Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

[Carlitos]

I very much appreciate all your work here @shaberon - wow.
Shall be delving deeper.

~ humble aspirant

[shaberon]

Asanga, Nalanda, and the Guptas



Asanga was from Peshawar, he did a lot of supposedly big rejuvenation in India, and returned where he came from. In any version of him, he is thought to have martialed Vasubandhu into Mahayana when he was fairly old. It may be also that his lifespan is said to have been magically lengthened, in order to mix two different Vasubandhus, who may not have said the same thing. Unlike the characters "in" his lineage, there is only supposed to be one Asanga. And so we are still in a process of trying to pare down what he said, rather than what is called Yogacara or said about it in all possible ways.


The Maitreya communions started taking place in Ayodhya, and, it is reported that Vasubandhu re-established some Dharma centers there. Similarly to Nalanda, it had monasteries since the time of Buddha, but political climates change and they lapse into disuse for a century or two or maybe longer. Both, of course, would remain "of interest" to anyone studying the life of Buddha. Asanga had gone to an abandoned site.

Ayodhya or the Kosala Kingdom comes up again in 2018 due to more artifacts turned up from construction:

Buddhist scriptures say that Gautama Buddha spent most of his time in the Kosala kingdom at Sravasti and Saaketa after attaining enlightenment. The diaries of Faxian and Xuanzang also mention this fact.

After Vasubandhu, Xuanzang says:

There are about 100 Buddhist monasteries in Ayodhya. Over 3,000 Buddhist monks conduct their activities from these facilities.

So the once-extensive site of Veluvana (Bamboo Grove) near Ayodhya had been abandoned. After his Maitreya experiences, Asanga placed eight disciples here. Despite this and supposedly many other monasteries, there are hardly any people or sites that have names. He was not supposed to have converted Vasubandhu until he was quite old. It is like a whole generation is missing, and its story has become that of one other person.


Ayodhya is west of Bihar, and not far from the border of Nepal. Ayodhya was stated to be the capital of the ancient Kosala kingdom in the Ramayana. Hence it was also referred to as "Kosala". Also "Saketa". According to Wiki, it:


...probably emerged as a marketplace located at the junction of the two important roads, the Shravasti-Pratishthana north–south road, and the Rajagriha-Varanasi-Shravasti-Taxila east–west road.


It had been a Buddhist center through Mauryan times; but the Guptas revived Brahmanism, and it went to ruins. Vasubandhu therefor seems to have garnered the re-assembly of it. Asanga may not have any other named people tied to him, but, Vasubandhu re-instated four active facilities near here. Then in about a hundred years, there are nearly a hundred that Xuanzang sees.

Ayodhya--Oud is almost due north of Benares almost to Gond:





Jain sculpture of classical Ayodhya:








Kongtrul believes DDV and RGV were lost until discovered by Maitri. In one case, Sthiramati is called a disciple of Asanga.


Neither one of those makes sense.

Those two may be the most succinct Maitreya books on practice.



The traditional view of Asanga going to Tusita is not, precisely, what we can easily task as yoga meditation instruction:


Asanga carried Maitreya on his shoulders and walked into a town crying out loudly 'Do you see what I'm carrying on my shoulders? please tell me what am I carrying?' most people laughed at him thinking he was a fool for they saw nothing on his shoulder.

An old woman, who must have been a kind person saw a dead dog on his shoulder 'you are carrying a dead dog' she replied. Another person who was a good slave to his master saw the feet of Maitreya, 'you are carrying somebody on your shoulder' he said (stories say he achieved a higher state on realization for being able to see even his feet).

Now Asanga was sure that nobody could saw Maitreya because of their Karma. Maitreya asked Asanga 'What is your wish now? what do you want to do?'

Asanga replied 'I want to spread the teachings of the great enlightened one (Gautama Buddha)'.

'Then come with me' said the Maitreya and started ascending into a higher realm of existence (Tu****a heaven), Asanga held an end of Maitreya's robe and it enabled him to raise with him. In that realm Asanga studied the teachings for 50 years, when he was fully ready to spread the words of the Buddha he came back to the earth. Asanga lived till the ripe age of 120 teaching the knowledge of enlightenment.


Asanga succeeded mostly from devotion and Karuna. He was not doing a Yoga meditation, he was having an extreme psychosis, a peyote trip, or an unexpected result from one of the most gruesome attempts at compassion ever recorded. We skipped that part.

Now if the above were true and he made it to the "slightly" super-age of 120, then, instead of expiring ca. 450 as normal, he might have persisted to ca. 500. My understanding of Kama Loka meditation does not expect it to support your body for fifty years while you are out of it. Other sources might say he had a fairly instantaneous revelation from Maitreya. Why would his brother Vasubandhu automatically gain a fifty year extension like this? He almost certainly would have been dead by the time Asanga "came down". Xuanzang seems to think so. In that case how does he comment any Maitreya books?



Among the ancient Chinese references:

According to Posou pandou fashi zhuan, Vasubandhu engaged in his literary activity on behalf of the Mahayana after Asanga’s death. Xuanzang, however, tells a strange story that suggests that Vasubandhu died before Asanga.

Though not many details on the meditative career of Vasubandhu are available, his Madhyantavibhagabhashya (Commentary on the Separation of the Middle from Extremes) points to his keen interest in the techniques of meditation.


So they find the association, but, hardly anything in terms of his personal practices.

Around the time of Xuanzang, I Tsing also went to India for Maitreya and the true doctrine, and spent ten years at Nalanda, where, starting from Yogacarabhumi, the curriculum says:

After having learnt the Yogacaryasastra, he ought to then study
thoroughly Asanga' s eight sastras [thereafter listed] ...

Gatekeeper was literally an entrance examination:

"If men of other quarters desire to enter and take part in the discussions,
the keeper of the gate proposes some hard questions; many are unable to
answer, and retire. One must have studied deeply old and new (books)
before getting admission".

[it was tough, about 20% pass]

I-Tsing gives a brief description of the two non-renunciate categories of Nalanda students:

" Those white-robed (laymen) who come to the residence of a priest, and
read chiefly Buddhist scriptures with the intention that they may one day
become tonsured and black-robed, are called "children" (manava).

Those who (coming to a priest) want to learn secular literature only,
without having any intention of quitting the world are called students
(brahmacarin).


Going to India in the 670s:

I Ching was an admirer of two traveling monks: Fa Xian (Traditional Chinese:法顯; Simplified Chinese:法显 Pinyin：Fǎxiǎn), who traveled to Nepal, India and Sri Lanka between 399 and 412 to acquire Buddhist scriptures and take them back to China, and visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha; and Xuanzang...

Although the translations of his predecessor, Xuanzang, overshadow those of I Ching, a sample examination of both renderings of the Viṃśatikā (Liebenthal, 1934) concluded that Yijing was a better translator than Xuanzang.


Hrm. We were told that misunderstandings of Vimsatika is what throws "schools" into disarray from the outset. The one that belongs to the "majority" school is inferior.

Yogacara 1904 tells us that Asvaghosha supported Tathagatagarbha, and:


... in I-tsing’s Correspondence from the Southern Seas that “Mahāyānism has no more than two kinds, one is the Mādhyamika and the other the Yogācāra. According to the Mādhyamika the sāṁvṛta (phenomenal) exists [sensually], but the paramārtha (transcendental) is çūnya, [that is, supersensual], and empty in its essence. According to the Yoga, the external [viṣaya] does not exist, but the inner [vijñāna] does, things having existence only in our inner senses (vijñā-nāni).”


Many multiple sects have mostly migrated into two camps; he is there right after Candrakirti. Even though this is considered ancient or early, it is not, if originally the "two kinds" were only one kind, something unnecessary has been done to separate them. I Tsing and most of the rest of these people stand little chance of knowing that, once such a hard division has been broadcast. Because it has, then it becomes quite difficult to distinguish alterations from the original.



Functionally, different sects seem to have difficulty with Paratantra and Tathata, which is what Ratnakarasanti excels at. Its core is right there with Asanga. The normal operating environment for Ratnakarasanti is that you study many of these works at great length along with everything else in the world, and then you just do Hevajra or something similar. Instead of the live-in university, we would do an ongoing accumulation of dharanis and minor sadhanas and perhaps even Subtle Yoga. That is what Tara and Vajrayogini are all about.


Like Guhyasamaja, the lineage of Nalanda is also a chronological failure. Observe the impossibility of Seventeen Nalanda Masters--Sutra Nagarjuna and Aryadeva were way before it, but, it shows their lineage up to Candrakirti. It then "restarts" with Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dignaga, etc., in another line. It is of course physically possible that original Nagarjuna used "Nalanda monastery", which vanished and was replaced by "Nalanda Mahavihara". He could not have been an officer of the same institution which is visible post-Asanga.


As to Vasubandhu's "followers":

Sthiramati, who was more learned in Abhidharma;
Dignāga, who was more learned in Pramāṇa;
Guṇaprabha, who was more learned in the Vinaya; and
Arya Vimuktasena, who was more learned in Prajñāpāramitā.

These students are not necessarily considered to be his direct students, but perhaps more in the sense that they followed in his lineage. Even though Vasubandhu is very well-known in better detail than Asanga, it is still hard to be confident exactly who was all that close to him, without the feeling that a generation is missing.




Kumaragupta I (r. ca. 415-455) almost certainly established Nalanada Mahavihara. Fa Xian does not mention its existence by 411.

Succeeded by Skandagupta, he was notably a worshipper of Karttikeya. These kings' names are almost redundant for "Mars and son of Mars". Kumaragupta II only reigned a few years ca. 473-476, so, probably did not found Nalanda.


Likewise it is hard to find an antecedent for:


Dignaga, c. 480 – c. 540 CE, is called a disciple of Vasubandhu, perhaps indirectly. Vasubandhu defined perception as the knowledge that is caused by the object, but this was rejected by Dignaga, a 5th-century logician, as a definition belonging to his earlier realistic phase. "Pramana", school of reasoning. He entered an existing Nalanda, becoming famous by victory over the brahmin named Sudurjaya at Nālandā monastery.

Some of their terms were long; Silabhadra lived to 106. So far, nothing talks about Dignaga's teacher or prior abbots. Vasubandhu is not likely to be that much younger than Asanga; they have the same mother. Asanga most likely survived into Kumaragupta's reign. "Vasubandhu's disciples" are mostly in the 500s, so there might be a generation between him and Dignaga for example. This has been suggested by multiple sources.


There is some probability that Asanga passed away ca. 450 when Kumaragupta was no longer doing particularly well. It is possible they rose and fell together. If Nalanda is a new thing called a Maha Vihara, and, Asanga has provided a massive, detailed written program for something like this, then such a scenario has matching circumstances.


Dharmapala studied in Nalanda as a student of Dignāga. Later he succeeded him as abbot of the University. Through the teachings of his disciple Silabhadra to Xuanzang (who attributes Yogacarabhumi to Maitreya), Dharmapāla’s tenets expanded greatly in China. Note he is called "Yogacara".

His contemporary rival was Bhaviveka who is called "Madhyamaka" but not Prasangika, i. e., contra-Buddhapalita (ca. 470–540) and Candrakirtian positions. Bhaviveka criticized eighteen sects of Sravaka Hinayanists as well as Yogacara.


In the 500s, Dignaga gained control of a Mahavihara which had most likely been started ca. 420-450. Before posting on the historical intricacy of the Buddhists and the Guptas, we can go over what Bhaviveka said opposingly based around Madhyanta Vibhaga Bhasya, which is where Vasubandhu at least indicates an interest in sadhanas.


...there is another interesting fact which shows Bhaviveka and
Avalokitavrata's familiarity with the MV (Bh). That is their explanation
of Yogacara's thought about the relationship between Three Natures
and Five Categories (panca vastuni 五事 or panca dharmah 五法) composed of
nimitta "cause", naman "name", vikalpa "imagination", samyagjnana "right
cognition", and tathata "thusness", which was differently interpreted
even in Yogacara's works. For instance,

(1) both the Yogacarabhumi (YBh) 4) and the XSh 5) attribute the first four categories to the paratantra-svabhava "the other-dependent nature" and the last, tathata, to the parinispanna-svabhava "the perfected nature".

(2) The MV (Bh) 6), on the other hand, refers naman to the parikalpita-svabhava "the imaginary
nature", nimitta and vikalpa to the paratantra-svabhava, and samyagjnana
and tathata to the parinispanna-svabhava.

(3) The Lankavatara-sutra (LA) 7 attributes both nimitta and naman to the parikalpita-svabhava, vikalpa to
the paratantra-svabhava, and samyagjnana and tathata to the parinispannasvabhava.

Bhaviveka criticizes Yogacara's attribution of naman to the parikalpita-svabhava. This attribution of naman
corresponds with that found in MV (Bh) and LA, but not in YBh or XSh.



I am not sure why none of those put Vikalpa in Parikalpita. They all have Tathata as Parinispanna. Without further information, we would take "Naman" or Name to mean the the Four Skandhas other than Rupa, i. e. ones of an exclusively-mental nature. So it tends to make sense to call this the Parikaplita.

He does however make an argument of Paramartha which does sound like Ratnakarasanti's Prakasa Matra:


Taking the word paramartha as a Tatpurusa
compound, he explains that it is "the object of the highest `indiscriminate cognition'. Also, according to his interpretation, the word paramartha as a Bahuvrihi compound means what has paramartha, that is,

(1) "indiscriminate cognition" (*nirvikalpajnana) which has paramartha
as its object,

(2) teachings such as "non-origination" (*anutpada) etc.
and

(3) wisdom (*prajna) acquired by listening, consideration and practice.


As will be discussed in the following section, this seems to be
quite significant in relation to Bhaviveka' s understanding of sunyata as
found in his commentary on the previous karika of the same chapter.

And also important is the fact that Bhaviveka's interpretation of
the word paramartha was, quite possibly, derived from the similar
understanding of the same word as given in the MV III, where, based
on three different interpretations of the compound paramartha as Tatpurusa, Karmadharaya and Bahuvrihi, the author, Maitreya or Asanga, took the same word in the following three meanings: that is, artha
"object", prapti "acquisition", and pratipatti "practice" respectively.


Further:

In contrast to this understanding of Candrakirti's, Bhaviveka takes
sunyata in the sense of "cognition which is characterized by freedom
from every conceptualization and has emptiness as an objective basis
(*sunyatalambanam jnanam). In short, Bhaviveka here interprets the word
sunyata as sunyatajnana "the cognition of emptiness", and not "emptiness"
itself. This understanding reminds us of his understanding of paramartha
as a Bahuvrihi compound and also of the explanation of the first
member of the compound sunyata-sunyata as given in the MVBh, where,
according to Vasubandhu, sunyata-sunyata means tasya [i. e. sunyata jnanasya] sunyata "emptiness of the cognition of emptiness".

Moreover, in relation to this interpretation of sunyata, Bhaviveka
understands sunyatartha not as "the meaning of emptiness", but as
"the object of [the cognition of ] emptiness". Therefore, he says, "sunyatartha is characterized by tathata. "

This interpretation again reminds
us of his understanding of paramartha as a Tatpurusa compound, that
is, paramartha as *paramasya nirvikalpasyarthah (see note 12), and also of
the MV (Bh)'s explanation of both sunyataparyaya "synonyms of sunyata"
and sunyataparyayartha "meanings of the synonyms of sunyata", where
sunyata is explained as synonymous with tathata, bhutakoti, animitta,
paramarthata, and dharmadhatu, and the meaning of paramartha is therein
given as "it is paramartha because it is the sphere of the Noble Ones,
that is, because it is the object of the highest cognition".

Lastly, it is interesting to note that the MV seems to be the first to
attribute samyagjnana to the parinispanna-svabhava, and not, like the
Bodhisattvabhumi and the XSh (), to the paratantra-svabhava. In
this respect again, we can most probably trace Bhaviveka' s understanding of sunyata and paramartha back to the MV (Bh) though it is indeed
true that he refutes rather vehemently Yoga-cara's understanding of
sunyata, i. e. sunyata as the existence of non-existence of the duality
(dvayabhavasya bhavah).



He for some reason is against Non-duality and Parikalpita.

In the synonyms of Emptiness, something like Dharmadhatu is Expansive, whereas Animitta is more like a switch, a change of state. They are all more like verbs than static adjectives or labels. It is likely that they should be thought of as "degrees", like a match and a blowtorch certainly have "synonymous" flames.

Within Yogacara, we have gotten Three Natures "schemes" three times, with Bhaviveka here, the original Chinese Seven Minds, and that of H. H. III Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.

That is in addition to Asanga and Ratnakarasanti.

No one has ever compared these in one place that I know of.


We will do that soon, because its current state is like saying in this car the transmission is in the glove compartment, and in that car, the tires are actually part of the speedometer. They are the right parts, but, we are pretty sure that they need to work in a certain way.





Khenpo Shenpen Nangwa states that Asanga composed the Bhumi Sastras at Nalanda.

Asanga's Eight Sastras are half Vasubandhu's.


And so there is a lot of haze around the launching of Nalanda University, and, disciplic succession from Asanga. Hardly any names directly attached. This is not entirely the case with royalty. As his main career, pre-Mahayana marks the major change in Ayodhya:


With the composition of the Abhidharmakosha, Vasubandhu came to enjoy the patronage and favor of two Gupta rulers, Vikramaditya and his heir Baladitya, who can be identified respectively, as Skandagupta (ruled circa 455-467 C.E.) and Narasimhagupta (ruled circa 467-473 C.E.).

Candragupta II (r. ca. 380 – 413/415) rewarded him with 300,000 gold coins for his victory over the Samkhyas. Vasubandhu made use of this money to build three monasteries, one for the Mahayanists, another one for his old colleagues the Sarvastivadins, and a third for nuns.

or:

...famously defeating the Samkhya philosophers in debate in front of the Gupta king, Vikramaditya, famously known as Chandragupta II or Skandagupta.

Those are different people. Generally speaking, if you mistakenly associate Vikramaditya-->Chandragupta II, you throw Vasubandhu back fifty years. By making a correction, we would have to mentally over-write Chandragupta II by Skandagupta wherever we see it.

Philosophies of India states that not just Vasubandhu, but both were involved:

They were closely associated with the Gupta court of Ayodhya (the modern Oudh), where they were contemporaries of King Baladitya and his father Vikramaditya (=Candragupta II?).


Samghabhadra, a Sarvastivada scholar from Kashmir, also once challenged Vasubandhu regarding the Abhidharmakosha.

That one is his original book before entering Mahayana. Most likely it brought such great success, that the reaction was really against his personal status.


Robert Thurman says Nalanda was:


Founded under the patronage of the Gupta King Chandragupta II Vikramāditya in the 5th Century.

By mistaking "Vikramaditya" for Candragupta I, Asanga and Vasubandhu were pushed back to the 300s. If this is accurate, they are too early for Nalanda. Since he and Chandagupta II are both "Vikramaditya", it is easy to see how mistakes or assumptions might be made, however "Baladitya" is rather precise. In turn, the dates of Vasubandhu most likely depend on those of Baladitya.


Claims that Nalanda was built in the 300s probably stem from:

It is known that from Chinese sources that the Simhala king Meghavarna sent rich presents to the Gupta king requesting his permission to build a Buddhist monastery at Bodh Gaya: Samudragupta's panegyrist appears to have described this act of diplomacy as an act of subservience.

Such claims are assembled as fact for example by Charles Eliot, and subsequently Asanga and Vasubandhu are in the era of Candragupta I and Samudragupta.

Fa Xian visited during the reign of Candragupta II. Skanda and Kumara Gupta were brothers. Skanda also had the title Vikramaditya. After his passing in 467, the empire declined. Chandragupta II is probably not "Vikramaditya of Nalanda" because his reign ended very soon after Faxian left and there was no Nalanda.


And we might then wander into a mire of "two Baladityas". One was just said to be in office ca. 470 and was the son of Skandagupta. However:


Narasimhagupta Baladitya (r. ca. 495-510, son of Purugupta), according to contemporary writer Paramartha, was brought up under the influence of the Mahayanist philosopher, Vasubandhu. His clay sealing has been found in Nalanda. The name of his queen mentioned in the Nalanda sealing is Shrimitradevi. According to the Manjushrimulakalpa (c. 800 CE), king Narasimhsagupta became a Buddhist monk, and left the world through meditation (Dhyana).

There are also stone inscriptions in Varanasi and Eran and a seal from Nalanda mentioning Budhagupta (r. ca. 476-495) as the ruler.

That is from Wiki, using more comparative information to adjust his era more to year 500+. If so, Nalanda had been running for a while:


According to the Buddhist writers Xuanzang (7th century) and Prajnavarman (8th century), the Buddhist mahavihara at Nalanda was established by a king called Shakraditya. Xuanzang mentions Budhagupta (a successor of the later king Kumaragupta II) after Shakraditya: he states the monastery was enriched by the endowments of the kings Shakraditya, Budhagupta, Tathagatagupta, and Baladitya. This casts some doubt on the identification of Shakraditya with Kumaragupta I.

Kumaragupta I's title as on coinage was Mahendraditya, Mahendra and Sakra both being epithets of Indra.


At Nalanda:


a seal identifies a monarch named Shakraditya (Śakrāditya) as its founder.

Shakraditya is identified with the 5th-century CE Gupta emperor, Kumaragupta I, whose coin has been discovered at Nalanda.


He most likely started the Mahavihara, and, subsequent kings added more Viharas. That does not mean Sakraditya has to be their father. Chirantani Das accepts Kumaragupta I. Xuanzang may be correct all day that those particular kings did the construction, and, that has nothing to do with their order or relationship to each other.


However according to History of India:


Sakraditya was the title of Skanda Gupta. It has been proved by the inscription at Kahom.


and with respect to Huns who wrecked the western empire:

Skanda Gupta valiantly fought them and defeated them somewhere at the northern valley of the river Ganges so severely about 460 A.D. that they could not dare to attack the empire for nearly next fifty years.

The Kahaum Pillar has a Jain inscription which says:

...who resembles (the god) Sakra


So that is present, but, many Guptas were called Vikramaditya, and most of them have similar epithets, such as Kumaragupta I was widely known as Mahendraditya. Skandagupta was more likely another Vikramaditya, because:

A story in the Kathasaritsagara (11th century) states that the legendary king Vikramaditya ascended the throne after his father Mahendraditya abdicated it, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the mlechchhas. Since Mahendraditya was a title of Kumaragupta, and Vikramaditya that of Skandagupta, this may be a reference to Skandagupta's victory over the Hunas.


There was an interregnum before and after him, since, i. e. he was on a military campaign when this power vacuum happened, and others may have vied for control, and the transition after him may not have been smooth and instantaneous and he is omitted from lists by the sons of his brothers. Something like this:


Another possibility is that Purugupta - the son of the chief queen - was a minor at the time of Kumaragupta I's death, because of which Skandagupta - the son of a junior queen - ascended the throne. Skandagupta succeeded Kumaragupta, and was succeeded by Purugupta, whose descendants became the subsequent kings.



It does not seem like a single Jaina tributary remark successfully "makes a name" the way it is when you are in the national Ocean of Stories. Mahendraditya is already found in various synonyms and iterations on seals, etc., and so if one seal uses Sakra, we would take it as "another one of these", along with Shri-Mahendra, Mahendra-simha, Ashvamedha-Mahendra (gold coins), Maharajadhiraja, Parama-bhattaraka, and Paramadvaita, all the same person.


He has no known inscriptions in Bihar, although his reign is mentioned on a couple of Buddhist relics, such as a 434 Mathura Sakyamuni who conquered all ten faculties:






There is more information on:


Mankuwar Buddha inscribed with "year 129 in the reign of Great King Kumaragupta" (448 CE, at the end of the reign of Kumaragupta) only uses the feudatory title Maharaja ("Great King") for Kumaragupta instead of the imperial title Maharajadhiraja ("Great King of Kings"). This has led to suggestions that he suffered reverses in the later part of his reign, possibly against the Pushyamitras or the Hunas.


About half a mile still further to the east is the village
of Mankuwar, where the Gosain of Deoriya has a garden. In
this garden was found a very perfect figure of a seated
Buddha, with a headdress like that now worn by the Abbots
in Bhutan. It is a plain cap, fitting close to the head, with
long lappets on each side. The figure is naked to the waist,
and clad below in a dhoti which reaches to the ankles. The
eyes are half closed, as if in meditation. On the pedestal
there is a wheel in the middle, with a man seated in medi-
tation on each side, and a lion at each corner...

Namo Buddhanam Bhagavato samyaksham Buddhasya swamati viruddhasya:








Generally in the legend:

Vasubandhu was then living in Ayodhya surrounded by honors and revered by King Baladitya, whilst his older brother Asanga was living in his native land, in Purusapura (Peshawar).

Vasubandhu had composed Abhidharmakosa and its Bhasya or commentary, and resented Mahayana and said Asanga wasted twelve years in Ayodhya, because he had read the Bhumi Sastras and they were not good, etc., and when Asanga found out his brother was antagonizing his work, he sent disciples to recite:


Aksayamati-nirdesa-sūtra. In this sūtra, a figure from outer space teaches the terrestrial denizens about the absence of own-being, the absence of existing and ceasing, and the absence of any detriment or excellence, in all events and “personalities”. This sūtra seems to have greatly appealed to the critical mind of Vasubandhu.

Which "Vikramaditya" were they around? Legends and information kind of point both ways, and the potential result is Three Vasubandhus, considering his Hinayana book and the same with commentary are distinct entities:


Two works on Abhidharma exist, both said to have been written by authors called Vasubandhu. One is the famous Abhidharmakosa, or "Treasury of Metaphysics", composed in Peshawar, the other, is the Abhidharmakosabhasya composed some centuries later in Ayodhya. The Vasubandhu who authored the latter (i.e., the Abhidharmakosabhasya) is known to us as having been the disciple of a renowned Abhidharma-master named Buddhamitra, and was appointed, according to Paramartha, by King Vikramaditya of Ayodhya to be tutor to the crown-prince Baladitya. Vikramaditya and Baladitya belong to the fifth century. The author of the Abhidharmakosa, on the other hand, resided in Peshawar, belonged to the Kashmiri Vaibhasika school of Sarvastivada metaphysics.


Here again is sensed "they represent opposing schools". In this view, there is Sutra Vasubandhu, then Yogacara Vasubandhu with Asanga and Saramati, and then Commentary Vasubandhu and Sthiramati II at the time of Baladitya--while Asanga was still living. It could be that Asanga was born ca. 380 and Vasubandhu somewhat after 400, and something like this might be possible, but, one would have to realistically ask how many mothers have three children over a more than twenty year span. That is not quite a definite "no", but, it is something to consider.



That is the page that goes on to describe Dharmapala's line as a Sakara deviation. In fact we tend to think that line overall takes its themes too seriously:


Dignaga (Pramana) --> Dharmapala (Sakara) --> Candrakirti (Madhyamaka)

Tibetan interpreters generally claim to take the seventh-century commentaries of Candrakīrti as authoritative, but Indian commentators subsequent to him were in fact more influential in the course of Indian philosophy.

There is for example a paper on his innovation, which is something like to twist a Nagarjuna verse, so then when it is used again later, those parts also become skewed. The premise is that Candrakirti is fundamentally mistaken in his understanding of Nagarjuna.


If so, was Asanga fundamentally mistaken about the same? He also wrote general tracts before Maitreya happened. Vasubandhu wrote Abhidharma Kosa before he attempted Mahayana; Asanga wrote Abhidharma Samuccaya. That is the main basis here for some of his sayings on Emptiness from Early Yogacara and its Relationship with Madhyamaka.


Again, if we examine Asanga's explication of sunyata, we find a similar
understanding of its appropriateness:

Emptiness is logical when one thing is devoid of another because of
that [other's] absence and because of the presence of the empty thing
itself.

Asanga continues,

Wherever and in whatever place something is not, one rightly observes
that [place] to be void of that [thing]. Moreover, whatever remains in
that place one knows (prajanati) as it really is, that "here there is
an existent." This is said to be engagement with emptiness as it
really is and without waywardness. . . Without that wayward view, he
neither affirms nor denies the given thing. . . Not otherwise would he
rid himself of the object of consciousness (alambana) and dwell with
equanimity.

All other interpretations are described by Asanga as "emptiness wrongly
grasped" (durgrhita sunyatety). (Interestingly this is the same term that
Nagarjuna uses in his Madhyamaka-karika when criticizing those who take
sunyata to be a view.) Thus, for Asanga the designation 'empty' (sunya)
is only predicable of an existent thing, since "emptiness is only logical
if something exists." Again we find Madhyanta-vibhaga 1.13 declaring
that

The nonexistence of duality is indeed the existence of nonexistence;
this is the definition of emptiness. It is neither existence, nor
nonexistence, neither different nor identical.

The 'existence of nonexistence' turns out to be the specific definition of
sunyata found throughout the early Yogacara literature. In the
Abhidharmasamuccaya, Asanga states that emptiness is "the non-existence of
the self, and the existence of the no-self." In fact, within this text
Asanga espouses a conception of the Middle Path based upon the Mahayana
notion of the other-dependent nature (paratantra//pratityasamutpanna) of
all dharmas:

The real meaning of pratityasamutpada is the fact that there is no
creator (nihkartrkartha), the fact of causality (sahetukartha), the
fact that there is no being (nihsatvartha), the fact of dependence
(paratantrartha), the fact that there is no mover (nirihartha), the
fact of impermanence (anityartha), the fact that all is momentary
(ksanikartha), the fact that there is an uninterrupted continuity of
cause and effect (hetuphalaprabhandhanupacchedartha), the fact that
there is a conformity between cause and effect
(anurupahetupha-lartha), the fact of the variety of causes and effects
(vicitrahetuphalartha), and the fact of the regularity of cause and
effect (pratiniyatahetuphalartha).

Moreover, dependent origination is momentary, but one can also find
stability within it. Dependent origination consists of nonmoving
conditions, but these conditions are also functional
(samarthapratyaya); dependent origination does not admit of a being
(nihsatva), but it can also be understood in terms of a being.
Dependent origination does not admit of a creator, but there is an
uninterrupted flow of actions and their results. It does not arise
from itself, nor from another, nor from both. It is produced neither
from its own action nor from the action of another, nor is it without
cause (ahetu).

Pratityasamutpada is to be understood in terms of a realm of causally
efficient but existentially dependent (paratantra) occurrences (dharmas).
For an explanation of the causal process in terms of the
paratantra-laksana, we need look no further than Asanga's own
Mahayanasamgraha.

If the dependent nature is representation-only (vijnaptimatra), the
support of the manifestation of objects (arthabhasasraya), why is it
dependent and why is it so called? Because it arises from its own
trace-seeds (vasana-bija), it is dependent upon conditions. Because,
after its birth, it is incapable of subsisting by itself for a single
instant, it is called 'the dependent'.

In this work we see a new gloss put upon the traditional Madhyamaka
explanation of the dependently arisen as that which arises dependent upon
trace-seeds (vasana-bija). Nevertheless, there is still a
characteristically Madhyamaka refusal to use the dualistic language of
'existence' and 'nonexistence'. No dharma has an independent self, being
dependent (paratantra) upon all other dharmas for its existence. Thus, a
dharma "exists" only insofar as it participates in the causal network of
interdependent dharmas. As the Abhidharma had pointed out, no dharma has
independent existence, since it occurs as the result of a long and complex
chain of interdependent factors (dharmas), which themselves are produced in
dependence upon other conditions. Thus, a dharma is 'empty of itself but
not of another'. Dharmas, then, are in one sense existent (bhava), but not
in the everyday sense of being a definable and independent "entity" or
"object."

Dharmas are not existent (bhava) in the everyday sense of the term, since
they are not distinguishable and separate 'entities'; they have no
independent self in their constructed nature (parikalpita). Nevertheless,
dharmas are not totally nonexistent (abhava), either, since they are by
definition (svalaksana) factors (dharmas) of experience; that is, they are
cognizables. Nevertheless, dharmas are not as they appear to unenlightened
minds. They are not 'objects' in that they do not possess the existential
substantiality required in order to be "existent" (viz. that they are
persistent and independent "entities" distinguishable from one another and
definable in terms of a name or designation, prajnapti). Thus, we find in
the Yogacara, as in the Madhyamaka school, a pointed refusal to become
involved in an ontological debate.


The Abhidharma of Vasubandhu is not a Mahayana book to begin with. The AS

According to de Jong, "whilst the Mahāyānasaṃgraha is a compendium of specifically Māhāyanist teachings of the Yogācra school, the Samuccaya is a systematic guide to the Abhidharma section of the doctrinal system of the said school." According to Dan Lusthaus, Asaṅga, "was primarily an Agamist, i.e., one who based himself on the āgamas. This text served as his overview of abhidharma from his developing Yogacaric perspective."

Unlike the Pali, he appears to use only five Universal Cittas. Further along from the review:

The problem here is that these
Mahayana schools are involved in a debate which, even on their own
premises, is in the realm of strict ineffability.


Well, I do not know what Asanga said about Emptiness until I mull over that report, but, that final rebuke is utterly vapid from the view of practice. It is not a problem or a debate. It is actually the whole purpose of Tathagatagarbha. It has already told us the solution. People seem leery of the Ineffable, Absolute, or even the Existent. That is preposterous because that is what this whole thing is for and why it is only in limited, certain places. It does not have a thousand or multiple thousands Sutras. It just has some. That is Yogacara. If what I read is true, that is Mahayana. It may be a "problem" in the population's verbal and written communication difficulties overall, but it has long ago been explained how this is already solved. Cittatva or Yogacaratva, experience.

It is limited in focus, and would be more accurate to say that thousands of Sutras are its door.


But when we look at RGV we find several variances. The one used for Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle has Asanga's commentary. That is almost all in the first chapter, which makes it take up almost half the book. It is thought he unloaded most of what he was trying to say, here, as the remaining chapters just have a few brush-up remarks. And it is quite interesting that the Japanese, by digging in Sanskrit texts, come up with a lot of issues and challenges towards "accepted traditions". In some cases their rebuttals are not completely valid. But very many times they are on to something. It is allright to suggest that Maitreya was a normal person, or even that Saramati was Maitreya. It is entirely possible that Asanga did not have exclusive access to Tusita. As it is said here:


Prof. Ui in his article
expresses the opinion that Maitreya was a historical person, the
teacher of Aryasanga and the founder of the Yogacara school. Now,
as regards this last point, we have an interesting statement in the
Siddhanta (Grub-mthah) of Jam-yan-zad-pa, where it is said:

The teacher Nagarjuna, having been inspired by the Bodhisattva
Manjusri, has laid the foundation to the Madhyamika system in
accordance with the Aksayamati-nirdesa-sutra. The same has been done
by the teacher Aryasanga in regard of the Yogacara system through
the inspiration of Maitreya and on the basis of the Samdhi-nirmocana-
sutra.

We meet with many verses
which have nearly the same contents, and one which is exactly the
same in both the Abhisamayalamkara and the Uttaratantra.

We may affirm that the principal aim of Aryasanga in his Commentary
was to enlarge upon the teaching of the Essence of Buddhahood
and to put it forth as a special and quite new theory. This he has-
done in the first chapter of the work.


It is said in the Commentary of Gyal-tshab
that the first 3 works (i.e. the Sutralamkara, Madhyanta-vibhanga ,
and Dharma-dharmata-vibhanga) contain an exposition of the teaching
of the Absolute Truth as modified in accordance with the under¬
standing of some of the converts, and not in its complete form,
i.e. as the theory of the Relativity and Non-substantiality of all
elements of existence. On the foundation of the said 3 treatises and
in accordance with the discrimination between the conventional
and the direct meaning in the Samdhinirmocana-sutra , the teacher
(Aryasanga) has composed the 5 divisions of the Yogacarya-bhumi
and the two summary works, in which he has laid the foundation
to the Yogacara-vijnanavada system. The Abhisamayalamkara in
its turn exposes repeatedly the theory of universal Relativity and
Non-substantiality; the main subject-matter is here however the
process of Illumination of the Saint, the Path toward Enlightenment,
as being the hidden meaning of the Prajna-paramita-sutras. As to
the Uttaratantra, it is said that it is to be subsequently exposed to
those who have first attained maturity on the foundation of the
Vijnanavada Doctrine and to those members of the Mahayanistic
family who are endowed with the most acute intellectual faculty.
It demonstrates the teaching of the Absolute as the unique un¬
differentiated principle, being the negation of the separate reality of
all the elements in their plurality, in accordance with the Prajna -
paramita and the Tathagata-garbha-sutra. This teaching is the
principal subject-matter of the work and represents the real point
of view of the teacher.



So, the majority of Asanga, and, three of the Maitreya books, are all the "process of conversion". Abhisamayalamkara and RGV are under "restricted access" behind a mix of "conversion" and the equivalent of university education. Then we are looking for the cohesion of Ratnakarasanti's AA with Asanga's RGV. It would be Indian Buddhism without Tibetan modifications. And it simply will not appear from many sources. For instance, Xuanzang did not receive AA from Nalanda, but, that does not disprove its existence, because a "Vasubandhu disciple" comments it:

According to Makransky, the AA was designed to impose a Yogācāra framework and vocabulary onto the Prajnaparamita. AA commentator Arya Vimuktisena preserves this Yogācāra reading; however, Makransky sees Haribhadra's reading as an attempt to "Mādhyamika-ize" the AA. Later Tibetan commentators broadly follow Haribhadra.


He likely never qualified for it. He was not a particularly good translator, and probably never exactly got the "keys to the kingdom" of whatever was going on at Nalanda. Xuanzang is definitely a type of historical evidence, but, our answers and solutions are probably minimal with him. I don't remember anyone saying that we have Asanga's or Vasubandhu's handwriting of anything. So if AA has been found coming through just one "Vasubandhu disciple", that is probably as close to the source as any of these books are.



Continuing from The Buddhist Religion:


In speaking about the aspiring students of his own time, I-Tsing notes that once they have
mastered the basic training, they hope to emulate these masters of the past and champion
their doctrines:

"To those who learn the doctrines of 'existence' and 'non-existence', the
Tripitaka itself will be their Master, while for those who practice the
dhyana (meditation) and prajna (wisdom), the seven bodhi-angas will be
the guide ...

When they have understood the arguments of hetuvidya (logic) they aspire
to be like Jina (the logician); while tasting the doctrine of Yogacarya they
zealously search into the theory of Asanga ..

When they discourse on the 'non-existence' they cleverly imitate
Nagarjuna; whilst when treating of the 'existence', they thoroughly fathom
the teaching of Sanghabhadra."


That is very telling. We just found out who this last person is.


The AA wants to get something special to happen with Prajnaparamita. And, for his time, Asanga in many ways is furthering Pali Buddhism into Sanskrit culture. Moreover, he continually states that it "is" Buddhism within the Triyana doctrine. He is fully accepting of it, while simply adding a complete explanation of how to practice the Bodhisattva Path, the Gotra and Dhatu of RGV.



Asanga's Bodhisattva Bhumi thesis incorporates a Pali approach to Panna (Prajna):



The "act of understanding" involving panna is
distinct from "acts of knowing" involving mere perception (sanjanana) and even from
acts of knowing that involve training designed to produce "Buddhist" cognition
( vijanana).

The knowing that is involved in bare perception (sanna) is the most basic level
of apperception, as for example in the recognition of colours and shapes of objects.

The knowing that results from acts of trained comprehending consciousness (vijana), is
an affirmation, through reasoned analysis, of the "nature" of phenomenal existence.

Panna involved in an act of
understanding is depicted in the Theravadin tradition as an event-moment of critical
"realization", which is integral to the experience of a series of states of insight and stages
of awakening, that are achieved on the path to liberation (nibbana).

The chief factor in an act of understanding (pajanana), which distinguishes it
from the others, is that an act of understanding involving panna results in a "path
attainment", of greater or lesser degree.



Allright. It is supposed to synthetically blend the Paramitas, and so the Bhumis could perhaps be seen as instances of Prajnaparamita firing to that extent.


In Asanga's BBh, there is considerable emphasis on the secular Five Sciences. Nalanda is littered with evidence that all subjects were rigorously taught there. But it lacks evidence of actual gardening, pottery, medicine, or anything else taking place. It is presumed there was a type of apprenticeship towards the community since that behavior is repeated in this book multiple times.

He deals a bit with Emptiness but also Prajna:


...sunyata or tattva is not stressed to the exclusion of other aspects of prajna. It is understood that
liberation via the Mahayana cannot be attained solely through sunyata or tattva insight
alone; other less exalted aspects of prajna must also be mastered.


That, I believe, is a major concern of the Theravadins, about whether any kind of meditation really does induce Prajna and if it assists Karuna. There is the same kind of concern here. You are trying to practice Six Paramitas At Once. Prajna Paramita is a simultaneous flux of these, plus the secular arts, and then he is trying to add that there is "something more" to it:


"The bodhisattvas' essence of wisdom is understood to be the examination
of elements (dharmanam pravicayah) for the purpose of entering into all
that is to be known (sarvajneya)...


Well, the Sarvajneya is the Knowable, which is supported by Alaya Vijnana. Wisdom or Prajna reveals Dharma--Elements, which is how you enter or perceive this Knowable. Having described one aspect at great length, in a manner we are not trying to repeat:


"[prajna] may be seen as having two aspects: worldly and transcendent
(laukiki lokottara ca)"

The bodhisattva's prajna applied to the transcendent is intended to be used to
realize the truth (satya) of "the inexpressible selflessness of elements (dharmanairatyam)".


And to do so, he describes a spiral scale of this all-soaking Prajna as carried through worldly activities and so forth, until it goes through knowledge and Sutras, until he describes its most refined degree:


the incomparable prajna which is obtained through the power of
meditation (bhavanabala) at the level of equanimity.


Equanimity is Upeksa, which, in a sense, is Alpha and Omega of Sutra-to-Tantra. And so you are doing an extraordinarily intense meditation based from:


The first two of these sub-categories of prajna are directly related to the science of
adhyatmavidya, i.e., the study of the saddharma, the Buddhist scriptures. The prajna
of first listening to and then considering them is a foundation for the bodhisattva's
liberation-oriented mental activities generally.


But that is the same terrifying belief as from Ratnakarasanti. Prajnaparamita is immanent. Asanga is saying this but also the whole Mahayana is an immanence. Prajna is elusive, subtle, and so forth, but, you can peer into it, cumulatively.


It will reveal Klista Manas and Vishuddha:


fully understanding, as they really are, the afflictiveness of the afflictions and the purity of
purification (vyavadanata)



Speaking of Bodhi, it says that the lesser vehicles:


...bring their followers to an authentic form of bodhi, but their forms are
of a lesser calibre when compared with the Mahayana bodhisattva's. Theirs is not
"insurpassable (anuttara), excellent (samyak), complete enlightenment (sambodhi)".



"What is enlightenment (bodhi)? Briefly stated it is two types of removal
and two types of knowledge.

The two types of removal are removal of the afflictional obscuration and
removal of the obscuration to that which is to be known.

The two types of knowledge are the stainless knowledge, freed from all
affliction which follows from the removal of the afflictional obscuration,
and the unobstructed and unobscured knowledge of all knowables which
follows the removal of the obstruction to that which is to be known".

"Or to put it another way, incomparable perfect excellent enlightenment
(anuttarasamyaksambodhi) is stated to be pure knowledge, all-knowledge
and knowledge without attachment which is the destruction and removal
of all afflictional tendencies and non-afflictional ignorance.


" To put it yet another way, this incomparable, perfect, excellent
enlightenment (anuttarasamyaksambodhi) is said to be the 140 exceptional
Buddha-factors (buddhadharma), the Tathagata's freedom from impurity,
intentional knowledge and special analytical knowledge.

These 140 Buddha-factors are the thirty-two signs and eighty auspicious
marks of the great being, the four complete purities, the ten powers, the
four fearlessnesses, the three bases of recollection, the three nondefensivenesses,
great compassion, consistency in dharmata, complete
destruction of the propensities, and complete knowledge in all respects."




It takes a thick volume of pages to explain about teeth, a mole, and so forth, and a lot more in describing mostly outer things over an aeonic haul. So then it just does not have much esoterism or practice. So someone could say, well, it doesn't dwell on or explain some things, so maybe it is a contradiction. Except some of those points have to be explained by Alaya Vijnana, that is, Afflictions and the Knowable, Vijnapti Matra, and then it also has Lokottara Citta or Citta Matra. Even though he just makes these small references, he clearly says "for the purposes of entering". Only Mahayana removes the "Obstacle of Ignorance", which is the Obstacle to the Knowable, it removes Alaya Vijnana.


In referring to "higher Paramitas", we saw that in Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tantra, all of the previous ones become attached to Pranidhana, which is normally eighth, as here. I would tend to say that if you understand Upaya as Method, or Sadhana, or the Fifth Yoga, Smrti, we can cordon it off and be aware that we actually do not have or do this and are not practicing the actual Seventh Paramita. Instead it uses Pranidhana, "devotion", so i. e. perhaps we are devoted to the achievement. BBh:


...also refers briefly to four perfections beyond
the usual six: perfection of means (upayaparamita), aspiration (pranidhanaparamita),
power (balaparamita) and gnosis (jnanaparamita).


Exactly how long it would take someone to progress through an educational system and try to pry out this Prajna and then some brief remark has come along with some "other" mental state, Gnosis--Jnana, I would tend to think you must have a Part II somewhere. Like Asanga I would become unsatisfied and I would have to have it. Bodhisattva Bhumi is a miniscule resource for anything like this. But, it represents, not contradicts, the same.


A "group of students" is a Gana and was usually around five per teacher. BBh is also very promotional about successful candidates turning around and teaching. It only defines Tathagata by "speaking the truth". But even in Pali there were eight definitions given; and that is a miscellaneous one. However if we go back to Vak Siddhi then it is the pre-Buddhist yoga of Truth in mundane and occult senses.


Derived from what appears to be Asanga's commentary, RGV is self-stated to be Part II of Vijnapti Matrata, that is, of Vijnana Vada as expressed in the corresponding texts. The difficulty with a Tibetan saying it and we don't know of what manuscript, we see that he has included Abhisamaya Alamkara, which has difficulty showing evidence of existing around the time of original Asanga. It has this handicap and yet it is one of the most heavily conditioning factors of the rest of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism.


Purugupta's descendants may have had some motive to over-write the previous kings, via Commentary Vasubandhu.



According to Rigpa Wiki, Sanghabhadra encountered Commentary Vasubandhu:

Sanghabhadra (Skt. Saṅghabhadra; Tib. དགེ་འདུན་བཟང་པོ། or འདུས་བཟང་, Wyl. dge 'dun bzang po or 'dus bzang, which is most likely just a spelling mistake) — this Indian master belonged to the orthodox Kashimiri Vaibhashika school and was a teacher of Vasubandhu. After Vasubandhu had written his auto-commentary on the Treasury of Abhidharma, where he refuted many positions of the Vaibhashikas, Sanghabhadra wrote a commentary on the Treasury himself, the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra-kārikā-bhāṣya, defending the Vaibhashika's position. He traveled to Nalanda to debate with Vasubandhu, yet Vasubandhu had already left for Nepal, most likely unwilling to debate his former teacher out of deference, and Sanghabhadra passed away shortly after.


His position is that Abhidharma must be false because every school has a different one.


According to Xuanzang, Vasubandhu ate Sanghabhadra's work. Bu ton says that Sanghabhadra read the original work, requested a commentary, and then it was the commentary he pounced on. At that time, Asanga was living in Nalanda.

It is evidently a well-known argument. Sanghabhadra is disputing how Cittas work.

There is a good chance Xuanzang does not fully understand the discussion that was taking place. However on the objective side, he has no suggestion that Sanghabhadra was ever the teacher of Vasubandhu, which Taranatha does.


This view from 1926 may almost be backwards from assessing a too-early Asanga:

... all our authorities on Sanghabhadra, namely, Paramartha, Hiuen Thsang and I-Tsing, are unanimous in saying that Sanghabhadra was a contemporary of Asanga and Vasubandhu, and that he was a great Vaibhasika teacher. The time of Sanghabhadra thus depends on the date of Vasubandhu, whom we have reasons for placing between A. D. 280-360.

Some scholars have confused this Sanghabhadra with another Sanghabhadra who translated & few books into Chinese in the year 489 A. D., and on that ground placed Vasubandhu between A. D. 420-500. But this cannot be correct. Vasubandhu was converted to Yogacara ten years before his death, which brings us down to A. D. 490; before his conversion a challenge to a discussion was given by Sanghabhadra who spent twelve years in writing his Nyayanusara containing a refutation of Vasubandhu...


No, if we think you are confused about the early 300s Vasubandhu, these are the very first "Vasubandhu reponses" before Dignaga and Sthiramati:


Samghabhadra (5th century CE), Abhidharmakośa-śāstra-kārikā-bhāṣya (Tibetan: chos mngon pa mdzod kyi bstan bcos kyi tshig le'ur byas pa'i rnam par bshad pa). This is a brief summary of the Abhidharmakośa.

Samghabhadra (5th century CE), Nyāyānusāra. This text critiques Vasubandhu's exposition on numerous points and defends the Vaibhasika orthodox views against Vasubandhu and other Sautrāntikas such as the elder Śrīlāta and his pupil Rāma. It only survives in a Chinese translation by Xuanzang.


That does seem like a real-time process of a written altercation between Vasubandhu and Sanghabhadra. And Vasubandhu was not the first to try this, since there was:


Abhidharma-hṛdaya by Dharmaśrī, which was the first Abhidharma text to provide a series of verses with prose commentary (this is the style that the Kośa follows).


Rigpa Wiki offers the following gauzy description:


Abhidharmakosha is a complete and systematic account of the Abhidharma, and is the peak of scholarship in the Fundamental Vehicle. If this text presents the different topics from the Vaibhashika point of view, Vasubandhu also wrote an autocommentary, the Auto-Commentary on the Treasury of Abhidharma (Skt. Abhidharmakośa-Bhāṣya), which is based on the Sautrantika view.



It appears that the Bhasya has always traveled with the Abhidharmakosa. There is not evidence to say a verse book was circulated independently centuries before commentary was added. The story seems to say that Sanghabhadra requested the commentary. That is reflected by his works, one of which is like "a report that there are these verses", the second of which has another tone completely. The weakness of the "Three Vasubandhus" idea is:


The improbability of one Vasubandhu switching schools and composing a text in opposition to his earlier position is determined by the fact that the different authors in question were contemporary with or patronized by Indian Kings who lived in very different eras.


Which happened from using Chandragupta I. Secondly the "switching schools" thing may be a little more intricate here or he may be synthesizing them. So there is nothing new that shows anything about this too-early existence. This argument crumbles because the presumptions used to come up with "early" Vasubandhu are mistaken, and, unless we scrutinize source texts for ourselves, we should go with the awareness that there was one individual who did learn regular exoteric training, but eventually made adjustments.


Vasubandhu definitely switched schools after this first book.


Due to its influence, Paramartha says he was the tutor of young Baladitya who does us the kindness of becoming famous. He participated in the defeat of Mihirakula slightly after 520. If we take Xuanzang's account:


Some centuries ago...


[about a 100 years]


He makes a somewhat puerile description of an anti-Buddhist holocaust taking place. Usually, nothing like that ever happened in medieval warfare; there is no sign of it actually happening, and:


According to Xuanzang's travelogue, despite Mihirakula destructive campaign during his rule, thousands of monasteries of different Buddhist schools – both Hinayana and Mahayana, as well as monks and scholars were thriving in northwestern regions of the subcontinent when he visited (629–645 CE).


It is thought he might have done a little propaganda to make Baladitya into a Buddhist crusader. The writing would make you think Vasubandhu and Baladitya must have been ancient. Xuanzang might have "colored" it, or, maybe that was the way it was given to him. He apparently was told that Vasubandhu passed away before Asanga. If Vasubandhu was actually associated with King Baladitya, he must have survived even longer, into the 500s. Was he almost specifically associated with this one ruler from his boyhood into his reign? Or is "king" a mistake? Doesn't Narasimhagupta mean he was in a Vaisnava tantric place?


Sangabhadra's Chinese translation proves that most of these scribes were abysmal. There is an easy example of Pali Satta "Seven" which became Sanskrit Sattva "Being" and so yes I would think this could impact the final product. There is an uncomfortably large list of very disorienting mistakes like this.

The Sanghabhadra diatribes with Vasubandhu are themselves a massive and complex subject. Those philosophies are really hard! Yoga is a lot easier. The Vaibhasika orthodox version was centered in Kashmir, whereas Sautrantika was in Gandhar. And so far, I think we are best off eliminating the "early" consideration of Asanga having lived before Faxian. It seems he was probably born ca. 380, and, either:

lived normally until ca. 450, or

lived quite long until ca. 500 or there were two of him.

On the one hand, Asanga went back to Peshawar, and summoned Vasubandhu there in order to convert him. Both were old at this time, and, Vasubandhu survived him for about ten years. The other version says Asanga stayed at Nalanda.

"This" Vasubandhu must have lived until ca. 500, which in consequence means he must have been extremely old; or, there could have been one really old Asanga and two Vasubandhus.

It is almost funny, because with Nagarjuna, it does mean Sutra Nagarjuna but it essentially means the whole time period of everyone associated with this name. Several people have no problem restating the story that "he" lived 600 years. Most likely it does mean three or maybe four people. Because they are all associated, I just use a rule of thumb that they are of one school without deviations. And we just go along with this. Vasubandhu is for some reason different. He underwent a conversion. But yet there is so much material from him, and, it is almost not the same in any two places.


Commenting AA, Vimuktisena makes frequent reference to Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośaśāstra. Haribhadra says there are other commentaries by Asanga, Vasubandhu, and Bhadantra Vimuktisena, which have not been found. Just on its own, this one book is a four-year degree. Sparham's translation includes the commentaries of Vimuktisena, Haribhadra, and Tsonkhapa.




This whole tangle was drawn to our attention in Theosophy is an unresolved article about Alaya. Now overall it is of course true that most Buddhists accept that around twenty-five of Buddha's closest disciples continue to reincarnate somewhat as a group, which then contains most of the noteworthies such as Padmasambhava, Abhayakara, etc., and in this state affairs, there has always more or less been a type of spoken tantric transmission. HPB places the first Asanga as such a direct disciple of Buddha, and attributes to him some Yogacara books that have never been made public. Then she furiously turns on historical Asanga because:


...he “taught Tantrika worship in addition to the Yogacharya system. Those who sought to make it popular, claimed that he was the same Aryasangha, that had been a follower of Shakyamuni [i.e. Buddha], and that he was 1,000 years old. … one finds in the Yogacharya Bhumi Shastra of the pseudo-Aryasangha a great deal from the older system, into the tenets of which he may have been initiated. It is, however, so mixed up with Sivaism and Tantrika magic and superstitions, that the work defeats its own end, notwithstanding its remarkable dialectical subtilty.”


Is that what we found? A lot of the "new system" is still quite similar to Pali Abhidharma. Wasn't its own end as a kind of constitution of Nalanda Mahavihara? That is true that many tantras are mixed with "miscellaneous rites" and so on, but, in the case of Asanga, there is not much more than "knowledge of visions".


That is extreme, it is like she has eradicated the whole Mahayana and not really provided anything in lieu thereof. I am not sure I understand what she is saying here. She then disposes of Madhyamaka by name:


HPB has referred to them as “the great deniers,” “teaching a system of sophistic nihilism,” and describes their doctrines and conclusions as “exoteric travesties.”


Then quotes theoretical Asanga I vs. a misunderstanding of Nagarjuna:

The “Alaya has an absolute eternal existence,” says Aryasanga – the rival of Nagarjuna.”


The point she is trying to make sounds like Tathhagatagarbha; she uses the synonyms Akash and Prakrti. It does not sound right even compared to normal Asanga.

In other places of her writings, Siva is the deity of the Yogins and Nagarjuna is the One Initiator, so, she has almost perjured herself here by switching them around. If we could articulate "Nagarajuna" as "certain followers of Nagarjuna" and identify the trend, as we have done, then this argument makes sense. Koothoomi said her main problem is that her ideas would be "born tail first", like this seems backwards or mistaken, although what she is trying to get to overall is Tathagatagarbha. Because she was not allowed in tantric inner sanctums, like Xuanzang, maybe this portion was not indicated to her.


The page itself does not express the Yogacara terms very clearly either. Supporting the suggestion that there is "a" Yogacara philosophy which must have done something to us all, the host says:


In the exoteric and publicly known Yogacharya philosophy – which in the eyes of misguided scholars is the only form of the Yogacharya philosophy – the term “Ashta-vijnana” (also found in one of the Master K.H.’s published letters) is used to refer to the total of eight states of consciousness in the human being, the eighth and highest of which is Alaya-vijnana, the source, origin, and substratum of all the others, and which is also considered to be “the receptacle or totality of Consciousness both absolute and relative.”


That is not exactly what it says; in the Mahatma Letters, I think he is saying it is not philosophy, it is a practice:


One must see with his spiritual eye, hear with his Dharmakayic ear, feel with the sensations of his Ashta-vijnyâna (spiritual "I") before he can comprehend this doctrine fully; otherwise it may but increase one's "discomfort," and add to his knowledge very little.


It definitely does not, for one thing, posit Alaya Vijnana as an Eighth Consciousness. He is using a general term in a suggestive way to an English reader who has probably never seen it before. Then as an authority, they rely on him again in a more accurate way on the meanings of Alaya:


...its third meaning is supplied by the Master K.H. when he says that the vision and perception of the great majority of “seers” is “vision imperfect and deceptive because untrained and non-guided by Alaya Vynyana (hidden knowledge).”


Again the context of the letter goes like this:


Deva Chan is a state, not a locality. Rupa Loka, Arupa-Loka, and Kama-Loka are the three spheres of ascending spirituality in which the several groups of subjective entities find their attractions. In the Kama-Loka (semi-physical sphere) dwell the shells, the victims and suicides; and this sphere is divided into innumerable regions and sub-regions corresponding to the mental states of the comers at their hour of death. This is the glorious "Summer-land" of the Spiritualists, to whose horizons is limited the vision of their best seers -- vision imperfect and deceptive because untrained and non-guided by Alaya Vynyana (hidden
knowledge). Who in the West knows anything of true Sahalo-Kadhalu, the mysterious Chiliocosm out of the many regions of which but three can be given out to the outside world, the Tribuvana (three worlds) namely: Kama, Rupa, and Arupa-Lokas. Yet see the sadness produced in the Western minds by the mention of even those three!


He just says that unless you are any good at yoga, you are not going to get out of the Kama Loka. He is not saying that because you can think of a clever and flowery way to describe Alaya that it is going to do anything. He refers to a training and guidance of Alaya, which, is almost any kind of Yogacara. He has not made any statement that implies a sub-school. He has made a pro-Yogacara declaration which almost disregards non-participants. It also has an editorial mistake which you can compare to the original handwriting and find the proper Buddhist expression Saha Loka Dhatu.

By comparison, he was well above and beyond anything that HPB might have merely been given by him. He does indeed have in mind the training of a natural process:


There is one general law of vision (physical and mental or spiritual) but there is a qualifying special law proving that all vision must be determined by the quality or grade of man's spirit and soul, and also by the ability to translate divers qualities of waves of astral light into consciousness. There is but one general law of life, but innumerable laws qualify and determine the myriads of forms perceived and of sounds heard. There are those who are willingly and others who are unwillingly -- blind. Mediums belong to the former, sensitives to the latter. Unless regularly initiated and trained -- concerning the spiritual insight of things and the supposed revelations made unto man in all ages from Socrates down to Swedenborg and "Fern" -- no self-tutored seer or clairaudient ever saw or heard quite correctly.



With respect to which, the actual successors to the Founders of Theosophy were Indians who were taken to Tibet:


The Chohan gave orders that the young Tyotirmoy -- a lad of 14, the son of Babu Nobin Banerjee whom you know -- should be accepted as a pupil in one of our lamaseries near Chamto-Dong about 100 miles off Tchigadze, and his sister, a virgin Yoginn of 18, at the female monastery of Palli.



It almost certainly means Galden Jampaling near Chamdo, a Tson Khapa Maitreya temple, almost to Sichuan, where the weird C. A. Muses Tson Khapa text is from. As to the convent, who knows, it could just be someone's backyard.

As we can see, in this case, the Theosophical article is almost useless in relation to Buddhism. No Buddhist sect worships and praises "the Alaya" as described and never have. Following the most basic Asanga, one could say that it is "used" to establish Lokottara Citta, which *is* such an "object" of veneration. Dismissing Yogacara Bhumi as following "some" of the older tenets is doubly oxymoronic, since Mahayana is not the "older tenets". And she implies that "contemplative Mahayana" or "Bumapa" is the school of original Asanga, but no direct disciple of Buddha could have possibly been a Mahayanist. That is strange that she actually does fairly well on the Three Natures, but cannot say anything useful about the Bodhisattva or Mahayana that might have been different before fifth-century Asanga.

Vasubandhu and the commentarial lineages throw it into a tumult; we agree with her to the extent that "extreme Madhyamaka" and "certain interpretations" of Yogacara are not the things we are trying to follow. Generally I find her very "untrained" with respect to Buddhist Abhidharma and most other technicalities. There is nothing that K. H. has said with respect to Avatamsaka Sutra or anything else, that, in any way, represents any identifiable commentarial tradition. Moreover, by being involved with the Gelug order, they are involved with that which most famously does uphold Prasangika, which she denounced. It would be hard to bring someone into any Gelug assembly when they are going to villify Nagarjuna and accuse everyone of nihilism. She memorized thirty-nine slokas of whatever Voice of the Silence is based on, and, she knew the Tibetan Bijas of the Five Families. She did get some of this experience. But, it does not stack up to something like: Abhisamayalamkara alone is a four-year degree.


Indian teenagers who are immersed in Tibetan institutions are more likely to get that.

It probably is accurate to say that since the 1400s, Geluk-pa probably did have much more of an "international attachment" than any other school, and, it was inscribed in Bihar in 1773 that they had sent an emissary to the Maharaja of Benares, which is my closest guess to where Theosophy came from, especially in terms of searching for someone like HPB to write it. As to the actual inner circle, when KH speaks of being allied to Druze, Copts, and Sikhs--moreso than to others--since time immemorial, that might also tell us more about humanity than it would of Buddhism directly.

There is nothing that says that as a Coptic Christian, you cannot attain mastery of what is usually called astral body, and, a Buddhist could interact with you in what he calls Manomaya Kosa. You could do that, but, the Buddhist is getting the training that KH is talking about.

Buddhist Yoga never made any special claim to Laukika Siddhis. It does however destroy Alaya. This is very clear to me personally, from having a yoga experience that did not arise from Mahayana, even if I have gnosis related to Cessation and Subtle Yoga, I have done almost nothing to affect Skandhas or Alaya beyond the times of meditation. For example the Cidakasa of Kriya Yoga is arguably synonymous to and in some cases the same terms for, yoga experiences, such as Ratnakarasanti's Prakasa. It is the same subject, experience of the subtle body, but still does not have Buddhist training. It does not much change what is being called Ignorance. This is what Morya described India's many fakirs and yogis as being unable to help with; and so the most easily suggestible explanation is this with respect to the Bodhisattva.



HPB sounds a lot like a literal reading of Yogi Chen's Shurungama Sutra. However she said she actually follows Cinnamasta Tantrikas. And it is possible for this to come together with Tsonkhapa in a certain way.

Here is the closest thing I have found which is an off-the-rolls Tsonkhapa commentary past the Rock of Death in Sichuan. The first hint here is that Tsonkhapa is like a crypto-Rime', he is not really even a Gelug, which is reminiscent of the "private retreat of the Panchen Lama" that HPB was involved with. This text starts with:


SEVEN INITIATION RITUALS
AND THE SIX YOGAS OF NĀROPĀ
IN TSONG-KHA-PA'S COMMENTARY








And so by way of familiarity, we would assume it must be the Kalachakra Seven Chela Initiations, but in fact it is not. It is an unusual elongation of Vajra Kilaya:


THE INITIATION RITUAL OF THE FIERCE GURU

—OF THE FIERCE GURU WITH PHURBA

—OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL ONE

—OF HAYAGRIVA BUDDHA

—OF THE RED GSHIN-RJE

—OF AHM GTSUG VAJRAPĀṆI

—OF AMOGHASIDDHI






He calls Guhyagarbha Tantra "the worst sources". On the other hand, he says that Vajra Dakini Tantra is reliable.

He is actually teaching Marpa Kagyu under the inappropriate term "Six Yogas". Interestingly he mentions:

...the (special) instructions bestowed upon Tilopa by the Master Tsarayawa, the Black Practitioner.


It ends with a Mahamudra Vow in a Yogacara manner. There is some criticism.


These Maitreya temple extensions derive from Jampa Gompa or Maitreya Temple of Mustang, Nepal, as studied by Brown University. It has the world's largest mandala collection which is reflected by Tsonkhapa's text. The area is historically Sakya.


I am not sure how that would look to a Gelug. To me it looks kind of ordinary, although interesting to be together like this in one place. It does nothing to distinguish any special Asanga teaching from the time of Buddha. It is almost a Sakya and Kagyu Catechism.


Sanghabhadra mainly wanted to shove Vasubandhu out of the limelight, which he did, but later regretted it and sent a letter of apology. Therefor his counter-point is less relevant, as it was a vendetta, which Vasubandhu said he could have easily refuted. Perhaps the point of studying Sanghabhadra about "existence" was from something else.


"Sublime Science" also has Tsonkhapa's commentary, but it is shifted to the end as an appendix. The introduction is beneficial. It makes the point that Asanga's writings reflect his personal development and that RGV is the peak. It definitely distinguishes a "second sect" of Yogacara. In this, an odd idea probably from Dignaga--"Yogacara that does not accept Alaya Vijnana"--is that fivefold form transforms into Sambhoga Kaya, and the mental consciousness transforms into Nirmana Kaya.

That is so weird that I do not think I would even stack it up for comparative purposes. Some of this sectarianism seems to go so nowhere that I would tend to side with Ratnakarasanti and also call it an Obstruction.

Tsonkhapa calls the Jonangs the same as Hindus, even though multiple passages warn against mistaking Dhatu for Hinduism.


On a historical basis, we are left with an Asanga pre-450 associated with Kumaragupta and Nalanda, and brother Vasubandhu who may have been living into the time of King Baladitya into the 500s. It still sounds a bit plastic and stretchy, but, it could be physically possible.


Unlike most of them, we have really no concern about conversion to, basic principles of, or that much outer information about general Mahayana. As the "verb" meaning the Yoga practice of a Bodhisattva, that is what we are seeking to assess, because it will condition the results based on how you approach it. And so there becomes enormous difficulty in trying to extrude the right view on Parikalpita and Paratantra.


There perhaps are only two Maitreya Yogacara books dealing with the realm of post-conversion:


RGV with Asanga commentary, such as in "Sublime Science"

AA with Vimuktisena and Ratnakarasanti commentaries



It is still Sutra-oriented; in RGV, Asanga relies on Samdhinirmocana and Srimala Devi Sutras primarily.

That consists of the kernel of what we call Yogacara, which, by extension, extends into Yoga Tantra. Rather than this being so heavily buried by several traditions and innumerable texts, it makes more sense to move it forward as introductory, and then, really, just a series of instructions. There is the Dhyanottara or Vajrosnisa on the establishment of divinity, much as we found in Mahayanasamgraha, and then the Six Yogas--accurately named--Sadanga Yoga, such as taught by Nyan's Tara.

At that point is a pretty clear boundary of the state of Dharani or ability to do Sadhana, or the Fifth Yoga, Smrti. Rather than multiple years of scripture and philosophy, this is multiple years of yoga practice. If modern persons are willing to accept the moral qualities of Mahayana and its general teaching, then, they should next see it is a "verb" and not simply a description. If you do not try to enter the Vijnapti Matrata, you are not really doing it.

That is why we need a crisp version of Vijnapti Matrata since it requires Paratantra.

Tentatively, it appears the sharpest continuity is probably Asanga --> Ratnakarasanti --> H. E. III Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. I am not sure if that will really bear out. On a broader scale, one would have to compare Go Lotsawa's roughly sixteen RGV traditions as known in the 1400s, with the expansion of multiple Maitreya temples, in the 1400s. Then we are going more into anthropology. There has to be a central standard before we could pose it any challenges, such as whether Dolpopa might have improved on it. Or whether Vasubandhu and ensuing derivative works are mostly unnecessary distractions.

That would be, perhaps, Sutra Yoga as related to Dhyana of Kashmir, to be followed by Dhyanottara or roughly the explanation of the Second Yoga of the tantric Yoga system, the Kriya--Chara Instructions of "outer tantras".

[shaberon]

Posted by Carlitos (here)
Shall be delving deeper.

~ humble aspirant

Thank you.

I am just trying to put together a trail which appears to be related to, but in many cases is not the same as, most mainstream information. And then in some cases, I see for example that over fifteen years were spent in the translation of Charya Melapaka Pradipa, by the end of which, the translator admits no ability in actually practicing the material.

I am going to agree that this is one of the most informative and powerful yoga books ever written and then suggest that it should be much easier for anyone to get working safely for them.

The recent posts have been based around Asanga, who clearly says that reading and processing Mahayana Sutras is the foundation of yoga. And from that point, I would say there is a fairly straightforward series of "stages", which unfortunately gets incredibly confusing due to the diversity of texts and schools. This is the part I understand. I do not know much about most Sutras and Jataka Tales and so forth, but, I do understand the parts of the yoga series and technical terms for experiences that are described as incomprehensible and difficult for most people.

The yoga is not a theory, it is a fact, in an almost medical sense.

Being able to streamline some information which can, for example, "make CMP work for us", is still a relatively new capability, but, I would like it to become more accessible and less confusing.


Namaste'

[cannawizard]

great thread, lots of info to absorb~

[shaberon]

Posted by cannawizard (here)
great thread, lots of info to absorb~

If anything, I have difficulty in knowing how to "index" it properly. I only kind of know this stuff like a sphere, and I am not really sure where the "beginning" is. So if it seems like there might be any better way to organize it, let me know. I see that by now what I call an "index" is over a 100 things, although there is some repetition. What I have found to be most useful is the browser's "find on page".

That is really the double reason for migrating texts off of defective scans, unsearchable pdfs, and so forth, and trying to push it back to Sanskrit with fairly standard forms for the words. The Japanese are doing us a million favors like this. And we can see the same thing in a lot of "traditional Mahayana" countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, etc., a very strong interest in pursuing original Sanskrit. None of their languages are even related to it. Some of the mantra videos have up to six languages at once for the lyric text.

There is another consequence which, for example, keeps me off of specifically Buddhist forums. When we consider the Sanskrit, then all of a sudden, a great deal of Buddhism is heavily related to the Indian Puranas and so forth. Subsequently, what Buddha did was just a certain modification to the practices of his personal background, which was heavily characterized by Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Nepal lacks any difficulty in co-mingling its Buddhism with "Hinduism". Moreover, they never had "plain Mahayana" because the only "kind" of Buddhism they have is tantric or Vajrayana, which is displayed everywhere in public.

Nepal was not over-run by the Mughals in the 1200s. Most medieval warriors, even the Huns, would usually deal with messengers of any religion and possibly agree to offer support. The Mughuls were shocking in that they were not known for participating in any philosophical discussions. They looked at monasteries as potential stockades, and either occupied or wrecked them. Shortly before this happening, it turns out that there certainly was something like "a system", commented on a Sutra and partial tantra basis by Ratnakarasanti (ca. 1050); who was one of the main instructors of the much more famous Abhayakaragupta (ca. 1100), who composed multiple "sadhana systems" of spiritual practices. It is really his Sadhanamala that we would think of as containing some things that a person can "do". But then since we know what is in the Highest Yoga Tantra system, it all meshes in to the so-called Hindu Agni. Ratnakarasanti trained under the more famous Naropa. Abhayakara is considered by the Tibetans to be in the reincarnation line of Amitabha as Disciple Subhuti and eventually the Panchen Lamas.

As you can imagine, this was all "simultaneously overlaid" in Nepal, whereas, what is in Tibet is bits and pieces which turned into almost a flood after the Mughuls. Agni ritual is Hindu and used all the time. However Buddha spoke of something called Inner Homa. So it is yoga. The result is a compound sadhana, which, shall we say, consists of "your Buddhist tantra" leading into a practice of Puranic Varuni and Agni done in a Buddhist manner.

The system and especially in Nepal will turn around and say that the most obvious thing that makes it Buddhist is that it starts with Vajrasattva.



It happens to be compatible with regular Green Tara who has been promoted in the west, for, quite some time. Because of this, I, personally, have trained in the Ngondro or basics with Vajrasattva, Guru Yoga, and Green Tara from way back. In turn, I am willing to say: this does exactly what it says it does.

It is only one subject, which is an attempt to emulate the yoga that Buddha performed which is generally called "Enlightenment". But in our basic Sutra it is called Bodhi, and, moreover, in terms of Mahayana, it is called Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, something like "Complete Manifest Buddha".

As soon as any of this is misinterpreted as being about money, special powers like being able to pass through walls, or love potions, it quits working.

I am coming at this something like the famous Matsyendra, a Nath Buddhist. He had accomplished Nath in Assam and then went to Nepal for Mahayana Buddhism. The first is, indeed, perhaps semi-spiritual and does activate the subtle body, but, Mahayana is what is here being called "spiritual" and I was not looking at this properly before. There is a difference between Mahayana and that yoga which is done by the "energy of the centers".

I just learned that it is meant to be combined with all the "regular knowledge" you can absorb. It makes sense, and, I do this anyway, but I did not know that it said that. Then when it shifts to its particularly Buddhist knowledge, it means yoga or meditation experience. To many people that might seem like a few minutes of breath awareness and mindfulness. The Buddhist Yoga, rather, gets bigger and bigger, taking a massive infusion of Mahayana principles and mixing them with mantras and syllables and so forth. And so we are looking for that way to keep it on the easy side where anyone can sit at home and as long as they spend some time with it on a regular basis, it builds in a guided way. Mix of learning and practice. Pretty much at one's own pace and according to one's merit.

[shaberon]

Yogacara Abhidharma



We have been able to collect multiple versions of how the Three Natures work, which is somewhat undesirable. As Yogacara, we are bound to refute positions on the Ultimate Nature that are limited to Cessation or to the non-existence of something. We have to show it as a special kind of purified consciousness which is also conjoined to the manifestation of Perfection.

That is not very hard to do. But it is much more difficult to properly describe the Imaginary or Parikalpita and the Other-Dependent or Paratantra in terms of their components and what goes on with them. This is probably more important, since, the Ultimate simply is whatever it is, whereas the Two Natures consist of the whole practice of entering and returning from it.


So it is a matter of determining Parikalpita and Paratantra and how they are said to correspond with the Skandhas and Ayatanas. What I am not seeing is much use of Asta Vijnana. When we put together Asanga, Ratnakarasanti, and Rangjung Dorje, we do not quite get any famous system of Eight Consciousnesses. In essence, these three are all mainly based in the same thing, Maitreya and Nagarjuna. Their Abhidharma systems are quite close, but, there may be differences. We will get to them after just a couple of prior examples.



Firstly, there is a certain set of Five Dharmas distributed among the Three Natures, in different patterns as found in our notes from Bhaviveka. These categories are not familiar to me from sadhanas or tantras, but, they are criteria from the Sutras:


nimitta "cause", naman "name", vikalpa "imagination", samyagjnana "right
cognition", and tathata "thusness", which was differently interpreted
even in Yogacara's works. For instance,

(1) both the Yogacarabhumi (YBh) and the XSh attribute the first four categories to the paratantra-svabhava "the other-dependent nature" and the last, tathata, to the parinispanna-svabhava "the perfected nature".

(2) The MV (Bh), on the other hand, refers naman to the parikalpita-svabhava "the imaginary
nature", nimitta and vikalpa to the paratantra-svabhava, and samyagjnana
and tathata to the parinispanna-svabhava.

(3) The Lankavatara-sutra (LA) attributes both nimitta and naman to the parikalpita-svabhava, vikalpa to
the paratantra-svabhava, and samyagjnana and tathata to the parinispannasvabhava.

Bhaviveka criticizes Yogacara's attribution of naman to the parikalpita-svabhava. This attribution of naman corresponds with that found in MV (Bh) and LA, but not in YBh or XSh.


Ok. Yogacarabhumi ignored the Parikalpita. This is a pre-Asanga text, probably treated in his early stages of commenting, and the most exoteric or mass distributed kind. MV Bh could be Maitreya, Asanga, Vasubandhu, or all three, at least willing to say the Parikalpita has something, which is Naman or Name. This signifies idea--concept--word as the designation for unreal mental processes. Without taking this to task, part of the issue is that Nimitta does mean "cause" in a non-Buddhist usage, but, even in Pali, it means a sign or image. So chances are that none of these interpretations are 1 : 1 because they define the components differently.





Three Natures and Seven Minds


There was a Fa Tsang of the 500s perhaps more like Paramartha. I may have confused him with Faxian of the 400s. This doctrine within the first Chinese Yogacara is notable for being a School of Seven Minds. It may not quite be identical to the Indian kind, but, it is another early sample which does not use "an eighth consciousness". Again the main idea here is that man has seven active principles of consciousness, and the Alaya Vijnana just means the total, the whole individual mental unit, or the sentient being. It is the twin, mutual to, ordinary waking consciousness called Pravrtti. Alaya Vijnana is its back half, in the sense of being, more or less, its already-established karma and habit-energy, in a generally sub-conscious zone.

Some of the worst parts of the Seventh Mind is that it believes in Alaya Vijnana especially as an identity. The Seventh Mind is the experience of continuity, which gives an animated feel to cittas, which arise and expire every moment. The teaching says it has never occurred to a sentient being that this is a false application of continuity. We are going to break that and reverse its polarity.


This Chinese classification of Seven Minds is related to Lankavatara Sutra:




Material in the Shih-ti lun i-shu has
not been thoroughly analyzed by contemporary Buddhologists
in their reconstructions of the Southern Ti-lun branch of Bud¬
dhist doctrine. It has been established, however, that the school
of Southern Ti-lun asserts that the support for all experiences of
phenomena is reality as it is (tathata), termed Suchness, and is
based in part upon Gunabhadra's translation of the Lankavatara.
Fa-shang described seven kinds of "evolutions of conscious¬
ness" (shih chuan) suggesting a theory of seven consciousnesses
in his commentary, Shih-ti lun i-shu :

The Dharma Body is the body of the Dharma Nature (fa-hsing).

Mind ( hsin ) is [the name for] the seventh state or mind. Ideation (i) is the
sixth state or ideation. Consciousness (shih) is [the name for] the five
states of consciousness. Therefore, the Lankavatara-sutra states: "Mind
is the chief collator. Ideation broadly collates. The phenomenal, acting
states of consciousness ( hsien-shih ; khyati ?) discriminate in five ways...

The "conditioned" ( paratantra ) refers to the seventh state, the
alaya-vijnana, which is the foundation (pen) for samsara. "False concep¬
tualization" ( parikalpita ) refers to the six states of consciousness (shih)
and mind (hsin), falsely generating discriminations that become at¬
tached to six sorts of sense data (ch'en). "Suchness" refers to the abso¬
lute truth of the Buddha Nature, supreme Emptiness. These three are
understood as having different names but the same aspect .


What he said was that the Sixth Consciousness contains the Parikalpita. That part does not quite resemble Mahamudra and other doctrines. He calls the Seventh Consciousness Alaya Vijnana and Paratantra, which, generally elsewhere, is called Klista Manas. Then he fails to have any reason to make anything eighth.


His system perhaps is mostly conditioned by Lankavatara Sutra which has:


Imagination or Parikalpita nested in the Sixth Mind which is Manas and Manovijnana.

In this style, "Citta" is a synonym for Alaya Vijnana. This is somewhat correct, but, blurs Asanga's distinction of Citta pertaining to the moments of interrupting Alaya Vijnana. The Sutra uses at least four synonyms for Parikalpita. So it is bulky and unwieldy. Even so, we can find it getting at something like a "Mind of Seven Minds":


102. They are neither different nor not-different: the
relation is like that between the ocean and its waves. So are
the seven Vijnanas joined with the Citta (mind).

As to the other seven Vijnanas beginning with the
Manas and Manovijnana, they have their rise and complete
ending from moment to moment; they are born with false
discrimination as cause, and with forms and appearances
and objectivity as conditions which are intimately linked
together.


In practice, it equates Alaya Vijnana with Tathagatagarbha:


[But] when a revulsion [or turning-back] has not taken
place in the Alayavijnana known under the name of Tatha-
gata-garbha, there is no cessation of the seven evolving
Vijnanas. Why? Because the evolution of the Vijnanas is
depending on this cause; but this does not belong to the
realm of the Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and those who are
disciplining themselves in the exercises of the philosophers.
As they [only] know the egolessness of the self-soul, as they
[only] accept the individuality and generality of the
Skandhas, Dhatus, and Ayatanas, there is the evolving of
the Tathagata-garbha. When an insight into the five
Dharmas, the three Svabhavas, and the egolessness of all
things is obtained, the Tathagata-garbha becomes quiescent.
By causing a revulsion in the continuous development of
the graded stages, [the Bodhisattva] may not be led astray
in the path [of enlightenment] by those philosophers who
hold different views. Thus establishing himself at the
Bodhisattva stage of Acala (immovable), he obtains
the paths leading to the happiness of the ten Samadhis.


...this, Mahamati, was told by me in the canonical text
relating to Queen Srimala, and in another where the
Bodhisattvas, endowed with subtle, fine, pure knowledge, are
supported [by my spiritual powers]—that the Tathagata-
garbha known as Alayavijnana evolves together with the
seven Vijnanas. This is meant for the Sravakas who are
not free from attachment, to make them see into the egoless-
ness of things; and for Queen Srimala to whom the Buddha’s
spiritual power was added, the [pure] realm of Tathagata-
hood was expounded. This does not belong to the realm of
speculation as it is carried on by the Sravakas, Pratyeka-
buddhas, and other philosophers, except, Mahamati, that this
realm of Tathagatahood which is the realm of the Tathagata-
garbha-Alayavijnana is meant for those Bodhisattva-Maha-
sattvas who like you are endowed with subtle, fine, penetra-
ting thought-power and whose understanding is in accordance
with the meaning...

So it is said:

1. The Garbha of the Tathagatas is indeed united with
the seven Vijnanas; when this is adhered to, there arises
duality, but when rightly understood, duality ceases.




Of these, name and appearance [nimitta] are
known as the Parikalpita [false imagination]. Then, Maha-
mati, discrimination [samkalpa] which rises depending upon them, is
the notion of an ego-soul and what belongs to it,—the notion
and the discrimination are of simultaneous occurrence, like
the rising of the sun and its rays. Mahamati, the dis-
crimination thus supporting the notion of self-nature which
subsists in the multiplicities of objects, is called the Para-
tantra [dependence on another]. Right knowledge [samyagjnana] and
suchness [tathata], Mahamati, are indestructible, and thus they are
known as Parinishpanna [perfect knowledge}.



529. When the Parikalpita is thoroughly understood
[as to its nature], the Paratantra is not born; when the
Paratantra is understood, the Parikalpita becomes suchness.


687. General discrimination belongs to the Citta,
imagination to the Manas, and particular discrimination to
the Manovijnana...



So, there is visibly a Lankavatara and early Chinese Yogacara doctrine which equates Parikalpita to Sixth Mind, Manas and Manovijnana, which itself becomes Suchness. Lankavatara uses the phrase Citta Matra but not as Samadhi Object or Image of Meditation as Asanga does. It tends to speak generally about all objects without referring to meditative practice much. Its "image" is "nimitta", so, it is not speaking the same way as "nimitta = cause".


Well, when we go to Asanga's Yogacara, it turns out that the Lankavatara is barely used if it is used at all.


And so we are going to try to track the Yogacara doctrines at three times, from Asanga, to Ratnakarasanti, to Rangjung Dorje. Both of these latter two essentially intend to place Asanga at the forefront of their doctrines. Both of them also take "correct Nagarjuna--Madhyamaka" as being an integral part. I do not know how many commentators might claim such a central focus on Asanga, but, those two justify it fairly directly. By making a comparison, we will see how much continuity and what changes there may be.

The mistake of Alaya Vijnana as Ultimate Reality is attributed to "many Buddhologists", such as E. J. Thomas, History of Buddhist Thought, 1933. This disregards the explanations of Asanga, Vasubandhu, and Sthiramati. I am not sure if anyone in the east ever made this particular mistake. Evidently, because so much time is spent describing it as the cause if not ruler of mundane consciousness, it sounds powerful and so people want to associate it with the Mahat or World Soul or something. But it is a whole lot closer to the Sutra subject of Dependent Origination. More like an ongoing blasphemic curse against transcendental reality.





Asanga

History of Logic 1909 shows some fair estimates for the careers of Asanga and Vasubandhu, ca. 450 and 480. This reasonable Indian estimate is soon overturned by the superior opinions of scholars who saw that Vikramaditya was the title of Chandragupta I, and most of the twentieth century was spent nurturing a 300s Asanga idea, which appears to have been a waste of time.



Alaya Vijnana was not related to the Knower, but, to the Knowable, and what Yogacara calls the Three Natures, are not really "of the mind", but of the Knowable:


ii. The natures of the knowable: namely, the three natures, imaginary ( parikalpita ),
dependent ( paratantra ) and absolute ( parinispanna ).

iii. Entry into the natures of the knowable: this is the way or the means
of entering, namely, Concept-Only ( vijnaptimatrata ).


Here, we are somewhat readily told that Paratantra is the yoga practice of Vijnapti Matrata:



Thus, by entering into the mental speech ( manojalpa ) which is the apparent
object ( nirbhasarthalaksana ), the bodhisattva has entered into the imaginary
nature (parikalpitasvabhava ); by entering into Concept-Only ( vijnaptimatra ), he
has entered into the dependent nature ( paratantrasvabhava ); how does he enter
into the absolute nature (parinispannasvabhava) ? - He enters by abandoning
( nirakarana ) even the notion of Concept-Only (vijnaptimatrasamjna) .

When the bodhisattva abides in name-without-
concept in regard to all objects ( sarvarthesu nirvikalpakanama), when he abides
in the fundamental element ( dharmadhatu ) by means of direct perception
(pratyaksayogena), then he attains the nonconceptual knowledge
( nirvikalpakajnana ) in which the object ( alambana ) and the subject of
consciousness ( alambaka ) are completely identical ( samasama ). This is how the
bodhisattva enters into the absolute nature.

Thus this bodhisattva, by entering into Concept-Only ( vijnaptimatrata ), has
entered into the natures of the knowable ( jneyalaksana ). By means of this entry,
he has entered into the first bhumi, the Joyous (pramudita ), he penetrates
thoroughly ( supravidhyati ) the fundamental element ( dharmadhatu ), he is born
into the family of the Tathagatas ( tathagatagotra ), he acquires the mind of
equality ( samatacitta ) in regard to all beings ( sattva ), in regard to all the
bodhisattvas and in regard to all the Buddhas. Such is the path of seeing
(darsanamarga).

Again, for what reason does he enter into Concept-Only ( vijnaptimatra )? By
means of a supramundane ( lokottara ) cognition of tranquility and discernment
(samata vipasyanajnana) concerning mixed dharmas (samsrstadharmalamhaka),
by a subsequent cognition (prsthalabdhajnana) of every type of concept
(nanavijnapti) , cutting (prahanya ) all the seeds (bija) of the store-consciousness
with their images ( sanimitta ), the bodhisattva cultivates the seed of contact
( sparsabija ) with the dharmadhatu. Transforming his support (paravrtt asraya ),
securing all the attributes of the Buddha ( buddhadharma ), he attains
omniscience ( sarvajnajnana ): for this reason he enters into Concept-Only.



Asanga says that Mental Speech is Parikalpita, and that Vijnapti Matrata is Paratantra, which is the Gotra and the Dhatu, the precious spiritual concern of Ratnakarasanti and Triyana.


Mahayana-samgraha 11.2 says that the paratantra-laksana is
'the locus for the manifestation (abhasasraya) of nonexistent (asat) and
illusory objects (bhranta-artha)'. Alayavijnana is described as the 'locus
of the knowable (jneyasraya)'.




In Mahayanasamgraha Chapter Two, Asanga is not talking about the Asta Vijnana system. He is speaking in reference to the Ayatana system of six members. Nevertheless, it sounds almost the same, because it does account for Klista Manas by smuggling it in a suitcase as an aspect of Manas:



2. What is the dependent nature {paratantralaksana)? It is the concepts ( vijnapti )
that have the store-consciousness as seed ( bija ) and that pertain to ( samgrhita )
erroneous imagination (abhutaparikalpa). What are these concepts?

i) - iii) dehadehibhoktrvijnapti : the concept of the body (five sense organs), of
the possessor of the body (klistam manas) and of the enjoyer (manodhatu).


dehadehibohoktrvijnapti: “deha is the five dhatus, eye, etc.; dehin is the
klistamanas; bhoktr is the manodhatu.” (Bh) - As will be seen below (§ 5), these are the
six internal elements ( adhyatmikadhatu ), eye, etc. Among them, the manodhatu, the
support of the five consciousnesses, visual consciousness, etc., is called dehivijnapti. The
manodhatu, the support of the sixth consciousness or mental consciousness
(manovijnana) is called bhoktrvijnapti .” (U)


Asanga is not trying to answer about the Asta Vijnana, and mainly distinguishes the three mental levels:

...(citta), manas and consciousness ( vijnana )."

which the translator takes as:


Mano represents intellectual functioning of
consciousness, while Vinana represents the field of sense and sense-reaction
(“perception”) and Citta the subjective aspect of consciousness.


Manas as the sixth principle is said to have its first role in re-building the moments through Alaya Vijnana, and:

manas is twofold ( dvividha )...

The second is the afflicted manas ( klistamanas ), always associated
(samprayukta) with the four afflictions ( klesa ), i.e., wrong view of the self
( satkayadrsti ), pride of the self ( asmimana ), attachment to the self
( atmasneha ) and ignorance ( avidya ). It is the support of the defilements
(samklesa) of the consciousnesses {vijnana).

The consciousnesses arise because of the first manas as support; the second one
is defilement.

Asanga distinguished two manas: the manodhatu of the Lesser Vehicle, also called mana-
ayatana or mana-indriya (cf. Kosa, I, p. 31-33) and the klistamanas. The latter is studied
in Trimsika, p. 22-23 and Siddhi, p. 225-274.


So, perhaps owing to the lack of a seventh element, he concludes that Klista Manas is a specialized function of Manas. The Manas is mainly involved in pushing Concepts, supporting the momentary impulses through the sensory vijnanas and so on. However, there is a discernible resilience of this Klista Manas that just won't stop--Addiction--which survives even if you do that yoga which punches normal Manas out of function, leaving the body mindless:


The asamjnins are unaware because they lack
any active consciousness ( pravrttijnana ), but they retain a seventh consciousness, the
klistamanas, always associated with belief in a self: Yogacara therory.


And so it is pretty much left at that, and, is not really presented in Mahayanasamgraha as a seventh consciousness.


This is part of an important point about the Nine Samapattis, and he is trying to say they are not really doing the Buddhist Ninth Samapatti, which is not simply non-conceptualization. The cessation of concepts takes place in a prior samapatti:

the nirodhasamapatti would be reduced to a simple
interruption of conceptualization ( samjnasamuccheda-matra ), which is
erroneous because another mental stabilization ( samadhi , namely, the
asamjnisamapatti) has this power (prabhava ).


they differ by the presence of the klistamanas in the
asamjnisamapatti and its absence in the nirodhasamapatti


The term he is using, Asamjnasamapatti, is a nuance of non-discrimination in Prajnaparamita. It is studied at length in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa.

Asaṃjñika (असंज्ञिक):—[=a-saṃjñika] [from a-saṃjña] n. unconsciousness, ecstatic state, [Divyāvadāna]

(In Divyāvadāna, this state is deliberately induced by dhyāna.)


Non-perception is similar to the ninth dhyana, but, is a prior attainment in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa:

The same for the non-conscious absorption. In the Fourth Dhyāna.


Its discussion is steered too far into "two absorptions", Asamjni and Nirodha, which is difficult because there are nine. The Nine have different naming conventions which may reflect "spheres" rather than the concentration or cessation itself. The package of nine is briefly summarized, and, the important distinction between "the two" is perhaps better in Asanga's Abhidharma Samuccaya:


[2] the attainment of nonperception (asamjni-samapatti), [3] the attainment of cessation
(nirodhasamapatti),

« [2] What is the attainment of non-perception (asamjnisamdpatti)? It is a designation indicating the cessation (nirodha)
of the unstable mind and mental activities (asthavaranam cittacaitasikanam) by means of attention (manasikara) preceded by
the perception of release (nihsaranasamjna) in a person who is
free from craving (vltaraga) in the "wholly pure" state (subhakrtsna), but who is not yet free from the craving beyond that.

« [3] What is the attainment of cessation (nirodhasamapatti)?
It is a designation indicating the cessation of the unstable mind
and mental activities by means of attention preceded by the perception of a state of peace (santavihara) in a person free from
craving in "the sphere of nothingness" (akincanyayatana) and
who is emerging from the "summit of existence" (bhavagra).


So there is a heavy underlying premise that most spiritual seekers are going to rest in non-perception of the Fourth Dhyana, which is not the way of the Bodhisattva, because it only temporarily suppresses Klista Manas. The idea that only the Bodhisattva successfully penetrates the higher Dhyanas is in Prajnaparamita:


To define them, the Pāli and Sanskrit texts (df. Dīgha, III, p. 265–266; Anguttara, IV, p. 410–414; Śatsāhasrikā, p. 1445–1446) repeat the words of the old Dhyānasūtra, the text of which has been given above, p. 1024F. Dīgha, III, p. 266, and Anguttara, IV, p. 410–414, explain that these nine absorptions are acquired by nine successive cessations (nirodha) eliminating in turn: 1) bad desires (kāma), 2) investigation and analysis (vitarkavicāra), 3) joy (prīti), 4) inhalation and exhalation (āśvāsapraśvāsa) or indifference and happiness (upekṣāsukha), 5) the concept of substance (rūpasaṃjñā), 6) the notion of infinite space (ākāśānanatāyatana), 7) the concept of infinite consciousness (vijñānānantyāyatana), 8) the concept of nothing at all (ākiṃcanyāyatana), 9) the concept of neither identification nor non-identification (naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana) and finally, all concept (saṃjñā) and sensation (vedanā).

Moreover, [the successive absorptions] are acquired by the āryas only, and their great benefits are not found in the samānantaka ‘threshold absorptions’: this is why the latter are not ‘successive’ (anupūrva).


Asanga has made a significant point about a simple termination of mentation, versus the same in the hands of Mahayana.



Back to Mahayanasamgraha, we do not find much recognition of Asta Vijnana or Eight Consciousnesses. Except we do see it slipped in, interpretively, via the commentary, whereas the verse says nothing of the sort:


Chapter X calls the Svabhavikakaya the basis of sovereignty, and, the Dharmakaya achieves sovereignty. Contact and development of the Dharmakaya performs Asraya Paravrtti.

5. By how many masteries (vibhutva) does the dharmakaya acquire sovereignty?
In brief (samasatah), it acquires it in five ways (pancavidha)...


Here, he gets to the actual face of tantric Buddhism, that is, going against the Skandhas:



v) By the transformation of the consciousness aggregate
(vijnanaskandhaparavritti), it acquires sovereignty over the mirror-like
knowledge ( adarsajnana ), the knowledge of sameness ( samatajnana ), the
knowledge of contemplation (pratyaveksanajnana ) and the knowledge of the
accomplishment of what had to be done ( krtyanusthana-jnana ).


Commentary:

v) By means of the transformation of the eightfold consciousness aggregate, store-
consciousness ( alayavijnana ), etc., it acquires the four marvelous knowledges: the
mirror-cognition, etc...


Here, the difference from the previous section is that it is not dealing with Ayatanas, it is Skandhas. In that case, we have to assess what Vijnana Skandha is. From the view of the Skandhas, Form or Rupa Skandha means the entire bundle of sensory vijnanas. Vijnana Skandha is more like Manas and Manovijnana, or contains all six of the Ayatana Consciousnesses.


This is not a bad chart showing how Rupa gathers the ordinary senses, and is somewhat pulled into Vijnana Skandha, which in the lateral direction, collects the mental equivalent of everything. And then in a sort of vertical parentage view, it normally proceeds through the activity of the other Nama or mental-only Skandhas:








It also shows something like a purified Vijnana Skandha can sort of truck through to the other side, where the same Ayatanas could be used to perceive unconditioned phenomena. Regardless of similarity to Asta Vijnana vocabulary, it is this arrangement that Asanga is talking about here. This is important, since the Skandhas *are* a specifically-Buddhist teaching, but, they are not separated from any general objective view of the mind and senses.


For the most part, he uses the more familiar Ayatana terminology, which just has the sixth principle of Manas, which is understood to have a persistent Klista Manas not counted as a distinct principle. From this view, he states that Manas is Parikalpita:



Imagination is the mental consciousness ( manovijnana ) because it is
furnished with conceptions ( savikalpaka ). It has its own speech propensities
(svabhilapavasana) as seed...

The thing imagined is the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhava )

the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhava ) is the concept-only
( vijnaptimatra ) basis of the object ( arthabhasasraya)



Mahayanasamgraha II.29:


29. In the Abhidharmasutra, the Bhagavat said: “There are three dharmas: that
which is part of defilement ( samklesabhagapartita ), that which is included in
purity (vyavadanabhagapatita) and that which is included in both
( tadubhayabhagapcitita ). What did he mean {kim samdhaya ) by speaking in this
way?

i) The imaginary nature ( parikalpitasvabhava ) which occurs in the dependent
nature (paratantrasvabhava ) falls into the defilement part.

ii) The absolute nature ( parinispannasvabhava ) which occurs in the
dependent nature falls into the purity part.

iii) As for the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhava ), it falls into both parts.

It was with this intention that the Bhagavat spoke thus.

Is there an example (drstanta) for this? The example of gold-bearing clay (sa
khon na gser yod pa = kancanagarbha mrttika, Mahavyut. 7650). Thus, in gold-
bearing clay, three things are noticed ( upalabhyate ): the earth element
( prthividhatu ), the earth (prthivi) and the gold (kancana). In the earth
element, the earth, which is not there, is seen (upalabhyate), whereas the gold,
which is there, is not seen. When one has burned (dah-) the earth element by
means of lire (agni), the earth does not appear, whereas the gold appears.

The earth element, when it appears as earth, has a false appearance
(mithyabhasa); when it appears as gold, it has a true appearance
(tattvabhasa). Consequently, the earth element falls into both parts [both the
earth and the gold]. Similarly, when one has not burned concept (vijnapti) by
the fire of nonconceptual wisdom, the false imaginary nature
(abhutaparikalpitasvabhava) contained in this concept appears, whereas the
true absolute nature ( bhutaparinispannasvabhava ) does not appear. When
one has burned concept by the fire of nonconceptual wisdom
(nirvikalpakajnana), the true absolute nature contained in this concept
appears, while the false imaginary nature does not appear. Consequently, the
dependent nature which consists as idea to wrong mental construction
{abhutaparikapa vijnapti) is included in both parts [participates in both
defilement and purity] and is similar to the earth element in the gold-bearing
clay.

30. In some places (e.g., in the Lankavatara, p. 115-116), the Bhagavat said that all
dharmas are eternal ( nitya ); elsewhere he said that they are transitory ( anitya ),
and yet elsewhere he said that they are neither eternal nor transitory. What was
his intention (kim samdhaya) in proclaiming them to be eternal? - The dependent
nature (paratantrasvabhava ) is eternal in its absolute part (parinispannabhaga ),
transitory in its imaginary part {parikalpitabhaga ), neither eternal nor transitory
in its two parts together. It was with this intention that the Bhagavat spoke in
this way.

Commentary:

“In some places the Bhagavat said that all dharmas are eternal, etc.: The paratantra, in
its dhannata or tathata, is eternal: in its mentally constructed part, it is transitory because
it does not have eternity. That which is not eternal is called transitory and not that which
has birth and cessation ( utpadanirodha ). In its two parts together, the paratantra is neither
eternal nor transitory: this is the fact of being neither one nor the other ( advayatva ).
Happiness ( sukha ) is the absolute part of the paratantra; sadness ( duhkha ) is the
imaginary part; their advaya is the paratantra itself, and so on.”


Paratantra has two modes of operation:

...dependence in respect to the propensity seeds (vasanabija), and dependence
consisting of a fundamental non-differentiation ( svabhavaparinispanna ) in
regard to defilement (samklesa) and purification (vyavadana).


For the Madhyantavibhanga, p. 16-17, the [alaya] vijnana arises in a threefold appearance:
arthasattvapratibhava ( = alayavijnanam sasamprayogam), atmapratibhasa ( = klistam
manah sasamprayogam), vijnaptipratibhasa ( = sasamprayogam caksurjnanadisatkam).



So far, I cannot force him to say that there are Seven Vijnanas that plainly. If we consider how he does, however, distinguish Klista Manas as a very subtle and un-stoppable manas that can only be overcome by a Bodhisattva, that gives a lot of momentum to dredging it out of the depths so we can follow this more clearly. If he just said that the Sixth Sense of Manas forms concepts, can be stopped by meditation, and can even lead to liberation, then the lesser vehicles or Sravaka and Hinayana Buddhism are unable to provide anything you could not get in Adwaita or other practices. In other words, he had used Hinayana training to learn about the Samapattis and Emptiness and so forth, and it was this that he was unsatisfied by, leading to a pilgrimage where he was trying to get a better explanation and practice using his own powers of Dhyana to get it.







Ratnakarasanti


His "system", in simple terms, seems pretty much the same as Asanga's:


Thus, there are two awarenesses, [i.e.] the
mundane awareness and the transmundane awareness. Under the
[rubric of] mundane awareness, there is the impure mundane awareness and the pure mundane awareness. This system is Nirākāra.


However he also teaches Parikalpita at the tantric level:


Mahamaya Tantra Gunavati Tika Samhita

vajraḍākinyaḥ parikalpitabandhanān


If you get what that means, all you have to do is search this thread for how Vajradakini emanates, and you will become able to penetrate all of this flawlessly. Maitreya is a type of Yidam that you would have to select and associate with. Vajradakini is a universal factor to those who perform gnosis.

Sutra Samuccaya Bhasya, the disputed work which is probably not by him, does use a considerable amount of Lankavatara Sutra mixed with RGV.


A fair amount of his Three Natures discussion is in the Saratama thesis:



Ratnākaraśānti generally follows a Nirākāravādin interpretation of the three natures based on
Triṃśikā and Madhyāntavibhāga and argues against the Sākāravādin position.


For Parikalpita:


That nature which mental chatter (manojalpa) fabricates (kalpita) by
conflating (saṃsargeṇa) phenomena with names is the imagined
nature of those phenomena, since they are unreal (asattva) in the way
that they are perceived (yathālakṣaṇam)...


it contains:

...the grasped and the grasper, are just aspects of ordinary
sentient beings’ own cognitive images (ākāra) that arise due to beginningless latent
impressions (vāsanā) within their mindstream. The grasped aspect of the cognitive
images does not correspond to any external reality whatsoever and hence, the grasping aspect, which depends on there being something grasped, is just a figment of the
imagination. For this reason, Ratnākaraśānti’s Nirākāravādin school holds these
cognitive images themselves to be unreal or false.


Paratantra:

But [it] does
not arise when those [latent impressions of fixation] are eliminated.
That nature of all phenomena is [said to be] dependent, because it is
“dependent” (adhīna) on causes and conditions (pratyaya).

In Ratnākaraśānti’s system, even though the cognitive images are false, there is
something real underlying them, namely the dependent nature, which is the
consciousness that arises in the form of false cognitive images, i.e. a grasper and a
grasped.

This consciousness is the nature of all phenomena.

When the latent impressions of fixation are eliminated, consciousness ceases to
appear with the cognitive images of the grasper and grasped.
Ratnākaraśānti goes on to explain the freedom from those cognitive images as the truly established nature.

Ratnākaraśānti’s description of the dependent nature differs from the Sākāravādin interpretation in
which a purified nonconceptual form of both consciousness and cognitive images (ākāra) remain after
the latent impressions are eliminated, because they are not separable from one another. It also differs
from the gZhan-stong interpretation of the three natures and shows that Ratnākaraśānti was not a
proponent of gZhan-stong as some have argued.


Paratantra would virtually have to equate to "Vijnapti Matrata" to be meaningful as described. I cannot force a quote on him, but, that sounds like exactly where he is going with it. It acts something like a fulcrum as you attempt to deplete the Parikalpita; he says it proceeds in a different way, whereas Shentong believes it to be completely eliminated.


Three Natures:


Likewise, in relation to [the above three natures], they are also taught
to be the imagined form (rūpa [Skandha and the other Skandhas]), the conceptual form, and the form that
is the true reality (dharmatā).

[These three natures are], respectively
(yang), existent in terms of designation, existent in terms of substance,
and ultimately existent. Hence, the middle way is taught to be
endowed with these three natures (rang bzhin; svabhāva): it is not
existent in terms of [its] imagined nature, but is not nonexistent in
terms of [its] dependent and established natures. Therefore, [this is the
middle way] free from the two extremes as [said]—

The imagination of the unreal exists.
The two [i.e. grasper and grasped] are not found in that
[imagination of the unreal].
But emptiness is found in relation to it.
It too is found in [emptiness]. || MAVi 1.1||



Among those [three natures]—

The first is nominally existent (prajñaptisat), since [it is] ascertained in
that very way by the naive (bāla). [It is] neither really existent
(dravyasat), nor existent in ultimate reality (paramārthasat).
The second is really existent (dravyasat), because it has arisen in
dependence (pratītyasamutpanna); [it is] not nominally existent
(prajñaptisat).

The third is ultimately existent (paramārthasat), since it is the focus of
purification (viśuddhyālambana).

Furthermore, the dependent nature being focused upon (ālambyamānaḥ) as the established nature (pariniṣpannarūpa) is ultimately existent. However, [the dependent nature] being focused upon as the
imagined nature is just conventionally existent (saṃvṛtisat), since it is
the focus of defilement (saṃkleśa)—[understanding the “focus of
defilement” to mean] (iti kṛtvā), it is a focus conducive toward
defilement, not toward purification.

Here, Ratnākaraśānti explains that the dependent nature, i.e. consciousness, can be
focused upon (ālambyamāna), i.e. perceived, either as the imagined nature, i.e.
when imagined to consist of a grasper and a grasped, or as the established nature,
i.e. when seen as empty of grasper and grasped. The implication is that the focus
(ālambana) conducive toward defilement is the imagined nature, whereas the focus
conducive toward purification is the established nature. That the dependent nature is
conventionally existent in the former case and ultimately existent in the latter case
merely echoes—from a different perspective—the explanation of the conventional
and ultimate realities, which were explained above as the “scope” (viṣaya), respectively, for naive beings or noble ones.


He reiterates the Three Natures in terms of the Two Truths, Conventional and Ultimate:



(1a) The conventional reality qua convention (prajñapti) is the imagined nature, because it is just daily dealings (vyavahāra).
(1b) The conventional reality qua ascertainment (pratipatti) is the dependent nature, due to cognizing falsely.
(1c) The conventional reality qua communication (udbhāvana) is the
sign of the established (pariniṣpanna) nature, since it hints at the established nature.

(2a) The ultimate object (paramārtha) qua object is emptiness, because it is the scope of the supreme awareness.
(2b) The ultimate goal (paramārtha) qua attainment is nirvāṇa, because it is the fruit of supreme awareness.
(2c) The ultimate reality qua ascertainment (pratipatti) is the accurate awareness. [Here one should analyze the Sanskrit compound paramārthaḥ as a bahuvrīhi meaning] (iti kṛtvā) that of which the object (artha) is supreme.


...the middle member, i.e. the dependent nature, is the path qua
common locus through which the perception of ordinary beings and awakened beings
is differentiated.

From the perspective of an ordinary person, it appears as the
imagined nature. From the perspective of an awakened being, it appears as the
established nature. The implication here is that the path requires the removal of the
ordinary person’s misconceptions about the dependent nature. The established nature
is defined only negatively with respect to the imagined nature in order to hint that the
goal is beyond duality and description.


The causes of conceptualization (vikalpa) are “other” (pare), since
[they] are beginningless. The causes of accurate awareness are
“other” [than that] (pare), because from a certain point onward (arvāk)
they are repeatedly practiced (abhyāsa). Therefore, the nature dependent [on other] is just the imagination of the unreal, not the accurate awareness (samyagjñāna). Among these [two], causality (kāryakaraṇabhāva) is denied with regard to the imagined phenomena and signs of proliferation (prapañcanimitta), because those are false. But [causality] is not [denied] with regard to the mind and mental processes (caitta), whose nature is luminosity (prakāśaśarīra).

Here, Ratnākaraśānti appears to deliberately use the pair of words “other” (para) and
“other [than that]” (para) here in order to emphasize the fact that these are, in a
manner of speaking, the flip sides of the same coin. That is to say, he seems to be
giving an oblique gloss/explanation of the “other” (para) in the word “dependent [on
other]” (paratantra), hinting that there are two types of “other,” i.e. causes and
conditions, on which the “nature dependent [on other]” can depend. When these
“other” causes and conditions are beginningless impressions, then the dependent
nature takes the form of conceptualization or the imagination of the unreal. But, when
these “other” causes and conditions take the form of repeated practice (abhyāsa) or
the spiritual cultivation (bhāvanā) that counteracts the imagination of the unreal,
then these causes bring about the attainment of an accurate awareness of the
inherent nature as sheer luminosity.


By implication, he has said that Samyagjnana is part of Parinispanna. Samyagjnana is reality based from inherent nature (presumably svabhava) as Luminosity. Although it is not the subject here, we would expect this to be in the neighborhood of what we call the Fifth Yoga.


His term for "mental continuum" which has the possibilities of having Alaya Vijnana or not is:

cittasantāna


This means the experience of the sequence of moments, or, Time and all experienced therein. Waking consciousness, samadhi, life, death, etc., perpetually. And so we are in a practice of affecting the experience of it in an inner and mental way.


Since the plan is to transform its basis, he has also described three kinds of Asraya Paravrtti, beginning with the first general one:


...the basis then lets go of being the ālaya
consciousness bearing those [seeds]. Due to eliminating [those] seeds,
defiled qualities do not arise [again]. At that time, the basis [comes to
be] called the elemental source (dhātuḥ<hetu) free of negative influences. Like space, it is uniform (ekarasaḥ).
Since the cognitions (jñāna) [in which there is] the appearance of environments, sense
objects, and bodies do not arise due to elimination of [their] seeds, [the
new basis] is called the liberation body (vimuktikāya).


the liberation body, which is the elemental source free of negative
influences


You had transformed a "basis" of karmic seeds, by the Cessation of the ordinary person's abuse of Paratantra, and proceeding with a purified mental element. Subsequently there are:


(2) the transformation of basis of the path, which is the realization of the
transmundane awareness, i.e. sheer luminosity, and (3) the transformation of basis
that is suchness, which is the realization of the absolute suchness of everything as
luminosity.

Transforming the Basis that is the Path means:


(a) absolutely ceasing in terms of the mundane
nature [and] (b) absolutely proceeding (pravṛtti) in terms of the
transmundane [nature].


Which is the same as Asanga's Lokottara Citta. Finally transforming the Basis that is Suchness by:


(3) Also, those [buddhas] have the basis that is the suchness of all
qualities (sarvadharmāḥ). Their transformation of that is the absolute
purity of all the adventitious obstructions.


It sounds like it takes all these kinds of Asraya Paravrtti to totally eliminate Klista Manas. It begins, relatively simply, in the Mahayana process, and takes a lot of work merely summarized here.


That transformation of (1) the basis of negativity, (2) the basis of the
path, and (3) the basis of suchness of the buddhas is precisely their
awakening, precisely their body of qualities (dharmakāya), [understanding the Sanskrit compound to mean] the body, i.e. basis, of the qualities of a buddha. It also is called [a buddha’s] natural body
(svābhāvikakakāya), given that suchness and luminosity remain (avasthāna) absolutely in [their] own nature.


Perhaps we could say 2--experience of Luminosity, 3--Universal Luminosity. These are not very different things but progressive degrees. Again this is a doctrine of immanence, because, roughly put, it says you can start reading and contemplating on a Sutra basis, and the more you follow it, you start to become able to do what the Bodhisattva does. Let us say there is such a thing as 2b, proceeding only in Lokottara Citta. I would say, under ideal conditions, I could do this, probably for a few hours. And then at most I would observe, oh, there is such a thing as the Dharmakaya. But because I have not given it much meritorious and wise input, its qualities do not arise, and nothing remains. Then if I think about this, it stems from not being particularly good at Lokottara in a Buddhist manner. And so anyone who can talk about 3 from the point of experience is called "much better at this" than me.

It resembles the fault of taking the Cessation which is apparently part of the Fourth Dhyana and mistaking it for the Ultimate; this is the horns of a rabbit.


Synopsis of Prajnaparamita Upadesa (PPU) is a bird's eye view of his whole system, and says he does quote Lankavatara Sutra to support it. It gives the following definitions:

paratantra-svabhava=abhutaparikalpa 157a2/138b4-
Interpretations of abhutaparikalpa (1)-(6) based on
MAV, I. 5, 8, 9-10, 3; MSA, XI. 40.

parinispanna-svabhava=sunyata of abhutaparikalpa 158a1/139b2:
Interpretations of sunyata (1)-(4) based on MAV,
I. 13-16, 21, 22.

Samsara: Eight vijnanas, Interpretation based on the 159a6/140b44
Trimsika

Difference between the two schools: The Yogacaras maintain
that all but svasamvedana are unreal, while the Madhyamikas
regard even svasamvedana as unreal.



What that means is that Eight Consciousnesses or Asta Vijnana comes from Vasubandhu's Trimsika and equates to Samsara, presumably, Skandha.

The question of whether he follows Trimsika is followed by people do not understand him about Paratantra.

One can see that his work is conditioned by Madhyanta Vibhaga. He does, to some extent, at least respond to Lankavatara Sutra and Vasubandhu. But, his main authority is Maitreya and Asanga, and there just happens to be a reference to Trimsika.

In India, the most influential commentary on the Triṃśikā was written by Sthiramati in the 6th century. According to Xuanzang, who studied the Triṃśikā at Nalanda in the 7th century under Śīlabhadra, there were 10 known prose commentaries on the text. These were by Sthiramati, Dharmapala of Nalanda, Nanda, Citrabhānu, Guṇamati, Jinamitra, Jñānamitra, Jñānacandra, Bandhuśrī, Śuddhacandra, and Jinaputra.

After Xuanzang's pilgrimage, Indian commentary on the Triṃśikā continued to be produced. In the late 7th century or early 8th century, Vinītadeva, also working at Nalanda, produced commentaries on both the Triṃśikā and the Vimśatikā which survive in Tibetan translation and some Sanskrit fragments.

Levi followed by perhaps dozens of others have published formats of the Trimsika.

That makes it fairly easy to crystal ball this thing using:


English adaptation

English and Sanskrit mix

Trimsika Vijnapti Karika of Nepal


The translation wishes to start with Alaya Vijnana:

Store consciousness, Thought consciousness, and active consciousness.


However Vasubandhu gave it another name:


Maturation (vipāka), what is called ‘mentation’ (manana), and the cognition (vijñapti) of
objects.


original:

vipāko mananākhyaśca vijñaptirviṣayasya ca|




Within the verses, as "Manas", he describes Klista Manas, not by name, as being half of it.

There is nothing called Asta Vijnana here. He does, in a roundabout way, say something similar to Asanga. He talks more about the act of Grasping. He includes the statement:

The five sense consciousnesses arise in the store consciousness

Because they are "in" it, one would seem to have less reason to call it an eighth separate one. And so just based from this text, it would be a slippery slope, if seven, or eight, or whatever, because it is not particularly clear. He also gives the doctrine:


[25] The ultimate [nature] of [all] dharmas is also Suchness (tathatā), because its nature is always
just as it is. It is just the state of cognition-only (vijñapti-mātra).



And similarly it does not say much about Vijnapti Matra starting a chain of Asraya Paravrttis. I get the sense that he is struggling to osmose Asanga and that these verses are a bit like Maitri's. Kind of their own way of making a simplified recital. Takes a lot of adjusting to conform to their own teachers. It does not contain the word "samsara". It does not have "samsara" or "eight vijnanas", so, exactly how we would define this based from the Trimsika would take a lot of extraction. It is supposed to be from Sthiramati's commentary. It is interesting if this and one from Gunamati were left at Nalanda, if, they, in an act of rivalry, moved to Valabhi. By starting "their school", it does not have to mean they "started the university", but, talked their way into positions there.

I used to think he wrote like this intentionally in order to make you do hours of homework just to straighten it out. I am not sure what we could even get from brief clusters of verses compared to what seems more lucid and thorough in Mahayanasamgraha. Vasubandhu is something like a necessary horse because of making a large Ayodhya project with royal backing. On the other hand, one of the main questions would be why there would soon be a Yogacara split with Gunamati and Sthiramati going to Valabhi, and, the Asanga and Vasubandhu material otherwise relegated to whatever happened to it while sitting at Nalanda. From that point, Nalanda is governed by people such as Dignaga, Chandrakirti, and Haribhadra, that Ratnakarasanti by all means is attempting to subvert. There perhaps is only a minority of prior figures whom he only critiques mildly.


The following argument seems like such a minor example that is more of a semantic misunderstanding.


Santaraksita uses the same two Nagarjuna verses as Ratnakarasanti to refute Yogacara and ironically the article refers to the PPU (which was written after him) to support this:

Here, nothing is produced; nothing is annihilated either.
Appearance and disappearance take place only in our knowledge.

The four material elements (mahabhuta), etc., taught (by the
Blessed One) are in fact reduced to consciousness. (But) since
that (consciousness) is also refuted by (true) wisdom, is this
(reduction) not a false conception?


These verses tell us that what appears and disappears is nothing but
knowledge and that even the great elements taught by the Blessed One
cannot be supposed to be distinct from knowledge. The words "consciousness" (vijnana) and "true wisdom" (jnana) in the second verse can
be interpreted as referring to the knowledge of the Yogacara and the
Madhyamaka, respectively.

Although, of course, the
Yogacara school had not yet been established at that time, the second of
the two verses attributed to Nagarjuna quoted above clearly criticizes the
concept of mind-only. By quoting Nagarjuna's verses, Santaraksita
summarizes his position. That is, Santaraksita maintains that conventional truth is nothing but mind-only but, nevertheless, that mind-only has no intrinsic nature. He affirms the Yogacara theory from the standpoint of conventional truth, but criticizes it from that of ultimate truth.



Well, again, that seems self-defined by Yogacara, which has already said that Vijnapti Matrata is an initial stage which is then transcended. The point that is being made by Santaraksita is already there. If I went by Trimsika, I might not even know this about it. Because Ratnakarasanti understands this, he simply moves Nagarjuna to a Yogacarin compatibility using those same verses:


In it, nothing arises and nothing ceases. Just the [cognitive] conditions alone (kevala) arise and cease.
||YṢ 21||

The primary elements and so on, which have been
taught, are contained in consciousness. They disappear
in awareness, surely, they are fabricated as false.
|| YṢ 34||

For Ratnākaraśānti, these two verses
mean that no imagined cognitive image actually arises or ceases. It is just the
cognitive conditions of the dependent nature that arise and cease. All phenomena
appearing to naive beings, such as the primary elements and so on, disappear in the
transmundane awareness, which is the established nature free of error. Hence,
Ratnākaraśānti argues that Nāgārjuna refuted external objects only on the basis of the
transmundane awareness. Since Ratnākaraśānti believes these two verses should guide
the interpretation of all Nāgārjuna’s other verses, he is suggesting that he has correctly
understood the seminal Mādhyamika treatises while other Mādhyamika commentators
have not.

Ratnakarasanti's interpretation
has been criticized by Con"khapa.


According to Makransky:


Ratnakarasanti, Abhayakaragupta, and Go ram pa read the teaching of dharmakaya in AA 8 as part of the sacred Mahayana
literature that reveals nonconceptual yogic attainment, while Haribhadra and Tsong kha pa read it as part of
systematic Abhidharmic analysis informed by Buddhist logic.


This is a strategic disagreement, a strong push. It turns out that by Ratnakarasanti's time, there was a revised Prajnaparamita Sutra which graphically appears to use the Three Kaya model. He wanted to match this with Vimuktisena's three kaya explanation. He still knew that there were four kayas in tantras. He is trying to make three at a Sutra level to allow some wiggle room for "the ineffable". What one's attention is being drawn to is a yoga experience, not a by-product of clever thinking.

That goes on to a quite long article, marred by the use of different versions of texts, which shows for one the attempt to resescutate Vimuktisena, versus Haribhadra having become the mainstrem explanation at Nalanda, and, later, Tibet. It does seem Haribhadra is on his own trying to present four kayas at a Sutra level or that is an innovation or change. Haribhadra should not be considered competent in tantras. Ratnakarasanti is, and, a large portion of his argument is that the Paramitanaya Sutra-based teachings converge in tantric Svasamvedana. When you have practiced some Yogacara or Vijnapti Matrata and discovered this for yourself, then, you are on to Mantranaya, which, of course, is more secretive, restrictive, and initiatic. Nothing about Nalanda or Vikramasila has said they were doing Guhyasamaja sadhanas openly in the public square. Most of these Sutras and Sastras, yes, and you see what happened to them.



Ratnakarasanti's expanded version of Svasamvedana-or-not:


The Yogācāra proponents hold: phenomena are not real (asattva) qua
the nature grasped by the naive, because that is false (alīka), but [they
are] actually (eva) real qua [their] nature as luminosity (prakāśaśarīra), because of the law of causality (hetuphalabhāvaniyama) and
because of the impossibility of error in the awareness of [its] own
inherent nature.

But, the Mādhyamika proponents hold: phenomena are neither real nor
unreal qua [their] nature as luminosity (prakāśaśarīra)—even though
[that luminosity is] a sign of non-error because [it is] a nature (prakṛti)
inasmuch as it is not superimposed—because even though causality
and reflexive awareness exist (sat) in those [phenomena, the causality
and reflexive awareness that exist] cannot withstand (asahatva) subtle
(sūkṣma) analysis (vicāra).


He is saying something like you can use logical anylysis and reductio to choke off the Svasamvedana and then there are teachings and practices that keep you going in that direction. Yogacara, generally, is saying that Svasamvedana is reliable and proceeds.

As an example of how Sutra Candrakirti may simply have nothing to do with tantric Chandrakirti and CMP:


It is not clear that Ratnākaraśānti himself
saw these two Candrakīrtis as the same person. But, since Ratnākaraśānti was a holder of the tantric Candrakīrti’s Guhyasamāja transmission, Śāntibhadra’s explanation
helps to justify Ratnākaraśānti’s vehement refutation of Candrakīrti’s Mādhyamika
position was not a lack of devotion to the tantric Candrakīrti, but something that
would have been sanctioned by the tantric Candrakīrti himself. Whatever the case, the
colophon goes on to suggest that refuting Candrakīrti’s Mādhyamika position was not
merely a motive for Ratnākaraśānti to write the MAu, but was his very purpose in
life.


According to Ruegg on Ratnakarasanti's Vijnapti Madhyamaka:


In the Madhyamakalamkaravrtti (fol. 136 a—b) Ratnakarasanti makes the
stages of understanding recognized by the Lankavatarasutra into four bhumis
of the Yogacara.

The first yogabhumi consists in taking all existing dharmas
as (noetic) objects (alambana). The second yogabhumi consists in understanding
that there is no external object of knowledge (grahya); since everything ap
pears as mind only (cittamatra) no dharma is different from mind. The third
yogabhumi consists in transcending this cittamatra and understanding that, because no grahya exists, no corresponding cognizing subject (grahaka) can exist
either; cittamatra then becomes residence in the alambana of tathata, a non-dual
gnosis which is without the grahaka-laksana. Finally the fourth yogabhumi is
direct comprehension of the mahayana consisting in residence in gnosis absolutely free from appearance (nirabhasa), and in which naman and laksana
as well as grahya and grahaka have disappeared. In the same author's Upadesa
(fol. 266 a) these four stages are referred to as the four bhumis having respectively the alambana of the existence of things in terms of the extreme of eternalism (as opposed to nihilism), the alambana of cittamatra, the alambana of
tathata, and absence of alambana.

Regarding Madhyamakas:

Ratnakarasanti also cites authorities who stated that the two groups differ in
their rejection of other doctrines by means of the catuskoti, which the first
formulate in terms of existence/non-existence whereas the latter formulate it in
terms of permanence/impermanence (fol. 115a).

Advayavajra divides the Madhyamikas into Mayopamadvayavadins and Sarvadharmapratisthanavadins.


The only work by Ratnakarasanti actually included in the Madhyamaka
section of the bsTan>gyur is his Sutrasamuccayabhasya-ratnalokalamkara [i. e. the disputed and possibly pseudo text]


On Nairatma of Persons, Ruegg mentions:

See MMK xvi. 2 on the pudgala in relation to the skandhas (and xxiii. 5 on the
klista in relation to the klesas). Only identity and difference between an atman and
the skandhas are considered in xviii. 1


(elsewhere, it is considered whether it is in them, if they are in it, or if it possesses them, all negative)


On a later Candrakirti who lived in the eleventh century...

The *Trisarana[gamana]saptati contained in the Madhyamaka section of the
bsTan-'gyur is presumably by the Tantrika author since it not only picks up the
aklistajnana theme of the Bodhicittavivarana but refers to seven pitakas including
the vidyadharapitaka (fol. 293b5 and 294a7).


If that is true, then, just about as soon as there was a CMP, it was spontaneously given to Naro and Ratnakarasanti. We thought he was slightly farther back with a generation or so of transmission. Sometimes what looks like a lineage is "brothers" or contemporaneous, while parts of it skip centuries.


As we have seen, his Khasama Tantra commentary with the champion sentence on the very topic:

The transformation (parāvṛtti) of the basis (āśraya) that is the mental continuum...


seems to be an excellent starting point, in the view of Father Tantra, it is something like: Khasama Vajrasattva --> Vajra Rosary Vajradhara, Nagarjuna's Panchakrama, Chandrakirti's Charya Melapaka Pradipa.

Khasama is sort of like RGV, is not quite "a tantra" in the usual sense, but something like "the tantric career of Vajrasattva". The second part is all basically Completion Stage.



PPU is called a "defensive" work providing for the merger of Madhyamaka and Yogacara, while some of his other books are called "offensive" because they seek to remove the influence of Sutra Chandrakirti and some others. He is trying to abolish the former and do everything he can to prepare candidates for the second Chandrakirti.


If Ratnakarasanti was taught by some famous person that he did not spend a career refuting, that would be Naro. In turn, he taught Atisha, who personally does have a liking of Sutra Chandrakirti and left without Vajrayogini; but then he also taught Maitri (Advayavajra) and Abhayakaragupta. Abhayakara's sadhana oceans and commentaries are his life's work, which are an atonement to Vajrayogini. He made almost the same stance contra-Haribhadra.

Besides being incomplete, Atisha introduced his own system of Taras. Several centuries later, Tsonkhapa has been able to re-acquire Kagyu Guhyasamaja and Sakya Vajrayogini, which somewhat re-instates a clone of something, that, elsewhere, has not really gone through all these permutations.

The Tibetan language is very difficult and, despite importing massive quantities of materials, there is the underlying fact of mistakes or at least variations in the scriptures themselves. And so we will mainly try to see if there even was a consistent and accurate move of Asanga and RGV around the 1300s.






H. H. III Karmapa Rangjung Dorje



One of the most useful summaries about him is from Luminous Heart, his own work mixed with a lot of introduction that pulls from a wide variety of sources.


First of all, he subscribes to Ratnakarasanti's Yogacara hierarchy:


I commented on the profound by relying
on the gist of the intentions of asaṅga and Nāgārjuna.
Through this virtue, may [all] enter the actuality free from
extremes.


And, in the same way, he mainly highlights Asanga:


Rangjung Dorje's (1284–1339) so-called
zhentong is mainly based on Asanga's distinction between the alayavijnana
and a supramundane mind in the Mahayanasamgraha and on a combination
of this Yogacara explanation with mahamudra and dzogchen.

In conformity with
the Abhidharmasamuccaya and the Mahayanasamgraha, the alayavijnana is
not considered to be the cause of buddha wisdom; the properties of purification
arise rather from the dharmakaya.


His, or, the introductory, material, does make use of Vasubandhu, but, only minimally. There is a stronger presence of Sthiramati. With respect to Alaya Vijnana, we will find it reflected from parts of Asanga:


...the ālaya consciousness is nothing but the sum total of the virtuous, nonvirtuous, and
neutral tendencies that make up the mind stream of a sentient being. Thus,
it is not like a container separate from its contents, but resembles the constant flow of all the water drops that are labeled “a river.” In other words, there is no other underlying, permanent substratum or entity apart from the
momentary mental impulses that constitute this ever-changing stream of various latent mental tendencies.

...it is said to be equivalent to fundamental ignorance and
the karma accumulated by it, thus serving as the basis for all appearances
and experiences in saṃsāra, which at the same time represent the sum of
all factors to be relinquished in order to attain nirvāṇa. Thus, the ālaya consciousness fully ceases to exist only upon the attainment of buddhahood. As the Laṅkāvatārasūtra and others say, because of all of this, it is not to be
misconceived as an ātman or a creator.



Because Alaya Vijnana is not an additional "state or activity of consciousness" it is very unlike an eighth thing. It adds nothing.

The sensory consciousnesses do not think. Eye consciousness only sees. When we make a visual image in meditation, the mind makes it, not the eye. Similarly, mental speech is only heard by the ear; produced by mind.



So if Lankavatara Sutra has foisted its presence one way or another, he responds to it. From the explanation:

... the classical source on correlating the eight consciousnesses with the four wisdoms and the dharmadhātu
in the Yogācāra tradition is the introduction in Sthiramati’s commentary on verses IX.12–17 on the fundamental change of state in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra.

and similarly in:

...Mahāyānasaṃgraha (chapter 10)


Well, that cannot be right. Mahayanasamgraha does not use Eight Consciousnesses or Lankavatara Sutra.

MSA IX is about Asraya Paravrtti:

However, like the BBh, our text is silent on exactly what it is which undergoes the transmutation.

According to Sthiramati (P Mi 127b8-128a2), äsraya is here the group of five psychophysical systems...


These verses do not even directly refer to Skandhas, and call it:

...a transmutation of the vital foundation


done:

by means of the path of utterly pure nonconceptual (contemplative) intuition
and of (aftermath intuition) extremely great in scope.


buddhatvaṃ śukladharmapravaraguṇayutā ā[cā]śrayasyānyathāpti-
statprāptirnirvikalpādviṣayasumahato jñānamārgātsuśuddhāt||12||


These sources have nothing to do with Asta Vijnana. MSA barely says anything, and, Mahayanasamgraha X is about something else.



What is frustrating is that, like Ratnakarasanti, he thinks that the strict "two schools" is more about two different-sounding aspects of the same philosophy, but goes about it a little differently:


...all these texts by Rangjung Dorje share many of the same quotes
or paraphrases from both madhyamaka and Yogācāra works to support the
same points (for details, see below). Throughout all his presentations, the
Third Karmapa clearly sees not only no contradiction between madhyamaka
and Yogācāra, but explicitly states several times that they supplement each
other and essentially come down to the same point. There can be no doubt that
Rangjung Dorje’s explanations are always equally based on the major Yogācāra
texts by maitreya, asaṅga, and Vasubandhu as well as the madhyamaka texts
by Nāgārjuna, Candrakīrti, and others. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the
Tibetan doxographical category “mere mentalist,” otherwise so pervasively
used, is only mentioned once (asserting buddha wisdom as really existent
mere consciousness) in all the above texts by Rangjung Dorje, but is clearly
separated from the Yogācāra of asaṅga and so on. Otherwise, the Karmapa’s
texts use the term Yogācāra or simply speak of individual masters.


He incorporates Candrakirti and others of that ilk as being equally-valid explainers of this. But:


Rangjung Dorje’s view neither matches shentong as understood by Dölpopa, Tāranātha, and
other Jonangpas, nor Śākya Chogden’s, or Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé’s presentations of it.


... this does not teach that
the Sugata heart is really established, permanent, enduring, and
totally unchanging.


That seems to deny it as an entity, re-ified, or "out there", which I am not sure is where Dolpopa is going with it. His view seems to be more of the utter disposal of Paratantra, which would not appear to match what Ratnakarasanti says about it.

It also means you do not have Tathagatagarbha fully developed simply by entering the Ground with this ideal belief:


Through being
mistaken about maitreya’s statement that “mind as such is not empty of
unsurpassable qualities” (Uttaratantra I.155), they say that shentong refers
to the sixty-four qualities that exist at the time of the ground in a manner of
being empty of adventitious stains. However, this means nothing but deprecating the buddhas by implying that sentient beings are completely perfect buddhas in whom all obscurations are terminated and wisdom has unfolded,
but who nevertheless circle in saṃsāra, because they experience the sufferings
of the six types of beings in the hells and so forth.


All Eight Vijnanas are Parikalpita ("seeming"):


The Sugata heart is nothing but the unmistaken
own essence of the eight collections [of consciousness] explained
in chapter 1. Here, the distinct and unmixed eight collections are
the seeming, and their unmistaken own essence is the ultimate, the
two realities thus being a union. However, those who do not realize
the meaning of the two realities are ignorant about the dependent
origination that is only satisfying when not examined, thus circling
in saṃsāra through their views of clinging to extremes, such as
permanence and extinction. By stating the shortcomings of not
realizing the two realities, [Rangjung Dorje] teaches that one needs
to train in the mode of being of the two realities in union.


He seems to say that something about the Paratantra is a misunderstood but critical operating feature.

In his review of greater and lesser commentators, he at least allows that:


Some Yogācāra masters, such as Dharmapāla
and [Ratnākara]śānti, comment on the madhyamaka
That was asserted by Nāgārjuna as representing Vijñaptimātra.



What? I thought we leaned they were adversaries in terms of doctrine. Ratnakarasanti admits Nagarjuna and Aryadeva as having the "right view" of Emptiness and still being yogacarins, but does not see this as having remained so in the later lineages like Dharmapala. They are making almost the same combination and argument, under different values. Here is probably where we would say Ratnakarasanti keeps Svasamvedana, and Dharmapala kicks it out.


His Abhidharma seems slightly different by assigning dual roles to both the Sixth and Seventh Minds. As to the Seventh, yes, the Klista Manas will proceed with Afflictions which are really Addictions, and so of course it has another nature during moments of interruption:


The basic position of Rangjung Dorje is that the
seventh consciousness (mentation) consists of two aspects, the afflicted mind
and the immediate mind (also referred to as “stainless mentation”), with the
latter being the primary aspect. These two aspects are mixed until the fundamental change of state of the seventh consciousness occurs. In other words,
mentation has two faces—the actual immediate or stainless mind is nothing but consciousness’s own essence, while it is presented as the afflicted
mind from the perspective of its being mistaken about itself, just as a small
child who, not recognizing himself or herself in a mirror, then searches for,
and tries to interact with, this other person he or she seems to see.


It is called “immediate mind” in its dynamic aspect of being the continuum of triggering the
arising and ceasing of the other six consciousnesses from, and back into,
the ālaya-consciousness. It is expressed as “stainless mentation,” once it is
embraced by the immaculate dharmas that are grounded in the enlightenment of a buddha.


There he must have used the phrase Amala Vijnana, which means purified interruptions of Klista Manas. Although it sounds like Paramartha, it has been said that Alaya Vijnana is not an additional eighth anything, and that Amala Vijnana is a state of the Seventh Mind or subtle mind. This says that Klista Manas is the moment-maker for Manas and the rest. Lankavatara and Asanga both seem to attribute continuity to Manas. Here he has given it the designation "seventh consciousness". And so the question perhaps is: does continuity of moment-making as normally supported by Alaya Vijnana originate in the Manas or Klista Manas?


He:

...explains the immediate mind explicitly within the mahāyāna presentation of eight consciousnesses, while rejecting other explanations, such as that the immediate mind is just a part of the sixth consciousness; that it does
not exist at all; or that it is a ninth consciousness.





As to the real nature of Klista:

The first one [Stains, Afflicted Mind, or Klista Manas] is the imaginary nature, which is absolutely nonexistent.


Klista Manas is Parikalpita, which was Manas previously. In this system, Klista Manas has become, so to speak, exalted. Obviously this does not literally match the Abhidharma of Asanga which was pretty strictly based on the Ayatana system. As to whether this is a personal Sastra from Rangjung Dorje, or, like Asanga, it is Agama or derived from the scriptures, I am not sure. Although in number it resembles Lankavatara Sutra, this would incur the conflict of assigning Parikalpita and continuity to Manas.






In terms
of identifying innate ignorance, it is the lucid aspect of mind as such that is
referred to by the term “seventh consciousness,” while “ignorance” means not
recognizing its own essence. This also means that the formation of immaculate karma through the movement of the seventh consciousness is correct imagination, and that what abides as its own stainless essence is “stainless
mentation.”

The seventh consciousness is not removed or destroyed: is the agent of salvation.

Then he also appears to give the Sixth Mind or Manas the alternates of Conceptual and Non-conceptual states. This is suggestive of it relating to the Fourth Dhyana, and not to the higher ones in the fashion that impacts Klista Manas during Asraya Paravrtti.

On pdf p. 392, it results into a slightly different "table of transformations" about how the Wisdoms arise, while he attaches the fourth or Svabhavika Kaya.


In this system, it appears that an eighth consciousness is denied. A seventh consciousness, however, is required, by making Klista Manas operationally different.

Buddha and Asanga were almost identical. Both went on a quest unsatisfied from the practice of the same Dhyana system. Even though Asanga got it from followers of Buddha.

In simple analysis, Asanga is talking about Mental Objects. Sadhana practice is like an intensified encounter of such objects. In retrospect, the Bhadrapala Sutra from pre-179 using visualization of Amitayus seems to do so in order to erase it to show the non-substantiality of these. Complete sadhanas are more thorough, primarily owing to the fact of a dual role, since it involves utter dissolution as well as perfect rebirth. Neither Asanga nor Vasubandhu go anywhere near the full composition of Mandala, or the Yogas in a tantric sense, or anything like that. Yet we will find the vast majority or about eighty per cent of it unfurled in the 600s, not very long after them.

Even in their time, with Mahamayuri and whatever else, I do not know of them saying all that much about mantra, although one of those books started with "Om".

Prajnaparamita clearly states Dharani and Boundary as traits of the Bodhisattva and this is in the Mayuri and Vajrakilaya.

So we cannot fault or argue with Asanga based on more elaborate sadhanas, which, it sounds like, if he would have known them, he would have done them. Moreover, a great deal of them are designed just in the spirit of Yogacara, it is exactly what they are putting into practice. And so for example when we find in Sadhanamala that Ratnakarasanti is promoting Nirvikalpa, this seems very straightforward.

With the developments of sadhanas, it is no problem, in fact it is almost too easy to say "Klista Manas is the Seventh Vijnana".


And for example, we saw with Candragomin that "Klista Manas transforms into Equality Wisdom".

Asanga wrote this in a weird way; each Skandha does a certain transformation, and the Vijnana Skandha goes through and gets the Wisdoms from them. He does not, blatantly, give Klista Manas this role. This is what he says about Vedana Skandha which usually gives Equality Wisdom:



ii) By the transformation of the sensation aggregate ( vedana -
skandhaparavrtti), it acquires sovereignty over the blissful abodes
( sukhavihara ), irreproachable ( niravadya ), immense ( apramana ) and vast
(visala).


In the commentary, this is explained as related to Klista:


ii) By means of the transformation of the sensation aggregate, it acquires sovereignty
over the blissful abodes, irreproachable, immense and vast. These abodes are
irreproachable because they are free of afflictions (. klesa )...


but klista is sometimes used adjectivally in a general sense, as in the next line:

iii) ...[Bh: The grasping of characteristics is called perception. It is by means of
the collections of words, etc., that the characteristics are grasped. By changing the defiled
discrimination aggregate ( klistasamjna-skandha ), the pure discrimination aggregate
{visuddhasamjnaskandha ) is attained]


And then we saw that where Asanga has Vijnana Skandha, the commentary comes in with Alaya Vijnana. Asanga's 5v says that transforming Vijnana Skandha brings mastery of four wisdoms.

This may be what Vijnana Skandha "is" in Asta Vijnana terminology. The four wisdoms are caused by transforming Alaya Vijnana, Klista Manas, Manas, and Vijnana. This is not strictly what Asanga said, and, it does what he did not quite do, which is to uplift Klista Manas as an individual operative principle:


v) By means of the transformation of the eightfold consciousness aggregate, store-
consciousness ( alayavijnana ), etc., it acquires the four marvelous knowledges: the
mirror-cognition, etc. According to the order ( yathakramam ) and the possibilities
(yathayogam), the transformation of the store-consciousness affirms the mirror-like
knowledge ( adarsajnana )...


The transformation of the afflicted manas ( klistamanas , cf. chap. I, § 6) affirms the
cognition of equality (samatajnana). This cognition, having as its object the sameness of
all beings, is acquired at the first moment of full understanding of the truths
( abhisamaya ), i.e., at the start of the path of seeing or darsanamarga, cf. chap. Ill, § 1 1);
then it is transformed and purified in the course of the path of meditation
(bhavanamargavastha). From that, it is established in non-abiding nirvana
( apratisthitanirvana ) . Ever endowed with great loving-kindness ( mahamaitri ) and great
compassion ( mahakaruna ), it manifests images of the Buddha ( buddhabimba ) in accord
with aspirations (yathasayam ).

The transformation of the mental consciousness ( manovijnana ) assures the knowledge of
contemplation {pratyaveksanajnana ). Endowed with all the samadhi- and
dharanhnukhas, it is like a treasury of jewels ( ratnakosa ); it manifests all the sovereign
activities in the great assemblies; it is able to cut through doubt ( samsayachedana ) and
cause the rain of Dharma ( dharmavarsa ) to fall.

The transformation of the live consciousnesses assures the cognition of the accomplishment of duty
( krtyanusthanajnana ); in all the universes ( lokadhatu ) situated in the ten directions
(dasadis) , it manifests creations ( nirmana ) beginning with the going forth from the divine
palace of the Tusitas ( tusitabhavana ) up to attaining nirvana (cf. above, chap. X, § 1); it
accomplishes its activity dedicated to the service of all beings ( sarvasattvarthakriya ).”
(U)


Asanga made an original argument that introduced new and strange things. He is very thorough and is able to successfully give a window of meaning to refined and profound spiritual states. He probably did not make a lot of mistakes. His writings were themselves an evolution. Once this Klista Manas has its own behavioral path, as it does in this commentary, then we in some way have the Abhidharma of any of the tantras. Notably Manobhanga at the Mountains of Vajrayogini is the dissipation of Klista Manas.

But Asanga himself seems to have constrained it to a category of Manas. Even so, he says it can only be eradicated by Asraya Paravrtti, that is its category. Even if directly going with the Sixfold Ayatanas, then it is still like Vijnana 6 1/2.

Now if we allow him the synonym of "Stains", he simply deals with it in another book, RGV:

The Absolute mingled with defilement is the fundamental element
which is not delivered from the bonds of the passions and is called
the Essence of Buddhahood (as it exists in all the living beings).
The Immaculate Absolute is the same thing as the exclusive property
of the Buddha and consisting in a total metamorphose (paravrtti) (of all the
elements of existence).


RGV is "positivist" in the sense of wanting to describe the overthrow of Klista Manas by its seventh vajra, Bodhi.

And here, if Asanga had mainly been harvesting volumes of existing texts, so that what he was trying to say would match things like the Ayatanas, if anything, this is Maitreya, and he is not doing that here.

Usually it talks about Stains and Vimala or Amala, but here it is "defilement", which fairly directly says the Dhatu still has Klista Manas. This Dhatu is the Gotra or Seed of a Bodhisattva whose practice is to increase this Bodhi, which is that same Dhatu that has used Asraya Paravrtti to cull Klista Manas.

That is why this is the most advanced book and nearly useless without Vijnapti Matrata as before.

I suppose it is why it would seem unaccounted for in most Abhidharma treatises. But in tantra, the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment are the basis of the Path. That fits the Abhidharma. Obermiller translated "paratantra" as "relative".


In DDV:

The relative entities, as modifications of one
conscious principle, are the elements which call forth the illusion
of an independently existing external world; they are thus the factors
by which the seeming existence in the Samsara is conditioned. These
elements, being separated from their imputed nature, disclose their
true Absolute Essence ( dharmata ).


In RGV:

The Uttaratantra proves the existence of the unique
undifferentiated Absolute Essence of all relative entities, the negation of all
separate illusionary reality as existing from the outset and representing the
essential nature of a living being.



Through the contemplation of the Highest Essence of all relative
entities, the (steadfastness in regard of the) teaching about the non¬
origination (of the elements) is attained. On account of this, on the
Stage of the Bodhisattva called the Motionless, [Acala] (one is possessed of
the direct knowledge of the Path which is free from (dialectical)
construction [nirvikalpaka] and from all defilement, and manifests itself uninterrupt-
edly by its own force. On the basis of this knowledge, the complement
of the Buddha’s properties within the pale of the Immaculate Absolute
is attained.


Going from Maitreya, we would say that Paratantra switches affinities, not evaporates. We could see motivation to utilize Klista Manas as its own principle. I am not sure if anyone directly explains this; it explains the Karmapa to me, but I do not know if he said it.

[shaberon]

Candragomin, Ratnakarasanti, Khasama and Vajrasekhara



In the life of Yogacara after Asanga, we find that it was interpreted in various ways, or, rejected. Jamgon Kongtrul only mentions two more people that represent it, before it goes to Tibet. This is in the view of holding Asanga supreme among prior commentators. They both say this, and, their writings seem to bear it out. And so it is almost like they are saying the same thing, Asanga on a Sutra, then Candragomin lower tantra, and Ratnakarasanti higher tantra level.



Right after Asanga and Vasubandhu, Sthiramati became for his time in the 500s perhaps the primary transmitter of Yogacara. He had gone to Valabhi. His commentaries are abundant and easy to find. Some say he has some of the best details on mind and mental factors. In History of Buddhism:

He became the disciple of Vasubandhu at the age of seven.

He may just repeat and clarify Vasubandhu, who needs it. Whether he changes any doctrines or vocabulary, I do not yet know.

According to Burnouf and Muller:

Sthiramati Sthavira was one of the famous disciples of Vasubandhu, the twenty-first patriarch, who wrote commentaries on all the works of his master. He is named in a grant of Dharasena I as the āchāryya Bhadanta Sthiramati, who founded the vihāra of śrī Bappapāda at Valabhī...Guṇamati was also a disciple of Vasubandhu. He had a famous disciple, Vasumitra (Pho-shu-mi), who wrote a commentary on Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosha. BDRC shows two of the Gunabhadra commentaries.


So those two, Gunamati and Sthiramati, may be closer to "brothers" than "father and son". It is suggested they went to Nalanda at first; nothing says "disciples of Vasubandhu in Ayodhya". Therefor Asanga could have passed away ca. 500, and Vasubandhu took over until ca. 520, then when these kids grew up, they became dissatisfied and left. They deal with Madhyanta Vibhaga, MSA, and related texts, but nothing really directly from Asanga. Dignaga, another disciple of Vasubandhu, was the argument against them and why they left. They are among Ten Scholars known to have commented the Thirty Verses. Most of those people are unfamiliar. Nothing shows that Yogacara was a type of Maitreya evangelism, in fact, most of the focus is on Vasubandhu's personal material. He is trying to re-iterate Asanga--Maitreya, and, I do not think he is making a travesty or intentionally sabotaging it, but maybe less powerful and more difficult. If it were possible to say that the verses were little "reminders" that actually meant to go read and meditate Asanga--Maitreya, that might be one thing, but it seems they are more just "get the meaning of Vasubandhu". It may be accurate to say that the other two main exegetes of Yogacara later in Indian Buddhism could be described as "Asanga purists".


From Sthiramati, it seems there is "probably" another generation missing, and then it comes to Candragomin. He is famous. If he is the only one that Taranatha can find to fill in an otherwise five hundred year gap, then there should probably be an easy picture of his work. But there is not.

There are a few good details from research on Candragomin's Bodhisattva Vow writings.


It does not sound like a title we might find need to pursue that much. Not for six hundred pages. I actually didn't, and, you kind of have to see through it a little bit, since the author was not really asking these questions. If we could have rotated the dial about ninety degrees so he had focused on another set of texts, it would be impeccable. It turns out that:

"Gomin" is a title, "guru who is a lay person".

He is in the line of Asanga and Sthiramati and also a master of what will be called Kriya Tantra. He wrote a summary of the Sila [Discipline, third Paramita] portion of Bodhisattva Bhumi.

Xuanzang does not know of him, but I Tsing does--"still living" in the 670s.

He composed texts on all subjects, and is one of only two known Siddhas who also composed a drama with singing and dancing which was performed "all over east India" according to I Tsing. This of course is a non-monastic Bodhisattva practice taking its inspiration from Bodhisattva Bhumi. So he was going to Nalanda which operated on a system "if you are willing to talk to the Tirthakas, go outside the walls". He found Candrakirti outside, who asked what Dharma he knew:


Panninian grammar, one hundred and fifty-one verses [Prajnaparamita] and Namasangiti


The sentence sounds like maybe three books, but, in the context of the time, it was understood as:


Everything, all of the Sutras, and all of the Tantras.

And Chandrakirti understood who he was.


We find an interesting detail as to how Nalanda monks thought of warfare:


In 1235, messages of resistance versus the Turks were draped on Mahakala.


As almost certainly a mix-up, Chandrakirti, which should probably mean the later tantrist, repeated almost the same thing as Asanga and went around with Avalokiteshvara on his head, people thought he was mad, others saw a dead dog, etc. Now if true and we see what a thin veneer that is, it sounds like he is trying to say he is a follower of Asanga. Readers of Taranatha's history can usually tell that Taranatha does not really like Sutra Chandrakirti either, and is suspicious about two different ones being blurred together.




The position of Buddhapalita and Sutra Chandakirti that Candragomin argued against was called:

Nihsvabhavavada



It seems as though we do not know he contributed much in tantra or Yogacara. In fact, he, too, might have gotten blurred with Grammar Candragomin who lived previously, but, whose works *are* still influential. By *also* doing grammar along with every subject under the sun, Yogacara Candragomin pales behind his "published" works. Letter to a Disciple was translated in 1889 and has actually been among the more "notable" things in Buddhist studies. But at the height of his influence, his mission is:


Exactly that of Ratnakarasanti.


If so, then, we should think that Sutra Chandrakirti must have maintained *some* influence afterwards, and Atisha hadn't retrieved it out of a Stupa. It sounds like Yogacara ousted him, but, then we run out of "Yogacara lineage" or any notable commentators. Most of the subsequent Nalanda throne holders are considered synthetic, something like Madhyamaka Yogacara. And so the lineage is maybe a bit like saying that Ratnakarasanti is the next Asanga follower. He is like a huge rake that goes through all of these pro and con views and comes to a steady, consistent one. That is basically what any teacher does. In his case, we will find it almost totally, completely, and exactly repeated by Abhayakaragupta, who also "adds" something, all kinds of deities.


So there is this one Yogacara proponent in what would otherwise sound like a five hundred year absence of it and RGV. That cannot, however, really be the case; but so far one can only show direct continuity from Ratnakarasanti forwards through Kagyu. We cannot exactly say who or what gave such a pro-Asanga view to him. He had the opportunity to be influenced by just about anything that was out there, and somehow came to this decision.


Asanga just kind of said there was such a thing as sadhanas, without going into the details. Candragomin is about two hundred years later, and, he is able to draw from a massive pool of tantric resources. He has adamantly the same viewpoint and Mahayana practice as Asanga, but deities such as Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Tara, are already widely-known, in the way that Maitreya was to Asanga.

Candragomin composed several Tara songs but not the Ekavimsati or Twenty-one (O 77). Instead, based on that, he "did the twenty-one rituals", believed by Wayman to be O 4491-2; Tatz says O 3905-3925.

or:

he composed the Ekavimsatisadhana , including
the set of magical acts (probably his works Toh. 3669-3670 are all meant)



Wayman says the song comes from:

Sarva - tathagata-matara-visvakarma-bhava-tantra-nama (Toh. 726) in thirty-
five chapters. In its third chapter are praises of Tara left in the original
Sanskrit language, the “Twenty-one Salutations to Tara” ( namastare
ekavimsati).


Although I do not think that is the Tara Tantra that we got it from.

What is quickly obvious is that Candragomin is "remembered" in Tibet for his grammar and Letter. However, in Buddhism, he wrote a few things "for the beginning Bodhisattva", and then a large number of tantric commentaries, praises, and some sadhanas, for instance Amoghapasha. But there is something more noticeable in his work which also is not that much remembered in Tibet. Parasol. By browsing in Tibet, I am not sure if Wayman found something akin to our "Paramartha" Parasol:


Among those (four), the one
with complete subject matter is the “ paramasiddha ” (Toh. 591).

Its commentary (Toh. 2689) by Suramgamavarma expounds four
mandalas based on a division of dharanis into four kinds, vidya, mantra ,
hrdaya, and upahrdaya. His interpretation is usually taken as fun¬
damental, but we do not hold it to be entirely infallible.

Only the fourteen “exemplars” ( dpe sna) composed by acarya Can-
dragomin are authoritative. They include the Sadhana (Toh. 3083), the
Bsruh hkhor bri thabs “Drawing of the protective circle” (Toh. 3086),
the Dharani-vidhi (Toh. 3096), the Balividhi (Toh. 3084), and the Hkhrul
hkhor (yantra) (Toh. 3087).

There are also the Upadesa (Toh. 3110) by Vajrasana, and the Homa-
vidhi (Toh. 3105) by the acarya *Tiksnavajra. The two mandala rites
by acarya Padmankusa (i.e. Toh. 3106) and by acarya Varmavajra (i.e.
Toh. 3108) are not “pure” because they discuss the vows, the dharanis ,
etc. of the five Families (kula).


I am not sure why that is not "pure". Maybe because according to Kriya Tantra, Parasol is in Tathagata Family. In Nepal, she is an Adi Prajna along with Vasudhara and Guhyesvari. I am not even sure what he is trying to say there, other than he has listed Tibetan manuscripts related to Parasol.

Note that Wayman and some others such as Berzhin speak as "we" because they have to say that ultimately they are presenting a Gelug view. Now of course Wayman asked a lot of good questions and did a lot of very valuable legwork. But, vice-versa, we do not hold him to be infallible. Anyway, they have some Parasol stuff in their canon, and here at least they present Candragomin as outstanding. So we can be reasonably confident that there was a 600s Indian Parasol and that the Shurungama Sutra is noticeably different than that found in China. If Candragomin is such a well-known Yogacarin, I do not see why they cannot say this Sutra version is different in the same way there are differences between Kumarajiva's and Amoghavajra's translations. So far I have not seen anyone notice this at all.



As a further rip against something that sounds like Paramartha Parasol:


There is an explanation which ascribes
to the authorship of Candragomin a mandala-vidhi which accomplishes
the four initiations, but this is a falsehood made by Tibetans.


Maybe it is. The manual we found was of course in Nepal. They have little need to send a forgotten deity to Tibet in order to get it turbo-charged, returned to them, and forgotten again. There was nothing in it that suggests it has to be any "newer" than ca. 800. Candragomin's authorship is on the related long dharani, which does not necessarily mean he created it, just wrote it down. And so yes, he has a lot of stuff for Manjushri and Tara, which in itself might not be all that notable. The point is that the most avid Yogacara devotee in five hundred years:

Does these sadhanas.

Well, that is, of course, almost redundant. But so far, this is the closest thing to pointing it all towards the "legitimacy" of Maitreya. I don't think Maitreya ever said anything about worship him personally. You can, if the connection seems attractive. I think he did say a bunch of stuff about how to do yoga in a Mahayana way in books saying that other Buddhas and transcendental lords could be seen.

Nearly contemporaneous to Chandragomin were the source texts for these commentaries:


Buddhaguhya wrote the Dhyanottara-tika (Toh. 2670), the Subahupariprccha-pindartha (Toh.
2671)


Chandragomin's explanations through time were deemed less valuable than those of others because he only commented at a Kriya Tantra level. But it *does* take a practitioner quite some time to actually *practice* their way through Dhyanottara. Probably not fifteen years, but just reading it is not going to help much.

To do it again, if I was coming into Buddhism coldly ignorant of it but thinking I had done some kind of Hatha Yoga which had affected me greatly, those two commentaries plus Paramartha Parasol are probably equivalent to, if not superior to, the whole Vajrasekhara system. If I had to guess, I would say those three are probably intended to be a matching set. Parasol has engulfed Krishna Yamari, which is called one of the five tantras of the founders of the Esoteric Community.

Dhyana Uttara is, like RGV Mahayana Uttaratantra, a "continued explanation", in this case of Vajrosnisa Tantra, which is either about the same as Vajrasekhara, or, is another name of Parasol. Dhyana is the Second Yoga, and so yes, I would tend to think the material is focused around this level. And that is the whole Kriya-Charya Instructions. One is seeking to accomplish the inner meaning of the instructions, which was mass distributed in the Pala era in the colossal package we are about to describe.

Paramartha Parasol appears exceptional because of adding Mahamudra. It sounds a bit like the false four initiations that Wayman was getting at. Yet Maitri claimed that three are artificial and one is natural. This is a delicate area.


Davidson in Indian Esoteric Buddhism did not detect that Ratnakarasanti is a marginal note explaining what the author of Abhisekanirukti means by "as told me by my teacher". We cannot say he physically wrote it, but, we can say it is probably the next thing to taking dictation. And here at least they do notice the oddity of the subject:


One major exception to an abbreviated treatment of the second and third consecrations is found in Ratnakarasanti’s Abhisekanirukti. However, the esteemed commentator applies his hermeneutics to a fourth consecration-style (Buddhist) discourse on the logical and epistemological implications of these two, rather than on their specific ritual praxis. Beyond this, he teaches that the goal is the attainment of the citadel of Vajradhara, using an older Mahayanist image to extend the imperial metaphor into the goal of the new path.


Actually in this case, we need less ritual and more hermeneutics. In Guru Yoga we already have a basic vocabulary and a model of asking for permission for these initiations. But this is over-simplified. It is more correct to think in terms of what happens on the inner plane. Over time, what happened is that initiation changed from Subahu Pariprccha's style--literal and external, and came to be seen more as the provenance of a Jnana Mudra:


...Alternatively, the entire process could be internally visualized, rather than physically enacted, and this was the path eventually chosen by most Tibetan traditions.

However, even if you had been doing the series of outer Kriya initiations, Subahu Pariprccha does transcend this by its highest siddhi, which is about the same as Lokottara Siddhi:

Mantra siddhi means delighting both the super mundane and mundane divinities through one’s practice of mantras.


And so in Kriya, you have outer consecrations for the Families and so forth, but in the end, it tells you that you are doing mantras to induce a Lokottara condition. This later becomes involved with esoteric initiations that are of another nature altogether. These are part of Mahamudra. In one view, Tantric Mahamudra was instated by Padmavajra of Bengal, who also originated Hevajra Tantra. In this case he is distinguished from Saraha, who made Sutra Mahamudra. Others believe them to mean the same person.


Yes, of course Hevajra has a lot more details and aspects of the subtle body and so forth; but then if we say Parasol is a Kriya deity, it does not mean she is incompatible with this, it means she has extended her access so that she is a whole lot easier to work with. "Mantra Siddhi" is quite close to saying "Pranayama". And so it should become obvious that the top goal of these Dhyanottara or Kriya meditations is a physiologically transformative state, which is preparatory for, for example, Hevajra.


Saroruha's Hevajra Lineage presumes the Hevajra author as being ca. 850. It has a lot of good information on Hevajra, particularly that it attempts to teach Lokottara Citta as Generation and Completion Stages in a category called "Dipasika" or "tip of a lamp" teachings, viz.:


Utpattikrama as taught in (T 1218, O 2347 = Hevajra Sadhana Upayika, HeSāU) and/or the Kye rim zab pa'i...(elsewhere often simply referred to as the "nine profound means/ways")

and their supplementary instructions for the practice of the Utpannakrama, the main authority of which is (T 1220, O 2349)



It finds a few things that go "into" Hevajra:



Most significant among them is the concept of the 'deep states of mind' from the Ārya-school
of the Guhyasamāja that is found in the teachings of both the Vajra Pradipa and Hevajra Pradipa,
in particular the set of the first three emptinesses, i.e. sunya, ati sunya, and mahasunya,
which correspond to citta, caitasika, and avidya respectively, and which are
the 'counter-acting factors' (pratipaksa) for each grahyajnana, grahakajnana, and grahana.

These influences are most clearly perceptible in the Lam rim section of HePra Tib. but can also be found in other passages of both texts. Apart from this most significant feature, parallels to teachings of other systems such as to the
'four yogas' of the Krsnayamari Tantra and to the doctrine of the "inconceivable"
(Skt. acintya) can be found in the texts of Saroruha's tradition.


then out from it:


On the other hand, we find the silent, and somewhat unskillful, incorporation of a relatively long section of the HeSāU in SāMā 123 [Vidyujjvalikarali Ekajati] which proofs the influence of Saroruha's teachings even outside of the traditions of
the Hevajra Cycle itself


as further "intertextuality":


...he should visualize in their center
the celestial palace (kutagara), 'square, with four gates, adorned with four arched
doorways'

The same line of verse is found in Āryadeva's Caryamelapakapradipa. A closely related stanza, and perhaps the underlying source, is found in the Krsnayamari Tantra, in Ratnākaraśānti's
Brahmahara, and in SāMā 94, 97 & 110, reading "caturasram caturdvaram astastambhopaso-
bhitam...caturvedipariksiptam catustoranamanditam".


As well as a sadhana and commentary, Ratnakarasanti uses Hevajra as the vehicle for the Six Yogas:


Hevara Sadhana Sadyoga (Hodgson 35) by Ratnākaraśānti. In : 'Vanaratna Codex'. Palm-leaf MS kept at the Royal Asiatic Society, London (MS Hodgson 35). Edited in : Isaacson, Harunaga 2001 [2002a]


As in Mahayanasamgraha, Hevajra retains the term "usma" for heat and:

...For usman, cf. HeTa I.vi. 7 and Ratnākaraśānti's short explanation on this stanza in his Mukta
Vali where the term is glossed as yogaprabhava...


Through lengthy comparisons of various Hevajra systems, that of Jalandhara is described as difficult and cumbersome compared to someone like Ratnakarasanti. Asanga and Ratnakarasanti are robust because they give a very clean, systemic view, and many of these other writers even starting with Vasubandhu seem like they are in a struggling and sorting phase.





Before mantras are all that useful to you, there is supposed to be a wave of external influence through the Mahayana Sutras. Ratnakarasanti's Prajnaparamita Synopsis shows that he used a small array of resources. When using Maitreya or Asanga you have to say "based on". With Sutras, you are in a position of naming that which is most authoritative. He actually calls Lotus Sutra "Neyartha" or "Provisional". His leading example of what constitutes "definitive" is:


Nitartha: Three svabhavas.

Agama=SN, PVS, Dharmakaya Chapter, etc.


It means Samdhinirmocana Sutra and Pancavimsati, i. e., 150 verse Prajnaparamita.



His main other Agama or reliable scripture is for example:

LA, VI. 5 (viz. 5 dharmas, 3 svabhavas, 8 vijnanas, & 2 nairatmyas)



Lankavatara Sutra. He does also put something in there about dangers of misinterpreting some of its verses.

The article mentioned two kinds of Nirakara he criticized, and:


"Although there is no Abhidharmic dharma, vijnana arises
as rupa, etc., under the influence of vasana; such an image of
vijnana is not real."=Alikakarajnanavada, the position of Ratnakarasanti.

Agama=LA, X. 709.


He is trying to express the specific meaning of "Vijnapti Matrata" which itself is the spiritual yoga meaning of "Mahayana".


The idea of Yogacara appears to be in using Prajnaparamita as a preliminary to train you into Nirvikalpa or concept-free meditation. That is also what his Vajra Tara is for or she continues it. When he says "Nirakara system", he means the operation of Transcendent, Pure Mundane, and Impure Mundane spheres of one's Pravrtti or total consciousness. It is likely that the previous Nirakaras did not show his meaning of Alikakara well enough. So what is happening is that a definition has been given in the evolution of terms Mahayana --> Vijnapti Matrata --> Nirakara --> Alikakara. It mostly concerns a yoga practice involving the Paratantra from the Sutras.

There is a very old Gilgit Vajracchedika along with four chapters of King of Samadhis and something by Santaraksita. That is considered the root text for Chod, or Wrathful Prajnaparamita.


Prajnaquest in France has very many pdfs of published Sanskrit works from Muller and Levi on up, including Subhasita Samgraha, multiple RGVs and Asanga texts such as an Obermiller AA, and even Ratnakarasanti's Khasama Tika. However, a lot of these are not Romanized. So it is not a useful text to me. But in the introduction:


He says that it is the Uttara Tantra of all the tantras, viz., Guhyasamaja, Sri Paramadya, Vajresekhara, even though he has Khasama manuscripts with different readings. Therefor he has quoted it so heavily he has almost re-written the entire tantra in his commentary.

Well, the Khasama itself says that, so he didn't make anything up.

The important thing is that he is personally testifying to it.


Allright. From studying mandalas, myself and some others have found in Samputa Tantra but only in very rare other places, a certain ring of goddesses. And then we found there is a corresponding tantric teaching which also is in the Sri Paramadya Tantra, but is recently brought to light by the Apabrahmsa study:


...this paper will consider a particular subset of these Apabhraṃśa verses: “Goddess songs” in creation-stage mandala rituals. In these rituals, a group of four yoginīs call out to the sādhaka with Apabhraṃśa verses, appealing to him sexually and pleading for him to honor his commitments and finish his ritual practice. This trope occurs in the Hevajra Tantra, the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra, the Abhayapaddhati, the Buddhakapāla sādhanā in the Sādhanāmālā, the Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra, and the Khasama Tantra.


"Urging through song". It is not in many mandala practices. First of all it sounds like it pretty closely compares to the fact of dissolution or cessation not being enough to make a Bodhisattva, because you also have to re-arise. Same principal of Hand Symbol in the Abhisambodhis, which is also being taught this way in the Paramadya. We still do not have this text, but we do have Khasama posted for some years as a pdf book. There are about three variants of it, such as:

śaṃvarakhasamatantra


And I have not seen this yet, it probably is the same as the book, but, one of them has been translated and posted all of about a month and a half ago by 84000:

Khasama Equal to Sky


None of those come from Sanskrit, which is considered lost, aside from the fact that Khasama Tika quotes most of it. He actually says that Apabrahmsa is the language of Khasama.

That website is gigantic, but, it has Khasama and Samputa right there. And so now a modern person could just focus on these two and you can learn the tantra that way a whole lot better than any other. That itself is almost revolutionary. Someone like me could only buy printed books or look for stuff at the library. We got whatever was available. If it said Asanga wrote Guhyasamaja in the 300s, or Avaloikiteshvara is my Guru, then that was that.

The reason is because it is Vajrasattva tantra. It doesn't matter what Yidam or Guru you want or have or whatever. This Vajrasattva is, so to speak, Buddhism. I have not really practiced extensive Guru Yoga for quite some time due to lack of a suitable environment. I do however practice Vajrasattva on a dharani basis daily. That means I at least say the mantra and give it a moment of the corresponding contemplation. Sometimes if I am going to do something closer to yoga, it still starts like this.


If Ratnakarasanti tried his hardest to spell out the actual teaching of Asanga, which critiques from mildly to sternly any other kind of Mahayana, while doing what it can to clarify and assert itself, followed by telling us that Khasama is the Uttaratantra of all the tantras, this is a fairly definitive unit.

Whether or not you agree with it, he has written the same doctrine across multiple Sutra and Tantra commentaries, and it can be determined what that is.

Khasama is not that long or difficult, is not exactly "a tantra" but a very useful explanation. Vajra Rosary, on the other hand, is very long and extremely difficult, and probably suffices to know that it works with Nagarjuna's Panchakrama and Candrakirti's Charya Melapaka Pradipa.

And so you are left sorely missing a huge chunk of practice, because Ratnakarasanti would have initiated you into Hevajra or something and you would train hard every day. There is a type of seam where if we say, Candragomin and Dhyanottara or Vajrosnisa represent the first Two Yogas, then, Nagarjuna's PK begins on the Third Yoga, Pranayama. The PK, itself, goes beyond the end of the Six Yogas, and, what it goes into is simply described in Kagyu as the Six Dharmas of Naro. So that may be why the Kagyu and Gelug orders look different. I think they just call it Five Stages. The pith here is that it is a continuous Method of Vajrasattva Yoga, which moves through universals like Quintessence and Wrathfuls, and the specific "your deity" is variable.


It is interesting that the majority of Alaya Vijnana's ills were attributed to the speech impulse.

Pranayama is a counteraction of that.

But if we are training *into* it, then it is not right to just pick up the PK and say we are doing that or starting there. The PK is really presuming you have mastery on the whole Speech Mandala or Four Yogas. And so that is why we have to follow Vajrasattva and Body Mandala. It may take some time but it is not that hard to learn something of it, and then, historically, there was a tranche of commentators such as Buddhaguhya Jnanapada and Anandagarbha who do heavily focus Yoga Tantra and/or Pranayama training. Because it is not the same as Mahayana Sutra Yogacara, I suppose they are not considered as involved with or representational of it. Arguably, that is since they mainly deal with the subject that is not in it, i. e., practices.




Here is a better view of what I have been trying to compare Paramartha Parasol to. There were some bad scans I cleaned out, which is probably why this never showed up before. There has been a missing identity of "Mahayoga system" of which we are trying to describe Dhyanottara or Vajrosnisa as the Peak, similar to Vajrasekhara. This has been described as "Eighteen Mandalas of the Prajnaparamita Sutra". At face value that does not make sense. The author is not going to focus this, because, it is incidental information from Tsuda on Guhyasamaja, which begins around the intrigue of the Lord being "in" vaginas, vaginae, plural, dwelling on the shock value it must have had without asking the more pertinent question of, well, how does one do that simultaneously.

We can talk about that more some other time, or maybe all at once. His paper includes this interesting bit:


The Original Formation of Guhyasamaja (Tsuda) A: "'You are of yourself (svayam) your own father.'" and still,

B: "You should by yourself (suayam) become your own father." Formula A of this "proposition " • "pita te tvam asi suayam" in its original Sanskrit, occurs actually at the very end of the Hevajra-tantra as the "word" of the fourth consecration, that is, the final formula of the truth of Tantric Buddhism given in India; and this formula, being connected paradoxically by the connective "and still" with the formula B, informs us of the final mode of the relation between man and "the God" .


The Japanese sources say:


Amoghavajra is thought to have gone to Ceylon at the end of the year 743 or in the beginning of 744; he studied the newest form of Tantric Buddhism of the time in Ceylon and South India and came back to Chang-an in 746.


So we have figured it must largely be doing something through STTS and Guhyasamaja, which it is, and because that is here, that is what this article cares about, and is not going to do anything with "the set". However if we go through this with the view of Khasama as an Uttaratantra, then even without knowing what all of it is immediately, we are familiar enough with some of it to gain some understanding. It keeps the Sanskrit titles of all the teachings, with their scene or setting also noted.


The Juhatte-shiiki is the treatise which enumerates all the sessions of the vast Vajrasikhara-sutra of one hundred thousand verses composed of eighteen sessions...

( 1) Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha-tantra-raja ············[STTS]

( 2) Sarvatathagata-guhyadhipati -yoga · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Akanisthadeva

(3) Sarvatantrasamgraha-yoga ··················the dharma-dhatu palace

(4) Trailokyavijayavajra-yoga ·····················the top of Mt. Sumeru

(5) Lokalokottaravajra-yoga ············the "sky-sphere" of Varanasi

( 6) Mahasukhamoghasamaya tattva -yoga······ the palace of Paranirmitavasavartin

(7) Samantabhadra-yoga ···the palace of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva

(8) Paramadya-yoga ···························the palace of Samantabhadra

(9) Sarvabuddhasamayogadakinijalasamvara-yoga······ the mantra palace

(10) Mahasamaya-yoga ························the palace of dharma- dhatu

(11) Mahayanabhisamaya -yoga · ·· · · · · · · · ·· · · · · · · · · · · · · · .. · .. Akanistha -deva

( 12) Samayaparama -yoga ······the bodhimandala of the "sky-sphere"

(13) Mahasamayatattva-yoga ······ Vajradhatu-mandala-bodhimandala

( 14) Tathagatasamayatattva-yoga······

(15) Guhyasamaja-yoga ·········the so-called secret place, yosidbhaga (palace of prajnaparamita)

(16) Advayasamata-yoga ····················· the palace of dharma-dhatu

(17) Khasama-yoga ·································the palace of bhuta-koti

( 18) Vajramukuta-yoga ···························the fourth dhyana-heaven



Does someone have to tell us Vajrasattva is the Samaya?

As we can see, if you were to actually go through the STTS training, Amoghavajra could have barely gotten it by the time he left the country. On the other hand, if you "get" Khasama, then you could most likely "do" Trailokyavijaya and so forth.

This may be the oldest evidence anyone has for the famous tantras, STTS and Guhyasamaja.

Paramartha Parasol is this plus Mahamudra. As we see, this ends on "Mukuta", another term for crown or peak, oddly suggestive of the Eighteenth Chapter of the Guhyasamaja itself. But this is also in Asanga's Mahayanasamgraha. She is its synonym Vajrosnisa, and female Khasama.


If we look at (6) here and go to Sadhanamala 6 and get Six Syllable Mahavidya and Mahasukha Vajrasattva, then, she is a cue for the goddess-based Dharani Guhya Vajradhatu Mandala of STTS Chapter Two. So this part is largely already summarized.

Then from (7) we are given a hypostasis of Vajrasattva, followed, mostly, by various acts and bonds in regards. These are the Vajrasattvas:


Samantabhadra, Sri Paramadya, Dakini Jala Samvara


Samantabhadra is the "hearing" or the teaching to you that Vajrasattva is in fact a Sambhogakaya who has Great Bliss and Gnosis and so on. He "is" the Buddhist Sixth principle, which, you "know" when you have the Fourth Yoga or Dharani and the ability to do the Method or Gnostic Lights Sequence. That is the real body of Vajrasattva.

And so the back half of this material is definitely trying to place you in that state.

Under ideal conditions of a year's retreat, Dolpopa was powerful enough to get Dharani.

If you reproduced all the details of all the rites in all the tantras mentioned above, I have no idea how long that would take.

If we thought about this academically, we would say, well, Dakini Jala is really the basis of Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara, and we might want to contrast that with why here we are suddenly shown it also works with Guhyasamaja. But if we look at what is actually in this tantra, it contains the tantric Gauris. At this point it is considerably different than academic, as it has transited into a yoga experience. When you can make this meaningful, you are reading the real dakini language that is in here, rather than just the words.

Samputa is a continuity from Dakini Jala, and it trains Svasamvedana. If Abhayakara is thought to have commented from a Madhyamaka view, and, his main focus was the Samputa and Svasamvedana is what it upholds, then we should not come to any divisive conclusions about him.


The Guhyasamaja article mainly addresses the defect in Nagarjuna's Pindikrama. He failed to account for the changing of consorts:


In this assembly, sexual yoga takes place twice in two sessions: firstly, between the "visiting leader" and the nine "adamantine ladies" (vajrayosids), and secondly, between the five tathagatas (*Akshobhya etc.) and the five mahamudra-girls (*Rupavajra , etc.), and between the "visiting leader" and the four wives ( * Mamaki, etc).


His mandala winds up contradicting the tantra.


Guhyasamaja is an attempt to teach the Six Yogas system, which is why it is Nagarjuna's Pancha Krama that is of particular interest, rather than a specific mandala.


So the tabulation above is like a curriculum. By "STTS", it more or less starts with "Vairocana tantra", and you can see how it interfaces with Vajrapani and moves to Body Mandala (Dakini Jala), which says it is in the Mantra Palace. Here it conjures Mahasukha Vajrasattva. At first this is subsumed by Dhyanottara or Kriya-Charya Instructions on Divinity.

The rest of it is a projection of Khasama Vajrasattva through Generation Stage, represented here by Guhyasamaja. And since that is not exactly what we are doing, we will over-write it by the Third Yoga, Pranayama. Then there actually is an emanatory system of Tara, Vajrayogini, and Varuni, which itself works for example with Jnanadakini of Samputa Tantra. Tara is very beneficial and moreover her practice is also done at the time of death. Even if we try and never really get what Sadhana or Smrti and Samadhi is, Tara will remain useful at the time of that natural fact. So if we put something like:

(15) Tara's Song


well it is not really Yoshidbhaga unless you develop her Vajrayogini aspect. It "is" a Kriya Tantra but is "allowed" to be read at for example an Advaya or non-dual level as per (16). It is not Guhyasamaja Tantra, but, she can present the same retinue, and, she does the Six Yogas. She can give the Vajradhatu Guhya Mandala, and, a female Khasama and Mukuta, Parasol. She has Akanistha meditations. There is almost no way she is not covering the same grounds as the above, plus, more. She just is not Vajrasattva.

In a certain sense, Vajrasattva is Androgyne; similarly, aspects such as Tara and Bhrkuti function as non-dual Prajna Upaya. As one can see, an outright male deity to solely perform the masculine Upaya or Karuna is not really necessary for Pranayama. Vajrasattva is a required component who is "transiting stages" as expressed by the Vajrasekhara format.


And so that package...resembling, in itself, a small library...is something like a Pala-inspired "New Testament", which we have retrieved from medieval Japan. It was about the same in Indonesia. Then it looks like it would be a very male-based formal system. The Pala dynasty itself credited its existence to Cunda. And then we find that it is Cunda in magnificent aspect who heads a special retinue in the Jnanapada Guhyasamaja lineage. And it is this one that is perhaps used to put a lot of focus in Generation Stage. It would not suffer the flaw of following the sexual routine improperly. By being a separate lineage, it sounds like it might be supposed to be in contradiction to the Arya lineage, but I am not sure this is the case. I think it is more like the Jnanapada teachers say to draw from many of the Yoga Tantras, such as Vairocana Abhisambodhi, Sarvadurgati Parishodhana, Namasangiti, Krishna Yamari, and a few others, because they want to to "get" the inner meaning of the practice.


Paramadya and Dakini Jala are something like the "cream" of those Yoga tantras. And if we look at the table above, they are probably the oldest parts, and, they are in the middle. And if it has Samantabhadra, then it sounds like it is conversant with the First Transmission to Tibet. And so we would say, the complex STTS pantheon and so forth, developed to explain it, are really under its belt. In fact, they can be summarized by one of the world's most famous mantras and the sixth exercise in Sadhanamala. In other words, the beginning third of this is a "newer part" from the 700s, designed to help you start what we might call "direct realizations" that were recorded in the 600s.

Then the Dakini Jala can almost be summarized by Sitabani Tara as place-deity at its primary site of practice.

Well, if tantric masters had realization based in Paramadya and Dakini Jala in the 600s, they were not using STTS to get into it. When they got there, they upheld the teaching of Nine Moods. It takes Mahasukha Vajrasattva and makes Samantabhadra and Khasama. This is more like the "specific message" here, with STTS and Guhyasamaja as proposals to start and finish it. Because from the "higher tantras", only the Guhyasamaja can claim to be included in this "international curriculum", it enjoys a particular favoritism. However the place it stands can only be occupied by one thing: training in Lokottara Siddhi. Obviously it has to be called the "main" way to do this, but again we know that even Guhyasamaja worked through more different mandalas than can be recovered. So it would not be accurate to say that this can only be accomplished by Akshobhyavajra Guhyasamaja. It may have variety. It could be other deities or tantras. Just has to follow the teaching closely. It is the middle part that does not really have substitutes or alternatives and one might say Vajrasattva is "almost monotheism". But then he is inspired towards "multiple experiences" which become "of one taste".



Vajrasattva's light is purifying. Tara's light stimulates Buddha Qualities. She is provocative of the understanding of Buddha Nature due to that. She is an enabler of understanding and performing these subtle yogas. She is the Gradualist of the Gradualists. If you wanted to spend the rest of your life meditating one Tara and the syllable Hum, it would be beneficial. You could actually do at least some Pranayama like that and you would get some realization. But she will work just like Asanga says about Asraya Paravrtti, everything to her is just more "Mahayana knowledge" which becomes a type of Image in Consciousness, and then you switch it around and it kills off vasanas and bijas out of the Alaya Vijnana and so on. The more kinds of Taras that are doing it, then the more Perfect Image to re-arise.


Correspondingly, most of us who were introduced to Green Tara were doing a type of Eight Fears Tara, which was not spawned by, but, heavily promoted by, Candragomin. And so it is like we were unconsciously working in his territory.

Cunda and Parasol may almost be called polar opposites, Patra and Tapatra.

Both seem to be mostly of a Sister nature to Vajrasattva.

Cunda, geometrically, does seem to deal with the arising of Sattvavajri in STTS and her further movements. A female hypostasis out of Vajra Family somewhat resembling Vajrapani and Samantabhadra. She changes Families and so i. e. is maybe doing something intricate difficult for Nagarjuna to follow, which perhaps justifies Jnanapada lineage having her as a giant exclamation point.

Again the table above is self-evident as being Vairocana tantra that re-centers on Vajra Family, and then a somewhat magical Vajrasattva flows out of that. Vairocana Abhisambodhi and Vajrapani Abhiseka is recognizable as the most widely-distributed, but not full version of, Mahayoga from Sitabani Charnel Ground. The rest of it, minus the actual Guhyasamaja Tantra, would be fairly close to the rest of the Mahayoga, and initiations like the Subahu Pariprccha system.


One of the reasons that Kha is the Akasha syllable is because it is short for Khagamukha, which is, so to speak, a multi-level entrance. "Bird Mouth" meaning "Entry to Sky" meaning "Vagina" meaning "Dharmodaya".

It is this which blends with Sparsha Vajra in the Guhyasamaja system.

In the Vajrayogini system, Kha is Varuni. Her presence is what makes Soma effective. One of her main tasks is to pull in the Five Buddhas and Five Prajnas and make Five Nectars. The state of Dharani would tend to mean you are saturated with this.

This basically directly relates her to the tantric Gauris, who are something like the Sutra Asta Vijnana come to life.

It makes the presumption of Day and Night Yoga, i. e., an ability to do Body Mandala through the appearance of Signs and Dissolutions. And so here, Buddhist Pratyahara and Dhyana, that may have been hard to distinguish from Raja Yoga, already start to take a turn of their own. It could just use a basic form of Cunda, but, it means a retreat-level intensity where you are visualizing and mantrifying this Tara and those experiences happen. Varuni is not a starting point. After you have some success with this, I guess, Kriya Yoga, eventually you shift to Varuni and Akanistha and so forth. Eventually this summons Vairocani, who is the destination of Heruka Vajrasattva or Dakini Jala Samvara. That is about how long you can keep them separated, and, once you can manifest them, you would be able to accomplish higher tantras, which are still in transmission.

They are Puranic Devis, personifications of universal forces, that however here are being cultivated in a Buddhist manner. A Vairocana Tantra, Sarvadurgati Parishodhana, tells us there are powerful Vidyas to be had by Bhima, Sarasvati, Laksmi, and Durga. Varuni is a sister of Laksmi in a profound way.

There is a lot to suggest from the early Sutras that understanding Lakshmi and Tara as Prajnas or fully enlightened female Buddhas of Jewel and Karma Families should have a lot to do with the basic existence of these Families.

There is not much Jewel Family tantra, but there is Vajravilasini, who is like a compressed Guhyasamaja mandala also doing a strange movement. It is true that hardly anything historically describes the Five Prajnas, except Maitri's Panchakara, Asanga's Prajnaparamita, and Vajravilasini. Well, the Prajnas "on their own plane" are Void Gnosis with repect to an Element. Currently I suffer Delusions which inhibit the experience of the Purity of Fire, so, I cannot possibly perceive Pandaravasini. I can, however, invoke her minions and acolytes. These Bodhisattvas and Taras "carry one across" to the Sunyata Jnana and, cumulatively, Lokottara Citta, as implied by Prajna in the tantric sense.


At that point, the type of system we are doing is barely represented outside of Nepal at all. It comes from Samvarodaya Tantra, which Ratnakarasanti commented in some kind of inclusive way, although we are not yet sure exactly what. This tantra may have only taken shape slightly before him in the early 1000s. It is clarifying, not inventing, Varuni and Soma. What we have of this is from the same Tsuda as above (1974). Neither Samvarodaya nor Samputa are scriptures in the regular sense of the word of themselves being a direct revelation, a scene of enlightenment by Buddha or a deity. They are re-configurations of various scriptures like that. By calling itself "the Source of Samvara", the Samvarodaya is not trying to claim it is an Ur-text, it is trying to distill three hundred years of practice of Samvara and show you how to "get it".



In Mahamaya Tika, Ratnakarasanti explains Dakini Jala Samvara as "he who has the greatest bliss", followed by synonymous phrases in Samvarodaya and Vajradaka Tantras.

Aside from his, there appears to be another Samvarodaya Panjika from Tibet:

This is the srisamvarodayamahatantrarajapadmini-nama-panjika which can be found in volume 21 (wa) of the Sde dge bstan 'gyur, pp. 4-204 (ff. 1v-101v). Yet upon closer inspection one finds a colophon in this manuscript actually names a dge slong Rin chen Chos kyi rgyal po as the writer, not Si tu Paṇ chen.

For some reason, in Russia, the Samvarodaya Panjika is packaged with a Dhyanottara Tika, Ratnakarasanti's Guhyasamaja and other commentaries.

Bonham's had a thirteen-deity Samvarodaya, which is just a small picture, which they relate to one from Himalayan Art. This one is called Maitri's tradition from a 1500s Ngor:








Despite their meticulousness, all possible Samputa and Samvarodaya mandalas are called "Chakrasamvara", and then the text has alternate spellings like "Sambarodaya". So it is hard to search and organize. At least a dozen links, and neither of those categories.

It is similar to Guhyasamaja, which relies on multiple "vyakhyanas" or explanations such as Vajra Rosary Tantra. The actual Chakrasamvara Tantra is gigantic and muddled. So the Samvarodaya, Vajradaka, etc., are smaller, more succinct ways of doing similar operations. Because "Chakrasamvara" is something like "Completion Stage of Dakini Jala", its explanatory tantras fall in a similar place. Somewhere close to Khasama above. Doing any of them "by recital" will not help us much. But if we are in a building phase and know of these eventual destinations, all the awareness of how it is supposed to work is beneficial. There may not be other tantras that use Varuni by name, or, such a thorough process of Nectar. Most of them in Pabonkha disseminations and elsewhere, do use bits and pieces in a summary manner, assuming you can "do it". That is the worst part.

That is why most of my research and collecting is aimed around Varuni and most of the Generation Stage processes. You can relatively easily take some Sutras and begin meditating, but, it would be next to impossible to walk on to Hevajra or something and get much use out of it. There is, however, a big middle ground where this Sutra information kind of "hits home" and you do get mental and physiological changes related to the tantras. But a substantial and drastic change is complete by the time of only the Fourth Yoga. So a large amount of time and material is expected for this, and that is exactly what has not been preserved and transmitted much, since the expectation is that people will just move to an intense, daily Hevajra or Kalachakra or something. That means you are going to spend two or three hours every day just on this practice.

Not only would we say you do not need to "give up everything" in order to train, you have to keep doing a lot of "everything", and so the suggestion would probably be not to over-do yoga to "become spiritual". If you have the aptitude for it, then, your body will accustom itself, like changing to a healthy diet. It will be trying to do more. And so we do want to give it shorter sessions on at least a semi-regular basis. What is necessary to experience Suksma Yoga is a matter of quality and intensity, not time spent.

[shaberon]

Yogacara, Dharani and Tantra, and Paramartha Parasol





We found that what is remembered as Indian Yogacara in Tibet by Jamgon Kongtrul was based on Asanga, Candragomin, and Ratnakarasanti. They span centuries, and so it is not exactly feasible to give "a lineage" because no-one knows how that could be. However both of the later writers enthusiastically state that their main "patriarch" is Asanga, and they seem to repeat what he says quite carefully, while adding a little something of their own. Like higher resolution.

Most other writers from India are not so comfortable just being called "Yogacara" and perhaps are not as close to Asanga.

In the orient, many more *would* be comfortable describing themselves as Yogacara.

Chan is a type of Yogacara which seems to be mostly in the Sakara vein and use its own adaptation of Abhidarma so we say it is a "different school". But we are willing to say the difference is a slight one, and probably too subtle to be a criterion for a practitioner for quite some time. In other words, we are automatically much more in agreement with any Yogacara than any non-yogic practice. They may be doing it a little differently but they have a good explanation towards what we would call the Second Yoga, Dhyana. Here we are kind of looking at some things from before, re-arranged.


As we have seen, Buddhist texts are far from linear. You would tend to think the grand finale of a lesson would be at the end, which it sometimes is. Sometimes, it is in the middle, as Vajrasekhara and illuminated Prajnaparamita manuscripts seem to do. In this case, we are kind of reviewing some notes in a different order. I am not sure if Maitreya started, or is simply characterized by, block outlines. Most of these writings are based on that, with the idea that things can be moved around inter-textually. You almost have to, as it can be found that in some texts, the development of a subject could go in an order something like Chapter Twelve, Five, Twenty-six.




In Chinese Buddhism, dhyana may refer to all kind of meditation techniques and their preparatory practices which can be used to attain samadhi.


Even though these words are called synonymous for meditation or concentration, in Buddhism they are very different. We already have a study on this from Pali to Sanskrit, but, this is what they say.


Charles Luk writes,

"The Buddha Dharma is useless if it is not put into actual practice, because if we do not have personal experience of it, it will be alien to us and we will never awaken to it in spite of our book learning."


Nan Huaijin also agrees about the dhyanas being necessary in Chán Buddhism, and regarding the various stages, he states, "Real cultivation going toward samādhi goes through the four dhyānas."

Sheng Yen clarifies that the eight dhyānas are to be understood as mundane meditative states, which are also shared by practitioners on "outer paths", as well as ordinary people, or in principle even animals. He characterizes these as intermediate steps for supramundane realization in dhyāna.


It would perhaps be best if that last word was "samadhi", but, we get the picture that Dhyanas are mundane, i. e. not necessarily Buddhist in themselves, and are transitional towards Lokottara Citta. That makes sense, because the transcendental or supramundane is obtained by Asraya Paravrtti, which is the Buddhist part. However, let us not think for a minute that this means Dhyana is weak or watery.




Venerable Hsuan Hua, who taught Chán and Pure Land Buddhism, outlines the four preliminary stages of dhyāna:

In the First Dhyāna, there is the arising of bliss.

The external breathing stops, while the internal breathing comes alive, and it is said that the mind is as clear as water and as bright as a mirror.

When the external breathing stops, the nose and mouth do not breathe.

While in this state, the mind and body have a feeling of existing within empty space.




That perhaps is a fair assessment of the Second Yoga. And so "the Dhyanas" are 2.1, 2.2, 2.3..., you could go into the highest ones without ever starting the Buddhist Third Yoga. You can spend a whole life, a spiritual career, doing something similar that never really goes into what we call Pranayama.


The thought that the Dhyanas are not the ultimate teaching of Buddhist yoga is archaic:



Three discourses in the Bhojjhanga-Samyutta present the claims of non-Buddhist wanderers that they too develop Buddhist-style meditating samādhi.

They ask the Buddha what the difference is between their teachings and his.

He does not respond by teaching right view, but by telling them that they do not fully understand samādhi practice.


While the Buddha was not the first to attain the formless meditative absorption, the stratification of particular samādhi experiences into the four jhānas seems to be a Buddhist innovation.



Roughly so. As we see in the Vajrasekhara chart, the Fourth Dhyana is the place of its final teaching. We have seen it as effectively being powerful enough to attain Liberation, which is only a provisional stepping stone towards actual Nirvana. And therefor it is something like a spiritual error to consider the Fourth Dhyana as Ultimate. There are certain Samadhis which are used on the Path, along with higher Dhyanas having the nature of Space.



A brief summary of the attempt to distinguish Buddhist Yoga from Brahmanical is given by Alexander Wynne. As we can see, a Dhyana that can only do Cessation of the Sixth principle is not the ultimate:



In Brahmanical thought, the meditative states of consciousness were thought to be identical to the subtle strata of the cosmos.

There is no similar theoretical background to element meditation in the early Buddhist texts, where the elements appear simply as suitable objects of meditation.

It is likely that the Brahmanic practices of element-meditation were borrowed and adapted by early Buddhists, with the original Brahmanac ideology of the practices being discarded in the process.

On this point, it is thought that the uses of the elements in early Buddhist literature have in general very little connection to Brahmanical thought; in most places they occur in teachings where they form the objects of a detailed contemplation of the human being.

The aim of these contemplations seems to have been to bring about the correct understanding that the various perceived aspects of a human being, when taken together, nevertheless do not comprise a 'self'.

Moreover, the self is conceptualized in terms similar to both "nothingness" and "neither perception nor non-perception" at different places in early Upanishadic literature.


The latter corresponds to Yajnavalkya’s definition of the self in his famous dialogue with Maitreya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the definition given in the post-Buddhist Mandukya Upanishad.

This is mentioned as a claim of non-Buddhist ascetics and Brahmins in the Pañcattaya Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 102.2).

In the same dialogue in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajnavalkya draws the conclusions that the self that is neither perceptive nor non-perceptive is a state of consciousness without object. The early Buddhist evidence suggests much the same thing for the state of "neither perception nor non-perception".

It is a state without an object of awareness, that is not devoid of awareness.

The state following it in the Buddhist scheme, the "cessation of perception and sensation", is devoid not only of objectivity, but of subjectivity as well.


[Buddha's gurus]

Uddaka Ramaputta and Alara Kalama

It is suggested that Uddaka Ramaputta belonged to the pre-Buddhist tradition portrayed by the Buddhist and Brahmanic sources, in which the philosophical formulations of the early Upanishads were accepted and the meditative state of "neither perception nor non-perception" was equated with the self.

Furthermore, he suggested that the goal of Alara Kalama was a Brahminical concept.

Evidence in the Chandogya Upanishad and the Taittiriya Upanishad suggests that a different early Brahmanic philosophical tradition held the view that the unmanifest state of Brahman was a form of non-existence.

Thus it seems likely that both element and formless meditation was learned by the Buddha from his two teachers and adapted by him to his own system.



Roughly, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that Atma is experienced in the Dhyana states, whereas Buddhism says Atma is of the Tathagatagarbha. Unless we have Buddha Nature and Asraya Paravrtti, then we are not telling anyone anything they cannot get from somewhere else. Also, Wynne has neglected the point that even if for example, I just use Fire as an "object" like in Vishuddhimagga, which sounds like what he is talking about without expressly naming it, the point is also to get such an object to spontaneously arise in its Pure form. So I am not totally sure that primitive Buddhism ejected all the traits and meanings of Fire, instead, it would probably presume this to be common knowledge. What is different is to learn it as a Skandha and Buddha Family.


On a "word" basis, it doesn't matter that much if you want to call something Atma or not. Buddha did not try to say that the profound understanding of the Upanishads was incorrect because it explains lack of identity and non-mentation quite well. It lacked the additional samadhi practices based in Asraya Paravrtti. These do happen to be based in spontaneous happiness for no apparent or external reason.




Dhyana is a degree of quiescence, like Nirvrtti, becoming passive. This remains an aspect that we train, but, there are also mantras and images. Wynne says that tantrism is "different" from Dhyana, although it is not totally different, because it is still used. Ratnakarasanti's Yogacara says to follow a meditation based on Cessation with that of Perfect Arising.


If we correlate Dhyana to the Kriya-Charya Instructions, Dhyanottara, it is not exactly confined to "lower tantras". Paramadya and Dakini Jala are the "high end" of Yoga Tantra, or they are almost Yogini Tantra, or something like that. These later classifications are almost adding difficulty. It was not like that, and, there was not, strictly, a "canon". Vajresekhara is a "library" of it which was developed in the 700s, from the Dhyanottara system as follows.


As companions to Vairocana Abhisambodhi Tantra, Buddhaguhya includes:

Trisamayaraja, Vajrapany-abhiseka-mahatantra, Paramadya, Samayoga, Subahupariprccha


To comment Subahupariprccha, which has the earliest known appearance of "Heruka" as a Cemetery Lord, he uses:


Laukika and Lokottara tantras, Vidyadharapitaka





and rolls that all in a bundle for:

Dhyanottara-patala-tika.



So if we presumed that STTS was *not* the original foundation of Samayoga--Dakini Jala, that would appear correct. It actually was this Vairocana and Vajrapani system from Sitabani with extensive Kriyas that tell us about Dharani and Boundary. Buddhaguhya may have been a slightly later author, but, the material he is commenting is all from the 600s. Here again we find the "middle" of Vajrasekhara. That is how Dhyanottara winds up like the "Peak". This also basically starts with Vairocana and Vajrapani. It is something like Subahu Pariprccha as a gigantic system with many consecrations, then various tantras, and Dhyanottara as the yoga method.

This is largely the same system as that of Princess Bhrkuti of Nepal.





Here it is similarly with Prajnaparamita and Shingon:


I still get some of the titles mixed up; "Ardha-" would be the beginning of "Hundred and a half", i. e. Prajnaparamita in a Hundred and Fifty Lines. So Ratnakarasanti was probably drawing from 25,000 lines in his commentary. The small one is considered "a tantric Sutra".

The 150 Lines is currently in Mahayana Sutra Samgraha.


I am not familiar with it, but, it begins with Dharmata Nairatmya, which is close to the subject of Paratantra. It does have the phrase Jnanamudra and Abhiseka a few times near each other. It still includes Voidness under somewhat of a rival name:

niḥsvabhāvayogena


It also has the Absolute Object:


prakṛtiprabhāsvarāḥ prajñāpāramitāpariśuddhyā iti||



Due to lack of familiarity with 150 Lines, I would not have noticed this, but, it does have a special kind of Vajrasattva as also described in:


maha-sukha-vajra-amogha-samaya-sutra


which, being reported from Japan, is intrinsically conflated with Cunda:



He is known as mother of the seven kotis...



there is:

Fugen Emmei

Vajramogha-Samaya-Sattva, Samanta-bhadrayu


So it is Samantabhadra Vajrasattva, having the title Vajra Amogha, that is, Not Ignorant about Vajra. Further into Shingon, Ryusei discovered three distinct ritual cycles.

mahasukha-vajramogha-samaya

mahasukhavajraguhya

sri paramadya

The opening section of the third contains the basic pattern for the so called Five Mysteries strand of the tradition, explaining
as it does the mandala and mantra of Vajrasattva and his
four consorts, along with the eight Worshipping and four
Gathering Bodhisattvas who surround them.


So the 150 Lines is something like a Sutra tying Mahasukha Vajramogha to Sri Paramadya.


The actual text has Vairocana and five kinds of Abhisambodhis. Prajnaparamita functions as a Mudra in various ways for All Tathagatas.





In actuality, we know that all of those are massive ritual systems which are quite elaborate and of untold duration. What we are trying to do is pick up on the pattern, and use it on a Dharani basis, i. e. certain mantras that we select for ourselves from Tara and Prajnaparamita and similar deities. Then we have found something like a Dharani Tantra, Paramartha Parasol. So we are going to review dharanis, and then another Vajrasekhara-like pyramid cap, in Krishna Yamari Tantra, and then further twisted by Parasol. Much as if Dhyanottara were a skeleton, and Parasol the fleshed-out being.



Dharani


Allright. We have found what looks like Maitreya sadhana in the Gilgit Manuscripts, which was taught at a Hinayana level concerning the Fourth Dhyana. Asanga more or less figured out how to make it a Mahayana practice as he describes. But otherwise we are unable to say what "meditations" he is talking about.


With Vasubandhu however we are able to find a key of the dharani system. This is just a revision of notes off of another page, from a study explaining that a "Dharani Sutra" (string, thread) carries the symbolic meaning of a thread you follow to Enlightenment. There are, of course, a lot of these, like hair, but the instructions say that each one is its own individual package of awakenings or boosts that accelerate the Bodhisattva Path. Although these are all unique, they simultaneously follow a system. And the study actually looks at the older dharanis and finds a blend of the "two schools" right there:


Ananta Mukhi Dharani gives the doctrine of Sunyata, and that of Sanmukhi, Vijnapti Matra.



In this jargon, Mukhi or Mukha is interpreted as "door or gate". And in this way, they give the apex of the Path:


...the Tenth Stage is mastery of Dharani-Mukha and Samadhi-Mukha.


The Fourth and Sixth Yogas done to infinite power? Something like that.

Asanga did not explicitly state a seventh principle. But even if you do not think of it this way, it is still said that there is a layer of mind that only Mahayana cleanses and transforms. That is what is being done here:


...it is a system largely related to Klesa Varana


We will be diverted if we think of Klesa as general Hindrances or Gross Poisons, both of which are correct, although provisional, meanings. Once we look into Yogacara, whether it becomes seventh or not, this Klista Manas is vital, and:


To klesavarana, rooted in the belief in a self that clings to ‘I' and ‘mine', the Yogacara added jneyavarana, that ‘covers over the indefectible [i.e. unfailing] nature of knowables and causes them not to appear in the mind', because the belief in a self that clings to all imagined things, mental states of ignorance, the love to things, and affection for malicious thoughts.


That sounds correct. They added Jneya Varana because that equates to Alaya Vijnana, the Klesas cause Ignorance with respect to the Knowable, and so here again one would assert that only Mahayana cures this. The Sastras explain it better than what is said here. The point is that it is a subtle mind so it commits subtle sins. The ordinary being is not really aware of it and would not believe it. What has not been explained at this level, is, that, aside from impulse towards mental activity, on a physiological level, Karmic Winds will stir a calm mind. This same principle is in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. That is Yogacara. It is the pre-Mahayana Yogacara. Tibetans often give these winds the name Habit Energy. The Upanishad is mostly about the Rider on the Winds, which is almost identical to Namasangiti. Because Namasangiti can, however, be distinguished by a seventh mandala, then we can say comparatively, it is complete.

The tantras say that Bliss which we are attempting to generate here is the chief way to quell the winds.


As you perform dharanis, you get Prajna, in the Pali sense, of "a Path moment":



A bodhisattva, having epitomized all the meditations in one string [i.e. dharani], would suddenly be elevated in rank and approach supreme enlightenment.




Sanmukhi Dharani


This internally states what the six doors are, but, as it is said to convey Vijnapti Matrata:


According to Vasubandhu's commentary, those ‘Six Doors' are related to six goals (artha) valid for all dharanis in general, that can also be applied to the Sanmukhi-dharani thus: (1) the completion of insight, (2) the power of compassion's purity, (3) the purification of one's stream of being, (4) comprehension of impediments caused by others, (5) summation of the factors of awakening, and (6) the reality and correct knowledge which are these factors' fruit. The Sanmukhi-dharani's formula, uttered by the Buddha from his residence in the Suddhavasa heavens, refers to the complete purification of the body, speech, and mind from all defilements, and the accomplishment of the ultimate reality (Skt. paramartha).


We did not get the original terms, but it is something along the lines of Prajnaparamita, Karuna, Asraya Paravrtti, and (5) is like mandala components or Thirty-seven Point Enlightenment, and you wind up with Phala or Fruit which is the actual Path, i. e. you enter and increase the Bhumis. Moreover, you will accomplish the Ultimate Paramartha. If it summarizes "all dharanis", it must apply to the next one.




Ananta Mukhi Dharani


This, perhaps unintentionally, is going to tell us we are doing the Second Yoga with visuals.


To accomplish it, the Sutra describes three methods: (1) the recitation-meditation into a ‘formulaic' dharani or dharani-mantra-pada, (2) the recitation-meditation into a ‘syllabic' dharani, and (3) the visualization of a mandala composed by the ‘syllabic' dharani and the images of the Bodhisattvas and yaksas refered to in the Sutra.

The Anantamukha-nirhara's formula has received the adhisthana from innumerable Buddhas and includes three practices: (1) the ‘syllable-dharani', consisting of the dharani-mantra-pada's recitation accompanied by a meditation (dhyana-yoga) on their syllables, without getting attached to their characteristics of existence or non-existence. (2) The ‘meaning-dharani', also called ‘the practice of non-cognition of object', that is equal to ‘attain the dharani' manifested by the dharani-mantra-pada. It consists of realizing the emptiness of all dharmas ‘by being supported by the letters which contain all the supreme teachings and meanings', i.e., the dharani-mantra-pada's recitation-meditation is intended to realize the four pratisamvids. And (3) the ‘syllable-meaning-dharani', also called ‘wisdom-dharani', consisting into the alternated practice of (1) and (2), i.e., first the dharani-mantra-pada is recited, and then it is followed by meditating on its ‘inconceivable' nature.


Jñanagarbha briefly describes a visualization ritual of a mandala composed by the ‘syllabic' dharani’s eight syllables related to the images of eight Bodhisattvas and eight yaksas, described as the protectors of the Anantamukha-nirhara-dharani-sutra’s teachings and their practitioners. It is significant that it was Jñanagarbha himself who elaborated the mandala method after it was revealed to him through a dream, which denotes a relevant example of a progressive Dharani-sutras's esoterization that would culminate with their identificaton as Kriya Tantras. The combined practice of those three methods is conducive to attain the ‘Tranquil State', i.e., the ‘nirvana of no abiding' (apratisthita-nirvana), understood here as the klesavarana and jñeyavarana's removal, the raga-dvesa-moha's extinction, and accomplishing the ‘supreme enlightenment' (sambodhi), conceived as a threefold realization that, according to different cases, can liberate beings from unfortunate destinies, or can locate them on heavenly planes, or even can liberate them definitely from samsara.


Then he must be saying "this does Asraya Paravrtti", i. e. the removal of Stains and Ignorance.

Syllables are for mandalas, longer mantras are for the non-cognition of object, Vijnapti Matrata.

When we go to the Namasangiti system, it will tell us to do Ananta Mukhi. But it means a Dhyana with a visualization, not just the sound of the mantra.


So it is actually that Vasubandhu wrote a Sanmukhi Dharani Vyakhyana, i. e., he commented that particular dharani. We have taken that from Indian Buddhist Dharani, which tells us that there were two main authors who taught the subject of Dharanis: Nagarjuna and Asanga. On the dharani mastery of Asanga and Vasubandhu, see Chimpa/Chattopadhyaya, 1970: 166172; Davidson, 2009: 139; and sections 2.2.2. and 3.1.1.


The Nagarjuna teaching is of the bold, declarative kind, i. e. there "is" a higher state "and" a dharani bonds you to it, and then nothing really of details, or how, or what you do. And so in this case, Asanga directly upgrades the somewhat hollow shell, as if the lack of a good explanation of practices was frustrating.



... the identification of dharani as mantra is still not made fully explicit by [Nagarjuna's] Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra, to do that, it should be turned to the fourfold dharani definition according to the Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhumi:


-‘Dharma-dharani: By her/his memorizing and wisdom faculties, the Bodhisattva retains innumerable teachings (Dharmas) in their names, phrases, and phonemes.

-Artha-dharani: It is the same as the previous one, but here the meanings (artha) of those teachings are retained.

-Mantra-dharani: i.e., ‘a dharani that is a mantra'. Because of her/his samadhi mastery, the Bodhisattva ‘spiritually supports' (adhisthita) the mantra-words (mantra-padas), becoming thus ‘supremely effective and infallible' to appease the distresses of sentient beings.

-Bodhisattva-ksanti-labhaya-dharani: i.e., ‘the dharani which give rise to the receptivity of a Bodhisattva'. It consists in meditating on the sense of a mantra promulgated by the Buddha as ‘tadyatha iti miti kiti bhiksanti padani svaha', until it is realized that these mantra-words have no meaning, this, namely ‘no-meaningness' (nitarthatha), is indeed their meaning. Then, the Bodhisattva realizes the meaning of all dharmas as follows: the meaning of the ‘own being' (svabhava) of all dharmas is not completely revealed by any number of words; the absence of expressible essence is the meaning of their essence.

Concerning mantra-dharani, Asanga adds to the standard dharani qualities as protection, memory, and knowledge, a key soteriological one as ‘suffering's allayer', which indicates a tendency developed later for those dharanis focused on the removal of karmic obstructions.

according to the Asanga's Aryadesanavikhyapana-sastra, a dharani-mukha is the ‘accomplishment of the penetration of syllables ... With this power of recollection, within a single letter he can illuminate, distinguish, and fully reveal every kind of object, whether indicative of defilement or purity'


Again the author has understated it by things like "soteriological", whereas "suffering's allayer" must be along the lines of Asraya Paravrtti, so, i. e. the difficult and subtle procedure that distinguishes Mahayana. Further, because this is a standard part of Bodhisattva Bhumi, then it must be the way Nalanda started. Dharani will reveal every kind of Object, so then, indeed, it must be quite useful for Vijnapti Matrata.

I was attracted to Mahayana Buddhism due to the moral strength. But it turns out that it is actually a verb that does Asanga's Yogacara. I am not sure if this has to be narrowly spoken of as "Mahayana according to Asanga". What other kind is there?




Here is an interesting way of saying that "powers" such as "invisibility" really mean some kind of astral projection:


The Theravada Nikayas rejected the vidyas (P vijja) ‘Gandhara' and ‘Manika' as proper means to attain the powers of invisibility and reading others' minds (DN.11.5-7), however, the Abhidharmakosa accepted those vidyas (Kosa.VII.47c-d, 56b). With his mastery of the gandhari-vidya, it is said that Asanga was able to transfer himself instantaneously to the Tusita heaven.








Tantra


Guhyasamaja Chapter Eighteen is the Six Yogas. Comparatively, Krsna Yamari begins with the same first line from Guhyasamaja Tantra. The beginning is then strongly intertwined with Yantra. It is the chief of the Yamari system because everything else is derived from this. In MMK, Manjushri dealt with Mantratantra. Here, we find the subject Yantramantratantra.


I thought it would end with "miscellaneous rites", like most tantras, but it does not. After Krsna Yamari himself, similar to the ending portion of Vajrasekhara, there is a peak structure starting from Mahat, the Tattva of Fivefold Form, similar to Vajradaka Tantra:



Vajradakini as the center of Five Dakinis

Manjuvajra with marici, parnasabari, vasudhara, and cundrika

Janguli followed by Kurukulla and Vajrananga

Heruka

Bodhicitta or Vajrasattva


And so even though it is a Manjushri practice, he has "explained" something that furthers the hypostasis of Vajrasattva, the end point. Because this tantra has bearing on Khasama, if one were to put this stuff near Khasama towards the end of Vajrasekhara, is a lot like shifting a block outline. The section moves through a handful of Dharani goddesses, and, one who I would say is not. Kurukulla here is about the same as the Yoga at the very beginning of the Secret Doctrine of Dakini Jala:

Ḍākinījālasaṃvararahasyam

anaṅgayogipraṇītam


Ḍākinījāla-saṃvara-rahasyaṃ by Anaṅgayogī. Anangavajra is said to be the son of Gopala, and probably was contemporaneous with Odantapuri Monastery. Snellgrove came up with a suggested lineage of:


Indrabhūti I → Mahāpadmavajra → Anaṅgavajra → Saroruha → Indrabhūti II

Anangavajra is found to be copied into Samputa Tantra.

Manjushri himself is Vajra Ananga, but, here in the tantra, Janguli and Kurukulla are introducing it. In this case, Kurukulla is an actualized dakini. We are not doing the regular Archer Kurukulla; this one is a tantric condition who "is" a motion of Nectar. In commentary of the language of Krsna Yamari:


"Sky" is the space in the center of the union of vajra and lotus.


"Khagamukha" is "Bhagamarga" or vagina. The words "abiding in the center of the mouth of the bird" means placing himself in the center of the consort's vagina:

khagamukhāntastham iti sādhyastrīyonimadhyastham “placed inside the khagamukha means inserted in the middle of the vagina of the desired woman.”

is how it explains p. 117, i. e. Kurukulla's Vajrananga sadhana.

There is the similar-sounding Devi Khaganana, mentioned in the Sadhanamala no. 218 (Pithas on Vajravarahi), and Samvarodayatantra 7. 19. The way that Khagamukha is used here is also in a quote of Niguma:

3. One's own body is the means: three channels and four
chakras.
The blazing and melting of a-ham adorns one in moments with
four joys.
By uniting with the wisdom's khagamukha
dissipating and nondissipating four joys arise in sequence.






There is a retinue of Kamadevis, and I had misread the corner representative:


aniruddhamuṣāpatim

Uṣāpati (उषापति).—Name of Aniruddha, husband of Uṣā.

A name of Anirudd'Ha, the son of Kamadeva.

followed by Vasanta, who is possibly from:

Balabhadra (बलभद्र) set of four Hindu deities described fully in the dharmadhātuvāgīśvara-maṇḍala of the Niṣpannayogāvalī.—They include Balabhadra, Jayakara, Madhukara, and Vasanta, and in Hinduism, all these are the companions of the god Kāmadeva, the deity of Desire.


and Makaraketu:

Makaraketu (मकरकेतु):—[=makara-ketu] [from makara] m. ‘having the M° for an emblem’ or ‘having a fish on his banner’, Name of Kāma-deva, [Mahābhārata; Kāvya literature etc.]


and:

Yamaghna (यमघ्न):—[=yama-ghna] [from yama > yam] mfn. destroying Yama or death (Name of Viṣṇu), [Śaṃkarācārya]


So this retinue has assembled a...slightly odd assortment of Vishnus.


And it just gives that, and then there is just Strinam, Woman or women, and what goes in the vagina(s) is Vajrananga. This is where it tells you to make the noise of sucking air through clenched teeth. And so if you were doing this self-generated as Vajrananga, then, it sounds like a Swing Recitation, the mantra is Om and this sound, which acts as Svaha. In other words it is a basic Pendulum like Aparajita.

It does not have any context such as Devi, or Sparsha Vajra enters union with the Lord, it is just Stri. That plus the end of the exercise as basically just doing this--otherwise strange--mantra, is strongly suggestive to me based from a very minor knowledge of how these things work. This is not just a sexual mantra practice. There is some sense that the woman could for example become Red Madana Sundari, by choice, or by an idea of her Family. And so the idea is that you just continue whatever would be mandala practice while you are having sex. This just does the one thing, i. e., it is still aimed at Generation Stage, instead of dissolving and Urging through Song and so forth. My ability to visualize is nothing to speak of. I cannot make a Red Madana Sundari that would actually work. I could do the conceptual one as seems to be indicated here, which means to try to see something. This is why Karma Mudra realistically "is" a practice. One can somewhat easily work into it by means of stability. You can train yoga to the point where it is appropriate. That means you are probably still quite a way off from Jnana Mudra. It would be described as a Tson kha pa level of performance and it is certainly not reasonable to presume that people could just walk into this. Ratnākaraśānti’s own explanation of sexual practice in utpannakrama [Generation Stage] involves an external consort only in the final stage in fulfillment of their pledge (samaya).



Ananga is relevant to Manjushri, to Kurukulla, and seems to mean to explain the whole Dakini Jala. The point of its Rahasya or Secret Doctrine is that it latches the, perhaps, "more sacramental and less tantric" Dakini Jala text into something compatible with the Six Yogas that goes through Five of the Eight Dissolutions. In other words, if we called it a provisional or less-than-highest-tantra, it would be so, by a palpably thin margin of very subtle details. It is, so to speak, the Vyakhyana or Uttaratantra of Vajrayogini.

Although Janguli is interpreted as doing "cross over water", she calls it "Jala" which could easily be a sideways remark about Maya Jala, Dakini Jala, etc., perhaps even both, since there is plenty of reason to say she is transformative of Poison from Ignorance about Water.


Ananga is easily found in Sadhanamala as Manjughosha Manjushri 59 and 60:

vajrānaṅganāmāryamañjughoṣaṃ


and with Ali Manmatha 73 who has:


nairātmāherukasvabhāvaṃ


who deals with the Vijnapti Matrata object-of-the-three-worlds:


śrīherukarūpam ātmanaṃ niṣpādya vijñaptimātraṃ ca traidhātukamākalayya


Heruka is only otherwise handled by Vajra Tara 97 and 110, and Jvalamukhi 221.





With Krsna Yamari:

Of special importance must have been the fourth chapter, entitled Homavidhinirdeśa, considering that Bhūvācārya, the author of the still-unpublished Saṃvarodayā nāma Maṇḍalopāyikā (early 11th cent.?), refers to this work as one of the authoritative sources for the practice of the homa ritual, and that several verses from its fourth nirdeśa are quoted in the Śuklakurukullāsādhana (= Sādhanamālā No. 180).


Well, if an inner Homa and successful, you can manifest this goddess. We would probably have to call her the Second Joy, White Kurukulla. In this form she sweats Nectar. If she as a "symbol" means "the real thing" then unless a practitioner has saturated themselves with tantric Nectar or Amrta, there is no such thing as this goddess. Kurukulla 179 is a Marici Jala and a Marici Jvala. She is in Citta or Mind Mandala. 180 is massive and covers nine pages. If anything, the secret on the tantric one is that she takes the syllable Phuh as Janguli had used. The Serpents have become highly important. And so the tantra has clarified the relationship, whereas the Sadhanamala develops personal relationships individually to the deities. Namasangiti does say to use Janguli as a dharani goddess. It never says to do this to Kurukulla and nothing does.



However, this charismatic ending of Krsna Yamari also has a side-by-side substitute. Instead of those additional Krsna Yamari chapters, Paramartha Parasol suddenly uses something similar from Bhutadamara Tantra. It is not impossible that an earlier Krsna Yamari text lacked those additional chapters, and she needed something similar. Perhaps she was the the inspiration for finishing the tantra. Once we say Parasol is Vajradakini, then it is tempting.

Bhutadamara does have the coin, "dinara", which is relevant to the fifth century. It refers to no prior people or books. However:


Features of Yoga Tantra can be found chiefly in chapter eight, where the visualization procedure, described as part of the main sādhana of Bhūtaḍāmara, includes most of the elements of deity yoga practice, including a sophisticated development stage (utpattikrama) practice.


Ok. We cannot prove that all of it is older than Vairocana Abhisambodhi. However, it is considered quite likely that at least parts of it are. Moreover, all the Asian magic books are copied from it, and so it must have been earlier than "those".


Parasol has for some reason availed herself of a significant portion of two male tantras, one of Manjushri and one of Vajrapani. Vajrasattva in the sense of Gnosis on Earth was emanated by Vajrapani. Manjushri is one of the only deities to specifically assume Vajrasattva nature, becoming Manjuvajra. He also does that to Vairocana. In other words he can explain all of the Sarvavid Vairocana tantras such as Sarvadurgati Parishodhana, and as Manjughosha he can also explain Vajra Family tantras, and Prajnaparamita is part of this.


In the relevant area of Parasol starting around p. 132, the intent is governed by:


atha yākṣaṇīmudrālakṣaṇaṃ bhavati ||

sarvayakṣaṇīnāṃ paramudrā ||


and she is going to use Phuh mantras with the Naga kings. And then her main identity of the Yakshi class is given by:

sarvayakṣiṇīnāṃ hṛdayamudrā || oṃ sarvamanohāriṇīye svāhā ||


And so this may be saying manohara as a quality or verb, such as in Krishna Yamari Chapter Six that the Four Prajnas have:

locanāṃ māmakīṃ tārāṃ pāṇḍarāṃ ca manoharām |



Then it is Vajradhara who enjoins a retinue of Naga Kings. What we have seen from a corresponding part of a translation is that:



Bhutadamara Chapter Fifteen arguably has a section break because Vajradhara destroys the universe, every deity and every being in it, and then, in a similarly ironic manner similar to how his Root Manual was read to him before it was written, Manjushri says:

“Well done! Well done, O glorious Vajradhara, supreme master Great Wrath! These wicked spirits and worldly deities will be overthrown in the future, in times to come.”

Then, Apsarases get up and he tells you how to make them comply; in Chapter Seventeen, Yakshinis do it; in Nineteen, the Naginis; and in Twenty-one, the Kinnaris.


Whereas Bhutadamara has sexual content, Paramartha Parasol has a subject that he does not. Scholars tend to classify "old sex" as "sacramental", i. e., not having any associated metaphysical aspects. But in this same area, Parasol vests the tantric teaching of Karma Mudra:


sarvayakṣiṇīnāmābhimukhīkarmamudrā || oṃ mahāyakṣiṇīnāṃ maithunapriyāya hūṃ phaṭ svāhā ||


Abhimukhī (अभिमुखी, “manifest”) or Abhimukhībhūmi refers to the sixth of the “ten stages of the Bodhisattva” (bhūmi)


The Naginis are Samaya Mudra. In that area, we find one of the few appearances in Buddhism of the Naga Kanya:


tato japāṃte nāgakanyāyā gachati ||


And so this Naga event greatly parallels what we have already gotten from Sarvadurgati Parishodhana tantra and associated with Janguli.

Now although these rites are harnessing many kinds of Vishnus, here, Vajrapani is summoned and addressed as:

nīlavarṇavajra


and so the tradition of Blue Clad Vajrapani takes its origin in the fact that the Brahmanical followers of Vishnu were forbidden from wearing blue.

After the sections on non-human ladies are concluded, Vajradhara tells Disciple Subhuti that he is in the:

cittānyutpannāni

i. e. Mind Mandala of Generation Stage. So that seems pretty close to Sadhanamala Kurukulla.

If a Yaksini is Karma Mudra:


Both the seventh-century Subahupariprccha Tantra and the eighth-century Manjusrimulakalpa contain descriptions of a yaksini-sadhana, a ritual for summoning a female spirit using a mantra. This was a ritual conducted for the sake of sexual gratification; the texts claim that the yaksini could assume the form desired by the adept, and serve his lust throughout the night.

Then from Buddhaguhya's commentary:

The net result meant that, in association with other sacraments (samaya) and in a secluded site, the purpose of the ritual was for the adept to experience sexuality while in relationship to a divinity, often visualizing himself and his partner as the divinity and its consort.


So, you can visualize a deity on your actual consort, or, you can attempt to summon one vivid enough to perform. It is unclear, because, both are true. As "yaksini", this will be replaced in the higher tantras by "dakini", which does have in its main original connotation, a human meaning.

One might notice that a Yakshi is "sexual" whereas a Kinnari might be "wife", and then Manohara is the personal name of the first Kinnari. Maybe she is summoned via the action of the sex part and is intended to perform "sex and then the rest of the teaching". This seems to be the intention of the Lama class above Dakinis.


Mahamudra is in the first chapter of Krsna Yamari. It is also in the regular Parasol Dharani where several lines are then devoted to Kanaka or Golden Light and goddesses such as Locana and Vajramala Mahamaya.

Parasol is the only one who does anything additional with the Vajra Rosary or Mala:



āryatārā bhṛkuṭī caiva jayā ca vijayā tathā|

sarvamāravihantrī ca vajramāleti viśrutā||


All Maras are destroyed by Vajramala flowing forth or becoming known. And then she has an unusual Mothers' Circle:


mahāmudrāgaṇāḥ sarvamātṛgaṇāśca


In Dharani Samgraha, Mahamudra is also with Mahamaya Vijayavahini, Ekajati (also having a Nagaphani), Usnisavijaya, and Pratisara. So that is not terribly uncommon; but there appears to be only one active use of Vajramala, here.


Paramartha Parasol uses Mahamudra first evidently attached to Vishnu:


namo bhagavate nārāyaṇāya || paṃcamahāmudrā namaskṛtāya ||


and then she has another section with Tathagata Family and Golden Light, which is a personal invocation. I am not sure if this is also saying she is in many other Families, or, how many of the names might be hers or others in her circle, but she says:


vajramālā mahāmudrā devī ca kanakaprabhā ||


and slightly further:

vinītā śāṃtacittā ca ātmaguṇajñāna śaśiprabhā || ityetā mahāpratyaṃgirā mahāmudrā sa gaṇā ||


The final Kinnaris do not appear to have an associated "mudra" role, but may be a selection for Bharya--Wife, used multiple times including this:


aṣṭaudināyā bhāryā bhavati || nadikulaṃ gatvā ayutaṃ japet ||


Which is the end and her Jnana Sambara, i. e. Knowledge Requisite--which however began on page 99.2. It was at first around thirty pages of expansions of Shurungama dharani. Most of that is the 108 Samadhis, Nagarajas, and Clouds related to Mahamegha Sutra. So as the climax of Shurungama she has added Karma Mudra and possibly even a Wife.


This very long Parasol has 25,000 Verse Prajnaparamita strewn throughout, ending with:

prajñāpāramitā - uṣmagatam


In Mahabharata, Usmagata is Agni Panchanjanya, and in Prajnaparamita:


The bodhisattva contemplates the Buddhas of the ten directions (daśadigbuddha) and their emanations (nirmāṇa): he is seated in space opposite them. This is what is called ‘endowed with utmost patience’ [Ksanti].

It is like in the śrāvaka system where the increase (vṛddhi) of heat (uṣmagata) is called summit (mūrdhan) and the increase of summit is called patience (kśānti): they are not distinct dharmas but merely [three] different degrees [of one and the same thing].

And more focused in Mahayanasamgraha, where, from the ensuing meditations, in Vijnanavada, these four concentrations result in lesser and greater states of:

Paryāsana (पर्यासन).—i. e. pari- 2. as, [Causal.], + ana, n. Revolution

and:

yathābhūta : (adj.) conformity with the truth
yathābhūta-ñāṇa absolute knowledge


Ksanti is the Increase of Vajrasekhara, or Dhyanottara, or Parasol, from Heat. One would be tempted to conclude that Summit is Pranayama and Ksanti is Dharani, the Third and Fourth Yogas.


Prajnaparamita is still speaking in a Yoga view, that is, the visualization is opposite/external to oneself.


Among Paramartha Parasol's ending summary:

supariśuddhadharmakāyajñānamūrttimanuttarāyā


Suparishuddha Dharmakaya Jnana Murti Anuttara


It sounds similar to Jnana Sattva, her true or Pure form arises from the Dharmakaya. A Jnana Mudra is something like this in consort role. Because it is unclear if a yakshi is embodied or otherwise, she potentially could represent Karma and Jnana Mudras. The fact that Parasol does not really act as a consort shows something like the Karma Mudra is involved, is a part of, but is not the ultimate teaching. She seems to think you may not see it otherwise.

Because she does re-arise in two, four, and six arm forms, etc., she likely is intended to behave like Heruka in this regard.

Here is a dharani-based witness of Parasol from India:


He is reputed to have been a mantravAdin of great siddhi-s, who journeyed from nAlandA to the Andhra country, where he was locked in prayoga battles with Astika mantravAdin-s who deployed saiddhAntika, bhairava and kubjikA mantra-s to counter him. He is said to have composed several long stotra-s to ma~njughoSha, avalokiteshvara and the kula goddess sitAtapAtrA. While visiting gavalakuNDa, R’s father brought out an old file of handwritten papers and showed me a prayoga stotra to pratya~NgirA composed by chandragomin along with some nAstika mantra-s to the same deity.

chandragomin identifies pratya~NgirA with his chosen deity the kula-mistress sitAtapAtrA, whom he calls the queen of chandradvIpa. A tale is narrated where an irate ruler tries to drown chandragomin, but he is carried by the devI to chandradvIpa and saved. This is of considerable interest because chandradvIpa is also the primal kShetra of kubjikA. kubjikA too is identified with pratya~NgirA as ghora rudrakubjikA-atharvaNa-bhadrakAlI in the tradition of the uttarAmnAya and the kubjikA upaniShad. chandragomin begins his invocation to pratya~NgirA by using the compound name uShNISha-sitAtapAtrA-pratya~NgirA, which is parallel to another stotra in which he identifies aparAjitA with sitAtapAtrA. Another text of chandragomin (of course given as a dialog between shuddhodhana-putra and his disciples) showed by R’s father was the dhAraNI of mahApratya~NgirA, which had a picture of the devI with numerous arms holding all kinds of weapons. Another text of chandragomin had a long nAstika-pratya~NgirA mAlA mantra which seeks protection against all kinds of dangers.


It would seem that Candragomin cannot really be opposed to or denying Kubjika's existence, but, may be adverse to the use of her in a non-Buddhist way. And so to a Hindu it looks like Parasol is synthesizing various deities. Then to us yes it looks something like she is converting Pratyangira and Atharvana Bhadrakali to Buddhism. Or, if we study the previous fusionistic assembly of those goddesses, it is some kind of divine tool Buddha picked up and used for himself. And so she is behaving a bit like Blue Clad Vajrapani who is becoming active at this same time.



On the Vajrasekhara pattern, I can more or less read through it and see the shape and flow. With Paramartha Parasol I cannot. I can, by the shape of the scriptures that are in it, but not according to the subjects in the contents. Inasmuch as we have just seen essentially a tantric definition of Ksanti Paramita, her first subject is the arising of:

prajñāpārakṣāṃtiḥ


She has a couple of Samudayas followed by several Nirodhas, which seems to be terminology taken from the “four noble truths” as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 21):

duḥkha (suffering),
samudaya (arising),
nirodha (cessation),
mārga (path).


And then she has some unusual subjects such as Anvaya, which appears to flow into Jñāna, or Daśajñāna, which refers to the “ten knowledges” as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 93):

duḥkha-jñāna (knowledge of suffering),
samudaya-jñāna (knowledge of arising),
nirodha-jñāna (knowledge of cessation),
mārga-jñāna (knowledge of path),
dharma-jñānam (knowledge of dharma),
anvaya-jñāna (knowledge of conformity),
saṃvṛti-jñāna (knowledge of the concealed),
paracitta-jñāna (knowledge of others’ minds),
kṣaya-jñāna (knowledge of destruction),
anutpāda-jñāna (and knowledge of non-production).


I have no idea about Anvaya, but, it is not very hard to get. From an expansion:


Transl. from the Chinese. – 1. What is the knowledge of things (dharmajñāna)? The knowledge of things is: i) the pure knowledge concerning the formations associated with the desire realm; ii) the pure knowledge concerning the cause of the formations associated with the desire realm; iii) the pure knowledge concerned with the cessation of the formations associated with the desire realm; iv) the pure knowledge concerned with the path leading to the cessation of the formations associated with the desire realm; v) the knowledge concerned with the knowledge of things and the stage of the knowledge of things is also called knowledge of things.

2. What is subsequent knowledge (anvayajñāna)? Subsequent knowledge is: i) the pure knowledge concerning the formations associated with the form realm and the formless realm; ii) the pure knowledge concerning the cause of the formations associated with the form realm and the formless realm; iii) the pure knowledge concerning the cessation of the formations associated with the form realm and the formless realm; iv) the pure knowledge concerning the paths leading to the cessation of the formations associated with the form realm and the formless realm; v) the pure knowledge concerning the subsequent knowledge and the stage of subsequent knowledge is also called consecutive knowledge.


or from a concise version explaining the Knowledges as having Objects:


1) Dharmajñāna has as object (ālamabate): a. things associated with the desire realm (kāmadhātusaṃprayuktā dharmāḥ); b. the cause of things associated with the desire realm (kāmadhātusaṃprayuktānāṃ dharmāṇāṃ hetuḥ); c. the cessation of things associated with the desire realm (kāmadhātusaṃprayuktānāṃ dharmāṇāṃ nirodhaḥ); d. the path leading to the cessation of things associated with the desire realm (kāmadhātusaṃprayuktānāṃ dharmāṇāṃ prahāṇāya mārgaḥ).

2) Anvayajñāna is similar, [with the difference that it concerns the things of rūpa- and ārūpyadhātu, their cause, their cessation and the path to their cessation].


It sounds a bit like it expects you to penetrate the entire Kama Loka in order to proceed, which, yes, Vairocana and Vajrapani are there to set this up and perform it.


Considering that this involves "subtle" mind which, in a certain sense, is "softer and lighter" than "coarse thought", this is a dual meaning with Vajra in its other "hard" connotations, adamant, diamond, indestructible, and so on. Possibly similar to Picuva Marici, there are several explanations of the epithet Soft and Hard:

In Hevajra Tantra and Samputa Chapter Eight, he is called Picu Vajra.


Nobody has figured out "Picuva", some even think it is an anagram. I thought it might just be short for something such as Picu Vaktra "Cotton Mouth" of Kubjika, or, perhaps the above.





Even on a Sutra level, there is a way of dealing with the Absolute. HPB is stumblingly close but not as eloquent as Ratnakarasanti on Paramartha:


The Yogâchâryas interpret the term as that which is also dependent upon other things (paratantra); and the Madhyamikas say that Paramârtha is limited to Paranishpanna or Absolute Perfection; i.e., in the exposition of these “Two Truths” of the Four, the former believe and maintain that, on this plane, at any rate, there exists only Samvritisatya or relative truth; and the latter teach the existence of Paramârthasatya, Absolute Truth.



It implies that Yogacara does not teach Paramartha Satya, which is not the case. Again she has put it kind of backwards, Yogacara says that the experience of Paratantra can move either into the Ultimate or Imaginary Natures of the Knowable. Most of the other schools are saying it is simply shed or divested. But Yogacara is also saying this practice of Paratantra is Vijnapti Matrata, which is the real meaning, or inner yoga of, Mahayana.


Exactly what her issue against the "known" Asanga may be, I still cannot really tell. If we took the opposite approach, and only had Samdhinirmocana Sutra and Sutra Nagarjuna, would this be a purifying upgrade? Her ensuing adoration of Tson khapa certainly would not redress any grievances about sex or tantra, etc., neither would her invocation of Vajrapani. Now if one were to write from the "beyond Karma Mudra" view, only, and clarify that you are only interested in those students who can naturally perform at the level of Tson Khapa, you can do that. It would still match the Abhidharma. It would never have very many people. The point of Ratnakarasanti is Gotra and Gradualism. At first it is trying to get you to do Bodhisattva or Mahayana practice at all as defined by Asanga.

Well that is original Nalanda from beginning to end.

And it seems to me than unnecessary friction comes in from what appears to be the two Guhyasamaja lineages. The Arya commentaries are elegant and refer to Completion Stage. Buddhaguhya or Jnanapada has more to do with Generation Stage. And they can travel together perfectly well as in the Pitaka of the original Bodong Panchen.

What is telling from her is that, despite whatever else she may have said, it was that she adhered to a lineage of Cinnamasta tantrikas who were also Deloks. By sheer accident, this is exactly what we are teaching by unfolding a dharani system in the level of Yoga Tantra and Generation Stage. Rather, *if* you do this, you will become forced to experience *that*, there is no other kind of outcome.

[shaberon]

The Mahatmas, Yogacara, Prajnaparamita and Usnisa Vijaya recordings



HPB did not write very much in a technical way about Buddhism. Koothoomi did. Too much time was spent in doctrines of Planetary Rounds and Races and so forth. That was done to address scientific minds. Such things have little place in Buddhist practice. I would not argue that they cannot be derived from the scriptures, but I would say that we mainly deal with this lifetime on this Earth. It turned out to be something that was heavily questioned by Hume and Sinnett. The Mahatma Letters are a bit digressive due to this. They are an attempt to put into English, usually for the first time, some yogic doctrines, but also Buddhism, whether Pali or Tibetan. Part of this was to "correct" Rhys Davids, Beale, Muller, Hodgson, and Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism, although that never went very in-depth. However the letters are very "conversionary", so much that some later writers have called Theosophy "Buddhist propaganda". That is almost all that HSO ever did.


I am not sure if Theosophy was much more than a name to me when I got to Buddhism. I certainly hadn't paid much attention to HPB for several years. So I just took her as more of a genius and natural act. And before her, it was really these Letters which were my first look at "Theosophy", except it was obvious these were Buddhist geniuses who did not just speak Tibetan. That made the cultural clash issue very evident. I can understand why the Mahatmas were very frustrated with these people. In fact it began that way.




"Mahachohan" was one of the earliest Mahatma letters (1881). It nevertheless was written by Koothoomi as a summary of what had been said to him. It admits to being somewhat impartial:


Osiris, Chrishna, Buddha, Christ, will be shown as different means for one and the same royal highway to final bliss - Nirvana.



But is still rhetorical:


This is why even exoteric Buddhism is the surest path to lead men toward the one esoteric truth.



Amongst other letters, he does say that what he calls the sixth and seventh principles are not in the body, but, around it, mainly above the head.

To us, that would be Parasunya and the Dharma of Transference. The, so to speak, regular Buddhist Sixth Principle, to distinguish it from "Manas" and other usages of "sixth sense", is a Luminous Mind that can do the Method of the Three Lights. Nominally, it is the Heart Bindu, but ultimately it is this which is Transferred. So he is correct, at the highest level of teaching, only, which is understandable because he personally did this. The Egg is more permanent than images of bodies which are manifested inside it.




Here, taking Nirvana = Enlightenment = Bodhi, he almost quotes RGV:


Karma and Nirvana are but two of the seven great mysteries of Buddhist metaphysics; and but four of the seven are known to the best orientalists, and that very imperfectly.



Here, he says to read Vasubandhu's commentary:


See the Abhidharma Kosha Vyakhya, the Sutta Pitaka, any Northern Buddhist book, all of which show Gautama Buddha saying that none of these Skandhas is the soul...



Moreover, he recites a standard after explaining how monasteries function as orphanages and so forth:


There they are taught the four noble truths -- ariya sakka, and the chain of causation, (the 12 nidanas) gives them a solution of the problem of the origin and destruction of suffering.

Read the Mahavagga and try to understand not with the prejudiced Western mind but the spirit of intuition and truth what the Fully Enlightened one says in the 1st Khandhaka. Allow me to translate it for you.

"At the time the blessed Buddha was at Uruvella on the shores of the river Nerovigara as he rested under the Boddhi tree of wisdom after he had become Sambuddha, at the end
of the seventh day having his mind fixed on the chain of causation he spake thus: 'from Ignorance spring the samkharas of threefold nature -- productions of body, of speech, of thought. From the samkharas springs consciousness, from consciousness springs name and form, from this spring the six regions (of the six senses the seventh being the property of but the enlightened); from these springs contact from this sensation; from this springs thirst (or desire, Kama, tanha) from thirst attachment, existence, birth, old age and death, grief, lamentation, suffering, dejection and despair. Again by the destruction of ignorance, the Sankharas are destroyed, and their consciousness name and form, the six regions, contact, sensation, thirst, attachment (selfishness), existence, birth, old age, death, grief, lamentation, suffering, dejection, and despair are destroyed. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering."

Knowing this the blessed one uttered this solemn utterance. "When the real nature of things becomes clear to the meditating Bikshu, then all his doubts fade away since he has learned what is that nature and what its cause. From ignorance spring all the evils. From knowledge comes the cessation of this mass of misery, and then the meditating Brahmana stands dispelling the hosts of Mara like the sun that illuminates the sky."






Similarly to Ratnakarasanti, here is an equivalent way of saying Buddha has a Transcendental Consciousness and a Fully Expanded Pure Mundane Consciousness:



When our great Buddha -- the patron of all the adepts, the reformer and the codifier of the occult system, reached first Nirvana on earth, he became a Planetary Spirit; i.e. -- his spirit could at one and the same time rove the interstellar spaces in full consciousness, and continue at will on Earth in his original and individual body. For the divine Self had so completely disfranchised itself from matter that it could create at will an inner substitute for itself, and leaving it in the human form for days, weeks, sometimes years, affect in no wise by the change either the vital principle or the physical mind of its body. By the way, that is the highest form of adeptship man can hope for on our planet. But it is as rare as the Buddahs themselves,
the last Khobilgan who reached it being Sang-Ko-Pa of Kokonor (XIV Century), the reformer of esoteric as well as of vulgar Lamaism. Many are those who "break through the egg-shell," few who, once out are able to exercise their Nirira namastaka fully, when completely out of the body. Conscious life in Spirit is as difficult for some natures as swimming, is for some bodies. Though the human frame is lighter in its bulk than water, and that every person is born with the faculty, so few develop in themselves the art of treading water that death by drowning is the most frequent of accidents. The planetary Spirit of that kind (the Buddha like) can pass at will into other bodies -- of more or less etherialised matter, inhabiting other regions of the Universe. There are many other grades and orders, but there is no separate and eternally constituted order of Planetary Spirits.



As to Tson kha pa:



Among the few glimpses obtained by Europeans of Tibet and its mystical hierarchy of "perfect lamas," there is one which was correctly understood and described. "The incarnations of the Boddisatwa Padma Pani or Avalo-Kiteswara and of Tsong Kapa, that of Amitabha, relinquish at their death the attainment of Buddhahood — i.e. the summum bonum of bliss, and of individual personal felicity that they might be born again and again for the benefit of mankind."


If he is a Gelug, does this mean he suggests the pre-incarnation lineages are real? We don't know. HPB follows him in this reverence for Tson kha pa. I am not Gelug, but from what I have seen, their Guru Yoga is more interesting than anything else. And once you have this, you will probably get a lot of Avalokiteshvara.

In Kagyu we just say Tilo, Naro, Marpa, Gampo, Mila, or I just say this to remember them because they could accurately be described as being in the background of all Karma Kagyu. Gelug Guru Yoga is similar to our sadhanas such as Rechung Amitayus.

And so although we know they work for that sect or school, for the most part only Sutra references and general statements are made, and so the more general level of we are all Mahayanists holds true. Why there would be something distinctly called Yogacara within the Gelug, I do not know. And we could not say that just because of association, that a particular exoteric doctrine need be impressed on the Mahatmas. The Gelug resources were large and international; but even Tson Khapa was perhaps a crypto-Nyingma. Without seeing specific responses to particular points of the Buddhist Abhidharma, it is not possible to classify anything to a particular sect or sub-system.


On the other hand, once we say we are Yogacarin Mahayanists, we have narrowed the parameters considerably.

That aspect does not seem to comfortably fit the exoteric Gelug order. As far as I can tell, it definitely is hard coded into the very beginning of The Secret Doctrine. It says little else that would distinguish any particular Buddhist creed. I have never known it to have any claim of an "old style" such as *just* Samdhinirmocana Sutra and a few early texts and reject Asanga. I am only aware of it including Asanga one way or another, in between various arguments which for example include asserting Sutra Nagarjuna to continue as a theme overpowerng Asanga's view. If the Mahatmas refer to a normal Vasubandhu commentary, then, it does not quite sound like they are asserting anything that would diminish Asanga.

Then it is inescapable; once we admit Asanga, then Mahayana Buddhism is basically defined as Yogacara. This practice does not involve a noun, "the Alaya", so much as a verb, "Alaya Vijnana", which is obviously not upheld as Atma, but caused to revolve against and extinguish itself.





The Mahatma fragment that was once though to have been an RGV quote turned out to be a comparison versus creatures such as Nagas, Yaksas, Devas...one takes Refuge in Buddha alone. So that just broadly resembles the beginning of any Sutra.


What is evident in these letters is not a "special" kind of Buddhism as HPB implied by stating there was an "original" Asanga at the time of Buddha who transmitted a different set of verses. If something like that ever comes up, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Most of us already accept the idea of Buddha's close disciples being reborn, and, in the letters, we are given the examples of the two most famous ones. The thing is, if any kind of older manuscripts are ever discovered, chances are they lack the linguistic ability to even approach the same subjects. That is kind of why we are interested in the whole Sarma epoch rather than only the First Transmission. The capability of Sanskrit to express the inner meaning of sadhanas and so forth is cumulative.


What is more evident but is not promoted in enough detail is the institution of the Buddhist monastery as a private charity system. In many cases it is the only kind of disaster relief. That is why it is not that unusual to think of it as perhaps sometimes having volunteers for foreign work. Things like free education and medicine were part of the original Theosophical Society. And then we get the idea that yoga teaching is for someone who does charity. "Does it" in the sense of maybe you are sent two thousand miles to do whatever you are told. Or in any case you "do" something more than contribute funds.


And so when these incarnations of Lotus Family are discussed, the situation has already long been set that Avalokiteshvara is the national protector of Nepal and Tibet. I am not sure what other countries say. But it isn't so here. What is the case is that Abhayakaragupta is part of the same thing, and it is mainly from him that we are trying to structure and learn yoga. This is a system that is, so to speak, "true", without being really tied in to specific locations or established things. If Mahayana basically just means Yogacara, then we have already started it.


Lotus Family governs Speech Mandala and was originally called Dharma Family. It speaks Buddha words of truth, or, its mantric power gives true results. Very similar to Vak Siddhi. Then we see in Yogacara that Asanga and Vasubandhu both expound a Dharani system. They say it becomes a substantial portion of the Bodhisattva Path.

The vow of oath-bound spirits usually says they have taken the Vow of Lotus Family. The subjugation is done by Vajrapani but then, for some reason, there is allegiance to Lotus Family.


Buddha said that people do not understand Samadhi, and, all our meditations are geared at simply getting you to that place where Buddha's teaching *can* be received. Much like Manobhanga and Cittavisrama. This has the nature of a pilgrimage which starts with Bengali Avalokiteshvara and goes to Vindhya Vajrayogini. There are not that many tantras in Lotus Family, Padma Jala, etc., and it is heavily going to investigate for Karuna, that is, a successful compassionate act. A sentiment that those are nice my be of some assistance, but, it is seeking results. If you have something of this nature that is true to say, then, correspondingly, the power of mantra is also like this.


If Sutra Mahayana contains a suggestion that benevolence is a good idea, the definition of Subtle Yoga requires it. So although I have no personal connection to whatever the Mahatmas were doing, I, at least, am willing to claim that Yogacara holds this meaning.



Although work for no reward may be asked for, generally we are not saying to undergo deprivations for no reason. And so there is plenty to say that one should go inside one's body and make it feel good. As much as there is its impermanence and something is transcendent to it, that is the location where a change of brain consciousness takes place, which is the Body Mandala before Speech Mandala. The speech principle is attributed with responsibility for the vast majority of experience. Most beings have the self-arising of discursive thought. But if you follow the simple Mahayana concept, then, random garbage starts turning into Mahayana ideas. It actually does this, i. e. brain consciousness can be adjusted.


Here is a basic presentation of a Dharani that would have been relevant in Asanga's time. As we have seen, there were images of Prajnaparamita deity probably even before him. This is a cabaret singer who does mostly non-Buddhist Sanskrit. Here, it is somewhat resemblent of a sadhana. She does, I'm guessing, 108 Namos, that is, invocatory mantras, then, Heart Sutra in Sanskrit, and then, probably, 108 Mahamantras.

This is part of Vajra Family.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FZ0w4B80uZA

It can be found, for instance, that Prajnaparamita's destination is Bodhi, which then it is practices of Vajrayogini that bring this to bear in startling detail. We suggest not just grabbing the Pabonkha material and running with it. However one can slowly make Nirmana Cakra and summon Varuni.


Currently, there are still a limited number of dharanis which are well written and performed. The following however is very impressive.


In our view, Usnisa Vijaya can hold Amitabha in the Palm of her Hand. We have the Sinagporean men's version which is very militant, when you want a deep cleaning and heavy scrub, you do it that way. This is a very new version by a lady occupying what looks like a Chinese theater during the shutdown.


This version does the whole song four times; the song is a few repetitions of the dharani where she superbly musically manipulates it in an almost Wagnerian triumph. It is more interesting, because it is a medium-length dharani and therefor we get an idea of how these things can be applied. And so if you look at the Mayuri, or a whole lot of Dharani Samgraha and so forth, you could make a lot of numbers like this. Then you are getting something like a songbook, where for example this is like an Usnisa Vijaya standard, and also she has different options based from shorter or longer mantras and so forth.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HA75zd5eE-w

Namo buddhaja
Namo dharmaja
Namo sangaja
Teata om muni muni maha munaja soha

Namo bhagavate trailokya prativiśiștaya buddhāya bhagavate. tadyathā, om,
viśodhaya viśodhaya, asama-sama samantāvabhāsa-spharana gati gahana svabhāva viśuddhe, abhişiňcatu mām. sugata vara vacana amrta abhişekai mahā mantra-padai. āhara āhara āyuh sam-dhāraņi. śodhaya śodhaya gagana viśuddhe. ușņişa vijaya viśuddhe sahasra-raśmi sam-codite. sarva tathāgata avalokani şat-pāramitā-paripūrani. sarva tathāgata mati daśa-bhūmi prati-șthite. sarva tathāgata hrdaya adhişthānādhişthita mahā-mudre. vajra kāya sam-hatana viśuddhe. sarvāvaraņa apāya-durgati pari viśuddhe, prati-nivartaya āyuh śuddhe. samaya adhişțhite. maņi maņi mahā maņi. tathatā bhūta-koți pariśuddhe. visphuța buddhi śuddhe. jaya jaya, vijaya vijaya. smara smara, sarva buddha adhişthita śuddhe, vajri vajragarbhe vajram bhavatu mama śarīram. sarva sattvānām ca kāya pari viśuddhe. sarva gati pariśuddhe. sarva tathāgata siñca me samāśvāsayantu. sarva tathāgata samāśvāsa adhişthite. budhya budhya, vibudhya vibudhya, bodhaya bodhaya, vibodhaya vibodhaya samanta pariśuddhe. sarva tathāgata hrdaya adhişthānādhișthita mahā-mudre svāhā.



That is Mahayana Yogacara. If she just wants to sing it, she can do that anywhere, any time. If she is really doing the Yoga, then she fades out her voice and continues to recite it mentally. The best way I can explain this, is that if you just read the words somewhat blindly as a matter of enunciation, it does not do that much. If you study the meaning and apply Bhavana, that is, a feeling of affinity for it, then the effect of going from a verbal to a silent mantra is almost like its own world. The Usnisa Vijaya series is going to do something that is a little different from Prajnaparamita. And so on. And this is much as H. E. VIII Garchen Rinpoche says. A good recording is about the same as a live or physically-present transmission. And she is so good that we cannot find any difference between this and the Usnisa class of deity, which means she is transmitting telepathy from Buddha, so this choice is very important and special.


Considering Usnisa Vijaya to be evoked by Tara's Verse Four:


namas tathāgatôṣṇīṣa-vijayânanta-cāriṇī |

aśeṣa-pāramitā-prāpta-jina-putra-niṣevite ||


The corresponding subject from Maitreya is the Nine Dhyanas/Nine Samapattis.

Pretty good for an instant look into the Second Yoga, Dhyana.

Tara has a song of songs. And so if you do this, then you would at least refer to Usnisa Vijaya by a verse every day. At other times then you would use her directly, such as by this recording. Then it would probably be fair to say that some people select her as a Yidam. That is possible too.

[shaberon]

HPB on Buddhism; Eastern Nepalese Kirats



Both HPB and the Mahatmas most greatly prized "original Indian esoteric Buddhism", which was most closely related to the "Svabhava" of Nepalese Buddhism. If the public would have simply plugged this in to Brian Hodgson's information any time in the past hundred and fifty years, this might be more plain, but they did not.



Perhaps a large difficulty with HPB and the "oldest, purest lineages" is that she "goes forward" into Chinese Buddhism as a starting point, more or less to trace Tibetan commentary, in an attempt to detect Sanskrit Buddhism in reverse.


Going mostly from Collected Writings vol. XIV, she says the Tibetan Lama system is not older than the eighth century, which would be Nyingma. And of course, there are many Chinese texts older than this. However, now, we are simply able to do this the other way around. For the most part we can get the Nalanda Sanskrit Buddhism, and see how the Chinese transmissions came out of it. From doing so, we find that most of them either contain intentional variations, or, any number of unintentional mistakes. Nevertheless, if it comes under the flag of Buddhism and the best that people were able to do with handwritten scrolls and arduous journeys on horses or foot, we can still use some of it for comparison. HPB's main point is that out of any kind of Buddhism, there is only one esoteric kind:



The “Heart Doctrine,” or the “Heart’s Seal” (the Sin Yin) is the only real one. This may be found corroborated by Hiuen Tsang. In his translation of Mahâ-Prajñâ-Pâramitâ (Ta-poh-je-King), in one hundred and twenty volumes, it is stated that it was Buddha’s “favourite disciple Ananda,” who, after his great Master had gone into Nirvâna, was commissioned by Kâsyapa to promulgate “the Eye of the Doctrine,” the “Heart” of the Law having been left with the Arhats alone.



Then we find that in looking for Indian Buddhism, she gives massive prominence to Bodhidharma:


In no part of the story is aid to the recovery of this lost knowledge more likely to be found than in the accounts of the patriarchs, the line of whom was completed by Bodhidharma. In seeking the best explanation of the Chinese and Japanese narrative of the patriarchs, and the seven Buddhas terminating in Gautama, or Shâkyamuni, it is important to know the Jain traditions as they were early in the sixth century of our era, when the Patriarch Bodhidharma removed to China.



This lineage is another example of something that is almost certainly a "later re-creation", as we think also happened in Tibet in several ways. It only has this later Chinese source and it does not really match anything else known.


Ok. If we try to make a facsimile based on "what we know", Jamgon Kongtrul only gives three Indian Yogacara teachers to occupy a span of more than five centuries.

Treated carefully, the missing pieces appear to be better explained by tantric lineages. That is, we can almost entirely re-construct continuity from Asanga to the Kagyu system of today. Yet if we compare the standard oriental roster of patriarchs, it includes Vasubandhu, but, for some reason, not Asanga.


It of course goes back to Sutra Nagarjuna, whom most of the tantrists conflate with Guhyasamaja Nagarjuna. And so this may be why she thought there was no real Asanga in Vasubandhu's time. And so fairly we should take the list as "suggestive" rather than "literal".



HPB characterizes the Patriarchs:



When the misuse of dogmatical orthodox Buddhist Scriptures had reached its climax, and the true spirit of the Buddha’s Philosophy was nearly lost, several reformers appeared from India, who established an oral teaching. Such were Bodhidharma and Nâgârjuna, the authors of the most important works of the contemplative School in China during the first centuries of our era. It is known, moreover, as is said in Chinese Buddhism, that Bodhidharma became the chief founder of the Esoteric Schools, which were divided into five principal branches.


Bodhidharma founded something in China, and it is based on oral tradition from Nagarjuna. That is the same thing we say in areas that are not considered to be in Bodhidharma's broadcast zone.

She then is going to invoke commentary which we would call unsourced and undated:


As a comment upon the mistaken views held in our century by the Orientalists, “who vainly try to fathom Tathâgata’s thoughts,” and those of Brâhmans, “who repudiate the great Teacher to this day,” here are some original thoughts expressed in relation to the Buddha and the study of the Secret Sciences. They are from a work written in Chinese by a Tibetan, and published in the monastery of Tientai for circulation among the Buddhists who live in foreign lands, and are in danger of being spoiled by missionaries, as the author truly says, every convert being not only “spoiled” for his own creed, but being also a sorry acquisition for Christianity. A translation of a few passages, kindly made from that work for the present volumes is now given.



Somehow this article has gotten to her all the way from Mount Jiuhua.


There are a few records for instance that Koothoomi traveled to Sichuan, but Tiantai is considerably further away. Nevertheless having a Tibetan origin for these notes. There are also numerous monasteries surrounding it; this physically highest one is considered as Lotus School of Ekayana and Madhyamaka.

Bodhidharma is generally considered the Lankavatara School.

The Sino-Tibetan article seems to make her revise her stance about Asanga:


No profane ears having heard the mighty Chau-yan [secret and enlightening precepts] of Wu-Wei-chen-jen [Buddha within Buddha], of our beloved Lord and Bodhisattva, how can one tell what his thoughts really were? The holy Sang-gyas-Panchen never offered an insight into the One Reality to the unreformed [uninitiated] Bhikkus. Few are those even among the Tu-fon [Tibetans] who knew it; as for the Tsung-men‡ Schools, they are going with every day more down hill..Not even the Fa-hsiang-Tsunga can give one the wisdom taught in real Naljor-chod-pa [Sanskrit:|| Yogacharyâ]: . . . it is all “Eye” Doctrine, and no more. The loss of a restraining guidance is felt, since the Tch’-an-si [teachers] of inward meditation [self-contemplation or Tchung-kwan] have become rare, and the Good Law is replaced by idol-worship [Siang-kyan]. It is of this [idol-or image-worship] that the Barbarians [Western people] have heard, and know nothing of Bas-pa-Dharma [the secret Dharma or doctrine]. Why has truth to hide like a tortoise within its shell? Because it is now found to have become like the Lama’s tonsure knife, a weapon too dangerous to use even for the Lanoo. Therefore no one can be entrusted with the knowledge [Secret Science] before his time. The Chagpa-Thog-med have become rare, and the best have retired to Tu****a the Blessed.†



§ A school of contemplation founded by Hiuen-Tsang, the traveller, nearly extinct. Fa-hsiang-Tsung means “the School that unveils the inner nature of things.”

|| Esoteric, or hidden, teaching of Yoga (Chinese: Yogi-mi-kean).

† Chagpa-Thog-med is the Tibetan name of Âryâsanga, the founder of the Yogacharyâ or Naljorchodpa School. This Sage and Initiate is said to have been taught “Wisdom” by Maitreya Buddha Himself, the Buddha of the Sixth Race, at Tusita (a celestial region presided over by Him), and as having received from Him the five books of Champai-chos-nga. The Secret Doctrine teaches, however, that he came from Dejung, or Sambhala, called the “source of happiness” (“wisdom-acquired”) and declared by some Orientalists to be a “fabulous” place.


I am not sure that anyone says Maitreya "came from" Tusita, but went there.

She explains Devachan or Sukhavati, perhaps as correspondence to Shambala:


The “Western paradise,” or Western heaven, is no fiction located in transcendental space. It is a bona-fide locality in the mountains, or, to be more correct, one encircled in a desert within mountains. Hence it is assigned for the residence of those students of Esoteric Wisdom—disciples of Buddha—who have attained the rank of Lohans and Anâgâmins (Adepts). It is called “Western” simply from geographical considerations; and “the great iron mountain girdle” that surrounds the Avichi, and the seven Lokas that encircle the “Western paradise” are a very exact representation of well-known localities and things to the Eastern student of Occultism.



She was taking to task a large prior publication of Chinese Buddhism. This already contained various descriptions of schools such as:


(2.) Yo-ga-mi-kiau, "The secret teaching of Yoga." The founder of this system is called Kin-kang-sat-wa (Vajrasattwa). It was brought to China about A.D. 720 by Kin-kang-chï (Vajramati), who was succeeded by Pu-k‘ung. Seventy-two works came from the pen of the latter, and were placed in the national collection of Buddhist books. His numerous disciples learned to repeat charms with great effect, and this seems to be the proper business of the school. The word Yoga is explained as "Correspondence" and, it is added, is employed as a general term for books "containing secret doctrines" (referring to magic). To this school belongs the very popular festival of the hungry ghosts, held in the seventh month.

The Yoga or Yogachara school is also called the Tantra school, because it taught the use of magic formulæ or unintelligible charms used for rain, for protection in storms, &c. They are written in Sanscrit or Thibetan letters.—(See in Eitel, under the word "Yogatchara.")

(3.) Wei-shi-siang-kiau. This school occupied itself with the study of the Shastra Wei-shï-lun, and similar works. These books were written by the two Bodhisattwas Wu-cho 1 and T‘ien-ts‘in. Kiai-hien, a Hindoo residing
at the monastery Nalanda, was their most distinguished disciple, and was principally concerned in establishing this school, and arranging those forms of Buddhist instruction called the Three "Developments" (Yana). Next to him was the traveller Hiuen-tsang, who received the Shastra mentioned above from Kiai-hien, and originated the school in his native country. He was succeeded by his pupil Kwei-ki. This school is called Fa-siang-tsung, or the "School that exhibits the nature" and meaning of the Buddhist written doctrines.

1 Asengha, "Without attachment," was originally a follower of the Mahashasaka school. He first taught the Mahayana system, and wrote the books which contain the Wei-shi doctrines. Then he because the founder of the Yoga school, and wrote a book which he said was dictated to him by Maitreya in the Tusita paradise.—(See in Eitel.)


Wei shi lun is Vasubandhu's Twenty Stanzas and Cheng Weishi lun is Xuanzang's synthesis of ten commentaries.

Roughly, the Tibetan was asserting this (3) was a direct branch of the true doctrine, but, in China, has fallen away, which is why he is making this little reminder. Around 720, China gets Vajrasattva Yoga; although in India, this was pretty much (3) practiced at Sitabani. The translator has somewhat mixed Tantra with amuletry, which is not of course what it really means either, but, such things are a sort of popular or exoteric way of spreading its awareness.


If the Vajrasattva tradition at Sitabani were meaningless, then Padmasambhava would be meaningless, in which case there would be no Nyingma, in which case there would be no Theosophical Mahachohan.

Since there was, and, it entered Nepal a hundred years before China or Tibet, Nepal remains a simpler source without such a vast array of twinges and tweaks. Its connection to the Historical Buddhas has a lot more momentum than the Chinese roaster of mostly unknown Patriarchs.


From Wiki on Yogacara:


Although Yogācāras in general do not accept the existence of an external material world, according to Satyākāravāda its appearances or “aspects” (rnam pa, ākāra) reflected in consciousness have a real existence, because they are of one nature with the really existent consciousness, their creator. According to Alikākāravāda, neither external phenomena nor their appearances and/in the minds that reflect them really exist. What exists in reality is only primordial mind (ye shes, jñāna), described as self-cognition (rang rig, svasamvedana/ svasamvitti) or individually self-cognizing primordial mind (so so(r) rang gis rig pa’i ye shes).


Svasamvedana is a more prevalent term in Samputa Tantra for what could be called the subject of the Lankavatara School:


The topic most interesting for the reader of this book is that of svapratyatmagati, i.e. self-realization of the highest truth.



It is not quite speaking in terms of realization-of-the-self, but something more like "by or for oneself" in Lankavatara Sutra:


” or he qualifies the nature of such
realization as sva–pratyatma arya–jnana: “the self–realization
of buddha knowledge.”

pratyatma–gati–gocaram, where gocara
(pasture) refers to a perceptual field and/or the objects within
that field, while pratyatma–gati means “personally realized.”



From the end of the commentary, HPB quotes:


He who would acquire the Sacred Knowledge should, before he goes any farther “trim his lamp of inner understanding,” and then “with the help of such good light” use his meritorious actions as a dust-cloth to remove every impurity from his mystic mirror, so that he should be enabled to see in its lustre the faithful reflection of Self. . . ... First, this; then Tong-pa-nyi,* lastly; Sammâ Sambuddha.†


* The state of absolute freedom from any sin or desire.

† The state during which an Adept sees the long series of his past births, and lives through all his previous incarnations in this and the other worlds. (See the admirable description in The Light of Asia, Book VII, p. 166, 1884 ed.).



Here was the Pali spelling of Samyak Sambuddha, which, may have that interesting state, but is, rather, the goal of Buddhahood. Although qualitatively the same as that experienced by Bodhisattvas, as implied by the name, they have Bodhi, whereas "lastly" is Buddha, which is complete/fully expanded. Again on something like this which is something as fundamental as the goal of the Path, a semi-inappropriate footnote does not really do it justice. This commentary is not inaccurate, so much as it is diffuse. The first parts are almost the same as Viraja mantra and quelling the gross Hindrances, i. e. represents the lesser Yanas or even Hinduism, whereas only the last part makes it Mahayana.

The fascinating rejoinder of multiple languages was probably intriguing, but Tibetan only has about ten per cent of the vocabulary of Sanskrit. Plus with a few mistakes in translation. When reduced to its basic Pali or Sanskrit, things become much clearer.


Asanga comes up a couple times in Misconceptions Corrected:



...even the Yogacharyâ of Aryâsanga became disfigured by the yearly pilgrimage from India to the shores of Mansarovara, of hosts of vagabonds with matted locks who play at being Yogins and Fakirs, preferring this to work.


Here, instead of accusing him personally as being a "tantric pretender" or the like, that facet is shifted on to people generally, which is the same thing that the Lamas still say to this day. It is what we call Tirthas, they go along for appearance's sake without ever really finding the inner doctrine.



As to Bodhisattvas not generally being "disembodied spirits":


Their correct character may be found only in the secret volumes of Lugrub or Nâgârjuna, the founder of the Mahâyâna system, who is said to have been initiated by the Nâgas (fabulous “Serpents,” the veiled name for an Initiate or Mahatma). The fabled report found in Chinese records that Nâgârjuna considered his doctrine to be in opposition to that of Gautama Buddha, until he discovered from the Nâgas that it was precisely the doctrine that had been secretly taught by Sâkyamuni Himself, is an allegory, and is based upon the reconciliation between the old Brâhmanical secret Schools in the Himâlayas and Gautama’s Esoteric teachings, both parties having at first objected to the rival schools of the other. The former, the parent of all others, had been established beyond the Himâlayas for ages before the appearance of Sâkyamuni. Gautama was a pupil of this; and it was with them, those Indian Sages, that He had learned the truths of the Sunyata, the emptiness and impermanence of every terrestrial, evanescent thing, and the mysteries of Prajña-Pâramitâ, or “knowledge across the River,” which finally lands the “Perfect One” in the regions of the One Reality. But His Arhats were not Himself. Some of them were ambitious, and they modified certain teachings after the great councils, and it is on account of these “heretics” that the Mother-School at first refused to allow them to blend their schools, when persecution began driving away the Esoteric Brotherhood from India. But when finally most of them submitted to the guidance and control of the chief Âśramas, then the Yogacharyâ of Âryâsanga was merged into the oldest Lodge. For it is there from time immemorial that has lain concealed the final hope and light of the world, the salvation of mankind. Many are the names of that School and land, the name of the latter being now regarded by the Orientalists as the mythic name of a fabulous country.


In the Himalayan desert or western paradise:


...the inhabitants of the mysterious region are thus supposed to have reached the state called in mystic phraseology Svasamvedanâ (“self-analyzing reflection”) and Paramârtha, or that absolute consciousness of the personal merged into the impersonal Ego, which is above all, hence above illusion in every sense.


It is not that mysterious, since it is well-known as Uttara Kuru or Great North Country. Yajnawalkya went there.


This is very resemblent about her remark of a great library near Altyn Toga of Cosmogenesis. This is a ridge going north from Kunlun or Karakorum. Such a library is considered by some to possibly house an Adi Purana or Purana Samhita.


Either the high desert or the shores of Lake Baikal is still a different area from Manjushri's Wu Tai Shan. If it may be allowed that this is all one vast area "beyond the Himalayas", perhaps both the phrases Uttara Kuru and Mahacina apply.





There is an evidently strange quote of Asanga related to Pauline Christianity in EI III:


Those who sincerely reject the possibility of conscious life divorced from substance, and a brain––are dead units. The words of Paul, an Initiate, become comprehensible. “Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God,” which is to say: Ye are personally dead matter, unconscious of its own spiritual essence, and your real life is hid with your divine Ego (Christos) in, or merged with, God (Âtman); now it has departed from you, soulless people. Speaking on esoteric lines, every irrevocably materialistic person is a dead MAN, a living automaton, in spite of his being endowed with great brain power. Listen to what Âryâsanga says, stating the same fact:

“That which is neither Spirit nor Matter, neither Light nor Darkness, but is verily the container and root of these, that thou art. The Root projects at every Dawn its shadow on ITSELF, and that shadow thou callest Light and Life, O poor dead Form. (This) Life-Light streameth downward through the stair of the seven worlds, the stair, of which each step becomes denser and darker. It is of this seven-times-seven scale that thou art the faithful climber and mirror, O little man! Thou art this, but thou knowest it not.”

This is the first lesson to learn.


She does not give a source or any original terms for it. Just, suddenly...Asanga is the first esoteric lesson.



Here is a tantric comment in Vol. 5:

The statement of this “great authority [!] on Tibetan Buddhism,” as he is called, to the effect that Gautama had three wives whom he names—and then contradicts himself by showing (Grammar of the Tibetan Language, p. 162, see note) that the first two wives “are one and the same,” shows how little he can be regarded as an “authority.” He had not even learned that “Gopa, Yasodhara and Utpala Varna,” are the three names for three mystical powers.



Manjushri had a vision and so forth, and Krakucchanda had to do with settling at Patan in Nepal. Geology believes that Chobar Gorge opened around 30,000 years ago. Then we had a Little Ice Age, whose melt from the Himalayas made Central Asia a vast inland paradise. These areas became desert relatively recently, rounding out its current dust bowl by ca. 600.

Linguists and historians and so on have a hard time distinguishing Mongol/Tibetan/Australic traits among races that must have been prevalent then. Some of the Limbuwan do not believe they are migrants at all. There is clear evidence of layering and mixing new tribes, but I am not sure we can hit rewind hard enough to make them all go away.



Eastern Nepalese Lapchas are from Elam and Aram, with subsequent waves of Kham and Rong also settling/intermixing there.

If this was taking place in the 600s, it corresponds to the Arameans were getting scattered:


Since the Arab conquest of the Near East in the 7th century, remaining communities of Christian Arameans converged around local ecclesiastical institutions, that were by that time already divided along denominational lines. Among those in western regions, including Syria and Palestine, majority adhered to the Oriental Orthodoxy, under jurisdiction of the Oriental Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch...

...the Council of Ephesus explicitly rejected Nestorianism, the Christological doctrine that Christ was two distinct persons, one divine (the Logos) and one human (Jesus), who happened to inhabit the same body. The churches that later became Oriental Orthodoxy were firmly anti-Nestorian, and therefore strongly supported the decisions made at Ephesus.


It is close to but not the same as what we normally call the Orthodox Church:


Oriental Orthodoxy shares much theology and many ecclesiastical traditions with the Eastern Orthodox Church; these include a similar doctrine of salvation and a tradition of collegiality between bishops, as well as reverence of the Theotokos and use of the Nicene Creed.

The primary theological difference between the two communions is the differing Christology. Oriental Orthodoxy rejects the Chalcedonian Definition, and instead adopts the miaphysite formula, believing that the human and divine natures of Christ are united.


If they were stirred by Caliphs, then it appears they passed eastwards through Elam.


Elam is ancient, generally considered to have an "isolated" language, although some believe it influenced Dravidian:


Apart from the linguistic similarities, the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis rests on the claim that agriculture spread from the Near East to the Indus Valley region via Elam. This would suggest that agriculturalists brought a new language as well as farming from Elam. Supporting ethno-botanical data include the Near Eastern origin and name of wheat (D. Fuller). Later evidence of extensive trade between Elam and the Indus Valley Civilization suggests ongoing links between the two regions.


It had an ancient kingdom and mythology, overrun by Assyria in ancient times, yet persisted as a region and language of
Elam:


From 410 onwards Elam (Beth Huzaye) was the senior metropolitan province of the Church of the East, surviving into the 14th century.

Unlike Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East is Nestorian and Thomasene.

Assyrian or Chaldean is similar.


Elam is at least hugely connected to Harrapan and Indus Valley:


Trade between the Indus Valley Civilization and the cities of Mesopotamia and Elam, can be inferred from numerous find of Indus artifacts, particularly in the excavation at Susa. Various objects made with shell species that are characteristic of the Indus coast, particularly Trubinella Pyrum and Fasciolaria Trapezium, have been found in the archaeological sites of Mesopotamia and Susa dating from around 2500–2000 BC. Carnelian beads from the Indus were found in Susa in the excavation of the tell of the citadel. In particular, carnelian beads with an etched design in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley, and made according to a technique of acid-etching developed by the Harappans.



In those days it was kind of a huge deal to be a Monophysite according to the guy who ordered Hypatia's murder:


Cyril of Alexandria succeeded in having Nestorius, a prominent exponent of the Antiochian school, condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and insisted on the formula "one physis of the incarnate Word", claiming that any formula that spoke of two physeis represented Nestorianism.

Those who insisted on the "one physis" formula were referred to as Monophysites, while those who accepted the Chalcedonian "two natures" definition were called Dyophysites, a term applied also to followers of Nestorianism.


The Byzantine clients, the Arab Ghassanids, converted to the Monophysite form of Christianity, which was regarded as heretical by the established Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church. The Byzantines attempted to suppress the heresy, alienating the Ghassanids and sparking rebellions on their desert frontiers.

Justin I was succeeded by the Chalcedonian Justinian I (527–565), whose wife, however, the Empress Theodora, protected and assisted the Monophysites. Ghassanid patronage of the Monophysite Syrian Church during this time, under phylarch Al-Harith ibn Jabalah, was crucial for its survival and revival, and even its spread. Justinian I was followed by Justin II, who, after being, perhaps because of Theodora's influence, a Monophysite, converted to the Chalcedonian faith before obtaining the imperial throne. Some time later, he adopted a policy of persecuting the Monophysites.


Then from Arabia:

The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sassanid Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion.


From that point are various Arab and Kurdish dominations for centuries, so, one can conceive that around the 600s there might have been great reasons for Christians to evacuate Aram and Elam and relatively easily get to some part of India, then to a Nepalese frontier that may have been sparsely inhabited/largely uncontested. However I am not aware they remained Christians/started churches, etc., with the coming of the Kirats.


Although there was bickering amongst various early branches of Orthodoxy, these issues are not taken to be especially divisive anymore, not compared to that which is represented by The Great Schism. Constantine was Pontifex Maximus of Sol Invictus or the Apollo cult and the main thing he cared about Christianity was not to live it in any way, but, the fact it could grant forgiveness on the death bed. He just wanted people to figure it out. Hardly any Latin priests were involved with those early councils; learning and civilization was all Eastern or Greek. Early Christians before establishment were viewed as weird followers of some new foreign (Jerusalem) cult, but, no one would have bothered them much just for practicing their own liturgies. They started getting into trouble when they refused to toss a coin into Apollo's fountain.




The Kiratic culture is much larger and widespread, Mongol-esque, in central Nepal and the trans-Himalaya since ca. 1200 B. C., being also the Nagas of Assam and then these later groups also from Yunnan. This is both the Naga culture, and, ethnically related to Manjushri. And so it may be the Naga Kingdom from whom Nagarjuna gets the Prajnaparamita. Valmiki, the First Poet, or Adi Kavya, author of Ramayana, was a Kirat.


These are the "Mon tribespeople" of Buddhist sadhanas.


Ilam, Nepal, does not officially recognize any Persian origin.


There is an ongoing debate about whether Elam is Dravidian. A sticking point may be with Elam related to the Pallavas:


Pallavan is also a name of a Tamil Dynasty (200 AD to 900 AD), meaning a branch of Cholas, that ruled parts of south India. It is also a name of a great wrestler king (Mamallan or Narasimhavarma I) of Pallava Dynasty. This dynasty had a matrimonial alliance with modern day Iran (Persia). They also had matrimonial alliances with Nagaland, Kambhoja/Cambodian, Nepal and had claimed descendancy from Bharathwaja, and Asvathama. It is also called as Thondai (mandalam or nadu), named after its legendary founder, meaning a branch of Cholas (Thondaiman clan of Kallars/Devars).



The newish "Kirat History" says that the Ilamu claim this relation to Elam; or, perhaps, it is giving the verb "claim" to them, and then it is adding Aramu in an unclear way.

The remark is unattributed; the surrounding references are to Joseph Hooker's Himalayan Journals, and also the multiply-updated "Gurkhas" by Vansittart. I do not yet see the claim. The author of Gurkhas mis-understands Krakucchanda in the era that Historical Buddhas came before Kirat kings. Then:

During the reign of the seventeenth king, Rudra Deva, 653 to 656 A.D.,
one Sankara Acharya, a bigoted Brahman, induced a most furious persecution
against all persons of every age and rank, and of either sex, who professed or
protected the religion of Buddha. He destroyed their literature, burned their
temples, and butchered their priests and sages, but failed to overthrow their
religion.

He is also confused about the possibility of two Vikramadityas.

The real truth would appear to be that between 630 and 635 A.D. a powerful Indian king, by
name Sriharsha, conquered Nepal...



I am not sure if we can conclude or deny that Ilam, Nepal, has anything to do with Elam, Persia. We can be pretty sure that India was counter-attacked by Tibet, and shortly afterwards, Bengal and Assam were conquered by India, and it is this circumstance that permitted the flourishing of tantric Buddhism throughout this circuit.

[shaberon]

Mahayana and Adi Shankara/Sri Yantra, Kurukulla, Chandragomin




In India, there are generally Six Darsanas or philosophies, which all of the minor variations are based in:

Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.


One can find every type of theology from materialistic atheism to that which follows a Supreme Being. The only thing that has never occurred to them is a system that results in eternal heavenly or hellish judgment based on a single, often short and insufficient, lifetime.

All known Hindu philosophies are refuted in Tattva Samgraha. It is long, dry, and technical, so difficult to read, I went through it one time and put it away. Similarly, there are intra-Buddhist arguments where each lineage refutes the others. So this could easily come across as a bunch of arbitrary noise and squawking. The method of Aristotle would be to crawl all these possibilities and make a summum bonum or grand conclusion. That is not really what we are doing. It is more like Plato where we are going to make a master stamp and contrast/refute anything extraneous that comes at it.


Historically, there was a great opportunity to form such a synthesis, but, turned into a hideous rivalry due to a missing point.

This profound point in Theosophy is that the philosophies of Buddha and Adi Shankara are nearly identical.

Typically it would be claimed, rather, that these are the cause of great schisms. But this is the result of making every point in the debate except for the "hidden inner meaning".


Adi Shankara is really quite like the Bodhidharma Patriarch lineage and so on: probably heavily reconstructed. According to his Wiki page:



...there is no mention of him in concurring Hindu, Buddhist or Jain sources until the 11th century. The popular image Shankara started to take shape only in the 14th century, centuries after his death

These hagiographies portray him as founding four mathas ("monasteries"), and Adi Shankara also came to be regarded as the organiser of the Dashanami monastic order, and the unifier of the Shanmata tradition of worship.


Dashanami are Ekadandins, or the wandering staff-carrying mendicants, perpetual pilgrims, world renunciants, who have watched and maintained India's holy sites for centuries.


Just as we had trouble reliably dating Asanga due to confusion over a king's nickname:


The Sringeri records state that Shankara was born in the 14th year of the reign of "Vikramaditya", but it is unclear as to which king this name refers. Though some researchers identify the name with Chandragupta II (4th century CE), modern scholarship accepts the Vikramaditya as being from the Chalukya dynasty of Badami, most likely Vikramaditya II (733–746 CE)...



However, quite similarly to Asanga, he primarily re-codified older scriptures into a new synthesis:



One of Shankara's main concerns was explaining the liberating knowledge of the Self, and defending the Upanishads as an independent means of knowledge against the ritually-oriented Mīmāṃsā school of Hinduism.


Also similarly, he was influenced by Nagarjuna, with the same caveat that Yogacara holds:


Stcherbatsky in 1927 criticized Shankara for demanding the use of logic from Madhyamika Buddhists, while himself resorting to revelation as a source of knowledge.

According to these [widely represented contemporary] studies, Shankara only accorded a provisional validity to the knowledge gained by inquiry into the words of the Śruti (Vedas) and did not see the latter as the unique source (pramana) of Brahmajnana. The affirmations of the Śruti, it is argued, need to be verified and confirmed by the knowledge gained through direct experience (anubhava) and the authority of the Śruti, therefore, is only secondary.


His version of religion is to "read and interiorize the Upanishads", which is the same process as Mahayana with its scriptures, and:


...it is not complete thought suppression, instead it is a "meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness".


So it is only partially similar to the Yoga of Patanjali, further, it greatly resembles Asanga's Mahayana:


...the type of yoga which Sankara presents here is a method of merging, as it were, the particular (visesa) into the general (samanya). For example, diverse sounds are merged in the sense of hearing, which has greater generality insofar as the sense of hearing is the locus of all sounds. The sense of hearing is merged into the mind, whose nature consists of thinking about things, and the mind is in turn merged into the intellect, which Sankara then says is made into 'mere cognition' (vijnanamatra); that is, all particular cognitions resolve into their universal, which is cognition as such, thought without any particular object. And that in turn is merged into its universal, mere Consciousness (prajnajnaghana), upon which everything previously referred to ultimately depends.


So, his Yoga doctrine is highly similar to ours due to its own inner evidence, and his argument comes out in the following way:



According to Shankara, a major difference between Advaita and Mahayana Buddhism are their views on Atman and Brahman.

Despite Shankara's criticism of certain schools of Mahayana Buddhism, Shankara's philosophy shows strong similarities with the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy which he attacks. According to S.N. Dasgupta,

Shankara and his followers borrowed much of their dialectic form of criticism from the Buddhists. His Brahman was very much like the sunya of Nagarjuna [...] The debts of Shankara to the self-luminosity of the Vijnanavada Buddhism can hardly be overestimated. There seems to be much truth in the accusations against Shankara by Vijnana Bhiksu and others that he was a hidden Buddhist himself. I am led to think that Shankara's philosophy is largely a compound of Vijnanavada and Sunyavada Buddhism with the Upanisad notion of the permanence of self superadded.

According to Mudgal, Shankara's Advaita and the Buddhist Madhyamaka view of ultimate reality are compatible because they are both transcendental, indescribable, non-dual and only arrived at through a via negativa (neti neti). Mudgal concludes therefore that

... the difference between Sunyavada (Mahayana) philosophy of Buddhism and Advaita philosophy of Hinduism may be a matter of emphasis, not of kind.

Some Hindu scholars criticized Advaita for its Maya and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with Buddhism. Ramanuja, the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedānta, accused Adi Shankara of being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a "crypto-Buddhist", and someone who was undermining theistic Bhakti devotionalism. The non-Advaita scholar Bhaskara of the Bhedabheda Vedānta tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as "this despicable broken down Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists", and a school that is undermining the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.


Allright. Well, there is evidence of Vedic orthodoxy being undermined in the Atharva Veda itself, maybe a thousand years before Adi Shankara. So all of the Aranyaka or forest literature and its practitioners were already outside of this. Importantly we found the practice of Inner Homa was specifically to grant you freedom from a temple/orthodox practice.


And so there is a slight misunderstanding or he responded more to Hinayana:


Nirvana, a term more often used in Buddhism, is the liberating realization and acceptance that there is no Self (anatman). Moksha, a term more common in Hinduism, is liberating realization and acceptance of Self and Universal Soul, the consciousness of one's Oneness with all existence and understanding the whole universe as the Self.


Buddhism has more to say on Nirvana which is not addressed here. In fact, this emphasis on "no self" is very provisional, extending to little more than mental processes do not make a "Pudgala" or permanent person, and ideas about things or "Dharmata" do not make them permanent entities, and so one's inner reality is non-different from that which appears as external persons and objects. That is a training mode, and, it is necessary to get Mahayana to work, but it is a few steps shy of the whole process.


Adi Shankara's teachings and tradition are central to Smartism and have influenced Sant Mat lineages. Tradition portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism) with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being...

Sometimes the Ishta Devata is the sixth deity in the mandala. while in the Shanmata system, Skanda, also known as Kartikeya and Murugan, is added. Panchayatana puja is a practice that became popular in medieval India, and has been attributed to Adi Shankara. However, archaeological evidence suggests that this practice long predates the birth of Adi Shankara.



So the dates of Adi Shankara can only be reflected by outside sources of one's choice; some hold that his followers repressed Buddhism in the 600s. The first part of this century saw the Indian King of Kannauj in UP near western Nepal:




Seal of Harshavardhana found in Nalanda.

Like many other ancient Indian rulers, Harsha was eclectic in his religious views and practices. His seals describe his ancestors as sun-worshippers, his elder brother as a Buddhist, and himself as a Shaivite. His land grant inscriptions describe him as Parama-maheshvara (supreme devotee of Shiva). His court poet Bana also describes him as a Shaivite.

Harsha's play Nāgānanda tells the story of the Bodhisattva Jīmūtavāhavana, and the invocatory verse at the beginning is dedicated to the Buddha, described in the act of vanquishing Māra (so much so that the two verses, together with a third, are also preserved separately in Tibetan translation as the *Mārajit-stotra. Shiva's consort Gauri plays an important role in the play, and raises the hero to life using her divine power.

According to the Chinese Buddhist traveler Xuanzang, Harsha was a devout Buddhist. Xuanzang states that Harsha banned animal slaughter for food, and built monasteries at the places visited by Gautama Buddha. He erected several thousand 100-feet high stupas on the banks of the Ganges river, and built well-maintained hospices for travellers and poor people on highways across India. He organized an annual assembly of global scholars, and bestowed charitable alms on them. Every five years, he held a great assembly called Moksha. Xuanzang also describes a 21-day religious festival organized by Harsha in Kannauj; during this festival, Harsha and his subordinate kings performed daily rituals before a life-sized golden statue of the Buddha.

Since Harsha's own records describe him as Shaivite, his conversion to Buddhism would have happened, if at all, in the later part of his life. Even Xuanzang states that Harsha patronised scholars of all religions, not just Buddhist monks. According to historians such as S. R. Goyal and S. V. Sohoni, Harsha was personally a Shaivite and his patronage to Buddhists misled Xuanzang to portray him as a Buddhist.


Then there was a Chinese scuffle which resulted in Nepal and Tibet overtaking part of India due to the actions of the usurper or pretender:

Arunasva 647-649


The city (then known as Kanyakubja) had previously been ruled by Harsha, who died without an heir and thus created a power vacuum. This lasted for around a century before Yashovarman emerged as its ruler.


North India thereby became a slight mess for a while.





To say Buddhism declined in South India may have made more sense. Vansittart was trying to explain King Rudradeva as in the Suryavamsha or Licchavi dynasty of Nepal 653-656 as witnessing Buddhist persecution. This king does not generally match Nepalese history as currently presented. Then he thinks Harsha conquered Nepal.

Then he re-states the Buddhist persecution as in the time of the eighth Thakur or king in the line of Amsuwarma:

694-705 Shivadeva II


Well, we know it went quickly to disfavor in Tibet. However, there is not much else to say it has exactly been repressed inside Nepal, aside from the random fate of being a minority in a mostly Hindu kingdom. Ancient and Medieval Nepal holds that Pasupati and Buddhism were pre-Licchavi, and that there is a Shakti statue as early as ca. 505. Nepal quickly becomes internationally famous as a liberal melding pot of the various traditions. Almost the complete opposite of the sectarian rivalries, and almost as if Asanga and Adi Shankara were cooperating.


Usually the main known repression of Buddhism in Nepal was chronicled by Amritananda under the Rana Dynasty from the nineteenth century onwards.


The unlikelihood of the Ranas having the secret books of the Mahatmas or some cryptic key of Buddhism is probably disavowed by the story of Byoma Kusuma. He is a Rana (b. 1949) who was thereby raised in Adwaita esoterism, but decided to convert to Buddhism specifically because of what it said about Atma. But when he made it into the "higher studies" such as RGV and Shentong, he started getting the sense that Adwaita was being replayed to him. And then from studying Hindu Yogis in response to Shentong practitioners, he saw that they too found lack of philosophical schism and more, if not complete, common ground.

In almost academic terms, we could say the difference is in the Bodhisattva Path and becoming a Buddha; and yet the plainest expression from Buddha himself is in the practice of Yoga by telling the Hindus:


You do not understand Samadhi.


And so I think we could tend to say that the Buddhist Nirmana Chakra is about 80-90% the same as Sri Yantra and Manipura Chakra, which is why it can be summarized as the Two Yogas Pratyahara and Dhyana, which also are very close to their prototypes. This is why it is probably good that the broadest name for our advanced practice is the Six Yogas of Naro. This is very elaborately showing us how to do a Buddhist Samadhi that is of its own kind which will not arise from the practices of other systems.


That may be the most equitable way to put it. Dhyana is shared with/not unique to Buddhism, but, Asanga was dissatisfied with the Hinayana Dhyana he was trained in, and so he took a quest to commune with Maitreya, who wasn't exactly saying anything new, but, giving a more thorough and powerful explanation of Yoga and the Bodhisattva, and this is Mahayana. According to its own teaching, all outer worldly knowledge is part of it, and so are all yoga and spiritual teachings, provisionally and to the extent they comply with Mahayana. But before long you have to figure out what it means by Asraya Paravrtti or Revolution of the Basis or you will not ever start doing what Maitreya is talking about.

Maitreya, the individual, is almost irrelevant, we are not raising a flag for a new cavalry charge or anything like that. We are saying he is giving the vital method of Yoga and this is the most important thing to learn, since Buddhism more or less has only one unique thing to offer, which is this practice, Generation and Completion Stages or the Six Yogas as a progression in Mahayana.




At first glance, Buddhism might not appear to resemble Sri Yantra because it does not ever invoke Tripura Sundari.


It perhaps could be said to intercept the main operative goddess, Kurukulla, and convert her.

With her, we usually see her common Four Arm Archer form, who is usually considered a love goddess in the standard outer sense. But again we would say this is only metaphorical, for something more akin to the "alchemical marriage". This is based in the principle that Amitayus is the One Life according to the Mahatmas, who, in Greece, was Eros. So we can imagine the same archer and desire misconceptions there as well.

We are trying to say the real Buddhist Kurukulla has no outer form at all, and can only be produced. She is like a mix of goddess Tara and Amrita. So she is a yogic stage not observable prior to the Third Yoga, Pranayama. She is something like the phase of raising heat and wind through the throat into the head, melting the white bindu, and attempting to get the Nectar to course back down the throat.


Superficially, that may still sound like the same thing as in other yogas, at least physically or physiologically. What is happening is that we are trying to discern deities and make them go according to a certain rhythm or timing as arranged by the Puja or Seva, or Dhyana, or ritualized process of offerings, visualization, mantra, etc.


In one way, deities are just parts of the body and brain that anyone may experience as "living presences" at certain times, such as during dreams or upon death. Other deities are these, but, during certain yogic experiences, like Kurukulla. And then there are deities which are not of this world, which are the meditational deities or Istas or Yidams. That is why it is virtually impossible to comprehend the actual Buddhist Kurukulla, let alone Hevajra, even if one does yoga or has some kind of psychic experience. You can always tap into what is described as parts of the aura, but you can only get the Buddhist deities from their personal instructions. This is completely missed by literary experts such as Abbe' Huc or C. Jung. Despite extensive study and some kind of practice, they never evolved past some rudimentary form of Dhyana. In theory, animals can do this, so the accounts of such persons are not very impressive.


In sadhanas, Kurukulla is complex, but at least resembling her Hindu version such as according to Ramani:

Kurukulla's five triangles are the 15 (5 x 3) Kalas of the moon, 15 lunar days.



Or Dhyan Foundation, similar to letting a female handle a normally-male role:


The red bindu is Kurukulla, the Female form, the white bindu is Varahi, the Male form, and the mixed bindu is the union of Shiva & Shakti...



Nepalese Kurukulla over Sri Yantra:











And so she is like a pivot or major aspect in the greater system of Tara and Vajrayogini. She is a change from the similarities to, to the difference between, other yogas and Buddhist Yoga. We do this from Vajrasattva Yoga, which is the normally-male white seed, although until a very high level, he does not have to go inside the sadhana and the role may be claimed by a goddess. Such as Kurukulla.


She manifests from the form of Tara related to Golden Heart Drop Lakshmi. This is a slight progression from most basic Green Taras. The "most basic one" we were freely given in the west a long time ago, is Tara of Candragomin, which is non-tantric and not a teacher of the Six Yogas, but, a pacifier of mental obstacles to practice. And so we need this in order to perform a basic yoga such as Dhyana. And then when we get comfortable in the Dhyana, if we ask, yes, Tara has other outer kriya forms such as Khadiravani with Marici and Ekajati, or as with Twenty-one Taras. For the most part, the system of Tara is there to guide us through the stage of "practice with effort", with Kurukulla being an advanced form arising as a result of accomplishment.


It is rare to see non-standard Kurukullas displayed. She however has a Heruka which is White Kurukulla which is the representation of the actual Nectar involved. And so here is Candragomin's Eight Fears Tara with a few non-standard Kurukullas.



Above Tara, in the top half of the composition are seven different forms of Kurukulla, the Buddhist Goddess of Power and subjugation. An eighth form of Kurukulla is found at the bottom right.

In the bottom half of the composition are three forms of Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom, poetry, composition and dialectics, along with a form of Bhrikuti and another form of Kurukulla.

At the lower left is Vajra Sarasvati, white, with two hands. At the lower right is Vina Sarasvati, white, holding the vina stringed instrument. At the bottom left is Bhrikuti, yellow, with one face and four hands. In the center is the wrathful Vajra Sarasvati, red in colour, with three faces and six hands. At the right is Kurukulla, red, with one face and four hands.

1800s Bhutanese Drukpa based from Sadhanamala (or Sadhanasamuccaya):









The appearance of Vajra Sarasvati is a prod towards krishna Yamari Tantra.


That is like the beginning of Generation Stage, and what we might call the orthodox Sakya system shows Kurukulla from Tara to Vajrayogini.



At the top center is the peaceful goddess Green Tara, with one face and two hands, seated in a relaxed posture. At the left is Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo performing the mudra (gesture) of Dharma Teaching with the two hands at the heart, seated in a relaxed posture. At the right is a lama with the hands in the same teaching gesture and wearing a red pandita hat.

In the Sakya Tradition there are numerous forms of Kurukulle from the four different tantra classifications and all of those can be arranged in five levels of profundity. This particular subject belongs to the first classifications - those associated with the lower tantras of kriya and Charya. In these texts Kurukulle is seen as an emanation of the goddess Tara. In the higher tantras Kurukulle is an emanation of Hevajra and the teachings arise from the Hevajra and Vajrapanjara Tantras.

This form of Kurukulle belongs to a set known as the 'marchen kor sum' or the Three Great Red Deities which is included in a larger set called 'The Thirteen Golden Dharmas' of Sakya. The other two are Takkiraja and Ganapati.

1500s Sakya Ngor:







Takkiraja is a huge component of the same system. And Kurukulla is really "doubled" in it, because she is also related to the more general level of Vajrayogini. Now to be specific here we would say this is where our system of Tara and Vajrayogini ends. The Tinuma used in the actual Sakya system is a mantric parallel of Nyan's Vajrayogini, who is Red Lion Face Ziro Bhusana "Skull Ornament Lady". This plus the more well-known Guhyajnana Dakini are what we are going to employ, due to their inherent definitions. This makes an understudy of the more formal Sakya system whose minor devis are:


Kurukulla together with Tinuma Yogini and Red Vasudhara [Bharati]. The three together are called the Three Small Red Ones and belong to the larger group known as the Thirteen Golden Dharmas of Sakya.

1800s Sakya:







The Nyingma system has Revealed Treasures which look like the following but are really using a form of Lha Chenpo. What we are calling Bharati is the proper future development of Kurukulla. This Bharati herself is a charged-up Vasudhara who comes at first as Manohara.


1700s Gelug with Takkiraja and Hook Manohara:










1700s unidentified Gelug, most likely over herself as White Kurukulla, between Bharati and Tinuma:







Vasudhara is accepted as equal to Sita of the Ramayana and of Lakshmi. She is the real feminine divine gate to Yoga. The more noticeable Vajravarahi is like an aspect of hers. Yet she is like a conversion of the General in Sri Yantra.

The Minister in Sri Yantra is Matangi, who in Buddhism is Janguli, who in Krishna Yamari Tantra is the precursor to Kurukulla.

That is why many of these deities do follow a pattern, such that in the system of Tara, one will find minor, invocative forms of Vasudhara and Janguli, and practices that mirror the learning and effort which converts to interiorization.





Chandragomin









He is the model of Lay Person Appearance. In the most standard classification systems, he, at least, is potentially allowed to be recognized as a stand-in for someone more academic:



The Six Ornaments and Two Excellent Ones of the Southern Continent is an epithet given to the most important Indian Buddhist scholars of the Mahayana Tradition. The two foremost are Nagarjuna, founder of the Madyamaka Tadition, and Asanga, founder of the Yogachara tradition. Their two principal students were Aryadeva and Vasubhandu repectively, followed by the two, Dharmakirti and Dignaga. These six constitute the 'six ornaments.' The 'two excellent ones' are Gunaprabha and Shakyaprabha. The 'southern continent' refers to India, or the human continent of Jambudvipa in the Buddhist cosmological system where there are four continents that surround the central mountain (Sumeru) of a small world system.

Sanskrit and Tibetan Names:

Gyan Drug Chog Nyi (rgyan drug mchog g.nyis)

1. Nagarjuna (slob dpon klu sgrub)
2. Aryadeva ('phags pa arya de va)
3. Asanga ('phags pa thogs med)
4. Vasubhandu (slob dpon dbyig g.nyen)
5. Dignaga (slob dpon phyogs glang)
6. Dharmakirti (slob dpon chos grags)
7. Gunaprabha (slob dpon yon tan 'od)
8. Shakyaprabha (slob dpon shakya 'od)

Additional Scholars:

9. Chandrakirti (dpal ldan zla ba grags pa)
10. Shantideva (rgyal sras zhi ba lha)
11. Chandragomin (slob dpon can dra go mi)



He is highly associated with the Parasol lineage.


Sarma Lineage: Buddha Tathagata, Ushnisha Sitatapatra, Vajrapani, Dasa Samadhi, Chandragomin, Giravati, Vajra Tikshna, Padma Angkusha, Brahmin Ratna Vajra, Jetari, Vajrasana the Senior and Younger, Bari Lotsawa, Denma Kyura Akyab, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158), etc.



He is also significant in the Simhanada Avalokiteshvara lineage. Again this one shows us Citta Visrama or Mind at Ease, and is therefor like a Kriya precursor for the Mountains of Vajrayogini. The attributions here are:


Vajradhara, Simhanada, Chandragomin, Shridhara, Naropa, the Phamting Brothers, Asthulya Vajra, Manju Ling Thugje Chenpo, Mal Lotsawa, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158), etc.



Modern Simhanada:












It seems reasonable to say that the teachings from Asanga to Candragomin are the foundation of how Buddhist Yoga is similar to, and then different from, other Yogas. Candragomin represents a field of Dhyanas, or, i. e., spiritual practices, which Asanga describes, but does not provide these details on.

As this is not quite as thorough, subtle, refined, and profound as it could be, Ratnakarasanti or Santipa imports the same into Abhayakaragupta's major compendium of tantric systems, using all Six Yogas, which impart to the practitioner what Buddha means by non-Buddhists do not understand Samadhi.

Kagyu emphasizes the fact that Naro transmitted to Maitri, and omits the triangulation that Ratnakarasanti makes between these two. But so far, Ratnakarasanti is very lucid and clear that the tantric Mahamudra system is supposed to unfold from the Yogacara whose masters are, in descending rank, Maitreya, Asanga, Nagarjuna. His arguments tend to support Chandragomin versus most other Nalanda pandits, which again resembles the fact that it was ousted to Valabhi shortly after Asanga.


A Kagyu detail from the lifetime of H. H. 15th Karmapa (early 1900s) based from Jamgon Kongtrul shows Maitreya speaking to Asanga (no hat), in turn mostly speaking to Candragomin (also no hat):

[shaberon]

Some tantric iconography identifiers, female gurus, and Vasubandhu's Sukhavati




One of the maxims we are trying to follow is to not get directly involved with Vajravarahi. This can be a very confusing deity as she is commonly "synonymized" in places where she does not necessarily belong. She can be a dakini or yogini, but, mainly she is a special case of the over-arching Vajrayogini.


In Nepal and Kagyu are three Vajrayoginis that are usually called Dakinis. At the most generic, dakinis are a restored energy flow within the subtle body; they occupy the arms, legs, everything. The famous ones are Yidams which are an arising from the accumulated minor energies. The last one was Maitri's Dakini, and so this is part of Kagyu, but not the old Indian system. Shortly before him is Naro's Dakini, and the older one is Indrabhuti's Dakini.


So a superficial examination might tell us that Vajrayogini is Vajravarahi is Naro's Dakini, but, this is exceptionally crude.

A better one would show us that Nepal's fourth Vajrayogini is Guhyajnana Dakini, which is our real entrance or access point. Aside from her, the rest are, so to speak, the mantras that build Chakrasamvara and Tri-kaya Vajrayogini (Cinnamasta).

This Guhyajnana Dakini will also show us that Mahacinakrama Tara and Mantranusarini are outer types of vajrayoginis.






The presence of Indrabhuti implies this is, at the onset, similar to the system of Jagganath and Shakti (Vimala and Viraja) in Orissa. There is supposed to be continuity to the system of Naro at Vikramasila. We can see these co-mingling, if Naro Dakini is so famous she is almost like the mascot of Vajrayogini for all Buddhism, she nevertheless has a few traits. For one she is flat-footed in Warrior Stance. This negates the conclusion that dakinis mean dancers or flyers. Well, there are a few precursor yoginis who carry the chopper and skullcup like Naro Dakini. She represents an energetic increase to this class because she drinks from the cup, and, carries a staff in her elbow, which represents merging with the awareness of her consort.


Comparatively, figures based on Indra Dakini are the ones who are dancing. And so although this may look minor or obfuscated since Naro Dakini is more popular, it is this dancing aspect which is of far greater significance throughout the tantras. Drinking blood is the intake of worldly wisdom and transcendentalizing it, whereas the dancing energy is transcendentalism.


Here is a fairly simple view which shows that they are something like individual representatives of particular classes.


Vajrayogini [Naro Dakini] stands above an orange sun disc, multi-coloured lotus and a double dharmodaya (dharmakara, tetrahedron), encircled by yellow flames.

The three groups of goddesses begin with the four small Yoginis that have the same appearance as the central Vajrayogini but with a green, blue, white and yellow appearance.

The second group of four have the iconographic appearance of the Indrabhuti tradition Vajrayogini with the figure standing on the left leg, holding upraised a curved knife in the right hand and a skullcup to the heart in the left. They each stand next to the first group of four.

Tramen, Cemetery, or Samadhi goddesses:

The final group of eight are the outer retinue and have four figures with bird and animal faces and four with human-like faces. In the East is blue Kakasya; North, green Ulukasya; West, red Shvanakasya; South, yellow Sukarasya; South-east, blue-yellow Yamadadhi; South-west, yellow-red Yamaduti; North-west, red-green Yamadanshtini; North-east, blue-green Yamamathani; Each of the eight has one face, four [or two] hands; the first two hold a damaru and katvanga; the lower two a curved knife and skullcup.


1700s Drukpa:








Our Yoga exercises are prior to Union, which again starts simplistically such as in this 1800s Drukpa Sahaja Heruka with Indra Dakinis:









And so he has to do with the corresponding male mantra, i. e. Seven Syllable deity. This is kind of its own, different thing, that we are sort of putting off, because it is seeking the entire complete preliminary tantric practice from the other mantras and dakinis. So for example we might be able to attain the Five Dakinis. Then some day it can be "stuck together" with him as above. That is because it is presumed we are not living in a Drukpa castle with an extremely supportive environment to train for hours a day with experienced gurus.



Most of Abhayakara's work is the system of Vajrayogini as arisen from the Indian sadhanas. Because he was, some centuries later, said by the Gelugs to be the pre-incarnation of the Panchen Lama, there are a great deal of the same or similar probably block prints that represent him. However this particular concatenation is one of those things that make us wonder, are they grabbing at straws to fill in a three hundred year gap that did not happen to Sakya and Kagyu?


The most misinforming article is probably the most prevalent, Seventeen Scholars of Nalanda:

A modern adaptation and expanded version of the Six Ornaments and Two Excellent Ones is the system of the Seventeen Great Scholars (or Pandits) of Nalanada Monastery which appears to be a more recent grouping (20th century) of the important Buddhist scholars of India. It has been promoted and referred to extensively by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.


Firstly it is next to impossible that Sutra Nagarjuna started the place. There might have been a minor Vihara, but, we can pretty reliably narrow the beginning of the major Nalanda University to at most a fifty year period, centuries after original Nagarjuna. The list cannot be in order, since Asanga is after Kamalasila. We cannot conclusively prove that Asanga founded Nalanda, but, the time and the mission are very close. And so in terms of its early Abbots there just is not a known reliable record. This newer version certainly does not suggest that Candragomin defeated Candrakirti, whereas he is at least an "alternate" in many other groupings of these elders. Karma Kagyu was probably the last to pick up the trend of "Refuge Tree", which is why its first example is from the 1900s. Even though it is a "new style", it still has the "old style" pandits including Candragomin. It does not mention Ratnakarasanti or Abhayakara, although it has Machig. However it is recent enough to be known to be based from Jamgon Kongtrul's work, and he is very aware of them. Yet they are rarely shown in any lineages.


Gelug is highly motivated to elevate Abhayakaragupta, although here again they make him look a bit strange.


Abhayakara under Naro Dakini makes sense. In the upper right is "siddha Ratnasambhava" who is not known from any list. The lower Panjarnata Mahakala is a type of Stick Mahakala not found in Kagyu.


Panjarnata Mahakala can sometimes appear with a ‘ghandi’ (magical emanation staff) held across the forearms and sometimes without the staff. There are several different iconographic versions of Panjarnata. With respect to attributes the Gayadhara tradition, also known as the Sakya Lamdre, does not depict a ‘ghandi’ staff. The Rinchen Zangpo and Mal Lotsawa traditions describe the staff. With respect to physical bodily appearance the above mentioned traditions depict bent squat looking legs while the Nagarjuna tradition describes the two legs as standing together and straight.

So the Abhayakara series will generally show him with, in a sense, "their" Mahakala:








And so what that means is, the way he is resting the staff across both arms. In most non-Gelug traditions, he does something else.

1600s Kagyu under Mitra Yogin, according to the tradition of Tsami Lotsawa Mondrub Sherab:







Nepalese Arya/Ngok tradition:







Here is one of the oldest intact versions of Mahakala, before there was a Panchen Lama. And as we have seen many times now, the Arya lineage that is supposed to be particular to the Gelugs is really a transmission from Kagyu that includes Guhyasamaja and other tantras.

This Mahakala is the principal protector of the Chakrasamvara class of Tantras; from the lineage of Arya Nagarjuna. The teachers at the top left are Nagarjuna, Abhayakara Gupta and Gva Lotsawa.

1300s Kagyu:







And so one of the very first Kagyu images says the lineage of tantric Nagarjuna through Abhayakara. This Nagarjuna was probably one of the early abbots of Nalanda, maybe the fifth or the sixth. It is still the lineage of original Nagarjuna, and, this one may be a reincarnation, and perhaps lived for an extraordinary period of time.





What happens in Kagyu is something that, to me, takes an extraordinary Puranic distillation to explain. Buddhist Mahakala is something like the reanimated ash of Shiva. And yet we find him consorted with Sri Devi, who is just the subtle counterpart of her outer Dharani form which is not different from Kolhapur Mahalakshmi. This is why although our Yogas have Tara essentially as Durga and in most Hindu scriptures, Uma, or Durga, is Shiva's wife and so forth, the source of all forms, we are kind of forced to resort to those rare places where Mahalakshmi says she is "behind this". And so this makes Lakshmi Tantra and Adbhuta Ramayana phenomenally relevant. Also that Annapurna becomes Mahalakshmi. Those seem to be minority views, but, it does stem from the very first mention of it in Lalita Mahatmya.

And so if she is really the higher transcendental planes, and, the major block to these is the Kama Dhatu or Kama Loka, that is why that is the field of focus of tantra, and as Smoke she is Samadhi and her outer form is Dharani, then she is already highly suggestive of the Bodhisattva Path by definition, these being two of the main practices in it.


Moreover, if we consider the Ground, and Gold, and the nature of Bhu and Varahi and Marici, this is indeed something spectacular about the Earth Element.


Bodhicitta, Karuna, and Bliss, are the "purpose" of Earth.


On a grand scale, I have found a few cases that depict Yidam Deities as ones who have achieved the state of Vajradhara before the formation of our planet. Lakshmi is one of these as is Tara and also Avalokiteshvara. At one time, they were Bodhisattvas, but, having achieved complete stability in the Akanistha, they can simply migrate to other realms at the end of a cycle. This is a vast subject in the Puranas, such that Amitabhas are the building blocks of the future planetary system, and so on. But Avalokiteshvara entered the class which to us is a Celestial Bodhisattva. The others, and the worldly gods of creation, and so forth, being subdivisions and descents. He did not "create" Tara and Bhrkuti, but, emanated them in our world due to the flow of beings towards Hell.





Here is a simple, incrementally-advanced hypostasis. In most Buddhism, we find an ongoing appearance of Vaisravana, a worldly deity of the Four Kings. This is mainly because of his residence Alakavati on the slopes of Mt. Meru. This is, as it were, Uttara Kuru as well. So he in a sense has appended "everything" (worldly and previous yogas) and Bhrkuti, Tara, and Vasudhara all have to do with harnessing these mundane and bodily factors and so on. Again quite parallel to subjugating the Yaksha kingdom.

Buddhism's entry to Bhutan should be considered as adding something "new", that is, the yeti and the guardian spirits of Mt. Everest itself.

Padmasambhava and the old transmissions cannot claim this. There is a Nirmanakaya called Turquoise Lamp and the Queen of Protectors named Tseringma. They are also signs that, despite the smoky or black appearance of Sri Devi Kama Dhatvishvari, we also have the Protector White Sri Devi.



At the top center is the primordial Buddha Vajradhara, to the left mahasiddha Tilopa and Naropa on the right. At the center below is the tutelary deity Heruka Chakrasamvara with Shabdrung Ngagwang Namgyal on the left and Lord Jamgon on the right. At the middle right is Shri Devi (Tib.: pal den lha mo) and on the left Raven-Headed Mahakala (Tib.: gon po cha rog dong chen). At the lower center is the Direction King of the North Vaishravana with the mountain goddess Tseringma on the left and Yudronma on the right. Along the bottom are four worldly protectors indigenous to Bhutan.

1800s Bhutanese:







With respect to them, we could say that the primordial Turquoise Lamp is really akin to the Lamp stage of the Dissolutions. That is like crossing the Plane of Air. Hard to get but a real experience.




Kagyu accepts some Nyingma material, and at times new Protectors such as Tseringma. From the 1800s, this one is notable because it has the monkeys without giving their names, who are special characters in one of the rare legends. I cannot even remember this one.


This Mahakala is called Bernagchen, "Black Cloak". In keeping with the transcendental position of Mahalakshmi, we find that she Reverses him:


Shri Devi Rangjung Gyalmo & Bernagchen Mahakala as a couple sit astride a donkey atop a sun disc and surrounded by orange, red and yellow flames of pristine awareness. The unique aspect to these combined wrathful protectors is the female - Shri Devi - is the principal iconographic figure facing forward, or outward in a painting or sculpture. Bernagchen Mahakala is the secondary figure embracing Shri Devi and looking towards her.

At the top center is Karma Pakshi - the 2nd Karmapa. At the middle left side is a Nyingma Heruka meditational deity. On the right side is Vajrayogini in her form as Vajravarahi.

In the lower composition of the painting are four protector deities. At the lower left is Damchen Garwa Nagpo riding a brown goat. On the right is Shingkyong Yab with a lion face riding a black horse. Below that is the red consort, Shingkyong Yum, with a lion face riding a red horse. At the bottom center is Tseringma, the mountain goddess, riding a white snow lion. To the left are two monkeys standing on their hands and holding skullcups with red triangular shaped food offerings with the two feet.











That Vajravarahi has the Ghona or Pig Head coming out of her head, so, it is no longer Indra Dakini. She may have one or two small Pig Heads, or, can, herself, become Pig Face, each of those being specific Vajravarahi transmissions.

Instead it is more beneficial to look at the more direct evolution of the Indra Dakini type, which is to gain Four Arms, and/or a Drum.

The first has to do with the arising of Jnana Dakini and then Buddhadakini as in Mahamaya Tantra.

The second may be closer to Vajradakini, which is actually Parasol carried to the tantric level which ignites Varuni, Vairocani, and Varnani, and "vajradakinis", similar to Kurukulla's syllables. Parasol also directly ports to Jnana Dakini, who is part of the Samputa Tantra.



Tinuma Vajrayogini or Ziro Bhusana Vajrayogini are something like actual inner teachers of these systems on their own plane.


Abhayakaragupta was trying to restore a relationship to Vajrayogini mainly by commenting Samputa Tantra, tied in to the overall Sarma and Homa systems. In my experience, it took around six months or so to straighten out Guru Yoga since I did not at first know how to do the transcendental Kagyu version. After that, I spent, I think, a few years with Green Tara that I did not know much about. It was enough to remedy borderline psychotic mental disturbances. Once I was comfortable with the change, she seemed to descend to a level of routine. This did not seem appropriate so I had to ask questions.


I was unable to get a very clear guide and wound up doing Chod including self-generation as Vajrayogini, without having all the proper preparations.

The main difference between me and most other people is that, due to Nath and so on, I was able to physiologically accomplish Subtle or Suksma Yoga, on the basis of the energy of the centers and the way the pathways and nectar work. That is why that, in terms of the human aura at least, I already understand how the Completion Stage works.

However that is an error because Buddhism is a Noumenal Path and I had not followed all of its mental recommendations which in certain senses is damaging. Especially if you get goddess Bharati there is a certain thing you are supposed to do or you get venom instead of antidote. Conjoined with missing almost every form of potency which is supposed to be in the Bija Syllables and so forth, it was a mistake to throw in that full sadhana.

If I had learned how to properly greet some middling form of Vajrayogini, it would have been more appropriate, and so on.

Abhayakara is using the system of most of the leaders of Vikramasila University, except for Jnanasri, who was almost exactly like Jung. He just wasn't particularly good enough at yoga to really transcend mundane consciousness. And so I suppose in English, the Yogacara school is refuting mainly the Reason School, and, what might be called the Half Meditation school or something like "book yoga without results".

Neither one of those leads to the personal experience which Asanga calls Mahayana, which, may be a creed, but, ultimately, leads to the meditative training towards Samadhi that he promotes.

The reason there is Kurukulla, Takkiraja, and some of the Sakya Reds is the dominance of Lotus Family, who, moreover, should mostly be conceived of as Mantra because of their original name, Dharma Family, meaning Dharma Speech. Even though in philosophical symbolism, you have the One Life, and Avalokiteshvara, and so on, in practice it is really Speech and the Element Fire.

Somewhat ironically, most Red Vajrayoginis are really in Buddha Family.

Purified Fire is the Inner Heat of Yoga, Noumenally Purified. The fact that it is entirely possible for a person to alchemically kindle themselves is why there are the relevant and accessible Puranic deities Varuni and Vairocani, which is still Madhu Vidya or the practice of Nectar--Amrita.

That is why these mantras are not aimed at Reason, but Nectar.

Paro Dzong Bliss Whorl:









The close proximity of Vajravarahi and Guhyajnana Dakini is also found in the Nyingma system of Longchen Nyingtik:



These teachings were originally transmitted by the master Padmasambhava to King Trisong Deutsen, the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal and the Lotsawa Vairochana at Samye Monastery in central Tibet. As the time for these teachings to spread was not yet right, they were then written in symbolic script by [Yeshe Tsogyal], entrusted to the Dakinis, and hidden to be revealed at a later time.

Lotsawa Vairocana also has the lineage from Humkara and Padmasambhava of Yantra Yoga. This is quixotic because "yantra", a geometrical figure, is translated into Tibetan as "trulkhor", which also means "movement", and so this is a Hatha Yoga which has been dubbed with a somewhat inappropriate title, because it is really Trulkhor. At any rate, it may be the first comprehensive Hatha Yoga manual.




Here is a link to a thangka from Bhutan with many expanded details on:

Rangjung Pema Nyingthig Yumkha Tshogyal ma

Yumkha = Bliss, i. e. Dechen Gyalmo

Tshogyal = Yeshe Tsogyal


It is a huge Merit Field, she must be being viewed as an important guru.

This is Tibetan, but, it is describing her as multiple deities.

On Yumkha Dechen Gyalmo:



...the foremost among them, like the pinnacle of a victory banner, was Lady Yeshe Tsogyal, who was born in the family of the king of Kharchen. She was revered as Noble Tārā, the universal monarch of the lotus and karma families, and she was considered to be none other than Vajravārāhī, the mother of the victorious ones and the source from which all ḍākinīs, as numerous as the atoms of Mount Meru, emanate. The Treasure Vase Containing the Essence of Great Bliss says:

From the heart of a lotus flower
[Arose the goddess Tārā, swift and courageous.
In the wilderness of snowy mountains, she appears as a woman.
Outwardly, she is the sweet-voiced Tsogyal.
Inwardly, she is venerable Tārā in actuality.]
Secretly, she is Vajravārāhī.



Guhyajnana is called in Tibetan, Secret Wisdom:


Furthermore, she is none other than Secret Wisdom (who is also known by the names ḍākinī Kungamo and Nyida Ngödrub). The Great Fifth Dalai Lama's Bearing the Seal of Secrecy says:

I am the foremost among the ḍākinīs from the land of Uḍḍiyāna.
I am Secret Wisdom and Mandārava.


Now wait a moment. The same Guhyajnana Dakini who is Yeshe Tsogyal has also just claimed to be Mandarava, or Macig Drubpai Gyalmo, another of Padmasambhava's consorts.

In Tibetan, Guhyajnana Dakini:

sang ba ye shes ↩

Tib. kun dga' mo and nyi zla dngos grub. She is said to have granted empowerment to Padmasambhava and is commonly known as Ḍākinī Karmendrāṇī (mkha ' 'gro ma las kyi dbang mo).

kun dga’ mo - Kungamo. The wisdom dakini who conferred empowerment upon Guru Rinpoche. She is also known as the dakini Leykyi Wangmo, Nyida Ngodrub or as Guhyajnana, the chief of wisdom dakinis


Yumkha's Self-initiation 2021 has Tara and Vajravarahi as nested beings, and her light radiates to:


yu lo kö dang pema ö

The Land of Turquoise Leaves and the Realm of Lotus Light




Both Mandarava and Padmasambhava achieved the unified vajra body on the vidyadhara level of mastery and realised some of the practices of long life or longevity that were concealed in the Maratika Cave as terma by 'Dakini Sangwa' (Wylie: mKha' 'gro gSang ba), the terma constituted the teachings of Buddha Amitabha and they were elementally encoded as terma at the behest of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Later, while Padmasambhava continued to spreading the teachings throughout the Himalayan region, Mandarava remained in India.

Later, during a meeting between Mandarava and Yeshe Tsogyal, Mandarava taught Yeshe Tsogyal the "thirteen pith instructions on Hayagriva".


Moreover, Mandarava reincarnated as Niguma, Naro's sister. Niguma along with Sukhasiddhi makes the transmissions known as Shangpa, which are based similarly to Naro's Six Yogas and Six Dharmas, and some Maitri sadhanas and Mahamudra, but otherwise are not the same as Marpa Kagyu. Niguma was called Yogini Vimalashri, or Vajradhara Niguma, or Jñana (wisdom) Dakini Adorned with Bone (ornaments), or The Sister.

Mandarava's transmission may be better known as Chime Soktik.


The sadhanas spring from the strange-sounding notion that Hayagriva is Vajravarahi's consort.

Bhutan has a similar Pema Tshenying Yumkha which I am not sure if is supposed to be Mandarava.

Objectively, Yeshe Tsogyal suffers the twelfth-century reconstruction point that:


No evidence has yet been found that a person named Yeshe Tsogyel lived in Tibet, although this does not rule out the possibility that an aristocrat named Kharchen Za (mkhar chen bza') did exist and served as the basis for the Yeshe Tsogyel legends.



Yeshe Tsogyel is said to have been a wife of the Tibetan King Tri Songdetsen (khri srong lde'u btsan, 742-796), but she is not attested to in imperial records; stone inscriptions that give the names of the King's wives do not include her. In some versions of the Chronicles of Ba, one of the earliest surviving historical records of Tibet, a Kharchen Za Tsogyel (mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal) is listed as a wife of Tri Songdetsen, with the explanation that she engaged in meditation and therefore had left no children. However, this passage may have been a later insertion into the text, complicating her identification as a wife of the King.


If anything, she is the "pre-incarnation" of the historical figure Maching Labdron, relevant to H. H. 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje in systematizing the advanced, fringe Chod system, which was widespread until 1959.

Dorje Wangchuma(rdo-rje dbang-phyug-ma)

Machig is white in color with three eyes and wears the Six Bone Ornaments of the charnel grounds, which is traditional for a practicing yogini. Dakinis wear 5 bone ornaments; they are themselves the wisdom pāramitā.

During Machig's lifetime, the Buddhist teachings that came from India were considered authentic and there were none that originated in Tibet. As one of Machig's biographies states:


All the Dharmas originated in India
And later spread to Tibet
Only Machig's teaching, born in Tibet,
Was later introduced in India and practiced there.

One source says: "Word of the widespread practice of Mahāmudra Chö in Tibet and Nepal was first viewed in India with great scepticism.

A delegation of ācāryas was sent from Bodh Gayā to Tibet to test Machig Labrön and her teaching resulted in the acceptance of Mahāmudrā Chö as a valid and authentic Mahāyāna tradition. Thereafter its practice spread even to India."

Chod per se has an Indian heritage, so, she probably just modified rather than originated it. There are several varieties of Machig Refuge Field.





And so we are able to see there that Guhyajnana Dakini (Sangba, Wangchukma) can "be" different people, even at the same time. She originally as Kungzamo was in Sitabani and initiated Padmasambhava there, and then she manifests in one or more women in his life. The ladies are also part Tara, Vajravarahi, Prajnaparamita, Sengdongma, Jnana Dakini, Samantabhadri, and perhaps a few others in various aspects. They are various hypostases of Human, Protector or Wrathful, Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Dharmakaya.

Mandarava was herself Pandaravasini, which took Yeshe Tsogyal monumental effort to achieve, meaning Purified Inner Fire, related to the Pratyangira aspect of Parasol.


Mandarava is said to be identical with the dakini Niguma and the yogini by the name Adorned with Human Bone Ornaments [Ziro Bhusana]. An independent life story of Mandarava is found in the collected writings of Orgyen Lingpa. Mandarava was a wisdom dakini among whose different names and manifestations are counted the yogini Adorned with Human Bone Ornaments, (Mir?kyi Gyenchen), at the time of Lord Marpa, Risulkyi Naljorma at the time of Nyen Lotsawa, and Drubpey Gyalmo at the time of Rechungpa. Mandarava is also accepted as being Chushingi Nyemachen, the consort of Maitripa, as well as the dakini Niguma.



Mandarava is also said to have reincarnated as Siddharajni, also called Machig Drubpai Gyalmo, probably fifty or seventy years after Niguma. She is behind Rechung, and she also has Jinasagara transmissions that are easily confused for newer Nyingma ones. Marpa did not have this. She gave Rechung a dakini skull from Oddiyana. Tiphupa calls her Varahi and Pandara and specifically says she is white with a red luster.


In the sense that Mindroling was popularized in the 17th century, after that, we can find examples of this couple (Jinasagara and Guhyajnana Dakini) in all of the schools. We can find a modern outline where they have Four Dakinis we would expect. In the Sarma version of it, he is standing and she is flying on him. And there is also a similar or Sarma nine deity mandala (Mahakaruna Jinasagara). In Mitra's version, they are standing. So the older or Siddharajni versions sit, newer or Mitra versions stand.

Miranda Shaw reminds us a Four Arm form is general and preliminary, and a Two Arm is more secret; she explains a bit about Siddharajni's text, which is substantial with multiple levels and includes union.

Miranda Shaw says Siddharajni pioneered the Sarma Padmanartesvara, more commonly known as Jinasagara. This is Guhyajnana union, four or two arms, with Five Families in union, going on to other deities.

The older Guhyajnana sadhana is apparently recorded in such a way no one would know it came from a woman.

Siddharajni (Mandarava reincarnation) contributed two Amitayus sadhanas that are considered nearly identical:

Tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa zhes bya ba'i sgrub thabs

Tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa'i grub thabs


Specifically to Jnanadakini Siddharajni are attributed a Hayagriva sadhana (part of the Great Play of the Quintessential Lotus and the Treasury of One Thousand Essential Instructions of Tantra on the Union of Hayagriva and Vajravarahi), as well as Aparimitayur jnana nama sadhana, Aparimitayur homa vidhi sadhana, Aparimitayur jnana sadhana, Bhagavad Aparimitayur jnana mandala vidhi nama. These are systems of Drubpai Gyalmo passed to Jamgon Kongtrul. Chime Soktik is also her tradition. Kagyu uses Amitayus - empowerment of the single deity and single vase, from the tradition of the Queen of Siddhas (Siddharajni).

"Limitless Life Buddha" or Amitayus is the symbol of the Deathless state, the perfection of wisdom and compassion. This special tantric empowerment comes from an unbroken, pure lineage of great beings that originated with the female Indian tantric-adept, Siddharajni (ca. 10th century, "Queen of Tantric Adepts").

The Siddharajni transmission should say Drubpai Gyalmo as we noted for Jamgon Kongtrul, but in its common or abbreviated nickname, "mo" is dropped, which is feminine, so people wouldn't know it came from her. She should be seated Tara style, semi-wrathful, with an Amitayus vase and one hand near her heart, or, a dancing dakini with chopper and skullcup. She is said to have experienced Amitayus directly.





Guhyajnana and Amitayus are universals.




In Drikung in the line of Phagmo Dru there is also Achi Chokyi Drolma, or Dharma Tara. She is very interesting and we have more information on her to bring in. She is a hypostasis like the foregoing siddha ladies but in this case is more Tara-like, more immanent, and is in the unique position of having written herself into sadhanas. This first one is a good copy, and others for reference or extraction:


Long Achi Sadhana

Sadhana by Achi

Medium Achi Vajrayogini

Scanned collection






Sukhavati in Yogacara



The following from 1999 provides a synopsis of Yogacara and Vasubandhu's Sukhavati, aiming at some of the main points. It misses the topic that Dhyana leading to Cessation alone is not Mahayana, because it does not affect the Alaya Vijnana. If we take that be be the case, as part of the basic, unique, identifying feature of Mahayana versus other yogas, it will help explain these selections. Also, once affected, then the Dhatu does take the role of Buddha Nature which is Atma, largely decause it is "serving the purposes" of Earth:



One of the practices characteristic of the Pure Land tradition is visualization, as found for example in the Visualization Sutra of Amitayus and the Rebirth Treatise Discourse on the Pure Land attributed to Vasubandhu.

Most importantly for Yogäcära, the idea of a fundamental reorientation (äšrayaparãvrtti) of consciousness serves to identify the way in which practice effects a change leading to awakening. This paper will, therefore, first describe an instance of visualizing Sukhävatï, and second describe the Yogäcära conceptions of the way in which a fundamental reorientation of consciousness is achieved.


Those explanations which work with the idea that successful visualization means that one has actually seen Sukhävatï, the Buddha Amitäbha and his retinue which exist independently of one's visualization of them are what I am calling cosmological. Such explanations have epistemological significance, in the sense that in the absence of a living Buddha of our own realm, one is able to enter into the actual presence of another Buddha, Amitäbha for example, and there hear the dharma directly. Another epistemological aspect of this kind of explanation is that the object of perception changes from this realm of samsaric existence to the Sukhävatï.


Concerning the practice of visualizing Sukhävatï, the Visualization Sutra says:


The Buddha said to Änanda and Vaidehï: When you have seen these things, next perceive the Buddha [of Immeasurable Life]. Why? Because each buddha-tathagata, as the body of the dharma-realm, pervades the mind of all sentient beings. Therefore, when you perceive a buddha in your mind, it is your mind that possesses the thirty-two prominent features and the eighty secondary your mind becomes a buddha; your mind is a buddha; and the wisdom of the buddhas — true, universal, and ocean-like — arises from this mind. Therefore, you should single-mindedly fix your thoughts and clearly perceive the Buddha, Tathagata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha.

This answer says that by forming a visual image of the Buddha, our minds become the Buddha. It seems clear that what is meant is not that the mind becomes that of any particular buddha, e.g., the historical Buddha, šäkyamuni. Rather, the term "buddha" is being used here to identify awakened consciousness, which is the same in all buddhas, all awakened beings. But how can a visual image transform my consciousness from one which to my daily frustration to one which experiences things as they actually are? In contrast to the cosmological explanations which assert the literal existence of Sukhävatï, Yogäcära views of visualization practice have a more psychological emphasis. That is, instead of referencing a change in the object of perception from the samsaric realm to Sukhävatï, the change is in the workings of the mind and its ability to perceive the actuality of things as they are.

The Yogäcära texts describe the mind as having two levels. One is the level of our present awareness, including both momentary, sensory experience and ego-consciousness. If this were all, however, there would be no way of explaining how it is that there is continuity of experience across such breaks in consciousness as sleep and deep meditative states
(nirodhasamäpatti), and no way of explaining how consciousness can be. So in addition to our present consciousness, the Buddhist psychologists hypothesized that there must be a level of mind that is outside of our present conscious awareness, a foundational consciousness which is normally outside of our conscious awareness, i.e., unconscious. This foundational consciousness is, of course, the älayavijñãna.


The foundational consciousness is the source of our repetitive ego-centric actions — karma — produce effects not only in the world around us, but also in the foundational consciousness, which then becomes part of the conditions of following experiences, leading to habitual patterns of behavior.

the älayavijñäna, the foundational consciousness, "is at once the principle of avidyä, primal ignorance, and of enlightenment. The actual world of ignorance is brought about by älayavijñäna, but once aware of, awakened to, the process by which älayavijñäna comes to be defiled, we are already on the way toward enlightenment."

This idea of a foundational consciousness level of our mental existence has been criticized by some as a crypto-soul, an atman theory being snuck into Buddhism. This critique, however, is based on an uninformed misconception of the Yogäcära conceptualization of the älayavijñäna. For example, one of the main sources for the Buddhist psychologists, the Sutra Explaining the Intent (Sañdhinirmocana sutra) presents the foundational consciousness as impermanent in very clear terms. In the closing verse of the fifth chapter of this sutra, the Buddha declares:


If the appropriating consciousness [i.e., älayavijñãna], deep and subtle, all its seeds flowing like a river, were conceived as a self, that would not be right. Thus I have not taught this to children.

The Sutra Explaining the Intent employs a very traditional metaphor — waves on a river — for describing the working of mind. Thoughts arise like waves on the river which is the ongoing flow of the foundational consciousness. Like a river, the foundational consciousness is empty of any permanent, substantive, eternally unchanging essence, being instead an ongoing process, flowing.

By changing the way in which the foundational consciousness effects subsequent experiences, it may be possible to break the continuity of frustrating habit patterns. The Yogäcära texts referred to such a change as a turning over or revolution in the base of consciousness: äšrayaparävrtti. This is the key to that there can be a fundamental change in how we experience the world.


[concerning that alaya vijnana "discriminates"]


According to Alan Sponberg, another of the main Yogäcära texts — the Mahäyänasamgraha by Asanga-outlines a theory of awakening in which non-discriminating cognition (nirvikalpa-jñäna) is the direct cause of unfixed nirvana, the goal of the bodhisattva who, balancing wisdom and compassion, is fixed neither in samsara nor in nirvana. "This is the 'basic revolution' (äšrayaparävrttl) in which [the bodhisattva] rejects all defilements (samkleša) and yet does not abandon the mundane realm subject to death and rebirth. Sponberg describes non-discriminating cognition as being characterized not only negatively, but also positively, as "the direct and intuitive cognition" of the truth that all things are empty of independent existence, i.e., paramärthasatya. The Mahãyänasamgraha describes the turning over, conversion, or revolution of the foundational consciousness as leading to the attainment of the "Dharma Body" (dharmakäya). In Paramärtha's commentary on the Mahäyänasamgraha by Vasubandhu, the Mahäyänasamgrahabhãsya, this is explained that purification is attained "by the conversion of the container consciousness" [i.e., älayavijñäna].


Conversion means that, upon the arising of its antidote, one becomes separated from one aspect of the impure states of the foundational consciousness, and associated with one aspect of the pure states of the foundational consciousness.


So how do visualization practices such as that we opened with effect a self-transformation? How do they cut through the obscuring dust and dirt of mental constructs to allow the subjective awareness to reflect things as they actually are, to allow the foundational consciousness to act in its natural, spontaneously pure fashion? For certain strains of thought regarding the practice of Buddha visualization the key was not visualizing the Buddha per se, but rather seeing the Buddha that was. In other words, while the practice of forming a mental, visual image of the Buddha Amida arises from one's personal effort, it is understood as creating the conditions for the Buddha's responsive reaching out to us, for us to see the Buddha. The same thing is true of reciting the name of the Buddha: it is not our effort in reciting the name of the Buddha that produces our own
self-transformation, but rather such recitation creates a condition of responsiveness on our part that allows us to hear the name of the Buddha spoken to us by the Buddha. It is in these formulations, which accord both with the idea of other power and the idea that realizing Buddha nature clears away the obscurations, that the cosmological and psychological emphases in
explaining the efficacy of visualization are merged.


While nembutsu is usually identified with verbal recitation of the name of the Buddha, it more literally means "to keep the Buddha in mind" and includes the visualization of the Buddha as well. Such a practice begins to weaken the hold of the ego-consciousness (manas) and for the underlying, inherently pure and awakened consciousness to manifest itself as the true locus of our lives. The ego-centric activity of the ego-consciousness (klistamanovijñãna) continually
obscures the inherently awakened consciousness. By focusing our attention on the Buddha, we break the constant flow of obscurations. Such breaks in the repetitive self-aggrandizement of the ego-consciousness open an opportunity for the Buddha-nature to become the active center of our lives. Soga cites another work by Vasubandhu, the Trimšikã, to say that "the älayavijñäna is . . . like a rushing torrent. It will manifest itself amidst illusory thoughts, break through all the forms of ignorance of sentient beings, and someday must fulfill all of their innermost aspirations. This is the turning over at the foundations
of consciousness, a shift of the position from which we live our lives from the ego-consciousness to Buddha-nature.

To close with a final quote from Soga, To be awakened to the depth of the Original Vow then means to attain the enlightened wisdom to know who one really is. Once awakened to the depth of the Original Vow, one shares in the enlightenment of Amida in the Pure Land — the transcendent realm — while yet remaining in this world of relativity: one's eventual attainment of Buddhahood is a certainty, is assured.

[shaberon]

Yogacara and Siddharajni lineages in visuals





Here we are trying to support a couple of things which really help us in Sanskrit, and are almost lost in Tibetan. For instance I probably saw the "Masters of Nalanda" list twenty years ago and have not been able to figure anything out ever since, until working completely around it and seeing that it is probably more mistaken than anything.


Asanga, the main author of Yogacara, has twenty or more authors swarmed around him to the point where whatever he actually said is hard to get to; Ratnakarasanti, perhaps his most avid fan, is at times edited, slandered, or almost whisked out of existence.

Asanga had Maitreya practices, and we have found Vasubandhu commenting Sanmukhi Dharani and Sukhavati. We do not think they originated these, but, attempted to systematize them in a more refined and potent matter. The whole point to Asanga was that low-level yoga training was unsatisfactory. Not that he failed to perform Chakrasamvara for twelve years, but, the basic instruction in his time was not very good.

The object of devotion, i. e. Maitreya, was great, but Asanga went through a lot of effort to connect and then receive further training. So he is in the position of being able to describe a large difference between minor spiritual curiosity and actual success on the Bhumis. Even starting with Vasubandhu, it is almost a reversion to "studying what he said and trying to apply it".


And so we have a lot of Sastra commentary from them, but, of course, little towards the pantheon of deities. Nevertheless, Asanga said that "people see transcendent lords of different colors", and so although this is more than suggestive of all of the tantras, I am not sure if he ever gets more specific than this.


We know that many of the newer thangkas can be somewhat arbitrary, because some Tibetans can be "very accepting of tradition", and Taranatha passed on a lot of things that amount to "hearsay", and that is why Jamgon Kongtrul is a bit more reliable, he has learned to question Taranatha, and he is more strongly based in the Mahamudra and other transmissions we are dealing with.


There are not many very old examples of Asanga bereft of later presumptions.

This piece is unidentified, but, surmised from context and appearance to be Asanga and Vasubandhu.

1400s Sakya

At the upper left, if the guess is correct, Maitreya, Asanga, and Vasubandhu.

Along the bottom, the central figure is unknown. On the left are the Three Families of Kriya Tantra, Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani. Then follow Simhanada, Usnisa Vijaya, and Vaisravana:








Is this reasonable? Candragomin was a devotee of Simhanada, and, was also the outspoken Asanga follower of his time. In his case, these Kriya deities would be totally appropriate. Whether this thangka represents an accurate memory of Asanga's personal practices is undeterminable.


Asanga *may* be shown with historically-appropriate deities in an unidentified 1800s Gelug under Amitayus. Green Tara has her normal pose, but, White Tara does not appear to be Atisha's Seven Eyed Tara, in fact it does not look like she has a third eye. She also has Vajra Feet:











That one has quite possibly preserved some of the original, basic Taras, which is not impossible he had at least heard of. Whether this literally means he practiced and transmitted them, we cannot be sure. It is somewhat accurate to say that the time frame from Asanga to Candragomin is about equal to the early and late phases of construction at Ellora.

This is a similar provenance, but, under Amitabha. Goddess Parnasabari is unmistakable; the lower central couple is unidentified, but, obviously, a Highest Yoga Tantra.







It seems to have Pink Pandara and so, possibly, Padmanarttesvara or Sukhavati Lokeshvara. I am not aware of a Six Arm Jinasagara.

There is not any known way that Asanga could be connected to that kind of sadhana, but, it may be a way to show that such a sadhana is based in his school. However, Parnasabari pre-dates him considerably...so her appearance is not out of the question. There is every likelihood to say he must at least have known of Mayuri and Parnasabari.


Vasubandhu is associated with Lotus Family in basically the same way the Mahatmas explained it.


I am not sure we can carbon date any Sitabani Sutra to be older than him, but, again, in plain terms, this forest and charnel ground has been a special location for a long time. Within a hundred years after him, it is clearly the origin of Vairocana Tantra and Vajrapani Initiation, and within two hundred, clearly the site of Guhyajnana Dakini. She is then going to be transmitted along with Amitayus into Kagyu. So, well, she reverts back to Vasubandhu's subject of Lotus Family. We cannot say that Asanga personally did any particular Guhyajnana sadhana, but, we can say that there is something continuous from Vasubandhu through the whole future of Buddhism, pertaining to Amitayus and this.


There is a handy cluster of the related personalities of what we could call Guhyajnana lineage holders on the Jinasagara Outline:

Padmasambhava (initiated by Guhyajnana Dakini, then plus Mandarava who was the same)

Siddharajni (who was Mandarava) transmitted through Rechung, ca. 1100s

Mitra Yogin

H. H. 2nd Karmapa

Terdag Lingpa (Mindroling, late 1600s)



As to the latter:

Padmasambhava transmitted to Yeshe Tsogyal and Lotsawa Vairocana, but this was sealed/buried until:


In the 17th century the Mindroling Tradition of Nyingma popularized a form of Jinasagara known as the Minling De Kun. In the later part of the century Lelung Zhepa'i Dorje popularized an entire cycle of meditations and teachings focusing exclusively on the female deity Guhya Jnana Dakini. A beautiful painting from this Lelung tradition is known to exist in a museum in Poland. Four authors stand out as significant contributors to the tradition of Jinasagara, (1) several Shamar incarnations, (2) Karma Chagme, (3) Minling Gyurme Dorje and (4) the 3rd Panchen Lama Palden Yeshe.



And so we see even the Panchen Lama has taken it in. It is tantric, yet publicly available, based in Guhya Jnana Dakini.



As to the Sarma version:

Karma Kagyu Lineage: Dharmakaya Amitabha, Sambhogakaya Avalokiteshvara, Nirmanakaya Padmasambhava, Machig Drupa'i Gyalmo (Siddhirajni), Tebu Drime Shenyen, Rechung Dorje Drag, Lama Zangri Repa, Drogon Repa Chenpo, Gyalse Punya Vajra, Drupchen Karma Pakshi - the 2nd Karmapa, etc.



Mitra's version likely came from the brief line:

Tilo --> Lalitavajra --> Mitra Yogin, who was guided by Ekajati.


Mitra's Jinasagara stands:






The mandala is like Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis, with Jinasagara added:







Saraha was initiated by Arrow Dakini who has no other name, but, begins the symbol of Long Life Arrow.

Guhyajnana Dakini was the initiatrix at Sitabani at the time of Padmasambhava, and therefor, for an unspecified period before. Almost simultaneously, and, among others, she was one with Mandarava, who was reborn as Niguma and Siddharajni. These ladies are of course overshadowed by men, and, Siddharajni, like Ratnakarasanti, was almost edited out of our knowledge. Once this was "adjusted", she becomes a standard.


Twentieth century Siddharajni block print:







There were some two hundred years between Mandarava and Niguma, representing the development of most of the Sarma Tantras, while Guhyajnana Dakini could hardly be said to be suffering any disturbances at Sitabani. And then Siddharajni is known for practicing Amitayus and Jinasagara, and what is called "Rechung's lineage" might ought to be called hers. This took an unusual route to Tibet, but is apparent in some of the oldest existing paintings.


1400s Avalokiteshvara with Jinasagara and Guhyajnana beside his right foot:









1500s Kagyu Jinasagara with Hayagriva and Guhyajnana towards the lower right:







Those are indications that Sarma Jinasagara was intact the whole time before Mindroling came out.

This 1800s Kagyu we would say is not an "obfuscation" but a "merger". Here are Marpa, Mila, and Gampo, but it is only with Gampo that we bring in the Siddharajni--Rechung lineage as shown here and then employed by H. H. 2nd Karmapa.






At the center of the composition is (1) Jinasagara Avalokiteshvara. At the left side (right of Jinasagara) is a wrathful red (2) Hayagriva. On the right side is a four-armed orange (3) Guhya Jnana Dakini. Above Jinasagara is (4) Siddhirajni, an Indian female Tantric siddha, representing the lineage (usually Padmasambhava is depicted). Below the central Jinasagara is (5) Bernagchen Mahakala.

The five figures represent the (1) Ishtadevata (meditational deity) placed at the center. Representing wrathful deities is (2) Hayagriva on the proper right side of the Jinasagara. Representing the Dakinis is (3) Guhya Jnana on the left side. Representing the lineage Gurus is (4) Siddhirajni placed above. Representing the protectors is (5) Bernagchen placed below. Although appearing in the painting as a vertical hierarchy the five deity figures are understood to be present on a horizontal flat plane with only the Machig figure placed in the sky directly above the head of Jinasagara.


It is not obfuscating because when any explanation is asked, then it is clear that what is being referred to is separate lines which came together. Marpa is not being propped up as a terton of Guhyajnana Dakini; but that followers of Marpa may also follow her. Milarepa is almost beyond the beyond and I am not sure if he has any distinct deities. Kagyu is mainly characterized by Marpa, who, for example, has Nepal Vajrayoginis that Atisha did not; Gampo has a bit of Amitayus and Jinasagara; and Mitra Yogin is another contributor though less well-known.

It is both a working unit and a blueprint. If you want Parnasabari as a Protector, or Mahasri, then voila! You have the ability to change something like that. However in this case, because it is tantric, we have to at least say that Dakini is something magical and energetic and so the point is to actually use this particular Guhyajnana Dakini. That does not even mean that Jinasagara has to be present...he lives in her heart and can be called out at will. Also, if Mandarava is probably mostly in Nyingma, and Niguma is Shangpa, then Siddharajni turns out to be a legitimate lineage person...not exactly "in" Kagyu, but "into" it, similar to Naro and Tilo.


Miranda Shaw's brief Siddharajni article is clear that it is a Tummo practice based on the Four Chakra system. She says that it is Padmanarttesvara, now more commonly called Jinasagara. Also that the two arm form is "secret", or, i. e., most likely intended for Completion Stage.


At the time of Mindroling, the Nyingma version is unlocked, and shared with both Gelug and Kagyu. Although the same deities are involved, it is telling a different story or working a different way, than the plot of it dovetailing to the Reds of the Sakya Completion Stage. The similar appearance has the lower Avalokiteshvara as Lha Chenpo, whereas the Sakya system has Takkiraja and Manohara.

Siddharajni above is dark like Niguma; however among newer versions, or those based from Mindroling, one can find White Siddharajni above, and a lower white female who carries a Jewel or Bowl of Gems, and a Melong or Mirror, or the same mounted on a Long Life Arrow.


Whether this makes two forms of Siddharajni, or, her with Arrow Dakini or White Mahasri, we are not told and are not yet sure. The motif is in almost all of the newer works, Guhyajnana with white female, or Dechen Gyalmo with her, Dechen Gyalmo under her, the figure noticed but unknown, standing in the lower right; also found in Guyhajnana minor explanation, or similar figure in red. It is similar on the, let's say, weird, King Konchog Bang, which, very much like the Seventeen Masters of Nalanda, is historically misguiding, since in his case, he cannot be traced to anything at all.


So that actually is publicized exoterism of a profoundly difficult yoga.

Siddharajni said that Guhyajnana operates the same Candali Yoga and Suksma Yoga as we are doing. Moreover, when trained as Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis, that is the proper basis and grounding for Chakrasamvara. It is conjunct with what Vajrayogini is doing by developing other mantras of the genre. You can see then how you could actually import Vajrayogini as the Istadevata here. And, the reincarnating individual, also becomes Yogini Adorned with Bone Ornaments, Risul with Nyan, another with Maitri, and another with Rechung, is at least partially akin to Ziro Bhusana Vajrayogini.

If we adjusted the diagram to have Siddharajni, Ziro Bhusana, and Guhyajnana, it would be very cohesive; nothing says these forms have either a Wrathful or Protector mode that I am aware of. It does mean adding the slightly non-Indian Nyan's Vajrayogini; but she is designed to operate with the five dakinis. Nyan was of course inspired by authentically-Indian sources, moreover, was a visionary of Tara and Vajrayogini or they actually manifested to him; and so he is like a guide of using non-Atisha Taras, and, probably a more accurate understanding of Asanga and the yoginis and dakinis of Sarma tantras.


If you just ping the system for "Five Dakinis", it is going to give you something based from Buddha Dakini, which is a dakini in Buddha Family, and not the same proper name as Buddhadakini of Mahamaya Tantra. Neither one of these is directly called for in the groupings as outlined. They may be more common or used in Tibetan versions; overall the system of Abhayakara uses four main blocks:


Guru Yoga

Deity Yoga

Flask Worship

Homa


And so it is really the Flask Worship with Varuni and Vairocani which produces this Dakini and Vajrayogini hypostasis, which eventually begets Vajravarahi. We are trying to do this in a pretty carefully-crafted way.

The brakes, dampers, or gauge being the Nectar itself. Provided a "with effort" stage, that is, most people have trouble getting Inner Heat, which we are sort of going to match by the process of "nectar ingredients", the external Buddhas and Prajnas in their impure condition, mixed together in the cup. The attempt is to boil the stuff. And so we will do what we can and present the result as a Taste Offering. As the meditative process strengthens, if the inner flame does as well, then eventually the boiling mixture rises until it melts the White Bodhicitta and so on, the Four Joys, etc. At that point once the whole thing becomes fluent and natural then you are able to truncate this Generation process. When you can drip it all down into the Cup, that Cup is Bharati, who makes Mercury.

I, personally, understand what she does very well, and, I think it is something extraordinarily difficult for a person to reach. But I think this is approximately what we are trying to cover in the Third Yoga, Pranayama, part of Speech Mandala governed by Lotus Family. In the most ideal conditions, a trained person on a year retreat, Dolpopa was able to accomplish the Fourth Yoga, Dharani. He was naturally skilled, already trained, and given a marvelous opportunity. But that was rigorously every day.


Most of us are not orthodox Adwaitees undergoing a revision; and regardless, Mahayana mostly has to do with studying it, interiorizing it, and building sadhanas and inner yoga based on one's progress.


Vajrasattva is the beginning of any of the Guru Yoga, and, Varuni is the driver of any of the tantra in the sense of anything with at least the intent of Pranayama. If we study Tibetan, she is not even mentioned by name; from the view of Nepal, Samvarodaya Tantra, back to the Puranas, she is incredible. Well, her energy works whether one "knows" it or deifies it or not; but I would say that during the time that I had personally "activated" such energy, she was like the one elusive teaching that was "behind the scenes" but never really presented to the west. And that is because most of the Tibetan material, especially the modern stuff from Pabonkha, races through the practice like a drill sergeant. It simply does not work right by reading it like a litany. That is why Yoga as we are collecting is a very slowed-down, expansive cultivation of the Inverted Stupa that Varuni operates. If you stick to this, it only has the option of delivering you to certain Completion Stage practices in Sarma, such as Mahamaya, Cinnamasta, and a few others.


And so when we get any result from "inner meaning" then we are entering the ranks of Yoga Tantra--not exactly a "new paradigm", more like the removal of it:


Here the emphasis is on internal yoga or union with the deity, achieved through practices involving the manipulation of the wind energies within the body. Another unique feature of highest yoga tantra is the practice of taking death, intermediate state, and rebirth into the path. This is perhaps the biggest difference between the three lower classes of tantra and highest yoga tantra, since this is the key method to actualize the resultant stage - the union of the illusory body and the clear light mind. When we can join the most subtle mind with the most subtle of the psychic winds that abides in the center of the central channel, this is the union of the illusory body and the clear-light mind; this is enlightenment itself.

Practitioners of yoga tantra view all phenomena as being naturally free from the signs of mental projection and as manifestations of luminosity and emptiness. On the conventional level, meditators train in perceiving all appearances as mandalas of deities. Although trainees of yoga tantra engage in some external activities, ritual is viewed as being symbolic of the primary practice of internal yoga.



Yoga Tantra awakens us through our body and our five senses. Yoga helps us move our body. When our 5 senses awaken, we begin to re-wire the neural plasticity of our brain – that means to get out our head and into our body, using our sensuality. So many women are in their heads all the time. They don’t have time for themselves. They are analyzing, logically thinking how to create enough time in the day to do their to-do lists, look after their family, do their work, cook the dinner, clean the house etc. Then something happens in life, may be an illness, injury, a death or breakdown, or loss of job, relationship ends that causes to think we cannot keep repeating this.

In ancient times people were much more oriented towards feeling rather than thinking, so they were more aware of this subtle aspect of themselves. In modern times we are not, we were taught to ‘get on with it’, create a ‘stiff upper lip’. Now that’s why we have to re-learn how to feel.

Tantra transforms your life because Tantra changes your intention for everything. It is a method of practice to expand your consciousness. It is about weaving together everything to transform your relationship with yourself primarily, and your body. This then filters into all of your relationships – family, intimate, co-workers, friendships. Yoga helps the body to open, then the alchemy of Yoga Tantra is magic. As anything in life worth having and worth developing time and commitment are needed.





I suppose it is "new" to a conditioned person who has rarely deviated from linear objectivity. But this is the artificial, mainly politically-driven nemesis which is largely the same as the overall Castro-type argument that we should be planting gardens and managing local co-ops, rather than forking out money to big conglomerate producers thousands of miles away. Sort of a minimalist attitude towards technology. Very much about feeling, closer to Romanticism than the "mathematical perfection" of Classical music. Plenty of ways outside of Buddhism to do this, which is probably the things we are "more compatible with", the only thing really new being the teaching and practice of Mahayana.


To say that Asanga is providing a "new system" of Mahayana is equivalent to enshrining Maitreya. The whole idea of him being a future prophet or Kalkin avatar, etc., is in this view almost superfluous. The point would be far more that he is teaching Mahayana Yoga, using Asanga as the writer. It includes all worldly knowledge and Puranic lore and so on, or any other yogas or pujas or whatever, and then the majority of the Path is that Mahayana is its own realm of Yoga practice. Because it is entirely possible for someone to follow it and wind up experiencing some of the unusual physiological and mental states by transforming mundane consciousness, that is why we are arranging these certain sadhanas with the Triangle of Inverted Stupa. It is not really something that works if you just copy it and try it, but, following the Preliminaries, depending on the rate at which that succeeds, at some point you reach the transition related to Fire.

[shaberon]

Padma or Lotus Family Tara and Prajnaparamita, Christian reprise






Karuna, Compassion, or Avalokiteshvara is sort of the raison d'etre of Buddhism or Buddha Nature, and although it becomes very intricate, it is still from the Four Noble Truths. Here, Suffering is the Skandhas, and the End of Suffering is Bliss. So Compassion involves transforming everything in one's experience that is not a vessel of Bliss.


For me, personally, the Lotus Family is a bit of a challenge since I operated similar powers by non-Buddhist mantras.

The type of Tara I came to know is almost purely Karma Family.

And so I have tried looking for a similar type of Lotus Tara who is red and fairly basic. Even more basic than Sitabani. Someone that helps you put together certain color, mantras, ideas, feelings. We are going along with some things from post Five.


A standardized, basic Peaceful Padma Tara is in:


The retinue of Dhanada Tara

Pandara with Red Narttesvara 30 (raised left hand)

Padma Tara with Sukhavati Lokeshvara in Nepal, similar to RG 154 and 155 from Pandita Purnavajra (raised left hand in the statue, has a lotus in the sadhana)

Mindroling in the 1600s and in Situ Panchen's lineage (holds a lotus)



Pandara as mentioned above is in an Embrace. When Jinasagara or Avalokiteshvara enters Union, in Nepal, the name Padmajala means he is with Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis, similarly to Mitra's Mandala, but in a large form. So at first they are not necessarily there, and then it is desirable that they arrive. They can be with Guhyajnana alone, Jinasagara can be added, the whole thing can be blossomed into Padmajala. Sukhavati Lokeshvara--i. e. most likely based from ancient dharanis--seems to only have to do with the arising of Padma Tara from and with him. Then when named Pandara, there is not Union as in the Highest Tantras, however, we will see this one is fairly advanced in Yoga, more than a line drawing does justice.


The important thing is that the Four Dakinis are reversed, less like the Families generically, they are much more like degrees; Dakini is like Guhyajnana Dakini, or any magical female, but then Lama is a Yogini or Bhairavi who is accomplished and experienced like Vajrayogini. Those are like Karma Mudras and the next two are possibly more like Jnana Mudras. Khandaroha is yoga itself or Generation Stage, Rupini is the Perfect Image of Completion Stage.






The Mindroling images show the criticism of the oldest (ca. 700s) Indian Tara figurine: she should have some fingers pinched together if she is not actually holding a lotus. Since she is not, the iconographers do not really have an identification of her gesture if it is a mudra:


Here the hand is open with all four fingers and thumb raised upward..."salute or blessing".


The males are easily textbook identifiable to the point that the crest of the image is something I have no idea about:


Above his head is a kirtimukha symbol (face of glory).


It does not have Manjushri, who is in a figurine of similar provenance; the upper right member of this one is Lokeshvara.


The attendants are also "unknown" but we can see in the lower hand of the first, a lotus in her palm:


To the right of Tara is a standing female attendant with the right hand extended downward with the palm open. The left hand holds the stem of a lotus flower blossoming over the left shoulder. At the proper left side of Tara is another standing female attendant holding with both hands in front of the lower torso a large jewel. Entwined up the left arm is the stem of a flower blossoming over the left shoulder. On the top of the head, in front of the bundle of hair, is a chaitya (stupa) crown ornament. This is a highly unusual object to be on the head of a female retinue figure. Typically it is only the bodhisattva Maitreya that bears the mark of the chaitya on the crown of the head. Both figures hold identical looking flowers blossoms, wear similar attire and have unusual chain belts around the waist.

The chaitya (stupa) would seem to mean it is Bhrkuti on the right:








Raising the right hand would be recognized as "Green" Tara, i. e. Karma Family and the gesture that removes Fear:






A lotus is also seen in the palm of this Indian Tara who is in a Cittavisrama pose:











So on the major enthroned version, just for the right side, if there is a second male in Lotus Family, Lokeshvara, that is suggestive there might be a second Tara in Lotus Family, Bhrkuti. That would be suggestive that the one on the left under Vajrapani is perhaps in Vajra Family, such as Prajnaparamita, for which the lower Nagas making Offerings would be sensible.

Perhaps Lotus Family Tara means she should not have a Lotus item, like they never have the Chain which is supposed to be their special power.

The raised left hand is not explained, is not said to be alike or opposite to the gesture of Karma Family, but is on this ancient and really big Tara who is under Amitabha. Who else would you think it would be, other than Padma Tara if not by one of her more particular names, i. e. Sragdhara or something similar?



The Sukhavati Lokeshvaras have a pattern similar to Jinasagara with Guhyajnana Dakini, Heart Emanated:


The red one has at his heart the secret consort Tara; the white one is seated and embraced by her.

Padmanarttesvara starts with Pandara and becomes even more intensely tantric with Vajravilasini in other sources.



There is not supposed to be a large amount of Lotus Family tantra. It largely is from Mahakarunika. Mahakarunika is part of Lotus Family tantra including Sragdhara and Bhattarika Tara and Padmajala or the esoteric Net of Avalokiteshvara.



Taras with Teaching Gesture are probably mostly Mahasri. But if she has Vajra Feet then it is likely Prajnaparamita, as in a 1000s Indian sculpture:








Two Arm White Prajnaparamita is among Three deities of Vajra Panjara Tantra:

Bhutadamara Vajrapani, White Prajnaparamita, White Pratisara


Those are its outer deities, among which Pratisara is the closest known form resembling Mrtyuvacana. Then it also has Vajra Tara. This important goddess is said to most closely resemble the Mothers of Tara Tantra. "Red Tara" is a minor corresponding aspect from Tara's tantra, i. e. the Third Activity.


Panjara is advanced, i. e. three dimensional, working with a vertical axis. From the beginning, visualizations and assemblies and so on are mostly based on a flat plane, Bhumi, or Ground, to which the Four Activities are placed as Gatekeepers. This is a lot like Torque. The Activities cause rotation on the flat plane, which eventually drives a spiral of rising inner forces, effectively producing the vertical axis.


Lotus Family is characterized by Fire and its corresponding Activity is really Abhiseka or Initiation.


If this is the Activity, and, goddess Guhyajnana Dakini actually does it, then, we are interested in what flows from the early, basic version of Lotus Tara in the Kriya tantras.





There are very old "accreted" texts, the Mula Kalpa or Root Rites of Manjushri and of Tara. Something of them possibly was composed in Asanga's time, they were most likely substantial by Padmasambhava's time, and probably continued to grow afterwards.

MMK has a Golden Tara on a mountain of lapis lazuli:

Tara is the second of six goddesses accompanying Avalokitesvara, the others being Pandaravasini, Bhruku ti (= Bhrku ti), Prajna-paramita, Tathagata Locana and U~r:ti~a-raja [Usnisa Vijaya ?].





Basic Padma Tara is from what Alex Wayman calls the most important one among the Tantras of the Mother of the Padma kula. Its Sanskrit title: Sarvatathagatamatrtaravisvakarmabhava-tantra.

"Rite for Subjugating" uses a simple Padma Tara. This "subjugation" is the Third Activity. It should be a synonym of "power" in Tibetan. If we follow the teaching, this power is Wang or Abhiseka or Initiation, which is done by goddesses.


These "Rites" Taras appear to be stand-alone, not retinues. You make an environment and do an alteration of basic Tara mantra with them. There are Four Activities, and then All Activities, one activity per Family. Some have Amitabha and the Moon in their hair. "Subjugation" seems to mean summoned from anywhere in the three worlds. But this is really in the place of the Third Activity, Magnetizing, or bonding or locking, Bandhaya. This Tara is described as rising gracefully (lila), smiling and laughing with darting eyes. Her Japa in Lotus Family is:


Om Tuttare Ture Ture Svaha

The subjugation activity mantra is:


Om Tare Tare Tuttare Hum-kara-puritasa-dig-antare

sapta-loka-kramakranti asesakarsana-ksami Hrih



So she actually has Akarsana or Hook Power there, not Vasikaran (Subjugation), not like Kurukulla, but more like Manohara. She has the power, not the item. Perhaps more importantly it ends on the standard Lotus Family syllable Hrih.

That is something to work with if I am not yet completely sure what subjugation of my own aura, initiation by goddesses, and/or Pranayama which is the special domain of Lotus Family, are. It is more of a Samaya or way to bond into the experience which has more intensity and detail further along.





This tantra also uses variations with the proper spelling of the Mahakarunika theme:

Namo Arya Jnana Sagara [Buddha Name] Vyuha Rajaya


By saying Vyuha Rajaya, it means King of the Magical Display, very similar to Jala in its designations such as Maya Jala or Padma Jala, or Dakini Jala Samvara.


Bandhaya or Chain--Lock really presumes Hook and Noose Activities, i. e. a Summoning and Request must be done in order for a Chain or Lock to have any context. That which makes a presence desire to remain of its own accord is similar to initiation. So it is this basic Activity which is deified in more subtle levels by Guhyajnana Dakini and so on.


"Red Tara" is also in the revealed treasure system of Red Jambhala, which is "similar to" that of Bari and in Sakya. But this form is frequently Hook Manohara. Since Manohara is an aspect of Vasudhara then we should keep in mind that is its own vein, the Sakya system is oriented through Vasudhara who is a type of Lakshmi.

Padma Tara in those mantras is more like attracting and subjugating the three worlds in oneself, i. e. Trailokya Vijaya. So of course it is going to start with Vajrapani and Bhrkuti and then move to Vasudhara.


However, Tara talks about Seven Worlds at the same time. She is very magical and immanent. Ratnakarasanti was controversial for publicly teaching Prajnaparamita as an immanent deity in a way similar to Sophia of the Gnostics. She is a text goddess. Tara is not quite like that, she is more like a song or mantra or yoga goddess and even more immanent in those ways.

She follows the same sort of scale as Amitabha, the Dhyani Buddha, who does not directly do anything in this world but "radiates" spiritual sons such as Amitayus (the One Life) and Avalokiteshvara (all states of consciousness), who as themselves remain permanently Celestial, but are capable of emanating descents into the human realms. Then they have Nirmanakayas and other minor forms.

Padma Tara on her own plane is Pandara, whose trait is that compared to most Taras who are slender and youthful, she is mature, having wide hips. Ironically, her use of a Lotus item may be a later adaptation. She perhaps is more defined by a strangely plain left hand. Maybe she even has no item.


There are a lot of standing Taras which mostly go unidentified since that is not her normal pose. Most of those are not anywhere near as old as the 700s and mostly not Indian.



Some of those standing Taras can be determined as Green Tara by gesture, and there is a Gelug kind who has a scarf in her left hand. The majority still carry a Lotus in the usual manner. If there are two lotuses, it probably is "White Tara" or Prajnaparamita.

There is a 1500s Nepalese Tara for which:


The identification is not clear. It is possibly a form of Tara but what she is supposed to hold in her left hand is not obvious.













They may have hips or rise gracefully or have inexplicable use of the left hand. Otherwise there is not much in the known collection that would actually signify Padma Tara in any way.

In terms of the few older artifacts, here is an Indian Pala stone with Lotus and a Lotus inscribed in her right hand:







Again simply similar to the one on the left in the enthroned version, and the majority of standing sculptures.



The page for miscellaneous forms of Tara awkwardly inserts the Tibetan Nying Gi Sertig Chen :


Tara (Tibetan: rig chen ma pal mo nying gyi ser teg chen): the Glorious Kurukulla with the Gold Heart Drop.

the only example of which is a certain seated Green Tara which is hypostasized with Lakshmi. This example is very definitive to the manifestation of Buddhist Kurukulla so it really deserves a more recognizable name.


In the revealed treasures, with "Red Jambhala", Padma Tara has Fancy Pants and no Hook.

Central, as Secret Accomplishment, with Fancy Pants and a Hook.


This is a Palpung of the same one without the pants:






This type of treasure is not a personal revelation, it is supposed to be discovery of a hidden text, meaning that Padma Tara holding a Lotus does come from an older Indian source, and so she would be unrecognizable without color.

Well, the same applies towards "discovery" of something like Mrtyuvacana...the treasure was not directly transmitted with consecrations and so on, it was simply practiced closely following the teachings. Because of its placement, that means it is recommended, suggested, a part of, etc., the Indian Sarma system.

If anything, maybe she resembles the one on the left with Tara enthroned. It could be reasoned that Avalokiteshvara emanated Tara and Bhrkuti, as the two attendants, and the big one is intended as Pandara. The presence of Vajrapani would be reduced to the fact that he reveals tantras.

The piece was made shortly after historical Bhrkuti internationalized Buddhism in a way that had much to do with outer Avalokiteshvara and tantric Akshobhya or Vajra Family.

Given the likelihood that the central figure probably is a type of Bodhisattva emanation of Pandaravasini, that would also be an aspect of Parasol. I am pretty sure we could say Parasol is capable of taking the Three Families of Kriya and manifesting all Seven Families. She is a type of vajradakini (i. e. that which is manifested by Varuni) as well as Purified Inner Fire or the Lady in White or Pandaravasini, and related through the Golden Drop Lakshmi in the Flask.


Vasudhara is at least in some ways pre-Buddhist and related to other yogas, while Parasol is purely Buddhist. Because Varuni is really Mamaki who is Guhyeshvari, her as a third member in this simple formula completes the Adi Prajnas who are hypostases above the Prajnas of the Families such as Pandara. This is mostly in a Noumenal sense owing to dharanis and tantras and so on.







Let's let someone accidentally do us a favor, an unknown artist of Menri 1700s, who composed major sets of the Kings of Tibet, and then of Suryagupta's Taras. This is the only one of the second set recovered so far.

And so we can read this with an accent. This type of scene is to crystalize Tibetan history and pantheon. So we will interpret it along with the descending layers as given, and then something about what was missed. Then we will have something with Amitabha and Vajrayogini who does not resemble him. From the description:



Tara, Removing Poverty (Clearing All Misfortune): composition #12 from the set of the Twenty-one Taras according to the system of Suryagupta. [Here we are going to entirely ignore the central Tara--just "Tara of a system"]

The three figures at the top center belong to the set of Thirty-five Confession Buddhas [extended version of the Seven Historical Buddhas]. Directly below are green Mahamayuri and blue Mantramanudharani belonging to the set of five deities known as the Pancha Raksha [ones that represent firstly, non-Buddhist heritage into the early times, and, secondly, Buddhist Vajrayogini in Vajra Family who is Queen of Mantra].

At the lower right and left are two of the Twelve Yaksha Generals from the Medicine Buddha mandala of fifty-one deities.

At the bottom center is Dorje Yudronma [Turquoise Lamp]. At the left is 'Tersar Dzammar' red Jambhala [as mentioned in the treasures or termas above which in a sense are of Uma]. At the right is orange Vaishravana Blowing a Conch.








If we see two streams of descent that are germane to subjects beyond this specific practice, there is something to it. Amitabha appears to personally have spiritual sons, probably Amitayus and Lokeshvara. On the left from Amitayus is Mahamayuri Vidyarajni, a priestess of Dharani and Sima--Boundary and many other things since at least the time of Asanga. Under her probably is Amitayus with a Vase, under whom is Vajradhara with Kilaya--Boundary. Then a Yaksha General (or tree lord of the life wind in tantra) and Jambhala (at least similar to the one in the Sakya Reds system), a Yaksha Deity.

On the right from Lokeshvara is Mantranusarani--who is a Vajrayogini of Nepal--quite possibly over Mitra's Jinasagara. Then Stupas, and another Yaksha over Vaisravana (a Yaksha of the Four Kings), i. e. the principle of Alakavati.

If this were the case, then implicitly Guhyajnana Dakini is present.


Turquoise Lamp or Yu Dronma has a Jewel and Chakra and even here is probably a collected/allocated figure.

She is or perhaps "was" local, near Bhutan, but is perhaps also a bit of a Dharma Pala or protects teaching itself. Like if you look in Samputa Tantra it will offer up Parnasabari as "your protector", or Panjara may say so for Pratisara, and so on. This one is mostly specific to Drukpa.

Overall, the lower half of this is worldly, mostly in the sense of prana. The upper half is spellcasters and blissful yoga. It has three colors of lotuses showing the three shadings of Lotus Family.

The whole set of these must have been extraordinary: I have no idea what prompted the artist to associate a certain Tara with Turquoise Lamp in such a way. Let alone the others (which are inscribed in the clouds faintly).

But if we just extrapolate it according to the inherent symbolism, Vajra Family tamed beings such as Yakshas, who took the Oath of Lotus Family. This is why tantra is possible or even works at all. Here, we are shown what is probably the only outer form of Vajrayogini, which is Mantranusarini who is a Sutra goddess nominally in Vajra Family. Her meaning is the gnosis of mantra through Buddhist Yoga. Of course she is closely related to a broader Vidyarajni of older/other mantras who in Buddhism teaches this very subject.

Compared to the Sakya, Nepalese, or Drukpa systems, it would make perfect sense if the central deity was Manohara and the lower left was the corresponding Jambhala. In the formal systems, Tara Twelve refers to the practice of Homa, or Fire Yoga. If we follow her correspondences from Maitreya, we get Ten Powers:



(Skt. daśavaśitā; Tib. དབང་བཅུ་, wang chu, Wyl. dbang bcu)


where we get a Tibetan synonym of Initiation, from a Sanskrit which actually does refer to Lotus Family, the Vasitas governed by them being called disciplines or masteries which are accomplished on the Bhumis of the Path, starting from Life or Ayur. This is explained by Manjushri.

In the song, Twelve is the Tara that specifically says Amitabha and Crescent Moon in her hair, for whom we have little attestation other than Day--Night Tara.


Is that close to what may be intended by Tara and Bhrkuti in the major figurine? The song does seem to be the only place that also specifically has Wrathful Bhrkuti. Day--Night is a basic Lotus Family Tara who encompasses Body Isolation or Body Mandala. But she is not red and that is not the most basic approach.

Suryagupta did not originate the song or necessarily base forms in its explanations, since this is one of the few spots where any appearance of Tara is mentioned, and the form used obviously lacks the feature.

The possible justification of it is that perhaps she is Vajra Sphoti because she also carries a Chain. What seems to be more accurate, especially towards Hevajra, is that you are trying to force the manifestation of chain goddess Vajra Srnkhala. This symbolism means that the Third Yoga, Pranayama, has made a Chain to the Sixth Yoga, Samadhi, i. e. the Activity of this goddess, as also becoming the Activity of the Smoky goddesses.

Chain is One-pointed to Samadhi like that, which produces the Fourth Activity, Bell, or resonance, and so on.

And so what Suryagupta is doing is really beyond our invocatory system for example of Mahattari to Akanistha Tara. The Sixth Yoga and Fourth Activity are the sphere of tantric Karma Family where such an Akanistha Devi resides. That is why we should tend to divide Lotus Family and Kriya and Fire and so forth as the first major half or Generation Stage and Speech Mandala. The upper cusp of what we are trying to cultivate is the Akanistha/Fourth Activity. The highest stage we can probably ever even get in is Dharani or the Fourth Yoga. That can involve the Sequence of Lights and Pools of Bliss and so on, and must be conceived as a sort of Olympian adeptness with Inner Fire by one or more names.


Yeshe Tsogyal being an example of the "stone wall" being described here. She had a long, difficult time with Pranayama, even though she was born already in an advanced condition.

Dorje Yudronma obviously could not have had anything to do with the song in its original time, but, maybe with its effects through time. In Drukpa she is in the Naro Dakini vein roughly parallel to Humkara.

Smoky classes concatenate in Sri Devi Kama Dhatvishvari Wangchukma from the Panjara system, which is explanatory for Hevajra. This is an initiatic aspect of Lakshmi. In other words, the "with effort" and initial signs of success, in dealing with Prajnaparamita and Guhyajnana Dakini and so on, are more like aspects of Sarasvati. Vasudhara is then gate-like towards Lakshmi, an expected superior of Sarasvati starting from the Vedic Apri Hymns, Sarasvati, and the two Lakshmis, Ila, and Bhu. The tantric system of Abhayakaragupta is still incorporating this.




So if a basic Padma Tara uses the syllable Hrih, then yes, this is shared by Avalokiteshvara and eventually Hayagriva, Padmanarttesvara 30, and so on.

Comparatively, Sitabani is slightly tantric because she uses the syllable Jim which is related to Dhyani Buddha Amitabha of Guhyasamaja. She is like a pivot to the place where Guhyajnana Dakini is. She probably is encapsulated by the overall mantric science as expressed by Mantranusarini.

It may start to seem contradictory, but, it is something like Vajra Family putting to use the mantras of Lotus Family. The Vajra Family Vajrayogini as described here is able to re-deploy as Ekajati being the source of Twenty-one Taras.

The way of describing Families as stripes or distinct layers is beneficial, but, ultimately, one has at the very least, something like a Quintessence of Quintessences. That is why there is interaction between Families and hypostatical behavior, which in some cases seems like contradictions or oxymoronic behaviors. Lotus Family hardly has a Chain although it is constantly implied. Red Vajravarahi is in Buddha Family. Vajra Tara is in Jewel Family. Vajradakini is a class from Varuni to the Seventh Jewel of Enlightenment, the Upeksa of Samadhi.



In the next sadhanas, Padmanarttesvara works with Eight or Asta Devis, and in the last one, with Sutra companions Tara, Sudhana kumara, Bhrkuti, and Hayagriva. But the one embracing Pandara is supposed to have a very occult retinue of Saumyas including a Space colored and an All colored goddess.


The two subsequent ones use the phrase Parivrtta for "encircled by, assembled":

aṣṭadevīparivṛtaṃ


yoginīvṛndaparivṛtaṃ


Neither one of those mention Pandara or seem to say he has any closer companion. 32 is a big White Eighteen Arm Dancer but is not yet Padmajala due to lacking a dakini. Neither names the devis or yoginis.


The first one specifies the embrace of Pandara by:


Śliṣṭa (श्लिष्ट):—[(ṣṭaḥ-ṣṭā-ṣṭaṃ) p.] Embraced, clung to.

apparently by reaching around to clasp her navel with the left hand.


Padmanarttesvara 30-32 uses the syllables Hrih and Hum.



Otherwise, Pandara is in Sadhanamala formulaicly a few times, and is invoked in Asanga's Prajnaparamita 159, which perhaps closely echoes Vajrasana 3.


This Prajnaparamita gives an interesting depiction of the moon disk at one's heart. It is a type of infinite gate for the Rasi or portion of Nectar--Amrita:


svahṛdi nīhārahāraharahāsanibhaṃ śubhram amṛtarāśim iva candramaṇḍalaṃ paśyet /


It does not use HPB's spelling of "Arya Asanga", it says "Acarya Asanga", but it has full yoginis such as Lasya and others, and Prajnaparamita has a tantric Four Places. It also says something else about what is going on in the heart:

karuṇācittam utpādya evaṃ hṛdi karoti /


i. e. Citta or Mind filled with Karuna, which would not seem to be the intention considering the rite proceeds out of Vajra Family.

The retinue and everything about it make it sound post-Vajrasana and bridging towards the use of Vajradhatvishvari as for example Maitri does, saying she has the nature of Vajrasattva.

Khasarpana 27 takes the Sutra companions as listed above and mixes them with Buddhas and Prajnas in such a way that Vajradhatvishvari over-writes Karma Tara.


Asanga actually uses Ksanti Paramita to mean the stage of Udgata or Heat, which appears to correspond to the Vajrosnisa system as well. There is, for example, a Vasudhara who focuses the first three Paramitas. The Paramitas are not a one-to-one correspondence of the Bodhisattva Bhumis, because the intent is to use several at once, and then the overall blend is Prajna, and the Bhumis are increases of Prajna.



Aside from entering Marici, in a way believed to entail the whole pantheon from Prajnaparamita to Vajravarahi, the name Vajradhatvishvari is not found in Sadhanamala. But we did find it in post 116 from Jamgon Kongtrul saying the division from Yoga to Highest Yoga is the additional Initiations. At first are described the outer, or similar to Five Families plus what is probably more commonly called Chakravartin, which is quite similar to the Five Buddha Crown of Prajnaparamita 159:


The acharya Abhyakara teaches in the Vajra vali-nama-mandala-sadhana
(Toh. 3140) that when one is conferred the six Initiations (abhiseka), i.e.
the flower garland, the water, the diadem, the thunderbolt, the bell,
and the name, he is authorized for all such things as listening to and
explaining the Tantras belonging to the Kriya and Carya Tantra classes
and for concretely teaching the Initiation(s); and that consequently there
are no other Initiations than those six in the Kriya and Carya Tantras.
It is said in the Jnana-tilaka-tantra (Toh. 422),

The water and the diadem Initiations
Are celebrated in the Kriya Tantra;

The thunderbolt, bell, and name Initiations
Are celebrated in the Carya Tantra;

The irreversible Initiation
Is revealed in the Yoga Tantra;


The passage shows that only the flower garland, the water, and the diadem
Initiations appear in the Kriya Tantra; that to those the Carya Tantra
adds only the three Initiations [known as] thunderbolt, bell, and name;
that the Yoga Tantra adds only the Initiation of the Hierophant ( vajra -
acarya) [called] irreversible ( avaivartika ); and that there are no others
[in those three Tantra divisions], while the Anuttara Tantra accompanies
those with the three Higher Initiations.


Those are heavily characterized by a real Karma Mudra.

He also found something about what Takkiraja is doing:


Hevajra Tantra , Part H,
p. 54 (verse II. iii. 13): panibhyam tu samalingya prajnam vai sodasabdikaip / ghap-
tavajrasamayogad acaryasecanam mataip* This verse is quoted in the Amnaya-manjari
(Toh. 1198), Derge edition, 65a-6,7; and it is also quoted in Rahula-sri-kalyapamitra’s
work (op. cit., Ni, 242b-1, ff.) in this passage:

After that, he imagines himself with the form of the god of love (kamadeva or tak-
kiraja ) embraced by Vajradhatvisvari, the Great Seal (mahamudra) of the inner self,
according to the verse:

The seal pledge (mudra-samaya) is explained
as solidifying the ‘body made of mind* ( manortiayakaya );
Because it solidifies all the body, it is called
a ‘seal’ (mudra).

And it is said: The initiation is the great thunderbolt;

The one saluted by the three realms

Should be conferred what arises from the places

Of the three secrets of all the Buddhas.

It is also said: He embraces with his two hands

The sixteen year old Insight;

By the union of thunderbolt and bell

The Hierophant’s Initiation is understood.

For the complete characteristics of the Hierophant’s Initiation,
one must first take the pledges ( samaya ); according to the rules, he must
be conferred the five Wisdom {vidya) Initiations and then the three
pledges.

The three pledges are (1) the thunderbolt pledge ( vajra-samaya ); (2)
the bell pledge ( ghanta-samaya ); (3) the seal pledge ( mudra-samaya ).

The thunderbolt pledge consists [first] in making [the candidate] contem¬
plate Vajrasattva; in order to convey the reality of the thunderbolt, the
thunderbolt is laid in his hand and he is made to grasp it. The bell pledge
consists in conveying the reality of the bell, and he is made to grasp it.
The seal pledge consists in giving [the candidate] the vidya and making
him enter the union “bliss-void” ( sukha-sunya ) by embracing that [vidya].



That is almost Vajradhatvishvari in the guise of Manohara, i. e. the apparent consort of Takkiraja in the Sakya system.

This is a bit different from Four Chakras, which says Pandara is Mahamudra in the Throat. What is above seems to be going from Three Places into Union which is possibly its way of adding a Fourth. This one speaks the language of Vajra Ghanta which is like Vajra Padma, Bola Kakkola, and so on. There is difficulty understanding this kind of initiation. Again, on the most superficial level, the outer series of initiations will mostly teach Mudras as leading *into* Karma Mudra, and then the Hugher Initiations will basically use Karma Mudra as the starting point as is shown in Hevajra. This latter is the stamp that Maitri and Ratnakarasanti work with. With Mudras, there are two directions, just as the Directions themselves are Reversed to cast certain retinues like the Four Dakinis.


Sakya is most closely parallel to Hevajra. The framework of its system does not say about how Takki is from an energized version of the Ten Wrathful Ones, which, with the Blue Color, also appear to have something to do with the previous item and power, Noose, Sumbha in the Underworld, and most likely Janguli as related to Krsna Yamari Tantra and the rare functioning of Kurukulla as a love goddess there. Again, we could make a fairly close division, Hook and Noose are like the first Two Yogas, Body Mandala, Entering the Mandala, Amoghapasha, and so forth. Then as this system goes Red it suggests Fire and Pranayama. These Blue and Red characteristics are played out with what appears to happen to the Wrathful Ones and the related dharanis of Mahabala and others, and the principles of Humkara and Kila.

Aside from the famous Red Dakinis, the main focus of the system is in:


The Three Great Red Ones (Marpo Kor Sum); Kurukulla of the Hevajra Tantra, Takkiraja of the Guhyasamaja and Maharakta Ganapati associated with the Chakrasamvara.

The Three Small Red Ones (Marchung Kor Sum); Kurukulla-Tara, Red Vasudhara [Bharati] and Tinuma [Vajrayogini].


Providing also:

Red Jambhala with Bharati in the tradition of Jnana Dakini to Virupa, through Kanha, Damarupa, Avadhutipa, Gayadhara, Drogmi, into Tibet...


It is not clear from those pages that Manohara is the first Red Vasudhara, who is destined for Takkiraja. Because Manohara is a Kinnari, related to Sudhana Kumara of the Sutras, and implicitly to the Kinnari Rite of Paramartha Parasol, then she equivalently is already a rarefied sort of class like the Takkiraja in question is not a default generic member of a wrathful assembly.

This approach is different than what we see at Mindroling with Lha Chenpo and Uma.

Bharati is unlike Manohara and Vajrayogini by having upwards-swept hair, more like Ekajati, contrasted to Mantranusarini. Like the Apri Hymn and Red-Blue Shiva, she also had a primal mythology which was distorted ca. year 1,000 by conflating her with Eloquence and Sarasvati. Her nature as preserved by us is more like Increase (Vardhana) and Expansion (Vistara). She carries Vasudhara's Stalk of Grain and Vajrayogini's Skullcup. Manohara is not found with a Skullcup, although she may have a Mongoose or a Vase.

Manohara is a bit more like Manobhanga and Cittavisrama, i. e. the "scene of" Vajrayogini, whereas Bharati is something like Vasudhara infused with Vajrayogini.


The "Reds" system is part of a not-much-larger "Golden" system, which includes as perhaps its most accessible deity, Simhanada Avalokiteshvara. It optionally includes:

Bari's Simhamukha


who is a Lion Face Wrathful Jnana Dakini; along with the traits of Tinuma, Nyan's Lion Face Ziro Bhusana is somewhat substituting for both.


Everything potentially culminates in the Immortality deities:

Amitayus and Amaravajra Devi.


Amaravajra as intended here is not like minor White Tara of Long Life Trinity, but is way beyond Kurukulla and Bharati.


The main thing that scales above this is that Eighteen Arm deities are the sadhana versions of 1,000 arm forms, such as Padmanarttesvara or Padmajala --> 1,000 Arm Avalokiteshvara, who, i. e. is a swayambhu or self-arisen. Not all of this is pointed out. For example Machig could become Wrathful 1,000 Arm Prajnaparamita, who is considered to have the minor form Black Vajrayogini of Chod. Mahamaya Vijayavahini is a 1,000 Arm Red goddess who is probably the cosmic aspect of Padma Tara.


Is or was there something western or Christian which resembles yoga, yes:

Hesychasm


But more vividly, what was lost starting with the execution of Hypatia, Henosis or "yoga of the Monad":

Phase 1, Catharsis: self-purification (aphairesis) from any contamination with multiplicity (of any thought, knowledge, or mental activity); "removing" Being itself (Enneads III.8.10)
Phase 2, Mystical self-reversion: "The intellect ... must ‘withdraw backwards’ and surrender itself to what lies behind it" (Enneads III.8.9)
Phase 3, Autophany: luminous vision of one's own self
Phase 3.2, Self-unification: to "become one from many" (Enneads VI.9.3)
Phase 4, Annihilation: discussed in the Enneads VI.9
Phase 5, Union with the One
Phase 5.2, Desubjectification


related to Theurgy branching into Nous and Psyche.


Without getting into the details and doctrines involved, is that recognizable as a yoga path, yes. Plotinus is maybe overly rational and a bit like Samkhya and so on, and of course there are sub-trends and cross-currents from him. But yes if someone at least tractioned into something like this, we would say those Phases are quite similar to the Six Yogas.

[shaberon]

Mrtyuvacana and Vagisvarakirti, two Tara books, Padma Tara; Aksayamati and Asanga




We have said that the common Green Tara is not the same as Six Yogas Tara for several reasons, it was not from tantra but a dream of Candragomin, it does not profess to match Vajrayana or tantra in any way, and so is a Kriya deity having a different purpose really. She is bracketed off in the basic explanation from the 1973 classic:


Stephen Beyer Cult of Tara: Magic and Ritual in Tibet



According to which, the Tara material that entered Tibet with Padmasambhava seems to have only consisted of:


"Mother of Avalokitesvara," the 108 Names of the Goddess Tara, and Candragomin's Praises of the Noble Tara Who Saves from All Great Terrors.

None of these works, however, can be considered of really central importance to the cult as it later developed (the spell translated, for example, is not a particularly significant one); and these works seem all but buried in the list of more than 700 texts.



So, no, those are the light, introductory glimpse. If we ask, then, saving us from Eight Fears is not the be all and end all of Tara, who already appears in MMK and in Mahavairocana Tantra in Candragomin's time. In Tibet, after the First Transmission, Tantra, or magic charms, etc., were prohibited if not outright banned by 850. This is why Dakini Jala was not imported. Neither was any more Tara, i. e. she must have had a tantric connotation. And so she is not seen again until 1042:


Atisa wrote an evocation of White Tara, based on the tradition of Vagisvarakirti, and two evocations of Green Tara...


Of the seventy-seven Indian texts that Atisa helped to translate into Tibetan, only six deal with the goddess. Among these are two devotional works by Candragomin and one minor hymn whose author is not given. But much more important and influential than these was his translation of three works on White Tara, written by "the master and great scholar Vagisvarakirti, empowered by the goddess Tara," which together make up the cycle of texts known as Cheating Death; it is from these three translations that all the Tibetan lineages of White Tara derive. We may note the peculiar fact, however, that Atisa did not translate any of the "scriptures" (ascribed as the "word of the Buddha") dealing with the goddess, which form the textual authority for her cult; these basic scriptures all describe the appearance, mantras, and rites of Green Tara, the original form of the goddess, but they were considered "Tantric" and thus proscribed as incompatible with burgeoning Tibetan neoorthodoxy. But White Tara was a personal revelation of Vagisvarakirti, and her cult was not based upon his exposition of a Tantric scripture; thus the translation and transmission of his texts constituted the beginning of an "unbroken bridge of the lineage" in Tibet, since her cult began with him.


So he is saying that Mrtyuvacana ("Cheating Death") is not considered tantric either. The awkwardness of Tara's trip to Tibet involves Ratnakarasanti and Nyan:



In this world era, amidst numberless Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and "holders of the mantra" on Potala Mountain, the Noble Avalokitesvara spoke ten million Tantras of [Green] Tara. The venerable Naropa was, as it were, the owner of these Tantras, which are the source for Tara, but at the time of his disciple Lhodrag Marpa they were not transmitted to Tibet.


Drom suspected that these teachings might have a bad influence upon the morals of the Tibetans, and he abstained from preaching them much. The followers of the Kagyu sect especially have never quite forgiven him for this;
the same author quotes the poet-saint Mila repa as saying: "Because a demon had penetrated the heart of Tibet, the venerable master Atisa was not allowed to preach the Diamond Vehicle." In any event, the result of this proscription, imposed to prevent misunderstanding and spiritual malpractice, was that scriptural authority for the cult of Green Tara (as opposed to the personal authority of Atisa) worked its way piecemeal into Tibet only gradually over the next hundred years, as the original puritan impulse wore off; and, indeed, "it was not until later that, from among the disciples of the great magician Ratnakarasanti, the reverend Jonangpa [i.e., Taranatha, born in 1575] diffused these Tantras widely here in Tibet, and he alone."

The second half of the eleventh century did see an efflorescence of interest in Tara, much of it due to the direct personal influence of the "venerable master." Darmadra, the Translator of Nyen, brought back from India traditions concerning what was to become the single most important canonical text of the Tara cult, the Homages to the Twenty-one Taras; it is not clear whether he himself translated this text into Tibetan, since the Kajur catalogue gives no translator, but in Dragpa jets'en's commentary on the text, published a hundred years later, Darmadra is given credit for the translation.


Similarly, the Kagyu sect—the "Lineage of the Proclamation"— were especially reverent toward White Tara, tracing her relation with them back to their founder Gampopa (1079-1153) in direct descent from Atisa, and chronicling the personal revelations she granted preeminently to the incarnation lineage of the Karmapa. And yet a member of any sect would call upon her when he felt that the time of this death was drawing near, and the lamas of all sects regularly bestowed upon their followers her "initiation into life."


There is a published German Mrtyuvacanopadesa with annotations from Nepalese Sanskrit texts. Atisha had little to nothing to do with Nepal, so this shows that he was far from the only recipient of the practice.


Who had the empowerment or revelation of Mrtyuvacana?


Vagisvarakirti was an Indian scholar of the 10th/11th century and one of the great Tantric masters of his time. He reckoned among the so-called "six doorkeepers," eminent teachers of the Buddhist monastery of Vikramasila. The Mrtyuvancanopadesa Treatise on Cheating Death is his major work. The text describes various omens and oracles to predict the end of one's life, followed by a compendium of religious practices to escape death. To reach longevity White Tara in particular is evoked. According to Tibetan tradition, this deity is a personal revelation of Vagisvarakirti.


At least in part it uses an Oracle of Phosphenes and White Noise.



There were two almost simultaneous persons with the name Vagisvarakirti:


Vāgīśvarakīrti (वागीश्वरकीर्ति) is the name of an East Indian tantric Buddhist scholar whose views were considered important enough to be contested sometime before 1057ce, probably still during his scholarly activity, in Kashmir. Although unnamed, he is a master alluded to with great reverence on the Sap Bāk inscription from the Khmer Empire, dated 1067ce.—This Vāgīśvarakīrti should not be confused with his namesake, a Newar scholar from Pharping, whence his epithet Pham mthiṅ ba.


That definition is expanded in Essays in Honor of Alexis Sanderson:


7 On Vagisvarakirti's Influence in Kashmir and among the Khmer Peter-Daniel Szanto


One of them is remembered with Naro Dakini:

This form of Vajrayogini was given directly to the Mahasiddha Naropa by Vajrayogini herself. Naropa passed the practice of Naro Khachoma to the two Nepali Pamthingpa brothers (Vagisvarakirti and Bodhibhadra) who after spending years studying and practicing with Naropa, brought the teachings back to Nepal.


Atisha had nothing to do with them; Marpa did.


The perhaps more famous one from the Synopsis of Taranatha's History:


The guardian of the eastern gate of Vikramasila Vihara was Acharya Ratnakarasanti, guardian of the western gate was Vagisvarakirti, guardian of the northern gate was Siddhacharya Naropa, guardian of the
southern gate were Bhikshus Prajnakaramati and Prajnakaragupta.
There were two central gates of which one was guarded by Acharya
Ratnavajra and the second by Acharya Jnanasrimitra.
Acharya Ratnakarasanti was very learned in all the Sastras and
particularly, in the Brahmanic and Buddhistic dialectics, He defeated the
non-Buddhist opponents in disputations.

Acharya Vagisvarakirti, guardian of the western gate of Vikramasila monastery was born in Varanasi in a Kshatriya family. He left the Mahasanghika school and was consecrated as a Pandita and the religious
name given to him was Silakirti. He acquired knowledge of grammar,
logic and other Sastras, He approached Hasavajra, disciple of Jinabhadra of Konkan for Chakrasambaratantra and when he tried the charm in a place in Magadha, he saw Chakrasambara in a dream and was convinced
that it would succeed. He gave further trials and was confirmed about its
afficacy. His intelligence became so keen that he could comprehend
1,000 slokas thoroughly in a day, for which he received the name of Vagisvarakirti. He became very proficent in the Sutras, Tantras and other texts and developed ability in giving expositions of texts and also in
disputations and composition of treatises. He was able to defeat the
non-Buddhist disputants in disputations, and so the king chose him for
the guardianship of the western gate in both Nalanda and Vikramasila
monasteries. He received treasures from Ganapati and utilised the same
for incense-offerings and for establishing 8 centres of teaching of Prajnaparamita, 4 centres for Guhyasamaja, one centre each for lectures on the three Tantras, viz, Sambara, Hevajra and Chatushpitha and erected many
Viharas with one centre in each for teaching Madhyamika logic and
Mrtyuvanchana.upadesa, by which life essence could be produced and
thereby one could live up to 100 years or more. He recited very often
the Vidyaganas, Paramita, Sutralankara, Guhyasamaja, Hevajra and Yamari
Tantras, Lankavatara. He worked in Vikramasila for many years and
in the second half of his life he went to Nepal and devoted himself to
Mantrayana and Siddhi.



For one thing, he is following the original Pala scheme...many centers for Prajnaparamita, supporting a few for Guhyasamaja. Same pattern as for example in Vajrasekhara. Except that specific overlay does not appear to be present. That is why Paramartha Parasol is perhaps a more valid referent. Yamari Tantra is still part of the scheme, which is incorporated with her. One could say that Parasol is a Candragomin deity which could also partially be called "White Tara", although she has totally different names and just usually happens to appear white.



Another work (possibly Nepalese) is mentioned in Lam Dre in India:


Tide No. 59. ff. 406 - 419

Mahämudrä Without Letters According to Vägisvarakirti.
[slob dpon hag dbah grags pas mdzad pa'i phyag rgya chen po yi ge med pa].
Compiled by grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147-1216)


Tide No. 142. ff. 398 - 415

The Sprouts of the Auspicious Durwa Grass: The Instruction on Mahämudra Without
Letters by Vagisvarakirti [hag dbah grags pa'i phyag rgya chen po y i ge med pa'i khrid yig]
Author: kori sprul bio gros mtha' yas (1833-1899).



Keith Dowman leaves this enigma in relation to Santikar Acharya:


Vagisvarakirti's identity is problematic. Pham-mthing-pa's personal name was Vagisvarakirti, and his title was `Indian', probably indicating that he spent much time on the Plains; he was a master of the Guhyasamaja-tantra and the Cakrasambara-tantra; he lived in the 11th century; his Gurus were Naropa and Savari dBang-phyug (amongst others). But did he live in Santipur? We agreed with 'Gos Lotsawa that this second Vagisvarakirti was quite distinct from Pham-thing-pa. The Acarya of Santipur is the lineage holder of the Sadangayoga (sbyor drug) of the Guhyasamaja, the six rDzogs-rim practices which lead, not to the Rainbow Body of the rNying-ma-pas, but immortality in a state of suspended animation, all outflows extinct. His predecessor in the lineage was Sakyadhvaja, and his successor was Ratnakirti, also of the 11th century. The Newars believe that Santikar Acarya has remained immured in Santipur since earliest tantric times. Is it possible that Santikar Acarya was a title of the principal vajracarya of the oldest guthi (circle of initiates) in the valley?


Someone had mixed Vaigisvarakirti with Santikar Acharya, which would appear anachronistic by several centuries. King of Gauda is a tricky proposition since it may have been a power vacuum until 750. If not the right geography, Santikar was:


...an emanation of Vajrasattva called King Pracanda Deva, who decided to make pilgrimage, and leaving his kingdom in the hand of his son, Sakti Deva, having arrived at Swayambhu and taking ordination there, he began the ascetic practices of Vajrasattva.


It is seemingly uncertain, but, this Santikar appears to have been followed by tantric Nagarjuna and one or more Vagisvarakirtis, who may have been given the same name as a title. But from this point where there ostensibly is a secretive initiatic circle, this has basically remained unchanged in Nepal, numbering perhaps a thousand in each of its three major towns, and maybe a few hundreds in a few other spots. Perhaps it is just Vajrayana anywhere you can afford a locked door and some privacy. Again with the comparative view that, one can find Parasol Dharani in about twenty or more archives, however Paramartha Parasol appears to have been produced at only one location. It blends apparently unrelated material, none of which appears to be newer than the ninth century. Again this helps to frame it as a total format roughly comparable and contemporaneous to Vajrasekhara.

Or, it is a flow from Candragomin's practice into the vernacular of tantric Mahayoga. If we had asked him, personally, is there anything beyond Eight Fears Tara, then it most likely would have been Parasol. Then we might say there is a common and an uncommon Surangama Sutra. The Chinese versions are quite good for what they are, however, Mahayoga means it is part of Vajrasattva Yoga from Sitabani. This is at least partially demonstrated by the First Transmission to Tibet with Padmasambhava. Nepal and Bihar are simply close and there was never really any breakage, until the total suppression of Buddhism in India simply had no effect in Nepal and the trans-Himalaya.




In the eleventh century, Amitayus had been around for ages and also Usnisa Vijaya, and so Tibetans hurl "White Tara" along and make a Trinity. But most White Taras are *not* Mrtyuvacana. Moreover, they do not use her form at all. From Sadhanamala, there is nothing in this direction (of the Trinity) or that even vaguely resembles Lotus Family for white Taras.



The sadhana which appears to match the published Upadesa is Mrtyuvacana 112, which is where she trains Emptiness Mantra as Parasunya, similar to Sarva Sunya or universal or infinite void, as the Absolute within the Three Lights experienced in the most refined parts of the center above the head. As far as I know, Parasunya is the technical term shared by Nirakara and Nath; and we can say this sadhana is probably not a stray collected from the ninth century, but was actually developed around the Vikramasila Gatekeepers, of whom Jnanasrimitra is the only one I am sure argued against it in the Sakara line. That is why it is lovable. It infuses normal Tara Ten Syllable Mantra with exactly this.

om sunyata jnana vajra svabhavatmako'ham



This resembles Mahatma Koothoomi saying that man's sixth and seventh principles are outside and over the body.

She is more or less a Kriya deity, except she deals with life essence rather than tangibles.

From what I can tell, that makes two Vikramasila Gatekeepers who transmitted Taras based in the Nirakara system: Mrtyuvacana is the only example of Parasunya, and Ratnakarasanti's Vajra Tara is one of the few for Nirvikalpa. Naro is famous enough, and Ratnavajra is possibly a source for saying that RGV was already or was still present aside from Maitri "discovering" it. So four of the six are all involved with what we perhaps are trying to call Nirakara Yogacara having essentially Maitreya at the helm.


Vajra Tara is not Ratnakarasanti's personal discovery, she is from Vajrapanjara Tantra, although her form is strongly considered to arise in the Mothers of Tara Tantra. That is her large one. By name, she is also a minor White Tara revealed by Nagarjuna, whom we think is visible in the illuminated Prajnaparamita manuscripts, along with the large version. Again the significance is that the illuminations have nothing to do with the text. They show how Prajnaparamita was applied to Deity Yoga during the Vikramasila epoch.

So for one they are strongly suggestive that Nagarjuna's Vajra Tara is not merely a coincidence but actually is the Samaya Being for her advanced form.

Secondly, in the series, Vajra Tara is a slightly mysterious associate of Marici. With Marici there is an obvious hypostasis which anyone interested could find. Vajra Tara is similar but related to Nairatma. This is obvious from text although no art seems to go into it. We could probably say that large Vajra Tara and Nairatma are not particularly immanent. They have to do with resultant states. Marici does have outer forms, and, she is almost always the culimnation of the whole Tara Song.


Most basic Taras and ones that use her Ten Syllable Mantra are the ones who are highly responsive.

So Tara had at least six hundred years of expansion In India, from Ellora to Vikramasila, and her core text on which this was based was hardly known in Tibet until after 1600. The famous aspects of her, such as Seven Eyes Tara, derive almost solely from the person of Atisha. It is unfortunate that Tibet was mostly sweeping away additional Buddhist material until after him. During this time, almost all Indian literature, Hindu or Buddhist, was on tantras and sadhanas and yogic philosophies, in highly favorable situations at monasteries and universities.


Tara Tantra did not begin to seep into Tibet until post-1200. But this tantra is where we are directed to find the elusive basic Lotus Family or Padma Tara. What was not clear about her previously is now a lot easier due to a much better scan of Martin Wilson In Praise of Tara. Here is her Dhyana but again a remark that probably escapes such translators. In this group of basic Taras, it starts with two forms in her normal pose and appearance, White and Yellow. Red is the only place it mentions that she stands. The last two are also seated, however they are wrathful and have tantric flameswept hair with Amitabha and a Crescent Moon. This third one does not ostensibly have any Lotus Family symbol:


Visualize that from a TAM letter comes the Mother endowed with Swift Energy, Tara, the
Heroine, in the body of a yogini. From a lotus come a sun (and
moon), on which is Her body, red as a bandhuka flower, a
body like a young maiden's, beautifully adorned with neck-
laces, armlets, jewel pendants and so forth, the lower part
wrapped in a dress of pancalika cloth, the upper covered in
Benares cloth. She is rising in the graceful (lila) manner, with
one face and two arms, Her face smiling and laughing, and
with darting eyes, Her right hand bent to Her heart, and Her
left holding an utpala with its stem...


This one would be blatantly obvious. Is there anything in the several pages of "Red Tara" from art history that shows it? No. You can find her in Karma Family where her right hand is Removing Fear. But this one is a non-mudra or not a gesture or nothing is specified. The only thing so far that possibly resembles it would be this, which must be fairly ancient, because it is from India:







Because it cannot be determined one way or the other, at least it cannot be wrong. Her instructions are:


'OM TUTTARE TURE SVAHA!

If one then makes request after reciting together with the
action mantra once, or seven, twenty-one or 108 times, it will
be accomplished.

The benefits of this, Manjusri, are that one will subjugate
all the three worlds, kings of kings and others. All will be
summoned.'


Well, if I take it literally and objectively, I might be disappointed.

If it has an inner meaning, then it will probably work. The exercise is not quite clear in whether the Action or All Purpose Mantra is the one already given, or, the one of the last Tara of this group.


The Mother of Lotus Family uses that same mantra and commands a father to bestow a girl in marriage.

Again, if you take it literally, you might go insane. Interpretively, that is pretty much Pandara trying to access Vairocani, who is the one whom it says elsewhere (Kurma Padi) you are to ask to marry you. Although you are naked and doing weird stuff from your legs, we have also found this is a nerve, going above the heart. If "meeting" Vairocani occurs in the Navel, the meaning of such a "proposal" should be clear.

Or, Purified Fire seeking tantric Inner Fire or Tummo, Candali, etc., which by having multiple levels of goddesses, is assuring that a type of mental transformation should accompany what otherwise might be just physically focused. My observance is that to be able to do subtle yoga, from any force of discipline, tends to make one accelerate the process. At that point you are kind of going on a ride. A sadhana is a concentration with some kind of purpose.

This closely fits the symbol-less Activity of rising Lila Tara being Initiation.


If "graceful" is an arbitrary choice on the translator's part, it as likely means sportive, playful, amorous, and is a normal philosophical term:

Within non-dualism, Lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute (Brahman).


And so it is actually her pose which is unique. She shows a rising action between pairs of peaceful and wrathful Taras. There is plenty of art that shows standing Taras, but, it is comparatively rare in sadhanas. One of the few is Pithesvari Tara, who dances like a dakini. She comes from Saraha and Arrow Dakini and yet is Red Tara in Buddha Family. Too advanced for general use, but this is what started taking place in India while the Tibetan door was closed.


Tara's song is a Dharani included with the Tantra. It has only one surviving Tibetan version, which is Nyan's. Wilson makes the same point--the original Sanskrit song is scriptural, and has nothing to do with Suryagupta or Atisha.

The tantra suggests that the Nine Deity mandala of Chapter Four should be used with the song, although, how, is not evident. The deities are all Taras; what is interesting is that the Gatekeepers such as Tara Sphoti have a chain in both hands, or whatever their item is. It is a simple retinue but it is a very full mandala. It has Green Tara in the North and in the Center. Again, rather than doing a mandala rite, at least at first we are using the song simply as a way to indicate that Tara takes various forms, and what some of these are and how to look into each one of those on an individual basis with her own dharanis.


Wilson equates Atisha's simple Taras with those of Nagarjuna, all holding flasks. We think they might be somewhat different, or, at least, with respect to Nagarjuna, it means that Khadiravani Tara is the source of all forms. This is an esoteric change. The tantra is considered part of Lotus Family and the first verse of the song is about Avalokiteshvara. Khadiravani is in Karma Family, but, she is not in any of the verses--so she is outside/behind the twenty-one. You could say there is a mantra and benefits outside of the twenty-one praises. I am not sure the tantra exalts Karma Tara in any special way, unless you notice that central Tara is also green. Why would it not involve Red Tara with a big Red Lotus? The way I have come to understand it is that Avalokiteshvara emanated a form of Tara into our world at a given moment, but, he did not "create" her. His natural counterpart is Pandara, to which tantric Green Karma Tara is an unfoldment, this is like the higher Yogas from Pranayama to Samadhi.


Khadiravani is a fairly easy Samaya being who is quite similar to Green Tara having the theme Acacia Grove. She will work just as herself in individual following. Or she may be the underpinning of the song. Wilson uses a Tibetan Suryagupta rendition, something already posted. But if we follow the original, then Tara adds Marici and Ekajati and so on, which lends strong suggestion towards using these as correspondences in various parts of the song. One suggestion I would make is that without Tara there is almost no way anyone is going to understand Buddha Amoghasiddhi. Almost nothing could be easier than Amitabha and his kind. The way I might try to put it is that to translate his name, you get Not Ignorant about Occult Power. Following the teaching, we decide that the unique Power offered by Buddha is Generation and Completion Stages. So for example, Amoghasiddhi knows how all the Yidams distill True Enlightenment through their sacraments. That is why this Family has Samadhi.


Karma Tara has to do with that we come from nowhere, so, she carries us over to Samadhi as intended by the Six Yogas.


The very compelling nature of the song is that it is sung in Sanskrit to Tara by many Taras in the Akanistha or Pure Land of Turquoise Leaves, as we are told by Delok Dawa Drolma. This kind of Tara is receptive to Death Consciousness and is also used at the actual time of death.

Martin Wilson also worked on the gigantic Narthang Gyatsa or Icons Worthwile to See. There, we see that Nyan's Green Tara is all about the Six Yogas. This is what he has in tandem with the main translation of her song.

Same in Nepal with Mahattari evoking Varada (or other) Tara from Akanistha.

Khadira Tara is also the same.


Then in the sadhana framework, Green Tara is responsible for Kurukulla, who then is mostly red and does a ton of work related to Lotus Family. With her, again Sadhanamala is a trove of practices totally unlike her regular small version. One might say she sits on Kurmapadi, i. e. resides in Indra or Brahma Jala in the Khecari center of the soft palate, where the bundle of senses is considered to fasten together, also similar to Rupa Skandha and Dhyani Buddha Vairocana, or Body Mandala.


Kurukulla fuses this with rising wind and fire, melting the Om, Hum, Ham, Moon or White Bindu or Bodhicitta.

This has nothing to do with logical analysis, or, a dead zone for altered states. That is why people like C. Jung or Jnanasrimitra by their own admission are unable to follow the subjects into their actual meaning. There are some who can gain the impulse of what was just discussed, and, a few who are able to get through it fairly directly.



According to Sakya, Simhanada Avalokiteshvara is another outer deity closely parallel to this. He has been a starting inspiration for many of the Siddhas from Candragomin to Maitri. He was especially prevalent in Varendra or north Bengal, same as Mahattari Tara.


Almost anything Indian is, at the latest, from the Vikramasila era, ca. 1000s. What we see is that he usually does Cittavisrama. One of the White Taras in the tantra uses a Trident--Trisula, and, usually, he is flanked on one side by a Trident wrapped with a Snake, and on the other, by a Lotus surmounted by a Flaming Sword:












This Avalokiteshvara is also found at Alchi in Ladakh, using an infrequent style of vertical deities:







He is also there in the lower right of an unidentified relationship:









Such a legendary site is files without any titles, but in this case they also have Six Chakravartins in the format meaning Akshobhya towards the upper right is really "above" the Five Buddhas:









It is the working concept of the majority of tantra, not "5637".

Unidentified Cittavisrama Tara Removing Fear:









In that case, she is closer to Mahalakshmi. Page of Green Mahalakshmi Simhanada with several examples of White Sri or Palden Lhamo. Shri Lakshmi (pal lhamo): The peaceful form of Shri Devi Dudsolma (Kama Dhatvishvari). In Non-wrathful Protectors with Pratisara, Tseringma, Achi. Green Golden Heart Drop Lakshmi Tara slightly different from Mahalakshmi, almost mirrored.



Simhanada Avalokiteshvara mainly deals with the Eight Nagas, and of course Amoghapasha mainly deals with Noose. This however also seems to be done by goddess Janguli who is a precursor to Kurukulla. It should be obvious why he dominates Tibet and she is hardly known. Yet she is extremely profound and powerful in a way that mixes Hinduism, Buddhism, aspects of Vajrapani from Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tantra, and Krsna Yamari Generation Stage. The lack of compilation of her does no justice.


And so it is very interesting that Asanga, lacking the tantric vocabulary, appears to refer to Generation Stage as Ksanti or Patience in dealing with Heat.

Udgata dualizes by also meaning "rising up, usnisa". So it is similar to Pranayama because it means rising inner heat. This stems from pre-Vajrayana vocabulary. It may be in a Gandhari Bhadrakalpika fragment:


This section gives the name of its buddha as Ugama, providing a partial match with the
phonetically and semantically similar Skt Udgata in Weller’s list. The Tibetan translation Gyen du
’phags is too vague to help us decide between the two name variants.



The subject of Udgata does however appear in Aksayamati, that is, the teaching of that which does not decay or decrease. It is translated this way in Prajnaparamita:



[The bodhisattva wants the root of good that he is planting in the field of the Buddhas] ‘to be inexhaustible’ (akṣaya). The Buddhas are endowed with inexhaustible qualities (akṣayaguṇa); this is why the merits that are planted therein are also inexhaustible.


Aksayamati is a title for Lokeshvara and Manjushri, perhaps is also his own individual.


More specifically, there is the scripture Aksayamati Nirdesa:


For a period of about a thousand years after the beginning of the common era, The Teaching of Akṣayamati had a significant influence on Buddhist thought.

The adherents of Yogācāra, for their part, quoted The Teaching of Akṣayamati on all kinds of matters, and for some of them, e.g., Sthiramati (fourth century), it seems to have been one of the main source books on the way of the bodhisatvas. For the Yogācārins, the doctrine of imperishability was regarded as a very important aspect of the Buddha’s teachings. It is said that the sūtra was held in great esteem by Asaṅga (fourth century), as The Teaching of Akṣayamati and the Daśabhūmika (Toh 44, ch. 31) are supposed to be the two sūtras that convinced his brother Vasubandhu (fourth century) that the Mahāyāna was superior to the Hīnayāna, after Asaṅga had sent one of his disciples to recite them to him.



This concept of imperishability is also connected with another important Mahāyāna idea that combines with it to give The Teaching of Akṣayamati its form, namely that of the unification of opposites‍—insight and action, absolute and relative, universal and individual‍—and the religious development integrating both (yuga­naddha­vāhī­mārgaḥ).


To date, no complete Sanskrit version of this sūtra has come to light, although a few quotations are preserved in Indian scriptures, predominantly in Śāntideva’s (ca. eighth century) Śikṣāsamuccaya.

The first [translation] (Taishō 403) was produced by Dharmarakṣa already in 308 ᴄᴇ.


This version is primarily English so there is no "Ksanti", but, there is "patient" some two hundred times. The Bodhisattva Aksayamati comes to earth from the Buddha Field "Unblinking" of Samantabhadra. The offerings include:


celestial flowers, blue lotuses, red lotuses, white lotuses, mandārava flowers, and mahāmandārava flowers


Samantabhadra's world only contains Accomplished Bodhisattvas:


There in that world sphere, there is no king other than the peerless king of the Dharma, the tathāgata, worthy, fully awakened one Samantabhadra. That blessed one does not teach the Dharma to those bodhisatvas through the differentiation of syllables, words, and conventional phrases. Instead, the bodhisatvas go to that blessed one, look at him with unblinking eyes, and attain the concentration that consists in the recollection of the Buddha. He then gives them the prophecy that is connected with the attainment of the patient acceptance of the fact that all phenomena are unborn. That is why that world sphere is called Unblinking.


This "recollection" is really transmundane awareness, without objective basis. That is what Mahayana is trying to gird us to, via any kind of Mahayana sadhana. As for the Paramitas:


Giving up attachment to the distinguishing marks of form is the perfection of giving. Putting an end to the distinguishing marks of form is the perfection of morality. The state of things when all the distinguishing marks of form have perished is the perfection of patient acceptance. Seeing things as being apart from the distinguishing marks of form is the perfection of vigor. Not letting thought disperse itself among the distinguishing marks of form is the perfection of meditation. [F.88.b] The absence of the activity of discursive thought related to the distinguishing marks of form is the perfection of insight.

1.­46
“Thus, those bodhisatvas fulfill the six perfections as soon as they see that blessed tathāgata, that worthy, fully awakened Samantabhadra, and they receive the prophecy connected with the patient acceptance of the fact that all phenomena are unborn. Buddha fields where such bodhisatvas dwell, such as the world sphere Unblinking, the buddha field of that blessed tathāgata Samantabhadra, are exceedingly rare.”



It is not a massive book; partway into it, Aksayamati has a role as:


When this imperishability of meditation had been taught, thirty-two thousand bodhisatvas attained the concentration called light of the sun.

“Why is that concentration called light of the sun? Just as all the light of the moon and the stars, the light of oil lamps, and the light of grass on fire is eclipsed when the sun rises, when the bodhisatvas have attained the concentration light of the sun, all inferior and limited insight is eclipsed by the light of their insight.


He then talks about Samadhis in the manner of MMK and Mahamayuri, who provide excessively large lists for things that we can say, "well, if this was broken down and organized, it would be about the same as mandala practice". In other words, there is a list of 118 kinds of Samadhis that Bodhisattvas do; too many. Upon examination, the "sunlight" actually begins on "lightning":


(1) vidyutpradīpālaṃkāra


Most of the terms are indistinguishable, however, there are some which are recognizable as dharani goddesses and subjects:


(6) vimala

(9) aśoka

(21) dhvajāgrakeyūra

(55) vajropama­samādhi

(62) ākāśa­sama­vipula

(91) śūraṃgama



whereas the subject of Udgata is iterated in the following manner:


(5) udgata­prabha

(12) samudgata

(56) abhyudgata

(76) maitryudgata




A similar scaling of Udgata is perhaps shown in a few phrases of Yasah Prabhaparivarta:


puṣpa pravarṣi tadā gaganātaḥ

padmaśatāpi ca udgata bhūmau || 15 ||


śīlabalena samādhibaleno

dharmabalena samudgata bhikṣuḥ || 50 ||


so avacī śṛṇu rājakumārā

kṣāntibalena samudgata buddhāḥ |



Aksayamati includes sections on the Skandhas, Elements, Ayatanas/sense bases, Four Noble Truths:


The knowledge of suffering is the knowledge that the aggregates are unborn. The knowledge of the origin is the knowledge that vanquishes thirst. The knowledge of cessation is the nonorigination of ignorance and propensities. The knowledge of the way is the absence of imputation related to any phenomena, as they are sameness.


Also Relative and Ultimate Truth.

Furthermore, the five aggregates are suffering. The essential characteristic of the five aggregates is suffering.

The tendency of thirst and viewpoints to act as causes for the five aggregates is the origin. When one does not grasp, impute, or contact the causes of thirst and viewpoints, this is the noble truth of the knowledge of the origin as the origin. The noble truth of cessation is the five aggregates having completely perished and ceased, without being born in the beginning, without dying in the end, and without being reached in the present.


Allright. Asanga had something that is close to a "tantric system of Samantabhadra". It is not "his" to the same extent as Maitreya. It is inspirational but again an unwieldy format. I cannot sit here and memorize eighty-two features or anything like that, but, I can get used to smaller numbers such as the Paramitas. The difficulty with "theoretically infinite" Samadhis and Mandalas is that then you are unguided; and so it is ultimately true for those that master the Bodhisattva Path, it is not trainable or reliable from the basic level. It is still a bit lofty and other-worldly in the unreachable sense. Samantabhadra has defined himself on a harder to attain, probably at least the Sixth Bhumi he resides on. He is probably not really findable without Nairatma or that is the Purified Sixth Principle.

This text excellently highlights the subject of Suffering as the Skandhas, whereas it really seems to be Asanga who explains Mahayana Buddhism as being something a little more than the Sixth Principle, or, i. e., that the skandhas can be temporarily stopped by various yogas. He says that Revolution of the Basis eliminates Storehouse Consciousness or Alaya Vijnana. It is what switches from Mundane to Transcendental Awareness, causing a shift in experience of "nature of the knowable" object, which is, so to speak, melted from its mundane condition into the Absolute.


He was reacting to what appeared to be a Hinayana meditation training that happened to have this scripture and Dasabhumi available. Something was missing in practical guidance. From his own power, he was able to get this from Maitreya, whereby the point seems to be far more to actually develop the meditation as is taught, than there necessarily has to be anything to do with Maitreya personally. There probably are good reasons to promote this more as Maitreya the Teacher, rather than the object of devotion. According to summary, Asanga the writer mostly clarifies this practice in Mahayana Samgraha. That so far is what I have found.


Asanga was influential to Ayodhya at a time when it was probably the capital of Bihar. And we may observe that Sitabani "Cool Grove" charnel ground really has a close namesake in "personal grove of Sita" from Roopa Lekha:


The asoka is intimately associated with Sita. When she was in Lanka, a captive
of Ravana. she was sheltering in a grove of asoka trees. Where the Kosi river leaves the
mountains there is a beautiful grove of asoka trees, and legend has it that Sita and Rama
were so much enchanted by the beauty of their flowers that they made this grove, their
home for some time. As the author of Skanda Purana relates. “Sita was charmed
by the beautiful forest, and said to Rama. ‘It is the month of Baisakh, let us stay in
this wood and bathe in the water of the river'.’ So they made their abode there, and on
their return to Ayodhya, the name of the place was changed to Sitabani, or the Grove
of Sita. Sita did not forget the charm of the forest trees and pleasures of the bath in the
river. Surrounded by the palace luxuries of Ayodhya on return from exile, she still pine'
for the jungle. Says she to Rama. “I long once more to wander through the shades of
the brown woods, and plunge amidst the waves of Bhagirathi's cool translucent
stream.”


The scan crumbles a bit, but, realized some Buddhist Lotuses are "unidentifiable", especially the ones from around Pakistan, because they are asokas.





Santideva is very illustrative that Buddhism had proliferated in Sri Lanka and Java in the 700s. There are several instances of Udgata in Santideva's Siksa Samuccaya:


sarva-satvā āditya-maṇḍala-udgata-darśanā bhavantu sarva-satva-tamas-timira-paṭala-vidhamanatvāt ||


kalyāṇa-mitra-praticchannā abhyudgatā bhavanti lokāt kalyāṇa-mitra-paryupāsitā bodhi-satvā a-saṃpramoṣa-cāriṇo bhavanti sarva-bodhi-satva-caryāsu |


bodhi-citta-bhuja-ga-indra-saṃbhavo dharma-dhātu-gagane samudgataḥ | dharma-megha-yugapat-pravarṣaṇaḥ sarva-śukla-phala-śasya-vardhanaḥ ||


uttaraṃ nir-uttaraṃ sarva-trailokya-prativiśiṣṭam abhyudgataṃ tasmāt tarhi maitreya bodhi-satvena yoga-arthikena vīryam ārabdhu-kāmena prajñāyām abhiyoktavyam iti ||


vairūpyaṃ me * abhyudgataṃ vi-varṇāni ca me vāsāṃsi prāvṛtāny anyaś ca me ākalpaḥ saṃvṛtta iti nihatamāno bhavati |




Although he is famous and interesting, it seems to me that Santideva may be resting in a lengthy Sutra discourse when in his time, Yogacara was really already adapting greater finesse and more precise sadhanas. It does not seem to ever necessarily have flourished right at Nalanda, which simply was perhaps more academic. Vikramasila is like Asanga II because it was founded since Nalanda was no longer seen as the greatest quality. At that point, Ratnakarasanti is trying to give a clean view of Asanga in support of Sarma tantras.


Asanga's cave was really in Bihar near Sitabani, where there has recently been installed a Kagyu Stupa:


The Stupa was dedicated to Buddha Mitreya, Maha Kassappa and Arya Asanga. According to texts, the latter meditated for twelve years in this hill top cave.



Maitreya is believed to obtain robes from Kasyapa when he comes to Earth.



From a brief Yogacara article:


The school that held this transmission tradition was Yogacara, which became the leading philosophical school in India during the 3rd to 5th centuries, at the same time that Neoplatonism was the leading philosophical school in the Classical Western World. Yogacara teachings still form the philosophical core of the great Buddhist contemplative lineages such as Zen, Mahamudra and Dzogchen. In a similar manner Neoplatonism underlines Western contemplative lineages.

Dedicated to actualizing these teachings, Asanga returned to the earth and built a small temple in a forest. At first only a few students came to learn teachings from him, but gradually the fame of his doctrine spread and the Yogacara School was established. He became the abbot of Nalanda and lived to be well over 100, but always had a youthful look, with no gray hair or wrinkles.



Meditating in a Bihari cave would have been obvious to Asanga, as in the example of The Buddha meditating in the Indrasala Cave. 2nd-century CE relief from Loriyan Tangai, Gandhara:






In Mauryan times, the first artificial caves were made, evidently mostly intended for another Sramana sect called Ajivika, which, from the stoneworks, shows:


An Ājīvika ascetic in a Gandhara sculpture of the Mahaparinirvana, circa 2nd-3rd century CE.

Mahākāśyapa meets an Ājīvika and learns of the parinirvana.

Parinirvana is either mostly biographical, or, the basis of Buddha Nature. If we were to presume an oral tradition that may not have been fully written out in the oldest scriptures, then again we have HPB saying Ananda gave the Eye Doctrine--that is, he spoke the first "set" of scriptures--but, Kasyapa had the spoken, inner, or Heart Doctrine, this may resemble Mahayana or Yogacara or Buddha Nature in one of its oldest popular texts, which still could not be said to be written until centuries after the Buddha. Nothing was, not even Ananda's words.



Kasyapa is the querent in Maha Pari Nirvana Sutra which makes a blatant critique from a Yogacara view:


The possession of the true Dharma is also handed over to Mahakasyapa. You should know that the earlier practice of the ideas of impermanence and suffering are not genuine.

How does one attain a long life span?
Or that indestructible body of adamantine?


and so on. The context is that it is Buddha's last day and these are the last questions put to him, and what comes out is the esoteric garbha. It is saying that focus on the lack of self of persons and phenomena is inadequate, i. e. that the garbha is existential, and so this is what is furthered by Maitreya in RGV. Maha Kasyapa is believed to be in a type of slumber (Nirodha Samapatti) waiting for Maitreya. This idea seems to be singly-sourced from the Divyavadana.

On this, you cannot mix Disciple Maha Kasyapa with Historical Buddha Kasyapa. The latter's relics are in Nepal. Divyavadana also contains the important story of Sakyamuni as Sumati (or Sumedha in other texts) making a Bodhisattva pledge with Dipankara Buddha. That is considered a referent of Buddhahood of the past, nevertheless winding up linked to that of the future (Maitreya), by the addition of Kasyapa.

The "addition of Kasyapa" as in the Divyavandana is also the topic of a major study of a Tocharian B manuscript. So far this means it has its origin in Kashmiri and Gandharan Mula Sarvastivada, as it is not found in Theravada or Mahavastu, the Dighanikaya, or even Maitreya vyakarana.


Kasyapa is thought of similarly in China. But of course they were heavily influenced by the Indian northwest.

Nirodha Samapatti as the state of Kasyapa, also reported by Hsuan Tsang. This potentially cultish practice is at the top of Maha Kasyapa's Wiki page.


Same as Santikar Acharya or the Six Yogas taken beyond Rainbow Body.



And so while that is a practice, again, just on its own, is not Enlightenment. The Samapattis are included in Theravada or Hinayana, and so the conclusion that there needs to be additional work is the foundation of Mahayana Yogacara such as:


Nirodha Samapatti in Vijnapti Matrata

Sthiramati on how Alaya Vijnana withstands Samapattis

Similar article

Similar article on Mirror Wisdom for some reason having Ziro Bhusana pictured

Lufthaus detecting that Samapattis do not stop Alaya Vijnana


That is more subtle than Rainbow Body, is more White or Vajra Kaya, deathless, without decay or decrease. Not Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, but, a practice entailed by it.


There is not much that seems to be directly personal between Asanga and Kasyapa, other than their subject, of whom the person of Maitreya is the vessel.

Alice Getty tells us that Maitreya is the human form of Amoghasiddhi and Viswapani, and:


The stupa in the crown of Maitreya is thought to refer to the belief that a stupa on Mount Kukkutapada near Bodh-Gaya covers a spot where Kasyapa Buddha is lying. When Maitreya leaves the Tu****a heaven, he will go to the mountain, which will open by magic, and Kasyapa will give him the garments of a Buddha.

Maitreya is found in a triad with Gautama Buddha and Avalokitesvara, and also with the goddesses, Kurukula and Bhrikuti.

Sakya-muni is supposed to have visited Maitreya in the Tu****a heaven when he appointed him to be his successor, and many Buddhist sages (arhats) are believed to have had communion with him, transporting themselves by supernatural means to the Tu****a heaven to seek enlightenment on various religious points. The great Asanga, one thousand years after the birth of Buddha, ascended to the Tu****a heaven, where he was initiated, by Maitreya, into the mystic doctrine of the Tantra, which he grafted on to the Mahayana school in the beginning of the sixth century. Maitreya is therefore looked upon, by certain sects, as the founder of the Tantra school.



We do not know if she is repeating Taranatha, or has any other reason to speak of a system of Tantra. Most, or, enough of the underlying components seem to be there. We could probably say that Yogacara is tantric and RGV is tantric even though they do not have clear instructions on how to develop wisdom through Deity Yoga. Not in the way we will get from Naro.


A more literal discovery of "Samantabhadra tantra" is with Garab Dorje, who initiated Manjushrimitra:

The nature of mind is the original Buddha without birth or cessation, like the sky! When you understand that, all apparent phenomena are beyond birth and cessation. Meditating means letting this condition be as it is, without seeking.


Correspondingly he also initiated Padmasambhava, by Yeshe Tsogyal.

Also Lotsawa Vairocana, also involving Yakshini Changchubma, Gomadevi, and more lineage.


A Sanskrit reconstruction of his name to Pramodavajra goes on to say:



...he received the blessed Empowerment and Transmission of the profound Mahayoga teachings of the Secret Matrix Tradition (Guhyagarbha-tantra) from the renowned personal guru of the King of Uddiyana, the great white-robed saint Mahasiddha Kukkuraja.

Kukkuraja's instruction had been very direct. "Everything without exception is the Body-Speech-Mind of the Buddha," he had said. "This Body-Speech-Mind is all-encompassing. Thus know your ultimate identity to be Vajrasattva, the Body-Speech-Mind of the Buddha."

In his thirty-second year, Acarya Pramodavajra came face to face with Vajrasattva: he attained complete Enlightenment. Simultaneously the earth quaked and the sky was filled with celestial sound.

Kukkuraja is usually considered to have transmitted Vajrasattva Mayajala to King Indrabhuti.

Vajrasattva revealed himself and predicted that the Lord of Secrets would reveal the meanings of this tantra thereafter. When he had practised more, the Lord of Secrets actually appeared and granted him [Kukkuraja] the complete empowerment of the authentic teaching and of all vehicles. Then he told him to request the verbal teaching from the Licchavi Vimalakirti.


Vimalakirti is called a contemporary of Buddha, but not mentioned in texts until Nagarjuna's time. His Sutra includes Manjushri, Abhirati, and a female goddess transmuting herself into Sariputra. Vimalakirti lived in Vaisali.

84000 Vimalakirti Sutra







The art site has a garbled Kasyapa which nevertheless includes the gesture of him or Dipankara:

The right hand is held to the heart performing the mudra of blessing...


Gandharan Sakyamuni over Dipankara and Sumedha:

[shaberon]

Ratnakarasanti and Maitreya's Yogacara; Padma Tara, Sitabani, Varuni; HPB on Sunyata; new Jnanapada resource






This is interesting because there is a self-assembled rhetoric that I was not aware of.

For some reason, the Sanskrit-based Sarma tantras are very clear to me, particularly in the sense that many of them are companions like different parts of a doll. Even though I am not a Sakya and don't think I have ever met or been to one of their places, their Golden Dharmas when understood as supporting Immortality or Deathless goddess Amaravajra, as shown in the bundles of artwork and especially Ngor Monastery, bear this out in detail. Part of her significance is the mental fortitude to retain lucidity through rebirth, thereby making a constant Path without interruption.


I have tried to research things even-handedly, such that I would not be trying to press a Kagyu stamp on everything, or act like a champion of Tilo and try to find and herald everything he said. In other words, keeping to the side any type of "personalized" quest, and just trying to take in the subject itself.


What this has done is return it to Maitreya.

But not necessarily as an individual. More importantly as the subject described by him.

However it is swarmed and swamped by "everyone else". That is a difficulty. What we are trying to get from him is actually relatively small. It is mostly comments and descriptions about scriptures (Sutras). Unlike perhaps other traditions, Buddhism does not accept the reading or recital of scripture as a valid means of knowledge. What it requires you to do is internally process it. Then the same "blind words" are coming to life through experience.


So then we would just want to quickly move into the light where something from Maitreya starts to "work" for us, and something like this has been suggested in the west for a long time now. But it may be over-mystified or idealized. It is largely in the hands of psychologists, and we have found for example that Jung did not "get" Sunyata or Voidness, and became a devoted Sakara, which in fact is the opposite of the Maitreya teaching.

Most mainstream Tibetan Buddhism such as Gelug countermands this by excessively dwelling on Sunyata in a certain way, which, according to the following, is incomplete.


What Maitreya is saying is very close to what Buddha told the Adwaita Yogis, which is more about "how to meditate" and Samadhi. Several historians argue that when a system is revealed, its founder tends to be the most acceptable object of devotion, which is why much art and many exercises are based on Buddha and Maitreya themselves. Even that is not really necessary. It could be more trustworthy to new converts or stoic traditionalists, but there is probably more to suggest expanding the focus.



One can further reduce the charismatizing by eliminating concerns about the historicity of Maitreya, and say that in the worst case, he is an aspect of Asanga's writings. But then what happens is it appears that the real Asanga, and, therefor, Maitreya, lineage, was soon pushed into Gujarat. Then a great deal of what has been found/known from the 600s onwards mainly seems to be a resurgence of either Sakara or Madhyamaka, meaning especially at Nalanda. At this time, the authentic development of the "how to" is in Sitabani Charnel Ground, the tantric system of Vajrasattva and Samantabhadra. Most translators agree that it was developed enough for Vairocana Tantra and Dakini Jala to have been composed prior to 700, which is enough to say there is probably a generation behind what is recorded as Padmasambhava's experience ca. 750.


It is not until the 1000s that Ratnakarasanti goes back to original Asanga and makes a precise array of his meanings.

From its own internal evidence, this is the only substantial record of Mahayana according to Maitreya, which is "how to train", then in conjunction with a milieu of exercises which Asanga and even Vasubandhu are famous for not going into details about.


Maitreya really commented Prajnaparamita Sutra and a few others. This is to arrange it as Stages of the Path, in a way that is unclear or difficult on the face of the Sutra.


It is not until recently (2000s) that much of Ratnakarasanti's material has been published. Now that we have this, I would say that is its own subject, Nirakara being the summary/re-statement of the actual system of Maitreya, almost everything else being different or unnecessary.




Asanga and Ratnakarasanti held the Triyana doctrine, meaning that Mahayana or the way of the Bodhisattva is the third degree, that is, a distinct practice and experience unlike that of anyone else in the first two. At the time, this may have been a huge point with numerous opponents. What it is saying is that "Buddha Nature" is an experience of Mahayana practice, not anything else, and so it is dormant in other beings. Linguistically, the opposing view, Ekayana, is a word that has had different applications at different times, making it difficult to clarify what one is trying to refute.


Superficially, in English we might like to go around thinking the idea there is a potential Buddha in everyone is nice and cherish it. But devils and soulless people are everywhere. So, it may be something other than the one-ness of spiritual equality for all. In fact the Triyana is saying it is possible to be a Buddhist and not have it, i. e. Sravaka (Listener, or purity through conduct) or Hinayana (individual vehicle) do not deal with it. Buddha Nature is significant within Mahayana or the Bodhisattva Path, only.



"Asanga's Education" mainly studies his Bodhisattva Bhumi and is able to agree this was the broad basis of Nalanda University in the 600s as reported by the Chinese. Again it is unable to conclusively say that Asanga personally founded the university in order to promote this system. But it is quite close. The article says his motivation for making an upgraded system was that:


The ostensible reason for this quest was the fact that Asanga could not fathom the teachings on emptiness (sunyata).

Arya Asanga is stated to have died at the city of Rajagrha after having taught at the University of Nalanda for a number of years.


Asanga's mental faculties included clairvoyance, as he was possessed of paracitta abhijnana,
knowledge of what was in other's thoughts.

Bodhisattva Bhumi is a volume of Yogacara Bhumi, which is non-Mahayana or describing states of dhyana, and Asanga described his (originally learned) meditation training as Hinayana. Implicitly, these books would not exactly be "choice training" in his terms. It may have some "Bodhisattva information" without enough about practice or how Mahayana works.

BBH is instead trying to portray the career of a Bodhisattva:

It describes the difficulties of understanding emptiness (sunyata) and offers ways to make that subject understandable. It particularly advocates the importance of patience in the career of the
novice in order to eventually experience results from study and practice.

There is no reference in the BBH to, much less systematic argumentation based on, the Yogacara position.

There is also, somewhat surprisingly, no reference to specific meditation practices
or Yoga exercises of any kind. This would have seemed an ideal place to include such
practical aspects of bodhisattva discipline. There is also virtually no reference to any
major Yogacara categories, such as alayavijnana, tathagatagarbha, trikaya, trisvabhava,
which one would expect to find if the Yogacara or Cittamatra were being espoused or
championed.

If there is any pronounced emphasis on distinctive characteristics
of Mahayana Buddhist epistemology, it is on the emptiness of self and object (atmadharma-
nairatmya).


So in this, or, to Asanga, there probably was not a split in Sunyata vs. Yoga schools. The "absent argument" is already in Samdhinirmocana Sutra and others. Yogacara will maintain that a "Madhyamaka intent" or initial realization of Sunyata is necessary. Mrtyuvacana is exemplary for this. There cannot be much disagreement, if Asanga says that Sunyata is one of the first things he did not understand, then, figuring this out must be part of his Mahayana Yogacara.


BBH has more of an emphasis on:

saddharma and triyana, in chapter three.


And so it presents the Bodhisattva's "spiritual disposition" as distinct from the other Yanas, which themselves can confer liberation from samsara, which by itself does not make a Buddha. The Path, Bhumis, etc., proceed from the spiritual disposition or Gotra of the Saddharma or Buddhist teaching:


The stations (vihara) in the bodhisattva's path career are: lineage (gotra) ,
committed action (adhimukticarya), joy (pramudita) , superior morality (adhisila) , and
superior mentality (adhicitta). There are also three stations of higher wisdom
(adhiprajna) , and the stations of sabhoganimimitta, anabhoganimimitta, pratisamvid,
parama and Tathagata vihara.

" What are the basics? The bodhisattva lineage (bodhisattvagotra), initial
aspiration (prathamacittotpada) and all the teachings (dharma) conducive
to enlightenment.

Why (are these the basics)? Due to the fact that the bodhisattva will have
the fortune of attaining perfect, complete enlightenment (anuttarasamyaksambodhi)
and will possess the (Tathagata's) powers through reliance on
lineage, lineage is termed 'Fortuitous Basis'.

A bodhisattva applies himself to the perfections of giving (dana),
morality (sila), patience (ksanti), vigour (virya), absorption (dhyana) and
wisdom (prajna) through reliance on initial aspiration.

Since these six perfections are the means of application to the
accumulations of merit (punya) and gnosis (jnana) , the initial aspiration
is called 'The basis of application to the bodhisattva's practice' .
Since a bodhisattva achieves perfect complete enlightenment
(anuttarasamyaksambodhi) through reliance on the bodhisattva's practice
(of the six perfections) this application to the bodhisattva's practice is
called 'The basis of achieving Great Enlightenment. '"

the bodhisattva who is stationed in lineage
(gotravihan) is described as being by nature possessed of the bodhisattva qualities
(bodhisattva-guna) and the wholesome factors (kusaladharma) because of his/her natural
wholesome mental continuum (prakrtibhadrasantana).

The BBB states, however, that a novice bodhisattva
is a "holder of the seeds" (bijadhara) of all the buddha factors that will come to fruition
when the Tathagata station is achieved. The BBB explains that all the seeds of all the
buddha factors are personally possessed by the novice (atmabhavagata) and contained in
his body (aSrayagata).

The bodhisattva lineage, moreover, is of two types: natural (prakrtistha) and
developed (samudanita). Both, however, are considered to be seed, (bija), element
(dhatu), and nature (Prakrti), in so far as they are fundamental to a bodhisattva attaining
complete enlightenment and Buddhahood.


So that is like the sixth sense of mind, which almost anyone will agree exists and stop shortly thereafter, except it is when something comes from outside of the personal psyche, that is, the Mahayana Sutras and Sastras. To me it was quite easy to study and take seriously and join. It never exactly came with what appears to be Asanga's basic meditation guide. And it is exactly these misunderstandings which lead to sectarian splitting. For example with Paramartha, at least you can find out that he devised Amala Vijnana and at that point is making his own school or sect. However the Karmapas by saying Seven Consciousnesses uphold Asanga's point that Alaya Vijnana is simply removed. You still work through subtle mind, mind, and the senses, in a Purified condition.


One does not need a new additional Mind because he also has already explained Lokottara Citta or Transcendental Consciousness. For us, it may become the high point of meditation, is part of the practice.




From Kano 2015, Ratnakarasanti manages to pin the synonyms Kula, Gotra, etc., to the principal Mahayana or Yogacara practice:

Kula

In one area, he is responding to a Guhyasamaja commentary that has a parallel passage:

100, 5, and 3 [Buddha-]families by means of mudrās.” Cf. Caryāmelāpakapradīpa (Wedemeyer ed.), p. 351.


In other words, that which is in the Sutras, Sastras, etc., as Gotra "of the Bodhisattva" as the highest kind of the Triyana, it is this same thing conveyed into the Tantras as the kernel of divisions of multiple tantric Families of the Dhyani Buddhas. In this sense, Family or Kula:


This means: everything is nothing but mind, sentient beings are characterized by the
mind’s continuum, and sentient beings, further, have Buddha-nature. Therefore, those
who assemble all the qualities of a Tathāgata possess the five kinds of wisdom—
ādarśa [jñāna] and the rest—which abide [in sentient beings] forever, throughout
beginningless and endless time. And this [wisdom, i.e, Buddha-nature] is completely
pure by nature, having as it does true reality as its body (chosnyidkyisku).

Therefore, when it is transformed (āśrayapari-√vrt) into its own true nature (rangranggingobor),
being purified from what are merely (tsam) stains that adventitiously cover over
[Buddha-nature], one attains what is called the “five kinds of wisdom” and a “Buddha’s
awakening.” In this case, it [i.e. Buddha-nature] is nothing but the seed mentioned above.
Therefore, as it is the seed of a Bodhisattva (*bodhisattvabīja), it is also termed “spiritual
disposition” (gotra) and “cause.

When, however, he identifies Buddha-nature with the “seed of a
Bodhisattva” (byangchubsemsdpa’isabon),
his true outlook becomes clear: he suggests that
only Bodhisattvas have Buddha-nature, that is, the spiritual disposition to become a Buddha,
whereas others do not.

In the Muktāvalī, Ratnākaraśānti refers to the term tathāgatagarbha when commenting on the word vajragarbha in
Hevajratantra 1.1:

[The Hevajratantra states:]

“O Vajragarbha!” —All bodhisattvas are Buddha-nature
(tathāgatagarbha). This means that they belong to Tathāgata-family (tathāgatagotra).
And there are five Tathāgatas of the [five Buddha-]families (kula)

Why does Ratnākaraśānti not accept the Buddha-nature doctrine across the board? It
was probably because he thought that the Buddha-nature doctrine (i.e ekagotra) is connected
with the ekayāna doctrine of the Mādhyamikas, which contradicts the Yogācāra yānatraya doctrine
he himself espoused. He accepts the Yogācāra distinction of manifold dispositions
(gotrabheda), which admits a Buddha’s awakening only in the case of bodhisattvas, to the
exclusion of Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and others. This stance parallels that of an unnamed
Yogācāra (referred to by Kamalaśīla in his Madhyamakāloka) who does not accept the Buddha nature
doctrine literally, judging it instead as having another purport (ābhiprāyika), namely a
provisional one, in that it does not accept gotrabheda (since according to it every being has one
and the same Buddha-nature), and thus is inconsistent with the Yogācāra doctrine.


So there is the Refuge of One related to Buddha Nature, but, etymologically it sounds like Ekayana which has other meanings. Ratnakarasanti refutes it as meaning Buddha Nature outside of the Bodhisattva Path, or, as sole reliance in quiescent meditation or i. e. only Cessation which is not enough for Asraya Paravrtti. This "general method" taught by Maitreya "activates" the nucleus of tantric experience of Families and so on.



His references to his definition are that it:

...is found in the “gotra chapter” (Gotra patla) of the
Bodhisattvabhūmi, and also in Sthiramati’s commentary on the Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra.


In other places in the Muktāvalī, Ratnākaraśānti synonymizes gotra with “cause”and
“family” (heturgotraṃkulamitiparyāyāḥ),
while noting the innate purity ( prakrinirmala)
of what the word refers to, and the fact that the stains and purity do not have
an identitical nature (atanmayatva). This discussion of gotra parallels the one in his
Guhyasamājamaṇḍaloavidhiṭīkā dealt with above. We know that Ratnākaraśānti accepts the
standard idea of the Buddha-nature doctrine that innate purity is wholly separate from external
stains—an aspect of it that does not contradict Yogācara.




We see that he also uses tantric Sutras from Dharani Samgraha:

In the tantric context, Ratnākaraśānti’s Muktāvalī and Maitrīpa’s Kudṛṣṭinirghātana list
the same set of Mahāyāna sūtras. See Muktāvalī, ed. Tripathi, p. 222.18–20 (glossing Hevajra-tantra II.
viii.9d): sūtramityanatigambhīrāṇimahāyānasūtrāṇyekagāthā-
caturgāthā-gāthādvayadhāraṇī-ṣaṇmukhī-bhadracaryā-caturdharmaka-lalitavistaradaśabhūmikādīni (I follow the improved text by Isaacson 2013: 1039); and Kudṛṣṭinirghātana, verse 26: ekagāthāṃcaturgāthāṃgāthādvitayadhāraṇīṃ|
ṣaṇmukhīṃbhadracaryāṃcatriṣkālaṃcatrikālataḥ||.

The set comprising
the Ekagāthā, Caturgāthā, and Gāthādvayadhāriṇī (or dhāraṇī) is preserved in Nepalese manuscripts of the
Dhāranīsamgraha (Kano 2011b provides Sanskrit editions of them); the Gāthādvayadhāriṇī which is parallel to
Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra XII.19–23 is quoted in the Prajñāpāramitopadeśa. Kṛṣṇa Samayavajra, who, according
to Isaacson (2001: 458 n.4), was a pupil of Ratnākaraśānti, penned a similar statement in his Yogaratnamālā on
Hevajratantra 2.8.9–10.


Well, once you have a Sutra understanding of Bodhisattva Gotra, you are on the cusp of tantra, since it is the same.

Because it is also Dhatu, it refers to the Sixth Principle, which may be described as the thing or the one having the Five Families.
This is not for Buddha-era novices who were very nearly ascetic beggars. This requires worldly knowledge, sciences, trades, crafts, by people who owned property and ran businesses. So no, this, so to speak, "outer" level is not itself the instructions on how to do sunyata meditations and yoga. It barely refers to those subjects and is sort of holding them back as "higher education" in other books such as Mahayana Samgraha.

Tantra starts with the same cittotpada or "aspirational bodhicitta" and uses a type of Asraya Paravrtti to attain the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment, which, themselves, manifest the Bodhisattva Path or Eightfold Noble Path. "Seven" infers a seventh principle, the Gotra or Dhatu being the sixth which through a Mahayana tantric process also purifies the Sublte Mind or Klista Manas. Otherwise Alaya Vijnana persists and one does not become a Bodhisattva.

The Vikramasila reaction is not hard to see. A heavily academic approach through BBH is not exactly the most profound and direct way to engage the practices which are merely hinted at. So then most of what they have called Yogacara is now Yoga Tantra, with the similar view that the aspect which is outer or more ritualistic is a stepping stone to inner yoga based in the same symbolism. The very visible Kriya--Charya teachings are sort of the "new BBH". I suppose it is enough to keep someone busy, forever, if that is their level.



From the overall perspective that there are two surviving lineages of the Esoteric Community or Guhyasamaja tradition, here again this is less of a sectarian row, and more like pieces that work together. The first or Jnanapada is older, and is aimed more at Generation Stage as per Krsna Yamari Tantra, which for examples uses Male Meats and Female Nectars. This is utilized by Anandagarbha and others who heavily emphasize Yoga Tantra. Again this means they have the view that offering Completion Stage to the neophyte is ineffective.

The Arya lineage is more useful towards its elucidation of the Six Yogas and Five Abhisambodhis. In the long run, this is most useful. But it is actually the Kagyu Mahamudra lineage. Historical revisionism makes it appear as Gelug Guhyasamaja; but, this is, so to speak, later, and, their own adaption of Kagyu.

The first or Jnanapada adds the arising of Cunda and other Dharani goddesses, is supposed to be combined with Namasangiti, which of course makes its own special classification of dharanis. This usage probably was in some of the early Chinese schools, but, they have lost track of it.

So Namasangiti reflects back into several of the Twenty-one Taras. He is the interlocutor of her Tantra. He is the performer in Jnanapada Guhyasamaja. Moreover, he is able to represent Seven Families.

Arguably, Parasol may also do this.

For the most part, Yoga Tantra, Mahayoga, Vajrasattva Yoga, Trisamaya Raja and Vajrapani Abhiseka, and possibly a few other terms which can be shown synonymous, refer to the first significant written tantric corpus, Maha Vairocana Abhisambodhi Sutra and Dakini Jala, ca. 650-700, not at all long after Candragomin. The practically pure source spring of it appears to be Sitabani Charnel Ground in Bihar. At least a Dakini is there. One could say there may have been previous or other revelations of Vajrasattva, e. g., to Kukkuraja or Nagarjuna. By around 750, it is able to give a standard imprint to Garab Dorje, while there also becomes the addition of STTS and other things which appear to be systemic elaborations of Dakini Jala. But in most respects the important thing was stated in VAT; Buddha's Enlightenment was an Initiation, Dissolving the Voids, experiencing Abhisambodhis, and arising as Maha Vairocana, the Sambhogakaya. This is only ever mentioned again in a few places.

Otherwise, more tantric development does not take place at Nalanda, but, in Orissa, especially from King Indrabhuti.



One of the trends in Nepal is that they readily admit the Buddhist Prajnas are Shaktis. The Buddhist name is so that we understand that we are really interested in their Transcendental Wisdom aspect, and not so much the Laukika or Worldly Powers which would generally be about the same as in Hindu Yoga. But what this is also telling us is that a person who has prajna, has shakti, which is detectable.

With insight, it is fairly closely detectable, such that I personally could sense it. One can approximately tell where another stands in relation to the Six Yogas or intensity of Prajna Moments. This is, after all, quite electrical.

Shakti is much more stable in women whom we see in these nebulous stages are scarcely ever named as yoginis. We will probably never be able to say who Arrow Dakini or some of the ones in the Guhyasamaja lineage were. They may have been partially Buddhist. Historians have a variety of reasons for divided views as to whether their presence was mostly hypothetical, or, if it was a very popular trend that made it common to communicate by gestures and codes. From the time of published tantras then we do see females, whose personal teachings are not that different from what the men said. For some reason, history nearly blotted away Siddharajni as it did Ratnakarasanti.

But Siddharajni or this Dakini are an intensification of what appears to be intended for Padma Tara as a Samaya Being, Initiation. A small incremental move shows that probably the next most basic Red Padma Tara is Four Arm Sitabani, who has a larger Eight Arm form, which may be a good settlement for Tara One--similar to the Eight Arm Pravira Tara usually seen. Sitabani however has her own practice, and, is not the Dakini, but, a type of Peaceful Protector of that place, or, i. e. of the associated Dharma, particularly Initiation.


So if we have Padma Tara, or Sitabani, in a Yoga view, this means they are outside us, as if we are having a conversation. It may be that. Maybe it is telepathic. When you first do this kind of thing, there is an awkwardness when you get to the point that you make this practice and then you are staring at each other. But you gain the Samaya and then you try to ask questions in the related domain.


According to the formula, the Five Families plus Chakravartin, and even a few others, are outer, minor initiations as per Dhyanottara or in Kriya--Charya. So again she means a different, inner experience, something considerably more powerful. Possibly even the Third Initiation in the sense of one remaining.

This kind of Padma Tara and Sitabani would for instance contribute towards inner Kurukulla.

Matangi as perhaps an aspect of Vinayaki, would then be part of Ganapati Hrdaya. And of course Ganapati is seen in his important form as somewhat co-eval to Kurukulla. Matangi is Janguli, and Janguli is preliminary to Kurukulla.

Interestingly, the recent Covid-responsive Dharani of Parnasabari was published. Of course, she summarizes all south Indian shaktis and yoginis, and she emanates in multiple Families. The very brief article presents her in Lotus Family with Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahasthamaprapta. This version includes an example of Gauris mantra:


oṃ gauri gāndhāri caṇḍāli mātaṅgi pukkasi svāhā



Among her personal mantras is one which uses certain bijas:


oṃ piśāci parṇaśavari hrīḥ jaḥ hūṃ phaṭ piśāci svāhā


Hrih would tell us Lotus Family, however Jah is for Janguli, who herself is the mistress of Hum Phat. And so it is like Janguli is unstated here twice, first as Matangi.

Simple Parnasabari uses Axe and Noose, i. e. she may be wholeheartedly borrowing Janguli's power and adds the Axe, such as Sitabani has. Her color is not given here. So far, neither she nor Janguli are ever the "right" colors for their families.

Parṇaśavarī appears in rites or maṇḍalas associated
with the Mañjuśrī mūla kalpa, Hevajra Tantra, Sampuṭa Tantra, and Caṇḍa mahāroṣaṇa
Tantra and remains popular in Nepalese Buddhism, where her dhāraṇī
has been incorporated into the “Seven Days” (Saptavāra) practice of reciting
one dhāraṇī per day of the week.


What they have not noticed is that her Gauris mantra derives from the older Gandharan literature, and for example in various Lotus Sutras is attributed to one of the Four Kings.

Parnasabari exists by name in non-Buddhist records from ca. 300. She is a convert. Again the whole class of Sabaris was thought of as the most valuable kind of consort in Orissa, probably similar to the Lama.

Her skirt is Ayurvedic herbal foliage, and her stance reverses the Crescent or cuts off the lower winds. This appears related to Sarasvati and "Marici Prana".

She has no actual consort nature, but can be a Protector or Wrathful.

Ganapati also has a special designation for direct awareness of prana; in his case, Matangi becoming significant. In Ganapati Hrdaya, it seems likely the title Sage or Muni Ganapati owes to mastery of the Maha or pranically-astounding variety.


This "tier", so to speak, of Ganapati, Tarodbhava Kurukulla, and Vajrayogini, do not in themselves require Union. That comes from Red Vasudhara. Manohara and Bharati have individual appearances, and they have Union. Vasudhara is an unavoidable basis of the Homa. It is true that one could do the subtle yoga process in a manner that only feels like Death and not Bliss. According to Vajra Rosary, these are supposed to unite. Red Vasudhara is Increase of Bliss. Consideringly, this loops back into the Initiation Activity of Padma Tara.

Guhyajnana Dakini and Red Vasudhara are similar, they arise, and, they have Union.

They perhaps are different because they have different counterparts and operating environments:


Manohara -- Takkiraja, Ten Wrathful Ones, Sima

Bharati -- Jambhala, Yakshas, Vaisravana, Alakavati

Guhyajnana -- Avalokiteshvara and Four Dakinis

Ziro Bhusana -- over the Five Dakinis


Guhyajnana Dakini is about the same since an indeterminate period prior to Padmasambhava. Ziro Bhusana is the personal sadhana of Nyan. Manohara is suggestive of the Mahabala dharani cycle published ca, 500. Bharati is The Vessel. If you get her, then, the Third Yoga or Pranayama would have little left to tell you, and it would be more like the Fourth, Dharani, swelling with the results and actually experiencing Light and the Three Lights and Usnisa and so on.

If one was to use Vasudhara in a Homa, you have to do Varuni first, from the Buddhist perspective.

Guhya Mantra Kalasha, Secret Skullcup Worship or Initiation, Flask Worship, are similar names for the rite of Varuni.

In tantra, mind and wind are described as either leading to the other, and they both spiral away and eliminate quiescence. The attribute of Bliss is largely what prevents this.

Neither ecstatic bliss nor deathlike tranquility are Enlightenment, but, yes, they are working together that way.

Similarly to Vajrapani being called Master or Lord of Secrets, meaning the explainer of tantra, Mamaki is vast explanation as demonstrated through the flasks and substances. This perhaps is also similar to Mantranusarini in Vajra Family being an outer Vajrayogini. But this is the proper division, with the male representing the Knower (i. e. cognizance of the meaning of scripture), whereas the female is the Known, or the experience, with all of its associated forms, sensations, etc.



Flask Worship is an action of prana. We give it a mental property such as a colored animal that represents a Skandha. It is dissolved and stirred into homogeneity. The more effective the knowledge and experience of the Skandha, the more powerful the trend of calming.

Rasa Yana or Taste Offering is the practice of heating and blending the emulsion. To make a hot orange nectar of dissolved sins and skandhas. Similar to what is usually found in Long Life Trinity. Then there is the appearance of a few Orange deities. And so you have a sadhana based on an offering to Rasa Vajra, or Ziro Bhusana, etc. about how well you are doing and so on. Here, you just, so to speak, have the Triangle. It famously will not do anything for six months, a year, several, or many. You have to combine an undisturbed silence with a mysterious but potent inner force. Anyone would be able to recognize the state of Kurukulla as a sort of far goal of Pranayama. You can totally tell when it goes through that. The Triangle is something quite like boiling a witch's cauldron. A Taste goddess is there to determine if it is really nectarine. And then you are left with getting it hot enough and centering the heat so it will rise in the capillary. This is what Muttering is for.


The ensuing destruction of the Dhyani Buddhas, that is, melting the Skandhas from, so to speak, the inside, because heat and mantra have struck the Bullseye or Alcyone, is its own kind of Sampatti, the First Joy.


Whereas in Dhyana you have to put effort into harmony and silence, and might be able to quell or suppress the Skandhas, they re-activate pretty easily. Once you have actually lanced that thing or Citrasena over the brain, then they are difficult to revive, like lead.

This ability is known in most yogas, and a tremendous variety of experiences are possible, but in Buddhism you take the liquid moon and try to soak it back down the Sushumna and into The Vessel, cooling it. Being Four Joys, it could be described as four stages, each taking time to accomplish.

Kurukulla and Bharati work in that way as markers in the Fourth Yoga, Dharani. It means you can easily transit the stage of Pranayama into a world that would be considered by others as magical. The ordinary person cannot do this. We have an interest or perhaps an aptitude for Yoga. We might be able to get something from Pranayama.


It is Speech Mandala, so, it should be conditioned by Lotus Family, such as Kurukulla and others. On an outer basis, we see something about how Padma Tara and Sitabani work. We see that there are various deities, a personal deity, and so on, and regardless of this, the mistress of tantra is Varuni.

The Soma is a mixture of Akash into Water. Varuni is partially consumed and partially boiled into impurities. "This girl is nothing but Soma drinking".

Operationally we are on our own to make the best yogic catharsis we can.

I am not going to say it is a hallucinogenic plant, or alcohol, or tea, it does not have to be "real". It is similar to Varuna's Holy Water, except it is different, to the degree you imbue it with Varuni--Akash.

So we are not going to just drink it, there are exercises for eliminating the Skandhas combined with the Mahayana intent of the Revolution of the Basis.

This term makes particular sense at the moment of the First Joy.

It may, also, be evident in Dhyana meditations, I am not sure. It does seem to be like climbing a Peak, you get closer and closer to its real meaning until this happens in the tantric sense. I am not sure that Asanga or anyone else had figured out how to say much else than "there is an Usnisa". Those of us who have experienced it tend to say it works the way the First Joy says it does. Using the system that Bharati indicates, I can say there are really Eight. The extensive teachings tell us there are Sixteen. I have never tried this and it does sound like mastery of Kurukulla and Nairatma and all the vowels and digits of the moon, and probably Vajravarnani.

But yes, the subtle yoga, once piercing the moon with the spear of flame, in that state you may have great difficulty with normal psychological processes such as perception and memory. That is what it means for the Skandhas to be destroyed. The concept-making or samsaric process is broken.



Varuni is a perpetually invocable Jewel of the Ocean of Milk, who is very hypostatical, for instance with Guhyajnana Dakini.

When one does enough Varuni to get heat, she calls it Vairocani, another Puranic goddess, an Asura, shakti of Tvastr.



According to Himalayan Art:


The two legged bliss whorl is explained as symbolizing method and wisdom. The three legged as representing the Three Jewels, or possibly the three types of beings. The four legged is symbolizing the four joys as explained in the Anuttarayoga Tantra system.

Bliss Whorl: small circles of swirling lines symbolizing energy concentrations.



At Paro Dzong, Bhutan:










Also contributing to the Shalu Monastery archive, probably having the first Shangpa temple, the one above is from Ariana Maki's extensive Bhutanese archive, or combined with Tibetan ones on one page, probably thirty sites viewed.


The site is careful to distinguish that from the Swastika. The whorl is indicating a substance, a pearlescent one capable of spraying colors. The Swastika is on the floor or a flat plane; it is a rotating cross. The arms of a cross pointing to the cardinal directions are the Four Activities. These are like a rhythm. That rhythm is circular around the cross, is like rotation, which does indeed have to do with the vertical axis according to HPB's definition of Swastika:


One of the most comprehensive, important, and philosophically scientific symbols, it is a symbolic summary of the whole work of evolution in cosmos and man, from Brahman down to the smallest biological unit. “Few world-symbols are more pregnant with real occult meaning than the Svastika. It is symbolized by the figure 6; for, like that figure, it points in its concrete imagery, as the ideograph of the number does, to the Zenith and the Nadir, to North, South, West, and East; . . . It is the emblem of the activity of Fohat, of the continual revolution of the ‘wheels,’ and of the Four Elements, the ‘Sacred Four,’ in their mystical, and not alone in their cosmical meaning; further its four arms, bent at right angles, are intimately related . . . to the Pythagorean and Hermetic scales. One initiated into the mysteries of the meaning of the Svastika, say the Commentaries, ‘can trace on it, with mathematical precision, the evolution of Kosmos and the whole period of Sandhya.’ Also ‘the relation of the Seen to the Unseen,’ and ‘the first procreation of man and species’ ” (SD 2:587). The bent arms also signify the continual revolution of the invisible cosmos of forces, which on our plane becomes the revolution in time of the world’s axes and their equatorial belts. In alchemy its shows that by the unceasing revolution of the four elements, equilibrium about a stable center is attained, the circle is generated out of straight lines, the complex and changeful nature becomes one. The two crossed lines represent spirit and matter, male and female, positive and negative. It shows man to be a link between heaven and earth, for the horizontal arm having one hook pointing up, the other down. In its applicability to all planes it contains the key to the seven great mysteries of kosmos.






Unlike Asanga's time, Sarma may have too many practices and explanations, almost everyone re-classifies things. With Paramartha it is pretty straightforward. But then for example, there is Jalandhara who wrote on Eight Awakenings, which are not exactly new, but his personal re-statement. Maitri uses synonyms to emphasize and de-emphasize various aspects. And so to be precise, the main series that we are trying to get to are the Six Yogas of Naro and the Five Stages or Abhisambodhis of Nagarjuna. Not that either one originated them. But that makes the main stamp which I guess is the same Arya lineage whether Kagyu or Gelug.

Ratnakarasanti--so far at least--is not so much re-introducing something like "the Eight Awakenings of Jalandhara", but, is trying to neatly summarize Asanga and related basics such as Lankavatara Sutra, etc., and make a pretty straight handoff to standard tantras such as Mahamaya and Hevajra.


Someone like Jalandhara makes more sense in a different context, presumably as someone with a small handful of personal followers. Vikramasila is a public arena supposed to be an improved Nalanda, e. g. better explanations of practices themselves, which were not elaborated by Asanga. There, the Gatekeepers were involved in the courtyard, so to speak, where they would talk publicly about Prajnaparamita and then use her as an immanent deity. It does not sound unusual to me since most Kagyu sessions incorporate Prajnaparamitra Heart Sutra. I do not know if others have an equivalent.


Ratnakarasanti uses the phrase "the Nirakara system" on multiple occasions. I have also seen him described as "Alikakara", although this did not really register with me.

Ruegg from a 1400s Tibetan commentary says that it is used to identify the message of Maitreya in RGV and DDV, above the Nihsvabhava of Yogacara Madhyamaka.

Kamalasila and Haribhadra refuted both Satyakara and Alikakara. Madhyamaka Yogacara focuses on Nihsvabhava especially in the line Dignaga --> Dharmakirti --> Santaraksita --> Kamalasila and Haribhadra. Moriyama's pdf of similar article.


Satyakara upholds that cognition is valid, whereas Alikakara only accepts Gnosis, luminous mind.


Again these are close parallels to Sakara, Nirakara. So although Maitri and then perhaps Gampo and others may be said to re-assert Yogacara Madhyamaka, I am not sure how solidly this bears out overall. However, Ratnakarasanti, by placing Maitreya at the head of the lineage, must be more in league with the perhaps minor commentary found by Ruegg. On multiple occasions he dwells on Gnosis--Luminous Mind, refuting cognitive objects of Sakara. Then he says the main flaw in Yogacara Madhyamaka is in saying it is transitory, provisional, or not Ultimate. Instead he is saying that Gnosis is the same thing as the experience of a Buddha. He is seeking to place you in that condition and telling you it is permanent.

In correspondence with Naro, this appears to be the Fifth Yoga, Smrti, which is the Upaya or Method, Sadhana, meaning the fully-interiorized yoga practice complete with Bliss and the Three Lights. Symbolicly, this is the male seed, which we should probably represent by Khasama and Vajra Rosary tantras, but, in Matsunaga's borader terminology:


Upaya-tantras or Maha-yoga-tantras (father tantras) the Guhyasamaja-tantra is known as the most basic Upaya-tantra text and is a representative Aksobhya-kula tantra.


So, i. e., Krnsa Yamari Tantra refers to a type of Mahayoga Generation Stage, meaning the above, same as saying the system of Mahayoga was dispersed from Sitabani. Sadhanamala, Dharani Samgraha, and, I believe, Swayambhu Purana, self-reference to Mahayoga Tantra.

Since Generation has much to do with Inner Heat, this is what in sadhanas becomes a "reality source" which should be the combination Dharma Udaya which the art site has misspelled. Examples are shown with Tara, Vajrayogini, and Agni, and so it is a relatively accurate synopsis, but again this is mostly the domain of Varuni. Or, the intent of heat is an operation with her. By reviewing pre-Tibetan sources, we have found a firepot with a few others, such as Ghasmari.




It is strange; Gunamati was ousted from Nalanda to Vikramasila; aside from Candragomin, the Nalanda masters referred to above were in the process of refuting Nirakara Yogacara most of the time. Haribhadra is still the basis of the "mainstream" view. And so for Ratnakarasanti to come back and refute these masters makes sense. Exactly what prompted him to make this clarification after five hundred years of it being submerged or receded, I do not know. It could simply be inspired by insight into the opposite of their view, and then you would know what to look into. Maybe it is what Naro said. It feels to me that he has a lot of experience in understanding the Mahayana Sutras because he found how they work with tantra lucidly enough to be able to describe Generation and Completion Stages of Hevajra, and devise what is held to be the highest caliber Vajra Tara sadhana. It is not "original", there were already a few along the same lines. His is the most thorough and profound.


The thing that makes me pause slightly with those such as Saraha and Maitri is too much of a sense of effortless Mahamudra. It saps from the processes of Yoga, or i. e. suggests to a beginner that they have Accomplishment. One could see a purpose for some kinds of very direct teachings, given the idea of Tulku or a reincarnating lifewave of those who are, roughly, born in the appropriate condition.

Both the story that Maitri argued with Ratnakarasanti, and, that Ratnakarasanti gained a little Accomplishment when he was almost a hundred by essentially taking one of his former students as a guru, seem to have been plastered on him perhaps slanderously. According to Hookham, it was Maitri that gave RGV to Ratnakarasanti, and Kongtrul says that Ratnakarasanti claims that Asanga did the RGVV commentary.

In 1983, Alex Wayman called Ratnakarasanti "definitely the best writer", and, along with Buddhaguhya and Smrtijnanakirti, all were in the lineage of Buddhajnana (Jnanapada), who used Prajnaparamita as the basis of tantra.


Buddhaguhuya ブッダグフヤ　Sk. Buddhaguhya; also, Buddhagupta; the 8th to the 9th century; one of the three greatest masters of Indian esoteric Buddhism; well known as the commentator of the Mahavairocana Sutra and the first assembly of the Vajra Peak Sutra [Vajra Sekhara]. When King Khri-sron-lde-btsan invited him to Tibet, the master was unable to accept the invitation because he was practicing the Way in Mt. Kailasa at that time. It is said that his teacher was Jnanapada who flourished in the latter half of the 8th century or Vimalamitra, in the early 9th century. His works include the following: 1) Vairocanabhisambodhi-tantra-pindartha (Compendium of the Tantra of Vairocana's Enlightenment), 2) Vairocanabhisambodhi-vikurvitadhisthana-mahatantra-bhasya (Commentary on the Great Tantra of Transformed Empowerment of Vairocana's Enlightenment), and 3) Tantrarthavatara (Entry into the Meaning of Tantra).


Jnanapada's personal story

2019 Jnanapada Dvitiya Krama thesis, i. e. Generation and Completion Stages. This is a pivotal work because it almost systematizes a previously little-known master. The author is not asking the same questions so she does not think he is a Yogacara. His is the first widespread use of Non-dual Wisdom, Advaya Jnana, and she notices that he is not quite echoing the non-duality of Haribhadra. In his own terms, this is the wisdom of the profound and the luminous; it is the dharmadhatu; mulaprakrti; it is the Suchness achieved by Asraya Paravrtti. So I think he is making a Yogacara point. He practically says that full awakening cannot happen without deity yoga, and, involves three of the sexual initiations and four kinds of women. He teaches Bindus, Five Dissolutions, and Utkranti or Transference. Although he concentrates on Guhyasamaja, he also uses Dakini Jala and Krsna Yamari. The Guhyasamaja itself does not give a clear picture of Generation and Completion Stages. It is possible none of those tantras do. And so Jnanapada has put it together about two-thirds of the way into a yoga practice format. Otherwise, they might just be different scenes than a pre-Asanga sadahana saying "visualize that you are in a Buddha Field and that the Buddha is giving you teachings". Again like Asanga, these explanations are really from Manjushri, whom Jnanapada encountered.

She did realize he combined "the self that pervades all things" with the Tattvas of Samkhya. It lives in the Indestructible Bindu. He says it is a mistake to think of Brahma's Egg as other than the nature of this Bindu. In preliminary inititations, Suchness is glimpsed, whereas at the Third Initiation, it is obtained. Perfection Stage then uses a seven limb yoga. One can also find contra-Nisvabhava arguments here. He uses self-generation as Samantabhadra supported by Dakini Jala to illustrate tantric sexual yoga, which is the only possible means of salvation.

She also did not understand what it meant that he met a woman who was "a Mahalakshmi" and spent six months with her and gained some realization of Jambhala. But here we already understand the background of Yakshas and Alakavati. The expertise which is able to deliver us an excellent critical edistions of some inscrutable ancient paper is not an equivalent for the parallel knowledge of also being able to explain Mahatattva in Vajradaka Tantra, or that a similar type of Vasudhara Samaya applies to tantric experience broadly. Conversely, what this tells us is that Jnanapada is practically fundamental to our system. The author believes some of his points are almost non-Buddhist. What he is saying about the Bindu is almost the same as Hrdaya Vastu from the Pali.

His is probably the first, and one of the few, to use his autobiographical story at great length in conjunction with his growth in Yoga.


Matsunaga has previously said:

The Utpattikrama’s of the jNanapada school are the Samantabhadra nama sadhana (1855) and the Caturanga- sadhana-samantabhadra nama sadhana (1856) while its Sampannakrama is the Muktitilaka nama (1859). The practical order of both of these is incorporated in the Dvikramatattvabhavana nama mukhagama (1853) and each exists only in Tibetan translations.


Samantabhadra was in Aksayamati that Asanga used.


In Lineage of Diamond Light, during the reign of Dharmapala:

Haribhadra was also well-known for his extensive teachings on the Guhyasamâja and other Tantras. His student Buddhajnànapâda became the Vajràcàrya at Vikramaslla monastery.

[Abhayakara] also authored the Vajravali (rDo-rje-phreng-ba), a work which was
integrated into the system of Ye-shes-zhabs (Jnanapada) that developed
out of the practice of the Guhyasamaja, a root tantric text in the Mahayoga
lineages in Tibet.

Vasubandhu was ordered to recite Usnisa Vijaya Dharani. Asanga commented RGV, Samdhinirmocana Sutra, and Vajracchedika. Maitreya made the Abhisamayalamkara or AA, or, system of organizing Prajnaparamita philosophy into the Bodhisattva Path. Asanga was "prophesied" in MMK to be the method by which to determine provisional from definitive.



It should no longer be a surprise that there are not many RGV commentaries from medieval India. It almost sounds like Maitreya was suppressed! "Diamond Light" considers RGV to be one of his original Five Books, which is a minority view.


Valabhi was attacked in 775. Gunamati and Sthiramati may be its only known masters. It was esteemed by Brahmins and Pudgalavada Buddhists. They used Apabrahmsa language and had a Kuru Kula subsect. They seem to be attempting to answer questions similarly to how Alaya Vijnana will. Such as the following point about death:

There is an intermediate state (antarabhava) in the sensuous realm (kamadhatu) and the form realm (rupadhatu), but not in the formless realm (arupadhatu)


The university eventually got back on its feet and lasted several more centuries. One could surmise however that Yogacara would have lost this major center, around the same time Vikramasila was being planned. Some have said Jnanapada may have been the first abbot; there is some confusion between the kings Dharmapala and Devapala, which results in a "narrow span" for dating.


Ratnakarasanti in turn is the only known Nirakara proponent of Prajnaparamita Upadesa, almost exactly like Sthiramati, and the cleanest explanation of the main Sanskrit terms such as Trisvabhava, Vijnapti Matra, etc., based from the same Sutras and sources. The article briefly explains Akara, "object", or the usage and transcendence of Sakara. Again, the errors in the system are just something you learn in the process of realizing it is provisional or temporary. He remains extraordinarily welcoming towards any kind of dialectic opponent, just saying they need to make a few small adjustments, falling several steps shy of what most sectarianism sounds like.


There plausibly may have been some interest in placing Maitri as the re-discoverer of a lost RGV, but we found that it probably simply survived in a minor way around Kashmir. Then the patrons of Vikramasila were interested in it, i. e., to upgrade the Nalanda practices. If we are thinking there was not much Yogacara practice or RGV due to Nalanda influence, then, the system suffers again from Asanga's original complaint. Vikramasila combines this immanent Prajnaparamita from Jnanapada with Maitreya's Yogacara. It has all of the higher tantras, of course, but when you walk into the courtyard, such a Prajnaparamita is encountered.



HPB may have gotten bogged in the "standard model" which generally explains the superiority of Yogacara Madhyamaka, or at least she repeats this narrative. However she repeatedly said that neither Yogacarins nor Madhyamakas give the complete truth these days, and said she was arguing on behalf of "a" Yogacara school, which was not "the" Yogacara school known in most institutions and books. Well then if we ask her about Voidness, will we get a Tson kha pa type of response?

No, her answer is not found anywhere in any kind of Nihsvabhava line that I can think of:




Svayambhu-sunyata (Sanskrit) Svayambhū-śūnyatā [from svayambhū self-becoming + śūnyatā void] The self-becoming void of infinitude; in Hindu and Buddhist metaphysics, sunyata means that which is empty or void to human eye or understanding because of feebleness of penetrating vision, but otherwise the absolute fullness of spirit. “Spontaneous self-evolution; self-existence of the real in the unreal, i.e., of the Eternal Sat in the periodical Asat” (TG 315).


Sunyata: In a still more profoundly mystical sense, the word by inversion has come to signify the utter fullness of cosmic reality, which is a seeming emptiness to our imperfect human vision, and yet is the only Real.

The objective idealism which the theosophic philosophy teaches when considering the noumena and phenomena of existence shows a fundamental reality behind these, above and beyond all manifestations whatsoever, as the root and basis of all entities and things, which although relatively unreal in themselves because products merely, or because based on the various prakritis, nevertheless because so based have a relative reality derivative from this basic root. See also PLEROMA





Again, it is only mainly because of her that I would give any consideration to any western teachings, and so there is another synonym. I am not sure how far she got in the actual use of Prakrti in Yogacara practices. But the Yogacara realization of Voidness is akin to experiencing undifferentiated Prakrti, which is pregnant with any manifested spheres. Although this term does mean nature or material, the main substance involved is Akash. Her clue as to a place it was handled in the west:



Superastral: The Pymander of Hermes speaks of a sea of fire, which is the superastral, the noumenal light, mulaprakriti or undifferentiated matter, the first radiation from the root; afterwards it becomes astral matter (SD 1:75).

There are no absolute separations among the planes of the universe, because all of them, while existing distinctly from each other, on their frontiers blend insensibly with the contiguous planes. Thus the lower portions of the superastral blend insensibly with the higher portions of the astral. Astral in a general sense is equivalent to the cosmic astral light, itself composed of numerous subordinate planes ranging from the spiritual through the ethereal, until the lowest subplanes merge into and become the physical world. Thus the cosmic sea of fire spoken of by ancient mystics and philosophers is another way of speaking of pure spirit and the divine or superspirit; out to spirit and superspirit flows in emanational degrees what becomes through another unfolding the astral light.



She is actually a bit similar to Asanga, i. e. both were dissatisfied with most spiritual practices and converted to Mahayana, and were unable to employ the type of vocabulary that really elaborates their intentions. Ratnakarasanti does this. He has formulized the way that Buddhist Sanskrit works from Sutras to Tantras, starting from Jnanapada's immanent Prajnaparamita.

By saying Asanga had limited vocabulary in relation to Sarma tantras, and that "Asanga Prajnaparamita" 159 may just be a flattering allusion to him, nevertheless it is also a type of crystalline synthesis of Buddhist Sanskrit in relation to a tantric retinue.


It was once said that Asanga at least knew of an image of Prajnaparamita. There is a reasonable amount of intact Gandharan sculpture, and we find what to us we would call Greek looking Buddhas and Maitreyas. And very little varieties. There are not simple Taras or Prajnaparamita. There are Bodhisattvas such as Vajrapani and Avalokiteshvara. Of the latter, we do find him with perhaps Tara or Bhrkuti. Amitabha is obvious:








Lacking named goddesses, they do have Yakshis:








And there are a lot of "images" without names. It suggests that among people, maybe some very short shorts were in fashion:














And what appears to be a relatively complicated eight armed deity:







It could be a mistake, but, these are supposed to be from Asanga's time back to the 100s. It might be Rama and Hanuman. We have been discouraged from thinking that spectacular forms were in vogue that far back.



Indian specimens mostly run from the 700s on up, appearing that crafts were still made into the 1200s.

They call this Vajrasattva and then argue it is Vajrapani. The figure is crowned by Akshobhya, so, it is not Akshobhya, and despite Vajrasattva being the Sixth Dhyani Buddha, he is a hypostasis of Akshobhya, especially in Guhyasamaja, but also in most explanations of Aspirational Bodhicitta, or Cittotpada, or Citta Vajra. What is worse is that they say the consort is "seated with the legs extended"--but this is not copied from a sadhana book. Just a freestyle description. Well, it seems obvious that she is standing and that this therefor represents an unusual physical circumstance:











You could try to say he is sitting on the edge of a chair, and, if so, you try to do that.

There are two kinds of Samantabhadra, which similarly has made me pause from employing it much.



Samantabhadra according to Alice Getty and the public side of Nepalese Vajrayana is, with White Tara, in the Family of Vairocana and Karakucchanda Buddha.

[A]ccording to the 12th-century Abhisamayamañjarī, Samantabhadra is alternatively known by the name Aiśvaryavajra because he bestows all powers...Samantabhadra is associated with all the sense fields and the color pure white.


Against that pattern, it was held somewhat secretively that there was a Sixth Family. This is not so much a secret any more, other than it means an operative Buddhist sixth principle, and not the general statement that there is a Manas. And so in other areas, Samantabhadra is instead the higher aspect of Vajrasattva:


The lineage of Dzogchen is traced from the dharmakaya Samantabhadra to the sambhogakaya—the five buddha families and Vajrasattva, who are Samantabhadra’s own self-reflection. This is the mind direct transmission.


This makes another type of hypostasis, i. e. fivefold form or Rupa Skandha or Vairocana is a "living unit" which has to be transmuted into Mind or Manas as intended by Yoga. Almost anyone can be taught to meditate an outer, purifying Vajrasattva, but few will make it to the Blue Crag or similar place of awareness of primordial mind.

It must be that Samantabhadra is very nearly the Bodhisattva Gotra.

Again this Gotra or Dhatu = mind of Mahayana practice = seed of Vajrasattva and tantric Families.

RGV = Ratna Gotra Vibhaga, i. e. the explanation of this process.


I would think it is less difficult than the normal way. Usually RGV is a minor notation after three years of courses up through Dignaga and Dharmakirti. But Ratnakarasanti is the one giving the most lucid explanations of all the Sanskrit Yogacara vocabulary. And it is this very subject. It sets up this sixth principle so that one attains the valid cognition called Gnosis. Because only this ability is useful in the Completion Stages of such things as Hevajra Tantra, it does not really help to try to copy a whole tantric sadhana.

Everything from here to there is Generation Stage, dum skyes ma, Khandaroha. Although perhaps their Yoga understanding was not the greatest, Circle of Bliss explained that Khandaroha is Varuni. Also in Monk, Householder, Tantric Priest.


They should perhaps indicate that Varuni "goes in" and that Khandaroha is one of the Four Dakinis, i. e. is emergent, a product of some Accomplishment. She works together with Vajrasattva or Amritakundalin/Ganapati for the All-Purpose Mantra and Boundary. For some reason she is the most potent one of these dakinis; yoginis in her family are also the most powerful.

This background needs to be in place to show that nothing is being made up. What we are trying to do is take the Triangle of Inverted Stupa and sequentially unfold a hypostasis of Varuni and Vajrayogini.

To anthropologists, it may sound like a Newari cult, but it is because Abhayakaragupta follows Ratnakarasanti and makes this system of Vajrayogini, who herself has been Nepalese since at least around the 600s. In this, Sadhanamala and Dharani Samgraha are intended to be bridging texts from concept to tantra. He is not the sole basket of all possible sadhanas, but, organizes the majority into a workable systemic structure. Together, these two masters are held by most to represent the grand finale of Indian Buddhism. The more famous Naro is simply a strand in what is gathered. He, so to speak, has "a system" of Vajrayogini which is enshrined in Nepal, but, there are also the more distant imports, e. g. from Indrabhuti, and, Mahacinakrama from Assam. Although Nepal does claim her primacy (Guhyeshvari), they also appear to value Guhyajnana Dakini of Sitabani, along with those other branches.

Maitri and Nyan are slightly later. The reason for Nyan's Vajrayogini is that she is less complicated than some of those others. Mainly she is appearing like a Guru to Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis. She does not directly spawn Vajravarnani, etc., or open much of the Chakrasamvara Tantra. She is a fairly stable unit, obviously corresponding to the Sixth Principle in some way.

The others do, if one goes with Indra Dakini then it gets into Vajravarahi, and the others dispense lines of the Chakrasamvara and Cinnamasta mantras.

However, Vajrayogini also has an introductory mode which is simply in Vajra Family, consisting of Mantranusarini who is a Protector, Mahacinakrama who is an Attahasa, and Ekajati who is a Pingalurdhva. In essence they have just given Generation Stage, from the practice of mantra through rising heat. And these are like feminine Vajrapanis or Bodhisattvas of Mamaki, to whom Varuni is the tantric catharsis.

The title "Ugra Tara" may (?) have meant "ugly" in some Hindu accounts, but, here, it is "fierce", like an extension of Virya as in Vira Tara. Even this quality "energetic" must have its weak (indriya) and strong (bala) modes. Vira Tara, such as Sitabani, swiftly responds to invocation, and then the invoker's quality begins to increase.


Vajra Family implies that the Moods are something beyond dramatic expressions. Many of their forms are very violent and angry. We are told this is an appearance, that the Buddha in question themself never feels any trace of Aversion. The appearance means the feeling is completely defeated. This kind of deity represents the Brain, is part of Body Mandala. In other words, the real Citta or Heart Consciousness does not foment disturbances, but the brain does. When it does, if you have the deity, their weapon or power eliminates the disturbance. Why are these laughing goddesses? It is part of how they work, they can be very loud.

Vajrasattva is specific to Buddhism. With Akshobhya, we would be willing to say, he is an aspect of the default existence of any human being, and it is classed very similarly in other yogas; Buddhism is mainly connecting its teaching of Skandha. That is why Akshobhya and Vajra Family are originally able to emanate Vajrasattva. But you really have to do the Samaya. You have to put time and integrity into it. In large part it is about bonding to the Vajra Bhumi or Ground, First Stage on the Path. When Vajrasattva is later referred to as a Gnostic Body of Mantra and Luminosity, then yes, intended is a self-arisen Heruka, which would be for Completion Stage or the Fifth and Sixth Yogas. Again the better translation is really "complete" meaning the Gnostic Body is complete as a working unit.

Along with the nearly-vanished teaching of Moods, we found Coaxing through Song still intact as a sadhana component for a mandala ring. It seems to elucidate the beginning from Sri Paramadya, Anuraga and the Goddesses. This is in fact to insure that the disciple does not veer into Nirvana, but re-arises to Purify the Samsara. Then to fully do a tantric sadhana, it may do something like use two, four, and six arm forms, in between each of which is a moment like death and rebirth, or the destruction of the universe. And so this Ability or Method, which is the basis of being able to do a Sadhana at all, is used a lot.


From what I recall, I first learned Vajrasattva in ordinary purifying mode. Yes this is fairly easy. But I did not have a good guide and so it took around a year trying to apply Vajrasattva to different kinds of Guru Yoga. Eventually when I learned about Kagyu Guru Yoga and that it was the "full version" from which you mainly just get Shamata at the Dharma Centers, it naturally fit. What got my attention on the practice, however, is that it mainly just focuses on Vajradhara. You don't have to do much with humans. It was convincing that some of the famous yogis I had read about, such as Mila and Naro, were behind anything that comes from Kagyu. And so beyond honoring a few, most of the emphasis is Vajradhara. By contrast, Vajrasattva is the Knower, or, by starting a meditation with him basically dissolving into you, and you are trying to rest in that Bhumi, to be in that state.

Vajrasattva is the most portable and constant factor. You can meditate him alone; you use him at the beginning of anything else; or you can confess the dharani any time. I certainly cannot say I have the full Heruka as just explained, but, at some point, you realize you have a type of practical Vajrasattva who is a bit in his own league, is not just a peaceful Vajrapani.

There are slightly different ways you can come into this, but, with some practice, then you can say there is a Samantabhadra and Vajrasattva who are not mini copies of any of the basic Families, but, are the Family of the Sixth Element or Dhatu or Gotra.


Then it would be meaningful to use Blue Samantabhadra over White Vajrasattva:

[shaberon]

Varuni and several relationships of hers




Almost nothing of this was available pre-1995 when Nepal was, so to speak, "opened" for academic heritage and so forth. Varuni is not particularly visible in Brian Hodgson's catalogs. Those--unlike Tibet--were not pursued by the world community for a hundred and fifty years. Most of their material and especially this goddess is very auspicious.


I have only recently learned that Abhayakaragupta worked under atonement to Vajrayogini, which consisted primarily in commenting Samputa Tantra, and secondarily on parts of his overall system.


Undergoing something similar, I had no idea that it lined up this way directly into his system. I am positive the Subtle Yoga being discussed does what it says, and I get a pretty strong feeling that he had the corresponding realization to be doing important Groundwork for Vajrayogini. We are combining these for a type of Generation Stage relying on externally-visualized deities, mostly from Sutras and dharanis, without necessarily using Union. For the most part, these deities are basic, universal, and by definition, as contrasted to the ones who are tightly bound in their lineages, such as Vajravarahi.


I am not always sure of the best English words, maybe invocation and evocation. You can invoke a deity like Tara or Prajnaparamita. They are just on the edge of the back of your mind. What they teach is in layers. By using their powers, you evoke, or call out, or call forth, something new and different. Vajrayogini is the subject of the Subtle itself. And so we are eventually going to evoke her according to certain ways.

Part of it is like Death, and part of it is Bliss. I can promise you Death, but, as to the second, there are none. But there is guidance, and when pursued accordingly, the following goddess is pretty much the "on" switch.


Varuni is the deity HPB would have released, if she followed what is represented in the following last sentence by "may". Koothoomi said that she was taught to use Nectar--Amrita as the name of spiritual nature, not Monad or anything else. The point would be this is the one driver of Buddhist tantra. And so of course we are going to familiarize ourselves with descriptions, but then actually is a practice. One can distill it internally. Her information on it is fairly accurate:





Amrita (Sanskrit) Amṛta [from a not + mṛta dead from the verbal root mṛ to die] Immortality; the water of life or immortality, the ambrosial drink or spiritual food of the gods. According to the Puranas, Ramayana, and Mahabharata, amrita is the elixir of life produced during the contest between the devas and asuras when churning the “milky sea” (the waters of life). It has been stolen many times, but as often recovered, and it is still preserved carefully in devaloka.

In the Vedas, amrita is applied to the mystical soma juice, which makes a new man of the initiate and enables his spiritual nature to overcome and govern the lower elements of his nature. It is beyond any guna (quality), for it is unconditioned per se (cf SD 1:348). Mystically speaking, therefore, amrita is the “drinking” of the water of supernal wisdom and the spiritual bathing in its life-giving power. It means the rising above all the unawakened or prakritic elements of the constitution, and becoming at one with and thus living in the kosmic life-intelligence-substance.

Amrita-yana (Sanskrit) Amṛta-yāna [from a not + mṛta dead from the verbal root mṛ to die + yāna path, vehicle] The path of immortality; in The Voice of the Silence the path followed by the Buddhas of Compassion or of Perfection. It is the “secret path,” the arya (noble) path of the heart doctrine of esoteric wisdom. The Buddhas of Compassion instead of donning the dharmakaya vesture and then entering nirvana, as the Pratyeka Buddhas do, give up nirvana and assume the nirmanakaya robe, thus enabling them to work directly for all beings less evolved than they; and because of this great individual sacrifice, the nirmanakaya condition is in one sense the holiest of the trikaya (three vestures). The amrita-yana is thus a lofty spiritual pathway, and leads to the ineffable glories of self-conscious immortality in the cosmic manvantaric “eternity.”

The term may also refer to the “immortal vehicle” within each person, the individuality in contradistinction to the evanescent personality; that is, “the Spiritual Soul, or the Immortal monad — a combination of the fifth, sixth and seventh” principles (ML 114).



The "combination" is not the quick enumeration that there are such, but, an experience that happens within devoted practice. It is hard to just tell the Buddhist community that there "is" a seventh principle or family, but for example in Chakrasamvara, we do see Six Yoginis becoming Seven. In order for this to happen, first the statement about a Sixth Principle has to be established as an operative Vajrasattva according to the Mahayana Yogacara. When we look at Varuni, there is a strenuous emphasis about this. She is not exactly a Yidam, has no bearing on the selection of "your deity".


Even here, Quality--Guna in Jewel Family also means the use of Six Families Equally; the associated Jewel Family Vedana Skandha is quite simple, it senses good/neutral/bad, and bad feelings are Dukha. Of course, Suffering is Dukha and Suffering is the Skandhas, so clearing out bad feelings is almost the same as clearing the Skandhas.


The Varuni sadhana I posted long before was tied in with Homa. Initially it seemed this would condense the education by compiling it all together. But Varuni is used in two ways, which can be on her own, or with a Homa. We should re-focus on her. Two things are happening; she is to do The Triangle Rite of The Inverted Stupa as a progression from the first two exercises, Bindu and Crescent. Second, there is a lot more going on here because she is a Vajrayogini hypostasis. The first two could be adjusted to work with any minor deity; the second we want as its own study, because the Inverted Stupa is "indicated" anywhere from parts to the whole thing in advanced sadhanas, without insuring you experience what it is talking about. It has multiple instances in Sadhanamala. It is not terribly unusual to find half of it being used, i. e. the Triangle. And it is about the same as half of the Six Yogas, Pranayama.


Varuni is an unusual deity because she is simply consumed. The consequences seem to be that she re-arises as tantric Khandaroha, who is unusual in being the only goddess who is summoned and then told to stay out. Khandaroha is (or can be) a Permanent Boundary. But she also has many other meanings. Importantly, she never leaves from the tantras, either. The group of Four Dakinis stays on with Chakrasamvara, Hevajra, or even Dakarnava.



We already have many details posted for the obscure Puranic Varuni along with Vairocani. They are a bit difficult, and they are similar and related to Samjna.


Varuni must be thought of in a Mother and Daughter sense. Mother Varuni is with Varuna in a totally transcendent plane which we are not directly dealing with (as the Buddhic Plane of Theosophy). Daughter Varuni is her "droplet" into our world, from the auspicious legend about the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. This one is the consort of Sesha--Ananta. Varuni is an Ouroborous or infinity lobe if, for example, we take the Eight Nagas from Sarvadurgati Parishodhana:


anantaṃ takṣakaṃ caiva karkoṭaṃ kulikaṃ tathā||

vāsukiṃ śaṃkhapālaṃ ca padmaṃ vai vāruṇaṃ tathā||


When you use that list, you get Varuna at the end whose shakti is obviously Varuni, except that one is Mother Varuni, and the one we use is Varuni, Daughter of Varuni, who loops back to the beginning as Ananta Shakti. Hold on, what do you mean, the first Naga has the daughter of the last one?


Varuni is Manas Tattva; Uma--Matangi--Janguli is Buddhi.


She is able to merge back with her sister:


Varuni blended with Sri Laksmi is Revati (Zeta Piscium, First Point of Aries), Urmila or Deep Sleep Lakshmi.

Such forms are sometimes called Naga Lakshmi. So in a Buddhist Homa, if it is prefaced with Varuni and goes through Vasudhara, then we are maintaining awareness about their closeness and co-operation to begin with, especially if it culminates in Annapurna. Moreover, the retinue involves a Dakini named Lama; although the Four Dakinis are less like individuals, and more like entire classes of experience. Historically, Lama really is a class having twenty-four names. It means a female adept, competent in mantra, sexual yoga, and so on.



Revati is about the only "specific" name among the Lama class, according to the 8th-centry Jayadratha-yāmala, the Lāmās otherwise called Rūpikā and Cumbikā flourish among the rare group of the Kāśyapīs.

Among who?

Most likely a devotee of Bhu Devi:


Bhudevi is the fertility form of Lakshmi. According to Hindu mythology, She is the Daughter of Kashyap Prajapati and known as Kashyapi.


Although the title is also used near the beginning of names of Durga, we find it shortly after Mohini and multiple Durgas in 1008 Names of Maha Lakshmi. This is the related sequence:


318.Devadurga=The Durga in the state of wakefulness
319.Maha Durga=The Durga who is sleeping
320.Swapnadurga=The Durga who is in the dream state
321.Ashtabhairavi=She who is the eight Bhairavis
322.Suryachadragni roopa=She who has sun, moon and fire as eyes
323.Grahanakshatra roopini=She who is the form of stars and planets
324.Bindu nadha kalathhetha=She who is in the form of Bindu(dot) and Nadha (sound)
325.Bindu nadha kalathmika=She who is the of dot, sound and crescent
326.Dasa vayu jyaakaraa=She who wins as 10 vayus
327.Kala Shodasa samyutha=She who is with 16 crescents of the moon
328.Kasyapi=She who is the daughter of sage Kasyapa
329.Kamala Devi=The Goddess of lotus
330.Nadha Chakra nivasini=She who lives in Srichakra as well as in sound


Kasyapi, in this sense, is not literal, but an adoption, due to a few ironies with Parasurama.

And so it seems to reflect on followers of Bhu Devi and Sri Mahalakshmi. Then "a Mahalakshmi" as a Lama in Jnanapada's time makes sense.

The Sammoha-tantra (fol. 39b) in another place distinctly refers to a Tantrik practice (vidyā) called Lamayāmnāya i.e. the āmnāya of the Lamas or Lāmās.


Wisdom Library gets this and 8th century Jayadratha Yamala information from P. C. Bagchi:

The underlined passages are supposed to be the eleven questions
to be put to the Yoginis while meeting them in deep dark nights. The
language in which they are garbed is characterised as Paisaca
Samskrta i.e. the Sanskrit of the PiSacas. Nothing could be made out
of these questions, though their explanation is given in the verses
that follow.


So the Pisaci--ghoul or tramen on one extreme--is, also, so to speak, a Mantranusarini at the opposite pole.

He has parts from Chakrasamvara:


Abhidhanottara...[has a] ( patala ) [that] is called the Lamalaksariapatala


I am however informed by some Nepalese of Nayakot that there are temples of
Lamo devis in the interior of Nepal.


He believes it is related to Tibetan Lha Mo, but, Sammohana is an early iteration of tantra from the Vinasikha era. It may be more true if you said that Lha mos are Lakshmis, or, i. e. Palden Lhamo is what it would typically mean as "a" deity, whereas they also speak of "the Lhas" as a class. Originally it is probably from La or Lam syllable and Lakini. Something like La Ma, perhaps mother or matr of the syllable/class. And so as a part of Indian culture, it may well be talking about something from outside of Buddhism. It sounds like a yoga practitioner who has aspects resembling Dakini and Lakshmi.

As Hindu shaktis, they are in different tantras, but there is at least one example of Lakini related to Lamesvara, the Lord of Lama. The shaktis arise from Samvarta, or perhaps Mare's Mouth fire. In her system, Lakini is in the Manipura Chakra, which itself is related to Fire and Ram syllable.


Ramakrishna's Studies on the Tantras say that Sammohana refers to non-Indic tantric "countries", such as Kirata, Bhota, Cina, Mahacina, Gandhara, Nepala, and Kamboja. It follows Bagchi's conclusion that Mahacina is Tibet. We are saying that Kirat and Mahacina are related, and could include both the trans-Himalaya as well as east India and Yunnan and so on. Also that Kamboja probably has a tantric meaning prior to Cambodia. The import of Vinasikha Tantra to the Khmer Empire was about as fundamental as Vajrayana Buddhism with the Indian Palas and around the same time. A little further along, finding similarity with Buddhist and Hindu tantras and the earlier Yamala literature:


The Sakti-mangala Tantra says that the
land east of the Vindhya Hills extending right up to Java is
visnu-kranta. The country north of the Vindhya Hills including
Mahacina is ratha-kranta. The rest of the country westward is
asva-kranta.

The Sat-sambhava-rahasya says that in Bharata there are four
sampradayas (schools), viz. Gauda in the east, Kerala in the
middle, Kasmira in the west, and Vilasa, which is a sort of eclectic
school, not confined to any particular region, but found everywhere.


Vilasa is perhaps quite similar to Lama. He finds that all of it is related by a type of Pancha Tattva or Five Elements practice. That is what was considered so important and secretive about Vinasikha Tantra. Ours is similar, but changed, in ways that he probably did not figure out.


The Tantric Tradition by Agehananda Bharati goes into more details:


The fifth chapter of Sammohana equates Mahacina to the west slope of Mt. Meru.

Verse 59 repeats the proposition expressly for Chinnamasta: 'in
the method of Mahacina, the goddess Chinnamasta bestows
success'.


And so those are good resources for how overall, people have understood the Five Elements and Blue Tara. The authors are not Buddhists, but they are taking a fair look at why Buddhist sadhanas were verbatim copied into Hindu Tantras. We cannot possibly claim to have invented the Five Elements, but our similarities to these other systems fade out rather quickly.


I myself rejected the concept of a Fifth Element when I first came across it. A few years down the road, just by seeing it come up again, eventually I got curious. So I suppose it is something you have to mentally open yourself to, and attune to it. But with a little study and practice, it did not seem difficult to me. But then I did not get clear instructions on how to deal with it. The overall progression of Mantra is going to use whatever we get as a Taste of Emptiness or Akash, and employ it as the power of Varuni. Again she is the same goddess as her basic view in Hinduism. Varuni's Deopatan shrine is attended by Mars and Ganapati, and her three cups are sometimes guarded by:


Batuka, Ksetrapala and Ganesa.

Batuka again being Kaumara or Mars. She occasionally has a few other companions, but, the closest ones to her are usually Mars and Ganapati, which tells us something.

The Aswins are Tvastr's grand-children:

They are the only gods called golden-pathed (híranya-vartani).

They are considered Prana aspects of Mars and Ganapati.


In Buddhism, Mars is Manjushri, and Ganapati is himself who hypostasizes with Amritakundalin.

Moreover, if there are many kinds/sources of nectar (such as drops from a Garuda or Bherunda), the highest quality is in Tvastr's house. And where this goes is even beyond his personal stash, to acquiring the body of his wife, since Vairocani is the long-term effect of Varuni.

Puranic Varuni:







Similar to her is Ganga (Ganges), mother of all vasus (elements). Devi Ganges has as her vehicle a Makara; Varuni is Jaldevi or water devi on Makara. Ganges has no wrathful form. The simplest reason they are similar is Kashi--Varanasi, conflux of rivers Varuna and Asi, Varuna being the Ganges. The rite of Ganges is explained in Narada Purana and favors three astrological conjunctions: Varuni, Mahavaruni, and Mahamahavaruni. Varuni's day is the thirteenth of the waning moon in Chaitra or month of Kartik. When this conjuncts the star Shatabhisha, it is Mahavaruni (ca. every twenty-seven years), and when this is on Saturday, it is Mahamahavaruni.

Ganges carried six mayavic Agni seeds from the Pleiades, but nothing of the pure Arundhati (Tara).


Varuni--Ganges (astral plane) received six mayavic Agni seeds from the seduced Pleiades. She does not have the pure Arundhati (Tara). Compare to the sun, which lost part of itself in the same lower creation being shorn by Tvastr, and Samjna, daughter of Samjna. Varuni in this sense is the ocean of chaos, matter; Vairocani is solar, and similar, with the pure daiviprakriti being its real energy, concealed in six attributes.





Vairocani comes from elsewhere, is a Daitya-Asura, shakti of Tvastr and mother of Samjna. She is the sister of Sumbha and Nisumbha, i. e. important characters in one of the main Chakrasamvara mantras. Their father is the unusual religiously-perfected Asura:


Prahlada was in Nirvikalpa Samadhi for 5,000 years, before the Ocean was Churned. The identities of the Daityas are in place before there is such a thing as the blissful liquid forms of Lakshmi and Varuni.



Kakini is similar to Vairocani in the Cinnamasta system of Ganapati Muni and David Frawley. Part of her form is:

She with a bending pose, is of yellow complexion, likes to eat Dadhy-anna (curd and rice) drink VAruni (Rice wine).


Cinnamasta is a top-tier deity in any system, but, aside from the similarities, our systems do not work the same way. The first foodstuff there is Curds--Vasudhara, related to the Aswins and Horse Head Rite, which arguably is close to Buddhist Hayagriva, the main male deity also used in Death Yoga. Varuni is personally closer to Balarama or Ananta, the brother of Vishnu. And so there is plenty of background on Varuni and Dadhyan, and then one might proceed right to Tvastr Shakti and even Aswins Shakti.

Horse Head is the "symbolic" change in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, much like Mahacinakrama is a symbolic change to Tara. Instead of killing a horse, it turns into a rite of prana and mantra with Mind as the Rider on the Winds, experiencing six attributes. This would be the pre-Buddhist Adwaita Yogacara in Nepal.




HPB's Bue Lotus referred to Varuni as "originally heat" and then wine; she also mentions "two Lakshmis". She does say that Lakshmi visits Varuni in Pushkara Lake. Pushkar is often described in the scriptures as the only Brahma temple in the world, owing to the curse of Savitri, but also as the "King of the sacred places of the Hindus". So far, Mahattari is the only one specifically attributed a fiery blue lotus as a hand symbol.


As this kind of magical flower, in Sadhanamala, we get the sense that relationships are built by combinations of colors, flowers, and syllables. For example, White and Blue Hum syllables, mainly involved with Vajra Family. Also, there are White and Red Triangles, Celestial Women, and perhaps Hrih, Pam, and other syllables, similar to Lotus Family in two colors.

This is notched with negative exclusions, like there is no Blue Janguli. Or no basic Padma Tara. Or that White Tara or Sita Tara does Blue Lotus Mudra in conjunction with a Crown Initiation of Five Families. In tantric parlance, this is a type of threshhold or minor, outer initiation. Mahattari is intended to fetch Tara from Akanistha, which is considerably above this threshhold.


The sadhana structures indicate that Cintamani and Padma Tara are arising together and interact. This is readily visible in the IWS Avalokiteshvara icons.

The blossoming Blue Lotus is much like the "Bodhisattva in the womb" of Generation Stage.





Varuni was at least mentioned by Amoghapasha. Lakshmi is her sister, in the sense of also arising from the Ocean of Milk, who usually is shown above the whole Mandara Mountain. It is difficult to understand since most Tibetan information will tell us about Lakshmi in a wrathful form which sounds nothing like this. But that is an extremely advanced form, which has skipped the whole establishment in the significance of the actual Lakshmi as a Buddhist deity.


Mahakarunika is the overall cycle of Lotus Family practices, having Maha Sri for its Messenger. In Kriya, it employs three forms of Avalokiteshvara:


Amoghapasha, Padmajala, and Simhanada

Four Dakinis are with White Padmajala at Swayambhu Chaitya, where he is also identified with Chakrasamvara.

Amoghapasha describes Sudhana Kumara as winning the Kinnara maiden Manohara twice.

This retinue character links Amoghapasha with Padmanartesvara and Padmajala.


Well, the Prophecy of Sri Mahadevi involves her showing up at Sukhavati, and explaining her Accumulation of Merit in a world of Jewel Family. Cintamani Tara is a Samaya being into this line. And the Cintamani, and Wish Tree or Vrksa Kalpa also come from the Ocean of Milk, and these proceed with Yellow Vasudhara and Kurukulla. Kamadenhu is similar. Pratisara is a Cintamani, and the advanced Pancha Raksa 206 runs from her as Amrita Vacana, to Sitabani as Indriya Bala Vishodhani. They should perhaps be considered in the class of Sabaris.


To understand her Family properly from the beginning, the Jewel is a subterranean treasure guarded by Yakshas, who are agents of prana. The Sutras and tantras harness the Yakshas, which is why, so to speak, Lakshmi's forms cross over into revelations of Karma Family.

The Maha Sri Sutra was preserved in Tibetan and published as Maha Lakshmi Sutra. Reversing this to Sanskrit is usually difficult for something like her twelve names:


Od Chenmo, Pal Chenmo, Drag-pa Chenmo (Greatly Reknowned). Pal Chenmo is "Greatly Resplendent", whereas Pal Denma is "[she who is] Endowed with Splendor". In that case, Mahasri is probably the last name, Pal Chen Mo. Pal Den Ma is Sri, or generally translated as Sri Devi. Actually the text says Palchenmo is Mahasri, so that is correct. Pal Tri Ma is "[she who is] Auspiciously Resplendent", so, Pal must be Splendor or Glory. "Sri" is generally wealth and prosperity, but can be interpreted as glory. "Padma Chenpo" is given as "Maha Padma".

"Gives Food" cannot be much different from Annapurna. In large Hindu lists of Lakshmi names, there is Padmamaladhara – Wearer of Lotus Garland, Bhaskar – Radiant like the Sun, Dhanadhanyaki – Bestower of Wealth and Foodgrains, Mangala Devi – Most Auspicious, Swaha -- Auspicious. She has sun and moon related epithets, and multiple lotus and earth references. It happens to include Karuna, and Kamalasambhava, which is identical to Padmasambhava. Further, she is Tilottama, and bewitching Mohini.

Lakshmi is laksya, meaning “aim” or “goal”, also a "sign" or "mark" in Rg Veda.

Another Tibetan rendition of the Mahasri mantra:


SAYAD YAT’HEDNA:

DZINI GRINI SARWA ART’HA SADHANI SHASHINA ALAKSHI MANA NASHAYA SIDDHANATU MANTRAPADAI SVAHA

OM VIGUNI PARAMA SUBHAGEY SVAHA /


Twelve Mahasri names, based from the English translations to the closest known Sanskrit, would yield something like:


She Who is Endowed with Splendor [Sri Devi]/ She Who is Auspiciously Resplendent [Mangala]/ Possessor of a
Garland of Lotuses [Padmamaladhara]/ Lady-Lord of Riches [Vasudhara]/She Who is White [Sarasvati or Cunda]/ She Who is Greatly Renowned / Lotus Eye [Kamala Locana or Maha Padma]/ She Who Makes Things Happen / She of Great Light / She Who Gives Food [Annapurna or Dhanada] / She Who Wholeheartedly Gives Precious Gems [Cintamani]/ She Who is Greatly Resplendent [Mahasri]




Buddhist deities and mandalas are probably more related to the Churning of the Ocean than any other single source. It is mainly this plus Mahesvara subjugation. And so there is a Puranic and Sutra motivation towards Laksmi who is approachable. She is a conveyance of Six Paramitas and a Ratnasambhava World.






Unlike the Puranas themselves--which Buddhism is not refuting, but, using--we just take over Brahma's role from the Blue Lotus. We are not looking back at the moment of initial "creation" of the planet, but, effectively, the metaphor in the current moment. With the Ocean, it was less important who originally shook things loose. Again we also re-do this in the current moment.


In Samvarodaya, what "churns" it is Jnanavajra, which is in Emptiness Mantra, Om Sunyata Jnana Vajra Svabhavatmako Ham.


We turn to what, in our conception, is "unformed Akash", and invoke Kha Garbha or a "womb of akash". In many conceptions, this is also a syllable and meaning of Karma Family. It is Sunyata that many people "do not get". That is why Varuni makes no sense until you have this Prajna moment, or Madhyamaka intent, which is why she is certainly not a greeter in the courtyard. Prajnaparamita does that, and we have the previous designs of Bindu Nada and Crescent, similar to what Lakshmi just said.




She "is" Soma, a Moon drink related to Pitrs, whose ingredients are that spark of Akash plus a type of holy water that would ordinarily be relegated to orthodox Varuna. You would get one cup, and it would be a Soma Varuni, and we want to drink this.

When you set up the whole Triangle, then the Torma adds cups of Meats and Nectars, and then you save some of the Soma and blend all of this.



Considering Varuni's mantric identity in Samvarodaya:


devi varuni amrte amrtasambhave <||

amrte hrim


She is a slight twist to Parnasabari 150 who is:


amṛte amṛtodbhave amṛtasambhave

Parnasabari has the syllable Hrih.


Same as the recently-published short Lotus Family Parnasabari dharani.

We will briefly mention that Parna Sabari can be found with Harini, similar to Tara Seventeen, in Mahamayuri, which features Maitreya somewhat prominently.

Ananda, Maitreya also rejoiced in expounding this Mahamayuri Vidyarajni Dharani, saying:

tadyatha / siri siri siri / bhadre / jyoti jyoti jyoti / bhadre / hare hare hare / harini harini / danti sabari sive sulapanini / bodhi bodhi bodhi bodhi bodhi bodhi / bodhisatve / bodhiparipacaniye svaha.


Sabari is in the same line with Sula Pani or Sulini, i. e. Spear Holder, Ekajati or Viraja, etc.


Marici Prana is an epithet of Sarasvati in Golden Light Sutra, of which the oldest Sanskrit version is from Nepal. It is considered a Sutra basis of Chod. In Golden Light, Sarasvati expounds the art of bathing with mantra and aromatic herbs. After her presentation, she is praised by a Brahmin, who says:

you stand on one foot, and are clothed in a garment made of grass.

She is Lunar and has Eight Arms.

This is, perhaps, the White Parnasabari of Samputa Tantra, part of the hypostasis of Marici. Drdha the earth goddess goes on to manifest palaces of the Seven Jewels. So here we already have a format of the trinity of an Apri Hymn, with Sri, who confers the Crown Initiation. Suvarṇa (सुवर्ण, ‘beautiful coloured’) is an epithet of gold (hiraṇya), and then comes to be used as a substantive denoting ‘gold’. The continuity of Mahamayuri Sutra to here is almost transparent, because Buddha is the Peacock King Suvarnaprabhasa (i. e., same as the name of Golden Light Sutra), Mayuri Vidyarajni is his attendant or queen, to the interior of which dharani, she is Hiranya Garbhe. Pratisara and Sitabani are in it, so is Stambhani and Samantabhadri. The two-fifths of the Pancha Raksa that do not have folk origins do not seem to be here; their full assembly has Sitabani as Hiranya Garbha. The first Buddhist non-local Durga is Mantranusarini, a form of Vajrayogini, who massively co-opts the normal role of Lotus Family in a way that artists refuse to paint. 206 is a deliberately provocative twist, where Vajra Family Explains something Vast which has the standardly-known Lotus Family of Mantra as an unmarked asset. This itself is an introduction to the fact that only a portion of tantras depict Quintessence as a neat, tidy bundle. It is a "creeper" with vining tendrils.


Peacock King was said to use his mantra at dawn and dusk. Narayani seems to be the important family achieved here in the Mayuri. Female Marici appears in it as a Raksasi on the same line with Varuni and Kali; there are multiple rings of these who guard a Bodhisattva in the womb.








Samvarodaya has its own way of making Armor Deities. Comparatively, Nepalese Hindu Cinnamasta has Vairocani in the root center, but the Buddhist "first" chakra is Noumenal, so it is in the Navel. This is where Samvarodaya places Vairocani with Vajrasattva. And so not only is it a different girl than usual, the males move around compared to their positions in some Chakrasamvara systems. Nothing else is like this.

Two of the Armor Goddesses are shown as companions of Varuni as well. Sancalini has been difficult to adduce. This system does not conform to the usual Vajra Family = Heart, because of this, we had to dissociate "Yamini" from what may have been its expected usage similar to Yama--Death or the Yamuna River. This should be re-emphasized by the fact that most of the characters in Varuni's hypostasis are Vidyadharis.


Yamini was a wife of Kasyapa (and mother of locusts), or, of Mahabala in Dakarnava's Vajracakra, or even the sister of Vairocani:


Yāminī (यामिनी) is one of the daughters of Prahlāda, according to the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 46. Accordingly: “... then, all being satisfied, Prahlāda gave to Sūryaprabha a second daughter of his, named Yāminī, and that prince of the Asuras gave him two of his sons as allies”.

The story of Yāminī and Prahlāda was narrated by the Vidyādhara king Vajraprabha to prince Naravāhanadatta in order to relate how “Sūryaprabha, being a man, obtain of old time the sovereignty over the Vidyādharas”.


This type of Yamini also happens to be similar to First Panchen Chakrasamvara generation of Varahi, she is with Vajrasattva at the navel, and:

At her heart, from the transformation of a blue HAM YAM, comes a blue Yamini, embracing a (yellow) Vairocana.

Because this is wrathful, she can be interpreted as the consort of Yellow Acala.




Samvarodaya that has Eighteen Arm Varuni does not mention color and assigns the Armor using Dakini Jala names:


Vajrasattva--Vairocani--Navel
Vairocana--Yamini--Heart
Lotus (Padmanarttesvara)--Mohani--Face or Mouth
Vajra (Heruka)--Sanchalani--Head
Jewel (Vajrasurya)--Samtrasani--Crown
Karma (Paramasva)--Chandika--Limbs.



That is unusual since it has sent Heruka to the Ajna center with a goddess who is diffuse. But as we saw above, there are different ways of chanting the Heart (Hrd) syllable (Hri). Lotus Family gives it -h.


When it is said "Hrim", it is the Maya syllable generally as we have already used it. Sumukhi Matangi is Maha Pisacini Hrim.
But then it is in the hands of a few Buddhist goddesses, from Durgottarini Tara and Mahacinakrama Tara, up to Sancalini.

Mahacinakrama Tara personally says Hrim, but, arises from Hum. Durgottarini Tara associates Hrim with Vira Tara. Marici Vajradhatvishvari uses it similarly to how Janguli uses Hrih. Amitabha has Hrim as his seed syllable at the very beginning of Sadhanamala; also Vajrasarasvati 166.


Hrim is used abundantly by Ekajati, Kurukulla, and Varahi. From the outer tier, Mahacinakrama Tara is in Vajra Family using Hrim, which would imbue it for Sancalini.


Sugiki's titles are abstract, but he has translated Six Yoginis--Armor--Kavaca practice explaining the importance of it, along with Seven Syllable and Heart and Near Heart mantras and mandalas.

It gives the standard view of Vajravarahi surrounded by Five Yoginis, and instead we are using Varuni surrounded by Six Yoginis, with Vajravarahi replaced by Vajravairocani. As a whole, Armor is equivalent to Cakravartin Initiation. So we could say, White or Sita Tara = Five Buddha Crown, Varuni = Six Families. The Six are an ongoing Wheel, or wheel of wheels. Among the most important things.








Varuni's hypostasis is "above", or perhaps could be ringed by, the Eight Matrikas. Here, the Matrikas have two hands and dance on the directional guardians. It is said their companions are Bhairavas, and the series ends on Vajravarahi with Unmatta Bhairava(CoB 73).


Nepal's Pitha Stava Stotra starts with Heramba Vinayaka Mahabala Krama, and gives the Matrikas as:


East--Prayaga Brahma Sakti or Brahma Savitri, Brahmani

North--Varanasi Mahesvari

Southeast--Kolhapur Kaumari

Southwest--Attahasa Narayani

South--Jayanti Varahi Kolarupi (boar form)

Naga (West)--Cirana Sakra Ishvari Mahavajradhara Devi

Maruta (northwest)--Ekamaksa Camunda Candi Candaksi Pracanda

Northeast--Devikota Mahalakshmi


Devikota and its relation to Khecari is similar in Kubjika Tantra and Buddhism. Above that you have the cue for the extensive Chakrasamvara Pitha system. Ca- "motion" plus munda "head" refers to motion of Akash inside the head. The other devis that inhabit the Pithas are reversed, because it starts with Pracanda (Cinnamasta). The other goddesses have similar names, and may be confused or equated in some systems, but here it is accurate to say they are related but distinct.



The Stotra or Song mentions an unusual Parasol or Chatra Bindu and that Four Pithas have become eightfold here.

The outcome appears to be Bhadra Pitha of Bhadra Kali.

She appears to summon Unmatta Bhairava. Then you have Ten Directions. It is a Vighna Mandala which is destructive or Nas towards suffrering, fear, etc.

Towards the end one finds:

ṛddhiṃ siddhiṃ śriyaṃ lakṣmīṃ vidyāṃ jñānaṃ sutādi ca |

buddhiṃ prajāṃ sumitrāṇi vardhayecca dine dine || 66 ||





In the grouping centered on Vajravarahi, if you remove the Ghona or Snout, it is Indrabhuti's Dakini.

White Sancalini and Blue Yamini are beside Varuni. There are the four yoginis of Nepal--on the left, Guhyajnana Dakini, as if the red form of Mahacina Krama Tara or Sankhu Yogini; on the right is Naro Dakini; to the lower left is Phampi or Pharping Yogini; and the lower right is Maitri Dakini. The lower central figure was unidentified by Circle of Bliss, but is Sukhasiddhi. Varuni's role is to prepare the practitioner with "tools" for visualization and Yogic meditation, and for the efficacy and power of mantra.






The assembly is generally composed of Vidyadharis.


They are individual lines of practice. Guhyajnana Dakini is at par with the Three Reds of the Sakya Golden Dharmas. Naro Dakini is simply the most common or famous one.

Circle of Bliss 112 shows Varuni over Varahi and the Four Yoginis of Nepal, and then over Vajra Pitha Tara, or Eight Armed Green Tara, saying Sadhanamala explains this. The Circle of Bliss description says Tara stands on a moon disk, arising from the Waters of Varuna, is a Bell goddess, also has Banner, is Queen of Five Families, and is surrounded by Twenty-four Sacred Sites in the same Chakrasamvara method. Vajra Pitha Tara holds a bell, staff, skullcup, gem, vajra, drum, banner, and wheel. She is a lighter color, with a much different attribute set from Samaya Tara. Further in, Vajravarahi is the Body of Khadira Tara.

There is the somewhat similar assembly of Weapon Hevajra (special to Marpa) with "five tantric goddesses", Akash Yogini, Vajrayogini, Guhyeshvari Kali, Khadga Yogini, and Khandaroha Dakini.

Guhyesvari's Hindu page explains her almost exactly the same way. It is an interesting story and they give the physical details:


There is a small hole that is covered by a kalasha that is wrapped in gold and on top of the kalasha is an inverted triangle which implies shakti. The kalasha keeps the hole hidden. That hole is the entrance of the guhya garbha of Guhyeshwari Devi. Under the hole is the guhya garbha of Guhyeshwari Devi and nobody knows what is inside it.

The hole or the entrance of the Devi is encompassed by four petals which implies that it also denotes the Muladhara chakra because Muladhara chakra has four petals. Besides it, there is an idol of Shiva which is also covered with gold. This is the purely tantric temple because the two idols are surrounded by Ganesha. On the southern side, there is Kurma idol or tortoise idol which also implies guhya wisdom because the turtle is the dominant force of mooladhar chakra. On the western side of the idol, is the goddess Chinnamasta and adjacent to it are the Asta Matrikas.

The temple has no roof but is protected by a metallic cover and is surrounded by snakes and serpents. The purpose behind such style is that is modelled as per mooladhar chakra because it lies in the base of the spine and above the chakra is nothing but the infinite universe, therefore the temple has no roof. The temple premises in the northern side has two big monuments that is supported on the top of a turtle. A big pillar is supported on turtle’s back and is erect. On the top of the pillar, a lion is portrayed standing on its two legs which is also the symbol of goddess and her divine vehicle. The temple also falls under “Mrigasthali” forest which means the forest where deer dwells and deer itself denotes kundalini shakti.

The Sukhasiddhi pose is also that of Guhyeshvari inside her temple:







Ananda Bhairavi is perhaps quite similar.


In Sundari, manolaya takes place at Brahmarandhra. Bhairavi, elimination of the mind takes place at Muladhar.


Bhairavi is revealed from the Vedic mantra ‘jata vedase Sunavame Soman arati yato nidahati vedah, sa nah parsadati durgani viswa naveva sindhum duri atyagnih’

She soaks in all pleasures of the heaven where manes (pitrudevatas) exist, hence she is called svadha. The meaning of svaha is ‘s’ = sakti, ‘va’ = amritam, ‘ha’ = siva. So svaha means that the homam which is really implied is the generation of amritam, the seed and [?] by the union of purusha and stri, given to the common fund of creativity through the fire. Fire is a symbol for lust and anger, the eros and thanatos, the life and death instincts. Svadha thus means the offering to Sakti amritam in the yoni (dha = yoni).

Bhairavi upasana takes Gandharva vivaha as a valid means for unrestricted enjoyment and liberation.

In the satakshari vidya of Tripuratapini Upanishad, catushpade gayatri is the first part which focuses Sundari upasana; jata vedase Sunavame Soman etc in Trishtubh chandas is the second mart which defines Bhaivari upasana; ‘Tryambakam yajamahe..’ is the third port which defines the Pracandacandika upasana, which gives inmortality.

In Bhairavi upasana, there is only one centre and one mood. The centre is muladhar and the mood is enjoyment, ananda, rasa of coitus.

...she wants to go up, release herself as emotional, epic outbursts, but since in Bhairavi, the attention is focussed in muladhar, it is roaring like a caged lion; she manifests as unremitting sexual bliss.

Bhairavi is the low frequency vibrations and currents felt rather than heard, and the revelations flowing from awareness there in. These low frequency currents which are like the ebb and tide of the ocean, can be felt in the loins. Muladhar, the ejaculatory nerve bundle in the male and the cervix in the female are the centres where awareness has to be, for Bhairavi upasana.

This is the primal power, Adishakti, Varuna. Vulva, the pleasure giver to a man is her power.

Bhairavi is sparsa devata. She loves contact.


She uses basically the same Triangle to melt a white seed:


May the fire (of lust) burn upwards fiercely, generating light besides heat at the top, dispelling darkness – thus becoming rajas from tamas. Happiness, pleasure, of 9 crores of orgies flow as the light from the moon which is ratas - is subtle in form ( This is nectar or the cool flow).

Knowing this tripura (Sundari) vidya, people, forgetting their inhibitions , enter the ocean of nectar, which floods their genitals (svapeetham) . They live in heaven in greatness, the intimate abode of Tripura.







Varuni, as herself or as the beginning of any sadhanas, also works with Armor Deities. Because these usually have a different format, the image does not precisely match Samvarodaya, which we will write out as if it did.

Armor Goddesses are external, i. e. a retinue, the Wrathful Prajnas. The Armor itself is just their syllable on a Moon Cushion.

They are in place to protect the Six Yoginis, Candika and others, the Six Yogas.


Here is Vajradhara emanating Varuni on a Fish in a Skullcup over Serpents with Six Yoginis:





At the places of my body on moon mandala cushions are:


at navel, red OM VAM, Bandhuka Orange Vajravairocani; at heart, blue HAM YOM, Yamini; at throat, white HRIM MOM, Mohani; at forehead, yellow HREM HRIM, Sachalani; at crown, green HUM HUM, Samtrasani; and at all my limbs, grey PHAT PHAT, Chandika.

The spoken Armor mantra uses two syllables, but the visualized Armor is just the deity's seed syllable (the second) on a moon cushion. As a retinue, they are cast counter-clockwise starting with the red one on the lower right. Therefor the artist has done something strange compared to any version by not using a smoky color.

Practices routinely overlook the male armor on the body's surface. We have the view that when you realize, for example, the real Yamini, you must be Vairocana, you must have the corresponding "kernel of consciousness" that is aware of and enjoying her.


When this Varuni arises, she is lustrous and scintillating, like the rising sun, and like the character Mam.

She must at least partially resemble Mam--Marici.

She actually "is" Mam--Mamaki, who would be Sancalini in the above, wrathful, format, using Hrim as if obtained from Mahacinakrama.

Varuni is partially reminiscent of Marici and Parnasabari, whom we have found to be tied together in terms of realization of life force.



Varuni's Samvarodaya epithets include:


Guhya Vajrini (secret vajra lady)

Rahasyam Sarvatantram (secret doctrine of all tantras; the only similar things are Samputa and Vajra Mala)

sarva vira samayoga dakini jala sat sukham (all heroes, yoga of dakini jala, absolute reality of bliss)

kundarh dharmodayakhyatam (famously known as dharmodhaya)

sura vajrayoginyo (sura sundari or effulgent power)


"Indian Buddhism" calls Samvarodaya the most important of its kind, and that in it, ultimate reality is called Dakini Jala Samvara, and that this, or yoginiyogimelaka, was the central cult. Three Mountains Seven Rivers says Samvarodaya and Mrtyuvacana Upadesa are the main Buddhist equivalents to Hindu "cheating death" tantras. Some of this "central cult" remained in Nepal without entering Tibet, such as Vajravarahi Kalpa which interweaves Samvarodaya and Dakarnava; also, Yogini Jala and Guhyasamaja Sadhanamala (46 Varahi sadhanas) did not travel. In the same link, Samvarodaya states it was written at Ratnagiri.




Samvarodaya is not the first Chakrasamvara manuscript. But it is the revelation from Khaganana Guhyesvari to Manjushri. That is who Shantikar Acarya got it from. And in simple terms, Mamaki is Varuni and Mamaki is Guhyesvari, the Adi Prajna. The other two Adi Prajnas, Vasudhara and Parasol, are Sutra-based dharani goddesses. Varuni is similar, but Manjushri said we should use the beneficial things from Hindu lore. He is the line of Samvarodaya which takes in Varuni just as she is.



Slusser on Agniyogini Guhyeshvari:


Buddhamargis claim her as Prajnapara-
mita, but worship her variously as Nairatma, the
fearful consort of Heruka, or as Fire Yogini
(Agniyogini) named for the subaqueous fire that
is said once to have emanated from the pothole.
As Agniyogini, Guhyesvari completes the comple¬
ment of the Valley’s Four Yoginis. Her compan¬
ions are usually identified as Vidyasvari (Kath¬
mandu) and the two famous Vajrayoginis, one of
Sankhu, the other of Pharping.






In Ayurveda, Varuni is a set of lobed bands of nerves from the middle to the flanks. Vairocani is noted for arising in the unusual Kurma Padi stance. If this were the name of a nerve:

According to Kṛṣṇavallabhācārya’s Kiraṇa on Patañjali’s Yogasūtras 3.7-8, “The tortoise-nerve (kūrmanāḍī) is said to be the same as the Nāḍīcakra in the heart.” Kūrmanāḍī (कूर्मनाडी).—When saṃyama (the simultaneous workings of dhāraṇa, dhyāna and samādhi) is directed on the Kūrmanāḍī (canal of the tortoise), it ensures the immobilisation (sthairya) of thought. Kurma Nadi is located in the upper chest below the throat. “By Samyama on the Kurma Nadi comes the steadiness of the body”. By Samyama on it you achieve Asana-Jaya (victory over Asana).





For Varuni's Flask:

Taking the Five-Coloured Thread from the spout of the Flask, passing it to the priest, and removing the kisali placed
over the top of the Flask; in place of the kisali he puts the priest’s conch shell, and, balanced
on the spout in place of the thread, the priest’s vajra. The priest holds the ball of thread and a
stick of incense in his left hand, while manipulating his rosary out of sight (under his coat or
in a special glove). Once he has summoned the deities, the conch shell is removed from the
mouth of the Flask, water is poured from the former into the latter three times, and the kisali
is replaced, likewise the vajra and thread.

[kisali: clay bowl with rice grains, a betel nut, and a coin. The deity is said to identify with the priest via the five colored thread, one end on him, one on the vessel.]

The second stage of the worship of the Flask is a series of apotropaic rites. This is known
as ‘nirajan’ or ‘nirajan yayegu’. A small clay saucer with burning coals is brought: a lighted
wick, mustard seeds, a flower, and rice are offered to it, it is touched to the Flask and taken
out of the house and placed at the threshold (pikhalakhu). The invocations which accompany
this rite request Khandaroha and Vajrasattva to remove sins and obstacles. Finally to complete
this stage, the Flask and other implements are worshipped with ‘footwater’ and the Five
Offerings.

Once the Visualisation, purification, and worship of the Flask have been performed, the
same process is repeated, first for the Tantric implements (Khay Pot and Alcohol Pot), and
secondly for any other additional item required by the overall rite.

In the case of the Visualisation of the Tantric implements, no removal of
Obstacles (nirajan) is performed. The worship of the Tantric implements, the Alcohol Pot
and the Khay Pot, is called in the handbooks kumbhapuja or varunipuja.


From a reasonable comparison of Ghee Lamps to lightbulbs, the niranjan with five wicks denotes the relation of Panchpran (five vital air principles) with the Atmajyoti (flame of soul). Niranjan is used for waving Pancharati. The Lamp analogy is very good, and close to the same for many opposites such as vegetarian vs. carnivorous, abstinent vs. alcoholic, smooth flame of the heart vs. sparkles and flashes of the brain.

The First or Main Flask uses Niranjan, the waving of a Lamp or Dipa for purificatory purposes. A lamp (Mar. niranjan) with at least two wicks, or a plate carrying five wick lamps (pañcārati) is vertically rotated clockwise in front of the icon. The burning camphor—which is believed to have purificatory qualities and expel evil—is burnt in a small fish-shaped dish (Mar. karpūrpātra) and is rotated in the same manner. The word ārati is especially used with reference to the waving of a lamp or camphor which is accompanied by singing of metrical compositions in regional languages.




According to basic Ekarasa or "One Taste", Nectars swirl counterclockwise and are the first Four Joys, Head, Throat, Heart, Navel; Meats swirl clockwise, and ascend, the second Four Joys of Navel, Heart, Throat, Head. This again is like a corkscrew or drill; the goal of the first set is Sahaja, then the rest are all Sahaja; and here, counter-rotation = reversal.


or:

As a 'swirling offering' the blood or amrita within a skull-
cup circles in a clockwise motion in the symbolism of the
father tantras, and in an anticlockwise direction for the
mother tantras. In the three activities of pacifying, increas¬
ing, and subjugating the liquid also swirls in a clockwise
direction, whilst in the fourth activity of wrath it circles in
an anticlockwise direction.


Samvarodaya has Varuni rendered as myos byed in Tibetan: Intoxication, craziness, to say, make, do, or provide--"the intoxicant which purifies" in Elizabeth English's usage.




The Triangle



Akhu Gyatso says:

The wind-element at the base [of the entire artifice] stands for the ten primary and
secondary ‘winds’. The fire stands for ‘inner heat’; the tri-pod, ‘appearance’, ‘increased
appearance’ and ‘attainment’. The skull represents the ‘union’ and the pristine cognition of
bliss and emptiness; the five ‘meats’, the five male Buddhas; while the five ‘nectars’
represent the five female Buddhas. The great bliss generated through the sexual union of
male and female deities is the life-vein of the path to freedom. From this [i.e. great bliss]
ensue ‘illusory body’ and ‘clear light’; from these are actualised the ‘union’. In the above, I
have, by means of an illustration, briefly shown how the complete elements of the
Vajrayana path are represented [by inner offering].



Yamantaka substance generation:

From the east comes BHRUM which is the seed syllable of Vairochana. From BHRUM becomes bull flesh and on top of that is the letter GO. All the meats that one visualises arise from seed syllables. Although they appear in the form of meats, you need to constantly remember that they are the seed syllables of the 5 Dhyani Buddhas. The letters above each type of meat (e.g. the letter GO stands above the bull flesh) are the first letter of the word for each meat. From the south comes AM the seed syllable of Ratnasambhava which becomes the flesh of a dog; from the west comes JRIM the seed syllable of Amitabha and becomes the flesh of an elephant; from the north comes KHAM (Amogasiddhi) becomes horse meat; in the centre there is a blue HUM (Akshobya) which becomes human flesh. Generating the 5 nectars: From LAM comes faeces; from MAM comes blood, from PAM comes white bodhicitta and from TAM comes bone marrow and VAM comes urine.


On top of these substances (the arranged-mixture of the 5 meats and 5 nectars) are a white OM, a red AH and a blue HUM...from the HUM at one's heart, light rays emanate to strike the wind-mandala (the bow shaped wind mandala) causing it to stir the wind and the banners inside the vase begin to flutter and that creates the wind to cause the fire from the fire-mandala to blaze and the substances inside the skull cup begin to melt and begin to boil.



Alternately:


In the Guhyasamaja, Hevajra, and Yamantaka Tantras the
syllables of the five nectars and five meats are derived from
their Sanskrit names. These are as follows: Vi for faeces (vit);
Ma for marrow or 'meat' ( mamsa ); Shu for semen ( shukra ) or
white bodhichitta ; Ra for blood ( rakta ); and Mu for urine
(mutra). The five great meats are similarly marked: Go or Ga
for the white cow (go); Ku or Shva for the yellow dog (kukkura, shvan ); Ha
for the red elephant (hastin); Shva for the yellow horse ( ashva ); and Na
for the blue man (nara).



That is some additional information, but, you are not going to get the same thing by saying "dog" than if you really did the procedure. It is like a Gaderene Swine, the dog inherits all of the faults, shortcomings, weaknesses, delusions, and sins that you have in Vedana or Sentience or Feeling Skandha associated with Jewel Family. You have to load it up with what you personally know.

This is the most important part, or thing to learn or focus on. The more you bond into the Families with five male and female principles, and Mutter the Three Syllables, the more effect will be amplified here. Again, it may be possible for some artistic people to easily imagine some fire and all this stuff happening, and, if so, they have to ask themselves when this picture really is Inner Heat. That is why, to really do Yoga, we will spend a long time in the Noumenal aspects, until, it would be likely to happen for anyone, although it could be a very long way off, the heat we are calling Vairocani starts.

If you follow the physiological and mental aspects, this is superior to the ability to visualize imagined things clearly, which may be gained afterwards. If one operates Vairocani, this becomes obvious.


Most yogis would probably understand the phrase "at Tapas", meaning the practice of attempting to generate heat, which I think all schools base on mantric repetition. With Buddhism, it has an application, the Dharmodaya or Reality Source. Here, this is the same Dhatu or Gotra as from Maitreya. It is not ordinary consciousness saying "I am a sixth principle as distinguished from my sensory inputs". It is that spiritual transformation which is supposed to be caused by Mahayana Yogacara. Then it is understood as Gnosis and Vajrasattva.


There are a tiny minority of goddesses who have a Dharmodaya as a hand item. For instance, in Vairocana Abhisambodhi Tantra, Locana has a White Triangle. Then there are a few other kinds, and some have a three-dimensional fire pot, Agni Kunda, which is what we will invoke for heat. In the most general way in Buddhism, it could be called Candali Yoga, and then in particular tantras, it may be Nairatma, Vajravarahi, or Mahamaya. Candali is a tantric Gauri, and we are trying to focus the Gauri class as found in Dakini Jala and Samputa Tantra.


Blue Ghasmari has a Sword and Agni Kunda in Dakini Jala. Moreover, she is the real hero in Mahesvara Subjugation. Vajrapani overwhelmed the hordes, but it took Ghasmari to defeat the chief Isana Mahesvara. This plot is essentially that of Mahalakshmi in Adbhuta Ramayana. It is not told in all versions. However she is very important in the tantras:


Luminous Wisdom gives Hevajra's Ghasmari as the purified sixth principle, manas of self-grasping, or sakkaya-ditthi or what we have called Sixth Skandha and Gnosis Element. Her name literally means voracious, rapacious. Ghasmari is power of food, or taste, similar to Rasa, and the enjoyment of soma or amrita or nectar. She is defined by Drakpa Gyaltsen as the Samputa Tantra itself.


Also I think she has a difficult position in Dakini Jala. Anyone who has studied it realizes that it has the doctrine of Nine Moods, which has not been followed or practiced in Tibet. Judging from the way the passages are written, the Gauris have a phrase that describes their eyes and a facial expression. But Ghasmari has been translated as "eating a corpse". If we re-think this in terms of how maybe it is an "expression" rather than an "item", it would also be comprehensible in terms of "eating death" as a subject and gaining a catharsis, carvana just as it says. In Dakini Jala, most of the Gauris are attractive. Over time and subsequent practices, in Tibet they have all been crafted into the most nightmarish and ghoulish aberrations possible. However the original set would probably have to be called "weird and interesting". One of the closest extant examples is Nectar Ekajati from the Panjara. It is White Nectar Vetali here.

Ghasmari ostensibly has a portion of meaning similar to Mrtyuvacana. It is unlikely we can ever provide a traditional image of her form. There is no visual evidence to confirm or deny what is being "eaten". It would not be impossible to interpret her as eating one's own body. It may be more certain to look at her and see someone who has full realization of the destinies, conditions, and processes after death, the three special modes of consciousness to be accepted as parts of the mind and meditation.

Although she is not a tantric goddess, Mrtyuvacana is accepted as a main doorway in the core system.


There is a Yoga Knees Cloth Varuni just like Mrtyuvacana.

Om Jaldeviyay Namah or Om Varuniye Namah







A Samvarodaya-based sadhana of Varuni says:

Trisamådhividhipustakam: visualization (dhyåna) for the (skull) vessel
(consecrated by) mantras (mantrapåtra).

Om Ah Hum

The skullcup or karota in void arises from Ah and then Varuni from Mam. She is called Sura Sundari and has the following mantra:

Om namo devi Varuni amrte amrtesambhave

Sarvasattvavasamkari amrte hrim akham praticcha svaha


Varuni is invoked twice, first into the "Secret Flask" of alcohol. There is also a khay pot which contains the meats. These two are blended in the third Red and White Skullcup arisen from Ah, into which Mam-arisen Eighteen Arm Varuni is invoked. Varuni is the agent of transcendental wisdom. Her weird pose usually involves a strap around her knees, and, this royal palace version has her on fish that are going into her cup. Usually her gesture is called bindumudra, or, flicking a drop from the cup. Sometimes considered "counting", although of time, or what, is not explained, it has been surmised as rhythm. Her common name is Bala Kumari.

It is hard to memorize that many items at once, although a Shield is very rare in Buddhism. She must have an interesting, lively Mudra, adding vibrancy to her appearance. She has a Banner but no Parasol. She has a title from the famous Namostute Mahalakshmi: Sarvasattvavasamkari. Vasikarana is Magnetizing Chain, usually Red Lotus Tara. Lalita's name #697, Sarva loka vasam kari – She who keeps all the world within her control, matches Chain, described as "bringing under control the good qualities, life force, and powerful energies of the three worlds", also being a Bandha or tie of friendship to a deity. Sri Tantra even uses a Sarva Vasam Kari Mudra, which means the seeker is experiencing siva-sakti union, and equanamity, which is nice of them to include the generic title of Jewel Wisdom, the higher meaning of Mamaki, equality with all selves.



Ultimately the Gauris are Sampatti which, if you don't have, Tapas will do it. One could perhaps call it Samadhi that is Armor Plated. In appearance they could be Tramen or Pisaci or Human. They can be grisly and bloodcurdling. The heat in its progress will awaken the Gauris.

Vasudhara--Lakshmi acquires or collects Nine, and Vajrasattva experiences Nine.


Because Vajrasattva is the male seed of the Sixth Family, in order to do tantra, it is also correct that he is installing a Pentagram into a Hexagram:


Namasangiti takes fivefold form under Space Element--Vijnana Skandha as Vam--Vajrasattva, who is Pancha Jina or five skandhas, and five mantras or syllables, the White Male seed. Then, to use his Hundred Syllable mantra is the addition of sixth element, Manas or Gnosis, and increases to Six Directions, which, when unified, is E Dharmadhatu, the Red Female seed. The two syllables together are Evam or first word in the common "Thus have I heard..."...when the six are ‘unified’ they are the E syllable Dharmadhatu; “five syllables and greatly void” is called semen and moon; “voidness in the bindu with one hundred syllables” is called blood and sun.



Whoever shines brightly and (praises) the Buddha here in Jambudvipa becomes the (evam) of pleasure in the middle of the pure triangle in the form of "e". When there is pleasure in the triangular mandala, it is called Vajra Arali (also bhaga of the lady and dharmodaya).



And so if we do Yoga properly, then it means Vajrasattva is doing this, simultaneously with Varuni attempting to represent Six Families. It has to have all of the proper inputs. If in the example, it is possible we might try to convert a Yoga person who already has Tapas, and they question us on what we would do differently. There would not be any option other than to take Vajrasattva and proceed accordingly. And so yes if it was a master like Matsyendra Nath, they would probably feel right at home rather quickly.



It is probably Varuni's Mother aspect which may sometimes be spelled Varunani.

Varuni is the Crocodile Makara goddess and also Nagini Shakti with Shesha-Ananta. And so when we see the mystery Makara goddess riding with--if not leading--Sri Devi, it is tantamount to the Daughter Varuni having, so to speak, re-aligned with herself as Mother.


In Atharva 6.42.2 and 6.46.1,2 Varunani is the mother and Yama is the father of Aruru (dreams). Varunani holds a noose. In Atharva, Nritti is called Varunani. Nritti is the opposite of Rta; reflected in the disorderliness of mundane alcohol versus the transmuted kind. In Rgveda 1.22.12 Indrani, Varunani and Agnayi are called "spouses of Heroes" and "have full wings". Also in Rig she is called the one who encompasses all as maayaa.


I tend to call it Cosmic, or, that about the only Buddhist representation of Buddhi as a higher plane is the Moon Mirror with Manas on the lower face.

The outer, or, Varuni in practice is this Manas Tattva, and so i. e. bundled with the Tattvas in manifestation.

She is "a system of Vajrayogini", who arguably has a Sutra aspect as Mantranusarini, as well as Ugra Tara and Ekajati in Dharani Samgraha. She influences the role of Khandaroha, the third of the Four Dakinis. The first of these is just named "Dakini" and she is in Vajra Family. This also means the "first degree" of human practitioners, within what is known of the Lama system, and then because everything is reversed, Lama is the second Dakini. Misunderstandings about this have caused some erroneous results to be published.

The Four Dakinis are identifiable as four peculiar syllables. Such as in Essential Mantra of All Dakinis:


Hri Vam Ha Ri Ni Sa Sarva Siddhi Samaya Hum Ja


I believe that Jalandhara uses the Four Dakinis as a bridge from Mahakarunika to Hevajra. We see that they are part of Guhyajnana Dakini, who is part of the Vajrayogini hypostasis. She has an individual sadhana, as well as two streams which are similar.


Taranatha's Secret Accomplishment Avalokiteshvara (Mitra tradition) is a Two Armed, Three Eyed, White form with reddish radiance, an Amitabha Hrih deity with Red Guhyajnana Dakini (Sangye) in the aspect of Varahi with a drum and skullcup. They are seated and he embraces her with his left arm. She becomes a simple extension to the mantra:

Om Manipadme Hum / Dakini Ha Ri Ni Sa Hum

Mitra White Lokeshvara with Guhyajnana, not seated:







We see a likely mix-up since the more accurate records seem to suggest that Mitra's versions are standing; Taranatha says "seated", which is supposed to represent the second kind.

The other example of Ha Ri Ni Sa is termed an oral lineage from Siddhirajni, no listed translator. This means it came from Mandarava, who increases it to Vam Ha Ri Ni Sa for Five Elements and is a Samaya with Jnana Dakini (Sambhogakaya), Mandarava being her Nirmanakaya.

'jig rten dbang phyug gsang ba'i sgrub thab

is its Tibetan title.





As Ocean Victor (Jinasagara), he personally contains Hayagriva and Guhyajnana. Taranatha gives him as an Amitabha Hrih deity, with Hayagriva in his heart, and Guhyajnana--Sangye (possibly four armed, using a drum and sword) in his navel. All three have Om Ah Hum in their three places. Their mantra is:

Om Ah Hum Hri Om Manipadme Hum / Dhuma Gaye Nama Ha Ri Ni Sa Raca Hrih Ya

She is the Sambhogakaya of Samantabhadri; her Nirmanakaya is Gomadevi or Mandarava. Circle of Bliss calls her Khadga (Sword) Yogini, and says in Nepal, she may have two to eight arms.


In other words, the transcendent aspect or Dharmakaya is Samtantabhadri; its Sambhogakaya is Guhyajnana Dakini; and its Nirmanakaya is Mandarava and her incarnation lineage, Siddharajni. Guhyajnana Dakini is a Samaya being for the tantric Jnana Dakini.

If I recall correctly, Sword Dakini is a trick, because the visible Red one is Guhyajnana Dakini, but, at the same time, she also has a Blue form. In that way, Mahacina Krama is smuggled in to what would otherwise be displayed as a whole panel of Red Dakinis.



On her own or without a manifest Jinasagara:


From a Red Hrih, white light emerges, which becomes Guhyajnana, semi-peaceful or wrathful and amorous. Four Family Dakinis uphold her seat. At her heart is Red Avalokita with a pearl rosary and lotus on a moon seat. At his heart is the seed and mantra.

Om Mani Padme Hum
Om Dhuma-Gahye Nama Svaha
Om Ha Ri Ni-Sa Raca Hriya

Also:

Undying Vajra One, great in desire, holding the vajra of conceptless space, who have found the perfection of desire--Lotus Dakini, homage to you.



The ending, "Raca Hriya", consists of the syllables of the unseen four male Heros, quite possibly intended as seeds in the Dakinis' hearts.

"Ha" is not among the musical Svaras, although the others are. These notes also are detectable in Sadhanamala, patterned like colors and syllables amongst the goddesses.



There is not satisfactory agreement on the personal invocation. In this case, all of the texts seem to be recordings of oral transmissions. There is no Sanskrit original that I know of. There is no sensible comparison, phrase, or teaching that appears to match the way it is written, and no evident analogy for Dhuma or Smoke. It may be possible they had mantrified something like:


dum skyes


which is Generation Stage. It would also refer to Khandaroha, who would appear to be in the position of, and identical to, Lotus Family. That would mean that Lotus Family is represented twice in the assembly, and that it would lack Buddha Family.



The Four Dakinis inherently lack Buddha Family, since they are a portable ring that has to be grafted onto something, the Form Elements.

Here they arise from Mahakarunika, in a way that is compatible with Varuni.




Indra Dakini is similarly with the Four Dakinis. However, most of these named Dakinis are specific lineages, and they are mantric components of Vajravarahi and Cinnamasta. That is a drastic jump and we probably should not copy their rites. Instead we are saying that a slow, steady evocation of Vajravairocani is a possibility. Were this to actually happen, there are controlled channels for her energy.

Dakini, per se, is not terribly advanced. They are "in the Pithas", but, more accurately, are the openness and flow between the Pithas, "pilgrimages" to sites if you will. Similar to the River Nirajan, and Varuni flowing like butter in all of it.

It is a magical beginner, not necessarily the Lama or Bhairavi or Ananda Bhairavi type. In her higher levels, i. e. Maitri Dakini is Akasha Dhatvishvari, like Camunda, motion of Akash in the head. In the body of Varuni is Vairocani, whose force you are mainly trying to concentrate and aim such that:


There is Kurukulla in the Jewel of Indra's Net, the union of senses above the soft palate at the Khecari point or Rupa Skandha

She lightens and elevates such that the Ajna allows the forces to cleanse the brain and aim at the Citrasena

All this is balanced (by Muttering) and then, laser-like, melts Heruka or the White Bindu of Bodhicitta in that region

Increase of Kurukulla as saturation of Nectar dripping back down into the body



There you have Bliss, the Joys of tantra, etc., although it is not necessarily physiologically that much different than "faster" yogas which develop by "activating the force of the centers". We are talking about the creation of a Nirmana Chakra and guiding the results.


It is not hard to see this by comparing Varuni's hypostasis to the Thirteen Golden Dharmas of Sakya.

There, we find Tinuma Vajrayogini, who affects the Four Dakinis mantra in her particular way.

As a parallel, Nyan's Ziro Bhusana Vajrayogini simply presides over Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis. She does not directly indicate Vajravarahi or Cinnamasta. She does have to do with unlimited release of Dakinis. And she is doing her own kind of work, which puts her in the place effectively of a Sixth Principle in relation to the Five Elements.

One can see the relation of using Ghasmari for Fire, to offering Vajrayogini a Taste of the Hot Orange Nectar. She will be glad to guide you if it tastes like fried sin and new wisdom and if that is the kind of thing you might want to try using to assassinate your ego. She is a feedback, a judge, a critic. The Panchamrita Offering and the Six Family Wheel are the desired outcomes.

It will extend to Five of the Eight Dissolutions.

At first, the sadhana is teaching Offerings as going through the mixture and so on, but then there is a second round of Offerings, which dissolves the Elements and Skandhas out of one's mental continuum. Then you are at the tantric Void or Akash. This is equivalent to having aimed and focused all the energy at the Citrasena or Brahmarandra. Are you able to penetrate it?

The central process begins from the Hum in the Heart and then it is a question does this make Ghasmari Fiery enough to do it.


Varuni's natural residence is at the bottom of the hells in the center of earth's core.

Hum is said to be the "individual incarnation" of the "universal" Om.

In metaphysics, it is taught that prana comes to us from the sun. The Underworld is like a Mirror. Part of the solar energy passes through us personally, and gets stamped by whatever we are thinking, saying, and doing, and proceeds down to the core, which reflects it straight back into us. And so if our heart is unclean, then we beget monsters in the hellfire or astral light, and so on. But in doing Yoga then we are trying to stabilize the power of this symbol mainly with Vajra Family.


What we are doing is a variety of Inner Homa. We might never replicate a full ritualistic altar. We should at least have a basic area that is suitable for practice. Something that we might easily do, which can be fun and tied to the simple idea of blessing food in general, is to use real Soma and Yogurt and even Honey. And I think you could legitimately say that any kind of Soma might work here. You could simply have a beer, or it could be some kind of potion, or just water or tea. What we have found is that Pitrs are not Ancestors, they are Time. Maybe it is still an imaginary fluid. But whatever you are using is concocted with a certain intoxifying, yet blissful, and enlightening, intent.

So there could be a Soma Varuni sadhana. Similar to using one cup, invoking her into it, and you make a ritualistic bond. She is not really a Samaya deity because all she does is enter the Soma. Or, she enchants it and enters it.


Once there is a Soma, then in another practice, you could mix the Meats and Nectars and assemble a retinue for the purposes of Ekarasa or Rasayana, or Taste Alchemy, in the auspices of Vajrayogini, complete with Armor. That is like trying to do two Quintessences and Six Yogas at once. Difficult to get used to, but actually enjoyable.


Lokesh Chandra reasons that since Vajravarahi 225 is Oddiyana Vajrapitha, this refers to Kanci, from where Vajrasekhara and its Vajradhatu mandala were transmitted to China. Then because there is an Oddiyana as well as a Vajradhatu Ishvari Marici, then she may also be contributing to this identification.

Saraha's Pitha Ishvari must be an early tantric Tara, and Vajra Pitha says more to us about the Pitha system of the Vajra or Subtle Body. Vajrapitha in its basic meaning shows Two Deer, the monks and the laity.



She also is going to work with an Outer and Inner Lamp; i. e. the first as Purification, and the second as an attempt at a Fiery Dharmodaya to boil the result. Pressing the ability, "secretly", another Lamp is the Fourth Dissolution, Air into Space. That view summarizes everything from any ritual manual on Flask Worship, up to the Rahasya of Dakini Jala, which is the Vajrayogini explanation of it.


Varuni is the source of them--not so much Vajra Family, but classes of Subtle Vajradakinis from spiritous liquor or Soma.

Soma is Vedic Alchemical Akasha.

Bhrigu and male Varuna with Brahman as Food are fairly parallel to our mythos.

Our attention was called to Vairocani as Tapas in Taittiriya Upanishad.


The Tapas ends at Absolute Bliss:

This Knowledge learnt by Bhrigu and taught by his father Varuna, established in the ” Supreme cavity of the Heart”.

The journey that began with food now ends in Supreme Bliss in the ” Supreme cavity of the Heart”. Here the disciple, the seeker becomes One with Brahman. The concept of teaching through conversation emphasize that anyone who follows the same method as Bhrigu, can have same realization what Bhrigu achieved. It is known as famous ” Bhargavi- Varuni Vidya” in Taittiriya Upanishad.


In Buddhism, Heart = Citta Chakra, i. e. the stage after Speech Mandala/Pranayama/Triangle.

[shaberon]

Four Dakinis' Mantra, the Triangle, Carcika or Muttering, Varuni and Soma






This is in the view that for at least a hundred years prior to Padmasambhava or even Garab Dorje, that Guhyajnana Dakini inhabited the Cool Grove in Bihar, hosting Ganacakras and bestowing Initiation. The Golden Garland Chronicles (p. 179) describes this place as: ‘The eminent celestial sacred place of the vidyadharas, the wild jungle which is a crossroad on the secret path of great bliss.’ It is also counted among the traditional Eight [Peaceful] Charnel Grounds.



We are in the position of showing Guhyajnana Dakini as an emergent result of Varuni. Broadly put, the first is mainly known due to Mindroling, and Varuni is reduced to a "technique" outside of Nepal. However, the hypostasis picture shows us that Guhyajnana is also another part of the Vajrayoginis of Nepal, and therefor should be included. The others of them go into the more well-known Sakya Golden Dharmas, which we could say we are making a parallel.



Her mantra is difficult. Deceptively simple. It perhaps would be more accurate to say that the Four Dakinis are the syllables, Ha Ri Ni Sa, which could be attached to different seeds, since the ring is portable, found in numerous places.


There are other uses of the mantra or its syllables. We can find these in a few Nyingma formats. When we do, we should be aware that they are making a particular reference to the tantric Families:



These are centered on Vairocana with Dhatvishvari, having Akshobhya with Locana in the East, Ratnasambhava with Mamaki in the South.


Because of this, there are sayings such as "Mamaki is Water".

But we are also aware that with a bit of experience, tantric mandalas become centered on Akshobhya. In some cases, the goddesses change or move. In this basic format, we can find the mantra involved in a practice by Tsultrim Allione:




Vam as White Buddha Dakini


That one is relatively concise, and its strength is that it respects the reversed casting order of the Dakinis. So that is actually very good. This Buddha Dakini is basically equal to Akasha Dhatvishvari as understood above. It is not the same as the tantric principal, Buddhadakini. In other words, it is not quite a personal name, but, a generic definition. Everyone has an inseparable Buddha Dakini, whereas it would take Mahamaya or a few related devotions such as Pithesvari Tara to realize Buddhadakini who is a type of Yidam. A lot of what is happening is we are going to take a much more esoteric view of the Four. Second Dalai Lama speaks of a pattern similar to the above.


On a personal level, the mantra or Ha Ri Ni Sa syllables are probably most strongly associated with:



Mandarava as Jnana Dakini

Mandarava Immortality



Mandarava is not quite as early as Guhyajnana Dakini, but she is close. As far as we know, she is the incarnation lineage, Siddharajni.

It is correct that the mantra is also used by her "sister", Yeshe Tsogyal, the incarnation lineage of Machig Labdron, the Tibetan exponent of Chod.


Both of them being consorts of Padmasambhava, he also carries the mantra, such as in Vajrasattva Subtle Essence.

These are mainly forms and enhancements of Nyingma Guru Yoga.



A while back, we looked in Traktung Rinpoche's Generation Phase. It is tantra taught by way of English conversation around Ann Arbor. There are so many questions by curious people because they are having a hard time "getting it".

But with some review, his program is just too big. It is just about like Pabonkha. He has the transmissions, so he can teach people to self-generate as Heruka and Vajrayogini, and then he also gives miles of visualizations.


That is my issue. He speaks of these advanced visualizations and you are giving yourself Bliss and all these deities are present. There are multiple offerings and sadhanas and so forth, hundreds of pages. But it is oblivious about Varuni. It largely lacks a lot of basic connections that you need to succeed in Generation Stage.


Of course, if you were actually there, if you have the opportunity to for example get regular personal guidance from a Nyingma master, you should. The handful of people he is able to name as his attendants have probably eventually gotten something from it, or they would have quit. He has learned English well enough in order to talk to the audience in a fairly normal way. But I have a hard time finding where he hones in on what I am saying is important. We can get a bit of useful information from him, and somewhere in there he is actually going to confess that hardly anyone gets what I am trying to talk about.


So let us see what he has to say about the Triangle. From what I have seen, no one in Tibet ever refers to Varuni at all. But they use the Triangle every day. It has outer and inner meanings, so the instructions include things about peaceful and wrathful outer offerings. When we deify Varuni, that means she is her own subject. Here are a few ways he sort of talks around her. This is how he describes the Triangle:




HUNG

Grasping burned, clinging scattered, and the stains are washed away
The ego stain of fierce fixation purified in wisdom brilliance

RAM YAM KHAM. RAM YAM KHAM. RAM YAM KHAM.

With OM the skull-cup, vast and boiling
With AH, the syllable, melting, dripping
With HUNG, the offerings become pure nectar

OM AH HUNG. OM AH HUNG. (Is repeated many times)

A mass of everything delightful gathered in this stainless tsog

OM A HUNG HA HO HRI (3 times)


After the little song is
finished and you are enjoying and singing and dancing in bliss, you visualize, over
the table of the offerings, an immense skull-cup over the whole area. It’s on a
tripod of human heads, with a fire burning under it. And inside of it is a thousand-petaled lotus. And on top of that thousand-petaled lotus is the syllable AH.

The skull-cup, which in some texts says, “A skull-cup equal to the the
dharmadatu.” The dharmadatu is the space of wisdom itself. The skull-cup is the
skull-cup of your own cognizance, in which all appearances are offered. The tsog
feast contains the five aggregates and the five elements through its various
substances. What’s really being fundamentally offered here is all appearance. We
understand that that skull-cup contains every possibility of experience and
perception.

So with RAM YAM KHAM -- these three syllables are meant to purify the
offerings that are actually on the table -- the food that has been brought together
and drinks that’s been brought together for the offering. What is purified? The
substance of the wine or whiskey and meat is not impure, inherently in and of
itself. Nothing is impure. What is being purified? Not dinner. What’s being
purified is your concepts. In Vajrayana, again and again and again, you are playing
psycho-drama games of purification of mind’s endless rambling tendencies.
What’s being purified by RAM YAM KHAM is the way in which you fixate and
grasp on concepts about substances offered, which ultimately means all
appearance and particularly means the substances on the table itself.
With the visualizations of RAM YAM KHAM -- with ‘RAM’ you visualize,
from your heart, you as the deity. Right? Because you’re the deity all throughout
this. From your heart, a red dakini of the nature of fire, burns all the offerings on
the offering table completely away. Burns them up completely. With ‘YAM” a
green dakini, whose nature is wind, issues forth from your heart and the wind
blows the ash to the farthest extent of the universe. And with ‘KHAM’ a white
dakini, whose nature is water, washes away any stain left behind.



Mahayoga’s generation phase
practice destroys the gross conceptions, the grossest level of conceptuality. It’s
destroyed by Mahayoga. But the subtle aspect, which dualizes bliss and emptiness
remains. And so the completion phase, practiced in Anuyoga, destroys this
through the cultivation of the four joys, which results in perfect and nonconceptual realization. But then even the possibility of a stain remaining and the
straying into duality is then washed clean from this by the crystalline purity of
Mamaki, the dakini of the water element. It’s washed away in Atiyoga so that
there is no stain to stray to. This is the inner meaning of “RAM YAM KHAM.”

So whenever you hear five and five, you know that we’re talking about the
five aggregates and the five elements. In your cruddy, dualistic view, the five
aggregates are form, feeling, perception, consciousness, formation. The five
elements are earth and water, fire, air, and space. But this is only because you’re
trapped in cruddy, dualistic conceptuality. As Dungsé Rinpoché says in Magic
Dance, “Mamaki, we only call you water because our vision is so distorted.”

So you have these five aggregates and five elements and they’re swirling
inside this skull-cup, and you have to actually visualize a corpse of a human being,
which you’re going to be eating in a moment, is floating around in a small ocean
of sh!t. Little clumps of sh!t are floating around and urine and puss. It’s really not
pleasant. So you’re visualizing this, and the three heads are there on a tripod and
the fire under that. The whole thing is beginning to boil. At the point where you
begin “With OM, the skull-cup. With AH, the syllable melting,” you visualize that
the syllable AH, which was on the thousand petaled lotus, now there’s just meats
and nectars. The syllable AH rises to the sky above the skull-cup and it has the
color of mercury -- quicksilver, the shining, shimmering color of mercury. As the
content of the skull-cup boils, the steam rises up from it and begins to melt the
syllable AH but it doesn’t get any smaller or deformed in anyway. It’s as if it
begins to sweat and the sweat from it drips down and coalesces at the bottom of
the AH. And the syllable AH, visualized in the Siddham Alphabet, (I’ll give you
all copies of it) has a little piece that goes like this. A drop comes all the way
down there and collects as a perfect drop and falls down into the skull-cup. And
the moment it touches the skull-cup, everything changes. AH is the syllable of
unborn wisdom that transforms everything. And so this AH, which has the nature
of perfect stainlessness and bliss, this one drop from it, transforms the five meat
and the five nectars into the five buddha consorts -- male and female buddha
consorts. You have Vairochana and Dhatishvari in the middle, Akshobhya and
Mamaki, Ratnasambhava and Lochana, Amitabha and Pandarvasini,
Amoghasiddhi and Samayatara -- the five buddhas. And you can visualize these as
five colors of light.

A mass of everything delightful gathered in this stainless tsog. OM AH
HUNG HA HO HRI. OM AH HUNG HA HO HRI. OM AH HUNG HA HO HRI.


In another description of the subtle anatomy of appearance Ramana Maharshi said
that when the eye is engulfed by the heart is when everything which is called ego
dies and from the stillness the silence of that. The amrita-nadi, the channel of pure
nectar that arises from the heart as worlds of appearances, this is the form of all
bliss from that vast emptiness which is Dharmakaya. There arises as moving of
brightness, and the ocean of bliss and the structure of bliss, and that is the form of
Dechen Gyalmo.

There is
a mudra you can learn if you want, it goes like this: OM AH HUNG. It’s a garuda
-- this is like the wings of a garuda. OM AH HUNG is to transform, purify
completely, transform completely, make inexhaustible. Purify from any notion of
the offerings having anything corruptible about them. To enhance or magnify them
endlessly and to make them inexhaustible all together. To purify and transform
them into dutsi. Dutsi is the nectar of deathlessness. And then to make it
inexhaustible, there is an inexhaustible amount.

The amrita and the rakta are the two skull cups,
and the torma–you'll have a torma, which is used for offering. The amrita offering:
you visualize a skullcup vast as space like you did before for the torma. Your
nectars are the sacred samaya substances for tantric practitioners, and they
represent things that normally would be shunned. But because we have pure view,
we don't shun them, yeah? In the center–so you have this huge skullcup in the
center you visualize human flesh and ****, like a human corpse and **** floating
there. In the east, here, you visualize ox meat and semen; in the south you
visualize dog, a dead dog and brain; in the west a dead horse and menstrual blood;
in the north elephant and urine. These are the five meats and the five nectars. And
then you say, OM HUNG TRAM HRI AH MUM MAM LAM BAM TAM. With
mudra and visualize the five Buddhas and consorts unite, and from the place of
their union red and white nectar flows, filling the amrita cup. All the five dissolve
into the amrita and the whole altar.

So you visualize--you have this little amrita cup, you visualize this large--and you
visualize the five meats and nectars. And then you say this: OM AH TRAM HRI
AH, it's the syllable of the five Buddhas and the five consorts. You visualize the
five Buddhas and consorts above the meats and nectars. From the place where the
vajra and lotus come together, red and white fluid pours down into the--onto the
meats and nectars. And they're transformed, they dissolve–the actual animals and
the **** and urine, the menstrual blood and semen dissolve--all of this dissolves
and it becomes a kind of pearlescent, silver liquid, swirling inside of the skull cup.
And then the five Buddhas and consorts themselves dissolve into it. And this
causes them–the amrita and the cup–to be completely purified as the essential
nectar of the five wisdoms, yeah?

It also then, the actual substance in the skull cup is alcohol, which has been
blessed with certain substances, a variety of different kinds of substances. This is
why the amrita then is very powerful. If you combine the blessings--the lama
makes the amrita for you--and you combine that blessing--the actual potent
blessing of the substances, and the visualization then done with the daily practice
of this–then it's a very powerful substance. Trungpa Rinpoche calls it your "bank
account." It's your tantrica's bank account. It can be used for all kinds of things.
For instance you use it–you take your ring finger and thumb and you flick it on the
various torma and various other--it blesses them; it has the power to bless anything
and turn anything into pure nectar, yeah? It's tremendously potent and powerful
substance. Sometimes, if you stay in, generally in retreat, for long enough, there'll
come a point in your practice when the amrita in the cup will actually begin to
boil. You'll hear the sound and you'll look and it boils, or suddenly it fills and
overflows onto your altar–it’s one of the signs of accomplishment.

And then you say OM MAHA SARVA PANCHA AMRITA RAKTA
BALINGTA AH HUNG seven times. So this is how you–first you did the
blessings of the outer offerings, and these visualizations are the blessings of the
inner offerings, yeah?

So, when you visualize -- at this
point the skull-cup, kind of, it reappears. And please don't get all uptight and ask
things. So, what I'm about to say now: the skull-cup is resting on three freshly
severed heads, and there's a fire under it in the shape of a triangle.

So, you visualize now the skull-cup is on three freshly severed heads.
There's a fire under it. "With OM AH HUNG, the five meats and the five nectars"
which represent the aggregates and the elements, and they represent the impure
aspects, which are no longer viewed as impure. So, the five meats and the five
nectars, another time we can go over exactly what they are but there's a horse, and
elephant, and human meat, sh!t, and urine, and puss, and blood, and brain. These
things that are normally kind of considered disgusting by human beings, they fill
the skull-cup. They're the aggregates, the five liquids or the five elements, the five
meats or the five aggregates which immediately, of course, lets us know that
they're symbolically the five male and female buddhas.

We visualize over the skull-cup (at this point) an upside down katvanga. A
katvanga made of substance that looks like mercury, like quick silver, silvery
mercury. The katvanga is made of that. And as the flames, fan up, under the skullcup, inside of it the five meats and the five nectars are boiling and boiling and over
the edges of the skull-cup. (You know when you put spaghetti in a pot and you
boil the water too much and it froths over and sizzles in the fire? It's like that.) All
the ordinary views of substance phenomenon is frothing over and sizzling in the
fire and steam from the constant purifying rises up and begins to heat the
katvanga. The katvanga is upside down so its three points are down like this. The
middle point is the longest. It starts to heat this and melt it so that it comes
together. One drop of this seminal fluid, this pure essence of wisdom and drops
down into the skull-cup, and the very second that it touches the five meats and the
five nectars boiling in the skull-cup they are transformed into the five male and
female buddhas. All of this, and this part we won't talk about here, but all of this
corresponds then to aspects of completion phase winds and channels practices as
well.

So, the five buddhas and the five consorts now are filled, are inside of the
skull-cup and from the point of their union bodhichitta is flowing out and never
ceasing flow of bodhichitta, the nectar of the awareness joy and pleasure of their
union. And it fills the skull-cup and it overflows as light, like billowing clouds of
bodhichitta light filling space and it goes out to all the buddhas of the three times
and ten directions and touches them, makes offerings (when the light touches them
it's as in the form of offerings) and then draws back the power and blessing force
of all buddhas into the visualized skull-cup. Got that?

So, the OM AH HUNG. Ultimately it was RAM YAM KHAM, OM AH
HUNG, all of this is taking place just in those few lines, and you're also saying the
lines as a sort of reminder but all of this is taking place. The OM AH HUNG is the
three-lights blessing of all of the buddhas of the times coming back into the skullcup. This then transforms it into the indestructible amrita. This pure nectar that has
the quality to become anything conceivable that any being could possibly want
and then partaking of this anything they could possibly want liberates them. This
is not like ordinary wanting and desire. It liberates them on contact. It captivates
them with its desirous splendor and liberates them with its touch. Make sense?
Okay.

Then DZA. DZA is a syllable that establishes firmly the vajra-reality within
the skull-cup. All right. The vajra-reality of elements and aggregates as male and
female buddhas and the blessing force of all buddhas. And the vajra-reality of this
now -- because the billowing waves of this bodhichitta never stops. First it went
out as light and comes back as blessing. Now it’s going out and drawing forth the
assembly of deities to whom the tsog feast is being offered in the first offering. So,
the deities assemble in space here in the middle of the room.



In Completion phase, if you were to go further with the alchemical
metaphor, Generation phase creates the vessel, adds the ingredient, and begins cooking it. As
one of our yogic songs says, “Cooking the milk of a lion, boiling it in the pot slowly.” In
Completion phase that magical elixir is drunk directly; poured down the throat of preparation.


-------------------------------------------------------


So we notice if you stay "in retreat" for long enough, the Amrita will actually boil and you will hear the Sound.

Well, it is kind of the only place in the book he said something about Yoga.

But this is the only thing we are trying to teach by saying "Varuni is the input".

We are giving her a qualifier, a heat source, such as Ghasmari, to gauge our progress and attempt to reach that point. The source in her hand or Dharmodaya is a hollow, inverted pyramid. It is like a bindu; white outside, in the sense of brilliance, and red inside, as unceasing bliss. Often with yoginis themselves, to emphasize Bliss, the object becomes completely red, this lower Red Triangle of the Navel.


That is why I would discourage the very elaborate visualizations as if telling yourself "this is happening".

It is a feeling, and it moves in a sequence. It is unmistakable. You totally trust your gut on this because the brain can only interfere. And so yes, in order to get used to the meditation, you need Vajrasattva and Guru Yoga. Then you should go to the simple Kriya and Samaya deities such as Prajnaparamita as we have described in the exercises of the Bindu and the Crescent. Ideally you should at least get a basic notion of Quintessence.


But if you are sincere, then it is a matter of time until that feeling kicks in.

The book mentions Emptiness, i. e. you get a flash of nothingness which is yet full of the potential of everything. We want to dwell in this for those first two exercises. That is like the outer skin of the Dharmodaya, or a White Triangle deity.


Once you can feel what is being suggested, you can do Subtle Yoga. That is because you can do it in numerous ways which are not even Buddhist. Once you have the feeling, and are positive you are doing it in a Buddhist way, that is Generation Stage. You do not have to self-generate as a deity, or use all the intricate Pithas, but you *do* need the basic Four Places and Three Channels.

This book seems inaccurate about Ha Ri Ni Sa. It says "ha ri ni" means "hers", and that the other syllables (Ra Ca Hri Ya) are Raja, so, "her king", and then Hriya as the mantra's seed. This sounds like an engineering attempt which does not reflect the original.

Guhyajnana Torma is similar.

Elsewhere, the syllables have been added to Vajravairocani on a Dorje Phagmo thangka.

Vajrayogini Short Mantra:

OM BENZRA BEROTSANIYE HARINISA HUNG HUNG PHET SOHA

Also shouted by Khandro (Dakinis) after Nyima Ozer's body finally self-immolated.


It becomes tempting to question maybe the mantra spells something, such as perhaps Harini. That could be a goddess name, but then what do you do with "Sa"? So that seems unlikely, although Harini Isa, a title of Shiva, can be contracted to Harinisa. Then maybe you could argue it is feminized because Ghasmari conquered Isana. But it is probably not a weird contracted feminized Shiva either.


There is another relevant goddess who has an unlikely Harini.

Charchika means Vajra Muttering; one of her personal mantras is:


Om Vajra Charchika Siddhendra Nila Harini Ratna Traya


Csoma de Koros reported as early as 1836 that Charchika appears to be the most important deity to Rakta Yamari, using the mantra referring to the Hindu Yogi. Although his date is uncertain, Siddhendra is certainly a Vaisnava Lord of the Dance.


From Indian research, "The Buddhist Pratimalaksanam enjoins that images of such deities as Brahma, the goddess Charchika, the Risis, the Brahmaraksasa, the celestial beings, and the Buddhas should be made according to dasatala measurement, and no images of others should be made in this manner."

For some reason, she is the only goddess who should be the same size as Buddha.

That is like a standardized book of architecture for carpenters and so forth. So at some point in time, it was not unusual to exalt her.


Charcika appears in a list of Jagannath associates, not long after Vana Durga. It also says the Sabaras still ask permission to do Vanayajna from the King in front of Charchika. Deva Pratistha is the technique of installing deities: vanayajna is to worship the forest that is the source of stone for the idols. It is a part of Navakalavera or Jagannath's car festival. The Jagannath Puri book is a major source containing a Charchika story from 1368 and that she has to do with chariots, according to Jagannatha, she is War Chariot goddess. She is considered perhaps the most important Odiyana Pitha goddess. Same story in Orissa Review. Due to its late date, it is unlikely to be inspirational towards Chariot goddess Mahamaya Vijayavahini--but if she is Buddhist Narayani, then as we will see, she must be subsequential to Viraja. Due to the same date, Charchika should still be considered similar to a Nirmanakaya or somewhat easily interfaced or operative in the world, or, meditation.




Charchika is used in Rakta Yamari tantra, his goddesses other than the central Vetali are:

(east) is white Moha Yamari embracing the consort black Charchika
(south) is yellow Matsarya Yamari embracing the consort light yellow Varahi
(west) is red Raga Yamari embracing the consort white Sarasvati
(north) is green Irshya Yamari embracing the consort light green Gauri


They are all modified or converted Hindus, which is showing Charchika as a forerunner of Lakshmi/Sarasvati/Uma.


Page 128 of Roar of Thunder equates Charchika to Locana. Similar title, "Roll of Thunder from Void", is about Vajrakilaya. "Roar of Thunder" is Yamantaka. There, she has the nature of Locana with Ignorance Yamantaka. Same as with Moha Yamari above. That is Buddha Family pushed to the outside, so this is centered on Vajra Family.


Because Vajrabhairava/Yamantaka was Tson kha pa's primary Yidam, from the Gelug order we can find thangkas which most likely depict Carcika accordingly. She is also in the major Indrabhuti Vajrayogini thangka.

In these cases, she looks more like an enlarged Guhyajnana Dakini.


Concerning the Matrikas:


Chamunda is known as parianganatha, the ruler of sacred erection, for she is the primal source of creative energy. She sits upon a razors edge of pleasure and pain. She is dynamic to the extreme, securing for her devotees anything to advance their spiritual aspiration.


That one is 56 of the 64 Kali Yoginis. They have mantric forms as well. Or, they are broken down in categories, using Seven Matrikas. Or, Matrikas related to Nath.



From a recent translation of Devi Mahatmya, Red Camunda, Queen of Yoga, is terrifying because of her redness, even her teeth, her actual name is Raktadantika. She has massive exceedingly attractive breasts, oceans of bliss, and carries a sword, vessel, pestle, and plow.


Most Hindu "shakti lists" read like the goddesses are all the same, but, in Buddhism, Charchika is distinguished from Chamunda, who is the Protector Yama Dharmaraja's consort. Comparatively:



The contribution of tribal people to the cultural history of Odisha is not unknown as we know from Skanda Purana that the Savaras are associated with Jagannath Cult. Goddess "Stambesvari" which is the earliest form worship of Sakti in Odisha is found in the tribal dominated areas like Balangir, Baud, Kondmal, Sambalpur, Sonepur and Kalahandi region."

At Bhuvaneshwar town, Chamunda is known as Vetali, and nearby she is Viraj, Mohini, Charchika, Janguli, and even Candaghanta. This location is mostly the origin of mixed goddess cults and Hindu-Buddhist crossover. She is associated with Matsya Varahi, Kapalini (Vaital), Gouri at Khiching, Durga Viraja at Jajpur.

Charchika is her name that is only found at the Pitha in Banki and in another temple in Mathura near river Yamuna.



What she "is known as" seems misleading. Vetali and Viraja are very different forms, with different intents and mantras. We want them to do something other than give us the abstract notion that a million different things are all one. The deity forms are thousands of times more powerful than words and ideas. They completely change the nature of experience. That is Yogacara, to practice how consciousness affects the Samsara. Stambesvari was sort of "pre-historic", i. e. there are not really writings about her with invocations, prayers, or yogic details--but this shows up starting with Viraja. And we still have her Jyotir Aham song, which is about purification, commune, and sanctuary. And so of course, at first we are going to say this is more primordial and important than technical functions of perhaps hundreds of shaktis if you want to learn that many. Really it gives us a lot of basics naming the senses, pranic winds, etc., combined with the intent of luminosity. That more or less summarizes complete mastery of Pranayama. So it is very good.





In Buddhism, there is a Charcika who ceased to represent Orissa a long time ago, until just the past few years. In large part, this is due to anywhere other than Swat or Kashmir as the site of Shambala had become "inconceivable", i. e. the literary and academic community had convinced themselves about something that defined history. I would probably have to argue that it at least has a dual meaning. I would tend to say it originally means Orissa, mainly in the symbolism of Fire such as Vimala and Pithesvari Tara, to which, becomes affixed or attached, Kashmir, mostly in the language and symbolism of Smoke, such as Dhumavati and Candi. If we just stop there, it arranges itself into Generation and Completion Stages, or the Third and Sixth Yogas.



Charchika is among the names of Sarala, who was carved by Parasurama; likewise, he is said to have shaped Charchika's Yantra.


The elusive syllable Sa or Sam syllable is used for Sabari amongst the Gauris in Hevajra systems.

Sauh as Amrita Bija, the Heart of Bhairava. Or Sauh and Kha, from Abhinavagupta, going up to the Most Liberating Sound of the Drum.


Because Charchika means Muttering, this shows us how perhaps Ha and Sa go together:

The term Ajapa-japa is also explained in another manner. A person exhales with the sound ‘Sa’; and, she/he inhales with the sound ‘Ha’. This virtually becomes Ham-sa mantra ( I am He; I am Shiva). A person is said to inhale and exhale 21,600 times during a day and night. Thus, the Hamsa mantra is repeated (Japa) by everyone, each day, continuously, spontaneously without any effort, with every round of breathing in and out. And, this also is called Ajapa-japa.

Soundarya Lahiri uses the name Charchika for the remains of mahadeva, it regularly uses the word for muttering, and derives bijas or seed syllables such as Ni = Na + E.


Linguistically, that is what is unusual about this mantra, it is not a chant. "Ha" is almost just the "letter form" of the chantable "Ham", from which, "Hum" would be another iteration. That is also correct that "Ri Ni" could be simplified to "Ra Na", if it would help understanding that it is sort of just the letters, ha, ra, na, sa. And they almost have the basic meaning of "backwards" or "reverse", especially because this direction becomes normal in the tantras, and art does not always follow the instructions. Some mandalas with three rings might say forwards, backwards, forwards.



Indrabhuti and Charchika are both devotees of Jagannath.

Because, in Buddhism, she is really Vajracarccika, her syllable is Vam, or, rather, she arises from this, and has Cam at her heart. She is crowned by Akshobhya, and has what in some systems is a series of gestures, but, here:

panca mudra. Five bone ornaments worn by wrathful female deities of the Highest Yoga Tantra


In her Buddhist mantra, she is practically a substitute for the Ah syllable:

oṃ vajracarccike huṃ svāhā


We typically see Om Ah [Name] Hum Phat Svaha, which is why this makes her resemble the Ah itself.

It says she has terrifying fangs of Bhairava caliber. Nothing seems to specify she is ugly, emaciated, or having claws.

arddhaparyyaṅka-tāṇḍavāṃ mṛtakāsanasthāṃ


It is the same pose as Padmanarttesvara 31; Varahi does Pratyalidha Tandava. Dancing on a corpse in this case (mrtaka).


She has six arms, with Vajra/Sword/Cakra, and Kapala/Mani/Kamala. She is red, but changes to white or other colors depending on the situation.

She has inserted her name where the Ah syllable might be, and, in the Triangle sadhana, this syllable is both the source of the Skullcup or Dhatu, and the means of stirring the contents. It is the Speech syllable, and, she must be an advanced form of Speech.




It is not the same as her Hindu form from the 9th-10th century. Indrabhuti however pre-dates this.


There, she has eight arms, is red and wrathful, having a finger dipped in blood. Her meaning is also "blood bather" or i. e. she was born from blood. Or, as Sivkishen says, she and her brother Mangal were sweat-born from Shiva while he was fighting Andhaka, and then she starts playing in blood. This origin story is from Vamana Purana 11, just after Bhairavas spawning from his own blood. Similarly summarized by Kamakoti.

Charchika is sometimes added separately from Chamunda in lists of Matrikas.

Rather than Chamunda, Varuni, etc., who are in most if not all Puranas, she is like Vairocani, rare, in fact she may only be in a single Purana. And there is nothing to her other than she was given the purpose of granting boons to devotees. She also covers the Mouth in Devi Mahatmya.



Her existing idol bears:


...khadga, shula, katari and varadamudra in her four right hands whereas the four left hands represent severed head, blood-cup, ‘’damru’’ and leaving a finger of the remaining hand soaked in blood.











She is terrifying because of her redness, is really a blood goddess, and still sexy. Our Buddhist version, however, is practically carrying the emblems of all Six Families, if Kapala or Skull were permitted to represent Vajrasattva. Because she is in Vajra Family, she arguably is a Bodhisattva of Mamaki. Although it is a slightly different form, both the Hindu and Buddhist versions seem to say that she is shocking, but not ugly or hideous.



Charchika is in a 1400s Buddha. It is a notable assembly for containing Padmanarttesvara "with consort" and another which should be individually named Sukhavati Lokeshvara (the Six Arm version), and the large Padmajala. Due to the four arms and Hayagriva, we might tend to guess this was Guhyajnana. If not, then, they might be judging from her reversed stance:








A similar identification was made on a detail from a 1700s Gelug Krsnacharya Chakrasamvara:







She is also identified in the lower left of the 1700s Gelug Indra Dakini. Her items do not match the stand-alone sadhana, but she has six arms:









Unlike Vajrasarasvati, she has one face. However, the Vajrasarasvati sadhanas appear to be pulled from the tantra.

It looks like she has a Sword; otherwise, change her items and put her in Tandava, and that would be her basic individual appearance, in the sadhana.

She is not extensive in sadhanas or tantras. But she is used with Red Yamari of the Jnanadakini to Virupa lineage. That is easy to find in a 1500s Sakya where she is Blue in the East:







He also has a solo form, and a slightly larger retinue in Shridhara's tradition.

However, that same retinue is also used by Krsna Yamari. And, we get the idea of what he does with tantric Carcika in the "Urging through Songs" Mahayoga subject in the Apabrahmsa study:


These Apabhraṃśa verses appear in the root verses of the Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra, the anuyoga verses in the seventeenth chapter and the mahāyoga verses in the twelfth chapter. Chapter seventeen begins with the Buddha visualizing different Buddha-forms (buddhabimbaṃ), and then the text declares that the practitioner becomes the cakra-bearer by the practice of the four [Vajra] songs (associated with the four yoginīs). On the other hand, chapter twelve begins with the Buddha entering into different meditative concentrations (samādhi), each associated with one of the text’s four yoginīs (Vajracarcikā, Vajravārāhī, Vajrasarasvatī, and Vajragaurī), and thereupon recites each yoginī’s specific verse. However, the actual contextualization of these verses within detailed sādhanā instructions does not appear in the root verses. Instead, they are provided in the commentary composed by Kumāracandra.

Anuyoga is the second phase of the four-fold yoga, defined in the root verses as the “arising of the stream of Vajrasattva” (after the generation of Vajrasattva in the first phase, “yoga”). Anuyoga begins with summoning and worshipping the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and afterwards one visualizes the maṇḍala and numerous Sanskrit syllables stationed throughout. After dissolving the maṇḍala, one sees Vajrasattva, after which the four yoginīs appear. An important note here is that each of these yoginīs (Vajracarcikā, Vajravārāhī, Vajrasarasvatī, and Vajragaurī) are associated with long-standing Buddhist meditative states: loving kindness (maitrī), compassion (karuṇā), empathetic joy (muditā), and equanimity (upekṣā). These yoginīs then sing the verses sung by the Buddha at the beginning of chapter seventeen.


uṭṭha bharāḍaü karuṇākoha |
tihuaṇa saalaha pheḍahi moha ||

(Vajracarcikā)

Arise, O Bhagavan, whose feigned wrath is compassion.
Cut the delusion of the material world!

e caumāra parājia rāula |
uṭṭha bharāḍā citteṃ vaüla ||

(Vajravārāhī)

You’ve overcome the four Māras, O Royal One.
Arise O Bhagavān, [my] mind is stricken.

loaṇimanti acchasi suṇṇe |
uṭṭha bharāḍā loaha puṇṇe ||

(Vajrasarasvatī)

Summon forth the world, you who dwells in emptiness.
Arise O Bhagavan, by the merit of the world!

kaï tu acchasi sunaho viṃtti |
bodhisahāva loaṇimaṃti ||

(Vajragaurī)

Why do you dwell in emptiness?
O Nature of Enlightenment, summon forth the world!

Immediately following these verses, the practitioner visualizes more syllables and the sādhanā culminates in one becoming the Buddha Dveṣayamāri. The next phase of the four-fold yoga is “atiyoga,” after which the practitioner enters the final phase of the four-fold yoga, “mahāyoga.” While the verses in anuyoga display the same conventions observed in the previous texts, the sādhanā of mahāyoga significantly subverts them. Mahāyoga is defined as the “entrance to the gnosis-cakra (jñāna-cakra), tasting its nectar, as well as the Great Worship and Praise.” In this sādhanā the practitioner beseeches the Buddhas for consecration, visualizes the assembly of Yamāris and yoginīs with their tutelary Buddhas, and engages in more subtle yoga within the visualized maṇḍala. Thereupon, the practitioner takes on the face or form (Skt. mukhena) of the maṇḍala’s four yoginīs in turn, and worships the maṇḍala with the songs uttered by the Buddha in chapter twelve of the root text:

aḍeḍe kiṭṭayamāri guru raktalūva sahāva |
haḍe tua pekhia bhīmi guru chaḍḍahi koha sahāva ||

(Vajracarcikā)

A ḍe ḍe Black Yamāri Guru, you are wrathful in form and nature.
Seeing you I grow frightened, O Guru, abandon this wrathful nature.

païṇaccaṃte kaṃvi aï saggamaccapāālu |
kiṭṭa bhinnāñjaṇa kohamaṇu ṇaccahi tuhu ve ālu ||

(Vajravārāhī)

You dance and upend everything in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld.
Dark like black eyeliner, you dance like a Vetāla, O Fierce One.

kālākhavva pamāṇahā bahuviha ṇimmasi rua |
vajjasarāssaï viṇṇamami ṇaccahi tuha mahāsuharua ||

(Vajrasarasvatī)

You are black, short in stature, and take on various forms,
You dance and you are of the nature of great bliss, I, Vajrasarasvatī supplicate you.

hrīḥ ṣṭrīḥ manteṇa pheḍahi kehu tihuaṇa bhānti |
karuṇākoha bharāḍaü taha kuru jagu pekkhanti ||

(Vajragaurī)

With the mantra hrīḥ ṣṭrī, cut the delusion of the three realms!
Therefore, O Great Lord, Whose Wrath is Compassion, do [your duties!], [for] the world looks on.

In the root verses of chapter twelve, the Buddha recites these verses after entering the respective samādhis of the four yoginīs (i.e., the four brahmāvihāras), and in this sadhana, the practitioner does as well. Thus, the long-standing Buddhist brahmavihāras are imagined as yoginīs in a tantric context. Afterwards, the practitioner prostrates before each of the maṇḍala’s Yamāris and the ritual is complete.



When we see Gnosis Cakra or Jnana Cakra, Carcika personally has this emanating from the Cam syllable at her heart, shortly followed be the expression "Pravesaya", i. e. Noose or Mandala Entrance, obtained by her Japa. When this is finally working, the name Jnanacakra also applies to the Four Dakinis in the Four Chakras. In the meantime, individual Carcika is doing something that consists of the majority of a significant subject in the Yamari tantras.


Because this is absorbed into Paramartha Parasol, we can also find similar evidence there. In the tantra, it is possible for her to have Three Faces. And from this system, the Gauris in Dakini Jala are a slight re-branding, i. e. it continues importing the Hindu Tri-Shakti as seen here in the ring following Charchika.


Solo Carcika has no type of doctrines, just symbolism. Very compact. This is why we might think she has a place at Speech Mandala and the Triangle. For instance, one is able to Mutter her as an archetypal fountain of all Muttering, and then ask for something specific in the role of one of the Families. In fact you could get her to turn Yellow and manifest something from her Mani Jewel. Not only that, you should think of it as a turn on for her personally to do so. Correspondingly, she can stick to Red and deify appropriate aspects of the Triangle. You ask her to help me with Pranayama and Dakini energy and she grants boons.


The simple way to explain this Triangle is in two parts. At first one is brewing a potion with multiple deities and many aspects of the teachings, with which we attempt to pass the bar as set by a Taste Offering goddess. There are perhaps a few that could be used, but, as the example, we are going to place Ziro Bhusana Vajrayogini. That is because her residence is simply with Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis. She may have her own special niche or alcove that is only there if you ask. That is what we will do.

If it goes well, then you are at the point that is much more raw feeling, trying to get enough Heat, such as Ghasmari, to really get the feeling and hear the Sound, which of course proceeds from Om. Avalokiteshvara gained realization in a prior cosmos by meditating on the Sound. And so of course this point will be Silent or Mental Japa and very Subtle.


For Guhyajnana, Om is the mantra's seed, or it is Om Ha Ri Ni Sa. This seems unusual since Om would suggest Buddha Family. Red Vajravarahi uses the syllable Vam but she really is in Buddha Family. Guhyajnana is in the spot that should be centered on Buddha Family. A basic use of the mantra with Dakinis at the top of the post is centered on Buddha Family. So of course any context says that it should be. But in several other cases, we have found that some Families can be duplicated and others omitted. In IWS 210, Guhyajnana herself is raised from a Red Hrih at the heart.


Parnasabari as described in Lotus Family is actually used this way by Janguli. It is a Dark Green Parnasabari. She has made the expected Bhrkuti turn red and move to Jewel Family. Mayuri and Vajrasrnkhala are the others. I have seen one commentary saying that Lotus Family Parnasabari is still a customary Yellow form crowned by Akshobhya. But the crown is the most determining information. This is like saying she is still in Vajra Family, "visiting" Sukhavati. Janguli's mandala does not give this detail. We have seen that in many mandalas, Mamaki still is "in" Vajra Family, even if she goes to the South with Jewel Family. Again, we strongly think that Janguli represents rotation of the flat plane, especially towards manifesting the lower or Nadir point, by combining the power of Serpent with Noose, or Second Activity, particularly helping one "Cross over Water", i. e. into the Vast Explanation of Mamaki. Janguli also has the aspect of Matta Matangi, in other words Matangi drunk with Varuni's influence.

Bhrkuti with Kamandhalu or Initiation Pitcher while being in the realm of Water becomes sensible in this view. Then Fire is occupied by Parnasabari, who is a very familiar dharani goddess. Because she is so well-known, she perhaps is thought of as an "introducer" to Janguli, who is very magical and rare.


Janguli's mandala might have to be understood as having a double representation of Vajra Family, in the same way that Guhyajnana may have a double representation of Lotus Family. Yes they are Fiery Speech, but, as we just saw, this also pertains to Silence. This of course is like Mahakarunika where Avalokiteshvara speaks of Vyuha Raja, King of the Magical Display of, for example Vairocana. Even though he is "in" lotus Family, he still observes the "progression of Families". Part of his main point is that he is the point, Karuna, which we could call the "meaning and purpose" of there being any manifestation, which otherwise could be trivialized as a mechanism where Death eventually sweeps away all hapless denizens. Moreover, Karuna, inwardly, is Bliss. Of course this is the real emphasis, rather than conventional notions about hunger and cold and so on.


Carcika is in one more kind of mandala:


According to Bhattacharya, at least for the Sixteen Arm form, Mahakala should be surrounded by seven goddesses, three in the three cardinal points, (the fourth being occupied by his own bakti) and the other four in the four corners. To the East is Mahamaya, consort of Mahesvara, who stands in the Alidha attitude and rides a lion. She has four arms, of which the two left hands carry the Kapala and the Damaru, and the two right the Kartri and the Mudgara. She is blue in complexion, has dishevelled hair, three eyes and protruding teeth. To the South is Yamaduti, who is of blue complexion and has four arms. She carries in her two right hands the staff of lotus stalk and the Kartri. and in her two left the bowl of blood and the fly-whisk. She stands in the Alidha attitude on a buffalo and has dishevelled hair. To the West is Kaladuti, who carries in her two left hands the Kapala and the Cow's head and in the two right the Mudgara and the Trisula. She stands in the Alidha attitude on a horse, has red complexion and dishevelled hair. All these deities are terrible in appearance, with protruding teeth and ornaments of serpents.

We have to interpret that as he failed to mention North, so the "bakti" or perhaps shakti he means, would be found there.

The four corners are occupied by the following goddesses. Kalika in the SE corner is blue in complexion, has two arms carrying the Kapala and the Kartri, and stands on a corpse in the Alidha attitude. Carcika in the SW corner has red complexion, carries the Kartri and the Kapala in her two hands and resembles Kalika in all other respects. Candesvari in the NW corner has yellow complexion, carries in her two hands the grass and the deer, and stands in the Alidha attitude on a corpse. Kulisesvarl in the NE corner has white complexion, carries the Vajra and the staff, stands in the Alidha attitude on a corpse.

His translation lacks mantras or explanations of why one goddess is not counted and there are seven. This 1960s Nepalese Kagyu Sixteen Arm Mahakala shows eight surrounding goddesses and a central consort:








That is a strange mix of female Mahamaya, Tramen or Samadhi goddesses, and Carcika in a greatly different relationship than for Yamari. It may have a slightly different description in IWS, which would probably give us different names for the dakinis we would have to figure out. "Red Ghoracandi" has been difficult, not yet sure if it is Red Chamunda or Carcika; but again I think this one has an independent birth or creation. From her few stories, Carcika is accidentally produced by Shiva, and is not, herself, one that displays superior power at killing demons, but is more like an excellent boon to befriend.





Varuni, Soma, and Sraddha




So in the Buddhist tantras, we are trying to do a pretty specific thing with the Five Families. However this would overlook that Varuni or Soma on her own is already the other-worldly or divinely-transformative beverage in any religion. Around page five, we found a few things that are not just unorthodox, but possibly offensive, or even forbidden.

Firstly, Soma is used in Sraddha, an everyday exoteric rite that probably a lot of Indians do, which is to honor one's ancestors. And we are simply going to revoke this meaning.

This is related to the beings called Pitrs or Fathers, which Theosophy did not give us the best look at. The Puranas describe multiple creations, where the same kinds of beings are reborn, but, they change names, and kingdoms, and go through cycles. However, Agni and the Pitrs make identical divisions every time. Even in the first creation, which was some weird mental thing, there was Red and Blue Shiva called Nilohita. And he acts much like the Moon and Vajrasattva. The Pitrs, rather than biological ancestors, are Time.

They are mainly related to the Moon, secondarily related to Venus, and a couple other things.

They mentally produce offspring. Mena's descendants include Uma (Shiva's consort) and Ganga (bearer of Agni's seeds). We find they favor "mantras ending on Svadha" because she is more or less the Pitrs' daughter for this reason:




Two daughters well known in the worlds were born of Svadhā and the Pitṛs. They were Menā and Dhāraṇī by whom the entire universe is sustained. These two were expounders of Brahman. These two were Yoginīs also.

31-34. Menā was the mental daughter of those Pitṛs who are mentioned as Agniṣvāttas. They are remembered as Upahūtas too.

Dhāraṇī is remembered as the mental daughter of Barhiṣads. These Pitṛs, the Barhiṣads are remembered as Somapāyins too.




The year, said to be of five souls (vide V.113), is again divided into six divisions according to season (Ṛtus).

These five souls:

(1) Saṃvatsara, (2) Parivatsara, (3) Iḍvatsara, (4) Anuvatsara and (5) Vatsara. The following verses describe the “principle” as to how and why (1) Kratu-Agni, (2) The Sun-god, (3) Soma or the Moon-god with Pitṛs, (4) The Wind-god and (5) Rudra should be associated with these five years.



This year is the "great grandfather" or i. e. Brahma, of both Agni, and the Pitris. Pitris are associated with the Moon, yet are honored with Kavya, which is Venus.


Kavyas are also:

2e) A group of Pitṛs who drink Soma's svadhā. Their mind-born daughter is Yogotpatti; other names are saṃvatsaras, pañcābdas, ājyapas, being presiding deities of aṣtakas and others. They drink ghee.



Kavyavahana is for Pitrs, and Pitrs' Sraddha is for Yoga and Soma.

That is why Yajna "presses out the Soma". Pitrs are supposed to be involved, first.

Pitrs' mantras end on:

Svadha

1c) Married Kavi Agni: her sons were Kāvyas: her daughter the source of Pitṛs with forms.




A sloka for river Arghyam or water offering which is more blatantly for Pitrs and has nothing to do with ancestors:


Agnishwatwa barhishadah kavyavahana charyama
Ajyapah pitharaswata arghyam twapicha somapah
Agnishwattadhi pitrubhyoh namah [idam arghyam samarpayami]


In other words, the class is "ranked" as if it were on par with Indra, Vishnu, etc., as used in Puskar or river ceremonies.






5) Śrāddha (श्राद्ध).—The offering given to Pitṛs. According to the Purāṇas Śrāddha is a very important ceremony. Here, "Pitṛs" does not mean "the souls of the dead". Pitṛs belong to a special class of gods.

once there was a thick haze of darkness in all worlds when Brahmā engaged himself in yoga and created the worlds, Santānaka and the first gods Vairājās; the formless groups of Gods attained absolution through yoga which is the strength of the Pitṛs; and through this yoga Soma increases in power

superior to deva worship; even gods propitiate the Pitṛs as also sages and other semi-divine beings; for yogaiśvarya or mokṣadharma;

Pitṛs eat in the guise of Vāyu



Sraddha (Faith) is an important human quality, important enough to be layered twice in Thirty-seven Point Enlightenment, as if transformed by a fierce goddess:


Śraddhā also refers to one of the “five faculties” (pañcendriya) as well as one of the “five strengths” (pañcabala) as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 47-48), both forming part of the “thirty-seven things on the side of awakening” (bodhipākṣika-dharma).


The fierceness of her is somewhat akin to:


In Buddhism, however, faith in the sense of “pure faith” of Christianity is out of place. Shraddhā consists rather in the conviction that grows in students through their own direct experience with the teaching; blind faith in the words of the Buddha and the master goes against the spirit of Buddhism, and the Buddha himself warned his followers against it.


65. Propitiated in the Śrāddha, the Pitṛs adopt their yogic power and through that yogic power develop and strengthen the Soma whereby the three worlds sustain their lives.

66. Hence Śrāddhas should be offered with great effort (for the acquisition) of the yogic power. Indeed Yoga is the source of the strength of the Pitṛs. Soma (the moon) functions through the Yogic power.



A large part of the purpose of Pitrs is similar to what Buddhism calls Vasita (Discipline, Mastery) and makes part of the Bodhisattva Path along with the Paramitas:


115-116a. Aiśvarya (prosperity and Mastery of everything) is laid down as Yoga. Aiśvarya is called Yoga. Without the asset of Yogic power, emancipation (from Saṃsāra) is impossible to be achieved.


Brahmanda Purana III,10:


The Birth of Skandha (Ganga + Agni's seeds) should perhaps instead be called "The Pitrs". Here, the names are shifted into a sevenfold pattern matching the Sages. It describes what it is going to do backwards:

Four of them have forms and three of them are Amūrtis ( formless ones).


It goes into the formless ones first:


3. In those worlds named Santānakas the formless yet brilliant groups of Pitṛs abide. They are the sons of Prajāpati.

4. They are the sons of Viraja the Prajāpati. Hence they are well known as Vairājas. They are excellent Brāhmaṇas. These are the Pitṛs, O dear one, who increase the yogic power of the yogins.

5-6a. They perpetually develop the Yogic powers (of others) by means of their own Yogic power. Strengthened and developed by means of Śrāddhas, they develop the Soma (the moon god). Soma who is thus strengthened and developed strengthens and develops the worlds.

6b-8. The mental daughter of these is Menā by name.


She has progeny leading to:

17-19. Umā was the greatest (eldest) and the most excellent among them. She had an excellent complexion and was endowed with great yogic power- She approached (and dedicated herself) to Mahādeva. Uśanas the son of Bhṛgu became her adopted son.


It mentions the Vairajas and then has the whole "birth of Skanda" story, before going back to the other kinds of Pitrs. Although previously, Barhisad may have been "the four with form", now it appears individually, formless:



The worlds where Marīci’s sons live are called Somapadas. Skanda and others stay there and the Devas worship them.

53b-54. It is heard that the Pitṛs named Barhiṣads are Somapās (imbibers of the Soma juice).


Agnishvattas are still formless:

75. The worlds named “Virajas” are in the firmament. The groups of Pitṛs remembered by the name ‘Agniṣvāttas’ live there. They have the lustre of the sun.

These sons of Pulaha, the Prajāpati, have been recounted.


Now we will get the Bhrgus and Angirases:


84. These three sets (of Pitṛs) have been recounted. Understand the remaining four. I shall describe the sets (of Pitṛs) having Prabhā (lustre) as their forms, O excellent Brāhmaṇa (?)

85. Those Kāvyas, the sons of Agni Kavi (?), are the Pitṛs born of Svadhā. They are the Pitṛs in the celestial worlds shining with the luminary bodies. They have great brilliance.

86. In holy rites causing the development and flourishing progress and fulfilment of all desires the Brāhmaṇas worship them. Their mental daughter is well known as Yogotpatti.

87. She was given in marriage to Śukra by Sanatkumāra. She became well renowned as Ekaśṛṅgā. She caused the increase in the fame and renown of the Bhṛgus.

88-89. Those worlds which have rays within are stationed in the heaven enveloping everything.

These are the sons of Aṅgiras formerly nurtured and developed by the Sādhyas. Those Pitṛs are declared as Upahūtas. They shine in the heaven; seven groups of Kṣatriyas who seek benefit, worship them.

90. Their mental daughter is well known by the name Yaśodā.

93-94. (?) The Pitṛs named Ājyapās are the sons born of Pulaha who was born of Kardama, the Prajāpati. They reside in those worlds which can go wherever one desires. They move about in the sky in various forms and shapes. The groups of Vaiśyas who seek benefit worship these Pitṛs in Śrāddha.

95. Their mental daughter is well known by the name Virajā.

96. The Pitṛs named Sukālas are the sons of the noble-souled Vasiṣṭha [husband of Arundhati], son of Hiraṇyagarbha (Brahmā). The Śūdras worship them.

97. Those worlds where they stay in the heaven are Mānasa by name. Their mental daughter is Narmadā, the most excellent river.


Their importance is such that:


99. It is after accepting these that Manu the lord of the Manvantara initiates the Śrāddha rites everywhere.

100. He sponsors the rites of Śrāddha in the case of everyone in the order of the Pitṛs, O excellent Brāhmaṇas. Hence Śrāddha must be offered with faith in accordance with one’s own Dharma (religious duty).

101. In all cases (i.e. all castes and creeds) the Śrāddha (ablation) offered to the Manes in silver vessels or those set with silver propitiates the Pitṛs.

102-104. (?) In the Saumyāyana or Agrāyaṇa rites, (he who performs Śrāddha) shall obtain the fruit of Aśvamedha sacrifice.

If the scion of family propitiates the Pitṛs after the Āpyyāyana (pleasing or propitiating) rites of Soma (the moon), Agni and Vaivasvata (Yama), the Pitṛs (also in turn) delight him. There is no doubt that the Pitṛs bestow nourishment on him who desires nourishment and bestow progeny and heavenly pleasure on him who desires progeny.

The holy rite of the Pitṛs is more important than the rites pertaining to the gods.

105-107. (Partially defective text). It is laid down (in Sṃṛtis) that the propitiation of the Pitṛs should be carried out before that of the Devatàs (gods). The subtle procedure of the Yogas and the abode of the Pitṛs cannot be seen with the physical eye. It can be seen only by means of the power of penance (achieved by the Brāhmaṇas). Thus the following have been recounted here viz—the Pitṛs, their worlds, their daughters, their grandsons, the sponsors of the sacrifice and those who worship as well as those who are worshipped. Among them, four have forms and three are formless.

108. The Devas honour them and offer them Śrāddhas scrupulously and devoutly. All of them join tḥeir palms in reverence. All of them along with Indra worship them with their minds concentrated on them.


Uma--Raudri is a close scion of the Pitrs, so, Saumya seems appropriate for "the Vajraraudris" as Saumya Yana is synonymous for Pitrs' rites. Their culmination is the same as what Lakshmi Tantra says:



115-116a. Aiśvarya (prosperity and Mastery of everything) is laid down as Yoga. Aiśvarya is called Yoga. Without the asset of Yogic power, emancipation (from Saṃsāra) is impossible to be achieved.




Soma:


The Gods were originally mortal. For immortality was bestowed on them by Savita or by Agni. They are also said to have obtained it by drinking Soma, which is called the principle of immortality.

Tvashtri is closely associated with Soma. Tvashtri is especially a guardian of Soma, which is called ‘the mead of Tvashtri’.

Terrestrial Soma is compared to the milk of Aditi and milk only can be meant by the daughter of Aditi who yields to Soma as he flows to the vat.

Soma is occasionally called a treasure or the wealth of the Gods.



So you get the idea of grades, i. e. a Soma producible by the Gomata for example, until Tvashtri is a special guardian, being the same as Vairocani. If you were doing a full Homa at a temple, there would be elaborate instructions about multiple fires and how to get Soma:


Dhiṣṇis (already deposited fires) are serially laid down in their proper places in a Savana (Soma sacrifice) on the day when the Soma-juice is extracted.


The Soma Mandala of the Rigveda (IX with 114 hymns) is completely dedicated to Soma Pavamana, and is focused on a moment in the ritual when the soma is pressed, strained, mixed with water and milk, and poured into containers.


Abhisavana or Soma-pressing.







Vaisvanara carried Havya for a hundred years, and then there is a transition to Atharvan and Puskara. And this Puskara is also a hiding-place of Indra. And it is in this condition that "electric" fire--lightning is Watery Fire or born of water.



Here is a quite simple view on Soma and Tapas:


Tapas is not to be confused with pitta-driven self-restraint and severe discipline. Tapas is the continual progression of movement towards awareness. It is the ability to remain consistent in development, despite discomforts or “growing pains” that may arise.

Tapas is vital because it acts as the continuous driving force that allows for the bearing of fruits. It pushes you through discomfort, lethargy, apathy, and doubt, allowing you to reduce the vrittis (mind fluctuations) and develop refined Soma – the internal nectar and vitality (similar to Ojas) that brings pleasure and good feelings to your body and consciousness.





Reginald Ray explains Vajrasattva Ngondro as Soma, and carries it forward to the entire practice.

Garchen comments part of Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable mantra:

sutosyo or sutokhyo gladden me

khyo => to make known, announce
sut => extracting juice, making libations
sute => preparation of soma





Soma in the earliest context of Ganacakra (Paramadya Tantra) in Ganacakravidhi looks like the transformation of impure substances. Aryadeva says this is not in the Guhyasamaja, so he took it from Dakini Jala. This text has a strong sense of Avesa (Possession) compared to later equivalents.


Vajrasattva is not unlike Red and Blue Shiva particularly due to this esoteric statement in the Purana:


56. On this being uttered, the Caitanya (consciousness, alertness) that was in his body entered the initiated Brāhmaṇa who performs the Soma sacrifice.

57. For that duration, the initiated Brāhmaṇa becomes lord Ugra.



Although the moon was also called mind, mental, Mahat. This says the performer of Soma temporarily becomes Ugra, which is really the Caitanya of Nilohita. I am not sure the Puranas have a lot of places that announce one to have actually become the divinity.



In Szanto's paper just linked, it is a Kriya or public ritual, or one with multiple participants, which is probably a type of orgy. To me it sounds like a 50% mnemonic that requires a good commentary to fully render it. Many of its passages are obscure, and the translator does not get the sense or understand parts of it. Even so, it is actually quite clear that the group rite includes Yoga in the meaning of Inner Homa. Some of the verses about this say:



The transgressive substances, normally referred to as samayas, here called
great (or “special”) nectars (mahāmṛta) and hooks (aṅkuśa) – both collective singulars – are placed in a skull cup (padmabhāṇḍa), empowered by
recitation, and distributed.


Also dissolved in liquor.



The vessel with the charming [substances] should be presented by a shy
woman, whose lotus-face is bent, who is rich in extensive virtues, who
is truly suitable for truth, in whose heart discursiveness has disappeared,
who is wearing all kinds of makeup, and who has a pair of exceedingly
large breasts.



Sounds like Carcika.

The commentary overlooked her quality:


vipulaguṇaviśālā tatvatas tatvayogyā |



Next:

After having kindled at will the firewood (here: constituents) of the
body (or: one’s person) with the fire of gnosis, one should drop the juice
etc. in the mouth etc. in order [to achieve] the fire sacrifice of reality


the tasting of the transgressive substances (normally amṛtāsvāda/na)
is framed here as an internalised fire sacrifice (tattvahoma), where the fuel
is the body, the fire is knowledge, and the oblation the aforementioned
substances.

Gradually drawing in that nectar with subtle sounds (or: channels) arising from the discus in the navel, after having taken three sips, the great yogin[s] should rest at ease.


or:


Then, after having drawn in that nectar by means of
the restraining[-type] of vital energies located in the discus of the navel...


It goes on to an operation with Nectar and the Heart Bindu and non-specific mandalas, and most likely some sexual metaphors.


Restraining the Winds, Channels, and Sounds in the Navel has to concentrate and balance on a Filament. This is the real Mantranaya or pursuit of Muttering. The vast majority of the effort lies here. Once you can "get the thing going", it is nearly automatic. That says nothing as to whether the consequences would be clean or particularly pleasant. That is why we want to pass judgment on many Noumenal aspects in order to take on this tremendous labor of Fire.



So for this Navel Chakra, it is more or less correct that we are "generating" with the three lower centers fused as one, and that it is the conjured Nadir point that has to do with distinct use of the base of the spine. One could perhaps say that Cunda is "the Bulb", or, i. e., a lower Bowl that is the opposite pole to Sitatapatra's Parasol. Various tantras go into a Six Chakra system.


Ananda Bhairavi spoke of the lower center similarly to Guhyesvari:


Bhairavi, elimination of the mind takes place at Muladhar.


Bhairavi is revealed from the Vedic mantra ‘jata vedase Sunavame Soman arati yato nidahati vedah, sa nah parsadati durgani viswa naveva sindhum duri atyagnih’

She soaks in all pleasures of the heaven where manes (pitrudevatas) exist, hence she is called svadha. The meaning of svaha is ‘s’ = sakti, ‘va’ = amritam, ‘ha’ = siva. So svaha means that the homam which is really implied is the generation of amritam, the seed and [?] by the union of purusha and stri, given to the common fund of creativity through the fire. Fire is a symbol for lust and anger, the eros and thanatos, the life and death instincts. Svadha thus means the offering to Sakti amritam in the yoni (dha = yoni).


By name, in Buddhism, Bhairavi is mostly constrained to the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment. So she is a Far Goal.

But she is mantrified in the same song from where we took the meaning of "vairocani". In fact they are the very first and second lines of Devi Suktam. Again this is some of the earliest written evidence--ca. 300 B. C.--for shaktis getting ahold of Agni's power for the purposes of yoga--which is in a literary style favoring Narayani or Mahalakshmi. Viraja Homa mantra is from the same source.

Bhairavi is distinguished by Soma and Svadha for Pitrs. So these first two lines give the intent of Varuni and Vairocani as done in Samvarodaya Tantra. Bhairavi Yoga is different, and probably more complex it seems to me. The meaning above is that she is the ejaculatory bulb and cervix. That is the sensitive part of the root center. Khaganana is the Tip of the Jewel and Clitoris. But there are other ganglions that can also be summarized as Cunda. Any and all of this can be our "impulse". We are trying to cram it all together as one Lower Wind. Then the technique of Vase Breathing will get this to hook and handshake with the Upper Wind. This is what creates the vertical aspect, while Muttering is like a horizontal balance of the Three Channels.


Varuni is Soma drinking, and of course there are large proper procedures for this with respect to the Homa and so on. Someone could say, "well, I'm just going to shortcut all this and make mushroom tea", and I'm not sure we could say that would necessarily be wrong. The parallels in Mystery cults imply some atropine or something and an induced near-death experience. We have to deal with a purely magical or visualized Soma. It, so to speak, is the bodies and minds of a certain class of yoginis, and, it operates mainly in the spheres of the Moon and Venus towards the deities of Time.

You might choose to use a "real" one, but, we are mainly going to say it is an imaginary silver vessel of holy water, into which we cast Varuni.

Some of it is then used to attempt to brew an elaborate potion in the crucible of the Triangle. The first part might be related to heightened consciousness; this is more into Immortality (Amrta). And of course we are not going to use real colored threads. That is imaginary light.


If we add deities such as Carcika as an acolyte of Muttering, and Ghasmari as a source of heat and bliss in the dharmadhatu, this is due to following what they have to say for themselves. We would be adding them to what might be called an intense extension of Mahakarunika, being Guhyajnana, the Four Dakinis, and Vajrayogini. This is with a strong view towards acquiring Armor which is the defensive wrathful capacity of Six Families in the process of teaching Six Yogas.

Pranayama in the Buddhist sense is this kind of Muttering where all you are really "doing" is Vase. For a person with high aptitude in ideal conditions, it is considered to take about six months to sort of laser-focus this into the condition being called Vairocani. You can definitely tell when you do. This is something like the forces of a jet engine funneled down to the tip of a needle. Realistically, for most people, Tapas would take a year, or, more likely, several. All we are doing is Generation Stage, which is more or less Tapas done in a Buddhist manner.



Although Guhyajnana is in Lotus Family, she is facing Dakini, who is in Vajra Family. This is to the East, i. e. represents Dawn, like resuming an established conversation from their common understanding. The rest of the mandala ring represents motion, a set of stages leading to a new Prajna moment as the goal. Here, again, we have to dispute the standard Tibetan back-translations. Just as Heruka does not mean "blood drinker", Dakini does not mean "sky goer". If I want to say the latter, it would most likely be Khecari.


Dakini is more like a "class" which this Guhyajnana is expected to "know". She is the first rank, below a Lama. She is a magical novice. Because there is motion, she represents the whole stage novice to experienced. Internally, a dakini is not so much just a site inhabitant but motion, flow, or pilgrimage from site to site. For example one might find that Khaganana to Bhairavi is a particularly exhilirating alliance. The teaching is saying something like this is equivalent to subsequent internal plexi, such as lumbar, sacral, solar plexus. And if you look at the Hindu tantras, it splits all this out and does a lot of details in each place. We do not have this. We are just going to do some Vase in the Nirmana Chakra and try to get our Nectar and Heat powerful enough to do Subtle Yoga or Suksma Yoga.

Vairocani or Tvashtri is equivalent to the power of making weapons and palaces of the gods (devas) and so on. She is way beyond an experimental Creator in Forms.

Ghasmari, as an evocative heat-with-effort, is like the whole Samputa Tantra, which as we see it is Vajrayogini's will to have this expounded. She is purifying the sixth principle to make a tantric Dharmodaya of Gnosis and Bliss. This is basically taking in the Dhatu as explained by Maitreya and Ratnakarasanti, in order to apply it to specific sadhanas, eventually Completion Stage. You might not really Manifest Complete Buddhahood in this lifetime, but, you would be practicing a lower-powered version of the same thing. That is what the Path means.

She can do a Nirajan by request. It should not be that hard to be able to do a decent job about concocting the ingredients. In a certain sense, this is only a "weird" version of something more formal, like Asanga's Prajnaparamita 159, or even the basic Five Dakinis as above in the post.

But the Inverted Stupa is not merely a visualization. One radiates from the Hum syllable at the Heart. This has to be stimulating and impressive enough to Ghasmari so that her Agni Kunda becomes fiery and hot enough and our Amrita physically begins to boil and we have unusual experiences in our bodies. There is no doubt that it may be described as blissful, or going everywhere at moments, and various things, but Pranayama means not just the raw, Rajasic energy, but enough Harmony or Sattva so that it centers and balances. This means, internally, the Banners in the Crescent will fly in the breeze, or suction or vacuum, and the inner blaze will ignite. Then we try to hook, center, and balance it with Vase. And when this manifests as Vairocani you will know.

If you are not sure what to expect or do not have a good guide, different outcomes are possible. If we take this in the Gradualist approach, it would be to study and cultivate the related material, and train in a flexible way. If you could say you usually did an extended Guru Yoga with Varuni Puja twice a week, then, yes it would make a basic system taking at least a year to start doing well at a conceptual level. Maybe in two years you could say Ghasmari seemed to be doing something. Perhaps you start to include a semi-Outer Homa and find that when you enchant yogurt, something incredible happens.


The difficulty with most existing systems of Tibetan Buddhism is in giving Generation Stage as merely a type of "gloss" for Completion Stage. They have trouble with the main, important Six Yogas of Naro because they tend to confine this to Completion Stage.

Three Yogas, or, half of the Inverted Stupa, are in many sadhanas.

At least in part, it could be described as part of the explanation of Mahacinakrama Tara--Ekajati--Mantranusarini Vajrayogini, who is strongly the same as the First, or, Dakini in Vajra Family.

It, so to speak, is part of Mamaki's Vast Explanation, having as its obstacle, our lack of the Purified Fire of Pandara or Lotus Family. Vajracarccika explains Muttering or Pranayama, which is then mainly done or perhaps can or should be mainly in Lotus Family. Even in Nyingma, they somehow remain aware that the operation of well-made Nectar is the Explanation of Mamaki. From our sources, this is the personality of Varuni.

We see how it is totally a glass ceiling which perhaps defines the rank of "Dakini". It doesn't do much until she "gets it", which is why there is really no reason to continue or add visualizations or deities which are beyond this stage. We would have to understand that Lama "has" Vairocani. Moreover, she is in the reverse direction. It is as if Guhyajnana is having a talk with Dakini about increases and initiations. And the last two appear to be Generation and Completion Stages. Her final lesson is Perfection, and, since this is theoretically infinite, this retinue remains present in most of the advanced tantras, as the Mahasukha Cakra in the Fiery Crown.

And so this whole scene of bringing the heat is trying to, in a certain sense, re-concentrate in the Khecari point and try to get a clean motion through the head, and finally act like a spear of flame hammering into the White Bodhicitta. After one does enough Vase to bundle the launch conditions, then, one does nothing, hardly breathing at all. Ego Death. In other words, you can mark how well this spear hit, if you start Dissolving Earth into Water. And eventually it will be so precise that you annihilate and fry all Five Dhyani Buddhas and the whole Bindu melts. On the physiological basis of Subtle Yoga, that constitutes the role of Vairocani.


With Speech Mandala, we are trying to get Fire to Purify the Mind, and Ghasmari has to do with purification of the sixth principle.

The result is a type of clairvoyance and the "Method" or Gnostic experience of the Three Lights. This "is" Vajrasattva, or, the operative sixth principle in the Buddhist sense, capable of the higher Yogas, Smrti and Samadhi.

That is mainly the intent of Inner Yoga, as Sutra to Tantra. Asraya Paravrtti of the sixth principle from the Dhatu or Gotra of RGV, Maitreya, and Ratnakarasanti, to the Dharmodaya, or Reality Source, as used in Completion Stage. That is the transformation we are trying to effect meticulously.

Ghasmari is a Gauri, the tantric Gauris are Primordial Senses, i. e. the permanent senses of the Mind/Knower in *all* of its states of being from beginingless time. So they are extremely vivid. They represent Sampatti or unwavering concentration in their relevant states. Very much like a fire has been put to something that has come alive. And so you are going to burst mundane consciousness and get these. Soma practice will help make them Saumya or pleasant, which is, so to speak, Mercury as an offspring of the Moon. This subject is in the first chapter of Vajramrta Tantra. At the end, it performs a Vetala Sadhana. Perhaps this clarifies the weird Nectar Vetali of the Dakini Jala Gauris.



In STTS, there appears to be a distinction between Candi and Maheshvari:

Pramoha, who, as we have seen, has the boar face of Visnu's Adivaraha incarnation, is invoked as Vajranarayani, Cauri as Vajracandesvari, and Ghasmari as Vajramahesvari.


The titles are, of course, their "consort" roles in Paramadya Tantra, which is the major basis of Dakini Jala:

Visnu, Rudra, and Brahma (Narayan, Candesvara, Padmodbhava) and their consorts Vajrasri, Vajragauri, and Vajratara, join
Akasagarbha and Khavajrini to form the retinue of Vajrasattva in the central section of the abridged Mandala of the Yogatantra Paramadya.


Either Gauri or Cauri is Candesvari or the consort of Rudra--Canda. As we can see in the first example, Mahesvari would appear to duplicate a partner of Shiva.



In most later Hevajra systems, Ghasmari has the somewhat innocuous guise of a Green Bell goddess in the North. Of her syllable:


In Vairocana Abhisambodhi, Gha is in the throat, stands for ghana "agglomeration". The basic syllable Gha has alternate meanings of bell (Ghanta) or destruction, and has to become Ghas, to do with food or eating, or Ghan for nose and scent. If she actually "has" a syllable, though, it is Hrim.


Her expression, in context, I believe is related to Mood because all the goddesses have some kind of Drsti. For Ghasmari, Bhaksana is a deity's consumption of sacrificed food. Drsti has to do with eyes, view, wrong view, look, divine eye, or, in theater, "has the look in her eye". It sounds like she has a dramatic expression of eating the meditator's death.

She is dark blue with a sword as her main item, perhaps related to Fire by being in the West. These Gauris are a bit strange. There is an inner ring of four with the three Hindu shaktis (Gauri, Cauri, Pramoha), completed by Vetali. Then there is apparently a second ring of eight, which has the rest of the Gauris at the Cardinal points. Ghasmari is mixed with outcastes (Pukkasi with a branch of the Kalpa Vrksa Tree, Candali, Ghasmari, Herukasamnibha).

The intermediate corners are occupied by "Capa" Dharini is a Bow, she is an Archer, followed by Khatvanga, Chakra, and Citrapataka, or Multi-colored Banner, just named for their items.


Taking this information from Genesis and Development of Tantra, it is slightly ironic that the first mention of Mahesvari is as the querent in Jayadratha Yamala, who is being given an explanation of Possession by reciting Ghora Vidya. Dakini Jala continues in Samputa where for instance, Ghasmari's mantra has "Rulu Rulu":


oṁ vajramāheśvari haṁ haṁ haṁ haṁ haḥ rulu rulu bhyo hūṁ phaṭ bhakṣaya sarvaduṣṭān nirmatha hṛdayaṃ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā


The significance of those otherwise possibly "meaningless" syllables comes from and is attested by:


Shiva/Rudra/Mahesvara wanted to use it as a battle cry. Vajrapani mimics him but adds an -h and steals his speech principle.

It comprises part of the root mantra of the Wrathful Deities.

Used with Ekajati before Offering her Nectar.

Used by Mandarava as a weapon.

Emphasized about twenty times by Pema Lingpa related to Heruka Essence mantra.


The tantra uses Hevajra-style Gauris in chapters two and three; these do not appear until eight. This chapter has Bell, Rosary, Transference with Jnanadakini, then this retinue followed by that of Nairatma, where by contrast the Gauris have changed. Nairatma was a direct personal revelation to Virupa. And so yes the adjustments to the group come from the influence of one or more Mahasiddhas.

The mantras in Chapter Eight start with Vajramrta, and include the Vajraraudris. So it is more or less making a simultaneous package of Vajramrta Tantra and Dakini Jala. These Dakini Jala Gauris are in the retinue of Hrih-arisen Heruka. And we cannot find any Lotus-born Tara or evident shakti of Brahma. Rather, Gauri uses four Bows to decapitate all of Brahma's Four Heads. She perhaps is being called Yogesvari. Cauri is still Candesvari. Guhyesvari is applied to Pramoha and Pukkasi. Candali is a Spear.

The final goddess, "Heruka Alike", fulfills the destiny we described about Nadir goddesses:

Sumbhani Dipta Samaya


Cakra Vega or Dipta Chakra is a base of the spine deity, lighter in color than the male, representing high power. So the final Gauri is like a bond to the energized state of the root center, as Sumbhani goes to the Nadir.


The practitioner is performing the role of a transgressive Vishnu, tossing Brahma out of the way, and reversing Shiva's own force against him. The surrendering hordes use Rulu Rulu in their new oath.

Since we see how Ekajati works, then, Ghasmari using a similar mantra before a similar Nectar Offering is not very different.

The retinue itself does not suggest a recipient, since Vetali is acting like Aquarius, pouring it out of a transparent or perhaps crystal skull. These are just the original companions of Heruka, as mock Bhairavis. Pramoha may have a Bowl of Wine. So she perhaps could be described as having a primitive Soma, and Vetali has that increased to Immortality.



Sachen's commentary of the ultra powerful Ghasmari defeating Isana.

Ghasmari as Samputa Tantra, with Dakini Jala, Khasama, Dakarnava.

Bhattacharya's original Sanskrit Vajravali Mandalas, NSP section.

In Hevajra, Ghasmari is usually sent to the sphere of Taste. She may hold Medicine and therefor becomes like a recipient of Nectar.



But the Nectar is offered to whoever you are dealing with. Ghasmari is a terrific impulse for everything from Dakini Jala to Hevajra, although she is more of a harnessed power than a Yidam. It is possible for Guhyajnana to be a Yidam, although of course there is a role "Dakini" to be filled, and she is highly accessible as that. And so it is a small step--the previous sadhana, actually--that brings us to interest in Vajrayogini of Nyan or Nyen the translator. He is not greatly famous, but, not terribly obscure either. From what I have been able to gather, Nyan puts a finishing polish on many deities, in such a way they do not become "Tibetanized" or unrecognizable, but, unique.


There are several Nyan lineages, Black Manjushri, Brahmarupa Mahakala, Tinuma, and Ziro Bhusana, plus one Guhyasamaja from Yogini Risul that gets Manjuvajra in union with Sparsha Vajra. When this union takes place, Sparsha is considered Adhiprajna. What has happened is that Peaceful Vajradhatvishvari was the first consort, is dissipated, and Semi-Wrathful Sparsha Vajra arises in her place--she would be the first in an eventual series, but always the first. She also has the noticeable task of handling Zenith and Nadir deities, who themselves at one point re-emit the entire retinue.

Guhyajnana Dakini has the same items as Ziro Bhusana. Four Face Mahakala has the same items.

It is evidently "secret" Black Manjushri as Brahmarupa and Mahakala, and also he has Black Vajrayogini, Three Eyed Amitabha White Tara, and Six Yogas Green Tara. Four Face Mahakala is from Guhyasamaja, but, Nyan received his from Risula:

Brahmanarupa Mahakala is none other than Chaturmukha Mahakala of the Guhyasamaja Tantra. In his wrathful appearance he is black in colour with four faces and four hands, surrounded by the four dakinis. In the Sakya School it is inappropriate to show the wrathful form to anyone who has not received the initiation. For this reason the iconographic tradition arose for painting Chaturmukha in the form of the Brahman servant of Nyen Lotsawa.


It is like he is scratching the surface, using a Mahakala "cue" for a tantricly-advanced version. Given the related set of items and descriptions, it stands to reason his Red Vayrayogini having only one sadhana is also a kind of camoulflaged bridge to things that, shall we say, we or the public would typically have been locked out of.

There are other goddesses who might share the description Bone Ornament Lady. That is not so unique; more like a uniform. One would expect that Ziro Bhusana is a form of Simhamukha, who is Wrathful Jnanadakini. The difference is that even Red Simhamukha still has a white face, but Ziro Bhusana is completely red except for her hair, and possibly teeth and eyes, while nevertheless having a lion's face.

She Subjugates all beings and purifies all the beings in the three worlds. So she is a high mode of the Third Activity. She would also know a thing or two about purity of substances. So if we are asking her if our sample is remotely fit for even a single being, ourselves, why would she not give us a sound opinion about Rasa Yana?



She has the honorary titles:


Bhattarika Kapalika

Jetsunma


Ziro Bhusana initiation was given directly by her to Nyan. There must have been a human yogini, Risul, who perhaps herself was considered Siddharajni. I do not know about her, but she gave him some practices. Nyan was able to get deities to appear, such as Tara appeared to him. And then we notice he actually has two kinds of Vajrayogini. Tinuma is much simpler and is in the official Sakya list, but she is also unique for doing something to Four Dakinis' Mantra. Ziro Bhusana is more intense because she cycles it with the Three Syllables, and so i. e. this is revelvant to the Three Heads in the Triangle and the Three Channels. That is what we are trying to meditate.


For some reason, I have thought it is also not a "g" in her mantra, it may be:

Om dum skye nama


rather than "Dukhaye", i. e. might be a Tibetanization, like Benza = Vajra and others.

Tibetan uses the following terms:


dum skyes ma = Khandaroha = Generation Stage

kye rim ma = Gauri = Generation Stage Fruit or the Gauris


As written, her mantra calls her "Dukhaye" which is obviously Suffering, which in the tantric sense is the Skandhas. But in the few copies, we find spelling errors, such as Guhyajnana's invocation has been written Bhuma Bhaye (Earth Fear), Dhuma Gaye (Smoke House), and Dhuma Ghaye (Smoke Ghee), none of which are very sensible. Neither is "Dukha Yenama".

They both use "Nama" mantras, which could be a bit unusual, or a type of Tibetan mispelling of something ending in Ma.

Guhyajnana and Ziro Bhusana are both heart-emanated, same as Khandaroha. It is indirect, the rays have to purge Space and they summon and return with the deities. You could do this two ways; you could have Guhyajnana and then get Ziro Bhusana because she is above, or, you could just go to Ziro Bhusana because she is supported by them. In essence, we are trying to get Vajrayogini to monitor our purification of impure substances. So probably Soma, first, and then summon some deities and do the Triangle. If we use Varuni twice, or Carcika or Ghasmari sort of how we want, it is ok, because we are adapting parts of Hinduism like Manjushri said.


Ziro Bhusana arises from Om and is supported by five goddesses. She is a Four Arm Lion Face with a hanging mane whose main item is Kartri or chopper (also sword, bowl, and trident, same as Guhyajnana). She does ardha paryanka similar to Naro Dakini, and similarly drinks from her Bowl.

Om from the heart emits hook rays, which return and blend with the sound of the mantra to emanate Red Vajrayogini.

She is on a stack of Lotus, Sun, Moon, and Corpse.


So when we put together related material--it is not "a Sadhana", but, a Dhyana or Puja so far--Ziro Bhusana is going to heavily tune the conditions in the Three Channels and Four Places. And so we reach a point where we have certain protections, with certain values and wisdoms in mind, and that is about all we can do while we get on an even course with nature to raise a whole bunch of Fire. In Dakini Jala, Candali is actually prior and she is handling Wind. Then it would be like trying to chant up Ghasmari so that instead of only a Nirajan, we build up a real Dharmodaya with inner heat until our Nectar really does boil.

This is considered a fierce or wrathful process. This shakti grabbed at will by Vajrapani has performed the most wrathful event in history. To conclude, Jamgon Kongtrul describes the Rulu mantra as the skeleton of the wrathful system:


[Third,] all [practices] of Vishuddha are contained in the knowledge of
the “holding enlightenment in one’s fist” [practice of] continuous contemplation. It is said:

The single realization of Vishuddha
Unifies all the great bliss of the buddhas.
Its deep yoga perfects the three dimensions:
All is the mandala of secret pristine awareness.
In the essence of the single sphere of the naturally present essence of enlightenment, the pristine awareness of the Great Glorious One is already
perfected as the totality of everything.

Hence, one’s body is visualized as the
palatial residence of the charnel ground display, within which one’s mind
manifests as the pristine awareness circle of Shri Heruka. All mantras and
deities are complete in the emanating and reconverging of the eight syllables of the ru lu [mantra], as is stated:

Om represents the ten blood-drinking males and females;
The first ru lu represents the eight gauris;
The second ru lu, the eight simhas;
The hum, the four gate-guardians, [such as] Horse-Head;
Bhyo, the twenty-eight ishvaris;
The second hum, the splendor gathered in the five dimensions*;
Everything included [in the mantra] from om to hum
Ripens into the fifty-eight blood-drinking herukas,
But their natures, or essential beings,
Abide in the essence of the syllable hum.





Next is Jewel Family or Amrita Guna:

[Fourth,] all [practices of] Mahottara are contained in the knowledge
of Pure Nectar, as explained by the scholar Jemala [Vimalamitra]:

All of the environment and its inhabitants, the outer and inner,
Is contained within the five types of nectars,
To be realized as the buddhas of the five families.


* "Dimensions" is a system of Five Kayas:

The five dimensions (sku lnga): reality dimension (dharmakaya), enjoyment dimension (sambhogakaya), manifest dimension (nirmanakaya), essential dimension (svabhavikakaya), and indestructible dimension (vajrakaya).


Edit: adding Carcika detail from above

[shaberon]

Varuni and retinue, Jnanapada and Generation Stage, Mahalakshmi, Sesha, and Nepalese recordings




Throughout our compilation of information, we have never found quite that much that focuses in the Generation Stage itself.

There is quite a bit of available material that presumes this ability and carries it forward.

Jnanapada is possibly the first clear reference to Generation and Completion Stages. And these are the two Buddhist Siddhis. We are trying to portray that Buddhist Yoga and therefor its result is different from other kinds.

The murky details of Generation Stage come together with the goddess of Amrita, which is also in so many scriptures, but not by name and practice. So we are trying to get a better picture of Varuni, who is generally understood to realizations such as of Guhyajnana Dakini and Vajrayogini, which is mainly what we are doing. Specifically she also leads to Vairocani. Mostly for educational purposes, we probably will also involve others who do not usually get much individual attention, such as Carcika and Ghasmari. We will get back to these in a minute. The idea is that we are working in a linear flow of groups, layers, or veils.


For example, by "dakini", we are not necessarily meaning "Sky Goer", but, the whole phase of magical novitiance up to Sky Goer. Correspondingly, there are things that are under, or above, this class. And very little of the material is written from the view of acually experiencing it. I do not think I have seen a translator claim to do so.



Part of the difficulty is that the Six Yogas of Naro are usually just taught as Completion Stage. As the whole working unit, they are. This tends to miss teaching us how the outer practices interleave themselves into the beginning of these Yogas. And then there are other complex methods of cataloging yogas and tantras. We are taking the Dhatu of the Sastras and the Divinity of Dhyanottara and then it is the Six Yogas. Generation Stage is most like the first four of these. And instead of describing it as a "temporary phase", we are going to turn up the truth and call it a Gnostic experience that the ordinary being cannot do.


It is not impossible to get there, as someone like a householder willing to put some time into yoga. We are not going to advocate dikshas of major dedications. In other words, if you were transmitted a major practice of various deities, you are committed for a substantial portion of nearly every day. I am saying that with some training, then Generation Stage becomes feasible, and when it is then you should proceed with it.

It is more accurate to identify the Six Dharmas of Naro with Completion Stage, that is, Svadisthana/Illusory Body and so forth.





Nectar and Skullcup


We have put together enough background to post some practices on Varuni, but the odd idea of not having added any music lately came back. What we have in mind is not likely the type of thing that lends itself to song. Indirectly, it does, we could hear about Nectar or Amrita from a number of sources, or Soma. But we are looking at Samvarodaya, a tradition that was known at Vikramasila and Ratnagiri, and now, mainly kept in Nepal. Varuni is a publicly-seen Hindu goddess there.


They have music which in some cases might seem obscure to us, such as on goddess Harati.


From what I have come across, does Nepal have a good selection of Sanskrit mantras or songs that might be exemplary for us, no, not really. They have a lot of native Bhajans, some of which are Buddhist, and most of them contain some amount of Hindi or Sanskrit mixed in.

I do not know their native language at all. This song however has a very welcoming open-ness that cuts language barriers anyway. It is done by Laxmi Giri and in her video, she goes to a lot of Buddhist environments such as Prayer Wheels. I was able to extract the refrain of the song which is about "Isvara", and, I am pretty sure that as it goes along, she says "Amrita Purna". Otherwise I doubt there is Sanskrit and I am not sure that it says anything about Buddha. I have no idea if it is a traditional song, or, she made it up.

The first version is really bright and has several flourishes of musicality. The approximate name of the song and main lines are:


Na ho timro na mero ishwor sabaiko

yo Srishti ho ishwar [ko] Haina kasai ko

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=s_6xLd5P2MU

She did that a few years ago, and, since then, other people are picking it up and playing it. Even little kids. Here is the same thing, with a very different feel, by a duet who drop some of the edge. That is complementary, we want musicians who can take something and take it places:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Dxx6DRXxhGc

Who knows what that is, other than somewhere I was not before.

In some other cases, we can get things that show us a lot about Sanskrit. The following has been used across India, to I don't know how many tunes, for ages. Here, we want to associate the first of the Buddhist Dharani goddesses (Vasumati Mahalakshmi) with Kolhapur Mahalakshmi. Among other things, this is with an eye to Mahalakshmi as being behind the various Durgas, as being Annapurna (Mahesvari). Tantric Annapurna on Tibet Art is realted to the northern massif with the world's most dangerous mountain. That has something to do with Lakshmi as "source of food". Compare Annapurna Ganesh Lakshmi, or even the goddess of Kashi compared to Lakshmi. But this is what Candi Path says in one of its early sentences. Similar explanation as Lakshmi Tantra.


However this is not about Kolhasura or any of that stuff because it is about being Varuni's Sister:


The "Indra Uvaca" Ashtakam was composed when Mahalakshmi appeared from the Milk Ocean as it was being churned. At first, the fierce poison Haalaahala appeared. Only then did all the various types of wealth appeared. The devas were pleased after Lord Shiva drank the poison and resumed the churning with great enthusiasm.


In some thought, the praise is by Indra's request. Of course there are a lot of variations on this story. But this song is not about the list of things that come out, it draws our attention to the Ocean of Milk, but it is about Mahalakshmi, such as Parabrahm Svarupini. That is why she would be above/beyond Uma/Durga and so on.


There is a charming multi-lingual scroll of the lyrics on a site that adds an invocation of Ganesha.



I am going to copy the simple version from noting its source in Padma Purana. If someone needs the translation you can use those links. Uma Mohan has some pieces that are kind of generic, but, here, she is robust and clear and it is pretty easy to follow, and almost all of the words are simple to learn.


Mahalakshmi Namostute

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=uQ4OiARvPSE

[Indra Uvaca?]

Namasthesthu Mahamaye Sripitha Surapoojithe
Sankhachakra Gadahasthe Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (1)

Namasthe Garudarudhe Kolasura bhayamkari
Sarvapapahare-devi Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (2)

Sarvagne Sarva-varade Sarva dushta bhayamkari
Sarvadhukha-hare devi Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (3)

Siddhi Buddhi prade devi Bukthi Mukti pradhayini
Mantra-murthe Sadadevi Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (4)

Aadyanta rahite devi Aadya-Sakthi Maheshwari
Yogaje Yoga-Sambhuthe Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (5)

Sthula Sukshma Maharoudre Mahashakthi Mahodare
Mahapapa-hare devi MahaLakshmi Namosthuthe (6)

Padmasana-sthithe devi parabrahma-swaroopini
Paramesi jaganmatah Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (7)

Swethambara-dhare devi Nanalankara bhusitae
Jagatsthithe jaganmatah Mahalakshmi Namosthuthe (8)


Mahalakshmashtakam stotram yahpated bakthimaan-narah
Sarva siddhi mavapnothi rajyam prapnothi sarvada

Ekakale pathenitthyam mahapapa vinasanam
Dwikalam yah pathenitthyam dhana dhaanya samanvitaha

Trikalam yah pathenithyam mahasathru vinasanam
Mahalakshmirbhavena Nithyam Prasanna varada subha

Inthyakruta Sri Mahalakhmashtakam Stotram Sampoornam



Those numbers were pretty straightforward, and here we are going to do something weird.

There is something very different about Charchika. She is like a Mahatmya goddess. A travellers' temple. It seems like people love to go there and honor Chamunda in the local way. It turns out there are quite a few songs about her. Most of these are not very good. What she does not have is mantras. You can probably get twenty kinds of Chamunda mantra recordings. Charchika has a very long (30 mins.) song which might be more mantric. Most of it just seems like whatever someone wanted to come up with. There is a recent one titled:


Mo Dukha Harini



But this guy is pretty good, in a practically new one. In some cases you can catch what he is saying, such as "Banki vasini". And his title is something almost the same as "ziro bhusana", munda = "head" and malini "garland":


Munda Malini Jaya Maa Charchikaa

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TP-GaYQV1FE

The instrumentation leaves a little to be desired, but, the drums are allright.


Is Varuni a Hindu goddess, in any way remotely akin to what we are saying, no. There seems to be a limited awareness about a shakti or vrata of Varuna. But we were talking about the Daughter.


Someone knows who she is. Here are two versions of basically the same thing. They are not very professional, low fi, but very interesting. The first has some blues going into it, but, she slips off time here and there, sounds like a rehearsal on something you want to get down tighter. I think it would be a good direction if someone improved on it a little bit:


Sesha deva varuni pathi..Jagannatha dasara kriti

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ViHnniMl52I

Pallavi

Sesha devaa vaarunee pathi paahi ||

Anupallavi

Sesha deva thrayi ghoshana mukha
pariposhisu emmabhilaasheya salisi ||

Charanam

1. Bhajisuve sarvadha sujanaabhishtadha|
Trijagadaadharaka bhujaghoththamsaa ||

Punya charitha susharanyane |
Subrahmanya deva kaarunya mooruthi ||


2. Vaaruni sumukha saroruha dinakara |
Thoru thavaangri mahoraga raja ||

Asitha vasana hala musala dharayudha|
Dwi sahasrekshana susharana paala||


3.Paathalapa puruhutha nuthaa jagan
Natha vittalana Preethi vishayane||(2)





This one goes a lot closer to the mind of mantra and the Naga Kingdom. It is oriented to the 4th/5th day, the time of the Nagas when one follows the Lunar calendar. Sounds like a religious liturgy from countless generations. Extremely Indian in the recital and hypnotic sway of the riff. It is above a drone and nowhere near Laxmi Giri. It will gives us an idea of how the Hum in the Heart works and that it takes Vajradhara to emanate her to us:



shEshadEva vAruNipati pAhi - shrI jagannAtha dAsaru

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iLdH21DeJVo

shEShadEva vAruNipati pAhi |

shEShadEva traighOShaNa mukha
paripOShisu yemmabhilAsheya salisi | shEShadEva ... ||

bhajisuve sarvadA sujanarabhIShTada
sujanArAdhaka bujagOttamsa | shEShadEva ... ||

puNya carita suSharaNyage
subramhaNya dEva kAruNya mUruti | shEShadEva ... ||

vAruNi sumukha sarOruha dinakara
tOru tavA~ngri mahOraga rAja | shEShadEva ... ||

asita vasana hala musalAyudhadhara
dvisaha srEkShaNa suSharaNa pAla | shEShadEva ... ||

pAtALapa puruhUtanuta
jagannAtha viTThalana prIti viShayane | shEShadEva ... ||






It may seem like a contradiction. Varuni comes from the Ocean of Milk, which could be likened to the Nebulae as the cradles of stars. Or a blank film. But then she is at the bottom of the Talas. Completely objective. Individualized. She makes the beverage for the deities of Time, and, her husband is most strongly associated with the fires and winds that destroy the world at the End of Time.


That is perhaps bit severe and maybe we should say it is not their "only" characteristic, although it is an important subject in philosophy and yoga. There are two Brahmans, Time, and No Time.


Varuni is an operation of Mamaki. And so when a person does Buddhist tantra in a way beginning to exceed the teaching on Five Elements, we are mainly focusing on Vajrasattva, and Manas beyond the sensory intellect. It is not like a human personality, it is not like a guy who has a story in the Avadanas that was evanesced in a Kriya Tantra sadhana. Nothing like that. Vajrasattva is the tantric "discovery", like a lightbulb or something.


As an agent, he means a stable blend of mantra, pranic wind, and gnostic light.

In other words, that is mastery of the Fourth Yoga, Dharani or Dharana.

If the purifying Vajrasattva is related to Five Elements, the non-duality of how E Vam works, plus hundred syllable mantra, describe the arising individual Vajrasattva in one's sixth principle. And so when we do Vajrasattva at the beginning of everything, he gets more subtle and symbolic. He might look about the same, but, he thinks and feels more. We say to him to help us approach Guru for a lesson, and, in this example, what comes out is Varuni with Six Yoginis. Those six are very strong conscious nodules of everything we invest in them properly.

It is not that hard to find outer representations of this.

In the geometrical representation of making Six Families, Akshobhya is normally drawn at an angle, meant to indicate a third dimension:



Akshobya is actually zenith, and nadir is an empty dharmodaya, which is in the Nirmanakaya; most deities are in Akanistha--Sambhogakaya; Akshobhya is in Dharmakaya.

Nadir and Zenith yoginis are produced by the specific nature of samsara and nirvana.





And so anybody can learn the Purifying Vajrasattva and it is not that hard to do and it works. But now we are saying he is the beginning of the real Six Families and he is the tantric First Bhumi. He is a state of being, and the ability to enter into it. Until actually using it, we would not be able to do an advanced tantra:


Buddha explains Nairatma as where the method of production meets the method of non-production. Or, the visualized colors., etc., begin to arise on their own, and one "rejects" the productions. This is the utpada and pralaya of the One of Vajra Family, Akshobhya, who is teaching this "switch of method", he intervenes and vanishes or goes extinct.


So this Vajra Family is interested in altering our perceptions, and the Vajrasattva is hypostasized from here. Its mysterious Mamaki leaves her default origins and goes a few places such as:



At times, Mamaki is with Vajrapani or Ratnasambhava. When Mamaki is with Acala, Vajradhara is with Bhagavani.


If Nairatma is a tantric activity of Mamaki, in one case of Hevajra with Nairatma, there is the move:


In the square below is Vairochana-Hevajra, white in colour, embracing pink Vajradhatvishvari. In the square to the left is Ratnasambhava-Hevajra, yellow in colour, embracing orange Buddha Locani.



It is usually Locana who does the corresponding moves to Mamaki. So in some of the most powerful practices, we see that she or "Eye" is with Jewel or "Nectar", which we would say appears to correspond to the dawn of Prasanna Tara. This would cause terrible confusion if we said it "is" this way and then looked at a more standard Five Dakinis such as the previous post which says it "is" that way. Most reviews, articles, etc., do not consider geometry or motion or different formulations of things. We think it is critical enough to be aware of basic Colors such as:



Six Color Dombini embraces Hevajra during initiations.



Circle of Bliss explains a Buddhakapala mandala inside a Samvara mandala. This is 62 deity Samvara, generation of the phenomenal world; Buddhakapala is completion in the noumenal world. His mandala is a mirror image: Samvara uses the normal directional colors, but Buddhakapala is reversed.




That is roughly correct, right? Buddha Kapala means a Complete Reversal. You have blown through what we are trying to train in Yoga and entered competency into some kind of Buddhist realm in the sixth sense. Thoroughly. Altered reality. Because not many of us can do that, there is no reason to hand out this tantra like a pamphlet. However it is exactly what we are getting at.


The non-physical colors.

From the view of Akanistha, physical light is black.


Kettles of nectar are an extraordinary place to develop Five Colored Light to begin with. There is, of course, the normal set of colors, and then there is another kind.


Vajra Family is difficult because, at first they seem easy to attain just looking at the principle of Anger, and the Nirmanakaya is supposed to be protected by Ten Wrathful Ones. Then they recede and get harder and harder to track and are way out on the Eighth Bhumi. And then indeed, it is like they do a lot of explaining, questions and answers and so on to show how tantra works, which shifts attention off of them. Vajrasattva is the operation of their instructions, and he is not exactly on a Hate versus Peace axis.

Realistically, in the world of beings, if we find disciples plagued by Anger issues, then of course the basic Vajra Family is going to be crucially important because they have to be Pacified. I would suggest that, when successful, there is a lot of momentum in the pacification of real issues. If you are really angry and you really transform it with Vajra Family, you are going to get some big Buddhist Horses. And on the other hand we will get disciples who are timid of this whole thing. The idea of a need for pacification is almost an insult to their intelligence. Although lacking such blatant obstacles to good meditation, if there is less to transform, you get less energy from it.

Let's say there is someone who smacks someone in the face every day out of anger. When he does it again, it is not even a big deal. If I seriously thought about doing it, then, I would start getting sick, and if it was really serious, it might mess me up for a whole day or two. Vajrasattva would give me a headache. Everything starts falling apart. Now let's say there are sistuations without challenges and nothing is provoked. Everything around you is peaceful, then what would be the need of Vajra Family?


We have to bookmark it and say it is inside Peace or Pacification, and mainly use Peaceful Vajrasattva as the experiencer of the explanation.


Goddess Varuni is very similar, she stands nominally as Akash--source of Five Elements, which is taken as something like fuel for Vajrasattva and the Families. She is a hypostasis of Vajrayogini, one way or another. The Sarma tantras come from different ways of deifying the flame in the Navel. This is about as much of a change to a human being as water to steam.


Although Six Families was perhaps historically "secretive", it is evident enough with Sadakshari Mahavidya, that, we are able to place her in the first post of this thread. It means there is valid knowledge in reciting six syllables with respect to different groups of things, such as the Paramitas and so on.


Guhyajnana Dakini is close to the regular Avalokiteshvara Six Syllable mantra. When one's mind fills with Buddhist Karuna, then Lokeshvara is the Creator of that World. This resonates with the way we are arranging dharanis and tantras. We can see this in an invocation of the Triple Jewel from Nepal, where Hodgson gave us variants of Six Syllable mantra, to associate with the Buddhas and Prajnas as well:




Om Sarva Vidya Hum

Om Prajnaye Hum

Om Manipadme Hum


By "Triad", he means (Adi) Buddha (A), (Adi Prajna) Dharma (U), (Padmapani) Sangha (presumably M).

This Padmapani holds Jewel and Lotus, and Nine Hindu Deities issue from him.

Adi Prajna is Lakshmi or Prajnaparamita, Arya Tara, mother of Adi Buddha, wife of Buddha, Desire, Akasa springs from her, Trikonakara Yantra or Yoni or downward triangle with bindu, Dhyanarupya, Modesty, Prosperity.


"Adi Prajna" as One is Guhyesvari, and then as a trinity or Tri-shakti, she adds Parasol and Vasudhara. This trinity stands above the familiar Prajnas of the Five and Six Families. That is how they come to a total system of Nine.

So we are going to the Downward Triangle.


We are deifying a rite or visualization which appears in many similar ways all over the place. It is a slowed down, vivid approach to something which otherwise, if experienced, might be fast and disorienting. I really have no idea how I originally learned this, but, if Circle of Bliss was probably the first major western publication to go into detail about ritual items of Nepal, they are the ones who brought the goddess to my attention. We can get it to show us a distinction for two kinds of Nectar:



According to Circle of Bliss, "Inner Offering Mandala", or Varuni Skullcup, is the same thing as the Inverted Stupa. That is its shape, and its meaning is noumenal chakra system. Bindu is Void; a Blue Yam arises, making a Blue Wind Mandala, which is the crescent shape, with white banners at the horns over two vases. It is a drawn bow, representing the lower center. Then, Red Ram is Fire Triangle, pointing downwards, or towards you, solar plexus. Over the triangle are White, Blue, and Red Ah syllables; the white one is east/down/closest, north is red, south is blue, these become the three colored heads. In the center of them is White Ah which becomes the White and Red Skullcup.


So there is the first main part, with the second bracketed off:


...the heat of fire mandala purifies and boils them into an orange liquid, under a Hum (mind of Samvara). Hum becomes a white inverted Khatvanga, which is of the substance of bodhicitta. It melts into the cup, and the liquid becomes sweet, cool mercury. It has the qualities of Medicine, Life, and Wisdom, which remove Disease, Death, and Delusion.


That is a viable way of thinking about it. That it "is" Hum in the head, until the very moment of the operation, it is a Lowered Trident. The first part is that orange liquid is boiling under this Hum. That is the part that we are going to slow down so we are actually doing it. Vase Breathing.



A reason most of the sadhanas are too fast and blurry, an example from a Khandaroha sadhana with male nectars :


Within emptiness, from YAM comes wind, from RAM, fire, from AHs, three human-head tripod, and upon it, from AH, a skullcup, broad and vast. Inside it, from OM, KAM, AM, TRAM, and HUM, come the five nectars, and from LAM, MAM, PAM, TAM, and VAM, the five meats, marked by the letters. Wind blowing and fire blazing make the substances inside the skullcup melt.

An upside-down khatvanga arisen from HUM above melts down into the skullcup, turning the nectar the color of mercury. Three stacked garlands of ALI KALI above transform into OM, AH and HUM. Light rays from these hook back from the hearts of all Tathagatas, Viras and Yoginis throughout space, nectars of transcendent wisdom. Mixing in, they make the nectar vast and expanding! OM AH HUM (3x)




Of course, if you work your way into it, you can do it. Otherwise, we see that it has inserted an extremely difficult tantric experience into a rambling visualization. For the sake of consistency, if we start with male meats, keep training the same way.


We don't want to get carried away with what he says. Part two may be more like getting decapitated. And he knows that most people can't visualize all this anyway. So why suggest so much of it? Whenever we see this kind of morphology in any published material, it is for someone who can do what I am trying to explain, quite naturally. They should have advanced material accessible, so that those who are reborn as Bodhisattvas can rapidly re-grow their yogic attainments. There are not many. There are more who have to establish it in the first place.



So it stays closer to the right groundwork in a Guhyasamaja version, that does not mention a khatvanga or mercury:



All becomes empty. From within emptiness, Yaṃ emerges and transforms into a wind maṇḍala. Above that is Raṃ which becomes a fire maṇḍala. Above that is Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ which become three human heads that serve as a hearth. On top of the hearth is Āḥ, from which comes a skullcup, vast and big. In the base of that is Āḥ from which comes a lotus marked with Āḥ. Above the lotus are the five meats and five nectars, each marked with its respective name syllable as well as the syllable
Oṃ. Above the skullcup is Hūṃ which becomes a vajra marked with Hūṃ, from which light shines forth. This light strikes the wind maṇḍala, causing the wind to blow, which causes the fire to blaze, and as a result all of the substances in the skullcup melt and boil.

The vajra and Hūṃ descend into the skullcup, and through their melting all faults of color, odor and potential are purified. The lotus and Āḥ that are under the substances melt, and through their melting, the substances are transformed into the essence of nectar. The light rays of the Oṃ syllables marking the substances invoke nectar from the hearts of all buddhas which is added to the nectar in the skullcup and causes it to increase and multiply.


That description fits better what we want Varuni to make and Ghasmari to boil.

Everything from there on out is a significant "if".

Let's say if you pass several "ifs", then it will melt the Khatvanga, and if you do a few more, it will drop right and make Mercury.

The normal fact is we will not get anything from heat generation. One of the Mahamudra texts says that for a person trained in the Ngondro or Guru Yoga to apply themselves, it lasts four to six years.


Asanga seems to have spoken of Ksanti or Patience in regard to the practice of Tapas mixed with deities in order to reach the Peak. Again in this example, his fairly meager statements are quite suggestive of the structure of Vajrosnisa or Vajrasekhara as it came to be.




Jnanapada may have been the first abbot of Vikramasila in King Devapala's time, and, he is almost certainly the first clear use of "Two Stages", i. e. Generation and Completion Stages. He also influenced a tantric Nagarjuna, who quotes him in Pancha Krama (PK). If we put this in perspective, then in his time there were a lot of tantric sadhanas which were ripe in the language and practice of Generation Stage. And then it kind of seems like they left you hanging on ideals about Completion. And then Jnanapada is giving a definitive answer about practices which are concrete and ultimate.


Fortunately, so far, he mostly coheres to all of the same Yogacara points we have been making. This is from Catherine Dalton's very useful work on Jnanapada. She says that "Vajrosnisa" is a preferable name to "Vajrasekhara" for the eighteen texts including Paramadya, Dakini Jala, and Guhyasamaja that constitute the main system. At first, the Guhyasamaja lacked its own Chapter Eighteen, which is the first crisp delineation of the Two Stages and Six Yogas. This appears to have at first circulated as an independent text, Samajottara. Consequently, whatever may have been exported to Indonesia or China in the early times had little chance of including the finesse of the "future" final chapter.

It was written after Jnanapada. And so he talks about the Two Stages, and some of the Yogas, in basically the same way as the later texts which built from him. Similarly to how Asanga worked, he was mainly compiling information from Manjushri; his major practice is a Samantabhadra with 150+ instructions, also inspired from Aksayamati. He begins using the phrase "Advaya Jnana" frequently, meaning non-duality of the Profound and the Luminous.

He did not invent it from scratch, but synthesized the appropriate sources and began a linguistic trend that would be considered fundamental in the entire Sarma system.


Where he was brilliant is that he did not really say the Puranas were false. He said not to be concerned about the Hiranya Garbha of Brahma at the beginning of the universe and so on. He said to understand it as your own related to the Indestructible Bindu. This has been so since beginingless time regardless of universes.


He said it. All we have done is post the matching Sutras and Dharanis. That is because he actually said, what I have been trying to say. And so that is an extraordinarily Buddhist philosophy. Yet it will make all the Puranic material such as Varuni work properly. It perhaps is gruesomely symbolized by taking Brahma's Head. Even weirder, it is re-grown by Amoghasiddhi as Paramasva. But that definitely is Profound. He has made possibly the most historically-sweeping single comment about the exoteric and esoteric views.


And so it is in the duration after Jnanapada that his "Two Stages" are refined further in the GST Eighteenth Chapter, Nagarjuna's Pancakrama, Aryadeva's Caryamelapakapradipa, Vajra Rosary, and then by the early 1,000s are the explanatory Samvarodaya and Samputa Tantras. The Samvarodaya was commented by Ratnakarasanti, and the Samputa by Abhayakaragupta.

One may notice that the main "Generation Stage" or Dakini Jala only has its retinues repeated in the Samputa at the end of all those there. Accordingly, it is like a reminder to be aware of these Gauris for some reason. Just mentions them like a faithful witness. Historically, Dakini Jala was the direct source for Vajramrita Tantra. We will post about this later.


What is notable about Guhyasamaja is that some authors comment seventeen chapters, some comment only the Samajottara, and the whole thing is only commented by:

Thagana, Jayadatta, Ratnākaraśānti, and Smṛtijñānakīrti address all
eighteen chapters in a single commentary.




Ratnakarasanti was right at that time when it was first possible to review what you might call critical re-assessments of Completion Stage, along with Samvarodaya or the tantric employment of Varuni.

He has a central theme which has much more in common with, and, I am not sure what the differences are, to what Jnanapada is saying. It is very close to him saying how the teachings of Maitreya and Jnanapada unfold in advanced tantras, such as Samvarodaya. He simply would have been the first to have the linguistic capability to do this. The title such as the Scholar fits him well, although of the kind who seems to me that he does have realization in the practices he is promoting.



Here is a brief extraction about Jnanapada which largely supports Ratnakarasanti's framework, and also observes a massive shift caused by the Third Yoga, Pranayama:




The practice follows the same stages of visualization as the yoga of the indestructible bindu: the emanation of
light out of the bindu, gradually filling the space around itself and eventually emerging out
through the nostril, touching the buddhas, drawing in their wisdom as nectar, and ushering it
back into the bindu.

This is described as the “branch of emptying,” (stong pa’i yan lag) and is
said to “stop the breath.” This branch is the first among three of the yogas pertaining to the “six
branch yoga” (ṣaḍaṅgayoga) that receive mention in the Dvitīyakrama.

The yogin is instructed to hold his mind gently within the bindu, which brings about a state of “entitylessness” (dngos po
med pa’i gnas).” Then, through training in “retention,” another yoga from among the six
branch yogas, five signs indicating the dissolution of the elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and
space—into one another occur; these signs, along with the element whose dissolution or
withdrawal they indicate, are each described in the Dvitīyakrama.

The process of the dissolution of the elements is generally said to accompany the death process. Bringing about this
process intentionally within the controlled context of the practice of the perfection stage, which
is accompanied and thus identified by the appearance of the five signs is, in the Dvitīyakrama,
explained to bring about the result of non-abiding nirvāṇa.


The identification of the branch of emptying with prāṇāyāma is also suggested by Vaidyapāda’s
Samantabhadrī-ṭīkā, his commentary on Buddhajñānapāda’s Caturaṅga-sādhana, where he
mentions that the practice of the sūkṣma yoga according to that sādhana—which corresponds
with the secret bindu yoga—constitutes “the branch of emptying, or cessation, the third.”


Tāranātha’s work generally remains quite faithful to Buddhajñānapāda’s
writings in its presentation, including maintaining the unique vocabulary of this particular system. For example, in
the case of the branch of dhāraṇā, Tāranātha retains the idiosyncratic spelling of gzung ba’i yan lag found in the
Tibetan translations of Buddhajñānapāda’s and Vaidyapāda’s writings—he calls this branch “the branch of retention
where the signs appear” (rtags snang gzung ba’i yan lag)—when listing the branches as found in the Jñānapāda
School practices, but later refers to the same practice using the more common Tibetan translation ‘dzin pa’i yan lag
(Dpal grol ba’i thig le’i khrid yig, 247-48).




The author was good for example in tracing Tilottama in Hevajra and Samputa Tantras (and she is in a few other places), but was not asking the same questions we have about Asanga. It seems obvious to me that Jnanapada is taking the Gotra or Dhatu as was discussed for Mahayana Vijnapti Matrata meditation and ported it as the agent of yoga and ultimate goal of practice:


Buddhajñānapāda uses the term “profound and luminous” (zab gsal) to refer to
suchness, and the way he describes the aspect of luminosity appears to connect this aspect to the mahāmudrā, the
form of the deity.



He wants to train you in Perfection or Completion Stage, where Suchness infuses what he calls Adhideva. This name or term is not widely used or known any more. Let us consider the source and the meaning and see how his principles have been copied by others:




The first two lines of the final passage from the Dvitīyakrama in which we find the term *adhideva are parallel with the first two pādas of Chapter One, verse 2 of the
Sarvabuddhasamāyoga-tantra.

This unattributed citation from the Sarvabuddhasamāyoga
employs the term “supreme deity” (adhidaivata, rab tu che ba’i lha), which Buddhajñanapāda’s
verse equates, in the next line, with the *adhideva (lhag pa’i lha); indeed these two terms appear
often to be used synonymously. This verse in the Dvitīyakrama gives more detail about the
nature of the result that is to be accomplished, and in the final line frames that result in an even
more specifically tantric context. The verse follows the passage homologizing the ten bhūmis
with sexual practices and indicating that these sexualized bhūmis are superior to their exoteric
Mahāyāna counterparts.


Buddhajñānapāda uses a term, the *adhideva, that describes the result of awakening in a
uniquely tantric way, and which he links here with the dharmakāya, the fundamental and
formless “body” of a buddha’s awakening. It is in order to bring about this realization—that is to
say a direct, unmitigated experience of suchness, the result of awakening itself—that the consort
is given to the initiate for the ritual of the prajñājñānābhiṣeka. In his commentary, Vaidyapāda
makes the link between the purification achieved through the guhyābhiṣeka and the direct
experience of dharmakāya by means of the third initiation explicit, suggesting that the
purification of the disciple’s aggregates by means of the earlier ritual serves as a preliminary
foundation for the direct realization of dharmakāya.




These same two pādas of the tantra are also incorporated into the Pañcakrama IV.2


The way the term adhidaivata as used in this particular passage of the Sarvabuddhasamāyoga-tantra (I.1-2) in
fact appears somewhat related to the way Buddhajñānapāda uses the term *adhideva. The adhidaivata is identified
there with Vajrasattva and with the bhagavan, terms that do, of course, represent the resultant state of awakening.
However, the way that the term adhidaivata is used throughout the remainder of the tantra seems more consonant
with the meaning of “tutelary deity,” or “personal deity,” which really does not correspond with the way that
Buddhajñānapāda uses the term *adhideva. I suspect that the way that the term adhidaivata is used in the
Sarvabuddhasamāyoga-tantra I.1-2 inspired Buddhajñānapāda’s use of the (easily synonymous) term *adhideva.
Indeed, it seems likely that the Sarvabuddhasamāyoga-tantra exercised an even broader influence on
Buddhajñānapāda’s thought; as we saw earlier in this chapter, that tantra’s comfort with the term “self” (ātman,
bdag) is also reflected in Buddhajñānapāda’s writings...



Āryadeva’s Caryāmelāpakapradīpa likewise contains a brief such account that alludes to the third initiation and references the Ārya tradition’s prabhāsvara doctrine.



By not knowing our basic argument--that RGV quotes Bhagavad Gita but converts Atma to Dhatu--she nevertheless dances right into it and frames the same thing:


What is more, by identifying the nondual
wisdom that is the nature of all phenomena and the mind not just as a wisdom of subject-object
nonduality (though it is also that), but as a wisdom of the nonduality of the mind’s generative
emptiness and its manifest expression as deity, he makes a clear step beyond the Yogācāra
position.

In fact, with some of the language that Buddhajñānapāda uses to describe this ultimate
nature or “suchness,” the nondual wisdom that is the nature of all phenomena and of the mind, he
makes steps that could be construed as going beyond Buddhist doctrine entirely. Immediately
following the two verses from the Muktitilaka on “the profound” and “the luminous” cited
above, he writes,

This supreme nondual nature,
The self that pervades all things
Is beyond the purview of saṃsāra—
It is called the dharmadhātu.


[T]he very same phrase, the “self that pervades all things” (dngos po kun la khyab pa’i
bdag), is used in the Dvitīyakrama to describe the “indestructible bindu” (mi shig pa’i thig le) of
the perfection stage.

This itself [becomes] the precious jewel/ That produces the qualities of all buddhas,/ The self that pervades all
things, / The great indestructible bindu.”


The term self (ātman) is also used in the name of Buddhajñānapāda’s unusually titled work, the Ātmasādhanāvatāra, literally “Entering into the Practice of the Self,” which is attested in Sanskrit in the extensive manuscript of Samantabhadra’s Sāramañjarī.

Szántó has translated this title as “An Introduction into Accomplishment in the Body,” perhaps inspired by the fact
that in that text Buddhajñānapāda denies the existence of a personal self and strongly advocates the tantric path,
especially the practice of deity yoga (Szántó 2015b, 756). But I would suggest that we need to take
Buddhajñānapāda’s use (and that of other tantric authors) of the term ātman seriously, especially given the
resistance to its usage throughout much of earlier Buddhist literature.

This is, however, far from the first or the only instance of the word “self” used in a positive sense in Buddhist
tantric literature. For example, the term ātman occurs in multiple places in the Sarvabuddhasamāyoga-tantra,
including its first verse, where, like in Buddhajñānapāda’s writings, it is used to describe a universal or all-pervasive
self. In fact, the use of the term ātman in the Sarvabuddhasamāyoga-tantra may have inspired Buddhajñānapāda’s
own use of the term; we know he was familiar with this tantra since he cites it in his Ātmasādhanāvatāra and
incorporates several pādas from its first chapter into at least three different passages in the Dvitīyakrama. The use
of the term ātman in tantric Buddhist literature at large is a topic deserving of further study.

It is worth noting that the single reference to nondual wisdom in the Samājottara appears quite similar to Buddhajñānapāda’s use of the term to describe the nature of phenomena, and also specifically references the problem of ego-clinging in relation to that nature. The two pādas read, “Holding a sense of ‘I” with reference to the phenomena of nondual wisdom/ Is called “confusion.” advayajñānadharmeṣu ‘haṃkāro moha ucyate/ (Samājottara, 50ab).


I think she just said Atman is right at the beginning of Dakini Jala three times.

Every possible source acknowledges this as a foundation of the "Vajrasekhara" or Vajrosnisa system. Again we would say the whole system is probably summarized by Paramartha Parasol.


I have no problem with the word or language, because I understand what he is struggling to say, because I am struggling to say the same thing, and I have come to him.


So he lacks the polish of later authors, because he is the first known to refer to Inverted Stupa, and it is during the sex of the third initiation:


Buddhajñānapāda’s is the earliest work with which I am familiar to set forth such techniques,
which became an essential part of the perfection stage practices in the later Yoginī tantras. This
passage in the Dvitīyakrama describes the yogin’s moving the winds in order to bring about a
blazing of wisdom fire that melts the elements and causes the dripping of the bindu of bodhicitta,
which is then “offered by unifying the winds.”


Moving repeatedly brings about sādhana.
Thus, without concern
Moving that which is bow-shaped,
the vow-holder |121|
Causes the blazing of the triangular wisdom fire.
Thereby the elements melt...


Does it sound like he is making something up? No, not really...it is more like he is trying to report and describe something that he found out about.


Anandagarbha lived shortly after him, probably in the late 800s and heavily emphasized Yoga Tantra, and composed a Vajrajvalodaya sadhana. His commentary gives the forms of the Gauris and therefor of Ghasmari.


At that point, Namasangiti was already well-known. Guhyasamaja was probably understood as the Manjuvajra Mandala from Jnanapada. Yet as far as we know, there was another Manjushri teaching ahead of this. The estimate for Santikar Acharya is usually further back to the 8th century.


Brian Hodgson was already pretty accurate about the legend of King Prachanda Deva who came to Nepal, converting into Santikar Acharya.


A Sakya version is maybe a bit mixed up with Kasyapa:


Buddha Kashyapa then went to Gaud (Orissa?). In that city there lived a pious king Prachanda Deva, who used to subdue his enemies and appreciated the deeds of the sage. After obtaining blessings and instructions from Kashyapa Tathagatha he went to Kathmandu renouncing his kingdom. King Prachanda Deva paid homage to lord Swayambhu and became a disciple of Acharya Gunakara. Acharya Gunakara ordained and initiated him in the mysteries of Sutras and Tantras. He was then called Santikar Acharya. Acharya Santikar, thinking of the later periods, when people with evil mind might destroy this self originated divine light, decided to cover it by erecting a Stupa over it.


So in other words, he has to do with building the Swayambhu Stupa *over* the Swayambhu Jyotir Rupa. This is virtually considered the "first name" of Adi Buddha Dharmadhatu Vagisvara Manjughosha. Right there in Nepal, he is like Guru Yoga, Manjushri simply takes the aspects of Vajrasattva and Vajradhara. But this is the same source for Chakrasamvara. That means it was probably very similar to Guhyasamaja. Plenty of mandalas and deities and methods of nectar and heat, minus the refinements of the full Pitha system and Subtle Yoga and Completion Stage practices in full detail.


They are not user-friendly manuals, in fact the idea seems to be, that, unassisted, they will fail.

I would probably tend to agree with what some of the modern Rinpoches have said, that the performance of tantra is so self-secret, that, the idea of hiding it or trying to make it extra difficult and tribulating, is useless.

That may not have been the case a thousand years ago when there were a lot of competing sects in these subjects.

Well, we can show from Jnanapada above, or, Dakini Jala Rahasya, that they clearly speak of dissolving the elements. And then we would hit this point, what do you mean, the Sky or Space dissolves?


It does, and would be what we call the Three Lights, or dissolution of three minds. This would be the "stability", so to speak, of the Three Skullcups in Generation Stage, completely focused into the Brahmarandra. And, this is just weird, I don't know what else to tell you, it is weird. And that is intended as part of mastery of the Fourth Yoga, Dharana.

We can just loop rewind to Jnanapada for a couple of paragraphs. It is pretty obvious that Pranayama will give us a Taste of an experience, which Dharana represents fullness and mastery of.


In the story of Buddha's Enlightenment, it says he dissolved Three Voids, without of course anything how you go about this.

Yes, from the ultimate perspective, it would be true that Generation Stage is simply a tool for Completion Stage, but that is irrelevant to someone who can't do it.

Keeping you warm in the snow would be irrelevant if not actually repulsive to Indian Candali.



Jnanapada did not mention the first two Yogas, Pratyahara and Dhyana, since there was no need, there was nothing new in those. He is avid, if not ferocious, about one main subject, Suchness.


We just have a Dhyana system, it is like "visualize a Buddha field where the Buddhas are giving you teachings,", which, perhaps, was unsatisfactory to Asanga. But it is an outer visualization like that, like a conversation. Just having names and forms, and even stories and so on.

The closest thing to a "forceful" (Hatha) yoga is that you would visualize Vajravairocani and then you would imagine her entering the Vam syllable at your Navel. What is intended, of course, is a protective mode. Almost like being a Dharma Protector of this practice, except she is resting in her natural environment. The actual Bow and Triangle as Jnanapada mentioned are the things to self-visualize. In a similar way to reducing a deity to its syllable, it would be a Dhyana, that is, visualized forms of, Varuni and others, and then we are going to compress that into the Bow. She is going to do her thing, and we try to use our Heart to shine through Phenomena and cause this kind of collapse into the central.


The art world is oblivious to this form of Ghasmari that we got from Anandagarbha, and as it turns out, a Dharmodaya or Agni Kunda is fairly rare as a hand item. It is found with one of Atisha's Taras associated with Tinuma, or, Agni as a Medicine Buddha retinue member. But Agni is the deity of the Homa system of Abhayakaragupta.

I am going to attempt to say it is about Moods and she simply looks like she is eating death, or the dead, or your memories of dying throughout reincarnation leaving a pile of bones bigger than a hundred Mount Merus, and that Jnanapada also clearly says to do Antarabhava meditation. This largely brings us back to the Dissolutions.

If we do Ghasmari's mantra, she is mimicing Shiva and stealing his speech principle. It is sort of like the Nilohita Brahman, except, while being merged with the deity, part of it is simply kept.

Doing this would appear at least partially identical to purifying the sixth principle.

What I understand this to mean is so that "our" Vajrasattva will work powerfully and smoothly. The one that resembles the First Bhumi on the far horizon from Pranayama.


She is doing that while she also has the Sword, as of Guhyajnana Dakini, Mahacinakrama Tara, or even Karma Family.

And so it will reach a mental mode where we have heart emanated energy which returns into the Bow, and at the same time the Vase Breathing means that the upper wind which normally moves from the heart up through the head is going to drop a little lower from where it usually sits, and, it is going to grab and pick up that reversed force, if it hooks up properly.

The mixture in the cauldron has to get warmer and warmer and is usually Orange. Wind mixed with mantra. It is of the nature of Vairocani. She is a torchlike tip, involved with something like stamens of the lotus. You have something like oil warming up and we are trying to find where she fits, like a keyhole.


That is what you experience, organically. You do this and you meditate Three Channels and the corners of the Triangle Om Ah Hum purify and balance them. That is the whole intent. The system of Tara overall unties its Granthis. You just calmly and smoothly bring Vairocani to her particular site. It is usually called the sacral or Svadhisthana Chakra, although we are allowed to say Manipura or Solar Plexus, which is what I do. Either one will work, whichever is easier and feels better is what you should use. You want to balance it across the central, and learn to hook it with the upper wind.

That is "Breath Control", i. e. breath of the subtle body. It is extremely sensitive to everything.

That is, so to speak, an inner Vase Initiation, which is more or less why we mentally mimic things to do for Crowns of Families and so forth. All of those put together is the Chakravartin, signs of Vajrasattva doing as intended.


Ziro Bhusana Vajrayogini can function as a fortune teller in our gambits with the Five Families, and so on, because if we think about this in the view of the Sangha, it looks a little different. Ziro Bhusana has been purifying our life streams since at least around the 1200s. We may not have known it, but, it did not matter what realm our continuum was transmigrating, she did this. None have escaped her, so, there is not much question about it.

She has a sign of agreement, which means that Guhyajnana and the Four Dakinis will emit their classes.

In the Sarma tantras, this means that practices of melting the white bindu cause the opening of petals of the Mahasukha Chakra in the head. Of course it has corresponding meanings in all levels, out to human beings.

Perhaps we could say she is doing a "how to" about the Skandhas versus the Buddhas and Prajnas. "Family" means that each of these psychological aspects regulates a habit of wind in the body, and we get the Ornaments such as a Necklace for breath and speech control.

As far as I can tell, if we look at Charchika in a Buddhist light, she is simply holding the emblems of Six Families. One can see how this conveys to the Armor Deities.

And although they are strange, Guhyajnana and Ziro Bhusana are using Nama mantras, a general greeting, invocation, or praise.

That accommodates the style of visualization.

Where something is considered an article of praise, you get some license to ad lib it. For instance, we can say to Varuni:


Om Jaldevyai Svaha


if it will help us to gain Bhava, that is, presence and admiration of her. It is not necessary. You don't stick it in the middle of something where it does not belong. But you can do it. In her case, it is Jala, "water", which by association becomes a "net", as in fishing, which as a symbol becomes myriads of tiny Nooses. And so if you wanted to, you could say that one mantra for ten years just based on an ordinary picture of the Churning of the Ocean. However she is not like Mahalakshmi and does not have dharanis, songs, mantras, or anything, and she is probably inert unless you at least have a little taste of Akash.


The precise thing between the two related goddesses is that Guhyajnana speaks of Om, Four Dakinis, whereas Ziro Bhusana is Om, Ah, Hum, each with Four Dakinis. That has the intent of Muttering the Three Channels.

Ghasmari has the intention of the Dharmodaya, purifying the sixth principle with fire and bliss inside. A living extension of a Dharmadhatu Vajra Offering Goddess. Simultaneously this means our internal Fire Triangle gets hotter and hotter until there is such a thing as a real Vairocani.


I am not sure if Jnanapada wrote more than a single sentence about it, but it could have been discussed for indeterminate time as the letter E, which is the downward triangle in Brahmi script. Something was written about it in the 800s, however it could have been practiced and had results previously. The problem is, that it is hard to explain to people. You are not a Buddha. But you have sampled the same experience. Language itself probably did not have the ability to express this until the cumulative Vikramasila system had come together.


Jnanapada is very abrupt, usually there is a kind of Gradual teaching about Karma Mudra with simple techniques starting from syllables and so on. The main thing he is talking about is the sexuality of the second and third initiations, Guhyabhiseka and Prajnajnana. But then there is nothing special; it appears that you are doing basically the same mandala rite, while you are having sex. He is talking about Completion Stage, so it automatically includes the Triangle, if not meriting much attention.


We don't have those kind of tantric colleges, and so we cannot be as libertinous as he sounds. If we compare this to the Samvarodaya Tantra, it is going to tell us to accomplish most of Generation Stage first, that you might be able to perform the Initiation from the state of Dharana.

See for example note 40, the Vajravali system of Abhayakaragupta is also based in sexualizing the two initiations.


Allright. The Vase Initiation precedes this. We are talking about a Vase Goddess and Vase Breathing. And although it may continue to seem remarkable to people about sex, one has to keep in mind that you are supposed to be trained in yoga prior to doing the rite. Are there sexual yogas that are not these initiations, yes, you could say that. Are there initiations that are not these, yes.

"Initiation" is a "power", isn't it, of Guhyajnana Dakini and others?

She says to meditate on her. And we are asking for a type of initiatic revelation about what is a vajrayogini who is lucid after removing the Element known as Space. Then there will be Red Lion Face Vajrayogini and we try to offer this elemental sludge that we are trying to consecrate as the arising of the Buddhas. Are we really purifying something beneficial in the core of our bodies? If one is sincere to such deities, they like it when their subjects and purposes are pursued. She will help you find the mystical drop. What was wine, Soma, etc., becomes Nectar of the medicinal and yogic kind. Heating this was often simply called Encounter with the Fierce Woman.


This refers to energy or Virya more than anything.

Having drunk Varuni, then we are simply seeing that portion inside ourselves, and the point of using a Dharmodaya goddess is to, more or less, access by touch or sensation, a corresponding warmth and bliss in ourselves. And it is entirely possible there could be many ways and a long time of practicing this, before it is as focused as Vairocani.



The contradiction we see in most exoteric religions, is that we think they are talking about a constant forced projection, that is, the simple fact that physical creation was/is accomplished, which they believe is the miracle or divine state. From there, a linear mentality, and a sort of tight-wrappedness to the minute flow of words makes it sound, as if, the outward-focused brain was some lord and master of something.

But in most yoga, this over-emphasis on form is eliminated by the view of it flipping or rotating, like dawn and midnight, creation and destruction. The destruction of form begs the question whether our personal consciousness entered the proper state that transcends this or is above it. I don't know exactly what the first song posted above means, but, it is hovering around Isvara and another term for creation:


Srshti



That has a few interpretations, such as seven emanations of the divine. And here, we notice it is rendered faithfully by HPB--and, conveniently, followed by the doctrine of Four Eves--on the Glossary page for Em-Ez:



Emanation [from Latin emanatus having flowed forth from e from + manare to flow] The issuing of streams of light and life from a sun is an act of emanation; the unfolding of what is latent in a germ is an act of evolution — but equally so an emanation, for all the attributes of the developing germ “flow forth” from the inherent life which is unfolding itself. Emanation is the more appropriate term for the process by which hosts of individual monads issue from their originant or parent-source; and evolution for the subsequent unfolding, from each monad, of what is latent in it. In the word emanation is summed up the doctrine of the manifestation of worlds and living beings from a unitary divine source; so that it is opposed both to the Christian doctrine of special creation and to the materialistic scientific theory of evolution, which is a blind building up from below.

The word has a particular use in the Gnostic system of Valentinus, where the pairs of aeons successively emanate, the lower from the higher.

“The doctrine of Emanation was at one time universal. It was taught by the Alexandrian as well as by the Indian philosophers, by the Egyptian, the Chaldean and Hellenic Hierophants, and also by the Hebrews (in their Kabbala, and even in Genesis). For it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the Hebrew word asdt has been translated ‘angels’ from the Septuagint, when it means Emanations, AEons, precisely as with the Gnostics. Indeed, in Deuteronomy (xxxiii., 2) the word asdt or ashdt is translated as ‘fiery law,’ while the correct rendering of the passage should be ‘from his right hand went [not a fiery law, but] a fire according to law’; viz., that the fire of one flame is imparted to, and caught up by another like as in a trail of inflammable substance. This is precisely emanation” (TG 113-4).




Between the Eve of Genesis and Eve the mother of Seth (Genesis 4) passed long ages, involving millions of years during which the archetypal preparation of the globe for human habitation was followed by distinct root-races and three Edens, with millions of years between even these latter.

The original from which the Hebrew Genesis was later compiled is lost. Yet even as the latter has reached us — first veiled, then probably remodeled by Ezra with shiftings that confuse the chronology — despite important words and clauses mistranslated by European scholars, its resemblance to the esoteric account is unmistakable. For Jehovah, who gave the human body and (physical) breath of life, is the hyparxis of Saturn and an earthly, not a celestial, hierarchy. The human mind and spirit are essentially emanations from the immortal spiritual monad coeval with the universe, and subsequent human evolutionary development was both from and aided by the elohim, a spiritual host. Adam and Eve, once mind appeared in them, enter the path of self-directed evolution, a reference to the second and third Eves mentioned above. The eating of the fruit of the tree is the awakening or lighting of mind in man. It shows Eve as consorting with spiritual, not demoniacal, forces and incidentally reconciles the two creation stories. Like the serpent, the tree is an ancient and universal symbol of sacred and esoteric knowledge. To eat of its fruit is to acquire the knowledge that only the gods possess, and the possession confers immortality under the law.



Nepal as a country is characterized by Shiva Pasupati. I started getting confused if they were talking about someone "yellow", but, there is an accent or dialect or something and pitr "father" is often spelled "pita". From the expanded view of multiple Puranas, we found that Grandfather Brahma at the start of any cycle, always repeats the same divisions of Kala or Time, and Agni or Fire or mind. Beings are in shifting and revolving kingdoms and hierarchies that shuffle and re-emerge in evolving ways. This is a bit like saying Time and Fire are aspects of natural law, and the others are different ways of experiencing it. One is able to pack this meaning into, for instance, a line of a popular song, since:



Sṛṣṭi (सृष्टि) refers to the “work of creation”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.1.15:—“[...] when God Śiva vanished, I, Pitāmaha (grandfather) of the worlds fell into contemplation (dhyāna) pondering on the means of carrying out His words of direction. Then after bowing down to Śiva, getting knowledge (jñāna) from Viṣṇu and attaining the highest bliss (parānanda), I decided to start the work of creation (sṛṣṭi)”.


It would be far from correct to imply that the Nepalese understand what we are doing, simply due to the presence of Varuni or the availability of Namasangiti and other esoteric verses in standard circulation. More likely, "most people" think of it as a beneficial tradition in a more general sense of "blessing". Even among the trainess and Vajracharyas, there is not often a highly occult understanding of the more elaborate rites and practices. It is a rare thing to really study and ask the tantric types of questions that induce Paravrtti.


A full Homa is really big, and, even if done in a mostly symbolic manner, is still going to take three or six hours. There is a lot going into it. And so I don't think we can suggest or promote it as more than maybe an annual, something like a New Year's service. Because there is such a thing as "only" a Flask Worship session, that is why we can sort of pull it off the Homa, because it is independent. It is still part of the sequence, Guru Yoga, Tara or Chakrasamvara or other Deity Yoga. This is already adjustable. Sometimes you might want to be a long time in the presence of the Guru, others not. And we don't want to automatically start building a long run-on litany so we are not just going to read a basic blessing of Avalokiteshvara and then try to do the Triangle. It needs this first part to be a successful Samaya with some deity, and a realization of the intent of the Bindu and Crescent.




Carcika is the sixth form of Kubjika, having a few related etymologies such as:


1) Carcikā (चर्चिका) (lit. “repetition of a word”) is Kubjikā’s western face, also identified with Mahālakṣmī and Umā, the Skyfarer (khecarī) [it is the lower one in front, which is that of Kubjikā herself]



Similar to her birth in a pool of blood, and, Buddhist Mahayana training are also hte meanings:


Smearing with unguents

Perfuming


She is Bhairavī who is both the consort and mother of Bhairava. Carcikā is the aspect Kubjikā assumes when she has imparted the Command to Bhairava and embodies that Command in its purest form.

2) Carcikā (चर्चिका) or Carcikāvvā is the name of the Mother associated with Oṃkāra, which refers to the sacred seat of Oḍḍiyāna.

3) Carcikā (चर्चिका) or Carcikāvvā is also the Mother (avvā) associated with the sacred seat of Pūrṇagiri (pūrṇapīṭha).


(possibly also Pundravardhana Pitha among other names, Pulliri in some cases)


I could almost come up with more reasons to say she is *not* Camunda. She was born from effort, i. e. the perspiration of struggle, and in the tantras, Sweat-born gains the connotation of Nectar, such as Ekajati was Sweat-born from Buddha, White Kurukulla exudes Nectar from all her pores, and so on.


She may almost be an unrelated, unnecessary tribute...except she does appear in the Yamari tantras. Ghasmari is a bit like a Buddhist way to inhale Charchika. If we have, at the beginning, Carcika with the symbols of Six Families, we are asking for a boon that helps me Mutter something about a Family, or about all six. Abhayakaragupta recorded her sadhana with nothing much other than this in place.

"Bhairavi" appears to become meaningful through Chakrasamvara's method of Seven Yoginis, and I am not sure we understand this part. Not needed in the beginning of this. But she is part of the Vajradaka Seven Jewels of enlightenment.


Varuni and various dakinis enact the details; Ghasmari compresses it back and tries to move us into Purified Fire.


Even if that design seemed to be ad hoc, it turns out not to be. That is because in most ways, Dakarnava Tantra is the biggest and most cumulative. The "outer garment" of Dakarnava is, so to speak, the disciple's penetration of the entire Kama Loka including the Akanistha, up through the whole tantric process and probably even Transference. He takes complete Gnosis of an entire Heruka style Yidam for granted on day one. Then Dakarnava is composed of a much larger, but similar, array. The Four Dakinis are at his very core. We said Ghasmari is a Gauri, who are the Generation Stage Fruit, i. e. she is not really a gnostic constituent of Complete Enlightenment (the Seven Jewels), but she is more like part of the established Bhumi. She is a part of the "transformed basis".

Carcika emanated a Jnanacakra, which had its intermediate meanings. But we see it comes around again as part of Dakarnava's Sambhoga Kaya:


The Third layer (saṃbhoga-puṭa, ‘enjoyment’) consists of:

The fire circle (agnicakra),
The water circle (jalacakra or udakacakra),
The gnosis circle (jñānacakra).


And here we are going to find some Gauris related to the Four Dakinis. The population of the Jnanacakra is Thirty-six couples starting with Tilottama and:

The four gate Ḍākinīs [viz., Ghasmarī] each has the same physical feature as the four Ḍākinīs starting with Lāmā.


The text is actually confused, thinking they are cast forwards with these in the south. Here, we would reverse the assumption, that they are cast backwards, unless there is a line in the actual text that would change it. Ghasmari was already generally accepted as a Green Bell Goddess in the North.

So, she, what--inherently carries this whole Reversal question right there in her hand.

A lot of mandala studies like to re-write retinues in the way they think it should be done. You can't do that. There are rules, and then the instructions tell you to break the rules.

Our easy response is that everything in the Upright Stupa belongs to the Deity.

It is something we are completely severed from. And so we do not use that to represent ourselves, or assume it to be reflected by wise words in ordinary mundane consciousness. It only exists in some sensitive place beyond harnessing the energy we are calling Vairocani here.

The Dakarnava Tantra is most likely compounded with the Pancha Daka and Hevajra systems, where you would be accustomed to Ghasmari apparently accepting a traditional role in Karma Family with her Bell, as the Fourth Activity. It is entirely possible that her ring should be cast forwards, and the Dakinis reversed. Fortunately 84000 is working on publishing it, but since it contains over fifty chapters, it may be slow. Part of our effort says that if we have this prior cultivation of Ghasmari according to what is in the source, then, we are going to get a correspondingly better result than if "Bell Goddess" were given to us cold from a script. There is plenty of reason to say that the trouble of purifying the mind with fire, now, will be easy, and generally a type of Seal to any lesson, later.

The Bell is also hypostatical as "consort of Vajrasattva".

Works both ways.


In Buddhism, the Golden Egg of Brahma is one's own aura, and Churning of the Milk Ocean is performed by Emptiness Mantra:


Om Sunyata Jnana Vajra Svabhavatmako Ham





Locally, around Bihar, there is Mandar Parvat as the Mount Mandara that Churned the Ocean of Milk.


Sakyamuni spent at least six years in Generation Stage.


As far as we know, there is a clear legend about Buddha doing Tapas in a cave, partway up:

Dunga, a mount, eminence, or peak


So this area of Bihar is around the weird conflux of the Phalgu and Nirajan Rivers, having the geography of a Vishnupad Temple, including Mangala Gauri (Breasts Pitha), and Sita's Sraddha or Pitr Offering site.


It has an ancient temple of Ashtabhuji Devi (Goddess with eight hands) and two small caves named Brahmayoni and Matreyoni. There is no separate significance related to the rituals for ancestors here but many pilgrims climb this hill to view the temple landscape across the city as the hilltop offers great views. This hill is very significant for Buddhists also as Buddha preached the Fire Sermon (Adittapariyaya Sutta) to a thousand fire-worshippers on this hill. They became enlightened and converted to Buddhism.


But in this cave he meditated for years until a woman named Sujata offered him food. The temple features an emaciated Buddha, and, a couple of others who might be:


There are two more deities inside this cave – Goddess Durga (locally referred to as Dungeshwari Devi) and Tara. These sculptures date back to the early medieval period.


or, in a response to a visit:


The other two statues on the floor near the Lord Buddha are god Shiva and goddess Durgeshwari… They were gods in Hinduism, but the reality is that they worshipped and considered Lord Buddha as the teacher of the whole Universe. Even the king of gods in Veda, the God Indra also worshipped Buddha, which is identified as Shakra in Buddhism. But Hidu humans don’t know and don’t like to accept it even if their gods, follow Buddha after Buddha enlightened.


or, in something perhaps from the Times of India:


Dhungeshwari, the place where Buddha spent six years in meditation at dhungeshwari before trekking another 5km to the west to reach the bodhi tree, he added more important than the long time spent by Buddha in dhungeshwari is the Buddhist philosophy of the madhyam marg, which almost accidentally got conceived during Buddha's dhungeshwari meditation. Buddha broke up his fast here to adopt a middle path approach. Five of Buddha's devotees deserted him in protest against his giving up the fast and called him dhongi (pretender) and dhungeshwari is derived from the adjective used by former Buddha disciples.



It does not seem to have been a "Durga site" prior to Buddha's arrival. The mountain is above the forest of Sitabani. Buddha descended from all of this to do his final meditation in Bodh Gaya. So he had been reminded about food, similarly to how the Tathagatas then tell him not to remain in formless Nirvana.


Vajrasattva Yoga or Mahayoga from Sitabani is close to the same as Generation Stage, and, her site as far as I can tell has its boundaries across the parking lot from how you get to the mountain cave where Sakyamuni did Generation Stage.


We cannot quite say that Sitabani or Dungesvari has taken over any other kind of local Durga. Pratisara is almost certainly an overhaul of Vipula Mountain Devi also in Bihar.


Nothing is really said about what Buddha meditated in six years. We get that it means do not be ascetic to the detriment of your body, because that is not spiritual growth and does not help make a Buddha nor spread Dharma. That probably in and of itself would have been revolutionary to the overall Sramana community which surrounded him.


I agree and would not say it is a problem. Sometimes you should learn to ignore sensations of hunger, but for the most part, we should think of the production and consumption of food as a marvellous thing. Then we do have more material that might fill in six years with a minor Varuni pantheon. Helping ourselves to Sesha's shakti.


There is a parallel to Sakyamuni in this cave in terms of Varuni's Sister.

The normal origin of Annapurna is from Shiva's misadventure in gambling away all his stuff to Parvati:








In her honor:


Mata Annapurna Puja or Goddess Annapoorna Devi Pooja is one of the important rituals in some parts of India mainly in Eastern Indian states. Annapurna Puja is observed with utmost devotion in West Bengal .
Goddess Annapurna Puja is observed in Shukla paksha of Chaitra month as per the traditional Hindu (Bengali) calendar.
Annapurna Puja festival is mainly observed by women.


One can find in the iconography of the 19th c. figurine:


Most Unusual Form of Goddess Annapurna in that although she holds her spoon, she also combines a feature of Mahalakshmi having a Shiva lingam and cobra on her head.



Which derives from her residence on a page also mentioning Kolhasur:


It is viewed as that dharshan of Lord Balaji of Tirumala is fragmented without going to the temple of Goddess Sri Mahalakshami/Ambabai in Kolhapur.

On the crown of the devi are a cobra-hood and a Shiva-ling with a yoni around it. Standing behind the devi is her vahana-a lion. The iconographical descriptions of the Goddess, going back to the thirteenth century or even earlier according to some authorities, resemble most of the lakshanas of the present image. The earliest mention comes from the Vishvakarmashastra as quoted by Hemadri in his Chaturvargachintamani. It refers specifically to the Karvirvasini Mahalakshmi.


Annapurna is actually present, in some way, that is at least mixed with other Lakshmis:


Along the southern door called Vidyapeeth Darwaja are places of worship of different divine beings and goddesses specifically Radhakrishna, Kalbhairav, Siddhivinayak, Sinhavahini, Tuljabhavani, Lakshmi-Narayana, Annapurna, Indrasabha, Rameshwar, Narayanswami Maharaj.


Annapurna is the goddess "of" Kashi, but she "is" a mountain north of Nepal, where she is understood as Mahalakshmi. In response, we understand Mahalakshmi as also at Sri Pitha in Maharashtra.

To my surprise there may be ten sources of Mahalakshmi in the way we are attempting to discuss. The debates on this topic usually revolve around what name one decides to use for Adi Shakti.


Adi Shankara composed the most well-known Annapurna song; here is a rare variant including a trio of names expressed as a lament about her absence:



9.Yekamra moola nilayasya Maheswarasya ,
Praneswari pranatha bhaktha jana vanekshi,
Kamakshi raksitha jagathi thrathae anna poorne ,
Bhiksham pradehi Girije , kshudithaya mahyam.

I am hungry , so please give me alms , Oh Girija ,
Who is Kamakshi, the soul like darling of The great god ,
Of the place of tree with one mango , who is searched,
By the people and devotees who worship her ,
And who is the Annapurna who protects the three worlds.


Paradoxically, she is called Annapurna before returning or being reborn to restore food.


Annapurna has Nyasa and mantras in Brihat Tantrasara, which refers to the Buddhist Candamaharoshana and Bhutadamara Tantras, and even leads to:


Annapurna Bhairavi


She is fourteenth in mostly Bhairavis which lead to Sri Vidya and Sodashi--Sixteen, followed by:

Panchami (Varahi), Prachandandika, Shyama, Guhyakali, Bhadrakali, Tara, Chandograshulapani, Matangi, Ucchishta Chandalini, Dhumavati, Ucchishta Ganesha, Dhanada, Shmashanakali and Bagalamukhi


That is not Buddhist, but, it is almost Nepalese, and, we probably have close parallel uses of the same things. Next it even refers to Manjughosha.

Her most basic story is that of Sujata to Sakyamuni, i. e. Shiva should not try to do yoga without food.

The verse quoted above overlooks the fact that the companion of Mahesvara is addressed as Prana Ishvari.

Annapurna is the Homa goddess. The inner offering of prana or food is its use in the senses, and then anywhere it is not the central, and Agni or luminous mind undergoes a disintegration, and there is a rebirth with the intent of spreading boons, or gift waves, similar to Samantabhadra, because Annapurna has resonated to the Offering. In these terms, it must have something to do with Agni's seeds and Mars in the realm of Maya.

The philosophy and yoga of it is pretty simple, mostly another way of continuing our same ideas. It is just quite large in the volume of steps and instructions. The Buddhist one says to use Varuni Flask Worship first. And she is muli-purpose. If one so desired, in the long run, you could concentrate all her force on a single Yidam or Deity, and then perhaps you only ever do Homa for that Deity. I think you could be allowed to be practically monotheistic, in that sense, if you wanted to. In most cases, it would probably take a person quite some time if they wanted to make a decision like this, but it could go differently.


Varuni and Lakshmi as Sisters are very nearly ecstatics, and yet we found they have a way of re-combining into Urmila or Deep Sleep Lakshmi or Naga Lakshmi. And this is one of the few things we can say about the tantric Third or Black Void.

One has to be able to enter and re-emerge from it. This level of detail does not seem to be in the Generation Stage texts, which leave us with, what do you mean, Dissolve Space?

The Ocean of Milk was in the third, or, Tamasic Manvantara.

Varuni was a clear impulse of Akash, and we must dissolve her too if we dissolve ourselves containing her.

Lakshmi Tantra perhaps has the approximation of the Vyuhas to the Buddhist Subtle Minds. And so our Black Void may be something like the Unmanifest Vyuha.

My suggestion is that the Subtle Minds are faint, nearly imperceptible, since if you reach this point and it is only called Akash, and you are probably going to get a sensation of Light and the melting of the White Bindu, which will be too overwhelming, and one would conclude that is all there is to it.

There are, so to speak, different qualities and grades of Nectar, as well as injections of fire into the Bindu. It may be possible to argue that the stage of Dharana includes mastery of this Third Void. I am not sure. If I did not know, I might call them Strange, Weirder, and What? And that is more or less what happened. Back then it took many years to trace their usage in Buddhist Subtle Yoga. That is why I would say they are familiar to me, and this is a better way of talking about them.

We are making something like a gyroscope, a spinning ballet or Dervish dancer, and the coordination and balance question in the Triangle is mirrored beyond the body, above the Voids, in Higher Yoni Triangle of Purnagiri Pitha, or Sri Pitha.

This, so to speak, is the gate of Sarva Sunya or the Fourth Void, continuity to Prabhasvara or the Absolute. And it is entirely feasible to experience this in the parameters of Dharana. That means one starts having the experiences of a Buddha. That is what a teacher such as Ratnakarasanti is trying to assert to us.

[shaberon]

Varuni Puja or Mantra Skullcup and Fire Triangle






This is a partially-advanced practice, a panacea, similar to a capstone or "Eighteenth Chapter of Guhyasamaja", of the Vajrosnisa and Dhyanottara system of the Kriya--Charya tantras going in to Generation Stage. It is an outer-to-inner yoga, having an outer public ritual in one aspect, and an esoteric tantric in another; and what we are going to have is a sort of educational blend, with the intent that it will force the participant to recognize the states and conditions, etc., that are being discussed, along the lines of Yogacara Gradualism.

I am not a translator with difficulty understanding how a practice might actually work, but, a person who has experienced how they do, looking for a more viable way to collate it. And so this is like the Generation Stage of Father Tantra, because we are not going to name or use any male deity. Rather, it is going to "generate" the male deity, which is Method, or Upaya, the male half of Prajna--Upaya. The Method means full use of the yoga we will describe below using only goddesses, that is, experience.


We are about to do something not exactly the way it is written in Samvarodaya Tantra. The main ritual given here is Heruka and Vajravairocani with the Four Dakinis. We are going to un-summon Vairocani and go to another area which refers to her as being conveyed by Varuni.


The tantra does not explain itself very much, and it does not have a lot of operative details. Its chapter on Generation Stage does not even mention the actual topic and discusses taking birth. It could have simply copied Chakrasamvara here. It is mostly copying multiple Chakrasamvara texts, but it also has pieces of Hevajra and Nagarjuna's Pancha Krama. It is like a guide, presuming you will turn to other sources here and there. As if that is what it did. Observed and chronicled a rite of Varuni being done this way. But when it was first known/came out, it would have been in a bed of Generation and Completion Stage commentaries, which would already have been the prevailing topic of the times. There isn't anything it could have really "started", which is why it is more like a gingerbread trail.



So we will look at the mantra and practice order of the Samvarodaya Deity Yoga, and its reference to Varuni, and then the sadhana steps are generally according to Gellner's Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest. But that is just a report that does not account for mantras, Armor, etc., and it does observe "regional variations" and that not all priests understand this in great depth. We are trying to understand the inner side, since we are not really going to provide a baby's first rice feeding, or have anything to do with similar social rituals. The book and/or people do not understand the similarities and differences of Varuni, Mamaki, and Guhyesvari.

After the sadhana, some more information about Muttering, Pranayama, and Dharana. It is actually a lot more. We want to absorb many things, slowly, and perhaps repetitively. There is a kind of "scaling" factor, something like one line from the tantra is equivalent to a paragraph here and six paragraphs there. Guhyasamaja Tantra is like that inside itself and unorganized. So this post is like a sandwich, with Samvarodaya Tantra information on either side, and a filling of related practices. Actually, we will just keep the Samvarodaya material here; the rest is too much and will have to go in another post.






Samvarodaya Chapter XIII Origin of Heruka ritual order


Bu ston's text contains an abundance of material not present in the original, i. e. forms and mantras.

Using a standard beginning, after Four Walls and Four Immeasurables:


Om svabhavasuddhah sarvadharma svabhavasuddho 'ham

Through the practices which bring about the
accumulation of the material of bodhi (enlightenment), he should
stand firm on the doctrine that everything is only mind (7).

(Cittamatra is the doctrine given for this mantra)



Om sunyatajnanavajrasvabhavatmako 'ham


He should think of bhairambha and so on in the form of the container and the
content

This word, its meaning yet to be clarified, can be found also in kalpa 6,
prakarana 3 of the Samputa.


[it is the Wind at the End of Time]


Next, it is not a mantra, the visual character, Yam, becomes a Bow, and so on. Similarities to the Inverted Stupa using Bu ston's multi-textual Vimaladhara:


The corresponding passage of verses 9, 10, 11 and 12 occurs in ch. 4 of
the Abhidhanottara (Vol. 2, 45-2-1 f.). An explanation of the following six
verses from verse 9 to verse 14 is to be found in Bu ston's Sadhana Ja 473-
6 f. For this doctrine, bTson kha pa uses a special term fJbyun ba rim brtsegs
(Vol. 157, 5-1-8, 14-3-7).


So it starts doing what we are going to practice here, and then builds the complete Palace environment for Heruka.


Vairocani and the Four Dakinis:


A detailed explanation of this goddess is given in Bu ston, op. cit. Ja
479-3 f.


The goddess embraced by him has two arms, one face and
three eyes (22). She is of the colour of a bandhuka-flower, naked,
and with a girdle decorated by pieces (of kapala) , with hair
loosened, showing tusks, dribbling and fond of blood (23). In her
left arm, she holds a vessel made of a human skull containing the
blood of evil maras and so on. Her right hand in the tarjani posture holds a vajra; her big body is like the fire at the end of
a kalpa. She always enjoys the great pleasure (mahasukha) clasping
(the god) tightly in her two thighs (24).

There are Dakini, and likewise Lama, Khandaroha and Rupini.
He should put them on the places of lotus (-petals) (corresponding
to the) four directions; pleasure of all (kinds of) siddhi will (then)
appear (25). They are of black, green, red and white colour
respectively; and each of them has three eyes, two arms and one
face. They are kapalinis holding khatvanga-staves in their (left)
hands (26), and vajras and swords in their right (hands). They
are naked and in the posture of alidha, with hair loosened, with
mouths showing tusks, and are adorned with five mudras (27).
There are four receptacles of bodhicitta and so on on the (four
lotus-petals of) intermediate quarters. He should worship with a
happy feast of song and dance accompanied by five amrtas (28).



Then--knowing the Armor Spell--


he should imagine
the circle of wisdom, and make (it) enter into the samaya-circle
through the mantra and mudra of a yogin (34).

Armor:

Om vam is Vajravairocani, ham yom is Yamini, hrim mom is
Mohani, hrem hrim is Samcalani, hum hum is Santrasani, phat phat
is Candika on all limbs; (these are) weapons (38). On the navel,
on the heart, and likewise on the face, on the head, on the top of
the head and on all limbs (are) weapons.

Om yogasuddhah sarvadharma yogasuddho 'ham (Om, all the
dharmas are purified by yoga; I am purified by yoga) (39).

Putting in his own heart the circulating dakinijalasamvara,
which belongs to the deities of mudra of the heart and so on, with
the right and left hand, he should make it blossom forth like a
lotus-flower. Thus, he should cause to arise the best of yogas, the
most excellent, the yoga of the gods (40)


Due to installation of the Three Vajras and the Pitha system:



Thus the body is made of "lump" (pinda); and he (who
has this body) is indeed equal to all the buddhas (42).
Through the yoga in the shape of non-duality, the unthinkable
abode has been shown. He should imagine the highest abode
through a yoga corresponding to his mind (43).'




Pinda is a "compression", balanced by "expansion" as known by Anubheda or perhaps Vipula, at other times. In order to do this, Heruka has borrowed the Four Dakinis, whom also arise with several other members of Varuni's hypostasis. He did this in order to consort with a perhaps objectionable Puranic Devi. It is possible that is why this tantra has not spread far into other areas that perhaps feel they are supposed to be combative towards Hinduism. But when we track her down, she is Tvastr's Shakti. This really does sound relevant to a Noumenal practice, since it is, so to speak, replacing an un- or semi-conscious materialistic Creator (Brahma) with a Divine Artificer who is even above Indra (the second plane of Kama Loka). Also, it must be the highest quality of Nectar, from which Hayagriva or Horse Head is the next iteration, and so on. And I think all we are saying about the Puranas, is that it is less important how these powers worked at the formation of the cosmos, and much more important how they work in the present moment as yourself right now.

There is Garuda Yoga, and probably quite a few traditions that may deal with Nectar or Amrita in one way or another. Samvarodaya however tells us, this consort, Vairocani, is not available by the mere belief. She is a Potency which may be discovered by what we might call Varuni Yoga, which is really the one motor behind any and all tantras, except it is rarely explained and focused enough. That is what we are doing.




Varuni Nirdesa Chapter XXVI, Sanskrit on p. 153, English on p. 314


Gellner took this as:

Vajrayanist textual prescriptions of the goddess Mamaki’s form (e.g. Samvarodaya Tantra 26.2-7)


What is going on here is:


yaksendra amrtotpattikaranam


Amrita Generation Stage, being explained to:


Yakṣendra (यक्षेन्द्र).—Kubera, the lord of Yakṣas.


Allright. I think we have to grant that--Kubera is the highest and wisest of Worldly Deities. Yaksas are like gate-guardians of life winds, or the judge or knower if the door is sealed and the central is entered. So this makes sense, and:


The Mandara-mountain is named
"diamond-like wisdom" (jnanavajra); the region of empty sky
(khadhatu) is the ocean of milk (2). When the amrta was being
churned in the beautiful sea, the ocean of milk, the goddess Sura
arose from it; she is a maiden who can assume any shape at will
(3).



She, being churned by the Mandara-mountain, exists in everything that is (in the form of) flowing water' (8).

'she flows in the middle of all which have become rivers'.




And, resembling clarified butter and honey, she runs into what is called the ocean
of milk. And, this girl is (nothing but) soma-drink; in her body
resides Vajravairocani (9).




When or where Heruka melts:


ekibhutani sarvani amrtam raudrarupini
harta karta ca bhokta ca tasya garbhamrtam tatha 11

(Here,) everything has become one; (it is) the amrta and is the goddess of
dreadful appearance; it is the destroyer, the maker and the enjoyer ;
and so is the amrta of her womb (11).



Kunda (the hearth-pit or a bowl to brew sura with) is said to
be "the origin of dharma" (dharmodaya); the globular water-jar
(golaka) is asserted to be the amrta. Suras (spirituous liquors) are
vajrayoginis; and intoxication is Heruka (12). The colour (of suras)
is Padmesvara himself; the scent is Ratnasambhava. The taste is
indeed Amoghasiddhi; and the vehemence is the wind itself (13).


He should always cause (him) to consecrate (the spirituous
liquor) with the mantra Om ah hum. He should cause (him) to make
(the spirituous liquor) purified and known with the mantra Ha ho
hrih, (21). The syllable Ha removes the colour; the syllable Ho
destroys the scent; and the syllable Hrih, kills the energy; (the
practiser) should take (the spirituous liquor) in the guise of the
amrta (22).


om ah hum iti mantrenadhisthanam karayet sada
ha ho hrih iti mantrena sodhyam bodhyan ca karayet II 21 II



It was not too specific--but the second mantra is for the second or Mercury Nectar.

Likewise it sweeps from the essence of nectar, from Emptiness Mantra, to melting Heruka, which can only be a grand summary of a large, and usually long, and difficult, practice in Generation Stage. That is why we are going to combine the ritual and hypostatic natures of Varuni. This tantra is written or composed perhaps a lot more smoothly and coherently than Chakrasamvara, but, it similarly does not really work "without the commentaries". And so it is correct that Varuni is a distinct ritual between Buddhist Guru Yoga and Deity Yoga, and Agni Homa. Nothing else is like her. If we dwell on this one kind of sadhana, arguably, it is like Namasangiti--there is no way of explaining it, or, it attaches to all of the teachings.


Gellner's ritual presumes a sponsor and that you already have the Homa items, such as Five Products of the Cow, a Mirror, Black Powder, Red Powder, and Yogurt, and so it is probably more helpful in showing how all that comes together. It spans multiple deities who for the most part are fairly straightforward.

Kisali is a bowl with uncooked rice, a betel nut, and a coin. So, the Flask is at first covered by this, which the sponsor exchanges for the priest's Conch, which momentarily rests on top while deities are invoked into the Flask:



Once he has summoned the
deities, the conch shell is removed from the mouth of the Flask, water is
poured from the former into the latter three times, and the kisali is replaced,
likewise the vajra and thread.


After the Nirajan:

Finally to complete this stage, the Flask and other implements
are worshipped with Footwater and the Five Offerings.

Once the Visualization, purification, and worship of the Flask have been
performed, the same process is repeated, first for the Tantric implements
{Khay Pot and Alcohol Pot), and secondly for any other additional item
required by the overall rite.


The three containers together complete the Varuni Puja.



So we carefully are going to mentally make this triple environment, where many sadhanas only represent one or two cups being used. Because of our extenstions, this is a somewhat dedicated time-consuming meditation that may not be practical more than once or twice a week. It is not something you do in the morning before brushing your teeth with Zeal. It is kind of big and one may be best off adding stages incrementally.

What you do is write down the least amount of notes and mantras and take that with you for reference to practice. You try to look at your paper less and less until you no longer need it and could do the thing outside at night if you wanted. But mostly we really want to take a comfortable chair once or twice a week and read along. Even the matter of whether you need to push yourself into a bolt upright or Vajrasana posture or anything strenuous is optional. This is subtle, and so we really require extreme relaxation and the letting go of limbs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Pranayama with Varuni and Others




Refuge


According to Samvarodaya, most trinities are favorable as correspondences to Muttering Om Ah Hum:


A yogin goes to the state of the buddha through the purity of the
external and internal (triads) (27)


Om Sarva Vidya Hum

Om Prajnaye Hum

Om Manipadme Hum



Adi Prajna is Lakshmi or Prajnaparamita, Arya Tara, mother of Adi Buddha, wife of Buddha, Desire, Akasa springs from her, Trikonakara Yantra or Yoni or downward triangle with bindu, Dhyanarupya, Modesty, Prosperity.


So we want to repeat Refuge, Bodhicitta Generation, Vajrasattva, and the Purity and Emptiness Mantras, which should be fairly standard for any yoga sessions by now. The intro does not need to be very different, because it is the part after Emptiness where the work lies. If we can experience Emptiness Mantra properly, then we can invoke Varuni. And so we are no longer going to discuss these subjects which have been previously elaborated and practiced.




One of the few technical names for the glyph described as Inverted Stupa is Nadi Dakini Jala.


From Void:

The dharmodaya emerges from the syllable E in the
empty expanse of space as a vast inverted pyramid - like
the triangular blade of a ritual dagger (Tib. phur bu) or the
tapering expanse of Mt Meru - indicating the pinning down
and stabilising of the earth element.

[This E is already triangular, so, it is a point-like inverted pyramid getting larger]




Circle of Bliss 99, Inner Offering Mandala:






There arises a Dharmakara triangular in shape. The outside is white, inside red, and set with a wide-open side upwards and a narrow, root side downwards. Inside of this, from a YAM arises a blue air mandala, in the shape of a bow. From the two ends, banners hang marked with a YAM, whose nature is the Union of Great Bliss and Emptiness.

Blue Yam arises, making a Blue Wind Mandala, which is the crescent shape, with white banners at the horns over two vases. It is a drawn bow, representing the lower center. The Banners are said to activate the wind. The Crescent is the legs, or a bow, a spring power we want to aim at the central at the triangle or solar plexus, and if there is an effect, these are fluttering Banners.

At the corner of the edges of this bow-shaped mandala, there are two vases. Inside these vases, there are banners and the difference between these banners and victory banners as these are more like flags and also, victory banners usually have decorations at the top but there are no such decorations on these flags.



That is probably the most important part. Five or six different descriptions should all say about the same thing. Such a base is used in practically all Completion Stage rites, although they may change the number and style of the containers. These practices are based in the presumption that you can competently get the results of our current practice in a few short minutes. A normal person cannot do this at all, and most field reports indicate that it takes most dedicated meditators about one to six years to accomplish. Because of this, we are going to add an invocation to ask for a Boon to our training. Her background tells us that her name primarily means Mantra Repetition, and also Blood Bather, in the sense of being Sweat-born from Shiva, and starting to play in the Blood of Andhaka. That is a pretty different message than Camunda and Durga usually carry. She does have a role in the Yamari tantras; Carcika from Sadhanamala says:



pūrvvoktavidhānena śūnyatābhāvanānantaraṃ aṣṭadalakamalo-
pari sūryyasthahuṃkārajavajraṃ vaṃkārādhiṣṭhitavaraṭakeṃ dhyātvā
tatpariṇatāṃ vajracarccikāṃ trinetrām ekamukhīm arddhaparyyaṅka-
tāṇḍavāṃ mṛtakāsanasthāṃ kṛśāṅgīṃ daṃṣṭrotkaṭabhairavāṃ
naraśiromālāvibhūṣitakaṇṭhadaśāmasthyābharaṇavibhūṣitāṃ
pañcamudrādhāriṇīm akṣobhyamukuṭinīṃ vyāghracarmmanivasanāṃ
muktakeśīṃ ṣaḍbhujāṃ dakṣiṇe vajrakhaḍgacakradhāriṇīṃ
vāme kapālamaṇikamaladharāṃ raktavarṇāṃ karmmānurūpataḥ
śuklādivarṇayuktāṃ ca dhyātvā svahṛccaṃkārakarānītajñānacakraṃ
puraḥ saṃsthāpya pūjādikaṃ nirvvarttya praveśayet tato mantraṃ
japet - oṃ vajracarccike huṃ svāhā /

// iti vajracarccikāsādhanam //



From Vam, Vajracharchika arises.

She has only the garland of Nara or fresh, wet human heads, meaning she is at least to an extent, an attacker, and transmutes hindrances, and is not really the Skulls, or Emptiness or Prajna itself. She does Tandava. She is Red, and has One Face with Three Eyes and Six Arms, and mṛtakāsanasthāṃ, a corpse throne; she is a Bhairavi, is the only Sadhanamala deity to be one. Her main item is Vajra, and her other right hands hold a Sword and a Chakra. Her left hands hold a Skull, a Mani Jewel, and a Kamala Lotus. She bears five seals and is crowned by Akshobya.

In one's heart is a Cam syllable which produces a Jnanacakra.

puraḥ [already] saṃsthāpya [having accomplished] pūjādikaṃ [puja beginning with, and so on] nirvvarttya [is pronounced] praveśayet [entry], by her Mantra Japa or Muttering.

Her mantra does Pravesaya, or Noose, into Jnana chakra.


oṃ vajracarccike huṃ svāhā



So we want to ask her for her power to become proficient in Muttering and her help in establishing about half of Inverted Stupa and half the Yogas. It is entirely possible she is conjuring an abstract Jnana Cakra fro Completion Stage. The same phrase in Hinduism is the Guru Chakra slightly above the two wings of the Ajna, or, in Buddhism, you can just think of it as the Six Families represented by her hand items, which in particular is an impulse to the Armor Deities we will do now. So she can remain in place and be used a little more.


Om Vajra Charchika Siddhendra Nila Harini Ratna Traya






The Triangle perhaps was not necessary for her, and now it should be there similar to the picture:


There arises a Dharmakara triangular in shape. The outside is white, inside red, and set with a wide-open side upwards and a narrow, root side downwards. Inside of this, from a YAM arises a blue air mandala, in the shape of a bow (crescent). From the two ends, banners hang marked with a YAM. Above that from RAM arises a red, triangular fire mandala marked with a VAM. Upon this, from Om Ah Hum, come three skullcups in the corners.

Red Ram is Fire Triangle, pointing downwards, or towards you, solar plexus. Over the triangle are White, Blue, and Red Ah syllables [or Om Ah Hum]; the white one is east/down/closest, north is red, south is blue, these become the three colored heads. In the center of them is White Ah which becomes the White and Red Skullcup.



It is a normal front visualization, to which, we want to add the somatic or body sensations. We want to feel something like an inverted pyramid scaling up to a fiery level inside us. If you are good at visualization, maybe you can also see the Vam syllable in your center. A high degree of competency at visualization is not necessary here. If you can stabilize balls of light or blobs of color, that would be considered pretty good. We mainly want to fuse the inner meaning of the teachings with feelings which are very different from ordinary life. This Ram syllable is Agni who lives in the body in many ways, and here is encompassed in the mode close to Jathara or Mare's Mouth, or digestive or metabolic warmth. It supports something which is no longer found in Hinduism.


Guhyasamaja commentary:

From within emptiness, Yaṃ emerges and transforms into a wind maṇḍala. Above that is Raṃ which becomes a fire maṇḍala. Above that is Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ which become three human heads that serve as a hearth. On top of the hearth is Āḥ, from which comes a skullcup, vast and big. In the base of that is Āḥ from which comes a lotus marked with Āḥ. Above the lotus are the five meats and five nectars, each marked with its respective name syllable as well as the syllable Oṃ. Above the skullcup is Hūṃ which becomes a vajra marked with Hūṃ, from which light shines forth. This light strikes the wind maṇḍala, causing the wind to blow, which causes the fire to blaze, and as a result all of the substances in the skullcup melt and boil.

The vajra and Hūṃ descend into the skullcup, and through their melting all faults of color, odor and potential are purified. The lotus and Āḥ that are under the substances melt, and through their melting, the substances are transformed into the essence of nectar. The light rays of the Oṃ syllables marking the substances invoke nectar from the hearts of all buddhas which is added to the nectar in the skullcup and causes it to increase and multiply.



Do our best to summarize those images, and you can make the Triangle as used wherever. We are not going to do that, because we would be terrible at it. So we endeavor to make this work well.




Visualization of Flask


Over the Three Skullcups, from a White Ah composed of sunya, comes a skullcup, and from Mam, Varuni on a Fish.

The deity's mantra is from "Churned from the Ocean" from a Vajracharya's manual about Varuni Puja:


om namo devi varuni amrte amrtasambhave sarvasattvavasamkari amrte hrim akham praticcha svaha






Summon deities into the Flask by using colored thread, rosary, etc.


"Colored thread" may be a stream of five-colored light from the meditator to the Flask. One might really have a Rosary, or, you could count some number of mantras, like eighteen.




Conch Water into Main Flask poured three times. Varuni can do it, ambulating clockwise.

For her vitality to enter the water, all she has to do is gaze in it.





Nirajana (Making Bright, light offering) -- Purification of Flask




Flower and other Bodhisattva Offerings




Offering goddesses emanated from my heart make offerings:

OM VAJRA ARGHAM PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (water for drinking)
OM VAJRA PADHYAM PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (water for washing)
OM VAJRA PÜSHPE PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (flowers)
OM VAJRA DHUPE PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (incense)
OM VAJRA DIPE PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (light)
OM VAJRA GANDHE PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (perfume)
OM VAJRA NAIVIDYE PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA (food)
OM VAJRA SHABDA PRATICCHA AH HUM SVAHA

Sense Objects:

OM AH VAJRA ADARSHE HUM
OM AH VAJRA WINI HUM
OM AH VAJRA GANDHE HUM
OM AH VAJRA RASE HUM
OM AH VAJRA PARSHE HUM
OM AH VAJRA DHARME HUM

OM VARUNI VAJRA DHARMA SAPARIWARA OM AH HUM



Slender goddesses with glory of attractive youth, Masters of the sixty-four arts of love, Field, mantra and innate-born messenger hosts of beauteous illusory consorts, I offer to you!




The offerings and perceptions enter the water and Varuni is called the lord of its hosts, Saparivara.






Burning Coals are used. This is an external source, not usually a goddess. It does not seem to be a major part of the setup, and is disposable:

A small clay saucer with
burning coals is brought: a lighted wick, mustard seeds, a flower, and rice
are offered to it, it is touched to the Flask and taken out of the house and
placed at the threshold (pikhalakhu ).


So that is just an imaginary mundane item, fire like a sponge, sucking evil out of our holy water and dispersing it for recycling. Acolytes such as Carcika love to do these kinds of things.

It is not a "boiling" moment, but an All Purpose Mantra:


The hot dish touches the Flask, Khandaroha and Vajrasattva purify and remove obstacles.


Om Khandarohi Hum Hum Phat (countless Khandarohis emanate from the heart, purify the world, and return--Activity Mantra)


Inside the double tetrahedron at your heart is a moon mandala, upon which is a syllable VAM surrounded by the Khandarohi mantra rosary that is red in color. From the nada of the syllable VAM arise limitless Khandarohis whose two right hands hold a curved knife and damaru and the two left hands hold a skull cup and a katvanga. Imagine with conviction that they chase away interfering spirits who reside with the inner offering. When reciting the Khandarohi mantra, remove the lid to the inner offering [container]. Opening the lid when first blessing the inner offering is merely symbolic, and you don't need to sprinkle it. Also, when cleansing, if you emanate one Khandarohi, imagine it is, for example, like a hawk chasing away a flock of sparrows. It also acceptable to emanate ten going above, below, and in the cardinal and intermediate directions that chase away the obstructing spirits in the ten directions. Having completed the cleansing, you definitely must reabsorb Khandarohi back into the syllable VAM at your heart.



Vajrasattva's "removal" is supposed to be Heruka Hunred Syllable Mantra. That is not our focus here, so, the Nirajan dish as in a visible ritual is not that significant, but you want one or multiple Khandarohas acting like an extremely vicious amplifier of what it looks like the dish is doing.




The meats begin as stuffed skin suits and get mixed into an emulsion with awareness of letting go of skandhas.

From the east comes BHRUM which is the seed syllable of Vairochana. From BHRUM becomes bull flesh. All the meats that one visualises arise from seed syllables. Although they appear in the form of meats, you need to constantly remember that they are the seed syllables of the 5 Dhyani Buddhas. From the south comes AM the seed syllable of Ratnasambhava which becomes the flesh of a dog; from the west comes JRIM the seed syllable of Amitabha and becomes the flesh of an elephant; from the north comes KHAM (Amogasiddhi) becomes horse meat; in the centre there is a blue HUM (Akshobya) which becomes human flesh.



Krodha or Wrathful deity stirs the meat clockwise. Vajracharchika could do it. Taras and other women are allowed to do normally-male roles because there are assemblies without males.


Varuni will again handle the Prajnas being cast into liquid:


The alcoholic nectars are Lam, Mam, Pam, Tam, Vam.

From LAM comes faeces; from MAM comes blood, from PAM comes white bodhicitta and from TAM comes bone marrow and VAM comes urine.



On top of these substances (the arranged-mixture of the 5 meats and 5 nectars) are a white OM, a red AH and a blue HUM


Varuni scoops some of the meat loaf into the secret flask, mixes the Alcohol counter-clockwise, pours it into the Main Flask, and enters it as Sky Element, Kha Garbha, or Akasa Dhatu. This alcohol, and thus the mixture, must be considered intoxicating or mind-altering (and actually dangerous until treated). In the inner visual sense, one can be preparing mental pots of yogurt, soma, etc., at all times; so whether or not we drink actual alcohol or something here, it has to be something sacred, and something only kept and handled properly by Varuni, her special domain where everything translates into our body and personal experience.


There are some Meat Scraps left, and otherwise the fluids are combined into the Main Flask. We want the whole thing to turn into Varuni, but, before she becomes the stage of "Soma Drinking", we should give her a final touch.


To become accustomed to the practice, then one could simply use the next part as the final step. If continuing, then we will provide an additional round of deities, who are closer to Yidams. At this point, we are going to tell Carcika to cast the essences of her hand items into this next phase. It is extraordinarily important. We will summon Six Yoginis around Varuni, and then imagine their essences and Carcika's flowing into six identical syllables in Varuni's and our cakras. All the deities enter Varuni, who enters the mixture of all of the substances.




Armor



In Samvarodaya's Heruka pattern, Armor is cast when nectar is available.

On top of these substances (the arranged-mixture of the 5 meats and 5 nectars) are a white OM, a red AH and a blue HUM...so on Varuni's personal cup, one Mutters Om Ah Hum. She could get Drunk Eyes.


Samvarodaya may be referring to a Completion Stage exercise, but we are making a rough approximation by this combination we are making:


he should imagine
the circle of wisdom, and make (it) enter into the samaya-circle
through the mantra and mudra of a yogin (34).


Considering the circle of wisdom as the Jnanacakra of Six Yoginis, we are really just going to make them enter our cakras as syllables, and Varuni enter the total mixture. Do some Varuni mantras, then do some Armor Mantras casting the retinue, Then do some and transfer everybody, and then do the Yoga mantra. Do them a few times to be effective, not quite Muttering them.


Om Varuniye Namah








At the places of my body on moon mandala cushions are:


at navel, red OM VAM, Bandhuka Orange Vajravairocani; at heart, blue HAM YOM, Yamini; at throat, white HRIM MOM, Mohani; at forehead, yellow HREM HRIM, Sachalani; at crown, green HUM HUM, Samtrasani; and at all my limbs, grey PHAT PHAT, Chandika.

The spoken Armor mantra uses two syllables, but the visualized Armor is just the deity's seed syllable (the second) on a moon cushion. As a retinue, they are cast counter-clockwise starting with the red one on the lower right. We are adjusting the picture to match Samvarodaya's mantra:

Om vam is Vajravairocani, ham yom is Yamini, hrim mom is
Mohani, hrem hrim is Samcalani, hum hum is Santrasani, phat phat
is Candika on all limbs.


Some day you could replace Vairocani with Vajravarahi when appropriate. That is how it is done in all other Chakrasamvara practices. But this one has given us a Puranic entry, that is, an incipient fire goddess who is not a restricted tantric Yidam. Otherwise, the practices are basically the same. Varuni lacks the redundancy that Vajravarahi has being repeated in her own armor. In the Samvarodaya scheme, a duplicated Vajravarahi is replaced by the more descriptive and universal Varuni and Vairocani. Or, these are the Source/Generation, to which, Vajravarahi is a major aspect of Completion Stage.


Ideas to understand the Armor from Four Chakrasamvara Mantras:




By visualizing the maṇḍala described above and repeating the deities’ mantras a practitioner can attain the state of Wheel-turner (37.18), attain the mastery of yoga and supernatural
powers such as to be invisible (37.20), save sentient beings from the six realms of reincarnation, and become Vajradhara (37.21ab). Some of the effects are mundane and some appear to
be supramundane.


Generally they are identified as:


the six yoginīs, the first six pairs of the Ten Perfections (daśapāramitā) and the Ten Levels (daśabhūmi)


advayayogasamāpannāe
• vajrasattvāditatparā /

and is in the nondual yoga, being intent on Vajrasattva or another [male deity who is her consort]

Their mantras are present [as follows]: [Vārāhī ―] Oṃ, śrī, oṃ vaṃ, vāṃ, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ,
svāhā. [Yāminī ―] Oṃ, śrī, hāṃ yoṃ, yāṃ, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ, svāhā. [Mohanī ―] Oṃ, śrī, hrīṃ
moṃ, moṃ, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ, svāhā. [Saṃcālanī ―] Oṃ, śrī, hreṃ hrīṃ, saṃ, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ,
svāhā. [Saṃtrāsanī ―] Oṃ, śrī, hūṃ hūṃ, saṃ, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ, svāhā. [Caṇḍikā ―] Oṃ, śrī,
phaṭ phaṭ, caṃ, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ, svāhā. Thus are the six yoginī[s]' mantra[s].


When he visualizes and recites [in this way], the uppermost sixfold wheel is accomplished. He
attains the state of the Wheel-turner (or the Universal Monarch). [He is] a king turning the sixfold wheel.

• mahābalaparākramam /

Having recited [the mantras] according to the prescription, he should always worship the six
marks (viz., the six pairs of yoginī and male deity), [who are] invincible, complete with victory,
very powerful, and heroic.


advayayogamārgaṃ guhyātiguhyaṃ paramaṃ rahasyaṃ haṭhayogottamasādhanopadeśaṃ yathābhedād ādhipatyagurugamyaṃ śikṣet /51/

He should learn the teaching of the sādhana of uppermost Haṭha yoga, [which is] the path of
the yoga of non-duality, [which is] more secret than the [other] secret, [which is] excellent,
[which is] concealed, and [which is] to be approached under [the guidance of] a teacher [having] the lordship in accordance with [its] distinction.



In that section, you see extended mantras adding the Bijas, such as Cam for Candika. That style would be fine since Vam is also for Vairocani, it still works in the Samvarodaya style. It has said that Armor practice is almost the same as being a Cakravartin. So it is complementary to the whole Dakini Jala. This whole tantra is practically summarized in a fluid sadhana which adjusts for changing names and increasing forms:


IWS 482 is Six Monarchs of Samvara from Abhidhanottara Chakrasamvara Tantra; the Monarchs' mantras all say Dakini Jala Samvara. It is the Peaceful version, even though they have semi-wrathful appearance, since it is centered on Maha Sukha Vajrasattva with Dharmadhatu Ishvari, Vajradhatu Ishvari, Jnana Dakini, or Varahi. Its all-purpose mantra is that of Khandaroha, or an abbreviation, Om Kham Hum Phat, which is what Varuni just did. It uses Mahesvara in Lotus Family, and plain "family names" such as Padma Dakini. Om or Vam is Vajrasattva Family, then Bhrum, Am, Hrim, Hum, Kham.



It is much more elaborate, but, of course, Varuni is intended to integrate with it. She just grabs the Buddhas in their most basic symbolic form, so it is really in other arenas that they are to be found and understood.

At this point, we have done something so that we are not working with a mere picture of orange nectar. Varuni will commit herself to it gladly, that is what she does, she will say yes this is me and enter the Flask delightfully. And so we add a new or third level of mantra here:


Ja Hum Vam Hoh Om Yoga Shuddhah Sarva Dharma Yoga Shuddho Ham (I am the nature of the yoga of the purity of all phenomena)





You have sanctified an actual yoga practice. It may be satisfying there and you can remain in that state. Eventually, however, this nectar itself is also supposed to be working as an offering to a deity and purification.


So with RAM YAM KHAM -- these three syllables are meant to purify the
offerings that are actually on the table -- the food that has been brought together
and drinks that’s been brought together for the offering. What is purified? The
substance of the wine or whiskey and meat is not impure, inherently in and of
itself. Nothing is impure. What is being purified? Not dinner. What’s being
purified is your concepts. In Vajrayana, again and again and again, you are playing
psycho-drama games of purification of mind’s endless rambling tendencies.
What’s being purified by RAM YAM KHAM is the way in which you fixate and
grasp on concepts about substances offered, which ultimately means all
appearance and particularly means the substances on the table itself.
With the visualizations of RAM YAM KHAM -- with ‘RAM’ you visualize,
from your heart, you as the deity. Right? Because you’re the deity all throughout
this. From your heart, a red dakini of the nature of fire, burns all the offerings on
the offering table completely away. Burns them up completely. With ‘YAM” a
green dakini, whose nature is wind, issues forth from your heart and the wind
blows the ash to the farthest extent of the universe. And with ‘KHAM’ a white
dakini, whose nature is water, washes away any stain left behind.



Mahayoga’s generation phase practice destroys the gross conceptions, the grossest level of conceptuality. It’s
destroyed by Mahayoga. But the subtle aspect, which dualizes bliss and emptiness
remains. And so the completion phase, practiced in Anuyoga, destroys this
through the cultivation of the four joys, which results in perfect and nonconceptual realization. But then even the possibility of a stain remaining and the straying into duality is then washed clean from this by the crystalline purity of
Mamaki, the dakini of the water element. It’s washed away in Atiyoga so that
there is no stain to stray to. This is the inner meaning of “RAM YAM KHAM.”





One is still in the Triangle environment, without any deities. You have a basic elixir. It cannot totally fail, you are alive, you at least have metabolic warmth. You might not be very good at it, and the stuff may not even have useful energy, but we will raise new deities and try to figure it out. These are Dakinis, which means Activity, or Enlightened Activity of some effort and realization. They are about channels, and especially channels with nectar poured in them.

This may not exactly be a Six Family Wheel since it arguably is dominated by Lotus Family, which is at least provisionally fine since this is supposed to begin Speech Mandala. It also concerns their Power of Initiation.




Dakinis and Vajrayogini




Guhyajnana Dakini, a female Avalokiteshvara, in a Yoga version of Rinjung Gyatsa 118, IWS 210.


From a Red Hrih arises Red Guhyajnana with one face and four arms. She combines wrath and amorous passion and dances on a lotus pedestal. Her first right hand holds a curved chopper, the second, a sword; her first left hand holds a skullcup, the other, a trident. Her hair flies loose, she only wears a five skull crown with garlands of heads or skulls, and bone ornaments. At her heart on a moon disc sits Red Avalokita Jinasagara with a pearl rosary and a lotus. At his heart is the seed and mantra wheel. The lotus pedestal is supported by Four Dakinis.

Neither text mentions their arms. Interestingly, in Sadhanamala, Vajravarahi 217 has two arms and a garland of fresh heads, and Bhattacharya translates her ring:

They are one-faced and four-armed and
carry in their left hands the Kapala-marked Khatvanga and the Kapala,
and in the two right the Damaru and the knife. They are three-eyed,
have dishevelled hair, stand in the Alidha attitude and are decked in
the five bone ornaments.


So far only one thangka matches this, which we will post later. His retinue examples, a Peiping statuette and a Nepalese sketch, are four armed like this. Neither of our sources say, and for instance the Heart Lokeshvara has two arms. We just used All Purpose Khandaroha in the larger form. And all of Varuni's Armor Deities have this form. It is likely their Staff is not a Trident.

Our sources do not say she or they have three eyes; the Dakinis are the central bloc here from Mindroling:





Hrih

Om Manipadme Hum

Om Dhuma Khaye Nama Svaha

Om Ha Ri Ni Sa Ra Ca Hri Ya


The seed is not recited, the other three mantras are. This part may be accompanied by praises of Padma or Lotus Dakini.


When performing a magnetizing and subjugating activity as is done here, the mantra spins. The syllables are written in clockwise direction but face inwards toward the seed syllable, rather than outward as in a typical yidam sadhana. Also the mantra then spins anti-clockwise rather than clockwise.


This is an invocation from the Zur sadhana:

hrih

From the dharmadhatu beyond arising,
And from the sambhogakaya realm beyond ceasing,
Wisdom Dakini, together with your retinue,
I invite you to this place, please come!
vajra samajah, e ah ralli hring hring
jah hung bam hoh, tishtha lhan, namo purushaya hoh


(tishtha lhan means please remain, and namo purushaya hoh is paying homage)

If I have this down close to correct, she is the Sambhogakaya of Samantabhadri; her Nirmanakaya is Gomadevi or Mandarava. Circle of Bliss calls her Khadga (Sword) Yogini, and says in Nepal, she may have two to eight arms. But that may be by comparing her to anyone with a Sword.


So, I think, her Dharmakaya is Samtantabhadri; Sambhogakaya is Guhyajnana Dakini; and Nirmanakaya is Mandarava and her incarnation lineage, such as Siddharajni and Niguma. Guhyajnana Dakini is also a Samaya being for the tantric Jnana Dakini. Niguma is most frequently shown with a drum, or Siddharajni as a Lineage Guru has one. Mandarava more frequently has a Dadar or Long Life Arrow, having as an emblem a Mirror, which to some accounts masks as a Drum.



That attempts a commune with the very initiatrix of Sitabani Charnel Ground. She is already practically grand mistress of all tantras due to that. However she has no need for transmissions and the like. She is "restricted" by one's meditative capacity. Her joy is in you discovering ways that enable her to perform anything. It might be a glimpse at her actual hand for two seconds. Most of us are probably going to have a red smear that we wish we could somehow stabilize by the mantras, and we may feel a weird wind-up in our bodies while we are trying to remain relaxed. If we persist, we might see her hand, or hear her say a single word...who knows...the important thing is to develop the trust that she is an expert on guiding us through a Buddhist Yoga switch to the inner world.

She did, and, as far as we know, would continue to use Nirmanakayas such as Mandarava or Siddharajni, but again with these, unless we have the specific connection, Guhyajnana Dakini is the way of naming and interfacing with her timeless universal presence.

That might seem to contra-indicate adding another deity. Except there is one who would be spontaneously present. We are taking her from Nyan Lotsawa, who traveled to India, and provided, perhaps, the weirdest deities in Tibet, with a personal touch. Nyan was regularly followed by Tara. So he must be doing the same accomplishments. As he did them, Vajrayogini revealed herself in a unique way, which he then practiced. Because this form only has one sadhana, and, she is doing something similar to Tinuma but her own way of employing the Dakinis, then she is like a semi-secret progression here, in terms of inner knowledge, without the formal systems of Vajravarahi or others.



Devi Ziro Bhusana is the previous sadhana from the books. Her dais is slightly different in the two versions. What would happen is the Dakinis set down Guhyajnana's Lotus Base, which grows to accommodate them, and a solar, then lunar disc emerges. Upon this, all five dakinis raise a jewelled couch littered with corpses. Then from Om arises Red Vajrayogini, pretty like hibiscus, who stands on corpses. She is very similar to Guhyajnana, except she has a Lion's face with mane hanging down, three eyes, and drinks from her cup. Has the same items. Four Arm Mahakala has occassionally Candika as consort, and almost the same items, although with the title Betapala, we see heart = coconut, which is sometimes depicted in the same hand with a knife. So basically the same. Guhyajnana is heavily involved with Jinasagara, leaving one to reason than Ziro Bhusana might be more like a parallel of Mahakala.


The most drastic difference from Guhyajnana Dakini is her heart, and that she is also drinking from "straws".

Nothing specifically makes her Lotus Family or anything else.

Her sublime stature makes her Jetsunma or Revered Teacher.







At Ziro Bhusana's heart is her own mantra wheel clockwise. Light rays spread from it, and pull back the life channels of sentient beings into her mouth: red from the Desire World, white from the Form World, and black from the Formless World. As she drinks their heart blood, obscurations are purified, and [the causes of] birth and death are cut out from the root. She uses a personal mantra, and a triple mantra which rotates the dakinis:

Om Dukhaye Nama


Om Ha Ri Ni-Sa

Ah Ri Ni-Sa Ha

Hum Ni-Ha-Sa Ri

Use the first one, or all four.


She is continuing the same Muttering of Om Ah Hum, but, now, those root syllables are attached to the circle of dakinis, which is rotating. The three worlds, or syllables, are essentially fixed as the Three Cups and our Three Channels. She is operating on the universe, at once, so, for a practitioner to gain her attention, one would have to offer something suitably powerful. So we want her to take our Flask Offering and be drinking it while we mutter the mantra, spoken, whispered, then silent. In the silent part, we want to feel winds and heat balancing in the three main nerves, until such a time as they enter the central, only. Nirmana Cakra is where they join.

If we take her mantra as written, it would be a Pain Body, which is perhaps possible, although it seems rather a continuation from Guhyajnana, they should be practically the same. So she again is likely being called Dum Skyes, or Khandaroha, or Generation Stage.

Again, I have just transcribed their mantras as they appear to be written, and we simply have reason to question if this is accurate from oral transmissions. If we can understand why they might be Smoke or Pain, it is ok. Again those are both Nama mantras which in itself is unusual. Deities respond to their names. If Uma and Lakshmi are both called Mahesvari, it works for both, depending on the intent and understanding of the practitioner. If we think that Pain is anything outside of a state of ineffable Bliss, that would work here. But if we want to call her Vajrayogini, Ziro Bhusana, Jetsunma, or any title that she actually has, it will work as an equivalent Nama mantra. The important thing is the Seeds and their fusion to the Dakinis. Guhyajnana shows the standard single set, and Ziro Bhusana triples and rotates it, the only one I know of where something like this is done.

We might wonder why "Hum Ni" would be an exact quote from Parasol, and not yet get how it is the Black Formless world with a different order of Dakinis who Purify it, Khandaroha Dakini Rupini Lama, we just try to push our brain out of the way and perceive it actually happening like this. All we have to do is rely on her superior magic ability. She has no questions, just millions of examples. They include every being in any realm of existence, and the relief of their causes of bondage, such as the Chains of Dependent Origination and the rest of the teachings on Alaya Vijnana. To imitate her, we have to take the basic Mahayana principles, and sublimate them into the ultimate tantric kind.

She does this automatically, and we automatically receive her benefit, to the extent that we are open to it. And since we are putting her to a special, and somewhat revivalist, use, then she effectively is at the apex, or is like our Vajrosnisa or Peak of a system and pantheon, we wish to give her a bright orange potion we have brewed.



MAHA PANCA AMRITA, RAKTA, BALIMTA [Torma], MAHA [Sukha] SARVA PUCA HO [Increase]




From Heruka Prayers, Offering the principal (Father-Mother and Four Heart Dakinis) torma:



OM VAJRA AH RA LI HO: DZA HUM BAM HO: VAJRA DAKINI SAMAYAS TVAM TRISHYA HOH (3x)

Arali means it came from bliss in the triangular fire mandala. Samputa says:

When there is pleasure in the triangular mandala, it is called vajrarali.
It is called the bhaga of the Lady," and also the source of dharmas."
The lotus that occurs in the middle of that has a pericarp and eight petals.
Therein the vowels and consonants commingle arranged
in eight sections.

Chakrasamvara says:

With the first repetition, imagine that the offering goddess Vajra-rasini, Vajra Taste, is emitted
from your heart and offers this first torma to Heruka; with the second repetition, she offers it to
Vajra-varahi; and with the third to the four heart yoginis of the great bliss circle. We can do the same with different Yidams and the same Dakinis.



From my heart emanate innumerable goddesses
holding skullcups. With these skullcups, they scoop
up nectar and offer it to the guests, who partake by
drawing it up through a straw of vajra-light which
appears from each of their tongues.



If the heated mixture is received well, then, perhaps it is possible to get this reception from a little further along in the prayers:


The Vajrayana Spiritual Guide's reply

OM With a nature inseparable from the three vajras
I generate as the Guru-Deity.
AH This nectar of uncontaminated exalted wisdom and bliss,
HUM Without stirring from bodhichitta,
I partake to delight the Deities dwelling in my body.
AH HO MAHA SUKHA



We want to use her as a sounding board, for feedback about how well we are distilling noumenal substances, questions we have such as how Moods are related to Winds, and so on. So she may say something like the above, or we say it, but we want to Mutter her presence like the sadhana describes, and make our offering and accept her response. Thank them and tell them good night.



Although we can get honest feedback from them, one should keep in mind they have a devious sense of humor, and you have to be really serious, or they will outright harass you. Most practices would either suggest taking these for a Yidam, or doing some kind of Completion Stage, etc., but we want to thank them for advice and guidance and now--let me see if I can apply what I learned from you on my own. That would be the reason to dismiss them, and, turn to an agent who has approximately one thing to possibly do.



Now we are simply trying to concentrate our energy.


If it begins working, then we use light from our heart symbol to turn on the "clockwork" or activity of the mandala, with victory banners and roaring flames. From the HUM at one's heart, light rays emanate to strike the wind-mandala (the bow shaped wind mandala) causing it to stir the wind and the banners inside the vase begin to flutter and that creates the wind to cause the fire from the fire-mandala to blaze.



In most tantras, Ghasmari does not continue the role we are featuring from Dakini Jala. As may be expected, she can arise from the syllable Gham. This is a "softened" Gam--Ganapati, which is quite severe. In the present case, she has an all-knowing death gaze. The Antarabhava or death consciousness is part of the meditation. It is possible one will start to feel what that really means here.



Om Ah Gham Vajra Ghasmari Hum Phat Svaha


Ghasmari is Krsna or Dark Blue, having a sword in her right hand, and Agni Kunda in the left.

Shangpa Kagyu's Nairatma remembers her as the trampler of Rudra. Then, compared to the Bija or arising mantra as above, she may also be addressed as:


oṃ māheśvaryai namaḥ


I suppose it is a sensitive area of Buddhist conversion. The "trampling" is not so much a destruction of religions, but more of a transcendence of their ability to teach. I, personally, would tend to deny and reject all "outer Shivas", whereas there is a real one, which is only knowable from the most refined state of samadhi. And then it is Samadhi which is the real Buddhism. The real "inner Rudra" cannot be removed or destroyed, is brought back as that pile of arcane ash, Mahakala. In the meantime, Ghasmari is swallowing everything we can think along those lines. We want her to mix this Advaya mentality with more and more heat energy in our purified nectar so it will convert our total organism.

Ghasmari's invocation from Samputodbhava (Samputa):


oṁ vajramāheśvari haṁ haṁ haṁ haṁ haḥ rulu rulu bhyo hūṁ phaṭ bhakṣaya sarvaduṣṭān nirmatha hṛdayaṃ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā




Food is the fifth Offering, then the sixth principle, Ghasmari, burns and consumes it.

Ghasmari eats the leftover meat and heats the mixture in the Main Flask with her fire pot, Agni Kunda, or Dharmodaya.



There is nothing more to add. We have consumed Varuni, and, we are trying to find Vajravairocani. We Mutter Ghasmari which means her personal mantra, and then you can just go back to Om Ah Hum. Collectively re-packing everything that came from the Three Jewels to start. Try to center and balance. Use Vase Breathing.


This mantra comes up again in the case of actual boiling:


OM MAHA SARVA PANCHA AMRITA RAKTA BALINGTA AH HUNG seven times


And so at this point we have to conclude that there is a long stretch from vaguely doing something like this, to the highly calibrated drop or flamelike essence that is being called Vairocani. All we are doing here is a praise of Ghasmari according to her role in older tantras, before being placed in a more stock or categorical role. It is simply in conjunction with Tapas, or Asanga's Udgata and Ksanti.

This is a way to achieve Blazing, without it being done artificially and too quickly, or too blurry being obscured in too many advanced practices.

We have gone from Carcika-->Offspring of Shiva, to Ghasmari-->Dominatrix of Shiva.


Again, we think it would take around six months to a year for a person to train themselves to be able to attempt this meditation, and around one to six years of actually doing it, to get to the fullness of the Fourth Yoga, Dharana, or to manifest the actual Vairocani as used in further tantras. That makes of Ghasmari a workhorse, a mound of Effort or Virya, which is not a way I am sure if she has been used individually for, but we are just following her symbolism, such as taking Shiva's speech principle, ravenous for Food, the Dharmodaya, purification of the Sixth Family.


Jamgon Kongtrul says:

The esoteric instructions of inner heat as the means of purification are applied to the pristine awareness aggregate and pristine awareness constituent, and so on, as the object of purification. Once they have been refined, the result of purification is the actualization of the sixth or Vajrasattva family spiritual powers and the jñanakaya (pristine awareness body).


The sixth element is called pristine awareness or pristine awareness of bliss (bde ba ye
shes) and refers to the bliss or pleasure resulting from the release of regenerative fluid
(khu ba ltung ba’i bde ba) (CPR, f. 36a3).

There was a relationship mandala we may have to search for again. It has the core of an Ngor mandala, called Mahesvari, being a Vajra with sub-mandalas.

For its sub-mandalas, the upwards triangle is Mahakala, and the downwards triangle is Varahi with Dakinis of Four Families. The hexagram is Samvara--Varahi with Guhyasamaja--Sparsha, Hevajra--Nairatma, Mahamaya--Buddhadakini, and Vajrabhairava--Vajravarahi. The Vajra mandala is Vajradhara--Varahi with Dakini, Rupini, Khandaroha, and Lama.


Those do seem to summarize the sheer intent of Ghasmari. Again the Khandaroha "class" is dum skyes rim, that is, "fragments" of the beginning of Generation Stage, and the Gauri "class" is kye rim or the Fruit of Generation Stage, which is extraordinarily intense. According to Anandagarbha, Gauri appears to beget them by decapitating Brahma, which symbolicly has a lot to do with the dissolution of form and psychology that is happening. She also has the interesting Wine Varahi and Nectar Vetali and so on that make them sound much more like a spectrum of Moods, and therefor a limited amount of violence, which characterizes them in almost all later tantras. This presentation of Ghasmari seems very in line with the dawn of Luminous Mind.


When you get done melt her.


From an OM at her crown chakra are emitted white nectars and rays of light. They
dissolve into my crown chakra, purify the unwholesome karmas and obstacles concerning my
body, and confer the vase empowerment. The blessings of the Gurus’ bodies enter my body.

From an AH at her throat chakra are emitted red nectars and rays of light. They
dissolve into my throat chakra, purify the unwholesome karmas and obstacles concerning my
speech, and confer the secret empowerment. The blessings of the Gurus’ speech enter my speech.

From a HUM at her heart chakra are emitted blue nectars and rays of light. They
dissolve into my heart chakra, purify the unwholesome karmas and obstacles concerning my
mind, and confer the wisdom empowerment of pristine awareness. The blessings of the Gurus’
minds enter my mind.

From the three syllables at her three chakras are emitted white, red, and blue nectars and
rays of light. They dissolve into my three chakras, purify the unwholesome karmas and obstacles
concerning my body, speech and mind, and confer the fourth empowerment, the word
empowerment. The blessings of the Gurus’ bodies, speech and minds enter my body, speech and
mind.



[From the first through the sixth spiritual level, the culmination of attainment of the vase empowerment is called “the inseparability of samsara and nirvana” (’khor ’das dbyer med ) because it is mainly the wisdom of realization of the equality of samsara and nirvana.

The four views are as follows: (1) the view of the vase empowerment in connection with meditation on the mandala is the three aspects of the essence—the experiences of the apparent aspect, the empty aspect, and the union aspect—which are primarily the experiences of nonconceptuality. These three each possess three characteristics: they are reality (chos nyid, Skt. dharmata) free of mental imputation, a relative nature (chos can, dharmin) that has no connection to ignorance, and different facets of that singular essence. (2) The view of the secret empowerment is the four naturally occurring pristine awarenesses in which clarity is primary. Due to the interdependent connection of some of the particular channel energies and
vital essences dissolving in the central channel, a semblance of intense afflictive emotion appears. This is the pristine awareness on the path of naturally occurring afflictive emotion. A semblance of intense discursive thought is the pristine awareness of naturally occurring discursive thought. The appearance of a mixture of lofty and lowly experiences is the pristine awareness of naturally occurring mixed-up blankness. The arising of the pristine awareness of clarity-emptiness without center or limit is the great naturally occurring pristine awareness of the path, luminous and light. (3) The view of the empowerment of wisdom is the four joys in descending sequence, in which bliss is primary. This becomes sixteenfold when each is subdivided from the point of view of place, time, what is to be abandoned, and the essential nature. (4) The view of the fourth empowerment is the four joys in ascending sequence, in which nondual bliss-emptiness is primary.]




Sarva Mangalam









-------------------------------------------------------------






Doctrines of Samvarodaya




Skandhas are assigned in the order Vairocana, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Akshobhya:


Rupa, vedana, samjna, samskara and
vijnana are respectively (12) Adarsa (-jnana) (the mirror-like
wisdom), Samana (-jnana) (the wisdom of sameness), Pratyaveksana
(-jnana) (the wisdom of analysis), Krtyanusthana (-jnana) (the wisdom
of carrying out actions) and Suvisuddhadharmadhatu (-jnana) (the
wisdom of the sphere of dharmas completely purified).


Geometrically, one would think that represents Vairocana in Earth in the East and goes around the ring and ends on Akshobhya at the center. For example that would match the Meats and Nectars as presented above. And that would be the point.

Some retinues are cast from the middle and then the ring, and it appears that some sadhanas cast them both ways. It looks like both Skullcups as borrowed from Yamantaka conform to the Samvarodaya pattern just given. As the Four Chakras:




In the Mahasukha-cakra (which is situated) in the head, there
exists a subtle lotus of four petals; as it assumes the form of the
support of everything, it is the "place of intoxication" (madasthana) (19). Its essence is the "seat of enlightenment" (bodhimanda) ;
and it is the seed. Outside (of it) is a lotus of thirty-two petals;
and in the middle (of it) is the character Ham, which flows downwards (20). It (i. e. samkranti) is of the essence of the bodhi-mind
(bodhicitta) and is the moon which consists of fifteen digits (kala);
it always conveys the great pleasure (mahasukha). The yogini is
the sixteenth digit of the moon (21). To either side of her are
lalana and rasana; she is of the nature of ali and kali. She is
formed of the four (kinds of) joy in the form of (both) cause and
result (22). Her nature is the innate joy (sahajananda) , she is nondual, and is the supreme female-lord. In the conventional truth, she is like a kunda-flower, and, in the absolute truth, she is woman
in the form of pleasure. She is the support of buddhas and bodhisattvas, the "holder of vajra" (23).


sahajanandasvabhavan ca advayam paramesvari [female-lord]

adharam vajradharinam


In the Sambhoga-cakra (which is situated) in the throat, there
is a red lotus of sixteen petals; in the middle of it is the character
Om; above it, amrta flows down incessantly through the way of the
"hole of the uvula" (ghantikarandhra) (24).

In the heart, there is the Dharma-cakra, a lotus of variegated
colour with eight petals; in the middle of it is situated the character Hum facing downwards. (And it existis) on minute lotuses
which are above it and is in a form like "Brahma's egg" (25).
In the middle of it is consciousness (vijnana); it is ever-risen and
all-pervading; it is the self-produced wisdom and is the receptacle;
(this) consciousness is the supreme lord (26).


adharam vijnanam paramesvaram

This explanation is exactly applicable to the concept of dharmakaya as vijnana, especially, alaya-vijnana which is suggested by
the word 'receptacle' (adhara) in this verse. The relation between
the ultimate reality and vijnana and jnana has already been
discussed before.


In the navel, there is a blue lotus of sixty-four petals. In the
middle of it is the character Am, which shines like a jewel (27).
Below it are seventy-two thousand minute lotuses, the" place of
knot" (kandasthana); (and that blue lotus) should be founded on
(them); "knot" (kanda) means "receptacle" (adhara) (28). (On
it) are situated lalana in the form of prajna-wisdom and rasana (in
the form of) upaya (means); the character Am existing in the
middle of both (lalana and rasana) is the goddess appearing in
various forms (29). (She is) the goddess who has the nature of
the four bodies (of buddha). She confers all fulfilments and brings
the great pleasure (mahasukha) to everybody; I always salute (her)
properly (30). The goddess becomes identical with whatever existence, to which people's mind is directed; she is like a (wishing-) gem which assumes various forms (31).


v. 30 has what would usually be taken as names:


devi amkaram visvarupini

devi sarvasiddhipradayini


The similar Satarupa is the female half of Brahma, above the Prasuti Creation. Usually, Sata is "a hundred" and viswa is "all or universal"; and the main difference here is this one must be mantric.


Viśvarūpiṇī (विश्वरूपिणी) refers to “she whose form is all things” and is used to describe Goddess Mālinī, according to the Śrīmatottara-tantra, an expansion of the Kubjikāmatatantra...

So, I have Dharani Samgraha in another tab, and it happened to land right on this.

In that whole thing are a single "visvarupini" and "tapasi", found in this section:


| 83 || om namo bhagavartye āryya śrīvasudhārorye ||

iti śrīvasudārāyā nāmoṣśettaraśataṁ buddhabhāṣitaṁ samāptam || 83 ||


This is the one where she does something weird with the Paramitas, and is in what might seem to be unusual territory for Vasudhara since she is doing:

bhīmā ugrāugraprarākramā ||


The first or Generosity Paramita is about Nidhana or hidden treasures of Lakshmi:


dāna pāramitādevī varṣaṇī divya rupiṇī | nidhāna sarva māṁṅgalya kīrtilakṣmī yaśaḥ śubha ||


The next area is multiple devis on the "unique" line associating Virya Paramita and Ugra Tara:


dahanī māraṇī caṇḍī śravarī sarva māgṛkā | kṛtāntatrāsinībhīmokomārī viśvarupinī | vīryapāramitādevī jagadānandalocanī | tāpasī ugratārācaṛddhi prarapradā ||


At first it looks like four names; dahani only means "burning", but then there is one from a cretain retinue of Four Wrathful Prajnas:


Māraṇī is alternatively known by the name Māmakī...

Māraṇī (मारणी) is the name of a deity associated with the Bhūta (element) named Ap, according to the 9th century Vajraḍākatantra chapter 1.16-22.

Māraṇī is associated with the element water and the color black. She is to be visualised as assuming a kāpālika form, naked with loose hair and holding tantric attributes in their four arms.


And so I think that is probably an Ugra Tara variant of that Vajradaka retinue. Dahani is also in the Mayuri Sutra. And it continues to have the First Buddha, Vispaysin, invoke Parna Sabari, i. e. either she or her class is most likely the "sravari" above. So we think Nepalese Vasudhara might be smuggling a little of Gandharan Mayuri's spellcraft, which seems to mostly come from Orissa.



Dayini, "she who bestows", is again also from Kubjika Tantra. And here it looks as if Ksanti--Patience bestows Virtue--Sila (silini) and Dhyana Paramitas:


dhanyo puṇyā mahābhāgā ajitājita vikramāte jagadaikahita | vidyāsaṁgrāmatāriṇī śubhā || kṣānti pāramitādevī śilīnī dhyāna dhāyinī | padmanī padmadhārīca padmosana sūkhāsinī ||

She then does golden light and has more Vasudharas, such as Cintamani, Vajradhari, Bhu, and Manohara. She may even have Vinayaki:

vaineyikā


and then she does have fairly serious tantric epithets:


tathāgati mahāramya

karmadhātveśvarī

siddhā yogīnīyoga īśvarī


That is very tantric since Karmeshvari, Lekyi Wangmo, or Kungamo, is Guhyajnana Dakini.

It is lightly edited and much easier to read as Vasudhara Stotram. A few terms are changed.



Khenpo Sodargye in his Wangdu commentary says:


Tibetan masters have said that no matter to which Buddha-figure you practice, it is important to choose
Guhyajñāna as a parallel practice.

Historically, many people have attained achievement through Guhyajñāna practice. Most
of the eighty mahasiddhas of India practiced Guhyajñāna. In Tibet, Guhyajñāna was practiced
in the strictest secrecy and even then, only by practitioners of the Sakya and Nyingma
traditions. It was not until later that this practice passed to other sects. In the Sakya tradition,
Guhyajñāna practice was passed on to only one person at a time. Later, the requirements were
lifted to allow from seven to twenty-one people of each generation to receive it through oral
transmission. Today, the transmission of this practice is still very rare.

We should attach great importance to Guhyajñāna practice. If we can pray earnestly to
Guhyajana, then her specific blessing will help us swiftly transform our lust into discerning
wisdom and, as such, it will manifest itself in all worldly and non-worldly accomplishments.



Karmesvari perhaps takes importance from Tattva Samgraha; first, there is a method which places the Wrathfuls into a Suksma or subtle condition and makes a Rahasya Mudra Jnana. Then Vajra Family's Karma mandala begins with her in section 1121. There is Dharmadhatu, Akasa Dhatu, and Vajradhatu, and then Vajrapani does Karma Mandala. He uses Bhrkuti and Dhvaja and others.

It is Appendix B on page 133 of "Illustrations of the Literature and Religion of the Buddhists" from 1841. Family of One or Ekamnaya is based in Adi Buddha and Prajnaparamita. The highest iteration is Guhyeshvari, whose Bodhisattva is Viswa Tara (easier to see in the printed version), which may have something to do with why she is an Amoghasiddhi deity, but Guhyesvari is also Mamaki, who is Vajra, and so we have to look at Bell or Hoh syllable as this twofold meaning. It was just pointed out twice; it is primarily female and primarily a misrita or mixture of Vajra and Karma.



Khaganana the Goddess of a Bird Face. According to the legend in the "Svayambhu-purana ", she had lived in
a bottomless hole at the root of the lotus flower from which the Bright Light of Svayambhu
emerged. And Manjusri Bodhisattva received the first initiation of Cakrasamvara in Nepal with
her water on the day of Samvarodaya-dasami. In secret Newar Tanric Buddhist songs caca in
Newari, caryagita in Sanskrit sung by Vajracaryas, therefore, Guhyesvari is often called
Khagamukha-devi the Goddess of a Bird Face.

"Lord Vagisvara Manjusri, Svayambhu-purana
who drained the Kalihrada Lake, was the founder of the Nepal Valley. He had a vision revelation
(darsana) of the consort of the Adibuddha, the goddess of Perfect Wisdom, Nairatma
(Guhyesvari) , in her characteristic universal forms - both peaceful and wrathful - on the ninth
day of the waning half of Marga. ~ The day after having a vision of the goddess Guhyesvari's
universal form, Manjusri visualized Mahasamvara. On the occasion of receiving blessings from
Mahasamvara, he performed an elaborate offering ceremony and received an empowerment of
Vajra water from the sacred Kunda pool of Dharmodaya Guhyesvari. ~ To commemorate this
day, Nepalese Buddhists celebrate the Creation of Samvara with formal worship (Samvarodaya
disi puja)."


So the Samvarodaya was also talking about Parameswari, who has no Buddhist meaning whatsoever. But the title is shared, with, for example, in Dharani Samgraha, Vajravarahi, and the large Ekajati starting on p. 260. And it is found in the Gitas or tantric songs. It is in a Vajrayogini Song. Parameswari and Lakshmi are in an Ugra Tara song. Ugra Tara also has the titles Soma Rupa and Sakti Rupa.

Parameswari mainly means "Adi Shakti", which is interpreted in different schools as Uma/Durga, or as Lalita Tripura Sundari. However with this non-Buddhist term, we are goaded to suggest that Candi Path or Devi Mahatmya says Mahalakshmi is Parameswari. And it is in her common Namostute song.

Mahalakshmi as Smoky Candika with a Kartri and Head.

47 Mahalakshmi Songs do not quite use "Paramesvari", but there is for example, Shiva, teaching a Mahalakshmi song to Parvati, calling her Mahesvari and so on.


In a short song, Parameswari is Maheshwari and Vishveshwari.



Also as found in Devi Bhagavata Purana:

She is known as Ashta Dasa Bhuja Mahalakshmi.

Mulaprakriti Candika Paramesvari has four arms, which is Golden Kolhapur Mahalakshmi:

1) Matulinga fruit (a kind of sweet lime with seeds inside) 2) Gada (Mace) 3) Khetaka
(shield) 4) Pana / Madhu Patra. She wear a crown having Naga, Linga and Yoni
over it.

The other two goddess are Tamas and Sattva, and the Eighteen Arm Mahalakshmi form is the Rajas Guna of this transcendental Brahmanic one. So, that is our main meaning of Parameswari, i. e. these two main Mahalakshmis, related to Candika.



There are a lot of those songs, I think there are collections from Saraha, Naro, Maitri, and "miscellaneous", and it does not seem unusual to find Parameswari there. Almost always along the lines of Vasanta Tilaka or a tantric principal. The corresponding male version is easy to find:

vīrān vīreśvarīḥ sarvā herukaṃ parameśvaram || 35 ||



sahajānandātmakaṃ devaṃ viśuddhaṃ tāṇḍavānvitam |

ḍākinījālamadhyasthaṃ pratyātmavedyagocaram || 36 ||



So if we look at it a little backwards, or from the goddess perspective, Heruka is the consort of Kolhapur Mahalakshmi.

Well, he took everything from Shiva, as it is re-told in many Buddhist sources, which hardly have anything to say towards Vishnu or Narayan. Except "krsna yamari" is really a name of Vishnu, and we do have one Sutra, The Inquiry of Narayan, which gives the Mahamaya Vijayavahini dharani. More simply, Akshobhya is a name of Vishnu. More explicitly, it is Golden Drop Vishnu, just like Lakshmi related to Tara and Kurukulla:


Om Akshobhyaaya Namaha Om

|| Om Sri Vishvaya Namaha Om ||

suvarnabindurakshobhyah sarvavageeshwaraha |

mahahrado mahagarto mahabhuto mahanidhihi || 86 ||



Vajra Family governs our heart bindu, and, this is related to the real Golden Egg, or, i. e., the personal esoteric one.

One would say there is a lot more to Buddhist Vasudhara than "equal to yogurt". She has to do with seasons and maturation, curds of accumulated Bodhicitta and Luminous Mind.






In the section following the Chakras, Samvarodaya says:


By exciting the fire of prajna-wisdom which was increased by
investigating the village of existence, Candali is kindled; it is
nothing but the right knowledge which is pure and spreads brilliance. When the imaginary ideas (as to the five) skandhas are
burnt and are flowing, there arises the right perception without
support; it pervades the sky; it effects the sameness of all things
and is immortal (32).


[The translator understood nothing about Candali.]


It describes the two kinds of Increase, i. e. of the Full or Waxing Moon, and the Waning, Increase of Emptiness. This has to do with Transference or Samkranti of Bodhicitta to Bodhi and:


...on the day of full moon, there is (the goddess) who has the
nature of the character Am and Ah left and right of mada (34).
In the same manner, there is the transference beginning from
the first day of the dark half of a month up to the day of new
moon. On the left, there is the moon (which is) ali and of sUbtle
nature; on the right is the sun, kali, and of gross nature (35).



The original for "The great pleasure (mahasukha) without imagination is the
desire in the form of wisdom":


nirvikalpamanasaukhyam akanksa jnanarupaka I

That ends the chapter.

I am not sure if it is a misprint, it says Nirvikalpa Manas Saukhya. There is not a presence of desire, there is a negation of:

Kāṅkṣā (काङ्क्षा) refers to “disturbances” (in one’s mind)...If Māra in the form of a Buddha comes to him, his mind is not disturbed (kāṅkṣā) at all.

Nirvikalpa was a subject in five prior chapters. It is apparently a rare/advanced subject in Sadhanamala, but regular here, through building this Chakra system.



Elsewhere, benefits of this yoga include:


it will lead people to the course of suchness (tathatanaya) (6)

it is not phenomenal (nisprapanca)

it is completely void (sarvasunya)

I salute the truth (tattva)

The thorough perception of joy is the supreme prajna-paramita

It is caused by the union of prajna-wisdom and upaya (means); and it effects the complete enlightenment (18).

That which is (the state of) Vajrasattva abiding in the recognition of the undivided aspect (of it) is the highest dwelling of all the buddhas (19).

the yogin whose nature has attained suchness (tathata) (21).



the great happiness of the Srisamvarodaya-tantra,
(that is,) the samvara of a multitude of dakinis united with all the
heroes, when it is imagined and considered, annihilates the suffering of poverty (31).


Even there it is taking a typical symbol of Lakshmi or Annapurna and telling us that poverty is a lack of dakini jala samvara. Does that happen to be related to food in the ordinary objective sense, of course it does, but that is not what it is talking about.



Also:

There are two veins in the middle of the yoni (the female
organ) and likewise to the left and the right. One should know
that semen is on the left and the menstrual fluid on the right (23).
The union of both, (that is,) oneness, is dharmadhatu (the sphere
of dharmas) by its nature. Karman is obtained by means of the
seed, which is made to move to and fro by winds (24).


Where there turns out to be something unique for females from Jnanapada's Two Stages:


And then that delighted girl
Shows her lotus and recites these words:
“The king of natural great bliss
Abides in this lotus |114|
Because it is realized by means of the channels and winds
You should search for the cakra.”
And then with his fingers
[He should search for] the great cakra, which abides inside. |115|
Having ascertained the anthers, stamen,
And the eight-petaled-one ornamented by the five essences, 240
That abide in the lotus
He should search for the āli [and] kāli; 242

[the] mantra, 243
The kūrmaka, 244
and the śaśāṅka245—
These three nāḍīs.

The vajradhatvīśvarī nāḍī, free from subject and object,
[Abides] in the center of the bhaga, |117|

By means of the oral instructions from the guru
One must find this using his fingers. 248



240 snying po. Vaidyapāda here specifies and names five channels in the body—the central, left, right, front, and
back—which he says correspond to the five buddhas and the five elements

242 While the āli and kāli traditionally refer to the vowels and consonants of the Sanskrit alphabet, Vaidyapāda
clarifies that here āli and kāli refer to “the left and right [channels? respectively].”

243 Vaidyapāda explains that here “Another name for [what is here referred to as] mantra is the lalana (‘phyang ma
= rkyang ma?), which is the place where the moon descends.”

244 Above in his list of the five channels Vaidyapāda notes that the right-hand
channel is called the rus sbal, which is probably a translation of kūrmaka. Vaidyapāda explains that here “Another
name for [what is here referred to as] kūrmaka is the rasana (ro ldan ma), the place where rakta descends.”

245 This Sanskrit term used here, the “hare-marked [one]” is usually a
term for the moon, but it is also attested in the Pradīpoddyotana, for example, as a term for the central channel,
which is clearly what it refers to here. Thanks to Harunaga Isaacson for both pointing out the correct Sanskrit term
and its attestation in the Pradīpoddyotana. Vaidyapāda explains here that, “The śaśāṅka is that [channel] which is
located in the center between those two, and which is also otherwise known as the *mūrdhanī (spyi gtsug ma). It is
the place where wisdom desends.”

248 ~C.f. Vagīśvarakīrti’s Saṃkṣiptābhiṣekavidhi: so ‘pi vāmāmbhoruhavāmapārśvasthitāṃ vajradhātvīśvarīnāḍīṃ
gurūpadeśavalād upalabhya vihitotphullabhramarījālādikaraṇasaṃhāre/ (Sakurai 1996, 418). The procedure of
“searching for the cakra” appears to involve the yogin’s seeking out, with the fingers, the so-called vajradhatvīśvarī
nāḍī in his partner’s body. Vaidyapāda elaborates, “Moreover, the vajradhatvīśvarī channel which is beyond
subject-object [duality] is located in the center of the bhaga, like the string of a lute. You must find this with your
fingers in reliance upon the instructions of a compassionate guru.” de yang rdo rje dbyings kyi dbang phyug ma’i
rtsa gang gi phyir gzung ‘dzin (‘dzin] P, ‘don D) dang bral ba bha (bha] P, bu D) ga’i dbus na gnas pa’i pi bang
(bang] P, wang D) gi rgyud ltar gnas pa ste/ bla ma thugs rje dang ldan pa’i man ngag gis (gis] P, gi D) sor mos go
bar bya dgos so zhes te/ (Sukusuma, D 108b.6-7; P 130b.7-8). This same procedure is described in the Piṇḍikṛta
commentary, the Maṇimālā, attributed to Nāgabodhi. Here, just after the call and response between the yogin and
consort, and before she recites the verse of praise to the bhaga, the girl is to show the yogin the naḍī-cakra inside of
her lotus: “Then that devī holds the two sides of her lotus with her hands, and thus pulling on the lotus she should
show him the nāḍī-cakra. Regarding this, she should show him the nāḍī-cakra inside her lotus in this way: “Hey,
son of noble family! [Here] in the center is a nāḍī which, because it is covered by the pleasure nāḍī that is similar to
a person’s nose, corresponds with the man’s liṅgam. This is the central channel, called vajradhatviśvarī. It is also
called samantabhadrī, and from among the thirty-two channels described in the Vajrāmṛta, it is the main one where
blood and semen are brought together. This itself is that from which the three realms arise, and they also dissolve
[back] into this. Since this itself is the essence of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya, it is the prajñāpāramitā, the nature of the
dharmadhatu wisdom, that which produces beings, and which gathers them back...”