The Dalai Lamas on Tantra

361 Pages·2009·2.19 MB·English

Offered by VenerabilisOpus.org
Dedicated to preserving the rich cultural
and spiritual heritage of humanity.
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page i
The Dalai Lamas on Tantra
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page ii
The First Dalai Lama
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page iii
The Dalai Lamas on Tantra
Translated, edited, and introduced by
Glenn H. Mullin
Snow Lion Publications
ithaca, new york (cid:129) boulder, colorado
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page iv
Snow Lion Publications
P. O. Box 6483
Ithaca, NY 14851 USA
[phone]
www.snowlionpub.com
Copyright © 2006 Glenn H. Mullin
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by
any means without prior written permission from the publisher.
Printed in USA on acid-free recycled paper.
Illustrations on the indicated pages are by the following:
Chris Banigan 22, 158, 254, 290, 318; Brian Beresford 176;
Sidney Piburn 202; Kevin Rigby 84; Saki Takezawa ii, 68, 324, 334
ISBN-10 1-55939-269-X
ISBN-13 978-1-55939-269-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Dalai Lamas on tantra / translated, edited, and introduced
by Glenn H. Mullin.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-269-3 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-55939-269-X (alk. paper)
1. Tripit.aka. Su¯trapit.aka. Tantra—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
2. Tantric Buddhism—China —Tibet. 3. Dge-lugs-pa (Sect)—
Doctrines. I. Mullin, Glenn H.
BQ2147.D35 2007
294.3'85—dc22
2006019861
Designed and typeset by Gopa & Ted2, Inc.
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page v
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Chapter One:The Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s
A Brief Guide to the Buddhist Tantras 21
Chapter Two: The Seventh Dalai Lama’s
Instructional Poem on the Stages in Practice
of the Heruka Chakrasamvara Tantra 67
Chapter Three: The Second Dalai Lama’s
Treatise on the Six Yogas of Niguma 83
Chapter Four: The Third Dalai Lama’s
The Tantric Yogas of the Bodhisattva of Compassion 15
Chapter Five: The Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s
Concerning the Kalachakra Initiation 175
Chapter Six: The First Dalai Lama’s Notes
on the Two Yogic Stages of Glorious Kalachakra 201
Chapter Seven: The Fifth Dalai Lama’s
Hayagriva-Sealed-in-Secrecy Methods for
Healing (as read by the Great Thirteenth) 253
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page vi
vi : the dalai lamas on tantra
Chapter Eight:The Second Dalai Lama’s
The Two Yogic Stages of the Vajrabhairava Tantra
with a commentary by Lama Lobzang Chinpa 289
Chapter Nine: The Second Dalai Lama’s
Living on the Essence of Flowers 317
Chapter Ten: A Tantric Prayer
by the Eighth Dalai Lama 333
Notes 341
Suggested Reading 349
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page vii
Preface
O
ver the past two decadesI have published almost a dozen
books with Snow Lion on the lives and works of the early Dalai
Lamas. As most readers will know, the present Dalai Lama, who was
born in 1935, is the fourteenth in this line of illustrious reincarnations.
When I first started this project, almost nothing was known in the
West about these extraordinary men. Coverage of them had been
limited to a paragraph or two, or a page or two at best, in academic
books on Tibetan cultural and political history. Even though many
of these incarnations had written dozens of works on Buddhist phi-
losophy, meditation, mysticism, and other enlightenment-related
topics, and had also written hundreds of songs and poems, no signi-
ficant text by any of them had ever been translated into English.
With each of these books I usually incorporated a traditional biog-
raphy and a selection of their most accessible writings. Usually the
selection would be on diverse subjects, in an attempt to convey the
range and depth of these Buddhist teachers, from mystical poems to
works on philosophy and tantric practice.
Most of these titles have been out of print for over a decade now.
Sidney Piburn, my editor at Snow Lion, thought that it would be use-
ful to bring out an anthology of some of the tantric works that I had
used in that series. Tantric Buddhism is becoming better known in
the West these days, but there is still a paucity of authentic transla-
tions from classical sources. The great popularity achieved by the
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page viii
viii : the dalai lamas on tantra
early Dalai Lamas was due in part to the clarity and power of their
tantric writings, so Sid’s suggestion did not seem unreasonable. This
volume is the result.
On the technical side, I have tried to keep footnotes to a bare min-
imum so as to allow the reader to enjoy the mood of the originals,
rather than create the distraction of a constant barrage of “whispered
asides.” Moreover, I have also presented any Sanskrit and Tibetan
terms that are used in a simplified “phonetic style” for ease in read-
ing. For example, “Khedrup” looks far more palatable to me than does
“mKhas-grub,” and “Lobzang” seems more accessible than “bLo-
bzang.” Scholars should be able to easily reconstruct the more formal
spellings if they wish to do so, whereas these formal spellings are irrel-
evant to the general enthusiast.
With Tibetan text titles, however, a system of easy phonetics would
be inadequate. Therefore here I have used the formal system of
transliteration.
Most Dalai Lamas wrote extensively on Tantric Buddhism. The
material chosen for this anthology is intended as a mere sampling of
their contribution, with the intent to give the reader a sense of the
authentic tradition.
Glenn H. Mullin
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia,
March 7, 2006
DLonTantra_Interior 8/31/09 2:18 PM Page 1
Introduction
The Legacy from Buddha Shakyamuni
B
uddha traveledand taught widely for some forty-five years
after his enlightenment, and his audiences were diverse. Even
though India at the time was a highly literate society, nothing of what
he said was written down during his lifetime. Instead, various indi-
viduals were entrusted with memorizing the gist of each discourse.
The work of transcribing his words took place only with the passage
of generations.
Tibetans believe that this reluctance on the part of the Buddha and
his immediate followers to commit the enlightenment teachings to
paper, and instead to preserve them as oral traditions, was a purpose-
ful strategy gauged to maintain the maximum fluidity and living power
of the enlightenment experience. It only became necessary to write
things down when the darkness of the changing times threatened the
very survival of the legacy. An oral tradition becomes lost to history
should its holders pass away without first passing on their lineages.
This intended fluidity, and the according safeguard against the
establishment of an “enlightenment dogma,” is perhaps best demon-
strated by a verse that the Buddha himself said shortly before his
death:
Do not accept any of my words on faith,
Believing them just because I said them.