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Chapter II: Place of "Hevajra Tantra, in Tantric Literature 1. Buddhist Tantric Literature Lama Anagarik Govinda wrote: "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 scriptures which in Buddhism go under the name of Tantra (Tib.: rgyud) are invariably of a mystic nature, i.e., trying to establish the inner relationship of things: the parallelism of microcosm and macrocosm, mind and universe, ritual and reality, the world of matter and the world of the spirit."99 Scholars like N.N. Bhattacharyya and also Pranabananda Jash, regard Tantra as a religious system or science (sastra) dealing with the means (sadhana) of attaining success (siddhi) in secular or religious efforts.100 N.N. Bhattacharyya mentions that "Tantra came to mean the essentials of any religious system and, subsequently, special doctrines and rituals found only in certain forms of various religious systems. This change in the meaning, significance, and character of the word 'Tantra' is quite striking and is likely to reveal many hitherto unnoticed elements that have characterised the social fabric of India through the ages. "101 It is must be noted that the Tantrika tradition is not the work of a day, it has a long history behind it. Creation, maintenance and dissolution, 99 Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Myticism (Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1969), p.93. 100 N.N. Bhattacharyya (ed.), Tantric Buddhism, Pranabananda Jash, The Tantras: An Excursus into Origins (Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 1999), p.143. 101 N.N.Bhattacharyya, History of the Pnublications, 1982), p.2. Tantric Religion (Delhi: Manohar - 69 -

propitiation of gods and goddesses, religious and spiritual practices, purascarana, sat-karma, dhyana, yoga and similar other practices have been discussed in Tantrika texts like the Varahi Tantra. According to this Tantrika text it is called Agama because spiritual knowledge proceeds from it to every direction. It is called Sastra because everything is controlled and protected by it. It is jnana because everything can be known with its help and it is Tantra because everything is always preserved and perpetuated by it. In the opinion of Lama Anagarika Govinda the Buddhist does not believe in an independent or separately existing external world, into whose dynamic forces he could insert himself. The external world and his inner world are for him only the two sides of the same fabric, in which the threads of all forces and of all events, of all forms of consciousness and of their objects, are woven into an inseparable net of endless, mutually conditioned relations. And the essence of Tantrism, developed with logical necessity from the teachings and the religious practice of Vijnanavada and Madhyamaka Schools of Mahayana-Buddhism. Like a gigantic wave the Tantric conception of the world swept over the whole of India, penetrating and modifying Buddhism and Hinduism alike and obliterating many of their differences.102 This opinion is shared by eminent Indian scholars like Haraprasad Sastri, Benoytosh Bhattacharya, and Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta. Though Buddhist Tanra or Mantrayana started in India it disappeared from the land of its origin by the 11th to 13th century A.D. However the tradition continued to flourish in Tibet.So well has it been kept by Tibetan monks and scholars that Tibetan Buddhism is often regarded as a synonym for Tantrism, or Mantrayana. In Tibet, the collection of translations of Indian texts numbers more than 4,556 which are divided into two groups, viz. Bkah-hgyur (Kanjur) consisting of 1,108 text, and Bstan-bgyur (Tanjur) consisting of 3,458 texts. The Kanjur is divided into seven parts vinaya, Prajnaparamita, Buddhavatamsaka, Ratnakuta, Sutra, Nirvana an Tantra while the 102 Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Myticism, pp.93-94. - 70

Tanjur is divided into two Tantra and Sutra. The Biography of Dharmasvaming is of greater importance since it deals with the so called decadent phase of Buddhism which was characterised by its Vajrayana or Tantric form. A large and important part of the Mahayana literature constitute of Tantric elements like the Dharanis. We have a Tibetan version of a group of Sutras with Tantric affiliations, collected as early as the 4th century A.D. under the title Mahasannipata.103 The Prajnaparamita-Sutras also throw much light on Tantric Buddhism. They contain all the paraphernalia of worship which is to be found in Tantra. The Sutras, Hrdayasutratras, Dharanis and Mantras contained in them presuppose the Tantric cults of Vajrayana Buddhism. Of the earlier Tantras which were composed before and about the 8th century A.D. reference should be made to the Guhyasamaja, Mahavairocana, Sarvatathaga-tattvasamgraha (found both in Tibetan and Sanskrit Mass.), Vajrasikhara (a version of the preceding one), Vajrabhairava (found both in Tibetan and Sanskrit Mss.), Cakrasamvara (also known as Samvara and Dakinijala and having various recensions in Tibetan) and Manjusrimulakalpa. The composition of the Manjusrimulakalpa and the Guhyasamaja must have taken place sometime after the Karandavyuha and the Mahapratyamgira-dharani, i.e., about the 5th or 6th century A.D. As per the Buddhist texts of Tantra the Tantrika worshipper identifies himself in meditation with the Deity he worships and places before himself the fully blossomed condition represented by the Deity as the ideal to be realised. But this practice must be conjoined with a facsimile cognition of the ultimate truth of Sunyata, emptiness. The union of Sunyata or Wisdom (Prajna) and Deity Yoga or the Means (Upaya) is the essence of Buddhist Tantra. According to Pranabananda Jash the Hindu Tantra texts uphold similar ideals, of course with the exception of the Sunyata Yoga. This differentiates tantrika from the Pauranika worshipper. Who, on the other hand, can never think of the identity between himself and his Deity, and always bears in mind the immense 103 N.N. Bhattacharyya, History of the Tantric Religion, p.58. - 71 -

difference between the infinitude of God and the finiteness of man. Here we observe that the Tantra accepts the Absolute Monism of the Upanisads and regards the identity between the Jiva and Siva, the individual and the Absolute, as the Supreme ideal, although this ideal is to be realised through upasana.104 The salient features of the tantric cult consists in the worship of deities in yantra or diagrams symbolically representing them; mantra or chanting of some sacred sounds; mudra or various gestures made with fingers and movement of hands in different posture; nyasa or the control of the breath that brings the deity in the body of the worshipper; and bija or the syllables of mystic significance peculiar to each deity. These are the means by which the Sadhaka or practitioner invokes, and identifies himself with this chosen deity (istadevata).165 * The distinctive feature of Buddhist Tantra is the practice of Sunyata Yoga in fusion with Devata Yoga. In Tantra the state of Buddha hood is regarded as the Vajrasattva state of Mahasukha or Immutable bliss. According to S.B. Dasgupta, "in the Buddhist Tantras the element of nirvana (nirvana-dhatu) is described as incessant bliss (satata-sukha-maya), it is the abode of both enjoyment as well as liberation; it is called Mahasukha, where there is no change or decrease. It is the seed of all substance, it is the ultimate stage of those who have attained perfection; it is the highest place of the Buddhas and is called the Sukhavati (the abode of bliss)."106 In esoteric Buddhism in a general way the nirvana state has been described all along as the state of Mahasukha and it is identified with Mahasukha. Though Saraha-pada in a Doha warns not to confuse the truth of Nirvana that is only to be realised within with a concept of external sukha or bliss. As in the final stage the ultimate truth of 104 N.K. Brahma, Philosophy of Hindu Sadhana, p.274. N.N. Bhattacharyya (ed.), Tantric Buddhism, Pranabananda Jash, The Tantras: An Excursus into Origins (Manohar Publishers, 1999), p 141. 105 N.N. Bhattacharyya (ed.), Tantric Buddhism, Pranabananda Jash, Ibid, p.138. 106 Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta, An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1974), pp.134-135. - 72 -

Sunyata is cognised by a consciousness that directly perceives the truth and it is itself in the nature of Sunyata, that is the visaya or object of its cognition. The subtle mind and its object of cognition are of the same taste and nature, like water poured into water. This subtle mind that perceives Sunyata directly can be attained in the state of Mahasukha or Immutable bliss. The advocates of Mahasukha usually justify their own position by describing Mahasukha as transcending all kinds of thought-constructions, it is an absolutely pure emotion of bliss in which all the activities of the mind are absolutely lost. : Mahasukha has variously been described in the Buddhist Tantras as the ultimate reality transcending, or rather absorbing within it, both existence (bhava) and extinction (nirvana). Mahasukha is something which has neither the beginning nor any middle, nor any end it is neither existence nor annihilation; this transcendental supreme bliss is neither the not-self nor the self. In the Mahasukha-prakasa (collected in the Advaya-vajra-samgraha) Mahasukha is described as the Lord Vajrasattva of the nature of the unity of Prajna and Upaya; it is the non-dual quintessence of all the entities. It is further said that perfect wisdom is never possible without bliss; perfect wisdom itself is of the nature of bliss.107 In Hevajra Tantra, the Mahasukha state is referred while discussing the Innate mind of Clear light (prabhasvara) that is present in all beings. Owing to this mind an individual can ultimately attain the Buddha Kayas by sincerely practising the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra-Generation and Completion stage. Besides Mahasukha there are many other Buddhist tantric elements in "Hevajra Tantra,, to discover those, first one must analyse the different schools of Tantra that are held as the representatives of the Buddhist tantric thought that had evolved based on the Mahayana doctrines of Bodhicitta, Mahakaruna and Sunyata. Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta has divided the Buddhist Tantras into three 107 Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta, An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism, p.137 - 73 - -

schools, viz., Vajra-yana, Kala-cakra-yana and Sahaja-yana. We do not know on the authority of what texts this division of schools have been made. Of course, these names are often met with in the Tantric texts, but the characteristics of the schools have never been sufficiently explained.108 Vajrayana or the 'Adamantine way' is really the way or means for the realisation of the Vajra-nature or the immutable and emptiness of the self as well as of the dharmas. The Sri-samaja, which is regarded to be the earliest authoritative text on Vajrayana, explains Vajrayana as the doctrine where the families (kulas) of the five Dhyani Buddhas symbolize the transformation of the five psycho-physical aggregates viz., Moha or delusion (presided over by Vairocana with his consort Vajradhatvisvari), Dvesa or wrath (presided over by Aksobhya with his Sakti Locana), Raga or passion (presided over by Amitabha with his consort Pandara), etc.; but these kulas have always their foundation on the Vajra or the Sunyata. Thus, according to the Sri-samaja, the school that grew with the system of the five families, the Kulas, of the Dhyani Buddhas is the Vajrayana school.109 . "What is Kalacakrayana? The word Kala means time, death and destruction. Kala-cakra is the wheel of destruction, and Kalacakrayana means the vehicle for protection against the wheel of destruction." We have at our disposal a text of the title of Sri-kala-cakra-tantra. As far as our knowledge of the Buddhist Tantric texts goes, we have not found any other text belonging to this Kalacakra class. After a study of the text we find that King Sucandra approached the Omniscient Lord Buddha with salutation and asked of him the yoga of the Srikalacakra which is the way to salvation of all people of the Kali age. Then the Lord replied that this secret of yoga is unknown to all, it is a system of Yoga which, with all its accessories of Mandala (magic circle) and consecration (abhiseka), is explained within this very body, and the Lord then 108 Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta, Ibid, p.64. 109 Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta, Ibid, p.70. - 74 -

explained how all the universe with all its objects and localities are situated in the body and how time with all its varieties (viz., day, night, fortnight, month, year, etc.) are within the body in its processes of the vital wind (pranavayu). In the body of the text Sahaja has been fully explained and the details of the sexo-yogic practices for the attainment of the Sahaja have also been described.110 The nature of Lord Srikalacakra becomes clear from the Laghukalacakratantrarajatika, entitled the Vimalaprabha. Here he is saluted as of the nature of Sunyata and Karuna; in him there is the absence of the origination and destruction of the three worlds, he is a unification of 鈥� the knowledge and the knowable; goddess Prajna, who is both with form and without form, is embraced by him; he is bereft of origination and change, he is immutable bliss bereft of all lower pleasure; he is the father of the three times (i.e., the past, present and future), the omniscient, the ultimate and original Buddha the non-dual Lord. Again the aim of the Kalacakratantra as professed here is no mundane benefit; on the other hand, like all other Buddhist Tantras it also professes the attainment of perfect enlightenment, not only for the self but for all the beings, to be the final aim. The Sahajiya school is an offshoot of Vajrayana. There is no exclusive literature belonging to Sahajayana, on the other hand, the Sahajiya poets of the Dohas and songs recognise the well-known texts of Vajrayana as their authority. The exponents of the Sahajiya school put the whole emphasis on their protest against the formalities of life andreligion. Truth is something which can never be found through mere austere practices of discipline, neither can it be realised through much reading and philosophising, or through or through fasting, bathing, constructing images and worshipping gods and goddesses and the innumerable other paraphernalia of rites and rituals prescribed in Vajrayana; it is to be intuited within in the most unconventional way through the initiation in the Tattva and the practice of yoga. This makes the position of the 110 Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta, Ibid, p.66. - - 75 -

Sahajiyas distinct from that of the Vajrayanists in general. The name Sahajayana seems to be doubly significant; it is Sahajayana because, its aim is to realise the ultimate innate nature (sahaja) of the self as well as of the dharmas, and it is Sahajayana also because of the fact that instead of suppressing and thereby inflicting undue strain on the human nature it makes man realise the truth in the most natural way, i.e., by adopting the path through which the human nature itself leads him. What is natural is the easiest; and thus Sahaja, from its primary meaning of being natural acquires the secondary meaning of being easy, straight or plain.111 However in Tibetan Buddhism we do not come across any such division of Tantra into three schools. All the so called three schools of Tantra are clubbed together as Anuttara loga Tantra i.e. Highest Yoga Tantra. The Buddhist Tantra or Vajrayana is instead classified into four types Action, Performance Yoga and Highest Yoga Tantra. Therefore Kalacakra Tantra, Guhyasamaja Tantra as well as "Hevajra Tantra, are all within the domain of Highest Yoga Tantra. While analysing "Hevajra Tantra, one can not help but agree with the Tibetan view on Tantra, where all three schools are classed under Highest Yoga Tantra. It is interesting to note that the elements of Vajrayana and Sahajayana are both present in Hevajra Tantra, and it in turn appears to have anticipate the Kalacakra Tantra. J In "Hevajra Tantra, the primordial mind that is by nature luminous and has cognitive power and is of the nature of void or emptiness is considered to be the seed or bija of the Buddha mind, body and speech. According to the eminent American scholar Jeffrey Hopkins in Guhyasamaja Tantra, and Kalacakra Tantra. the clear light nature of the mind is described as the fundamental mind in the sense that its continuum exists forever, that is to say, both while one is afflicted and, after enlightenment, while unafflicted. The clear light nature of the mind as a positive phenomenon has been emphasized in Maitreya's Sublime 111 Shashi Bhushan Dasgupta, An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism, p.69. - 76 - -

. Continuum of the Great Vehicle (uttatantra), but it has its fullest exposition in Highest Yoga Tantras such as the Guhyasamaja Tantra and Kalacakra Tantra.112 Thus it is noticed that the concept of primordial mind is similar in all Higest Yoga Tantras. In the opinion of most scholars and historians, "Hevajra Tantra, dates somewhere between Guhyasamaja Tantra, and Kalacakra Tantra. On this basis we can conclude that it borrowed the concept of primordial mind from Guhyasamaja Tantra, and passed it on to Kalacakra Tantra. Simlarly, using the desire for sexual union for the generation of a blissfully withdrawn consciousness that the practitioner can use to realize emptiness is advocated by all the Highest Yoga Tantras. In Highest Yoga Tantra, consciousnesses are divided into the gross, the subtle, and the very subtle. According to the system of the Guhyasamaja Tantra, a Highest Yoga Tantra that is parallel in importance to the Kalacakra Tantra, the most subtle is called the fundamental innate mind of clear light; the subtle are three levels of consciousness called the minds of radiant white, red (or orange), and black appearance; the gross are the five sense consciousnesses and the mental consciousness when not manifesting one of the above subtler levels. The reason why a blissful consciousness is used is that it is more intense, and thus realization of emptiness by such a consciousness is more powerful. The process is most easily explained in Highest Yoga Tantra.113 Both these features are common to all three Tantras. Therefore the concept of three Tantra schools is not tenable and, we must agree with S.B. Dasgupta, that theconception of Kalacakra is substantially the same as the conception of Vajrasattva or Hevajra and that Kalacakrayana is not a distinct school of Tantric Buddhism, but a particular name for the Vajrayana school, this becomes clear also from the text Sekodesatika, which is a commentary on the Sekoddesa section of the Kalacakratantra. In the dGe lug ba order of Tibetan Buddhism, Guhyasamaja Tantra, is 112 His Holiness the Dalai Lama, (tr. & ed. by) Jeffrey Hopkins, Kalachakra Tantra (Boston: Wisdom Publications, enlarged ed., 1999), p.16. 113 His Holiness the Dalai Lama, (tr. & ed. by) Jeffrey Hopkins, Ibid, p.34. - - 77 -

of foremost importance. Here Highest Yoga Tantra is studied mainly in the context of the Guhyasamaja system, which is considered the "general system" of Highest Yoga Tantra through which most other Tantras of that class are understood. According to the practices of the Guhyasamaja Tantra and the Hevajra Tantra, this body remains and, apart from this body, there arises the illusory body as Hevajra or whoever it might be. Then, one attains enlightenment as that particular illusory body, which arises separate and distinct from these present aggregates. In the Kalacakra system, on the other hand, this material body, together with the active energies, is - gradually exhausted.114 In this perspective the "Guhyasamaja Tantra, is an exception, as it presents a somewhat parallel but interestingly different system for transforming mind and body into purity.115 But in the following aspects all three Highest Yoga Tantras are similar. . All the Highest Yoga Tantras are a system of Yoga which contain special features such as the Mandala rites and consecration (abhiseka) rituals. These are explained within this very body, and so is the universe with all its objects and localities. They are situated in the body and how time with all its varieties (viz., day, night, fortnight, month, year, etc.) are also within the body in its processes of the vital wind (pranavayu). The attainment of the Sahaja or the Innate is possible by the use of desire on the path. Sahaja has been saluted as it is of the nature of Sunyata and Karuna. In accordance with S.B. Dasgupta it can be stated that the Sahaja or the Innate [Emptiness of the mind] is the one that. ultimately transforms into the diety form of the particular Highest Yoga Tantra being practiced by the yogi. Thus the Deity form (Guhyasamaja, Kalacakra or Hevajra) which is a manifested form of the Innate mind that directly perceives Emptiness and from which all obscurations have been removed is a unification of the knowledge and the knowable. The main 114 Allan Wallace (tr.), Kalacakra Tantra (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, reprinted 2001), p.143. 115 His Holiness the Dalai Lama, (tr. & ed. by) Jeffrey Hopkins, Kalachakra Tantra, p.63. - 78 路 wwwwwwww

deity who is always in union with consort who is the manifestation of Wisdom (prajna) is bereft of origination and change, he is immutable bliss bereft of all lower pleasure; he is the father of the three times (i.e., the past, present and future), the omniscient, the ultimate and original Buddha the non-dual Lord. By an examination of these descriptions of the Srikalacakra it will be found that there is no difference between the conception of this Lord Srikalacakra and the Lord Hevajra. In the succeeding chapter the points of similarity between Hevajra Tantra, and "Guhyasamaja Tantra is illustrated.