is disturbed.
Stealing the jewel of the lord of the ten powers, tame the elephant of knowledge. You will meet no hindrance in the ten directions.
Caryāgīti 12
On the board of compassion play chess with the pawns of existence. With the words of the true master the pawns are defeated.
With a double move you crush the king. Moving towards the castle, O Kāṇha, the city of the conquerors is near.
First, the pawns are destroyed. Then, defeated by the elephant, five pieces are thrown away.
The minister keeps the king in check; rendered powerless, the pawns of existence are overcome.
Kāṇha says: ‘I have the upper hand. I have moved through all sixty-four squares, and have gained possession of the board.’
Caryāgīti 13
He takes the three refuges as a ship with eight compartments. His own body is compassion, emptiness his consort.
He crosses the ocean of existence, like a magical apparition or a dream. In the middle of an ocean current he perceives no waves.
He takes the five tathāgatas as his oars. Kāṇha raises the body from a net of magical apparitions.
Smell, touch, taste are just the way they are, like a dream without sleep.
In the stern of emptiness, mind is the helmsman, with him at his side, Kāṇha has gone to great bliss.
Translated by Luis O. Gómez, from the apabhraṃśa text edn., in M. Shahidullah, Les chants mystiques de Kāṇha et de Saraha (Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1928), pp. 87–8,111–16, 131–9, 229–32.
54
THE ULTIMATE COUPLE
The state of enlightenment is often said to be beyond the conception of the unenlightened, and hence beyond expression in language. Yet there have been numerous attempts across the Buddhist world to describe enlightenment i
n words. Some of the most beautiful and evocative of those descriptions derive from the Rnying ma (pronounced ‘Nyingma’) sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Buddhism entered Tibet in the seventh century, introduced, according to traditional histories, when the king of Tibet received a Chinese princess and a Nepalese princess in marriage, both of whom were Buddhists. This began a period of royal patronage of Buddhism, from both India and China, that continued into the early ninth century, when a new king suppressed the religion. According to traditional accounts, this king was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 842. This marked the end of what Tibetan historians refer to as the earlier dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet, with a second dissemination beginning some 150 years later. During the first period, a large number of tantric texts were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan. And Tibetans began to compose their own tantras, works that contained elaborate ritual practices as well as sumptuous evocations of the nature of reality. The major sects of Tibetan Buddhism are divided according to this periodization. The ‘ancient’ (rnying ma) sect considers the translations of tantras from the earlier period to be canonical, while the ‘new’ (gsar ma) sects favour new translations of the Indian tantras and consider many tantras of the ‘ancient’ canon to be apocryphal.
The text below derives from a work entitled the Great Tantra on the Lion’s Perfected Display-Energy (Senge rtsal rdzogs chen po’i rgyud). It is one of hundreds of tantras contained in the rgyud ‘bum of the Rnying ma sect, a term that literally means ‘a hundred thousand tantras’, to suggest, hyperbolically, their large number.
The passage here begins with a buddha and his consort in sexual embrace. This image, called yab yum (father-mother) in Tibetan, has long been an object of fascination in the West, with some seeing it as a sign of debauchery and others as a symbol of the union of opposites. It is clear that sexual yoga was an important element of tantric practice in both India and Tibet. It is also clear that this union was a source of rich symbolism, as this passage illustrates. Both the buddha and his consort speak from the perspective of enlightenment; more specifically, from the state of primordial awareness in which the various distinctions of the conceptual world, including the categories of the Buddhist path, are shown to be illusory. As the consort, named All-Good Female, declares, ‘In a single [instance of] awareness, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are complete.’
Then Awareness All-Good Male and Mother All-Good Female sat conjoined, non-dually.
Then the buddha of the class All-Aware Dharma Lord made this request, saying, ‘O Thus-Gone All-Good Father, please speak about method and intelligence, expressing the truth of non-dual reality.’
Then the teacher of reality applied the non-dual truth of father-mother-in-union, and proclaimed to all the buddhas: ‘Indeed, buddha of the class listen! The understanding of the non-duality of object and mind, or the non-duality of field and awareness, abides in the same manner as the non-duality of father-mother-in-union.
‘In the palace of wide-open reality there gathers non-conceptual, manifested primordial gnosis. The outer phenomenon is appearance, and the inner phenomenon grasps at it, it is explained. I, Unchanging All-Good Male, shall explain the view about the self-appearing of reality. Once I explain it, conceptualizing doubts will be cut off.
‘In the ground-of-all, apart from habitual traces, awareness manifests without grasping objectification. The Secret Mantra practice of settling into awareness is the epitome of view, meditation and behaviour. If, within the intelligence that manifests inside and out, there is no move into mental conceptualizing, this is considered the secret view of Secret Mantra.
‘The abode of meditative absorption, apart from grasping objectification, is in the dharma-body of Lion the Triumphant. An intelligence of great equanimity manifests in a view without marks. A lamp that neither illuminates nor obscures manifests in the sky apart from bifurcated mind. In self-appearance, its seal unbroken, [things] manifest spontaneously, complete from the beginning. A point-sphere of ended habit traces manifests in the wide-open field of reality that has no narrowness. Self-appearing pure apparitional forms manifest in the infinite truth that is unchanging. Five unmade lights manifest in self-produced, non-conceptual emptiness….
‘Since the self-produced has no cause or condition, there is no need to perform constructed dharma practice. Since the dharma-body is apart from pleasure and pain, I do not get obscured by hot and cold hells. Since Secret Mantra is apart from words from the beginning, I do not get obscured with words and letters. Since the field of reality has had no meditation since the beginning, you won’t find me by doing meditation. Since the self-produced is unfabricated from the beginning, I do not get obscured with doing practice. Since the dharma-body is free from views from the beginning, you won’t see me by looking with the view. Since birthlessness has no transgression, you won’t reach buddhahood by keeping commitments. Since maṇḍala is self-abiding from the beginning, you won’t see gods by drawing maṇḍalas. Since gesture does not change and is complete from the beginning, effort at gestures will dissipate power. Since the core is self-abiding from the beginning, chanting core [mantras] will rot the seed. Since the palace has been self-completed from the beginning, visualizing a palace will destroy its self-appearing. Since compassion’s light rays are self-shining, meditating on the attributes [of a buddha] dissipates its self-truth. Since the assemblage of deities have been self-abiding from the beginning, unborn and spontaneously complete, you don’t need to perform the creation stage or the invitation. The assemblage of deities are amused by effortful worship and offerings.
‘Since the dharma-body is free and non-grasping, you won’t find truth by meditating on marks. Since I am a precious jewel, my qualities transcend the extremes of have, have not….’
Then that All-Good Female purified appearing objects with her awareness, and her self-appearance said this:
‘Indeed, buddha of the class, listen! I, Self-Appearing All-Good Female, manifest the fruit of the Secret Mantra path within the primordial gnosis of great equanimity. I, Unchanging All-Good Female, display appearance self-manifested as the dharma-body. I, Inexpressible All-Good Female, display awareness apart from the extremes of conceptualization. In the all-displaying heart of primordial gnosis there is neither a made nor a making. Lacking any actually appearing object, where would there be either manifested or obscured appearance? In a single [instance of] awareness, saṃsara and nirvāṇa are complete. Non-grasping self-appearance is apart from being a phenomenon. Reality, which is apart from thinking, has nothing substantial. The buddha, being self-radiant from the beginning, is apart from the flaw of the four elements. Since my, All-Good Female’s, mind, is the dharma-body whose way of being never ceases in primordial gnosis and the archaic body, there is nothing to contemplate but contemplation itself. One sees oneself, self-body manifest.
‘In the wide-open expanse of the vagina of All-Good Female, the five elements are gathered but not grasped. They appear as objects of the intelligence that lacks grasping attachment. I, All-Good Female, unfabricated and self-manifest in the All-Good Female field where variety never stops, manifest as unmade All-Good Female, this reality of Self-Appearing All-Good Female, in the unchanging, unfabricated radiant space of the sky. Unproduced awareness is liberated in its own place.
‘The reality of All-Good Female, the expanse of her vagina, is liberated as the unsurpassable [buddha-]land of All-Good Female. Apart from hope and fear, I cavort in the space of reality that comes from the buddha primordial gnosis All-Good maṇḍala. I, All-Good Female, apart from grasping conceptualization, manifest all at once in the self-appearing unfabricated sky, by virtue of a meditative absorption that does not spread and gather in [light rays]. Adamantine All-Good Female realizes perfectly. For all buddhas and sentient beings, the precious rosary of All-Good Female stays unchanging within its own-face. Since Buddha All-Good Female seeks embodiment from within the field, body is apart from all conceptualized extremes. Embodiment is achieved by virtue of body
radiation.
‘The understanding of all buddhas is this: Unchanging All-Good Female emits a distillation from the circle of her heart, and Reality All-Good Female appears as an object. Completely Pure All-Good Male engages with the object and cavorts in the space of Primordial Gnosis All-Good Female. Awareness enters the field of All-Good Female. Father-mother-in-union, lacking permanence or nihility, appear purely.
‘Self-Appearance All-Good Female’s seal is unbroken. Realization All-Good Female gathers into one. Element All-Good Female appears as self. Intelligence All-Good Male displays as self-appearance. Space Field All-Good Female does not move, while Equanimity All-Good Male has no conceptualization. Collected All-Good Male circles in one. Hero All-Good Male settles on the truth. Intelligence All-Good Female gathers in the variety. Precious Method All-Good Male appears as awareness. Brilliance All-Good Female has no grasping. Triumphant All-Good Male shines all at once. No Grasping All-Good Female stays in own-place. Point-sphere All-Good Male is empty by essence. Source of Phenomena All-Good Female does not act. No Conceptualization All-Good Male has no distraction. Covered [Truth] All-Good Female is the actual seed. Ultimate [Truth] All-Good Male displays any sort of magical emanation. Beautiful Ornamentation All-Good Female appears as an object. Field Awareness All-Good Male is the actual dharma-body. Way of Being All-Good Female never ceases. Essence All-Good Male has no changing. Compassion All-Good Female appears as whatever. Teacher All-Good Male controls emotional obfuscation. Empty All-Good Male is apart from designation. Manifestation All-Good Female is apart from identification.