Tantric Techniques (71 page)

1. Utilization of many perspectives
   

   The tantric tradition that Bu-tön cataloged was far more complex in terms of its strains and directions than the one that emerged af-ter Tsong-kha-pa’s reasoned reformulation of it. If we valued only early forms of religious and cultural traditions, the latter’s system would not be of much interest, but in terms of the development of an idea, form, or paradigm much as in music or art where the first expression may be crude, his systematic formulation is enticingly rich in complex coherence, providing a world-view in the architecture of which conceptual thought can thrive, producing insights and creatively ordering and transforming experience. In order to open ourselves to the magnificently creative coherence of his vi-sion, we need to discount the claims of his followers that this is
   only
   Indian Buddhism.
   

   Also, the critical reasonableness of Tsong-kha-pa’s system should not blind us to the value of Bu-tön’s contribution—the historical richness, the variety of approaches that he sought to preserve.
   This
   richness is lost in Tsong-kha-pa’s reduction of these diverse traditions to a single view, but his perspective has its own richness—a grand design—that invites creatively interpretive thought to juxtapose facets and to attempt to resolve remaining contradictions. One might expect that the reduction to a single
   

   

   a
   See chapter two; other examples of the reasonings required in emptiness yoga are presented in my
   Meditation on Emptiness
   (London: Wisdom Publications, 1983), especially in Parts One and Two (47-196) as well as the last chapter of Part Five (549-560).
   

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   Tantric Techniques
   

   

   central distinguishing feature of Tantra would stifle dynamism, but it does not. For centuries, his view has beckoned many of the best minds of the vast Tibetan cultural region to apply its principles both to resolve inconsistencies and to gain insights and psychological development.
   

   The world-view becomes a dynamically interactive structure that does far more than just serve as an interpretive grid for ordering an inherited tradition and for ordering experience. It is also a future-directed schema that leads a practitioner to make connections vital to a process of psychological and spiritual transformation. Through this route, the world-view exerts a constructive, transformative effect on the mind.
   

   Long-chen-pa’s perspective provides opportunities for his more evocative discourse that, while systematic, beckons one to an experience beyond systems, an epiphany in which all is resolved by the very nature of the experience. The overriding perspective is not one of conceptual architecture, but a call to experience in which objects shine in their own self-nature, unencumbered and unimpeded by overlays of misperception. Long-chen-pa’s conceptual system even provides interstices in thought, liminals which through the stimulation of his evocative prose can be noticed. Resolution will principally be found there, not in making new conceptual connections.
   

   Long-chen-pa’s discourse is aimed mainly at providing such avenues, windows, or gaps in which the conceptual mind is stilled and the richness of the perceptual situation is directly experienced in a dramatic unveiling of its ever-present but hidden complete-ness. These insights become what influence, organize, and provide directionality, uncovering the primordial enlightenment in which everything subsists. This is not to suggest that the conceptual system implicit in Long-chen-pa’s presentation is not defined and defended, for it certainly has been by Nyingma scholar-yogis such as Ju Mi-pam-gya-tso. Rather, as the contemporary Nyingma lama Khetsun Sangpo said, a true lama speaks the doctrine from within the one great expanse of the noumenon.
   a
   I would suggest that the dominant message is just this.
   

   Whereas Tsong-kha-pa is speaking mainly to communicate the means to reach reality, Long-chen-pa is seeking to communicate
   

   

   a
   chos nyid kyi klong chen po gcig.
   

   Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
   297
   

   

   mainly the perspective of that reality itself. Because of the different nature of these systems, it would be difficult for a person wedded to either of them to appreciate both, given the incompatibility of their perspectives. However, the mind is capable of pragmatic compartmentalization, utilizing various perspectives, roles, and world-views at different times which, if attempted to be forced together into one coherent system, would be cacophonously impossible. Through compartmentalization, different world-views can be alternated, not in psychotic dissociation but in a manner in which the two perspectives feed on and interact with each other in a creative way outside the realm of superficial consistency. Perhaps this was a force that attracted several Ge-luk-pa scholar-practitioners such as Ten-dar-hla-ram-pa
   a
   to embrace Nyingma without forsaking their Ge-luk background, and perhaps it is this that is behind the educative procedure of the Nyingma master Do-drup-chen
   b
   in which the Ge-luk curriculum is used for S
   ū
   tra study and Nyingma is used for Mantra.
   

   The rich context of the Tsong-kha-pa world-view, derived more from ordinary epistemology, provides a stimulatingly creative basis for practice, whereas the evocative Long-chen-pa expositions from the viewpoint of the final state make sure that the architecture of a spiritual system does not become a trap preventing the emergence of the very insights that it is seeking to promote. In this way, the two systems are a dynamically interactive whole.
   

   Long-chen-pa’s presentation can be seen both as quickly mov-ing the discourse on to his explanation of Highest Yoga Mantra (especially the Great Completeness) and as providing opportunities for discourse evoking insights into that system. The absence of involved explanation of the lower tantras, as in his reduction of Action Tantra to external bathing rites and so forth, is not so much a lack as a technique for moving the discourse to the more important topic, the Great Completeness, the suggestion being that if one is capable of the highest system, then excessive involvement with the intricacies of Action Tantra is a distraction. A value of utilizing both Tsong-kha-pa and Long-chen-pa presentations is that for those not ready to appreciate the visionary heights of the Great Completeness, the former provides for the construction of a
   

   

   a
   bstan dar lha ram pa
   , born 1759.
   

   b
   rdo grub chen ’jigs med bstan pa’i nyi ma,
   1865-1926.
   

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   Tantric Techniques
   

   

   context in which the latter can eventually work its marvels.
   

1. Later Ge-luk literature on the topic
   

   As can be seen in the next chapter, Ke-drup’s
   Extensive Explanation of the Format of the General Tantra Sets
   treats the question of the presence or absence of deity yoga in Action Tantra at length; however, except for a very brief mention, it does not treat the question of the difference between the two Great Vehicles. Given Ke-drup’s selec-tive mode of presentation—sometimes expanding on topics barely mentioned in Tsong-kha-pa’s
   Great Exposition of Secret Mantra
   and sometimes simplifying—his absence of explanation on this topic suggests that he found his teacher’s argument sufficiently extensive, clear, and straightforward. However, Pa
   ṇ
   -chen Sö-nam-drak-pa
   a
   (1478-1554) gives a brilliant distillation of Tsong-kha-pa’s presentation of the difference between the four tantras in his
   Presentation of the General Tantra Sets: Captivating the Minds of the Fortunate
   .
   b
   Also, Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyel-tsen (1570-1662), retroactively called the First Pa
   ṇ
   -chen Lama,
   c
   turns many of Tsong-kha-pa’s points into syllogistic statements with great clarity in his
   Presentation of the General Teaching and the Four Tantra Sets, Based on Notes
   (see the Appendix for a translation of the relevant portion by Donald S. Lopez).
   d
   The aim of both of these texts is to provide exegesis of Tsong-kha-pa’s thought that enhances its accessibility by providing helpful background, such as in detailing opponents’ positions, and by summarizing the argument in a more straightforward manner.
   

   Long-döl Ngawang-lo-sang (1719-1794), on the other hand, puts forward a synthesis of (1) Tsong-kha-pa’s delineation of only
   

   

   a
   pa
   ṇ
   chen bsod nams grags pa.
   

   b
   rgyud sde spyi’i rnam par bzhag pa skal bzang gi yid ’phrog
   (Dharmsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1975), 18.6-32.1.
   

   c
   In the seventeenth century the Fifth Dalai Lama gave Tashi Lhunpo Monastery to his teacher, Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyel-tsen, the fifteenth abbot of the monastery. As abbot of the monastery, he was called “Pa
   ṇ
   -chen” (
   mah
   ā
   pa
   ṇḍ
   ita,
   “Great Scholar”). When Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyel-tsen died, the Fifth Dalai Lama announced that his teacher would reappear as a recognizable child-successor, so his line of incarnations retained the title “Pa
   ṇ
   -chen Lama” and became the abbots of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. The title “Pa
   ṇ
   -chen Lama” switched from being an elected one for a specific term of office to a line of reincarnations.
   

   d
   bstan pa spyi dang rgyud sde’i bzhi’i rnam gzhag zin bris su byas pa,
   Collected Works, vol. 4 (New Delhi: Gurudeva, 1973).
   

   Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
   299
   

   

   deity yoga as the chief distinguishing feature of the two vehicles and (2) presentations by many other scholars of several unique features. In his verse summary of Tsong-kha-pa’s
   Great Exposition of Secret Mantra,
   called
   Terminology Arising in Secret Mantra, the Scriptural Collections of the Knowledge Bearers
   ,
   a
   he combines rather than contrasts these two presentations, thereby suggesting that his text was written at a point when sufficient time had passed since Tsong-kha- pa’s radically new paradigm of critical analysis such that the new critical paradigm came to absorb the old paradigm of recounting a tradition of a multitude of differences. Of particular interest is that the four features mentioned by Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la are resurrected with-in being attributed to the great Mongolian scholar Jang-kya Röl-pay-dor-jay. Unfortunately, the author does no more than list the four as if their consistency with Tsong-kha-pa’s views is obvious! Otherwise, this section of Long-döl Ngawang-lo-sang’s poem is self-explanatory and provides a succinct summary of the Ge-luk perspective:
   b
   

   If, having passed beyond the nature Of the elders of the world who wish
   

   To achieve happiness and avoid suffering As long as alive and until dying,
   

   One thinks to achieve the final aim Of happiness in all future lives,
   

   There is definitely no way to achieve it
   

   Without entering into the Conqueror’s doctrine. The doors of entry are twofold:
   

   Posited by way of tenet, there are four—
   

   Great Exposition, S
   ū
   tra, Mind-Only, and Consequence schools.
   

   Posited by way of vehicle there are three— Hearer, Solitary Realizer, and Great vehicles.
   

   These in brief are two—the Lesser Vehicle and the Great Vehicle.
   

   How are the two differentiated?
   

   Between view and behavior, they are differentiated by
   

   

   a
   gsang sngags rig pa ’dzin pa’i sde snod las byung ba’i ming gi grang,
   The Collected Works of Longdol Lama, Part 1 (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1973), 87-170.
   

   b
   Ibid., 87.4-91.4.
   

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   Tantric Techniques
   

   

   behavior.
   

   The behavior is of three types, since Lesser Vehicle and Great Vehicle
   

   Are differentiated by the presence and absence
   

   Of (1) the mind of the seven cause and effect instructions And of equalizing and switching self and other,
   

2. The deeds of the six perfections and the four means of gathering [students],
   a
   

And (3) the aspirational mind, vow of practice, and their precepts.

The Great Vehicle also is of two types, The Perfection Vehicle acting on causes

And the Secret Mantra Vajra Vehicle acting in the manner of effects.

How are the two differentiated?

About this the Mañjun
ā
tha Lama [Tsong-kha-pa] said: S
ū
tra and Mantra are differentiated

By the presence and absence of meditation

Taking the fruit as the path [through divine] pride,

Clear appearance, and so forth by taking as objects of mind, Even as a beginner, the four—a Buddha’s abode,

Body, resources, and exalted activities.

Though not factors differentiating S
ū
tra and Mantra, There are seven features not occurring in S
ū
tra

But in all four tantra sets elevating them:

1. Blessing of one’s continuum by Conquerors and their Children,
   

2. Being taken care of by one’s favored deity,
   

3. Mindfulness of Buddha in all lives,
   

4. Completing the collections through obeisance, offering,
   

   

   a
   As N
   ā
   g
   ā
   rjuna’s
   Precious Garland of Advice
   (stanza 133) says, the four means of gathering students are by way of giving gifts, giving doctrine, teaching others to fulfill their aims, and oneself acting according to that teaching:
   

   You should cause the assembling Of the religious and the worldly
   

   Through giving, speaking pleasantly, Purposeful behavior, and concordant behavior.
   

   “Speaking pleasantly” is conversation based on high status and definite goodness. “Purposeful behavior” is to cause others to practice what is beneficial. “Concordant behavior” is for one to practice what one teaches others.
   

   Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
   301
   

   

   and praise,
   

5. Overcoming obstructors through meditating a wheel of protection,
   

6. Achieving common feats in this life,
   

7. Gathering great waves of collections [of merit and wis-dom] through movements of body and speech.
   

These were mentioned by those supreme lamas again and again.

The Lord of Adepts [Jang-kya] Röl-pay-dor-jay spoke Of four features—nonobscuration,

Having many methods, not being difficult, and [being contrived for those with] sharp faculties.

11. Controversy over Deity Yoga in Action Tantra

Is meditation on oneself as deity actually to be found in Action Tantras themselves, or is it brought over from other tantra sets? Bu-tön
a
catalogues conflicting opinions on the topic, but does not come to a conclusion. His presentation of the argument against there be-ing deity yoga in Action Tantra is strong, and thus he seems to side with the position that there is no deity yoga in Action Tantra; however, in explaining the path procedure of Action Tantra,
b
he presents the system of those who say there is. The apparent self-contradiction is perhaps explained by the encyclopedic nature of his work, built on an intention to include a wide range of systems and viewpoints.