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Tantra is a living tradition and therefore we try to present the living tantra first in an attempt to open the door to tantra a little bit. At the end there will be a short overview over the history of tantra.
Tantra is a radical application of the philosophies of Yogâcâra and Madhyamaka within Mahâyâna Buddhism as well as a teaching about emptiness (shûnyatâ). That stands for emptiness of self-existence and the fullness of all possibilities. Tantra cannot be understood without knowledge of Mahâyana-Buddhism and the experience that comes from its practice. Mahâyâna and Tantra rest on the platform of the older forms of Buddhism, teaching us to develop mindfulness, attentiveness, ethical recommendations, as well as love and compassion with all living beings. The practice of meditation and studies about these tenets might develop insight and wisdom. Wisdom and compassion are integral parts of all practice within all forms of Buddhism. Tantra is a part of Vajrayâna Buddhism, that means the Diamond Vessel. The word Yâna means also a raft, because the raft can help us to cross safely the wild currents of life. But we ourselves have to build the raft! Furthermore we must row and navigate the raft! Sometimes we need the help and blessing of a guide, the gûrû, but we still have to do the practice by ourselves.
The practice of tantra integrates everything we are, that means body, speech and mind, our daily life, work and our spiritual practice. It should become one. The masters of tantra are known for using quite chocking methods in order to get their students to the point where they might break through the wall of concepts and ideas. There are many similarities between tantra and Zen-buddhism.
The philosophy of Yogacâra teaches us – in this context expressed in an abbreviated and incomplete way – that we are creating “our world” the whole time by sense impressions, thoughts and memories. No “world” is exactly like the other because we are quite different from each other as people. We are overrun by sense impressions from the “outside” and thoughts from the “inside”. As this is going on the Tantric masters teach us to consciously create and use sense impressions in order to realize deeper layers of consciousness by means of meditation. Tantric practice uses very often meditations about visual impressions and associations about these visualisations being created by us, and in the end the visual impressions have to be dissolved. We must let go of them in the same way as we have to let go of everything else. Tantric meditations teach us – as well as the other forms of Buddhism – that we exist within a world of constant change (sabbé sankhâra anicca). That is one of the crucial points the historical Buddha Shakyamuni wanted us to realize.
Let us now look at some texts confirming these ideas:
“No mortification of the flesh, no fasting, no rituals, no ritual bath or purification exercises. We don’t need to observe rules and regulations within society. You shouldn’t venerate idols of wood or clay. You should rather venerate your own body. All gods exist within it.” (from the text Advayasiddhi by Mahâsiddhî Lakshminkârâ, ca. 800 CE. Quotation from Das indische Vajrayâna, 2003, page 7 by Ven. Advayavajra)
“Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumours; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are good; these things are not to be blamed; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,’ enter on and abide in them.” (Kalama Sutta, Anguttara Nikâya 3, 65 – from the Pali Kanon)
” If you cling at something, be it corporality or all-knowing, then you should view it as an expression of demons.” (from the chapter on demons in the Pancavimsatisahasrikâ-prajnâparamîtâ-sûtra / Teaching about the completion of wisdom in 25000 slokas (verses). To be found in the prajnâparamîtâ-litterature of Mahâyâna-buddhism)
“I bow in veneration to the Dharma, which develops in such a way that the three gates of liberation (1. emptiness/shunyatâ, 2. freedom from marks (anicca, dukkha, anatta / constant change, unsatisfactoriness, no inherent self-existence), 3. freedom from wishes) are not blocked by the need to overcome the 84000 heaps of polluted thoughts (klesa)”. (quotation from Zi Byed Chos’Byun / the ornaments of Liberation /Der Schmuck der Befreiung- Die Geschichte der Zi byed- und gCod-Schule des tibetischen Buddhismus. Verlag Harrassowitz – Wiesbaden 1993, page 117)
What is the meaning of the word “tantra”?
It derives from the Sanskrit word TAN = fabric and TRA from TR (pronounced trii) = to do, to fullfill, to transgress, to overcome, to save oneself, to save etc. In vedic Sanskrit it even means loom. But it is you yourself in the process of weaving! It also means sûtra (teachings) and tantra being interconnected because tantra can be understood and practised only if one has understood and practiced something of the preliminaries of Buddhist teachings, and if one has gained some experience in basic Buddhist meditation.
Vajrayâna-buddhism being the last development of Mahâyâna Buddhism has received its name from the word vajra = Indra’s thunderbolt (remember even the hammer of the Nordic god Thor), diamond, emptiness of self-existence and insubstantiality as well as thunderstorm of tropical rain crushing all hindrances, creating preconditions for new life. Diamonds cut through other materials without being crushed. In other words, Vajarayâna helps us to cut through the veils of ignorance and illusion which prevent us from getting a clear view. But we ourselves are rising these hindrances! The vajra is a ritual object in the practice of Vajrayânâ, and it also stands for the use of right methods (upâya) which means unending compassion with all living beings.
Tantra uses certain elements for practice:
A) Mudrâ (Sanskrit: seal, but here it means postures of the body)
B) Mantra (Sanskrit: manas (the mind) + tr = tra = here it means tool, a tool for the mind)
C) Mandala (Sanskrit: a diagram for meditation in given forms)
D) Sâdhanâ (Sanskrit: meditation upon visualisations and energy-channels)
Mudrâ means bodily postures supporting ones meditation.
Mantra is a combination of words or syllables that have a meaning but even physical waves. It has an influence on our psyche. In the beginning the path of Tantra (tantrayâna) was the path of mantra (mantrayâna). There are short mantras and longer ones, often called dhârani. In its early development such a dhârani was a condensation of a sublime teaching in a few points in order to establish the emotional background of a visualisation practice. Later on dhâranis developed into a principal of irrationality helping us to overcome and go beyond all concepts and words. One example of this is the Heart Sûtra. Dhârani and mantra should bring about associations, they should be inspiring, arouse joy and rapture, leading us beyond logical thinking.
Mandala or yantra. From the beginning they were geometrical forms as an expression of the five elements, but in tantra there is a sixth element – the mind. The mandala developed into precise maps over certain visualisation-practice. The mandala has always a circumference and a centre. Remember the mandalas of coloured sand made by Tibetan munks in different places all over the world. It has been created several times in Sweden, eg. Lund, Malmö and Gothenburg. These sand-mandalas are very beautiful, but after the teachings and the initiations are completed, the mandalas are to be dissolved and the sand is given into the nearest river with a certain ritual. Nothing ever stays unchanged.
Sâdhanâ is the expression for a visualisation practice using a mandala or energy channels in the body. On certain levels it has to do with two energy channels around one central channel as well as energy centres in the body (chackras). Visualisation practice involves male or female forms, or shows man and woman in sexual unity, that means male and female energies have to be united. The forms can be peaceful or wrathful. But, please, don’t try to start visualisation practice on your own! One needs a qualified teacher which one has known for quite some time. It needs also preparatory exercises as well as thorough practice of basic Buddhist meditation and ethical conduct. Most of the sadhanâs are transmitted in connection with a tantric initiation (Sanskrit: abisheka, Tibetan: wangkur). The precondition for such an initiation is the Going for Refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. In other words, one has converted to Buddhism. Sometimes teachers transmit basic sadhanâs without initiation to give the adept the opportunity to see for oneself if the practice of sadhanâ is a useful method of meditation or not. The more complex sadhanâs are always given in connection with certain vows to be kept strictly.
Tantric meditation has mainly 4 different levels:
1. Kriya-tantra
2. Carya-tantra
3. Yoga-tantra
4. Antuttarayoga-tantra
The Nyingma-school (the oldest form of Tibetan Buddhism) has 3 more levels: mahâyoga, anuyoga and atiyoga (dzog-chen). These three levels have the allpervading purity and awareness of the mind as its starting point for meditation.
One of the tantric systems of visualisation practice is the mandala about the 5 meditation-buddhas (they are correctly called Dhyani-Buddhas or Tathâgatas). It can be practised as a whole or one uses one part of it at a time. The practice also involves the different levels of tantric practice.
But these systems are like a stream. As soon as we are trying to stick to one system and cling to it, then we are stuck and miss the crucial point. Tantra is practicised here and now as a system of change and development. It cannot be tied down. Experience is nothing but shit, if the experience is not made by yourself. So – if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him, because otherwise you put the concept of Buddha between yourself and your experience. But this is only possible after having gained a lot of insight, compassion and experience on the Noble Path of the Buddha. The Buddha and Buddhist teachers are pointing the Way, they point into a certain direction, but we have to walk on the Path ourselves. We have to release our creativity when practising tantric meditation. Otherwise we are repeating just a given picture and that would be the death of our tantric meditation. We must turn tantric practice into a living experience.
The concept of constant change is also expressed through the meditation about different centres of energy in the body, beginning with the centre at the end of the spine until the centre on the top of the head. However, there is a difference between Hindu and Buddhist tantra:
Hindu tantra
7 energy-centres
One physiological system where every centre has a certain number of petals The system is static and every centre is connected with a certain element (earth, water, fire etc.)
Buddhist tantra
5 energy-centres
(root-centre and the centre in the stomach have become one as well as the two centres in the head. A changing psychological system where the same centre can have different functions. Different “gods” and different mantras can be visualised and used in connection with the same centre according to the different systems of tantra.
The practice of tantric meditation can also be viewed under 3 different headlines:
Basis/ground = that are we ourselves.
Meditation = cleans the basis/ground
Fruit = Mahâsukha (the great bliss, that means Enlightenment) = a state of mind as a result of tantric practice. Within the Sakya-school of Tibetan Buddhism the teachings are about Path and Fruit (lam.dre) in connection with the practice of tantra.
All this might seem quite confusing. But tantra – in spite of its complexity and diversity – wants to guide us back to onepointedness and unity. Zen Buddhism is trying to do the same from a different angle. We shall be aware of here and now, directly experiencing reality as it is (yatha bhutam) without interpretations and recollections which distort our experience here and now. We have to work with our emotions, but in a controlled way. The emotions should not overwhelm us, and they must be genuine. It is not a question of intellectual work-out. Remember the word of the Buddha: “where all elements of reality (dhammas) have been dissolved, even the paths of language and speech have been dissolved” (sabbhesu dhammesu samûhatesu, samûhata vadapathâ pi sabbeti. – From Sutta Nipâta, vers 1076).
Tantra wants to provide an explanation of existence , how to approach it, and tantra wants to show us a practical way of practice to realize the innermost nature of life. The living dialog between teacher (gûrû) and student (chela) is very important. No common explanations will do. In working together teacher and student are striving to come to that point where the devision between subject and object has been overcome. These ideas get there practical implications in the so called Gûrû-yoga, a unity in meditation between teacher and student.
All these methods of meditation don’t get you anywhere if one only wishes to meditate for oneself and change just for the benefit of oneself. The starting point of all Mahâyâna-Buddhism is the insight that we are not isolated beings, instead all life is interconnected. Therefore we wish to meditate and bring about change for the benefit of all living beings. This idea can be expressed in a tantric verse:
I go to the guru and the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) as my Refuge.
I visualise myself as godhead, using vajra and bell, bringing forth offerings.
I keep the teachings of sutra and tantra and abstain from unwholesome acts. Instead I strive to accumulate wholesome acts.
I want to train in the four points of giving: the gift of material goods, the gift of protection, the gift of Dharma and the gift of unconditional love.
May I liberate all living beings in this way!
(from the Kalachackra-tantra)
Tantric elements have always existed within Buddhism as well as the intention to develop love and compassion for all living beings. Within the older forms of Buddhism we find the paritta-verses. These are formulas for protection meant to prevent sickness and everything that binds us and threatens us. We find simple visualisations (Katina) and formulations already pointing to later developments within Yogacâra and Madhyamaka. But we should never forget the first verse in one of the oldest formulations of the Buddha’s teaching, the Dhammapâda:
Mind always comes first
Mind is the primer of all things initiated
By thought of mind are all phenomena formed
So – if with good intention one thinks, speaks or acts
Joy surely follows one like the never-leaving shadow.
However!
-if with evil intention one thinks, speaks or acts
Pain certainly follows one like the wheel follow the cart.
An alternative translation from Pali into English goes as follows:
We are what we think,
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
(from The Dhammapada – New Rendering, Wildwood House, London, page 3).
Summing this up we could say tantra uses all our energies, our positive and negative emotions and skills. The training tries to convert these emotions and skills into tools on the path to Enlightenment. The restless mind is to be engaged before it can become calm and clear.
Short overview over the history of tantra:
Tantric teachings can be found within Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism. A very good exhibition about tantra is on display at the National Museum in New Delhi. It can really be recommended for all interested in the subject.
In earlier times tantric teachings have always been given orally in connection with an initiation. That is the case even today, even if there are lots of books about tantra to be found in bookstalls and on the internet. In these books the most essential is not always put down, instead it has to be transmitted by an experienced teacher (gûrû). These teachings are guarded by certain secrecy to prevent them from being misused. Before entering the path of tantra one has to be really familiar with Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Tantric methods can have quite powerful effects, and the soil has to be prepared before the seeds of tantra can grow.
Tantra has been developed through several thousand years. It existed already during Vedic times in India. Around 3000 years BC the Indus-culture (Harappa and Mohenjodaro) was already in the decline. The division of people into casts existed probably at that time. In this Indus culture small statues have been found who indicate that kind of tantric/shamanistic practice existed already at that time.
At that point a short digression has to be made in order to understand later features of Buddhist tantra:
When the arian tribes conquered India and the native Indus-culture from the north, they carried with them a fertility-cult around a male godhead called Pushupatinâth = Lord of the animals. He had animal horns on his head as often found with certain shamanistic cults amongst Mongols and native Americans. This roll was transferred to the Hindu god Shiva. In Kathmandu in Nepal there is one of the holiest sites of Hinduism dedicated to the worship of Shiva as Pashupatinâth. Around this godhead many goddesses exist with big breasts, vulva and kauri-shell. All this are symbols of fertility. In the ceremonies of Hinduism Shiva lingam (the phallus of Shiva) and yoni (the vulva of the goddess) play an important roll. In the beginning Shiva lingam was representing fire and yoni symbolised water. Offerings are made to Shiva lingam including fire-ceremonies.
In Buddhist tantra on the level of anuttarayogatantra all initiations are preceded by a fire-ceremony, called agni-hotra (agni = fire and the god of fire). But in this case the meaning has been transferred onto a psychological level. The great offer and the great miracle is the transformation of the mind until it reaches even deeper insight into the nature of life! According to the scientist Glasenapp the most important elements in Buddhist tantra existed already 300 CE.
Buddhist tantra has been influenced by the following:
A) The teachings of the Buddha, early visualisation exercises (kasina) and protection mantras (paritta).
B) Hatha yoga and the Hindu philosophy of Samkhya.
C) Mystery-cults which spread from the Mediteranien to far away China via the silk-road.
In India tantra developed mostly in Bengal and Kashmir. From these places it spread to Tibet, China and Japan. In India, however, tantra was never systematized. That happened first in Japan by Dengyo Daishi (767-822 CE), the founder of the Tendai-school, and Kobo Daishi (774-835), the founder of the Shingon-school of Japanese Buddhism, that is the Japanese tantric Buddhism.
In Tibet tantric teachings were brought into a system first by the Nyingma-school (the older school) around 800 CE. Their tantric teachings were transmitted by Padmasambhâva, Vimalmîtra and Vairochana. The Nyingma-school had many lay-practitioners and therefore they survived on a larger scale the prosecutions of the Buddhists in Tibet during 836-842 CE.
The next systematization was done by the Sakya-school, foundet 1073 CE. One of the teachers of this school, Ven. Phagspa, became the gûrû of Kublai Khan in China.
The Kargyudpa-school and its founder Gampopa as well as the Gelugpa-school under Tsongkhapa also systemized and developed the tantric teachings, around 1000 – 1400 CE.
Over the centuries 3 great tantric systems came into being:
A) Mahâyogatantra (fathertantra) eg. Guhyasamaja (the secret vow)
B) Anuyogatantra (mothertantra) eg. Hejvajra (an aspect of meditation)
C) Atiyogatantra (advaya = not 2) eg. Kalachackra from around 1000-1200 CE.
This is the latest great system of Buddhist tantra.
Mahâyogatantra strives to develop infinite compassion with all living beings (Mahâkarunâ). Anuyogatanra strives to develop the great bliss (Mahâsukha) or the Clear Light (Ösel in Tibetan).
Atiyogatantra strives to combine the two systems by developing unity in the Mind (Mahâmudrâ). The word mind here stands for the cosmic dimension and not the individual mind.
At this point we are apt to ask ourselves why we should need all these tantric systems. It has to do with the diversity of human beings. Like different forms of psychotherapy a tantric system can be useful for one person but another person should not at all meditate on that system but should be initiated into another one. It depends on ones individual disposition. The choice is made by ones teacher (gûrû) who has to be familiar with tantric practice through many years of confident practice. In addition to that he must have permission to teach tantra.
Tantra was spread from India to China, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, but could never really grow deep roots in China itself. Just nowadays many Chinese people in Taiwan and mainland China have become interested in the theory and practice of Tibetan Buddhism and tantra.
Concluding this brief outline, you’ll find the names of some of the great practitioners of tantra through the ages:
Kobo Daishi (Jap. Tantra) (774-835) CE
Tilopa (989-1069)
Naropa (956-1040)
Milarepa (1025-1135)
Machig Labdrön (a woman) (1055-1145)
Gampopa (1079-1153)
Jomo Memo (a woman) (1248-1283)
Tsongkhapa (1357-1419)
Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-1987)
Drikung Khandro (a woman) (ca. 1927-1979)
Dilgo Kyentse Rinopoche (1910-1991)
Chhime Rigdzin Rinpoche (1922-2002)
Thrangu Rinpoche (1933 – )
Khandro Rinpoche (a woman) (1967 – )
James Low (belongs to the Nyingma-school. He lives in London)
Shifu Nagaboshi Tomio (Terence Dukes) (1946-2005)
Master of Shingon-Buddhism. He lived and taught in England.
May this brief outline about tantra be an inspiration to look deeper into the teaching of the Buddha and the teachings of Buddhist tantra. Maybe some readers may even set out on the path of its fascinating practice. Any errors in this text are solely my fault.
May the Teaching of the Buddha be a clear light shining in the darkness of our times for the benefit of all living beings.
Copyright by Dharmavajra D. Schultze
Yi Gah Chö Dzong
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Buddha Ways 