First Treatise of Sashibhusan: The book ‘An Introduction to Tantrik Buddhism’ embodies substantially the thesis submitted by Sashibhusan and approved for ‘Premchand Raychand’ studentship of the Calcutta University in 1937. He brought forward before the reading public the fruits of his hard labour, hoping it might be of genuine use and interest to those who finds pleasure in making an academic study of religious subjects.
Tantra Concept: Whether Vedic or Non-Vedic in origin, Tantricism, both Brahmanical and Buddhistic, represents a special aspect of the religious and cultural life of India. A thorough study of Tantricism is, therefore, indispensable for a close acquaintance with the special quality of the Indian mind. For a long time it was customary to hold that Tantricism is an offshoot of Hinduism or constitutes a particular phase in Hindu sadhana; but researchers in later Buddhism have now brought home that, the the stock of Tantrik literature is richer and more varied in the domain of Buddism than in Hinduism. Much more, he had hoped then would be recovered & reconstructed from the Tibetan and the Chinese sources. Tantricism whether Hindu or Buddhist (According to S.D. they are fundamentally same.) has been the target of all sorts of criticism, charitable and uncharitable, from scholars, both Oriental & Occidental. It is often styled as a school of religious mysticism. A kind of mysticism that is synonymous to puzzling obscurity.
Why Tantra & his Approach: But Sashibhusan has tried to keep an open minded practical approach throughout the whole study. His interest has mainly been academic and cultural. He studied quite a number of texts, both published & unpublished, gathered information, analyzed and classified them and had then tried to give a correct exposition on textual basis, avoiding personal observations & judgments as far as possible. Without offering any apology or advocacy he has successfully exhibited many things in the practice of Tantrikas that are undoubtedly unconventional. It was always hard to interpret Tantrikas, mainly due to the fact, that ancient religious literature, embodying complicated practices and subtle realizations, “may not be deciphered properly by our modern bespectacled eyes.”
Sashibhusan was a seeker of ‘The Truth’….. A ‘satyaneshi’…….. Was inspired to delve deep into Tantric Buddhism because he understood that to comprehend and interpret Charya-padas, even from a literary standpoint, would be impossible a mission, without the knowledge of the basic tenets of Buddhist philosophy. Thus to understand how literature, especially Bengali as a language, evolved in and around greater Bengal region at that time, a thorough research of Buddhist Tantra became mandatory and inevitable. Even in this book he has highlighted ‘carya’s and donha’s’ as authentic sources where ever he could, while explaining difficult concepts of Tantric Buddhism. Along with ‘Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature’, Tantrik Buddhism became a spiritual journey only because of his interest in working with Charyas. Scholars, namely, Sri Rajendralal Mitra and Sri Haraprasad Shastri preceding Sasibhusan, had only done cursory investigation into the matter; it was he who, out of pure academic curiosity, endeavored to unravel the mysteries of a sub-cult at which a majority looked askance. With the publication of these two books, he, at a very early age, became a member of the elite intelligentsia for his well-grounded, hard work and razor-sharp analysis. Moreover, the journey he started at such a tender age was to take him ultimately in his lifetime, through the maze of almost all the major philosophical systems of this subcontinent and their literary works, of that he might not had a priori knowledge; but that he had all the qualities to pursue such a passion, (which might had already germinated within this great mind), was not lacking. At the end of the journey he could take pride like the legendary Ulysses that he had travelled through the ever receding horizon of knowledge of the five great oceans, finding a through line across the sahajiya cults of Bengal, to esoteric concepts of Vajrayana, to Vaishnavi ‘Leela-bad’ in Radha, which yielded a bigger vista in Bharatiya Shaktibad and returning back from whence it came from, to the Upanishadic ideas of Param-Brahma in Rabindranath; these five books written by him was like Magellan’s trip around the world to find for himself, that the world is round even in the higher astral plane.
In developing this book he has thanked the great Indian philosopher Dr. S. N. Dasgupta not only for procuring rare manuscripts (scribed on palm leaves or indigenous hand made paper in Newari or old Nepalise script) for his study but also for his wisdom & encouraging advices.
GENERAL NATURE of TANTRA: Sashibhusan starts by defining Tantra, whether Hindu or Buddhist has to be regarded as an independent religious literature, which utilized relevant philosophical doctrines, but the origin of which cannot be traced to any formal system or systems of philosophy; it consists essentially of religious methods & practices which are current in the Indian subcontinent from a very ancient time. Subject matter of Tantra includes esoteric hymns, rites, rituals, doctrines and even law, medicine, magic and so forth.
Following these the basic concern of Buddhist Tantras are not there to establish a definite system of metaphysical thoughts. The main object of the Tantra literature is to indicate and explain the practical methods for realizing the truth and so the abstract metaphysical speculation could never find any prominence in it. In this book S.D. undertakes a critical study to show that the nature of Tantrik Buddhism has no integral relation between this sort of Tantricism and Buddhism proper. “Mahayana, seems to have adopted most of these practices, which were growth of the soil and as such a common heritage of both the Hindus & the Buddhists …..Tantricism has its own independent history.” --- Thus opined S. D.
POINTS HE HIGHLIGHTED: In this vast treatise S.D. namely shed light on three major aspects A> How the philosophy of the Buddhists evolved from early Theravada to Mahayanic concepts of Bodhisattva which influenced the Tantric-Buddhists. B> How the docetic concepts of three Kayas of Buddha gave rise to the concept of - 1. Primordial Godhead & 2. got associated with the Chakras/Plexuses discovered by the Tantriks. C>How with Vajrayana, in Tantric Buddhism (1) the idea of Nirvana changed to Mahasukha & (2) investigation into the process of this sexo-yogic movement of the Bodhichitta through the Chakras to reach the cerebrum leading to the realization of the ultimate Truth.
The Two Aspects: Thus Tantric practices are not there in Buddhism for the theological speculations, in the main evolution of the Dharma; neither is it different in the province of Hinduism and that within Buddhism. Both lays stress upon a fundamental postulate that truth reside within the body, or in other words, human body is the best medium/vehicle/yana through which the ‘Adamantine truth’ is to be realized. Both schools hold that the ultimate non-dual reality possesses two aspects of its fundamental nature – the negative & the positive, static & the dynamic, Siva & Shakti in Hinduism and Pragya & Upaya or Sunnyata & Karuna in Buddhism. The ultimate goal of both the schools are the perfect state of union --- the union between the two aspects of reality and realization of the non-dual nature of the Self & not-Self (between Sat & Asat and Atma & Anatma). Hindu Tantras are supplied by the religious ideas & practices of the Hindus, while those of the Buddhist Tantras are supplied by the Buddhist. Just like the Hindu Tantra is influenced by Vedanta, Yoga, Samkhya and all the major & minor streams of Hindu system all scattered here & there, similarly in Buddhist Tantra we find tenets of the leading schools of Mahayana Buddhism --- The Sunnyavada, the Vigyanvada or the Yogacara --- along with influences of Vedantic monism. Leading principles of early Theravada Buddhism, side by side with Mahayanic & Brahmanic ideas and other systems like Samkhya & Yoga have been frequently introduced in a rather distorted way.
Evolution of Buddhism: Tantrik Buddhism imbibed the spirit of Mahayana in a marked way as it was a growth within the province of the Great-Vehicle. As the final goal Mahayanist believed that every man – nay, every being in the world is a potential Buddha, he has within him all the possibilities of becoming a Samyak-Sambuddha – the perfectly enlightened one. The general aim of the older Theravada/Hinoyana Buddhism was to attain ‘Arhathood’ and thus through Nirvana to achieve extinction, thus to be liberated from the cycle of birth & death. But the ultimate goal of the Mahayanist was to become Bodhisattva. Herein emerged the question of universal compassion (Maha-Karuna), which is one of the cardinal principles of Mahayana. The Boddhisattva never accepts Nirvana, though by meritorious & righteous deeds he becomes entitled to. He deliberately postpones his own salvation until the whole world of suffering beings be saved. The Grand example of Avolokekitesvara Bodhisattva’s renunciation of Nirvana in favor of suffering humanity will inspire a feeling of sublime reverence for all time to come.
In connection to this universal compassion, Buddhists are divided into Sravakas (hearers), Pratyeka-Buddhas (individualistic Buddhas) and Bodhisattvas (potential Buddhas). Sravakas are those who attain Nirvana by listening to the preaching’s of the Arhats and follow them in life and can achieve ‘Parinirvana’ through right comprehension of them. But they do not possess karuna. They are busy with their own salvation. The middle place is assigned to Pratyeka-Buddhas. They are bent on self control, lead a solitary life, and do not require instruction from any to guide them at every step, have ability of right comprehension of the nature of causality (Hetu-Pratyaya) to attain salvation for themselves. They also do not possess compassion or Maha-Karuna. The Bodhisattvas are bent on achieving Bodhi while dedicating their lives for the services of others; they exert full control over their passions, have knowledge of all the expedients, and have great resolution. By practicing of the paramitas (best virtues) and through their upward march along the Dasa-Bhumi (Ten stages) they become Buddhas, when they can no longer be of any service to others; it is for this reason many of them prefer to remain Bodhisattvas without attaining perfection. This is their Maha-karuna.
Another important aspect that Sashibhusan illustrates is the docetic conception of the three ‘kayas’(bodies) of Buddha as expounded in the Mahayanic texts. The early Buddhist conceived Buddha as a historical personage in the life and activities of Sakyamuni. But after his death his personality soon became enveloped in mysterious halo and could not be confined to a particular historical existence; so the belief grew, as early as Pali Buddhism that the Lord had a double or more than one existence, the Rupakaya or the gross physical existence and Dharmakaya , the existence in the eternal & all pervading body of law. This tendency of viewing Buddha in different dimensions gave rise to the full fledged Mahayanic ideas of the Tri-kaya.
In Mahayanic texts Dharma means ‘entity’ and thus Dharma-kaya means thatness (Tathata). It is the primordial element underlying all that exist. There is nowhere in the universe where this Tathata does not exist. The universe becomes, but this Tathata forever remains. It is free from all opposites and contraries, yet it is working in all things to lead them to Nirvana. The Sambhoga-Kaya is generally explained as the ‘body of bliss’ of the refulgent body of Buddha or simply the astral body of the Dharma. It is a very subtle body that manifests itself in the various conditions of bliss in the superhuman beings for preaching the noble truth and arousing in the mind of all Sravakas, Pratyeka-Buddhas & Boddhisattvas joy, delight and love for the Sat-Dharmas. Consequently Sambhoga-kaya encompasses “Celestial” Buddhas like Amitabha and as well as advanced Bodhisattvas like Avoloketeshvara and Manjushri. According to tradition, those skilled in advanced meditation can gain access to Sambhog-Kaya and get direct transmission of the divine doctrine. The Nirman-kaya is the historical personage of the Buddha or the body of transformation. This physical body manifests in the world to teach the Dharma and to bring all beings to enlightenment. This body is subject to sickness, old age & death and this shadow image is created to convince the ignorant that liberation is not beyond the capacity of man.
The transformation of the idea of Tri-kaya is found in Tantric Buddhism in two ways. The idea of Dharma-kaya influenced the Tantric Buddhist in moulding of their monistic conception of Godhead. Secondly the idea of the Kayas got associated with the various plexuses/chakras that were discovered by the Tantric sadhakas in the different parts of the human body. These plexuses are said to represent the same principles as the different body/kaya of the Buddha do.
MAIN PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATION: Parallel to this, S.D took a bird’s eye view of the different schools of Mahayana Buddhism, indistinct echoes of which can be found in the metaphysical fragments of different Tantric literature. Buddhist Tantras were based more on the Yogacara School than on the Sunnyavada – and the monistic order of Yogacaraha School has often been consciously or unconsciously drawn to pure Vedanta. Sashibhusan explained in detail the philosophical affinity of Yogacara with Vedanta, difference with Sunnyavad (though not fundamental) and thus elaborated further on Yogacara.
Nagarjuna was the chief exponent of the Sunyavada with its uncompromising spirit of negation. Ultimately there is no origination, nor cessation, subjectivity or objectivity – everything is free from birth, decrepitude and death – there is no origination anywhere - at no time – and of none. The ‘Madhyamika-Vritti of Nagarjuna, commented upon by Chandrakirti begins with the declaration that they have no thesis to prove, their business is to contradict any & every thesis that may be offered by any school of thought. This sunyata doctrine of Nagarjuna may seem incompatible with doctrine of Nirvana also. If there is no origination or cessation, then by the cessation or arrest of what should we attain Nirvana? But there it is said, it is not the negation of any existence – it is but the cessation of all notions of existence. All consciousness vanishes in Nirvana like a lamp extinguished. Their main premise were dependent on the principle of dependent origination (Pratitya- Samutpada) realized and preached by Lord Buddha himself. The real significance of this theory is no law about the ultimately real nature of things; it is a mere law about the relation of inter-dependence among the illusory appearance as things.
Exact position of Nagarjuna is very difficult to understand; but it is clear that his emphasis is more on negation, while the Yogacarin’s emphasized more on the existence of some transcendental reality in the form of ‘Thatness’ (Tathata) of all entities or as pure consciousness above all duality of subjectivity and objectivity. The quintessence of all things is one & same and shows no sign of becoming; ignorance however in it blindness & delusion is oblivious of enlightenment and on that account cannot recognize truthfully all these conditions, difference & activities of the phenomenal universe. Annihilation of ignorance is the only way of deliverance from the cycle of life & death, and so that there is no relapse of the same, extinction of the mind is the safest course towards eternal liberation. The main concept of Yogacara or the Vijnanavadins rests in Abhuta-Parikalpa as found in Madhyanta-Vibhava, originally expounded by Maitreya of the ‘Tusita’ heaven - the future Buddha, commented upon by Asanga, Vasubandhu and Sthiramati gives a precise and positive conception of the ultimate reality. The word Abhuta implies that the images of things, as they are constructed by our imagination, do not exist in these very forms and the word Parikalpa implies that they do not have the reality they are supposed to have. Sashibhusan goes on to add that Abhuta-Parikalpa cannot be known through the ordinary mind, for it involves the paradox of proving the fact of insanity to the insane. Thus our ignorance is the ultimate support of our ‘vasanas’ and the ‘vasanas in turn are responsible for the imagination of this subjective & objective world. Subjectivity produces our moral hindrances as passion & attachment (Klesa-Varana) while the objectivity produces the veil of knowable (jneya-varana); the reality is both the absence of the notion of all things (dharma-nairatmya) and of the notion of ego (pudgala-nairatmya) and when our psychosis thus gets rid of both and remains steady in pure consciousness (vijnapti-matrata), the highest knowledge is produced that is supra-mental, un-cognizable and transcendental; it is the immutable element that is beyond the reach of all mentation – it is the substance itself. The metaphysical dialectics of the sunyavadin and the vijnanavadin Buddhists prepared the ground for the monistic conception of the ultimate reality of the Vedantins.
In the final analysis Sashibhusan points out that the general attitude of the Buddhist towards the ontological problem is not of any clear cut negation but a policy of pure silence and this is no freak stance in the evolution of any Indian religion. The Upanishads & the Advaita Vedanta of Sankara also took the same device of silence as to the realization of the nature of Brahman. The concept of Abhuta-Parikalpa of the Yogacara School of a pure consciousness drives us very near to the Vedantic ideas of the ultimate reality as the quality-less (nirgun) Brahman. Sashibhusan goes on to say, “ … we are not quite sure if we shall be far off from the truth if we assert that the Advaita-Vedanta of Sankara with its colorless Brahman contradicting all empirical realities is in turn the culmination of the evolution of the Upanisadic Buddhistic thought. Gaudapada flourished after the advent of all the great exponents of Buddhism and there is sufficient evidence in his ‘Mandukya-Karika’ for thinking that he himself was a Buddhist and he considered that the teachings of Upanishads tallied with those of Buddhism. He admits the ultimate reality to be a soul-reality, but in its last & highest stage this soul is neither the internal cognitive processes, nor external knowledge, nor is it knowledge of the both. It is unseen, ungraspable, indefinable, unthinkable, unspeakable…the essence as oneness with self, the extinction of all phenomenalization.
What was outlined by Gaudapada in his ‘karika’ attained full development in the hands of his worthy successor Acarya Sankara. Although in the course of his commentary on the Brahma-Sutras he has often quarreled with the Buddhist but the net result achieved is but the rehabilitation of the Upanishadic spirit in & through the metaphysical arguments of the different schools of Buddhism. The literature of this period breathes generally the same philosophical spirit as found in Vedanta and Yogacara Buddhism.
Birth of God-head & the Pantheon: The monistic tendencies of Mahayana philosophy, coupled with the tendency of deifying Buddha, gave rise to the Tantrik Buddhist conception of a primordial Godhead – often as a Supreme Being - Gods and Goddesses followed as corollaries – as emanation from the ‘ONE’ as modes & modification. Soon there was a full fledged pantheon. Further, conforming to a special quality of the Pan-Indian mind the primordial was soon conceived to be eternally in company with His female consort, the Primordial Lady, so the other gods also have their consorts. Mahayanic ideas were used to describe their looks, figures and attributes but these ideas were used more often as traditional epithets & mystic formulae than as philosophical concepts.
But in adopting Mahayana Buddhism and the cognate monistic thought the Buddhist Tantras in its ceremonies and secret yogic practices shows little power of assimilation and systemization. S.D. does an interesting study of these fragmented philosophical ideas taken from different schools of Mahayana and its amalgamation with the esoteric practices, with which Tantras generally abound.
Initiation: Meditation on the truth generally precedes all the ceremonies, rituals and yogic practices, as these are all useless until one attains a true perspective about the nature of all Dharmas through meditation of truth. The Sunnyata doctrine of the Mahayanic philosophers was adopted by the by the esoteric; but the emphasis of Mahayana is not only on Sunnyata; as a religion it is characterized by its stress on universal compassion. This Mahayana doctrine was adopted by the Tantrik Buddhist in toto. It can be seen in ‘Bodhi-Carya-vatara how the devout Bodhisattva was earnestly praying to all the enlightened ones, bent on entering Nirvana, not to accept Nirvana (as Sunnyata makes a man altogether static) until the suffering world be saved from the miseries of life and everyone be helped in realizing perfect wisdom. When a Tantrik sadhaka goes to worship any god or goddesses with all the paraphernalia of rituals & ceremonies, he takes at the outset, the resolution that he will deliver all beings and enable them to attain Nirvana. Thus in initiating a disciple to the mystic cult for the attainment of the Bodhi-Citta, the preceptor should first see that the disciple has a benevolent mind, and the Guru instructs the disciple to perform all practices for the benefit of all the beings, so that all merits acquired by him would be a merit acquired for the whole universe. In the songs and the Doha’s of the Siddhacaryas we find this spirit of universal compassion expressed again & again. Sarhapada writes, ‘The great tree of non dual mind spreads throughout the three worlds in its vastness; it contains flowers & fruits of compassion – there is nothing beyond it …’ and goes on to conclude, ‘If no good to others is done – no gift is given at all – what is the need of living this life in the world at all? It is better to do away with it.’ This stress on Karuna is the characteristic feature also of the Carya-padas.
Schools within Mahayana: The sublime nature of Mahayana attracted many different types of worshippers from varied backgrounds. These brought changes in Mahayana and two views/schools became predominant, 1) The Paramita-naya and 2) The Mantra-naya. Paramita-nayas were those who tried to perfect themselves to the virtues or Paramitas to achieve higher states through the Dasa-Bhumi and according to experts can take eons to realize Buddhahood. Mantra-naya thus became the cherished path. Unlike the Paramita-nayas (cause vehicle) which has no meditation of the Self, Mantra-naya (effect vehicle) has meditation on ones self as being a divine mansion, a divine entourage and the divine deeds of purifying the cosmos & the inhabitants of the same manner as that of Buddha. Tradition holds Asanga of the Yogacara school introduced the Mantra elements into Buddhism, who inturn is believed to be divinely initiated into this cult by Maitrya of Tusita heaven, the future Buddha, which can be accessed by higher meditation. Others hold Nagarjuna of the Madhyamika school was the real founder of the esoteric school, and is said to have received the doctrines from the celestial Buddha – Vairacana through the divine Vajrasattva at the Iron Tower in South India. But according to Tibetan account Nagarjuna was initiated by well known Siddhacarya Sarahapada but this account perhaps confuses between Nagarjuna, the Tantric and the philosopher.
In Mantra-naya, we see the belief in Mantras which was always prevalent in India from the Vedic age – a belief in the mysterious power of words. Further there was the use of gestures & postures (Mudras & Asanas) which was resorted to as accessories for the purpose of gaining concentration. Bodhi-Mandalas or the circle round the famous tree beneath which Buddha performed all meditations led to the general belief in the efficacy of drawing circles & other diagrams in the place selected for performing religious rites & duties. The Tantras adopted the Mimamsa theory of sound or Sabda. They hold that sound is eternal and is always in the form of letters of the alphabet and word is nothing more than the letters that compose it. Inherent meaning of words is only realized by power of a peculiar nature. Though they require auxiliary agency of pronunciation to be cognizable to our consciousness, word them selves are also eternal. Movement that produced the cosmos shows itself in miniature on the production of the sound. This creative power, which is viewed as the mother of the universe in its aspect as identified by the ‘varnas’ are called the Matrikas. Each Matrikas has a psychological effect on its corresponding physiological centers, which form the physiological data of these psychological functions. This seems to be the metaphysical ground on which the Mantra theory is based. “Vyakta-bhavanugata-tatta-siddhi” says,’Watever pure movement of the limb proceed forth from the Bodhi-citta, which is ‘sahaja’, should all be conceived of as the Mudras. Mantra element contains all the secrecy of sound, while the Mudra element contains all the secrecy of touch as associated with the potency of the physiological system. With Mantra & Mudra and the element of Mandala of Tantricism entering Buddhism, its gate was flung wide open to the traditional beliefs in magic & charms, changing the whole ethico-relegious outlook of Buddhism. From the forms & traditions of Buddhism and the materials from Tantricism grew the elaborate Tantrik Buddhist systems.
Schools within Vajrayana: Generally Vajrayana is devided into four classes, viz. Kriya-tantra, Carya-tantra, Yoga-tantra & Anuttara-Tantra. The Kriya-tantras & Carya-tantrasare concerned with rituals, ceremonies, worship of gods & goddesses and other practices; but the Yoga-tantra & Anuttara-tantra are much higher type of Tantras containing yogic processes for the realization of the Truth. The first two are for the beginners but advanced Sadhakas depends more on the later two to understand the higher processes of yoga & philosophy.
The Buddhist Tantras are divided into three schools or rather branches viz. Kala-cakra-jana, Vajra-Yana and the Sahaja-yana but we are yet to ascertain the source that provided evidence on which this division of schools have been made.
Waddell in his ‘Lamaism’ says, ‘In the tenth century A.D. the Tantrik phase developed in Northern India, Kashmir and Nepal into the monstrous & poly-demonist doctrine, the Kala-cakra, with its demoniacal Buddhas … the extreme development of the Tantrik phase was reached with the Kala-cakra-yana … it is merely a coarse Tantrik development of the Adi-Buddha theory combined with puerile mysticism of Mantra-naya, and it attempts to explain creation & secret powers of nature, by the union of the terrible Kali, not only with the Dhyani Buddhas but even with Adi-Buddha himself. But S.D. opines that it is not clear why this terrible aspect of demoniacal Tantric Buddhism be ascribed the name Kala-cakra-yana. The word Kala means time, death & destruction. Kalachakra is the wheel of destruction and Kala-cakra-yana means the vehicle for protection against the wheel of destruction. Sashibhusan could lay his hand on only one text of the Kala-cakra class, the Sri-kala-cakra-tantra and it does not confirm that it introduced the demoniacal Buddha in the name of Kala-cakra, Heruka, Achala, Vajra-bhairave, ect in its province; at least it is not the main characteristics through which the school should be recognized. In this text we find that king Sucandra approached Omniscient Lord Buddha with salutation and asked of him the yoga of the Sri-kala-cakra which is the way to salvation on the Kali/koli age. The Lord said that this secret yoga is unknown to all and this yoga with all its accessories of Mandala (magic circle) and consecration (abhiseka), is explained within the very body and explained how all the universe with all its objects & localities are situated in the body and how time with all its varieties (viz. day, night fortnight, month, year, ect.) are in the body with its processes of the vital wind, the Prana-vayu. In the body of the text, Sahaja, has been fully explained, so also the details of sexo-yogic practices for its attainment. Lot of stress is provided in this text on the control of the vital winds (Prana & Apana) spread through the whole nervous system and the results attained there from; the process of controlling time is to control these vital winds in the nerves, through yogic practices; we also find detailed discussions of diseases that can be cured using these methods. The nature of Lord Sri-Kala-cakra is clear from Vimala-prabha, where he is saluted as of the nature of Sunnyata & Karuna; goddess Prajna, who is both with form & formless, is embraced by him; he is bereft of all origination & change, father of all Buddhas, possessing the three kayas, knower of the three kalas (past, present & future.). – the omniscient,- the ultimate non-dual Lord. The conception of Sri-Kala-cakra is substantially the same as that of Vajra-sattva and Kala-Cakra-yana is not a distinct school of Tantric Buddhism, but a particular name for the Vajra-yana school.
The Sahaja School: The Sahajiya school is also an offshoot of Vajrayana but toward refinement. There is no exclusive literature belonging to Sahaja-yana, and the Doha’s or songs of the Sahajiya poets recognizes the well known texts of Vajra-yana as their authority. The exponents of the Sahajiya School put the whole emphasis on their protest against the formalities of life & religion; its aim is to realize the innate nature of the self as well as of the Dharmas. Truth is something which can never be found through mere austere practices of discipline, neither can it be realized through much reading & philosophizing, or through fasting, bathing, constructing images and worshipping Gods & Goddesses and innumerable other paraphernalia of rites & rituals prescribed in Vajra-yana; it is to be intuited within in the most unconventional way through the initiation in the Tattva and practice of yoga. This makes the position of the Sahajiyas distinct from that of the Vajra-yanists in general. Sashibhusan deals with this comprehensively in his anther work entitled, ‘Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature,’.The name ascribed to Tantrik Buddhism is Vajra-yana or the ‘Adamantine Way’, is really the way or the means for realizing the Vajra nature or the immutable and impenetrable void nature of the Self as well as the Dharmas. In spite of heterogeneity of elements, like mantra, mudra, mandala, yogas, different emanations of Buddha, the most striking feature of Vajra-yana, which justifies the general name given to it, is the use and function of Vajra. Vajra as we presently know is the void (Sunnyata) – and in Vajra-yana everything is Vajra – i.e. Perfect Void. In worshipping, the God is thought of as of the Vajra nature, his image is Vajra, - the worshipper is Vajra (Vajra-carya), the material of worship is Vajra, the mantras are Vajra –the woman adopted for yogic practices is called Vajra-kanya or the ‘Thunder or Void lady’, the processes are Vajra, and everything is Vajra. We need not multiply the instances. This Vajra serves as the stamp of Vajra-yana. It was the peculiar idea of the Vajra-yanist that anything that bears the epithet of Vajra before it, necessarily leads one to the realization of the void nature of the Self and the Dharmas. So it is in the fitness of all these things that the vehicle itself should be called Vajrayana.
The idea of Dharmakaya of the Mahayanist have been replaced by Vajra-kaya - but it has been conceived as a fourth body added or rather encompassing the other three Kayas; in the Sahajiya sect , this Vajra-kaya has been transformed into Sahaja-kaya, which is decidedly a fourth body conceived above Dharma-kaya. The Maha-yanic idea of Dharma-kaya came nearer to the idea of a monotheistic Godhead in popular faith. What was tacitly implied in Mahayana was fully developed, consciously or unconsciously by the Vajra-yanists. The monistic idea of Brahman had already crept in with the conception of the Dharma-kaya Buddha and this finds full expression in the conception of Vajra-sattva – non-dual ‘Being’ of infinite wisdom & compassion. Buddhist Tantras like their Hindu counterpart believed that the Sadhaka who realizes Vajrasttva, himself becomes Vajrasattva: so Buddhahood should be realized through conceiving all things as the Self.
To understand the theological position of Tantric Buddhism, it is important to understand the following ideas i.) Vajra and Vajra-sattva, ii. ) Bodhicitta, iii.) Advaya & Yuganadha iv.) Raga & Maha-raga v.) Samarasa and vi.) Nirvana to Mahasukha as the Final goal.
Vajrayana: In the transformation of the ideology of Mahayana into Vajrayana, the first thing to note is the transformation of the idea of Sunnyata into the idea of Vajra. The word Vajra, commonly rendered as the thunderbolt, is taken here to connote the immutable, adamantine nature of the Dharmas. To realize Vajra nature of things is to realize the ultimate void. Vajra as the stamp of the Tantric Buddhism shows that the aim of the Vajrayanist, in and through all the paraphernalia of Tantras & Mantras was nothing but the realization of the adamantine void nature of the Self and the Dharma. Vajra-sattva is the Being of the adamantine substance – the ultimate principle as the unity of the universe (Vajra is sunnyata & Sattva implies pure knowledge). Vajrasattva is the Abhuta-Parikalpa of the Yogacara School where Sunnyata & world-manifestations remain unrecognizably unified. But the fundamental departure of the Tantric Buddhist from this school, that the ultimate principle of the Vajrayanist, was tacitly conceived & more often frankly described as a Being – sometime as a personal God, the Lord Supreme.
God-head & the Pantheon: With the evolution of the idea of Vajrasattva, there evolved a new pantheon of Gods and Goddesses in Vajrayana. The Vajrasattva is the Primal Enlightened One – The Adi-Buddha. This Lord Supreme possesses five kinds of knowledge which are like five attributes of the Lord. From these five attributes proceed five kinds of meditation (Dhyana), and from these kinds of dhyana emanate five deities. These Dhyani Buddhas are the five presiding deities over the five Skandhas, which were confusedly mixed up with the concept of Pancha-Bhutas or five material elements (Earth/Ksiti, Water/Apa, Fire/Teja, Air/Marut, & Ether/Vyoma), together with the five sense organs or the Tanmatras or the generic essence of sound, touch, color, taste & smell; taken from the Sankhya School. The five Presiding deities are 1. Vairocana 2. Rainasambhava or Ratna-ketu 3. Amitabha or Amitayus 4. Amoghasiddhi or Karmanatha & 5. Akshoba respectively. These five Dhyani Buddhas are also called Tathagatas and in the hierarchy of the Pnncha-Tathagatas, Akshoba the presiding deity over Vijnana is, often, given the highest place and the first four Tathagatas are marked by the fifth Tathagata, Akshoba. The marking of the first four Tathagatas by the miniature of Akshoba implies that the first four Skandhas are nothing but modes & modifications of consciousness. But Vijnana as one of the aggregates is not the ultimate reality; this ultimate principle of void is Vajrasattva, and, therefore, even Akshoba is marked by the miniature figure of Vajrasattva.
In Tantrik literature these five Dhyani Buddhas are described with their Shaktis or divine consorts. Each Dhyani Buddha has got a particular consort, a particular color, mudra, vahana; each again has a particular Bodhisattva, a human Buddha, a bija mantra, a location, a particular kula or family; they are again associated with Pancha-Bhutas and the five sense organs (See table).
Vajrasattva, whose miniature marks Akshobya, is the non-dual state of Sunnyata & Karuna, and where these two comingles, there remains no thinker, no thinkable, no thought; this is the state of non duality – the adamantine truth – The Bodhi-citta and is identified with Vajrasattva. The original meaning of Bodhicitta , is the mind bent on attaining perfect enlightenment with the view to helping all beings to be liberated of the cycle of existence. In later Mahayana this idea became the state of perfect comingling of Sunnyata & Karuna and becomes the very essence of our consciousness. Sarahapada writes in one of his Doha’s – ‘He who discards Karuna is not liberated in thousand births; he on the other hand, who mingles Sunnyata with Karuna, remains neither in the Bhava (existence) nor in Nirvana (extinction). Thus the Bodhicitta state of the Self is, according to Tantrik Buddhist, a transcendental state – it is a state of supreme realization transcending both Bhava & Nirvana. The Self in this state of Bodhicitta is the Supreme Reality – it is the Vajrasattva.
The Two Aspects: Sunnyata & Karuna are widely termed Prajna & Upaya respectively in Esoteric Buddhism. Sunnyata is called Pragya simply because it represents perfect knowledge,and is a static & negative state of mind which separates the Sadhaka from the world of suffering beings; karuna on the other hand, acts in his mindlike a dynamic force – the moral inspiration that prompts one to find oneself universalized in an emotion of deep compassion; purified by Prajna, this induces the Sadhaka to moral activities, which never binds a man, but, liberates him as well as the others and leaves no good or bad impressions or samskaras on his mind and thus is never again bounded by Vasanas and consequently becomes free from the cycle of birth & death. This commingling of Prajna & Upaya like the mixture of milk with water in a state of harmonious non-duality is called Prajna-paya.
Prajna is the passive principle of the Dharma-kaya or the Tathata with perfect purity & knowledge in her; but the whole world (Sambhoga-kaya & Nirmana-kaya) is a display of Upaya and the world process itself in the form of the Sambhoga-kaya & nirman-kaya is a means to lead all sentient beings to ultimate goal of perfect purification; this principle of passivity & activity are the two aspects of the one absolute reality. Difference of Sunnyata & Karuna (Kripa) is just like the difference between lamp & light, which is unimaginable. Goddess Varahi who represents Prajna is spoken of as the nature of knowledge, where as God Heruka is spoken of as the knowable, and the Avadhutimandala (circle of perfect purification) is formed by the combination of both. Prajna is conceived as the absolute knowledge which is negative & passive, where as Upaya is the positive & active principle. Prajna is conceived as female, while upaya is conceived as the male element.
Prajna & Upaya has great ontological & cosmological bearing. The Svabhabika School of Nepalese Buddhism holds that there is no immaterial ultimate truth in the form of soul substance: matter is primordial substance from which the world proceeds. Matter is eternal as crude mass however refined, so are the powers of matter. These powers are not only active but also intelligent. The proper state of existence of these powers is the state of Nivritti or rest, as the abstraction from all phenomena. When these powers pass from the state of rest into their casual & transitory state of activity the phenomenal world comes into existence and it again ceases to exist when the powers re-pass from Pravritti to Nivritti. Prajna is Nivritti & Upaya Is Pravritti.
Aisvarika School define Prajna & Upaya as Adi-Prajna & Adi-Buddha and the visible world is created from the union of the two. According to Prajnikas – Buddha as the principle of active poer proceeds from Nivritti or Adi-Prajna and then associates with her and from there union precedes the actual visible world. The principle is symbolized as Prajna being first the mother and then the wife of Buddha. The well known triad of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha has often been explained as Prajna(Dharma) the productive power, Upaya (Buddha) the generative power and their union produced Sangha or the phenomenal world.
This conception of the two counterparts of the ultimate reality has its correspondence in the conception of Vajra-dhatu, the thunder element of immutable nature and the Garbha-dhatu, the ‘matrix element’ or the phenomenal world. They are the two parts of the Mandala, or the circle with Buddha Maha-Vairocana in the centre and numberless manifestations of his body, as Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other emanations gathered around him. Their union is symbolized by the flame (male element) arising from lotus or the moon crescent (female element) or as a flame arising out of Kalasa, the bell & dorje as in Nepal. In Tibet the union is symbolized by Asoka branch in Ambrosia vase and in China as the Yin-Yang. Their yoga consists in the mystic union of this immutable element or Tathata with the active element. It is for this reason the concept of Yab-Yum (male-female,father-mother) gain great prominence in Nepal & Tibet where all divinities are accompanied by female counterparts in a state of close union. Lord Vairocana’s mudra called Dharma-cakra Mudra is indicative of this mystic union or the union of wisdom with matter.
Conception of Prajna & Upaya, Pravritti & Nivritti, forming the world is comparable to the concepts of Shiv-Shakti producing ‘Aham’ or the I-ness, in Hindu Tantra. From the cosmological standpoint Siva is said to be the bindu (white as seed or semen) and Shakti is Rakta (red to suggest ovum) and they unite to produce the concept of egoism. But an important point of difference is noted in Shakti-Tantra, Shaiva-Tantra and also in Taoism, where the passive aspect of the ultimate reality is conceived as male, and the active counterpoint as the female. In Vedanta, Brahman is colorless & indeterminate. But in Buddhism the concept is reversed, though it should be noted that the female as passive and male as active is not also quite unknown in the history of Indian spiritual thought.
In the Buddhist Tantras, Prajna & Upaya have sometimes been expressly identified with Shakti & Shiva.Shakti is the Sunnyata perception. The perfect bliss attained through their union (Shiv-Shakti) is of the non-dual nature of the ultimate reality, which is neither Shiva nor Shakti.
The central point of all the sadhanas of the Tantrik Buddhist was a principle of union the synthesis or rather the unification of all duality in an absolute unity is the real principle of union, which is called Yuganadha. In Sadhana-mala , it is said, that the one body of the ultimate nature as unity of both Sunnyata & Karuna – is called neuter or often the Yuganadha. This Yuganadha is called the Advaya, it is the Bodhicitta, it is the Dharma-kaya and akin to the Hindu concept of Maithuna of the Shiv-Shakti.
Maharaaga/Great mood & Samarasa/: Another factor noticed in Esoteric Buddhism is the conception of Raaga which ordinarily means attachment (Anuraag), but it is also used for Karuna. But gradually the word acquired the meaning of transcendental & intense bliss arising out of the sexo-yogic practice, which is the means for attaining Bodhicitta or the Sahaja, which is of the nature of the great bliss (Mahasukka). In Kriya-samgraha it is said that the necter-like Bodhicitta is to be meditated on as melting through Maharaga. Those who are attached only to sex-intercourse, never attain perfect knowledge of nature of intense emotion (Maharaaga); on the other hand, he who, through the intense joy arising out of the sexo-yogic practice, perfectly knows the nature of the principles of defilement (prakrty-abhasa) can enter into the bliss of intense emotion (Maharaaga-sikha). Thus Maharaga signify intense bliss of emotion, produced methodically & well-controlled union of Prajna and Upaya; this emotion because of its highest intensity, absorbs all other constructive functions of the mind within it and thus bring liberation of the yogin.
Closely associated with the idea of Raga is the idea of Samarasa or sameness or oneness of emotion. It is the realization of the oneness of the universe amidst all diversities. In the ultimate stage, there is the cognition of neither the Prajna nor the Upaya, there is no sense of difference. In such a state, everything whether the lowest, or the middle, or the best – all are realized as the same (Aveda). Samarasa actually means the realization of the universe in the Self. This universe is said to come out of the Self, it is pervaded by the Self, then nothing else is found anywhere else; this Advaya is Samarasa.
Nirvana to Mahasukha: The conception of Nirvana as Mahasukha was not very simply derived at. Buddha was silent about the nature of Nirvana in consonance with his general agnostic attitude towards all the metaphysical problems. The etymological meaning of the word is an eternal stoppage to a flow; in this sense the word implies complete cessation of the cycle of death & birth. The derivation of the word also gives the meaning of blowing out as of a lamp, or, the eternal tranquility resulting from cessation of all Vasanas & samskaras, thus leading to liberation. The early concepts of Nirvana admit of negative interpretations. But Sashibhusan provides ample example to show that though early Buddhism does not have consistent, clear cut conception of Nirvana, it is sometimes described positively sometimes negatively, but on the whole it seems that a conscious or unconscious positive tendency predominates over the negative one and whatever may have been the philosophical concept, it was positive so far as the popular belief was concerned. With the evolution of the Mahayana, in the opinion of Nagarjuna of the Madhyamika School, Nirvana was described as the complete cessation of all mental construction. Thus as the Vedantins, who in spite of negative description of the Brahman, were definite that the union produces infinite positive bliss, but Nagarjuna did not allow any categorical description what so ever. With the other school of the Mahayana, the Yogacara or the Vijnanavadins, the ultimate reality began to be more and more positively described and consequently the conception of Nirvana which was thus far positive only in a popular way, received the philosophical backbone in the hands of the Vijnanavadins and was developed not only as a positive way but as an experience of intense Bliss.
In the Buddhist Tantras the element of Nirvana is described as incessant bliss, it is the abode of both enjoyment as well as liberation; it is called Mahasukha, where there is no change or decrease. But this bliss has often being repudiated as a mere thought construction and as long as there is any mentation, there is attachment or detachment, which are the main causes of existence; it has to be cast off – there is Nirvana no where except in the transcendental existence of Self. In a Doha (no. 32) Sarahapada warns, not to confuse the truth that is only to be realized within. In the final stage, the ego-hood should merge in the all pervading universal consciousness like water merging into water. To identify the final stage with Sukha is confusion. No positive or negative conception or construction of any type can conduce to perfect enlightenment. There is no difference between a gold chain and an iron chain, both binds man. Though it has been strongly warned not to confuse Nirvana with Sukha, yet, in a general way Nirvana in Esoteric Buddhism has been describe all along is identified with Maha-Sukha. In justification the Trantik Buddhist points out that perfect wisdom is never possible without bliss, perfect wisdom is itself of the nature of bliss. Everything proceeds from supreme bliss, the body of knowledge which is undisturbed and unchanging supreme bliss; itself takes the form of the whole universe. In the Samputika it has been said, that the perfectly pure knowledge, which is the essence is goddess herself, is called Vajrasattva - it is also called supreme bliss; it is self originated – of the nature of Dharma-kaya, absorbed in nature of Sahaja, it is the Lord Buddha himself.
But the question is, if everything be by nature is nothing but Mahasukha, what is the necessity of any origination at all? The reply to this that, Sukha is not possible at all without a body, for without a body none would even is able to speak of Saukhya. Sukha itself pervades the whole world as the pervader (Vyapaka) as well as the pervaded (Vyapya); but as the smell of a flower can not be perceived without the flower, so also Sukha as the quintessence of all that is originated can never be realized without the world of originated objects. In the Guhya-Siddhi it is said that through the union of the void-element (Kha-Dhatu) and the thunder (Vajra) the great element is produced in the form of bliss which yields Paramanda; after the cessation of Paramananda is produce the Viramananda, and the supreme bliss that follows Viramananda is of indescribable nature, it is bereft of all senses – this is what is pure transcendental, non-substantial Bodhicitta – this bliss once produced destroys the cause of Samsara. This self produced bliss involves no mental construction. Mahasukha in Vajrayana is identified with the ultimate reality or the Lord Supreme – Vajrasattva. Some time it is said that Lord Sri-Mahasukha has created this world of differences from his non-dual nature; and he as the Lord Candarosana of the nature of incessant bliss, remains in the lotus, which is often called the abode of Sukhavati; literally the female vagina. The advocates of Vajrayana & Sahajayana hold that the pleasure that realized through discharge of matter is much lower, in respect of degree as well as in quality, than the bliss that can be realized by the control of this matter i.e. by checking its downward flow through subtle yogic processes and by giving it upward flow, so as to make it reach the lotus situated in the cerebrum region (Usnisakamala or Sahasrara-Padma of the Hindus) and make it steady there; the bliss resulting from the steadiness of this matter is called Mahasukha.
Bodhichitta as the magic matter: The identification of Mahasukha with Nirvana modified Mahayanic conception of Boddicitta in Vajrayana and specially Sahajayana. The Mahayanic conception of the production of Boddicitta is transform into Sahajayana into the production of a state of intense bliss through sexoyogic practice; and as after the production the Boddhichitta rises upwards through ten stages (Boddhisattva-Bhumis), so also Sahajayana practice involves the Yogic process of breath control and other psycho-physical practices through which the disturbed semen should be checked in Manipur (Navel-cakra) known generally the Nirmana-cakra, and then it must march upward through the Dharma-cakra situated in the heart, and the Sambhoga-cakra in the throat and then reach Usnisa-Kamala (Lotus in the head) where it is produced Mahasukha of the nature of Nirvana.
The word Boddhicitta sometimes in Vajrayana and almost always in Sahajayana is synonymous with the word semen. This Boddhicitta of the nature of Mahasukha, produced through Yogic practice, is the ultimate substance of the five elements ( viz. earth, water, fire, air & ether) presided over by the five deities and the Tathagatas or the Dhyani Buddhas again represent five Kulas or families of the esoteric Buddhist. Thus Mahasukha in the form of the Boddhicitta is the one ultimate reality comprising the five families of Vajrayana.
The Time Machine in Us: On the practical side, which obviously is the fundamental side of the Tantras, the most important thing is stress laid on the body as the medium, through which truth can be realized. The Buddhist Tantrikas, in unison with all other school of Buddhist Tantra; hold that inside the body there is a mechanisim to realise the ultimate truth – the body is the abode of the truth, it is a microcosm and as such embodies the truth of whole universe. Tantras, as a science of religious methodology, whether we accept it in Toto or not consists in its analysis of the body and discovery of tattvas in the nervous system and in the plexus/cakras and thus making the body, with the whole physiological and biological process, a perfect medium (Yantra) for realizing ultimate truth.
Analysis of this physical system starts with the spinal cord, widely known as Marudanda, which takes the backbone to be one bone from the bottom of the back up to the Medulla Oblongata. In Sri-Samputika analogy involved in the name is clearly brought out; in the form of the skeleton-bone the great mountain Sumeru remains in the body. This spinal column, compared to the mountain, is said to be very profound. It is the cave of the highest truth where all the truth vanishes away.
Chakras/Plexus: The next thing is the theory of chakra (plexus) or the Lotuses as they are called. According to the Buddhist Tantra there are four such plexuses – 1. Lumber plexus in the navel region, 2. Cardiac plexus in the heart, 3. Laryngeal & pharyngeal plexus at the junction of the spinal cord and Medulla Oblongata and 4. The last and most important in the cerebral plexus called the Usnisa-Kamala (the lotus in the head). In the Hindu Tantra however, there are six chakras or plexuses in addition to Sahasrara or the highest Cerebral plexus. A remarkable thing in the Buddhist conception of the cakras, apart from having only three out of the six cakras of the Hindu Tantra is the location of the three kayas. The lowest cakra in the navel region represents the lowest kaya i.e. Nirmankaya; the cakra in the heart is identified with the Dharmakaya and the cakra at the neck is the Sambhogakaya. In the natural order the cakra in the heart being next to cakra of Nirmankaya ought to have been Sombhogakaya and the cakra at the neck ought to have been Dharmakaya; but we do not why the order has been changed. The Sahajakaya is located in the Usnisakamala or the Sahasrara of the Hindus. It is also called Mahasukha-cakra or the Mahasukha-kamala being the seat of great bliss.
Nerves/Nadi: After the cakras the most important thing is the analysis of the nerves. In general the nerves are said to be 72 thousand in number excluding upa-nadis or smaller nerves which are innumerable. Generally the Hindu Tantras & Yogo-panisads agree with the Buddhist Tantras as to the total number of nerves. Of this 32 are said to be more important and of these again 3 are Vital – these are Lalana, Rasana & Avadhuti corresponding to Ida, Pingala & Susumna in the Hindu system.
In the Buddhist Tantra we find that the nerve Lalana or the Ali starts from the neck and enters the navel region from the left side, and from navel again starts the Rasana and enters neck from right. Between this two and passing through the lotus in the heart (hrt-saroruho-madhyoga) is the Avadhuti androgynous middle channel, through which flows Bodhicitta, and this Avadhutika leads to Sahaja bliss. The most important thing is that the nerves in the left and the right have been identified width Sunnyata and Karuna or Prajna and Upaya, the two cardinal principles of Mahayana and the commingling, is the Bodhicitta or the goddess Nairatma or the Sahaja-damsel.
These three nerves Lalana, Rasana and Avadhuti have also been identified with the three kayas, viz. Sambhoga, Nirmana and Dharma respectively. Again we have seen Lalana carries the seeds, Rasana the ovum and Avadhuti carries Bodhicitta – the admixture of the two. Both in the Hindu & Buddhist Tantras attribute the most common name of sun & moon to the nerve at the right and left. The Sammohona Tantra says that the left nerve is the moon because of its mild nature, while the nerve in the right is the sun & it is of fearce nature (Raudra). These two nerves also carry the vital wings Prana and Apana.
In the Sekoddesa-tika of Nadapada we find mention of five important nerves, presided by five Tathagatas. According to it, the left nerve on the upper region which is the moon carries water and is of the nature of Tathagatas Amitava; right nerve which is the sun carrying fire is of the nature of Ratnasambhava; in the matter of the lower region is the nerve (passage?) for stool, carrying earth and is of the nature of Vairocana; the left nerve in the lower region is the nerve for urine and carries air and is of the nature of Amoghasiddhi; the middle nerve of the upper region is Avadhuti carrying Sunnyata and is of the nature of Akshobya; the left nerve below it is the channel for semen, it carries knowledge (Jnana-vahini) and is of the nature of Vajrasattva. The middle nerve Avadhuti is that nerve, which destroys through it effulgent nature all the sins. In the commentary of the Carya-padas also, Avadhuti is described as that, which washes away all the beginning-less thought constructions of existence.
The path Itself: The third aspect is the Yogic practice which is indispensible for the attainment of Bodhicitta. It is said in the Panca-Krama that the vows and practices are useless without the tattvas; but perfect enlightenment is unachievable without practice. Common sense allow us to understand, where there is anything practical to be performed, there naturally comes the question of adopting a proper guide – and Indian religions from the very beginning, Vedic to Modern era invariably involve some kind of practice either ceremonial, ritualistic or Yogic; hence the absolute importance of the Guru. Tantric practices, when properly and systematically carried out, may lead a man to the highest spiritual elevation through the realization of truth; on the other hand, they may lead a man to the darkest abyss of hell, if these are not methodically and cautiously carried out under the directions of the experienced Guru. Even the Carya-songs and Doha’s of Siddha-caryas refer to this importance of the Guru, every now and then.
After securing a perfect preceptor and also a suitable Prajna (woman) the yogin should approach the reverend Guru and propitiate him by worship. This is followed by the Abhiseka or the ceremony of the initiation, into the cult. This is the very old custom with religious rites and ceremonies, and is also found in early Buddhisim, where there initiation to the vow of Pabbajja or Pravrajya, (literally, going out, i.e. vow of renunciation) and Upasampada (literally, arrival, i.e. to become accredited members of the Sangha). Even now this practice of Abhisekha is current in all the School of Buddhism, in all the countries. There are 4 kinds/stages of Abhisekhas, viz. Kalasa-bhisekha (i.e. initiation by outward purification by water etc.), Guhya-bhisekha (i.e. initiation in to the secret cult), Prajna-bhisekha (i.e. initiation to perfect wisdom) and Vajra-bhisekha (i.e. initiation to the adamantine truth). After initiation the yogin with his Mudra (Yogini) is led to the Mandala or the mystic circle and is then permitted to perform Yoga in company of the Mudra/Prajna/Woman. In some text initiation is performed within the Mandala.
After all these preparatory rites, follows the esoteric practice of the production of Bodhicitta and its regulation. Mahasukha is absolute to the Tantrikas and in its absolute state it is motionless and changeless; but it materializes itself in the gradual process of change. The lowest cakra of the body (whether the Nirmana-cakra of the Buddhist or the Muladhara-cakra of the Hindus) is the material plane and Mahasukha remains here in a grossly physical form – it is the sex pleasure; and in this plane Bodhicitta is the physical bindu (seed or semen); through further downward motion the bindu becomes transformed in to yet another physical body. To check this downward flow of the Bodhicitta, Hatha-yoga or Sadanga Yoga or yoga with six parts is resorted to; these are Abstraction (Prattyahar), Meditation (Dhyana), restraint of breath (Pranayama) and final absorption (Samadhi). In esoteric yoga Pranayama is regarded to be the most important. In Panca-karma the Vital winds has been described as the vehicle (Vahana) for our defiled nature (Prakriti) and the root cause of Samsara (life and death cycle) and it is only by knowing the five tattavas of vayu (Prana, Apana, Vyan, Saman, Udan) and meditated upon in the region between the two brow and united in to the form of a mustard seed reflecting the whole universe – that is the place of the universal mind in our body and the place of all wisdom and mysteries. Mantra is also there for the control of the Vital winds. Mantras are generally tri-syllabic – OM MANIPADME HU; with OM you inhale, with MANIPADME you suspend and with HUM you exhale the Vital winds. Vajra-japa is nothing but controlling Vital winds. Sarahapada says – Leave off this horse of the mind and the Vital wind. He who does it firmly is established in Sahaja-nature … when the Vital wind is steady, what can time & death can do of a Yogin?!
The flow of Bodhicitta is also to be arrested by the processes of Hatha-yaga called Mudra, Bandha and Asanas so that it can be controlled by the Yogin under all circumstances.
In this Mudras & Bandhas the main thing seems to be the acquisition of the capacity for the contraction & expansion of some of the muscles and the nerves associated with the root of the penis & the anus along with breath-control (e.g. Yoni mudra, Khechori mudra, Maha mudra, Asvini mudra). The Bandhas are also the contraction and tying up as it were of many of the muscles & nerves (e.g. Muladhara, Jalandhara, Mahadhara, Mahaveda).
In a small text called Catur-mudra four stages of this sadhanas associated with the four Cakras and the resulting realizations are metaphorically described as the four Mudras (great woman) of the Sadhaka. The four Mudras are Karma-mudra, Dharma-mudra, Maha-mudra & Samaya-mudra, - the four corresponding to four moments are; vicitra, vipaka, vimarda & vilaksana and the four kinds of bliss (Ananda, Parama-nanda, Virama-nanda, Sahaja-nanda). Here Karma-mudra is explained as the physical yogic process of the Sadhana (including production of Bodhicitta, arrest of its flow and giving it upward motion); the realization here is of sensual pleasure and only resembles sahaja-bliss very faintly; it only resembles the perfect knowledge by analogy. Dharma-mudra is said to be of the nature of dharma-dhatu (i.e. the ultimate element of the dharmas), non-phenomenal (nis-prapanca), free from thought-construction (Nirvikalpa), natural (a-kritrima) uncreate, and of the nature of compassion & it produces Paramananda. It seems that when the Bodhicitta is made to flow upwards through the middle nerve Avadhuti, a knowledge associated with the realization of bliss, of the ultimate element underlying all the elements of earth, water, fire, air & ether is obtained and Sadhana of this stage is called Dharma-mudra. When Bodhicitta moves still more upward, a transcendental knowledge and realization in produced; and it is called Maha-mudra. It is described as essenceless, free from veils of subjectivity (Jneya-varana) and of the passions (klesa-varana), it is like clean mid day sky of Autumn, the unity of bhava & nirvana, a support-less body of compassion – the embodiment of Mahasukha (Viramananda). The Samaya-mudra (Mudra of knowledge) is the Mudra per excellence it is perfect bliss & knowledge. Karma-mudra has been placed in the Nirmana-cakra, Dharma-mudra in Dharma-cakra, Maha-mudra in Sambhoga cakra and Samaya-mudra in the Mahasukha-cakra (Sahaja-nanda).
That is, 1) Ananda – is the bliss when Bodhicitta is in the Nirman-kaya, and means ordinary transient pleasure. 2) Param-ananda – in the Dharma-kaya is more intense bliss 3) Virama-nanda in the Sambhoga-kaya and it means detachment from worldly pleasures and 4) Sahaja-nanda in the Mahasukha-kaya, is the final bliss.
In the Sekoddesa-Tika we find that – Ananda in pleasure of passion that disturbs the mind; Paramananda is the realization of full bliss when Bodhicitta reaches the forehead. In the next stage Virama-nanda, nector oozes from the moon in the forehead. The realization of the bliss in this stage is assocated with little self-consciousness of the ego-hood, but this is also lost in the state of Sahajananda, where knowledge and the knowable are lost in oneness of perfect bliss. Of the sixteen digits (kala) of the moon, the first five represents Ananda, upto the tenth is Parama-nanda, upto the fifteenth is Virama-nanda and the sixteenth represents Sahajananda.
Closely associated with these four kinds of Ananda is the theory of the four moments of four distrinct stages in the realization of the Sahaya. In the Vicitra moment there is realization of Ananda – attended by emotions resulting from physical union, Vipaka in Paramananda – when bliss is matured to knowledge, Vimarda in Virama-nanda attended by the consciousness of ego as the realiser of the bliss, vilaksana in Sahajananda, where all dialectics vanishes.
This theory of moment & the four kinds of bliss is very important from the standpoint of Yogi; for a lay Yogin mistaking one for the other can practically adopt a path to hell. Tillo-pada says in one of his Dohas. He who knows the distinction of the different moments and the different kind of bliss becomes a real yogin in this very life.
There is a very close relation between the motion of the semen, the Vital wind and the citta, and the relation is so intimate that the arrest of any one of them will stop the course of the other two. Bindu will attain exactly the same state as the Vital wind and both will moves and stop in perfect correspondence. So far the purpose of arresting the flow of the Bodhicitta, the Vital wind must be checked. For this, the two nerve Ida/Lalana & Pingala/Rasana must be purified. For this the Yogin first (Purok/inhalation) takes Prana/Vital air through the moon (Ida, Left nerve) and after suspension (Kumvak) for sometime is exhaled (Rechak) through the Sun (i.e. Pingala, right nerve); then again inhaling through the Sun and exhaling through the moon; thus the nerves are sure to be purified. After this the Yogi should practice to suspend the Vital breath within and instead of regulating it either in the left or the right should try to regulate it along the middle nerve. To control Bodhicitta you must have mastery over Kumbhaka or the suspension of the vital winds, Prana & Apana. Prana is the wind that moves upwards, and Apana is the wind that moves downwards and generally the disturbed semen within the body in discharged through the downward motion of Apana; but if this Apana is arrested, the Bodhicitta cannot go downward, and if Prana is arrested it cannot go upward, and thus arrested and made passive it becomes motionless like the motionless air within. In a Carya-song of Kukkuripada we find – “the milk of the two teats held in the milk pot; the tamarind of the tree is eaten up by the crocodile” (Song no.2). The implication seems to be that the novice Yogins cannot arrest the flow of Bodhicitta in the navel region by a full control over the two nerves (which is compared to the teats of a cow and the Manipur cakra in the navel is compared with the milk pot). But expert Yogins control Bodhicitta (Tamarind) by suspension of Vital wind by Kumbhaka (Kumbhira or crocodile).
The Final Journey to Mahasukha: As the bindu marches up by controlling of the Vital winds from the physical plane to higher and higher planes it casts off its physical nature and approximates its original nature as the motionless & changeless; this motionless and changeless Mahasukha in the highest plexus is the absolute in which the self and the not-self merge. The bindu in Nirmana-cakra is composed of earth, water, fire, air & ether; but when the bindu in its upward march leaves the Nirman-cakra, the element earth merges itself in water, and in this way, with further march of the Bodicitta, the element of water merges itself in fire, fire in air and air in citta, and thus in the highest plane i.e. Usnisa-kamala it becomes pure effulgence. When bindu as pure effulgence becomes perfectly motionless in the highest plane, the Sadhaka attains a transubstantiated divine body with divine eyes & ears; he thus becomes omniscient & all pervading, and thus becomes Vajrasattva – the Buddha himself.
In Defence of This SexoYogic Tantra: Tantrik Buddhists were sometimes over conscious about the justifiability of their sexo-yogic practices and advanced various arguments in defense of these practices. Some of these arguments can be found in Citta-visuddhi-prakarana of Aryadeva and Taltva-siddhi of Santa-raksita . It can be said that they foresaw, that, they will me made the target of all sorts of charitable & uncharitable, criticism from all quarters.
It should always be remembered that there is always a motive behind all moral, immoral and non-moral nature of action that causes some effect. Motive is always paramount and any and every action in the form of some religious practice needs to be justified in accordance to its motive. The motive behind these Tantric processes is nothing but the attainment of some spiritual fulfillment. This path of Yoga with sex-relations has frequently been spoken of as a very easy path for the attainment of success, as it in the most natural path - involving no unnatural strain of continual repression. At the sometime it has also been repeatedly reminded at every step that it is also a very dangerous path for the Yogi; for, everything depends on the purity of Citta.
In Citta-Visuddhi-prakarana we find a short ethical discussion on the nature of sin. There it is said that the mind is the real agent of all actions – nay, it is the antecedent factor of the dharmas, it is the most important, the quickest; it is through pleasure or displeasure of the mind our speech and action follow. Therefore, it is the Citta which is solely responsible for the ethical nature of our actions. In esoteric Buddhism, Prajna, the perfect knowledge of the nature of perfect vacuity of the self and Upaya, the spirit of universal compassion together constitute the Bodhi-citta. From the standpoint of both it has been shown that there cannot be any provision for morality. Tantrik Buddhists advocates an extreme form of idealism. With them the world has no objective basis; everything outside in the illusory creation of the subject. It is indeed, extremely difficult to construct any system of ethics on the ground of this extreme form of idealism.
Virtue and Vice depends on the kind of citta and there are three elements (dhatu) which generally combine together for the performance of an action; the body (kaya), speech (vak) and mind (manas) of the three, body has no power to do anything without mind; so it stands that it is the citta that is doing all good and bad through body and speech. How then to define virtue & vice? All right & wrong are created by the citta & it is through the citta they are destroyed again. Charity which is a universally recognized moral virtue, if done without a charitable mind can produce no virtue. It is finally decided here that there is no other criterion of virtue than the benevolent spirit; any action prompted by such a spirit is moral and any action done with malicious spirit is immoral.
In the Hevajra-tantra the Bodhisaltva Vajra-garbha asks the Lord (bhagavan) how it may be possible to attain success in Yoga in the company of woman. Lord says that in Praja-paya there is neither origination nor destruction; through this knowledge the Yogin should first realize the illusory and magical nature of the world and yoga performed with this kind of adamantine knowledge is always above the range of the ordinary codes of morality.
The main emphasis of the Vajrayanist is on the point that all the other religious systems are rather defective in as much as they prescribe most unnatural repressions on the mind of a man; but through such unnatural process nothing like final tranquility of the mind can be attained. Their principle is akin to the principle of Homeopathy, viz. Similia similibus curautur. It has been found that the element, which causes a disease under particular circumstances, cures the same disease when applied by an expert physician in a different way, i.e. in smaller dilution. Whatever should not be done by the foolish people should very carefully be done by the Yogin whose mind is pure. When woman are charmed and enjoyed by a Yogin, whose mind is bent on the good, they conduce to the fulfillment of desires and also to liberation at the same time. By methodological meditation on the supreme qualities of the Gods a Yogin revels through his passionate mind and is again liberated through the fulfillment of the passions. As a man affected with poison again gets rid of it through poison, in exactly the same manner the great sages get themselves relieved of all the passions with the help of passions.
The early followers of Buddhism have their fear of disease, decay & death at every step but the followers of the Adamantine way, accepting the religion of compassion and with the bow of Prajna in their hands, have no fear whatsoever. As lotus grows in the mud, but is not affected by the defects of the mud, so the Yogin is not affected by the vices of imaginative construction and of the desires of the mind.
It is commonly accepted that some special substance has got the capacity of producing some special effect; as for instance, the fruit Eemblic Myrobalan (Amalaka of Amloki) has normally an astringent taste, but processesing it milk it acquire a sweet taste; thus one root cause may produce entirely different effect under different collocation of conditions. The mysterious capacity of the combination of the cause and condition is unknown and unthinkable even to the wise. Thus it is admitted that sex passions, which generally drag a man down to the level of the beasts, may also raise him to the level of God, provided they are reformed and purified.
Forms and objects, (i.e.rupa and dravya) have no absolute nature of their own and thus even tactual pleasure may, through practice, lead our mind to a tranquil, transcendental position. Just as fine arts, through sights and sounds, can gradually lead a disciplined mind to a tranquil, supreme and permanent state, so also is the case with this tactual bliss. Our deep emotions of passion, grief, fear, etc. and the bliss arousing out of touch etc. may also have a supreme transcendental effect on our mind. Through these very emotions, through which the mind of a man becomes concentrated, the mind of a man becomes absorbed in the that-ness (Tathata). The whole thing hinges on the condition of the subject, for if his citta clings to objects of desire, the ultimate nature of the self is lost. Profound and secret are the ways of this cult; this path is just like on underground passage of a fort. As it is very advantageous to enter into and to capture it via this underground passage, so also is this path – very advantageous to capture the fort of the illusory world and imaginary constructions of mind; but as there is wicked dust & the poison wind in the dark passage that kills the inexperienced, so also the uninitiated run a very great risk in this path but is easily overcome by the initiated.
Oceans commingle, geological plate-tectonics moves the crust, and continents are made either to drift away or to be linked. Sashibhusan’s second book ‘’The Obscure Cult……..” is closely linked with the first and deals with five obscure cults of Bengal, starting with the Sahajiya Buddhists. Other four are Baul Sampradaya, Vaishnavs, Nath-Sampradaya, Dharma Puja and general literature spawned by these cults with a special emphasis on Sahaja-marga and the Charja-padas.
From the depths of understanding the unique esoteric ways of the Vajrayana Buddhism, Sashibhusan cast his net broadly on to this obscure cults prevalent in the middle ages of Bengal and not so prevalent now anymore. Though some still exists, they remain obscure to the educated gentry and the general masses of the soil. His second book was termed – “’The Obscure Cult……” where he continued his search with the Sahajiya Buddhists who were quite dominant in Bengal in the middle ages. His spiritual journey continued.
This writing is a summary of the book ‘Introduction to Tantric Buddhism’ by Dr. Sashibhusan Dasgupta, HOD Bengali Department, Calcutta University. Summary of the book ‘Obscure Cults of Bengal’ will be available next. He was born in 15th February 1911 (Bengali: 3rd Falgun, 1317 Bongabda). This year is his birthday centenary. This is my humble offerings on this occasion to such a great scholar.
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