The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume 6 (69 page)

2
. The wheel of life is a graphic representation of samsaric existence. It is held by Yama, the lord of death.

3
. Buddha nature is the enlightened essence inherent in sentient beings.

4
.
Prajna
(Tib.
sherab
, knowledge) is the natural sharpness or awareness that sees, discriminates, and also sees through conceptual discrimination. “Lower prajna” includes any sort of worldly knowledge (how to cook a meal, for example). “Higher prajna” includes two stages: seeing phenomena as impermanent, egoless, and suffering; and a higher prajna that sees a direct knowledge of things as they are.
Jnana
(Tib.
yeshe
, wisdom) is the wisdomactivity of enlightenment, transcending all dualistic conception. One’s being is spontaneously wise, without needing to seek for it. The Tibetan term means “primordially knowing.”

Chapter 7. The Mandala of Unconditioned Being

1
. Amrita is blessed liquor, used in vajrayana meditation practices.

2
. The yanas (“vehicles”) in Buddhism are progressive levels of intellectual teachings and meditative practices. The three main yanas are hinayana (“small vehicle”), mahayana (“great vehicle”), and vajrayana (“indestructible vehicle”). The vajrayana is composed of six subsidiary yanas, making nine in all.

3
. Mahakalas are wrathful deities whose function is to protect the practitioner from deceptions and sidetracks.

P
ART
T
WO

Chapter 1. The Basic Ground

1
. This refers to the Buddhist teaching of the eight consciousnesses, which originated in the Yogachara school. The first five are the five sense consciousnesses. The sixth is mind (Skt.
manovijnana
, Tib.
yi kyi nampar shepa
), which coordinates the data of the sense consciousnesses (so that, e.g., the color, shape, and odor of a lemon are ascribed to the same object). The seventh consciousness (Skt.
klishta-manas
, Tib.
nyön yi
) is the cloudy mind that instigates subjectivity, or self-consciousness. It carries the embryonic sense of duality. The eighth consciousness (Skt.
alayavijnana
, Tib.
künshi nampar shepa
) is the relatively undifferentiated basic, or “storehouse,” consciousness. It is called the storehouse consciousness because it carries the karmic tendencies that originate from past karma and generate new karma when elaborated by the other seven consciousnesses. The new activity in turn leaves fresh karmic traces in the alaya, so that an endless cycle is perpetuated.

Chapter 2. The Birth of the Path

1
. See preceding note.

2
. See following note.

Chapter 5. A Glimpse of the Five Buddha Families

1
. In the discussion that follows the Vidyadhara makes the traditional vajrayana correlation between the five buddha families and the five skandhas,the five functional building blocks of ego. The five buddha families are given in the order buddha, ratna, padma, karma, and vajra and correlated respectively with the skandhas of form (Skt.
rupa
, Tib.
suk
), feeling (Skt.
vedana
, Tib.
tsorwa
), impulse (Skt.
samjna
, Tib.
dushe
), concept (Skt.
samskara
, Tib.
duje
), and consciousness (Skt.
vijnana
, Tib.
nampar shepa
). The Vidyadhara would later adopt the translation “perception” rather than “impulse” for the third skandha, and “formation” rather than “concept” for the fourth skandha.

2
. The questioner is alluding to the Vidyadhara’s description of the development of ego in
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
(Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 1987), p. 125. The birth of duality in the first skandha is described in terms of an open expanse of desert in which one grain of sand sticks out its neck and catches a glimpse of itself.

G
LIMPSES OF
S
PACE

The Feminine Principle and E
VAM

EDITED BY

J
UDITH
L. L
IEF

Editor’s Introduction

T
HIS BOOK COMPRISES
the lightly edited transcripts of two seminars: “The Feminine Principle,” given at Karmê Chöling in January 1975, and
“EVAM,”
given at Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado in April 1976. These two seminars are closely intertwined with a third seminar,“The Three Bodies of Enlightenment,” which the Vidyadhara presented at Karma Dzong, Boulder, February, 1975. For that reason, Vajradhatu Publications is planning to bring out the transcript of that seminar as a companion volume in the future.

Until now, only a sourcebook version of the Feminine Principle transcripts has been available, and that only to Vajradhatu tantric practitioners. When he presented the
EVAM
seminar in Boulder, Vidyadhara the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche required that all students first thoroughly study the teachings of the Feminine Principle seminar. Students had to take a series of four classes before they were allowed to attend the
EVAM
seminar, and the Vidyadhara peeked in on these classes regularly, making his presence known. It was clear that he took the requirements seriously. Later the Vidyadhara restricted the distribution of the tapes of these two seminars to his senior students, only those who had been formally accepted to begin their vajrayana training. Therefore it is with some caution that we have decided to make this material available for the first time without restrictions. However, since the tapes have by now been available for several years, it seemed appropriate and timely.

Please keep in mind that these teachings are rare and precious. It is a great gift to be able to study them. May they inspire you in your practice and in your commitment to benefit other beings.

Part One

THE FEMININE PRINCIPLE

TALK 1

The Mother Principle

W
HAT WE ARE PLANNING TO DISCUSS
here is the Buddhist approach to basic principles in feminine reality. So this particular seminar, I would like to point out quite boldly and specifically, is not a politics or sociology course, but is connected with the practice of meditation and phenomenal reality, and the feminine aspects as well as the masculine aspects connected with that.

We could approach the basic question from the beginning, in terms of the categories or principles known in the Buddhist tradition as the three jewels: the buddha, or teacher; the dharma, or the teachings; and the sangha, or group of followers, students. We are starting from the question of whether the chicken is first or the egg is first—that is to say, whether Buddha is first or dharma is first, in this particular case. We are not yet going to discuss if eggs should be utilized as further chickens or as part of a meal.

This question of whether buddha is first or dharma is first is a very interesting one. If there were no buddha, it would not be possible to have dharma; but in order for there to be a buddha, there would have to be dharma. A lot of teachers in the past have spent their lifetimes studying which comes first—as much as people spend time trying to figure out which came first, the egg or the chicken. It seems that both are related to the feminine principle. If there is an egg, then the feminine principle had to be involved; even if there is a chicken, the feminine principle had to be involved. That same principle implies that the originator of dharma, the originator of buddha, had to come first. At this level, we are talking about the question of the mother principle, the level of totality and background.

In the Buddhist tradition somehow—as a result of peoples’ experience, their research work, so to speak, and from the example of the Buddha’s life—it is quite clear that the dharma came first: the dharma of reality. That is to say, pain and pleasure, the conflicts of life, the idea of falsity and the idea of truth. Following the principle of the four noble truths, Buddha’s first reaction to the world was the discovery that there is unspeakable, unnameable, fundamental pain, which produces the reality of the confused realm. Because of that, he also realized that there is a realm of nonexistence—no ego, no basic being, no substance. But at the same time, there had to be some intelligent mind to experience that realm. That intelligence is called prajna. Consequently, prajna is referred to as the mother of all the buddhas. So as far as basic reality is concerned, there is nothing but space, unconditional space, space that is not defined or labeled as product or producer. That is the mother of all the buddhas.

The question is, “How will we be able to experience that space, to understand it?” According to the teachings, the answer seems to be that we cannot understand that space, we cannot perceive it. There is no way to find out even whether that space does exist or does not. At the same time, we question oursleves. “Who said that?”—but if you ask somebody, nobody said it. But it still hums in the background. Such primordial gossip is all-pervasive and one can’t ignore it. And having heard that gossip, if you try to find the source, you cannot trace it back.

That space is called, in the traditional terminology, dharmadhatu:
dharma
meaning, in this case, “basic norm,” and
dhatu
meaning “atmosphere.” Such a basic norm is created by this atmosphere. Not “created,” that is a wrong term, but it actually exists like that. There is a basic atmosphere of openness and all-pervasiveness involved, so in this case we cannot talk about the mother principle as being one or many, but in some sense, the mother principle came first.

Prajnaparamita is actually
not
the name of the mother principle. The word
prajnaparamita
means “transcendental knowledge.” The mother of all the buddhas is in some sense an incorrect term, in fact. When we talk about the mother of all the buddhas, we are talking in terms of its
function:
somebody produced a child, therefore she should be called “mother.” That is still a conditional definition. If we look back, we cannot even call it mother. We cannot even define this particular relative norm as a masculine or feminine principle—we can only talk in terms of the basic atmosphere. The only way or reason we can refer to it as feminine principle is that it has the sense of accommodation and the potentiality of giving birth. Prajnaparamita, transcendental knowledge, is an
expression
of that feminine principle, called “mother.” Mother is one of its attributes. Maybe that attribute is just a cliché; maybe it is purely a concept. But beyond that, there is nothing actually nameable, nothing actually workable.

Supposing one of its attributes is being a mother, then we could say, “Who is the father?” We generally automatically assume that if we call somebody mother, it means that somebody has a child and a husband, or father of the child. But in this case that doesn’t seem to work. In some sense, the whole thing seems to be a dead end. Not dead end in the sense of being blocked or not having any further to go back, but dead end in the sense that we find that the child is born from this mother without a father. We do not know whether this mother is masculine or feminine. Something happened in the realm of the primeval state. Something funny has happened. Something has come about without any reason, without any causal characteristics. According to the descriptions of the Buddha, prajnaparamita is referred to as unborn, unceasing; its nature is like that of the sky. That is only understandable to the wisdom of discriminating awareness. Therefore, discriminating awareness is referred to as the mother of all the buddhas.

If this basic whatever is unborn, unoriginated, and unceasing, how can it exist, how can we talk about it? Well, we cannot talk about it. But we can—and actually, we are doing so at this very moment. Impossibilities are possible, un-talkabout-ness can be talked. One of the definitions of dharmadhatu is that which possesses basic norm, that which possesses basic intelligence. But again, we have to be very careful: we are not talking about the alayavijnana principle of storehouse consciousness in this case; we are talking about something beyond that. We are not talking of something that contains something within it.

It seems that this fundamental mother principle, feminine principle, if you could call it that, or “it,” if you like—it has become feminine principle and it has become mother because it became expressive. It could manifest itself into various attributes: it became angry, seductive, yielding, accepting, shy, and beautiful. It became feminine principle, and then it became mother principle. And it made love to its own expressions. Therefore it produced a buddha—as well as samsara, of course, and all the rest of it.

We could have a discussion on that, if you like.

Student:
This thing being referred to as “it,” or the feminine principle, which is somewhat beyond samsaric mind or even the alaya consciousness, seems to be very far away. And it is definitely it, and it definitely exists, and it definitely creates or gives expression to buddhas and samsara. It expresses itself in wrathful ways and seductive ways, et cetera. What is the difference between this definite thing that exists and the common notion of theism or God?

Vidyadhara:
God is not referred to as she, usually. [
Laughter
] I think also, one point is that God had a definite intention to do something about it and produced the world; whereas, as far as this is concerned, it is just accidental, purely accidental. It begins to put on makeup and so it becomes feminine. This is much more passive and realistic. God seems to be very dreamy and impractical—and very dramatic, unnecessarily so. Moreover, there is a much stronger sense of “I.” God is supposed to have already separated himself from the rest of his creation—before he created anything, He had become himself already. As you know, the utterance of God says, “I am that which I am.” So he is what he is, therefore he produced the others. In this case, that is not necessary—its beauty and its makeup are not apart from itself. Therefore it becomes feminine, which is very passive. We could almost say the whole thing is accidental. And in terms of God principle, it has more substance.