The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, Volume 2: Deity Yoga

275 Pages·2016·9.6 MB·English

by  Dalai Lama XIV

The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra
VOLUME ONE
Tantra in Tibet
VOLUME TWO
Deity Yoga
VOLUME THREE
Yoga Tantra

C
ONTENTS
Preface
Seals or Hand-Configurations (Mudrā)
I: Heart of Mantra
by the Dalai Lama
Techniques for Improvement
Purpose of Deity Yoga
Initiations and Vows
Divine Approximation
Performance Tantra
II: The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra 2 and 3
by Tsongkhapa
Introduction
Controversy about Deity Yoga in Action and Performance
Structure
Action Tantra
Pledges and Vows
Preliminaries
Self-Generation
Generation in Front
Mantra Repetition
Concentration Not Relying on Repetition
Feats
Performance Tantra
Outline
Yoga with Signs
Yoga without Signs
III: Supplement
by Jeffrey Hopkins
The Need for Common Feats
The Complete Meditation
Correlation with the Paths
Appendix 1: Lineages of Action and Performance Tantra
Appendix 2: Structure of the Presentation
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
E-mail Sign-Up
P
REFACE
Homage to Vajradhara.
This book is a continuation of Tantra in Tibet. Centered on the second and
third parts of Tsongkhapa’s The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, it presents
the profound process of meditation in Action and Performance Tantra.
Tsongkhapa lays out the procedure of practice in Action Tantra, mainly
combining the expositions in two tantras—the Susiddhi Tantra1 and the
Concentration Continuation Tantra2—and their respective expositions by
Varabodhi3 and Buddhaguhya.4 The Susiddhi Tantra and Varabodhi’s
formulation of it into a practice rite called a Means of Achievement,5 also detail
the preliminary rites, the pledges, and so forth. Almost all of Tsongkhapa’s
presentation can be found in these four texts; his creative innovation is to
interweave them into a complete system of practice of this class of tantra.
Tsongkhapa’s brief exposition of Performance Tantra, which is drawn only
from the Vairochanābhisambodhi Tantra and Buddhaguhya’s two commentaries
on it,6 present the yoga with signs, which has both external and internal versions
of the four-branched repetition, and then the yoga without signs. The brevity is
likely due to the length and complexity of the exposition of Action Tantra,
whose meditation has many similarities. These explanations of the extraordinary
features of the Action Tantra path and of an outline of Performance Tantra
system illustrate the immense psychological complexity of the tantric path and
also lay the groundwork for those who wish to cultivate these tantras upon
receiving initiation from a qualified lama.
Part I is an introduction by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose commentary
on Tsongkhapa’s text I received in 1974 and subsequently translated and edited.
His lucid exposition of the complex meditative rites of deity yoga—the distinctly
tantric process in which a yogi cultivates imaginative appearance in a Buddha’s
divine body—affords an accessibility to Part II, Tsongkhapa’s text itself. Part III
is a supplement primarily on the structure of the path in Action Tantra. In
addition to the first two parts of this book, it is drawn from:
• Butön’s Extensive General Presentation of the Tantra Sets
• Khaydrub Geleg Palsang’s Extensive Explanation of the Format of the
General Tantra Sets
• Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltshan’s Presentation of the General Rites of
Action and Performance Tantra and Their Application to the Three
Lineages, Set Down by Duldzin According to the Foremost
[Tsongkhapa’s] Practice
• Bodong Choglay Namgyal’s General Presentation of Action Tantra
• Paṇchen Sönam Dragpa’s General Presentation of the Tantra Sets:
Captivating the Minds of the Fortunate
• Yeshay Gyaltshan’s Illumination of the Meaning of Action Tantra
• Ngagwang Paldan’s Presentation of the Grounds and Paths of Mantra
• the oral teachings of Lati Jangchub Tshultrim Rinpoche, philosophy
master and tantric lama who served as abbot of the Shartse College of
Gandan Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka State, India
• the oral teachings of Danma Lochö Rinpoche, philosophy master and
tantric lama who served as abbot of the Tibetan Monastery at Kulu and
later as the abbot of Namgyal Monastery in Dharmsala, India
Based on Tsongkhapa’s remark at end of the chapter on Action Tantra:
If one propounds to know the meaning of Action and Performance Tantras
By knowing a portion of their meditations and repetitions
Such as rites of fasting, bathing, and so forth, it is a source of laughter.
Therefore, cherish arrangement of the tantra meanings into paths.
it is easily seen that Tsongkhapa’s chief aim is go beyond the often reduction of
Action Tantra to mere rituals for fasting, bathing, and the like and present the
entire scope of the general Action Tantra meditation beginning with the
preparatory rituals and extending through the elaborate and very rich meditative
practices that culminate with the achievement of yogic feats and the progress
along the spiritual path. Since he does this with careful citation of sources of
tantras and Indian commentaries, I have sought in this edition of the book to put
more focus on the practical implementation of his ingenious amalgamation of
sources by putting these practical instructions in a Means of Achievement (sgrub
thabs, sādhana). It is found after an introduction about the structure of the path
in the second chapter of the Supplement.7
I orally retranslated Tsongkhapa’s text into Tibetan for the late Lati Jangchub
Tshultrim Rinpoche, who knew almost no English, for the sake of correction and
verification, and I received a complete commentary of Tsongkhapa’s text from
the late Danma Lochö Rinpoche. Dr. Elizabeth Napper, then a doctoral candidate
in Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, provided crucial help in editing
the entire manuscript. A guide to Tsongkhapa’s text, following his own mode of
division of the contents, is given in tabular form in an appendix.
The chapter divisions and their titles in the Dalai Lama’s commentary and in
Tsongkhapa’s text were added to facilitate understanding. The transliteration
scheme for Sanskrit names and titles is aimed at easy pronunciation, using sh,
ṣh, and ch rather than ś, s, and c. With the first occurrence of each Indian title,
the Sanskrit is given, if available. Often Tsongkhapa refers only to the title or the
author of a work, whereas both are given in translation to obviate the need for
checking back and forth. The full Sanskrit and Tibetan titles are to be found in
the bibliography, which is arranged alphabetically according to the authors of
other works. The Tibetan originals of the key terms are given in a glossary at the
end. Photographs of the thirty-eight seals (hand configurations, mudrā) are given
throughout Tsongkhapa’s text; the formation of several of these is speculative
since a full-fledged transmission of their practice has not been found among the
refugee lamas in India.
Jeffrey Hopkins
President and Founder, UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies
Emeritus Professor of Tibetan Studies
University of Virginia
S H -C
EALS OR AND ONFIGURATIONS
(M )
UDRĀ
The names of the seals are taken either from Tsongkhapa’s text or from
Varabodhi’s Clear Realization of Susiddhi, except for those that are bracketed,
these being inferred from the context. All but numbers 29 and 37 appear in
Varabodhi’s text, Tsongkhapa’s source. Several are similar to those given for the
Susiddhi Tantra in the Chinese cannon (Taishō daizōkyō, Zuzō 8, [3164, 3165]:
1–58).
Seal 1. Pledge seal of the One-Gone-Thus lineage Seal 2. Pledge seal of the lotus
lineage Seal 3. Pledge seal of the vajra lineage Seal 4. Seal of the Fierce
Unobscured One Seal 5. Seal of picking up earth Seal 6. Seal of
Amṛtakuṇḍali
Seal 7. [Seal of expelling obstructors from the body]
Seal 8. [Seal of putting on vajra armor]
Seal 9. Seal of vajra armor
Seal 10. Seal of dispelling obstructors Seal 11. Seal of Kīlikīla
Seal 12. Seal of Sarasvati
Seal 13. Seal of water-stirring Seal 14. Seal of generating magnificence Seal 15.
Seal of the ritual dagger Seal 16. Fence seal
Seal 17. Latticework seal
Seal 18. [Seal of closing off the area]
Seal 19. [Seal of blessing]
Seal 20. Seal of invitation Seal 21. Seal of the lotus posture Seal 22. Seal of the
vajra posture Seal 23. Seal of the heroic posture Seal 24. Pledge vajra seal
Seal 25. Seal of the One-Gone-Thus lineage Seal 26. Seal of the lotus lineage
Seal 27. Seal of the vajra lineage Seal 28. Seal of oblation
Seal 29. [Seal of a footbath]
Seal 30. Seal of washing the body Seal 31. Seal of perfume
Seal 32. Flower seal
Seal 33. Seal of incense
Seal 34. Seal of divine food Seal 35. Lamp seal
Seal 36. Vase seal
Seal 37. Seal of requesting departure Seal 38. Seal of unequal limbs