Principles of Buddhist Tantrism
By Lama Anagarika Govinda*
The word tantra is related to the concept of weaving and its derivatives (thread,
web, fabric, etc.), hinting at the interwovenness of things and actions,
the interdependence of all that exists, the continuity in the interaction
of cause and effect as well as in spiritual and traditional development,
which like a thread weaves its way through the fabric of history and of individual
lives. The term tantra (Tib. rgyud), therefore, can also stand for tradition,
spiritual continuity or succession. Those scriptures, however, which in Buddhism
go by the title of 'Tantra', are invariably of a mystic nature and try to
establish the inner relationship of things; the parallelism of microcosm
and macrocosm, mind and universe, individuality and universality, ritual
and reality, the world of matter and the world of the spirit. This is achieved
through practices in which yantra, mantra and mudra - the parallelism of
the visible, the audible and the bodily expressible feeling-content in form
of gestures unite the powers of mind (chitta), speech (vak) and body (kaya),
in order to realize the final state of completeness and enlightenment.
Thus, applying the words of Guru Gampopa, it may be said that the Buddhist Tantras represent "a philosophy comprehensible enough to embrace the whole of knowledge, a system of meditation which will produce the power of concentrating the mind upon anything whatsoever, and an art of living which will enable one to utilize each activity (of body, speech and mind) as an aid on the Path of Liberation."
Among all the aspects of Buddhism, its Tantric teachings have until now been the most neglected and misunderstood. The reason for this is the fact that these scriptures cannot be understood merely philologically, but only from the point of view of yogic experience, which cannot be learned from books. Moreover, those books from which information was sought, were written in a peculiar idiom, a language of symbols and secret conventions, which in Sanskrit was called Sandhyabhasha (literally 'twilight language') because of the double meaning which underlay its words.
This symbolic language was not only a protection against intellectual curiosity and misuse of yogic practices by the ignorant or the uninitiated, but had its origin mainly in the fact that the ordinary language is not able to express the highest experiences of the mind. The indescribable, which is experienced by the sadhaka the true devotee, can only be hinted at by symbols, similes and paradoxes.
Already Nagarjuna (2nd century AD) made use of the paradox as an expression of the inexpressible nature of ultimate reality, when he declared that "Form is emptiness, and emptiness is not different from form - in fact, emptiness is form - since all things possess the nature of emptiness, they have neither beginning nor end, they are neither perfect nor imperfect (i.e., they are neither self-sufficient nor yet entirely without individual significance in themselves) - (Prajnaparamita-Sutra)."
This ultimate reality which is both 'form' and 'no-form' and which has been called sunyata, the Plenum-Void, in Nagarjuna's philosophy (sunyavada) is symbolized by the vajra, the indestructible diamond-sceptre, in the language of the Buddhist Tantras, which form the third 'vehicle' (yana) of Buddhism: the Vajrayana. Each experience points beyond itself and can therefore not be confined or limited as something that exists in itself, but only in relationship to other experiences; and this infinite relationship contains at the same time the unifying element of a living universe, because infinite relationship becomes all-relationship and therewith a metaphysical magnitude, in which samsara and nirvana are the two sides or aspects of the same reality.
While thus Nagarjuna created the theoretical or philosophical foundations of Tantrism, the Yogacharins provided the practical and psychological means for the realization of this profound conception of a spiritual universe. In the application of yogic practices they united the most ancient sources of Indian wisdom and religious inspiration with the meditative experiences which had been developed under the Buddha's guidance and under the influence of his teachings. Thus the Tantras were born, and their impact upon the general religious life of India was so overwhelming that between the 6th and the 8th century Tantrism was introduced into the major schools of Hinduism. The most important Tantras of Shaivaism originated in Kashmir, which had been a stronghold of Buddhism and of Buddhist Tantrism in particular. This explains the many similarities between Shaivaite and Buddhist Tantra and also the fact that Buddhists accepted Shiva in their pantheon as a Protector of the Dharma.1
Western scholars, whose first knowledge of Tantrism came through Hindu literature (and that of a very late date, like the scriptures translated by Sir John Woodroffe), therefore looked upon Buddhist Tantrism as an offshoot of Shaivaism, which was taken over later by more or less decadent Buddhist schools.
Against this view speaks the great antiquity and consistent
development of Tantric tendencies in Buddhism. Already the early Mahasangikas
had a special collection of mantric formulas in their Dharani-Pitaka; and the
Manjusri-mulakalpa, which according to some authorities goes back to the first
century AD, contains not only mantras and dharanis, but numerous mandalas and
mudras as well. By the end of the third century the Buddhist Tantric System
had crystallized into definite form, as we see from the well-known Guhyasamaja
Tantra (Tib. dPal-gsang-hdus-pa).
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1 - Just as the Buddha had accepted Brahma, Indra and Shakka.
Thus, Benoytosh Bhattacharya is fully justified when he declares in his Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism that "it is possible to declare, without fear of contradiction, that the Buddhists were the first to introduce the Tantras into their religion, and that the Hindus borrowed them from the Buddhists in later times, and that it is idle to say that later Buddhism was an outcome of Shaivaism." (p.147)
It is, therefore, thoroughly misleading to judge Buddhist Tantric teachings and symbols from the standpoint of Hindu Tantras. The main difference is that Buddhist Tantrism is not Shaktism. The concept of Shakti, of divine power, or the creative female aspect of the supreme God (Shiva) or his emanations, does not play any role in Buddhism; in fact, the term Shakti never occurs in Buddhist Tantras. In the Hindu Tantras the concept of power (Shakti) forms the focus of interest. The central idea of Tantric Buddhism, however, is prajna (transcendental knowledge or wisdom).
To the Buddhist Shakti is maya, the very power that creates illusion, from which only prajna can liberate us. It is not the aim of the Buddhist to acquire power or to join himself to the powers of the universe, either to become their instrument or to become their master, but on the contrary, he tries to free himself from those powers, which for eons kept him a prisoner of samsara. He strives to perceive those powers, which have kept him going in the rounds of birth and death, in order to liberate himself from their dominion. At the same time he does not try to negate them or to destroy them, but to transform them in the fire of knowledge, so that they may become forces of enlightenment which, instead of creating further differentiation, flow in the opposite direction: towards union, towards wholeness, towards completeness.
The attitude of the Hindu Tantras is quite different, if not contrary: "United with Shakti, be full of power", says the Kulachudamara Tantra. "From the union of Siva and Shakti the world is created." The Buddhist, on the other hand, does not strive after the creation and unfoldment of the world, but after the realization of the 'uncreated, unformed' state of sunyata, from which all creation proceeds, or which is prior to and beyond all creation (if one may put the inexpressible into human language).
The becoming conscious of this sunyata (Tib.: stong-pa-nyid) is prajna (Tib.: shes-rab) or highest knowledge. The realization of this highest knowledge in life is Enlightenment (bodhi; Tib.: byang-chub), i.e., if prajna (or sunyata), the passive, all-embracing female principle, from which everything proceeds and into which everything recedes, is united with the dynamic male principle of active universal love and compassion, which represents the means (upaya; Tib.: thabs) for the realization of prajna and sunyata, then perfect Buddhahood is attained. Intellect without feeling, knowledge without love, and reason without compassion lead to pure negation, to rigidity, to spiritual death, to mere vacuity; while feeling without reason, love without knowledge (blind love), compassion without understanding, lead to confusion and dissolution. But where both are united, where the great synthesis of heart and head, feeling and intellect, highest love and deepest knowledge has taken place, completeness is re-established and perfect enlightenment is attained.
The process of enlightenment is therefore represented by the most obvious, the most human and at the same time the most universal symbol imaginable: the union of male and female in the ecstasy of love, in which the active element (upaya) is represented as a male, the passive (prajna) as a female figure, in contrast to the Hindu Tantras, in which the female aspect is represented as Shakti, i.e., the active principle, and the male aspect as Siva, the state of divine consciousness or 'being', i.e., the passive principle, or 'the resting in its own nature'.
In Buddhist symbolism the Knower (Buddha) becomes one with his knowledge (prajna), just as man and wife become one in the embrace of love, and this becoming one is the highest indescribable happiness, mahasukha (Tib.: bDe-mchog). The Dhyani-Buddhas (i.e., the ideal Buddha visualized in meditation) and the corresponding Dhyani-Bodhisattvas, as embodiments the active urge of enlightenment, which finds its expression in upaya the all embracing love and compassion, are therefore represented in the embrace of their prajna, symbolized by a female deity, the embodiment of transcendental knowledge.
This is not the arbitrary reversal of Hindu symbology (as some scholars imagined), but the logical application of a principle which is of fundamental importance for the entire Buddhist Tantric system.
By confusing Buddhist Tantrism with the Shaktism of the Hindu Tantras, a basic misconception has been created, which up to the present day has prevented a clear understanding of the Vajrayana and its symbolism in iconography as well as in literature, especially that of the Siddhas. These last used a particular form of symbology, in which very often the highest was clothed in the form the lowest, the most sacred in form of the most profane, the transcendent in the form of the most earthly, and deepest knowledge in the form of the most grotesque paradoxes. It was not only a language for initiates, but a kind of shock-therapy, which had become necessary on account of the over-intellectualization of the religious and philosophical life of those times.
Though the polarity of male and female principles is recognized in the Tantras of the Vajrayana and is an important feature of its symbolism, it is raised to a plane which is as far away from the sphere of mere sexuality as the mathematical juxtaposition of positive and negative signs, which is as valid in the realm of irrational values as in that of rational or concrete concepts.
In Tibet the male and female Dhyani-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are regarded as little as 'sexual beings' as in certain schools of Japan; and to the Tibetan even their aspect of union (yuganaddha; Tib.: yabyum) is indissolubly associated with the highest spiritual reality in the process of enlightenment, so that associations with the realm of physical sexuality are completely ignored.
We must not forget that the figural representations of these symbols are not looked upon as portraying human beings, but as embodying the experiences and visions of meditation. In such a state, however, there exists nothing that could any longer be called 'sexual'; there is only the super-individual polarity of all life, which rules all mental and physical activities, and which is transcended only in the ultimate state of integration, in the realization of sunyata. This is the state which is called mahamudra (Tib.: phyag-rgya-chen-po), "the Great Symbol," which has given its name to one of the most important systems of meditation in Tibet.
In the earlier forms of Indian Buddhist Tantrism, Mahamudra was represented as the 'eternal female' principle, as may be seen from Advayavajra's definition: "The words 'great' and 'mudra' form together the term 'mahamudra'. She is not something (nihsvabhava); she is free from the veils which cover the cognizable object and so on; she shines forth like the serene sky at noon during autumn: she is the support of all success; she is the identity of samsara and nirvana; her body is compassion (karuna) which is not restricted to a single object; she is the uniqueness of Great Bliss (mahasukhaikarupa)."2
If in one of the most controversial passages of Anangavajra's "Prajnopaya vinish caya siddhi"3 it is said that all women should be enjoyed by the sadhaka in order to experience the mahamudra, it is clear that this cannot be understood in the physical sense, but that it can only be applied to that higher form of love which is not restricted to a single object and which is able to see all 'female' qualities, whether in ourselves or in others, as those of the Divine Mother (prajna-paramita or transcendental wisdom).
Another passage, which by its very grotesqueness proves that it is meant to be a paradox, and is not to be taken literally, states that "the sadhaka who has sexual intercourse with his mother, his sister, his daughter, and his sister's daughter, will easily succeed in his striving for the ultimate goal (tattva-yoga)."4
To take expressions like 'mother', 'sister', 'daughter' or 'sister's daughter' literally in this connection is as senseless as taking literally the well-known Dhammapada verse (No.294), which says that, after having killed father and mother and two Kshattriya kings, and having destroyed a kingdom with all its inhabitants, the Brahmana remains free from sin. Here 'father' and 'mother' stand for 'egoism' and 'craving' (Pali: asmimana and tanha), the 'two kings' for the erroneous views of annihilation or eternal existence (uccheda va sassata-ditthi), the 'kingdom and its inhabitants' for 'the twelve spheres of consciousness' (dvadasayatanani) and the Brahmana for the liberated monk (bhikkhu).
To maintain that Tantric Buddhists actually encouraged incest
and licentiousness is as ridiculous as accusing the Theravadins of condoning
matricide and patricide and similar heinous crimes. If we only take the trouble
to investigate the living tradition of the Tantras in their genuine, unadulterated
forms, as they existed still in our days in thousands of monasteries and hermitages
of Tibet, where the ideals of sense-control and renunciation were held in the
highest esteem, then only can we realize how ill-founded and worthless are
the current theories which try to drag the Tantras into the realm of sensuality.
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2 - Advayavajra, "Chaturmudra," p.34, quoted in Yuganaddha
by H. V. Guenther (Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Banaras, 1952) .
3 - Prajnopaya-viniscaya-siddhi in Two Vajrayana Works, Gaikwad Oriental Series,
No. XLIV, page 22.
4 - Anangavajra, Prajnopaya-vinishcaya-siddhi V.25, quoted in Yuganaddha p.106.
A similar statement is found in the Guhyasamaja Tantra.
From the point of view of the Tibetan Tantric tradition, the above-mentioned
passages can only be meaningful in the context of yoga terminology.
'All women in the world' signifies all the elements which make up the female principles of our psycho-physical personality which, as the Buddha says, represents what is called 'the world'. To these principles correspond on the opposite side an equal number of male principles. Four of the female principles form a special group, representing the vital forces (prana) of the Great Elements (mahabhuta), Earth, Water, Fire, Air and their corresponding psychic centres (chakra) or planes of consciousness within the human body. In each of them the union of male and female principles must take place, before the fifth and highest stage is reached. If the expressions 'mother', 'sister', 'daughter', etc., are applied to the forces of these fundamental qualities of the mahabhutas, the meaning of the symbolism becomes clear.
In other words, instead of seeking union with a woman outside ourselves, we have to seek it within ourselves ("in our own family") by the union of our male and female qualities in the process of meditation. This is clearly stated in Naropa's famous Six Doctrines (Tib.: chos drug bsdus-pahi zinbris), upon which the most important yoga practice of the bKah-rgyud-pa School is based, a yoga that was practiced by Milarepa (Mi-la-ras-pa), the most saintly and austere of all great masters of meditation (whom certainly nobody could accuse of 'sexual practices'). Though we cannot go here into the details of this yoga, a short quotation may suffice to prove our point. "The vital force of the Five Aggregates (skandha: Tib.: phung-po) in its real nature, pertaineth to the masculine aspect of the Buddha-principle manifesting through the left psychic nerve (ida-nadi; Tib.: rkyang-ma rtsa). The vital force of the Five Elements (dhatu; Tib.: hbyung-ba), in its real nature, pertaineth to the feminine aspect of the Buddha-principle manifesting through the right psychic nerve (pingala-nadi; Tib.: roma-rtsa). As the vital force with these two aspects of it in union, descendeth into the median nerve (sushumna - Tib.: dbu-ma rtsa) gradually there cometh the realization . . ." and one attains the transcendental boon of the Great Symbol (mahamudra; Tib.: phyag-rgya-chen-po),5 the union of the male and female principles (as upaya and prajna) in the highest state of Buddhahood.
Thus, only if we are able to see
the relationship of body and mind, of physical and spiritual interaction
in a universal perspective,
and if in this way we overcome the "I" and "mine" and the
whole structure of egocentric feelings, opinions and prejudices, which produce
the illusion of our separate individuality, then only can we rise into the
sphere of Buddhahood.
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5 - W. Y. Evans Wentz and Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup: Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines
p. 220 ff.
* For a note on whom see page 215 of our issue of October 1964