On the 15th day of the 3rd month, a year after his enlightenment, while teaching the Pragyaparamita Sutras on Vulture peak at Magadha in the ordinary form of a monk, the Buddha simultaneously appeared in the subtle form of Buddha Kalachakra to king Suchandra of Shambhala at Dhanyakataka in south India (Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh) and taught him the cycle of teachings that were compiled by him as the Kalachakra Tantra. Similarly, the Buddha appeared in the subtle Sambhogakaya form of Budhha Guhyasamaja to king Indrabhuti of Oddiyana and gave him the cycle of Tantric teachings which were compiled by the king and came to be known as the Guhyasamaja Tantra.
The Guhyasamaja Tantra is considered to be the king of all Tantras, for the Buddha has said that if the Guhyasamaja exists, the complete path of Enlightment exists.
Nagarjuna, protector of Dharma, is second in importance to the Buddha. Called the ‘Second Buddha’, he extensively upheld, protected and propagated the lineages of the Mahayana and Vajrayana. He is said to have lived for 600 years by mastering the science of alchemy. He spent many years in the realm of the Nagas and retrieved from them the Pragyaparamita Sutras and various texts such as the Tantras of Tara and Mahakala.
By the sixth century A.D., the Mahayana Tantric tradition had reached its pinnacle in India. By now, the Tantras were classified into two main categories of Father Tantras and Mother Tantras. The former dwelt on the yogas of the ‘Illusory Body’ that resulted in the attainment of the Rupakaya (form body) of a Budhha, while the latter concentrated on generating the ‘Ground State’ of Clear Light through the focused use of bliss. The Father Tantras comprise such works as the Guhyasamaja, Vajrabhairava and Yamari cycles; and the Mother Tantras comprise such works as the Heruka Chakrasamvara, Hevajra and Vajra yogini cycles. Each Tantra comprised a root-text that contained a complete set of instructions on meditative techniques that were capable of bringing enlightenment to a particular type of trainee. Great masters like Jalandharipada, Krishnacharya, Dombi Heruka, Luipada and Vajraghantapada emerged from these lineages.
From the eighth century A.D., the Arab barbarians started to overrun the Tantric world, startin fin west Asia; monasteries were ransacked, monks were killed and spiritual texts were burnt. As the danger approached closer to the Budhhist heartland in India, it became imperative to find a safe heaven for the Tantric tradition.
To accomplish this, the Bodhisattva Manjushree incarnated as the king of Tibet, Trhisong Detsen (8th century A.D.), and the Bodhisattva Arya Avalokiteshvara incarnated in India as the awesome Tantric Master Padmasambhava. The royal family of Tibet had begun to come under the influence of Buddhism as early as the fifth century A.D. By the eighth century A.D the young crown prince, Trhisong Detsen, was brought up as a Buddhist and after assuming power as king, decided to proclaim Buddhism as the state religion. In order to establish the first monastic centre in Tibet along the lines of contemporary great centers at Nalanda, Taxila, Vikramshila, and Odantapuri, he invited the great Indian preceptor Venerable Bhikshu Shantarakshita to lay the foundation of the first monastic centre at Samyeling, near the capital Lhasa. Shantarakshita found it difficult to establish the monastic centre at Samyeling, because whatever work was done during the day time, was undone at night by the native Bon Shamanistic priests. As a Bhiskhu, he was vowed to restrain from combating the evil forces and therefore he requested the king to invite the great Tantric master Padmasambhava to come and subdue them.
On the arrival of Padmasambhava in Tibet, he was venerated by king as their prime guru and the king begged him to bring the complete teaching of Buddha into Tibet. Under his guidance, Buddhist scholars were invited to Tibet from India to train translators. The essentials of Sutra and Tantra were translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan. He supervised the construction of the Samyeling centre and patterned it on the model of Odantapuri Vihar. It is said that Padmasambhava, in the company of his consort, the Tibetan princess Kharchen-dza, Yeshe Tso-gyal, covered the whole Tibet on foot, concealing texts and other Dharma treasures (Termas) in many secret places, which were later found by prophesied gurus and were propagated by them. The lineages of Tantra, such as the extremely esoteric Dzokchen Atiyoga that were established by Padmasambhava, are still-alive and are propagated by the oldest of the four major Tibetan Buddhist orders – the Nyingma-pa. he is believed to be still alive in the form of Kapala Mala on the mystical island of Camradvipa, in the ocean south-west of the Indian subcontinent.
By the ninth century A.D. the barbarian started to ransack the great monastic centers of India and the Sun of Dharma began to set over India. And then, as if in a last brilliant flash, the great gurus, the Mahasiddha Tilopa, Naropa, and the Mahapandita Dipankara Shri Gyan Atisha, appeared in the tenth century A.D. The translator Marpa traveled to India and Nepal to learn Tantras from Naropa. He also received the unique lineage of Six yogas of Naropa which condensed essencial practices from both Mother and Father Tanrtas into a unified whole. On returning to Tibet, he founded the prolific Kagyu order which multiplied into many sub-sects, and produced great yogis like Mila-repa. The Kagyu-pa order flourishes today under the care of patriarchs like the Gyalwa Karmapa Lama. The translator Drok-mi lotsawa learned the Hevajra Tantra from Gayadhara and founded the Sakya-pa order that flourishes under the Sakya patriarchs.
Atisha was the last of the great masters to travel to Tibet from India. He founded the Kadampa order in which he reunified the tradition of Sutra and Tantra. He re-established the Sutrayana as the ethical and philosophical basis of the Tantric path. His followers, the famous Kadampa geshes, re-established strict monasticism as the basis of Vajrayana, and it was from them that the lineage of the Dalai Lamas eventually arose.
By the twelfth century A.D., Dharma was again flourishing in Tibet. The first lineage of incarnate lamas (gurus) had been established by the first Karmapa Lama – a lineal descendant of the Indian masters Tilopa and Naropa. In the late fourteenth century, the prolific reformer Lama Tsongkhapa appeared. Having encountered the Bodhisattva Manjushree in the course of his visions, he received from him the Sutra and Tantra traditions existent in Tibet, founded monastic centers of learning at Gandedn, Drepung and Sera, and wrote extensive commentaries on the Sutras and Tantras. He established the practice of the four major Tantric cycles of Kalachakra, Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara and Cajrabhairava as the core Tantric practice of the Geluk-pa order in the fifteenth century A.D. He constructed the three dimensional mandalas of Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara and Vajrabhairava in minute detail at his hermitage at Ganden.
One of Lama Tsongkhapa’s foremost disciples, Gyalwa Gendun Drup, attained the highest siddhis through practicing Tantras. He demonstrated complete control over the process of death, intermediate state, and rebirth, by deliberately reincarnating in order to firmly establish his guru’s teachings in Tibet. Thus began the holy lineage of the Dalai Lamas, with the next incarnation Gyalwa Sonam Gyatso, being given the title of ‘Dalai’ (ocean) Lama by the Mongol ruler, Altan Khan, who revered him as his prime guru. In the seventeenth century, the fifth Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Lozang Gyatso (the great fifth) used forces of the Mongol king, Ghushri Khan, to reunify Tibet. He built the vast Potala palace at Lhasa as the symbol of Tibetan sovereignty and as the seat of spiritual and temporal authority that were unified in the person of Dalai Lama.
By now, not only had the Tibetans translated the entire corpus of Mahayana and Vajrayana from Sanskrit to Tibetan but, through the practice of these teachings, Tibetan Masters were also able to teach directly from their own experience. The Dalai Lama thus came to combine in his person the three separate functions of king, preceptor and Tantric adept. The Dalai Lama appeared in each generation in a new body, in ‘democratic’ incarnations – sometimes in the household of a Tantric adept, at times in noble or royal families, and at other times in peasant and nomad households. And in each generation, he is the repository of the most precious Tantric lineages, transmitting them to generations of yogis and yoginis.
Thus despite the barbaric invasions that completely destroyed Buddhism in India and the invasion of Tibet by the communist China, all the major Tantric lineages from ancient India are still alive and flourishing in Tibet. Tibetan Buddhism exists in the form of four major orders – the Nyingma-pa, the Kagyu-pa, the Sakya-pa and the Geluk-pa. Whereas the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions of Buddhism spread to the south and north of the Indian subcontinent, the Vajrayana in its complete form spread only to Tibet.
The NYINGMA-PA
The Nyingma-pa are followers of Padmasambhava and his lineal descendants. In their scriptures, they follow the cycle of ‘Old Translations’ of the Tantrs made prior to the time of Rinchen Zangpo (954 – 1055 A.D.). they divide the practice of Highest Yoga Tantra into three phases called Maha-yoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. This is an advanced technique applicable only to highly evolved yogis who can sustain the impact of such a revealation without actually dying. Such a yogi could vanish in a flash of light, leaving no trace behind, and then reappear in one’s old body (or any body) at will. The gurus and Tantric experts of this tradition practice and propagate their knowledge at monasteries in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and even in Chinese-occupied Tibet. They have no traditional patriarch, there being several hierarchs of different lineages within the Nyingma tradition. Two of the senior-most hierarchs – His Holiness Dudjom Rimpoche and His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche – passed away recently, their reincarnations have been found and are now in their infancy. The Nyingma-pa have major centres in India in Dehradun, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka.
The KAGYU-PA
The Kagyu-pa are descendants of the Indian Mahasiddhas Tilopa, Maitripa, Naropa and their Tibetan disciple Marpa. They have various sub-sects, one of which – the Drukpa Kagyu – is the dominant Buddhist order in Bhutan. The largest of the sub-sects – the Karma-Kagyu – are the followers of the Karmapa lamas who are the oldest incarnating lineage existing today, their seat-in-exile being at Rumtek in Sikkim. The present seventeenth Karmapa Lama, His Holiness Ugyen Thinley Dorje, was much in the news after his dramatic escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet to India. They principally practice and propagate various lineages of the Six Yogas of Naropa. They are renowned for using the yogas of Inner-Heat and ‘consciousness-Transference’ as the principal means of experiencing the state of Maha-Mudra, i.e., the Ultimate Reality. They have major centers in Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, Himachal Pradesh and Dehradun.
The SAKYA-PA
The Sakya-pa are descendants of the Indian Mahasiddhas Gayadhara and Virupa, their practice is based on the Hevajra Tantra – one of the principal Mother Tantras. Their ‘Lam-De’ (path-result) practice combines the Sutras and Tantras, and followers of the order anre noted for their scholarship. The present Sakya hierarch, His Holiness Sakya Tri-zin, has his seat at Dehradun.
The GELUK-PA
The Geluk-pa are the followers of Lama Tsongkhapa and the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. Laying stress on strict monasticism, the Geluk-pa are well-known for their dialectical prowess and analytical skill. The follow the ‘Lam-Rim’ (structured path) approach, laying great emphasis on a detailed study of the Sutras and Tantras. In philosophy, they follow the system of Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti. In the practice of Tantra, they mainly follow the three cycles of Vajrabhairava as protector, Sri Heruka Chakrasamvara as the preliminary Clear-Light practice, and Guhyasamaja as the main illusory-body practice. They also follow the lineage of Six Yogas of Naropa. The Dalai Lamas are renowned masters of the Kalachakra Tantra. They uphold many of the Nyingma-pa lineages such as the Vajra-Kilaya. After the destruction of the three great Geluk-pa monastic universities of Sera, Ganden and Drepung by the Chinese communists, these centers have been re-established in exile in Karnataka. The present Dalai Lama stays in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh in India.
SOME TERMS AND EXPLANATIONS
Hinayana: to the beginners, the Buddha taught the path of renunciation, where the emphasis is on completely renouncing the passions and seeking a personal Nirvana, which means an end to the cycle of uncontrolled birth-death and rebirth. Such a path has been the ideal of the renunciant monk (or nun) – the Bhikshu (or Bhikshuni) and was exemplified by such disciples as Shariputry, Mahamaudgalyana, Mahakashyap and others. It survives still today in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma.
Mahayana: to more advanced disciples, i.e. those who were well established on the path of renunciation of samsara (cyclic existence), the Buddha taught the Mahayana and the ideal of Bodhisattva (the spiritual warrior), which emphasized ‘great compassion’ for others.
The Bodhisattva did not seek a hasty exit from samsara through a personal Nirvana, but selflessly worked in samsara for the benefit of others. The Bodhisattva did this for ‘Three Mahakkalpas’, accumulating the provisions of merit (punya) and wisdom (pragya), and thereby ascending the ten Bodhisattva levels of inner evolution towards complete Budhhahood – a state far higher than that of personal Nirvana.
The teaching being restricted, did not spread openly, and was exemplified by such Bodhisattvas as the ‘four close sons’ – Manjushree, Avalokiteshwara, Vajrapani and Maitreya – monks such as Subhuti and Mahamati, laymen like the Lichchavi Vimalakriti, and laywomen like the queen Srimala Devi. After the passing away of the Buddha, the texts of this cycle of teaching – the Pragyaparamita Sutras – were entrusted to the care of the Nagas for posterity, and were retrieved from them by Nagarjuna, promulgator of the Mahayana, whose coming had been prophesied earlier by the Buddha in the Lankavatara Sutra.
The Vajrayana, or the Tantric path, was taught by the Buddha to assemblies of those great Bodhisattva yogis who were well established on the path towards renunciation and great Compassion. They had attained sufficient purity of mind to be able to ‘metabolize’ the poisons of lust and anger, and to transform the energy of the passions into the wisdom of the non-duality of subject and object. Due to the purity of their minds, they were able to perceive the Buddha’s subtle form – the Sambhogakaya – and to receive teachings directly from it.
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