Essay name: Hevajra Tantra (analytical study)
Author:
Seung Ho Nam
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
This is an English study of the Hevajra Tantra: an ancient Sanskrit text that teaches the process of attaining Buddha-hood for removing the sufferings of all sentient beings. The Hevajratantra amplifies the views and methods found in the Guhyasamaja Tantra (one of the earliest extant Buddhist Tantras) dealing with Yoga and Mandalas.
Chapter 2 - Place of Hevajra Tantra in Tantric Literature
9 (of 32)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
.
Continuum of the Great Vehicle (uttatantra), but it has its fullest
exposition in Highest Yoga Tantras such as the Guhyasam膩ja Tantra and
K膩lacakra 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 Guhyasam膩ja Tantra, and K膩lacakra Tantra. On this
basis we can conclude that it borrowed the concept of primordial mind
from Guhyasam膩ja Tantra, and passed it on to K膩lacakra 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blissfully withdrawn consciousness that the practitioner can use to realize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 Guhyasam膩ja Tantra, a
Highest Yoga Tantra that is parallel in importance to the K膩lacakra
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 the-
conception of K膩lacakra is substantially the same as the conception of
Vajrasattva or Hevajra and that K膩lacakray膩na is not a distinct school of
Tantric Buddhism, but a particular name for the Vajray膩na school, this
becomes clear also from the text Sekode艣a峁玨膩, which is a commentary
on the Sekodde艣a section of the K膩lacakratantra.
In the dGe lug ba order of Tibetan Buddhism, Guhyasam膩ja 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 -
