The hidden teaching of the Buddha

[Padma11]

It has been some time since I posted on The Project Avalon Forum.

Most people are not aware the Buddha gave a separate teaching to the first Kalki King of Shambhala named Suchandra and it became an enlightened society. We only have fragments of the Kalachakra Tantra today.

Tomorrow 77% of the world’s population will witness a blood moon in the sky over Asia, but most will miss it’s true spiritual opportunity. Krishna once said love and wisdom are equal. When you understand that timing and technique are also as equal you will know the true secrets of the Kalachakra Tantra.

The Hidden Teaching is no longer hidden.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qIusTT7GGIY

[shaberon]

Posted by Padma11 (here)
Most people are not aware the Buddha gave a separate teaching to the first Kalki King of Shambhala named Suchandra and it became an enlightened society. We only have fragments of the Kalachakra Tantra today.

Hi, thanks.

Are you a practitioner of a devoted Kalachakra lineage such as Shentong?

I am not, although I am aware that in 1981 H. H. Dalai Lama made a world tour of handing out Kalachakra empowerments. It didn't gain much traction.

I perceive it as a strategical mistake.

The actual story is that ca. 300 in Amaravati Stupa, there was a simultaneous projection of Kalachakra Mandala on the floor, with Dharmadhatu Vagishvara Manjushri Mandala on the ceiling.

That's the story.

The difference is that Manjushri is the heart of the whole Buddhist ethos from the early attestations.

Kalachakra is rather a modified Heruka designed in the 1100s.

It has virtually nothing in common with the Heruka tradition. It uses all new assignments, and throws in things never used before. Such as the idea that the future Buddha will be the same as the Kalki Avatar of the Puranas.

It's a non-Buddhist idea that Buddha was the ninth avatar of Vishnu, thus the future one is a little suspect. The Buddha cannot be perceived as the emergence of a perfected Deva, because he must be a normal man who undergoes a radical catharsis to achieve perfection.

However, in the era of composition, India was being hammered by Mughal invasions. Thus the Kalachakra can be seen as a political expedient to unite Indian factions.

The actual system of Heruka began around the 600s, and consists of a whole corpus of literature whose ultimate exegesis is the Dakarnava Tantra.

The only thing really "hidden" here is that it is self-secret because difficult to understand.

There's no historical "kingdom of Shamballah". These are almost entirely legends used by the Gelug order to attach historical primacy or validity to their view; highly contrived.

Therefor you don't find Kalachakra in the more central lineages such as Kagyu, Sakya, etc., because it is rather like the Book of Revelations, peripheral.


As a committed Buddhist, I have to refute the view that any Buddha is an Avatar. I still believe Vishnu is a deity, but not the Puranic one. The series of avatars and the time cycles of millions of years are a gedankenexperiment applied to the Greek Tetraktys in relatively late times, starting since maybe the 200s. None of it represents ancient Indian thought, in fact it contradicts the Vedas.

Buddha himself not only said the Veda mantras are pure, he was Angiras, who said that the priests or Brahmanas had corrupted the value of the original teachings.

In the era of competing texts, you won't find Prajnaparamita in any Purana.

Buddhist practice is rather a form of Atharva Veda, with a slight modification to Upanishadic or Adwaita philosophy. It's just a re-orientation and fresh emphasis that works far more by personal experience than by the "necessity" of using a kingdom to establish a formal ritual temple with all these inherited offices and so forth. It does pull the plug on that establishment, or institution, while remaining strongly in common with the inner meaning of Vedic mantras.

The real system of Heruka is nothing but the addition of Buddhist practices into the traditional Agni Homa, or fire rite, etc., which leaves us in the position to say that it *is* compatible or the same as Vedic Agni, whereas Puranic modifications are later and a bit sectarian should you choose to accept them.

That's why Kalachakra is somewhat obscure. It didn't take hold in India, and was only transmitted in a limited way, whereas Dakarnava really represents the throughput of some five centuries of collective endeavor. This tantra is complete and currently in translation. So far, for instance, it contains the first appearance of Mumbai/Bombay. And actually most of the medieval history of India is determined by Buddhist texts. They are pretty accurate for their time, but, for the most part we should consider "extended history" as merely suggestive.

Moreover, I would say the real system of Maitreya has been intentionally buried by the Prasangika notion. This comes from a trivial "prasanga" mentioned one time in the 500s logicians' texts, and was miraculously exhumed in the 1200s to create an entirely new doctrine for Tibet.

This new doctrine was combined with the intent to "fish" things from the Sakya they wanted to keep, while in turn there were actually indoctrination centers that attempted to do away with the rest, such as the Maitreya teachings. This is the important part. Maitreya is a teaching, not a figurehead savior about to fall from the sky and wipe out adversaries.

I am happy to revive his teaching. However I remain unsure that Kalachakra is a particularly good representation. The less-dramatic approach that many of us take would be that a Future Buddha appears because the earth is populated with Bodhisattvas. That's on us; our challenge to prepare the environment somehow.

[Padma11]

The teaching I gave in this podcast was based on a direct experience while watching a total lunar eclipse in 2008. I knew people would not accept it, but it is known in Tibetan schools and some Taoists schools. We only have fragments of the Kalachakra Tantra and in its current form it is 1000 shlokas and the original was 12,000 shlokas. While Pali texts do not account for a future Buddha the Mahayana and Vajra texts do. There is no difference between the Ridgen kings mentioned in Tibetan texts and the Kalki kings mentioned in Vedic texts. I see more glowing faces in Tibetan and Kriya schools, so perhaps their teaching are worth considering. If you think Padmasmbhava, Atisha, Tsongkhapa and Sri Yukteshwar are not worthy of listening to stick to your Pali Cannon teachings.

[shaberon]

Posted by Padma11 (here)
While Pali texts do not account for a future Buddha the Mahayana and Vajra texts do.

Citations?

There is no difference between the Ridgen kings mentioned in Tibetan texts and the Kalki kings mentioned in Vedic texts.

There are no such kings in the Veda. It has no pattern of incarnations of Vishnu. This is an accreted doctrine which acquired a "future avatar" only in its last stages after Caliphates began raids on west India.

If you think Padmasmbhava, Atisha, Tsongkhapa and Sri Yukteshwar are not worthy of listening to stick to your Pali Cannon teachings.

I am not aware that Yukteshwar is considered a Buddhist lineage, and, I would say he committed errors in astronomy.

I do not in general follow the lineage of Atisha -- Tsonkhapa, although the latter's commentary on Vajra Rosary Tantra is the summit of the human knowledge base. My work is more along the lines of maintaining how this is compatible to and an extension of the Pali. I didn't say anything about that to begin with. I mentioned Manjushri and Prajnaparamita.

My response was along the lines that Kalachakra deities are very different from those in any other Buddhist liturgy.

I understand it is a branch of the same Six Yogas that comes from the greater corpus. That ought to be where there is some common ground.

That is where we could say something is Buddhist because it is not Patanjali, and it is not even the Six Yogas of Maitrayana Upanishad.


That is what I mean to "categorically" call this Heruka Yoga, which Padmasambhava was a relatively early figure in it. It allows for variety within certain parameters, because different temperaments of people respond to Yoga in different ways.

From not having a good guide, I personally tried both Tsonkhapa and Padmasambhava Guru Yogas and it was a train wreck, because I don't have those lineages. It was just Buddhist information I was able to get. There are different things in Buddhism that may be more or less appropriate for someone. For instance I read a letter sent in to a Dharma Center somewhere that a lady asks:


Should I bring my son to the Mahakala Empowerment?


No, that would actually be a really bad idea, because it is used for a daily commitment to the thing. You don't just give it to some teenage kid as some kind of general benefit. Yes of course it was a public function, but, it is clearly aimed at a small number of devotees at that Center. He's not going to do anything with it and you just tossed his mind into the Ashes of Shiva. I wouldn't do it. Any of these things are serious. The worst sin you could commit is any type of false oath.

I was curious how Kalachakra fits in terms of accessibility and restriction.

The version I am aware of is based in Chinese astrology in the 5 x 12 system. I am not sure if this is supposed to be important; it is an aspect of Tibetan culture. The tantra was composed in Orissa in south India. It has a lot of technical differences but it has an interesting stack of Ten Syllables used in Yoga.

[Delight]

What if being self realized, which I define as KNOWING I exist, is the first step BUT paradoxically leads out of the Tarot schematic where we repeat cycles which lead back to the fool on a cyclic journey. However, I feel like a secret of Buddha is that all here is paradox in which we become what we are until we complete this whole realm drama. KNOWING I exist paradoxically includes knowing I exist in God who becomes a companion. The maya of separation when I did not KNOW I AM collapsed. I experienced it as that paradox. when I deeply contemplated being aware of what I cannot know but what CREATOR holds and that makes creation from Primordial mother exemplify the MIND of God, father:

This realm makes more sense. It has EVERYTHING and NOTHING which is Primordial Mother. Our MIND tunes to intentionally derived signals. WE channel the reality. You must take responsibility. It can be demonstated that focus on the Good influences as well as focus on evil. Once I started having a relationship with God by way of feeling, I find myself loving more and detachong from appearances. IMO this is why we separate... just to feel the day to day care from mother/father within a sacred space where the Unknown God becomes OUR hyperbaric nourishment oF LOVE.

I am just starting out IMO, like the FOOL, but able to use the UNKOWN for all my requirements. No need to turn to sorcery. The cliff is just a small ledge to scale JUST HERE ANF RIGHT NOW.

It is enough to know I am and keep walking through whatever this place is here. GOD IS and IN my spirit rope, every step is in sacred Divine's presence. This space is our connection and refuge. Of course Maya does not tempt.

[shaberon]

Posted by Delight (here)
What if being self realized, which I define as KNOWING I exist, is the first step BUT paradoxically leads out of the Tarot schematic where we repeat cycles which lead back to the fool on a cyclic journey...

I have a hard time understanding you, but, in many ways it seems to me is Tarot is perhaps the closest way I have to express myself in any western system(s) or knowledge base.

"God" is a bit more difficult to pass to Buddhists, particularly since it is a Gothic word from approximately the 500s. It's not used in any of the sources from which it claims to draw. So we have an a priori deficit because it appears to mean many different things in its adaptation by different people.

It sounds like you are referring to the problem of Duality, or spirit and matter, or something like that, which I would agree is heavily laden in Buddhist thought. That's why universities still have Arthur Avalon's Serpent Power. Upon review, it is one of the more accurate and least harmful western treatments of eastern philosophy. It's not Buddhist. Rather, it is the context or milieu in which our discussions arise. So while it might be "kind of like" the Tarot, in the sense of being reduced to that as an explanation, it actually is a variant on Sri Yantra:






Now, the origin of the Tibetan term "Shamballah" comes from Sambal Pur in Orissa, that is, the center of this Shakta practice. Buddhism absorbs several Shaktis out of these local practices. Moreover, they are used in the oldest known birch bark manuscripts in Asia from Khotan which is halfway from India to China.

The oldest known writings of this form convey a tradition of south Indian Shaktis to a distant foreign region by or before around the year 400.

There is a bit of corresponding statuary that is a little older, ca. 150 - 200, representing various meditational deities especially Maitreya in Khotan and Bactria.

This is all thanks to the somewhat successful Pax Kushana. It is because of this and because of King Ashoka that we are able to see how Buddhism was described or approximated by Iranian and Greek thought of the time.

The way I am speaking is in fairly specific reference to Mahayana Buddhism, which carries a few trends or arguments that lead to the selection of different authorities or scriptures and different philosophies and practices. Among these, what I am speaking from is the view of King Ramapala. Under his aegis we get a remarkable series of illuminated Prajnaparamita manuscripts, which misled scholars because the pictures have nothing to do with the text. Here is such a representation of Maitreya:






The point here is that he relies on the system of the mysterious Maitri which is based on a commentary attributed to Nagarjuna.

If you try to read anything historical about this, you will immediately become confused. It is because of the archive in Nepal that we can simply read the commentary and know what it says. It requires technical familiarity with Hevajra Tantra and Mahamudra. This is not the main system of Nalanda University, but is best known at Vikramasila.

That does not leave me in the position to tell a Theravada person that what they're doing is not Buddhism or does not work. It is more like a debate process showing similarities and differences. So when I raise questions about for example Shentong, this is very similar but it includes a technical difference, which is only relevant in that situation.

[Padma11]

I really came here to share the hidden teachings of the Kalachakra Tantra and not go over the basics of Buddhism, but it may benefit other sentient beings. You seem to misunderstand the term Maitreya which is often the case if you only studied Pali stuttas like the Cakkavatti-Sihanda Sutta (DN26). Both Theravada and Mahayana scriptures mention the Buddha yet to come. In addition, countless commentaries in Tibetan, Zen and Indian sects have mentioned the future Buddha. The fifth Buddha mentioned to Ananda in Pali texts is called Ajita Bodhisattva. The term is used because he is prophesied by Buddha as the future Buddha to come called Metteya. He was labeled as a Bodhisattva simply because he was not a Buddha yet but will attain enlightenment in one day in the future.

Later Mahayana scriptures like the Lotus Sutra refers to him Ajita Bodihsattva. Later sutras like the Vimalakirti Sutra, Gandavyuha Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, Heart Sutra and the Maitrya-Vyakarana sutra use the name Maitreya. The Gandavyuhu Sutra has an entire chapter where Maitreya preaches to Sudhana. This is why a debate with someone stuck in Pali literature is futile and many of these past awakened masters knew things that you and other Theravada monks just are not able to accept. Religions that form after the master comes often lose the essence of great teachings and form rigidity and arrogance. Tibetan Buddhist believe the boy that gave Buddha the crystal rosary beads was actually Tsongkhapa in a past life. One of the four great deeds of Lama Tsongkhapa was the restoration of the Maitreya Buddha statue at the Dzingji Temple. This monastery and Maitreya statue was destroyed in the cultural revolution unfortunately. Many also believe he was an emanation of the future Buddha, but that concept would not be known in Pali circles. The conch shell Buddha gave to the long walker to take to the land of the snows (Tibet) was actually dug up when Ganden Monastery was built and it is still in the Johang in Lhasa today. The Sutra on Maitreya becoming Buddha can also be found in Chinese canon. In Japanese Zen masters referred to him as Miroko which is a translation for Maitreya. He is mentioned in numerous Zen commentaries. Earlier in the Ch'an schools in China he was referred to as Hotei. Some even believed the 10th century monk named Budai was an emanation of him, but again a Pali school would reject that even though the Ch"an and Zen masters exceeded anything they produced by 1000 times. That should be enough citations to keep you busy for the next couple of years.

The term Kalki and Ridgen Kings only came from the Kalachakra Tantra. We only have fragments of the original which was a result of the dark age that we are currently leaving. Buddha gave this separate teaching to the first Kalki King named Suchandra 2500 years ago and it is said each rule for a period of 100 years. The last Kali king is a wrathful wheel turner named Rudra Chakra and he is the same person or incarnation as the Kalki. There were also 7 wisdom kings and that is why you sometimes see 32 as the number. The Tibetans just used the name Ridgen Kings. To them the Kalki and Maitreya Buddha are the same incarnation. The great way is not an intellectual pursuit. Tsongkhapa was very clear that the understanding of emptiness was key to human awakening. You do not reach this level of understanding fighting the mind with the mind sitting around on mats all day long. The great Ch"a master and Sixth patriarch named Hui Neng made the greatest breakthroughs in this regard and it is a shame most Theravada Buddhist don't even get taught these precious teachings. His Sutra called the Platform Sutra is the only Chinese one included in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions because it was so profound. He was illiterate and looked down upon by the arrogant monks of that time in the same way some modern Pali scholars look down on the Kalachakra Tantra. It is slowly changing because results are more important than Sutras and empty practises. Like I said before, I have seen more glowing faces in the Tibetan Sangha than all others combined so they must be doing something right.

Sri Yukteshwar was a Kriya Yoga master and not a Buddhist practitioner and I made this very clear in my books and podcasts. Nice try a gaslighting grasshopper. The Kalachakra Tantra is a profound and complex system of Vajrayana Buddhism. It deals with both external and internal cycles of time. The fragments that remain are a little light on the external cycles, but I am certain Sri Yukteshwar's translations from the Laws of Manu (Vedic Document) fill in that gap and that is why I went at length discussing it. I was able to refine his model outlined in his book the Holy Science by using the Omahk (Canadian Stonehenge) and Mayan Calendar, but it is still hard to get it down to the exact year. He claimed we got the almanacs wrong and the Maya Yuga of 4.32 million years was for the second motion of our sun with a nearby star which is likely Sirius. He claimed we are in the buffer zone or Sandhis period between Kali Yuga and Dwapara Yuga. My calculations were 2024/25 we would begin to enter Dwapara Yuga, but I could be off. If you look at the external world we are very close. I also mention him because his Kriya Yoga teaching and the Vajrayana teaching are the best ones to awaken this world. I also mention the secret of the golden flower because a skilled practitioner must be able to move and rotate the Buddha nature at the right time for an awakening to occur. He was the greatest Kriya master to ever live and was the Mahaguru of Yogananda, so I do not really care what you think about this sect. Do you really think being smug with your comments will help other sentient beings awaken?

The internal cycles of the Kalachakra Tantra are also a little light in the fragments we have, but Tibetan, Chinese and Taoist schools were aware of them. They were not written down and only given orally to advanced students. The dark night of the soul is real and they wanted to make sure the student was ready and their spiritual foundation was sound. It is why I sat on this teaching for 10 years before talking more about it. I just hope Sri Yukteshwar was correct and we are leaving the dark age. I know for a fact they work, but it is pointless in debating them with those who think they know. It all good and when the world is ready for the hidden teachings of the Kalachakra Tantra they will have access to them again. If you found the works of Padmasambhave and Tsongkhapa to be a train wreck you really should stay away from the teachings of the Kalachakra Tantra. Padmasambhava was a master Vajrayana teacher and the direct cause of so many enlightenment Rinpoches and masters from the land of the snows (Tibet). Atisha and Tsong Khapa are Buddhist masters whose teachings integrated Sutra, Mantra and Tantra practises to a level even common people could understand. Aisha's Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment is a Buddhist Master piece and Tsongkhapa's Lamrin Chenmo is one of the greatest Buddhist works in history. Even advance philosophy schools cite Tsong Khapas work on logic in their course curriculum. I am finished with this debate, but if you want to recover from your train wreck of misunderstanding I have given you enough literature to study to last a decade. Perhaps humble yourself and watch the podcast a few more times and win it sooner.

Blessings to those who seek the true Dharma.

Sheldon Moore

[shaberon]

That was a well-composed reply.

What's missing is some confusion about Pali and Maitreya as demonstrated by centuries of practice prior to Kalachakra, which differentiates itself by:

The term Kalki and Ridgen Kings only came from the Kalachakra Tantra.

Rigden is not an Indian term. It would have to be added or translated. The whole Tibetan language amounts to about 10% of the Sanskrit vocabulary, and, it is not suited for the same subtle intricacies.

There is no question that Maitreya was one of the most important presences in Buddhism as demonstrated by statuary from probably pre-200, that is, it is older than the Sutras. This remained in place constantly for about a thousand years until destroyed. If we look what is in those Sutra references, there isn't a Kalki. Maitreya was a:


Meditation Yidam


and was so influential, around the 670s, Empress Wu of China claims to have incarnated Maitreya and established an entire state based on this.

I said that attempting to take Padmasambhava as a guru was a wreck because I do not have the lineage, without anything about refuting it.

On the other hand, I, at least, am not a follower of Prasangika but consider it Provisional, so while agreeing Tsonkhapa was a brilliant exegete, that's not a philosophy I hold.


Many tantras claim they have "missing volumes" and there is no evidence to support anything other than this being poetic flair.

Laws of Manu are not "Vedic", it is a Brahmanical commentary that cannot be shown to have done anything other than perhaps assist in building the caste system.

Cycles of 4.32 million years are not "Vedic", they come from the Puranas as a response to Greek math.

Buddha teaches that latter-day Brahmanas are a distortion. You won't find Prajnaparamita in any Purana. It's a competition.

The transmitted practice is really only unique by the use of Generation and Completion Stages. There isn't anything more advanced or anything secret or hidden to teach, only guides for practice.

I can get back to this on the Vimalakirti Sutra which is another difficult historical problem.

What about the actual Books of Maitreya?

Buddhists are prone to confabulate "ancient lineages" and so on, which is not the teaching. Perhaps a way to get the attention of an audience. But they are terribly rife with mistakes, to which the typical response is "it doesn't matter".

The more reasonable explanation is not to tie it down objectively, but to say it comes from outside of time and space via meditation, less of a transmission and more of a vision which was subsequently transmitted. The objective facts that can be traced tell their own story.

Because I know what I am talking about, I am not going to sweep this place with uncited declarations and all this other misleading information. It's stitched together. I am never finished with any debates. This perhaps is one of the main ones. I take it I am not facing a Shentong pa but rather a Geluk pa?

[shaberon]

There were a handful of Sutras mentioned which takes a bit longer to contemplate than I had earlier.

I confess I can't remember much of anything line-by-line, but I have been through a fair number of them.

I am going to return to something because it has a lot of context. What we have been bantering about is self-explanatory.

The best thing about Chinese Buddhism is that they have the best records on translations of "ancient" texts. The translations are not very good, but, in India, there are only patchy records until about the 800s. China has a very useful list, moreover, they kept the records of these titles even if the text was lost.

Because of this, we are able to tell that Vimalakirti Nirdesha was transmitted in the year 147. Reasonable estimates would say it was probably composed around 100. Prajnaparamita Sutra also refers to Vimalakirti, the person. They are speaking not about a monk, but a lay person during the lifetime of Buddha. There are no other external evidences to support or refute this. It's not possible to "prove" a single thing about the life or teaching of Buddha, as nothing was written down for centuries after his passing.


Well, here is a notable fact about something that was lost and its discovery:


In 1999 a team of Japanese scholars retrieved a number of Sanskrit texts from the Potala Palace in Lhasa among which the Vimalakirtinirdesha and the Jnanalokalamkara, both believed to have been lost, were the prominent ones.

The script of both MSS can be categorized as the "Proto-Bengali-cum-Proto-Maithili..."

...the same year, the 12th regnal year of the King Gopala.


Those are like Dzogchen original Bibles. It is hard to get anything like that intact. So now we can easily get a GRETIL Jnanalokalamkara. The translator presumes it referred to King Gopala III and has no idea why these two would be found together.


Curiously, the VKN is not properly titled, in fact the cover uses the title of Chapter Eleven, which concerns:

Vimalakirti expounds 'how to see' the tathagata and
miraculously shows the Abhirati universe of the Tathagata Aksobhya, from which
he descended...




This thing is not a tantric commentary. Considering the state it was discovered, here is the actual background according to David Reigle:

The Jñānālokālaṃkāra-sūtra (more fully Sarva-buddha-viṣayāvatāra-jñānālokālaṃkāra-sūtra) is given in some lists as one of the ten tathāgata-garbha sūtras...

It is the source of the nine examples used to illustrate buddha-action in chapter 4 the Ratna-gotra-vibhāga, listed in verse 4.13...

Three such verses occurring in the Pañcakrama...

...a Chinese version since the year 501.

This sutra describes the qualities and modes of action of the Tathagata and, in addition to negative statements, also contains positive Yogacara terms such as `Suchness (tathata), the natural lightness of the mind and the beginningless perfect purity of all phenomena .

Tantric Nagarjuna used it, as does Maitreya. It is part and parcel of Tathagatagarbha and Yogachara. It is not in a Rangtong and Shentong dispute. It is not in an argument of any kind. We can just look and see.

Those two sources can hardly be traced to anything prior, and the actual subjects seem to be negligible in the ca. 750 Vajrasekhara. Yet they are quite fused in the commentaries of Jalandhara and Krishnacarya, most likely early to mid-800s, which is then implemented at Vikramasila by Bhavabhadra and Bhavyakirti, still around the mid-800s.

Although more tantras are produced, there is not really any more new yogic commentary that applies. There are applications of more intricate details, but all of the driving forces of yoga have been expertly handled there already.

The whole
Vimalakirtinirdesa is available in full translation from Tibetan and:

The recently discovered Sanskrit text of the sūtra only came to light thirty years after the first edition of this translation was published, but was consulted for this new edition and has helped to make some of the revisions, including the updating of a number of Sanskrit proper names.

It's based on two Tibetan MSS. in the Kanjur.


According to the VKN study, the excoriation of the "body" in Buddhism is not a shove into mortification and asceticism, it is a symbol for the Skandhas:


This body is a combination
of aggregates [Skandha], elements [Dhatu], and sense-media [Ayatana], which are comparable to murderers,
poisonous snakes, and an empty town, respectively. Therefore, you should be
revulsed by such a body. You should despair of it and should arouse your admiration
for the body of the Tathāgata.


Then it explains a Buddha body as a gnosis body born from things such as the Four Immeasurables and Thirty-seven Point Enlightenment and so forth. So this does have a "tantric formula" much as we use, although it has more categories, possibly resembling Dharma Samgraha.



Kukkuraja was told to meditate on "the words of Vimalakirti" in order to construct the Eighteen Mahayogas, which is the main format of the Nyingma order.

So, yes, historically that is correct, VKN is indistinguishable from the origin of Mahayana Buddhism. It shows Manjushri as the only person wise enough to speak to Vimalakirti Licchavi, and understands Maitreya as a future Buddha. It has a traveling companion, Jnanalokalamkara. At a glance, we find expressions such as Tathata -- Suchness, and a genre of literature called Tathagatagarbha Sutras which is actually quite small.

This is not the authority used in the Gelug order. It uses a certain interpretation of:

...the Akṣayamatinirdeśa states that the definitive sūtras are those which teach emptiness (śūnyatā), the absence of distinguishing marks (ānimitta), and the absence of anything to long for (apraṇidhāna)‍. According to the influential Tibetan author Tsongkhapa, the main hermeneutical principle of the madhyamaka school is based on the Akṣayamatinirdeśa, which states that the sutras that teach emptiness are those which are definitive.

What he is talking about is the mainstream view of Prajnaparamita Sutra at Nalanda University.

That is correct, since the main exegetes of Yogacara were hounded out in the 500s and transferred to Vallabhi University in Gujarat. There, we are mainly talking about exponents of the Tathagatagarbha Sutras.

Tsonkhapa at least explains it as the argument of a school rather than of Buddhism.

It is not the argument of Asanga, who says the logic of "empty" means there must be something which is empty of something else. Asanga is the source of the Maitreya Books and therefor is represented by the group that was driven away from Nalanda by the logicians. In Yogacara or Buddhist Yoga, Asanga is the most important exegete.

Now to even mention this with respect to modern translations, major authors such as Brunnholzl -- now used in the universities -- have gone from the Chinese character Hsin. This has given rise to a commonly quoted error:


All beings have Buddha Nature


That's not what Yogacara says. If we leave "Buddha Nature" alone for not really saying anything specific, the real assertion would be:


Beings that cultivate Mahayana have Buddha Nature


With respect to Tibet, the reason I bring up Shentong is because it is a Kalachakrayana or has Kalachakra as its only tantra, but it is a controversy because it is like a Yogacara revival. It is close but there are a couple of technical changes attributable to Dolpopa. And so he inaugurated a different kind of lineage, which was suppressed and driven away from the main part of Tibet and was thought to be a "lost fifth school", however it survived in a small way.

I'm not actually sure if it is possible for Kalachakra to affiliate itself with Rangtong or a "pure Sunyata" view. That's because it does have a pretty good commentary on the Six Yogas.


The issue is nothing like this appears earlier than perhaps Brahma Purana:

For the welfare of the world, there [manifested the incarnations of] the Fish, the Tortoise, the Boar, the Man-Lion, One who had a Short Stature, Paraśurāma, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha and Kalkin.

Firstly the only parts of that which come from Rg Veda are the Dwarf is Vishnu and Parasurama is a human Sage.

The first strange thing about it is that it has brought in the Fish, which is the Flood Myth from Babylon. It's not natively Indian and slips in as about ten or twelve lines at the beginning of something and then gets re-iterated in grand fashion. And so it is entirely a Vaisnava idea that Buddha is a Vishnu incarnation, according to one source "to make irrefutable arguments" and, in Agni Purana, "in order to lure beings into hell". In other Puranas, the ninth avatar is just someone else.

The more reasonable Devi Bhagavata Purana simply accepts us as Bauddha Dharma, as a compatible branch of Devi's followers. The two are inter-twined. Buddhist doctrine of course runs the other way around, because it is taking everything in its environment and converting it to Bauddha Dharma. Therefor a "Buddhist incarnation of Vishnu" is:



Avalokiteshvara Hayagriva


Buddhist Vishnu is Akshobhya.

So, yes, it responds to Puranas by taking them over and assimilating them for its own purposes.

That's not "hostile".

It may have a strong appearance in something like trampling Shiva and Kalaratri, which is the outgrowing of former beliefs.

Most pleasant Devis such as Lakshmi are glad to convert. In this sense it is basically the same as any Lakshmi with a few additional tweaks. On the other hand, the thing that is highly important about Padmasambhava is he nailed down legions of angry ghosts and other hostile creatures. All tantras Buddhist or otherwise are based on:


Mahadeva Subjugation


and some additionally:

Churning the Ocean of Milk


There is a lot of cross-current, but I would hesitate to put Buddha in a list that includes fictional entities like Fish and Krishna. The main point of him would seem to be that he was not born an "avatar". The difference between Buddha and Vishnu is given in Mahamayavijayavahini Sutra, which is where Buddha gives Vishnu a spell using a form of Devi similar to that in Devi Bhagatava Purana. It doesn't quite say Vishnu learned any philosophy or right view, it says he acknowledged Buddha as supreme. Akshobhya is a particular form lifted from 108 Names of Vishnu.

The most plausible reason for incorporating a Puranic doctrine in the 900s would be in hopes that everyone would rally around the Kalkin legend and join forces against the encroaching Caliphate. Yes anyone in Mahayana would have to agree Maitreya is considered the future Buddha, but on the other hand this is a matter of degree. There isn't exactly anything that says you have to use Buddha or Maitreya as a major focus. Our basic reading is just Heart Sutra, which is Avalokiteshvara to Sariputra. Yes of course this speaks about Emptiness. This point is established and taken as ground for Luminosity and Suchness. These qualities are also important in Shentong, although this is more or less its own movement that came out around the 1400s.

In the way that Padmasambhava was an early Mahayoga proponent, and Shentong and Tsonkhapa come well beyond the end of, yoga compilations or tantras, I am mainly referring to that whole intervening era of compilation, which was only possible in the context of the Maitreya Books; Maitreya is a Sastra or explanatory response primarily to Tathagatagarbha Sutras.


VKN is not necessarily the earliest thing of its kind although it is close. Now just as a quick reference, the first name listed is an expression for Indra from the frame narrative beginning Chapter Destructible and Indestructible with Ananda and Sariputra:

Likewise all those Śakras, Brahmās, Lokapālas, and gods bowed at the feet of the Buddha and withdrew to one side.

And the thing that is going on is completely magical.

I'm not going to quote at length from it and explain it myself, but recommend it. The school of Asanga arises because of the difficulty of composing a viable practice that trains you how to do this. That is why the Sastra says only Mahayana will cultivate it. It can then be seen that on the historical record after this time, there are almost no new Sutras, if any. Instead you get the Ellora Cave Temples.




All I was aware of is a technical fine point about Mahamudra, because the format I refer to, based from Hevajra, is contested by Vibhuticandra (1170-1230), a Kalachakra follower, Disciple of Śākyaśrībhadra. He claims to receive revelation from the same Savari as Maitri does, yet is disputing the system given by Maitri. This difference is so subtle and profound it is difficult to realize it is even a question.

On what might be the side of hyperbole, among the conflicting stories of how Kalachakra entered Tibet, one version claims that Somanatha defeated Ratnavajra in a debate, as a result of which he was asked to leave and wound up going that way. Around this group at Vikramasila it is notable that Kalachakra is absent from Vajrapani and Vajragarbha.

I wasn't responding from any Pali texts that I am aware of. There is something about these Sutras and how they are handled. Anyone may read VKN; that is correct it is an early, widespread work that carries a lot of the vocabulary, which has, shall we say, branched into various schools of thought.