Tantric Techniques (84 page)

Mantra, Tsong-kha-pa himself says:
a

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.

His version is more symmetrical in that it extends the movement from “a great many external activities” in Action Tantra, to “without using very many activities” in Performance Tantra, to “only a few branches of activities” in Yoga Tantra, and now to nonreliance on external activities in Highest Yoga Tantra.

Since the rituals of initiation and the conduct of meditation retreats in Highest Yoga Tantra contain many external activities, this explanation that associates it solely with internal yoga seems aimed merely at pointing out that Highest Yoga Tantra has a distinctive yoga for manifesting the fundamental innate mind of clear light through using desire for sexual union in the path.

Utilizing two of Bu-tön’s nine ways of distinguishing the four tantra sets, Tsong-kha-pa differentiates them by way of their main trainees as four very different types, since these trainees have

(1) four different ways of using desire for the attributes of the De-sire Realm in the path and (2) four different levels of capacity for generating emptiness and deity yogas that use desire in the path. As Long-döl Ngawang-lo-sang says in his verse summary of Tsong-kha-pa’s
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra:
b

The effect Secret Mantra Vehicle is of four types— Action Tantra, Performance Tantra,

Yoga Tantra, and Highest Yoga Tantra. Hence how are they differentiated?

Though there are many assertions by scholars such as Bu-tön,

Our own system is that they are posited by way of using the attributes of the Desire Realm in the path.

That using in the path the bliss of gazing at the beautiful face

a
Tantra in Tibet,
162.

b
Terminology Arising in Secret Mantra, the Scriptural Collections of the Knowledge Bearers
, 95.4ff.

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Tantric Techniques

Of one’s own meditated goddess is Action Tantra.

That using in the path the bliss of smiling is Performance Tantra.

That using in the path the bliss of holding hands is Yoga Tantra.

That using in the path the bliss of union of the two is Highest Yoga.

According to the etymologies of the four tantra sets,

That mainly performing external activities is called Action Tantra.

That equally performing external and internal activities is called Performance Tantra.

That mainly practicing internal yoga is called Yoga Tantra. That whose yoga has none higher is called Highest Yoga.

According to Tsong-kha-pa and his followers, the four tantras are not differentiated (1) by way of their
object of intent
since all four are aimed at bringing about others’ welfare, or (2) by way of the
object of attainment
they are seeking since all four seek the full enlightenment of Buddhahood, or (3) by way of merely having different types of
deity yoga
since all four tantra sets have many different types of deity yoga but are each only one tantra set. Rather, the distinctive tantric practice of deity yoga, motivated by great compassion and beginning with emptiness yoga, is carried out in different ways in the four tantra sets. Various levels of desire—involved in gazing, smiling, touching, and sexual union—are utilized by the respective main trainees in accordance with their predispositions toward styles of practice—emphasizing external activities, balanc-ing external activities and meditative stabilization, emphasizing meditative stabilization, or exclusively focusing on meditative stabilization.

The techniques are geared to the levels of capacity of trainees not only in terms of the degree of desire used in the path but also in terms of whether an actual consort is used. Tsong-kha-pa holds that in Action, Performance, and Yoga Tantras consorts are only imagined, whereas in Highest Yoga Mantra actual consorts are used. Speaking about the three lower tantras, he says:
a

In the lower tantra sets this is not done while observing an

a
Tantra in Tibet,
161.

Bu-tön and Tsong-kha-pa: The Four Tantra Sets
357

external Seal [an actual consort], and even in the higher tantra set [Highest Yoga] it is not indicated that such is done [in the lower tantras], due to which these should be understood as meditated goddesses, such as Lochan
ā
.

Based on the thought that trainees of little power can-not use great desire in the path, desire is taught for use in the path in stages beginning with the small. As will be explained, it is clear that when deity yoga has become firm and meditative stabilization on emptiness has been attained, one takes cognizance of a goddess, such as Lochan
ā
, who is of one’s own lineage, and then uses [desire in the path by way of gazing and so forth].

He clearly says that the use of a consort, either in imagination or in fact, is begun only when a practitioner has achieved proficiency in emptiness yoga and deity yoga.

This is a far cry from many traditions that depict Mantra as be-ing for persons of crude emotions. Still, since initiations into Highest Yoga Mantra are sometimes given publicly, the attendees (including many who have achieved little, if any, success in meditating on emptiness) are required to perform daily meditation rituals that involve imagination of a consort. Such unqualified practice of Man-tra is apologetically explained as being for the sake of establishing predispositions for actual practice in future lifetimes, but it may also be explained as a social, economic, and political technique for drawing persons by means of a mysterious ritual into a group that owes allegiance to a particular lama.

Though Tsong-kha-pa’s reasoned presentation is effective in creating a world-view of gradual spiritual transformation that itself exerts an influence on those who comprehend its structure, his followers have also accommodated the system to more common aims. A dual system of high systemization with practical implementation by a limited few and of low accommodation to social, economic, and political spheres is as much a part of this sect as it is of others in Tibet.

Appendix:

The First Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama’s Reformulation of Tsong-kha-pa’s Presentation of the Vehicles
translated by Donald S. Lopez

Presentation of the General Teaching and the Four Sets of Tantras, Based on Notes
a

Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama I

Lo-sang-chö-kyi-gyel-tsen (
Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan
, 1570-1662)

Namo Gurumañjugho
ṣā
y
ā

May the supreme captains prevail in releasing

The collections of transmigrators into the jeweled land of liberation Through the pleasing manifestation in saffron

Of the wisdom, compassion, and knowledge of all the buddhas.

May I be sustained by the pervasive master,

Lord of the ma
ṇḍ
ala, base of all that is pure—stable and moving— Through the play of the magical emanations of union,

Like a rainbow in the vast sky of clear light.

I bow down to the glorious king of the mighty;

Hearing and remembering just his name grants the supreme fear-lessness

That eradicates the pangs of sa
ṃ
s
ā
ra and solitary peace. Armies of inner and outer demons, take heed.

I will carefully set forth discourses related with that good explanation,

a
The edition of the text translated here is
Bstan pa spyi dang rgyud sde bzhi’i rnam gzhag zin bris su byas pa
in Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan,
Collected Works,
vol. 4 (
nga
) (New Delhi: Mongolian Lama Gurudeva, 1973). The portion translated here ends at 20a3; the text ends at 37a6. Students of the First Pa
ṇ
chen Lama took notes on his lectures on Tsong kha pa’s
Great Exposition of Secret Mantra.
The students then presented the notes to him with a request that he correct and complete them. In response, he produced this work.

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Tantric Techniques