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

275 Pages·2016·9.6 MB·English
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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

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