Tantric Techniques (65 page)

In the Perfection Vehicle there is meditation similar in aspect to a Buddha’s Body of Attributes—a Buddha’s mind of wisdom. A Bodhisattva enters into meditative equipoise directly realizing emptiness with nothing appearing to the mind except the final

a
The Dalai Lama’s introduction in
Tantra in Tibet,
57-58.

b
See
Tantra in Tibet,
238-239 n. 20.

c
The Dalai Lama’s introduction in
Tantra in Tibet,
58, and Tsong-kha-pa’s own exposition, 100-101.

d
lha’i rnal ’byor
, *
devat
ā
yoga
.

e
The Dalai Lama’s introduction in
Tantra in Tibet,
61-65, and Tsong-kha-pa’s own exposition, 115-116.

Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
271

nature of phenomena, the emptiness of inherent existence; the mind of wisdom and emptiness are like water poured into water, undifferentiable. Even though, unlike their tantric counterparts, S
ū
tra Bodhisattvas do not specifically imagine that the state of meditative equipoise
is
a Buddha’s Body of Attributes,
a
meditation similar in aspect to a Buddha’s Body of Attributes does occur in the S
ū
tra system in the sense that the state of meditative equipoise on emptiness mimics a Buddha’s pristine mind of wisdom in its aspect of perceiving the ultimate. However, the S
ū
tra Perfection Vehicle does not involve meditation similar in aspect to a Buddha’s
form
body. There is meditation on Buddhas and so forth as objects of offering and so forth, but there is no meditation on oneself in the physical body of a Buddha.
b

Such meditative cultivation of a divine body is included within the factor of method because it is mainly aimed at achieving a Buddha’s form body. In the S
ū
tra system the sole means for achieving a Buddha’s form body is, on the basis of the altruistic intention to become enlightened, to engage in the first three perfections— giving, ethics, and patience—in “limitless” ways over a “limitless” period of time, specifically three periods of “countless” great eons (“countless” being said to be a figure with fifty-nine zeros). Though the Mantra Vehicle also involves practice of the perfections of giv-ing, ethics, and patience, it is not in “limitless” ways over “limitless” periods of time. Despite emphasis on the perfections in the Mantra Vehicle, practice in “limitless” ways over “limitless” time is unnecessary because one is engaging in the additional technique of meditation on oneself in a body similar in aspect to a Buddha’s form body.
c
In other words, in the tantric systems, in order to become a Buddha more quickly, one meditates on oneself as similar in aspect to a Buddha in terms of both body and mind. This practice is significantly distinctive and thus those systems that involve it constitute a separate vehicle, the Mantra Great Vehicle.

In deity yoga one first meditates on emptiness and then uses

a
The source here is the late Jam-pel-shen-pen, abbot of the Tantric College of Lower Hla-sa during the time of its relocation in South India and later the Throne-Holder of Gan-den, head of the Ge-luk-pa order.

b
The Dalai Lama’s introduction in
Tantra in Tibet,
60 and 62, and Tsong-kha-pa’s own exposition, 115.

c
See the Mongolian scholar Ngawang-pel-den’s (
ngag dbang dpal ldan
) statement of this in H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Hopkins,
Deity Yoga,
211-212.

272
Tantric Techniques

this consciousness realizing emptiness—or at least an imitation of it—as the basis of emanation of a Buddha. The mind of wisdom itself appears as the physical form of a Buddha. This one consciousness thus has two parts—a factor of wisdom and a factor of method, or factors of (1) ascertainment of emptiness and (2) appearance as an ideal being—and hence, through the practice of deity yoga, one
simultaneously
accumulates the collections of merit and wisdom, making their amassing much faster.
a

The systems that have this practice are called the
Vajra
Vehicle because the appearance of a deity is the display of a consciousness which is a
fusion
of wisdom understanding emptiness and compassion seeking the welfare of others—an inseparable union symbolized by a vajra, a diamond, the foremost of stones as it is “unbreakable.”
b
Since the two elements of the fusion, compassionate method and penetrating wisdom, are the very core of the Perfection Vehicle, one can understand that S
ū
tra and Mantra, despite being different, are integrated systems. One can understand that compassion is not superseded in Mantra but is essential to Mantra and that the wisdom of the Perfection Vehicle is not forsaken for a deeper understanding of reality in the Mantra Vehicle.

Summary

To encapsulate the points made in Tsong-kha-pa’s argument up to here: The difference between the vehicles as explained in the Consequence School must lie in the sense of vehicle as that by which one progresses or that to which one progresses. The Lesser Vehicle differs from the Great Vehicle in both. The destination of the lower one is the state of a Hearer or Solitary Realizer Foe Destroyer and of the higher one, Buddhahood. Concerning “vehicle” in the sense of means by which one progresses, although there is no difference in the wisdom realizing the subtlest nature of phenomena, there is a difference in method—Lesser Vehicle not having and Great Vehicle having the altruistic intention to become enlightened and its attendant deeds.

S
ū
tra Great Vehicle and Mantra Great Vehicle do not differ in terms of the goal, the state being sought, since both seek the

a
The Dalai Lama’s introduction in
Tantra in Tibet,
62-63.

b
The Dalai Lama’s introduction in
Tantra in Tibet,
22-23, and Tsong-kha-pa’s own exposition, 107-108.

Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
273

highest enlightenment of a Buddha, but there is a difference in the means of progress, again not in wisdom but in method. Within me-thod they differ not in the basis, or motivation, of the deeds, this being the altruistic intention to become enlightened, nor in having the perfections as deeds, but in the additional technique of deity yoga. A deity is a supramundane being who is a manifestation of compassion and wisdom. Thus, in the special practice of deity yoga one joins one’s own body, speech, mind, and activities with the exalted body, speech, mind, and activities of a supramundane being, manifesting on the path a similitude of the state of the effect.

The basic appeal throughout Tsong-kha-pa’s presentation of the difference between the vehicles is to a rational investigation of path structure, but it is not that he does not cite supportive Indian sources. For instance, in establishing that according to the Middle Way Consequence School even those who are of the Lesser Vehicle by path
a
must realize the most subtle emptiness, he presents an abridged version of his own extensive argument on this in his commentary to Chandrak
ī
rti’s
Supplement to (N
ā
g
ā
rjuna’s) “Treatise on the Middle,
”
b
citing Chandrak
ī
rti’s
Supplement
,
c
and N
ā
g
ā
rjuna’s
Precious Garland,
d
Treatise on the Middle,
e
and
Praise of the Nonconceptual
f
as well as two Perfection of Wisdom S
ū
tras,
g
and a Lesser Vehicle S
ū
tra.
h
(That the Middle Way Consequence School’s view on the emptiness of inherent existence is needed in order to become a Foe Destroyer is controversial, as it means that no follower of the Great Exposition School, the S
ū
tra School, the Mind-Only School, or even the Autonomy School can complete the Lesser Vehicle path

a
The reference here is to Hearers and Solitary Realizers, as opposed to those who are of the Lesser Vehicle by tenet, the Proponents of the Great Exposition and the Proponents of S
ū
tra. For a discussion of this point, see the first appendix in
Tantra in Tibet,
173-177.

b
Tsong-kha-pa’s argument can be found in Hopkins,
Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism,
150-181.

c
Tantra in Tibet,
94.

d
Ibid., 94.

e
Ibid., 95 and 96.

f
rnam par mi rtog pa la bstod pa
,
nirvikalpastava
[?]; ibid., 95.

g
Ibid., 95-96.

h
Ibid., 96.

274
Tantric Techniques

and become a Foe Destroyer by means of any of those paths alone.)

Considering counterarguments, Tsong-kha-pa makes reference
a
to presentations in both Lesser Vehicle and Great Vehicle texts that propound the opposite, that is, that to get out of cyclic existence it is sufficient to have the fully developed wisdom understanding that the person is not substantially existent, which is a coarser type of selflessness.
b
Again, the conflict is settled by reasoning through differentiating what is definitive
c
and what requires interpretation.
d
This not being a main subject of the
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra,
he leaves the matter with a brief admonition to learn how to make such distinctions—implicitly indicating the benefit of studying his
The Essence of Eloquence
e
where the dominant argument is that scriptural reference is not sufficient since a supporting scripture would require another which, in turn, would require another
ad infinitum,
and thus reasoning is necessary. The working principles revolve around showing that the conception of inherent existence is the root of cyclic existence and that some trainees are temporarily incapable of receiving teaching on such a subtle topic. Adjudication of the opposing scriptures is made:

1. on the basis of the ontological fact, determined by reasoning, that the emptiness of inherent existence is the final mode of subsistence of phenomena
   

2. in the context of the existential situation of the epistemological needs of the trainees to whom the doctrines were taught
   

3. in the face of reasoned refutation of opposing scriptures.
   

a
Ibid., 96-97.

b
Ibid., 179-181.

c
nges don, n
ī
t
ā
rtha
.

d
drang don, ney
ā
rtha
.

e
drang ba dang nges pa’i don rnam par phye ba’i bstan bcos legs bshad snying po;
Peking 6142, vol. 153. My annotated translation of the General Explanation and the section on the Mind-Only School is in
Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999); for the point made here, see 69-71; see also Jeffrey Hopkins,
Reflections on Reality
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 96-99. For a translation of the complete text, see Robert A. F. Thurman,
Tsong Khapa’s Speech of Gold in the Essence of True Eloquence
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984). A Chinese translation was completed in Hla-sa on the day commemorating Buddha’s enlightenment in 1916 by Venerable Fa Zun, “Bian Liao Yi Bu Liao Yi Shuo Cang Lun,” in
Xi Zang Fo Jiao Jiao Yi Lun Ji
(Taipei: Da Sheng Wen Hua Chu Ban She, 1979), vol. 2, 159-276.

Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
275

Tsong-kha-pa resolves other seeming contradictions by taking into account the frame of reference of a remark. For instance, Kalk
ī
Pu
ṇḍ
ar
ī
ka’s
a
commentary on the
K
ā
lachakra Tantra,
called the
Stainless Light,
b
explains the term “vajra” in “Vajra Vehicle” in the context of the
K
ā
lachakra Tantra,
a Highest Yoga Tantra, in such a way that the meaning applies only to that class of tantra and not to all four classes. Tsong-kha-pa comments:
c

The meaning of “Vajra Vehicle” is given through taking “Vajra” as an indivisibility of the effect—the Mantra mode—and the cause, the Perfection mode. Here, “cause and effect” refer to totally supreme emptiness and supreme immutable bliss. The
Brief Explication of Initiations
[included in the K
ā
lachakra cycle] says:
d

That bearing the form of emptiness is the cause, That bearing immutable compassion is the effect. Emptiness and compassion indivisible

Are called the mind of enlightenment.

The indivisibility of these two is a Cause Vehicle in the sense of being the means by which one progresses, and it is an Effect Vehicle in the sense of being that to which one is progressing. Such a Vajra Vehicle has reference to Highest Yoga Mantra and cannot occur in the lower tantras. For the supreme immutable bliss can arise only when one has attained the branch of meditative stabilization [in the K
ā
lachakra system] and thus the branches of mindfulness and those below must be the means of achieving it. The three lower tantras do not have all the factors included in these causal branches.

Therefore, [this description] is too narrow here in the context of identifying the general meaning of the Vajra Vehicle, and positing the meaning of the Vehicles of Cause and Effect through that mode [of explanation] is also too narrow in a general presentation. Here the meaning of “Vajra Vehicle” should be taken in accordance with what is

a
rigs ldan pad ma dkar po
.

b
dri med ’od
,
vimalaprabh
ā
;
P2064, vol. 46.

c
Tantra in Tibet,
107-108.

d
dbang mdor bstan pa,
ś
ekhodde
ś
a;
P3, vol. 1.

276
Tantric Techniques

said in Ratn
ā
karash
ā
nti’s
Handful of Flowers, Explanation of the Guhyasam
ā
ja Tantra:
a