The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness

by Chogyam Trungpa

  Shamatha-vipashyana is also known as the combination of emptiness and skillful means. Emptiness, again, is the shamatha process of eliminating mind’s occupations and preconceptions, slowly removing them altogether. “Skillful means” refers to vipashyana awareness, which sees all the possibilities of the environment around oneself. So as you can see, shamatha-vipashyana is a very powerful discipline and a very definite experience.

  In the vajrayana, shamatha and vipashyana are indivisible. We are not practicing just one or the other alone, but we are trying to join together emptiness and its brightness, emptiness and its skillfulness. So the vajrayana practitioner begins to feel that situations are being handled, but without being regarded as a dualistic feast, pleasurable to mind’s duplicity and fickleness. Therefore, indivisible shamatha-vipashyana is known as ultimate. It is ultimate because we have practiced it and we have achieved the result: we have achieved freedom from the fickleness and duplicity of mental activities.

  In the nondual experience of shamatha-vipashyana, we have achieved the ultimate shunyata or the emptiness possibilities of shamatha, free from all preoccupations; and with the vipashyana aspect, we have achieved brightness and luminosity as well. Because such an achievement has taken place already, on the spot, it is real and definite. Because it is real and definite, it is known as the ultimate wisdom, or töngyi yeshe. And because of the achievement of ultimate wisdom, we can experience the results of abhisheka.

  1. The five skandhas (“five heaps”) are the components giving rise to the false presumption of a separate and independent self or ego.

  2. The quality of charnel ground is evoked quite beautifully in Trungpa Rinpoche’s prosepoem “The Charnel Ground.” See appendix 3.

  3. Sometimes the East is white and the center is blue; at other times the center is white and the East is blue.

  4. The six realms of existence are: the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm, the animal realm, the human realm, the jealous god realm, and the god realm. In samsaric existence, one continually cycles up and down through these six ways of being.

  26

  The Mandala of the Five Buddha-Families

  Without understanding the five buddha-families, we have no working basis to relate with tantra, and we begin to find ourselves alienated from it. . . . There could be a big gap between tantric experience and day-to-day life. But by understanding the five buddha-families, it is possible to close the gap.

  THE TANTRIC approach is not just to make sweeping statements about reality and to create calmness and a meditative state. It is more than learning to be creative and contemplative. In tantra, you relate with the details of your everyday life according to your own particular makeup. So the question in this chapter is how to relate your own ordinary existence or daily situation to tantric consciousness. Tantra is extraordinarily special; it is extremely real and personal.

  FIVE PRINCIPLES OF BUDDHA NATURE

  The tantric discipline of relating to life is based on what are known as the five buddha principles, or the five buddha-families. These principles are traditionally referred to as “families” because they are an extension of yourself in the same way that your blood relations are an extension of you: you have your daddy, you have your mommy, you have your sisters and brothers, and they are all part of your family. But you could also say that your motherness, your fatherness, your sisterness, your brotherness, and your me-ness are experienced as definite principles that have distinct characteristics. So the tantric tradition speaks of five families, five principles, categories, or possibilities.

  FIVE-BUDDHA-FAMILY MANDALA

  The five buddha-families are called: vajra, ratna, padma, karma, and buddha. These five families are quite ordinary; there is nothing divine or extraordinary about them. It is just that at the tantric level, people are divided into these five types. Everyone we come across is a member of one or more of these five families; everyone is partially or completely one of these five. You and the people you meet and all aspects of the phenomenal world are made up of one or more buddha-families. The five buddha-families are five principles of buddha nature; they refer to the buddha qualities in all of us. So everyone is a fertile person, a workable person who could be related with directly and personally. From the tantric point of view, when we encounter different types of people, we are actually relating with different styles of enlightenment.

  In the bodhisattva’s approach, everything has to be kept cool and skillful, steady all the time. The paramitas rely on the central logic of realizing that you have buddha nature in you, so you can be generous, patient, and so forth. But in the vajrayana, you are not expected to be uniform and regimented, to be ideally enlightened and absolutely cool and kind and wise. Tantra does not have that kind of one-track mind.

  In tantra, there are many variations that you can get into, based on the different perspectives of the five buddha families. You can identify yourself with all or one of these, or partially with any of them. The five buddha principles are different expressions of basic sanity; they are five different ways to be sane. But in actuality, they are not five separate principles, but one principle manifested in five different aspects. They are five different manifestations of one basic energy in terms of its richness, its fertility, its intelligence, and so forth. So although we refer to five families, we are talking about one basic intelligence or one basic energy.

  There is no reason why there are just five buddha-families; it just organically happens that way. In the tantric texts, we sometimes find references to 100 families and even to 999 families. But those are exaggerated forms of the five basic principles.

  The five buddha principles are not a Buddhist version of astrology, and they have nothing to do with fortune-telling. They are more like guidelines to perception or experience. That is, you perceive and experience things in relationship to the five-buddha-family principles. You appreciate the five buddha-families as reference points for perception and for the realization of phenomena in the complete sense.

  Psychologically, vajrayana permits the openness to work on all kinds of elements that you have within you. You do not have to tune yourself in to only one particular ideal, but you can take pride in what you are, in what you have, in your basic nature. By perceiving the energies of the buddha-families in people and in situations, you see that confusion is workable and can be transformed into an expression of sacred outlook. A student must reach this understanding before the teacher can introduce the tantric deities.

  The five buddha-families, or five principles of buddha nature, are the working basis of tantra. Each family is associated with a particular deity or yidam. These tantric deities represent the different energies of the five buddha principles. They represent the wisdom associated with each family and the possibility of overcoming or transforming the main neurosis or klesha associated with that family.1 So the yidam is the ruler of the wisdom aspect of that family. In tantric practice, you identify with a yidam of the buddha-family that corresponds to your own nature. So yidams should not be regarded as external gods who will save you, but as expressions of your true nature. The buddha-family principles provide a link between ordinary samsaric experience and the brilliance and loftiness of the yidams’ world. By understanding the buddha-families, you can appreciate the tantric deities as embodiments of sacred world, and you can identify yourself with that sacredness.

  The buddha-family or families associated with a person describes that person’s fundamental style, their intrinsic perspective or stance in perceiving the world and working with it. Your buddha-family is associated with both your neurotic and your enlightened style. The idea is that the neurotic expression of any buddha-family can be transmuted into its wisdom or enlightened aspect. As well as describing people’s styles, the buddha-families are also associated with colors, elements, landscapes, directions, seasons—with everything.

  ICONOGRAPHY AND THE MANDALA SETUP

  In tantric iconography, the five buddha-families are arrayed in a mandala,
which represents their wisdom or enlightened aspect. The buddha-families make up a five-part mandala, with buddha in the center, and vajra, ratna, padma, and karma at the four cardinal points. In any mandala, everything breaks into those four sections, along with the middle. Of course, you can invent numerous directions, but even if you had a hundred directions, they would still be based on the logic of the four cardinal directions. That is just how things work.

  The Center

  Traditionally, the buddha family is in the center, and is symbolized by a wheel and the color white.2 It is connected with basic coordination and wisdom.

  The East

  Vajra is in the East, because vajra is connected with the dawn. It is connected with the color blue and is symbolized by the vajra scepter. Vajra is the sharpness of experience, as in the morning when we wake up. We begin to see the dawn, when light is first reflected on the world, as a symbol of awakening reality.

  The South

  Ratna is in the South. It is connected with richness and is symbolized by a jewel and the color yellow. Ratna is associated with the midday, when we begin to need refreshment and nourishment.

  The West

  Padma is in the West and is symbolized by the lotus and the color red. As our day gets older, it is time to socialize, to make a date with our lover. Or if we have fallen in love with an antique or with some clothing, it is time to go out and buy it.

  Illustration 1. Symbols of the five buddha-families: wheel (center), vajra (East), jewel (South), lotus (West), and crossed-vajra (North).

  The North

  The last family, karma, is in the North. It is symbolized by a sword or crossed-vajra and by the color green. Finally we have captured the whole situation: we have everything we need, and there is nothing more to get. We have brought our merchandise or our lover back home, and we say, “Let’s close the door and lock it.” So the mandala of the five buddha-families represents the progress of an entire day or a whole course of action.

  QUALITIES OF THE FIVE FAMILIES

  To better understand the qualities of the buddha-families, we can look at each of them and how they manifest in one’s experience, in both neurotic and enlightened ways.

  Vajra Family

  In the East of the mandala is the vajra family, the family of sharpness, crystallization, and indestructibility. The buddha of this family is Akshobhya. The term vajra is superficially translated as “diamond,” but that is not quite accurate. A vajra is a celestial precious stone that cuts through any other solid object. So it is more than a diamond; it is complete indestructibility. Incidentally, the use of the term vajra in such words as vajrayana, vajra master, and vajra pride does not refer to this particular buddha-family, but to basic indestructibility.

  The symbol of the vajra family is a vajra scepter, or dorje. This vajra scepter has five prongs, which are related to the five emotions of aggression, pride, passion, jealousy, and ignorance. The sharp edges or prongs of the vajra represent cutting through any neurotic emotional tendencies; they also represent the sharp quality of being aware of many possible perspectives.

  The indestructible vajra is said to be like a heap of razor blades: if you naively try to hold it or touch it, there are all kinds of sharp edges that are both cutting and penetrating. The idea is that vajra corrects or remedies any neurotic distortion in a precise and sharp way. In the ordinary world, the experience of vajra is perhaps not as extreme as holding razor blades in your hand, but at the same time, it is very penetrating and personal. It is like a sharp, cutting, biting-cold winter day. Each time you expose yourself to the open air, you get frostbite instantly.

  Intellectually, vajra is very sharp. All the intellectual traditions belong to this family. A person in the vajra family knows how to logically evaluate the arguments used to explain experience. They can tell whether the logic is true or false. Vajra-family intellect also has a quality of constant openness and perspective. For instance, a vajra person could view a crystal ball from hundreds of perspectives, according to where it is placed, the way it is perceived, the distance from which they are looking at it, and so forth. The intellect of the vajra family is not just encyclopedic; it is sharpness, directness, and awareness of perspectives. Such indestructibility and sharpness are very personal and real.

  The klesha or neurotic expression of vajra is anger and intellectual fixation. If you become fixated on a particular logic, the sharpness of vajra can become rigidity. You become possessive of your insight, rather than maintaining an open perspective. The anger of vajra neurosis could be pure aggression, or simply uptightness because you are so attached to your sharpness of mind.

  Vajra is associated with the element of water. Cloudy, turbulent water symbolizes the defensive and aggressive nature of anger, while clear water suggests the sharp, precise, clear reflectiveness of vajra wisdom. In fact, vajra wisdom is traditionally called mirrorlike wisdom, which evokes this image of a calm pond or a reflecting pool.

  Ratna Family

  The next buddha-family, in the South of the mandala, is ratna, which means “jewel,” “gem,” or “precious stone.” The deity of the ratna family is Ratnasambhava. Ratna is a personal and real sense of expanding yourself and enriching your environment. You make yourself at home with collections of all kinds of richness and wealth. It is expansion, enrichment, plentifulness.

  Such plentifulness could also have problems and weaknesses. In the neurotic sense, the richness of ratna manifests as the klesha of greed, and as being completely fat, or extraordinarily ostentatious, beyond the limits of your sanity. You expand constantly, open heedlessly, and indulge yourself to the level of insanity. It is like swimming in a dense lake of honey and butter. When you coat yourself in this mixture of butter and honey, it is very difficult to remove. You cannot just remove it by wiping it off, but you have to apply all kinds of cleaning agents, such as cleanser and soap, to loosen its grasp.

  In the positive expression of the ratna family, the principle of richness is extraordinary. You feel very rich and plentiful, and you extend yourself to your world personally, directly, emotionally, psychologically, even spiritually. You are extending constantly, expanding like a flood or an earthquake. There is a quality of spreading, shaking the earth, and creating more and more cracks in it. That is the powerful expansiveness of ratna.

  The enlightened expression of ratna is called the wisdom of equanimity, because ratna can include everything in its expansive environment. Thus ratna is associated with the element of earth. It is like a rotting log that makes itself at home in the country. Such a log does not want to leave its home ground. It would like to stay, but at the same time it grows all kinds of mushrooms and plants and allows different animals to nest in it. That lazy settling down and making yourself at home, and inviting other people to come in and rest as well, is ratna.

  Padma Family

  The next family, in the West, is padma, which means “lotus flower.” The symbol of the enlightened padma family is the lotus, which grows out of the mud, yet still comes out pure and clean, virginal and clear. The deity of the padma family is Amitabha.

  Padma neurosis is connected with the klesha of passion, a grasping quality and a desire to possess. You are completely wrapped up in desire and want only to seduce the world, without concern for real communication. You could be a hustler or an advertiser, but basically you are like a peacock. In fact, Amitabha Buddha traditionally sits on a peacock, which represents subjugating padma neurosis. A person with padma neurosis speaks gently, fantastically gently, and they are seemingly very sexy, kind, magnificent, and completely accommodating: “If you hurt me, that’s fine. That is part of our love affair. Come toward me.” Such padma seduction can sometimes become excessive and sometimes become compassionate, depending on how you work with it.

  Padma is connected with the element of fire. In the confused state, fire does not distinguish between the things it grasps, burns, and destroys. But in the awakened state, the heat of passion is transmuted into the warmth
of compassion. When padma neurosis is transmuted, it becomes fantastically precise and aware; it turns into tremendous interest and inquisitiveness. Everything is seen in its own distinct way, with its own particular qualities and characteristics. Thus the wisdom of padma is called discriminating-awareness wisdom.

  The genuine character of padma seduction is real openness, a willingness to demonstrate what you have and what you are to the phenomenal world. What you bring to the world is a sense of pleasure. In whatever you experience, you begin to feel that there is lots of promise. You are constantly magnetizing and engaging in spontaneous hospitality.

  The quality of padma experience is like bathing in perfume or jasmine tea. Each time you bathe, you feel refreshed and fantastic. It feels good to be magnetized. The sweet air is fantastic, and the hospitality of your host is magnificent. You eat the good food they provide, which is delicious, but not too filling. You live in a world of honey and milk, but in this case it is a very delicate experience, unlike the rich but heavy experience of the ratna family. Fantastic! Even your bread is scented with all kinds of delicious smells. Your ice cream is colored by beautiful pink lotus-like colors. You cannot wait to eat it. Sweet music is playing in the background constantly. When there is no music, you listen to the whistling of the wind around your padma environment, and it becomes beautiful music as well. Even though you are not a musician, you compose all kinds of music. You wish you were a poet or a fantastic lover.