Tantric Techniques (83 page)

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Tantric Techniques

adhere to suchness and who through the power of faith achieve wisdom by means of activities set forth by the One-Gone-to-Bliss [Buddha]. They rely on activities, and for them Fundamental Tantras that do not have too many branches of activities were set forth.

“Fundamental Tantras” are the same as Performance Tantras. Tantras are assigned as Action if they predominantly teach external activities even though they contain internal meditative stabilization.

Tsong-kha-pa interrupts the citation to explain that a tantra is assigned as an Action Tantra if it
predominantly
teaches external activities even though it contains internal meditative stabilization. He makes this point to counter a possible impression gained from Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s not explicitly mentioning the practice of meditative stabilization by Action Tantra trainees, although it is implicit to his explanation that they engage in external activities in order to gain mental equipoise. Tsong-kha-pa’s explanation takes this distinction into account:
a

I will now explain the designation of the names of the four tantra sets in accordance with how these names are commonly known in the higher and lower tantra sets [as Action, Performance, Yoga, and Highest Yoga] and will thereby explain the difference of their trainees. The means of using such attributes of the desire realm in the path are the emptiness and deity yogas. Those who resort to a great many external activities in order to actualize these two yo-gas are trainees of Action Tantras. Those who balance their external activities and internal meditative stabilization without using very many activities are trainees of Performance Tantras. Those who mainly rely on meditative stabilization and resort to only a few external activities are trainees of Yoga Tantras. Those who do not rely on external activities and are able to generate the yoga of which there is none higher are trainees of Highest Yoga Tantras.

Tsong-kha-pa, speaking from the viewpoint of the pillars of what he has determined to be the general structure of the tantric

a
Tantra in Tibet,
162.

Bu-tön and Tsong-kha-pa: The Four Tantra Sets
353

systems, their emptiness and deity yogas, reshapes Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s and others’ descriptions so that the
purposes
for which external activities are used—actualization of emptiness and deity yogas—are emphasized. Notice that even while approving this way of distinguishing the four tantras, he redefines it so that it fits more elegantly into a grand schematization of the path.

I would add that although
many
Action Tantras involve a plethora of external activities, not just Action Tantras but also the other three types of tantras involve withdrawal into solitude for meditation as well as many “activities such as bathing, drawing ma
ṇḍ
ala, offering, burnt offerings, asceticism, and repetition [of mantra].” Also, and more significantly, an Action Tantra such as the
Concentration Continuation
(which even though a continuation of the
Vajravi
ḍā
ra
ṇ
a
, is a separate tantra) is mainly, and even
solely
concerned with meditative stabilization—yoga—as we have seen in elaborate detail. Furthermore, Tsong-kha-pa’s own exposition of Ac-tion Tantra is mainly concerned with the stages of meditative stabilization.

It seems to me that these classificatory systems are employed in Highest Yoga Tantras to put themselves at the top of the list and to draw attention to what are indeed special features of their yoga. It may be helpful not to accept these schemes without considerable reservation, since they blind us to the richness of the yogas found, for instance, in the
Concentration Continuation
. For, it appears that except for Highest Yoga Tantras, the tantras of what came to be assigned as Action, Performance, and Yoga do not identify themselves as such.

Tsong-kha-pa goes on to quote Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s
Lamp for the Three Modes
which, in his citation, refers to Yoga Tantras as “Performance Tantras”:
a

For the sake of others who are interested solely in meditation on nondual suchness and consider groups of many activities to be distracting, Performance Tantras
b
that mainly

a
My translation here improves on that in
Tantra in Tibet,
163-164.

b
The Ngawang Gelek edition of Tsong-kha-pa’s text (79.3) reads
ston par mdzad pa’i
spyod pa’i
rgyud,
and Bu-tön’s
Extensive
version (42.2) has the same reading, but the Peking edition of Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s text (P4530, vol. 81, 117.3.5) reads
ston par mdzad pa’i rgyud,
omitting the term “Performance,” thus merely saying, “Tantras that mainly employ yoga and secondarily teach only a few branches of activities were set forth.” The Peking version obviates the need for Tsong-kha-pa’s subse—

354
Tantric Techniques

employ yoga and secondarily teach only a few branches of activities were set forth.

Tsong-kha-pa adds, “Here, ‘Performance Tantras’ means Yoga Tantras.”

The claim is that Yoga Tantras involve fewer external activities than Performance Tantras, and perhaps analysis will show that the
Vairochan
ā
bhisambodhi Tantra,
widely recognized as the chief Performance Tantra, does call for more external activities than the
Compendium of Principles,
the chief Yoga Tantra. Whatever the case, it is clear that Tsong-kha-pa’s own expositions of Performance and Yoga Tantra in his
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra
do not reflect any such orientation, and it is a tribute to his scholarship that he does not allow this ordering of the four tantras to become an interpretive grid that distorts his presentations of their paths. Much like Bu-tön on many other occasions, he mentions the tradition and then does not let it interfere with his exposition. Consistency and coherence—the hallmarks of his own approach—were, it seems, sacrificed here.

With regard to Highest Yoga Mantra, Tsong-kha-pa does not cite Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s
Lamp for the Three Modes,
an omission suggesting disagreement, given that he cited that text as a source for his explanation of the other three tantras. Let us cite what Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la says:
a

Also, for those great beings who are included in that lineage and who, through the force of conditioning in other births, do not partake of dualistic discriminations with respect to any activities and any things, the Supramundane Victor set forth the tantras of the Great Yoga, the foremost of all tantras, without prescribing specific activities and al-so not prohibiting doing anything or acting in any way.

As was seen above, for Tsong-kha-pa Highest Yoga Mantra has a specific way of utilizing afflictive emotions in the path; thus, the suggestion here that nothing is prohibited was perhaps objectiona-ble since it does not take into account the specific context of the usage of desire and so forth in the path. About Highest Yoga

quent remark (which I mention just after the quote) that “Performance Tantras” means Yoga Tantras.

a
P4530, vol. 81, 117.3.7.

Bu-tön and Tsong-kha-pa: The Four Tantra Sets
355