Gaden for the West. But because Yama appears in this general Indian context as one of the directional protectors, then in the Yamantaka practice, in Guhyasamaja practice in so many different practices then in the Buddhist context, you call in the fifteen directional protectors, and Yama is one of them. We have:, I have here what each of the chapters of this talk about. Like other wrathful deities, Yamantaka gives the forces of the Shadow [in the Jungian sense] a symbol that hooks their energy and provides a channel and direction for their expression and transformation (Preece, p. 187). and its nothing from its own side you cant find it as anything from its own side and yet all three are valid. Interferences are the four maras (mara is the embodiment of interference, and mara is from the Sanskrit word meaning death): So if you understand this whole system of Yama and the maras and so on, then when it says that you wont be harmed by interferences, you understand what that means. Im always curious why it has a buffalo head. This is a little bit awkward, of course, when there are not so many people who are actually involved in the practice, so one is a little bit puzzled as to what to actually say. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has requested that only those who have received full initiation into the Highest Yoga Tantra practice of Yamantaka (Dorje Jigje) read this book, however, two chapters are available here for the general public to read. So it combines all the practices always with Manjushri in your heart. As Bulcsu Siklos explains in his book, the lineage of the Vajrabhairava tantra texts was brought to Tibet by Atisha, who had many Indian masters. Each face has three large round eyes, bared fangs and frightful expressions; brown hair flows upward like flames. Ra Lotsawa came from Tibet to Nepal to get the Yamantaka teachings and all that the Guru he met did was give him a subsequent permission for a different tantra. That level of mind is more subtle than the disturbing emotions, so it defeats the mara of the disturbing emotions. He is the ferocious emanation of Manjushree. Vajrapani wears a loin-cloth around his hips. Then the Guru appeared and said, When the sun rises in the east and there are no clouds, then the sun shines. He took this as a teaching about impermanence and how we are oblivious to the Lord of Death. So dont get too attached to one form, thinking that This is the way that it is and My tradition is correct, and all the others are wrong. Thats a very closed-minded attitude. Now lets become a little bit like scientists and look to see does this make any sense from a historical point of view. Yamantaka is in the form of a very, very strong, forceful figure and has Manjushri in his heart (so very peaceful, calm, the complete understanding of reality ). So, Yamantaka's practice is very powerful for protecting oneself against negative, destructive energy. So, the only higher tantric system that focuses on both mother and father combined simultaneously is the Yamantaka set of tantras. The subtlest energy of it to transform and appear in the form of a Buddha. You find that in so many cultures some sort of judge who acts as the Lord of Death. New rebirth samsaric rebirth with another cluster or configuration of these habits being activated and generating the next samsaric life filled with the same types of compulsive behavior and confusion. RETREAT Yamantaka Practice Michoacan, Mexico, This retreat focuses on a detailed presentation of the Deity and how to use it in our daily lives. So whats the Buddhist version of the legend? May 29, 2022 in new york v united states quizlet. And it was very, very difficult theres a whole long story and account of how much difficulty he had to get these teachings and to translate them with his Indian master Bharo Chag-drum (Bha-ro Phyag-drum), with whom he studied in Nepal but anyway he translated them and brought them to Tibet., Although a Yamantaka lineage was present at Radreng Monastery, teachings on it were not easy to find. (Of course we can get very complicated and sophisticated here if we want to go further in this discussion, and I find it very helpful to analyze.) This is how that came about. Commentary teachings and retreats are held at regular intervals around the world. And also hes mentioned in the Manjushri-namasamgiti. Yamantaka Initiation July 17-18; Search. I personally find it quite fascinating and actually quite helpful to see what actually has happened with this practice, how does it actually fit into history, the religious development, and so on. So he does that.. Buddha has given many sets of teachings, and they compose of sutra and they compose of tantra. This is, just in very general terms, a little bit of what is Yamantaka all about for those who might not have so much of a background. One monk from there Ra Lotsawa he was called, Ra (Rva) from Radreng Monastery went to Nepal to try to get more understanding of the teachings. Yamantaka Meditation. So I hear that you have Yamantakas teachings. By representing them by all the arms and legs and heads, it helps us to keep all of these things simultaneously in our consciousness. It was a woman who transmitted all of this and got it all started. He has thirty-four arms, right? Do I not like this? Its dangerous if you try to get into tantra practice like that. And, as Shantideva dedicates in the tenth chapter of Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior: Our ability to maintain and further expand our website totally depends on your support. But the long term disbenefit is that it will take you much longer to become an Enlightened being. We have this division in anuttarayoga tantra, the Gelugpa version of anuttarayoga tantra, of the obscure (or hidden or secret) tantras (sbas-rgyud) and the clear tantra (gsal-rgyud) (which is Kalachakra). Origins I believe the intention of the person who requested this was that, because in the Gelug tradition theres a large emphasis from Tsongkhapa on the three deities of Guhyasamaja (gSang-ba 'dus-pa), Chakrasamvara, ('Khor-lo bde-mchog), and Vajrabhairava, it would be helpful to have some general idea of these three systems. (2) You remember I said that Vajrabhairava is the container within which you combine Guhyasamaja practices and Chakrasamvara practices in the Gelugpa way of practicing? Now, just one last thing that I want to mention here is that there are five special features of Vajrabhairava practice that were revealed to Tsongkhapa by Manjushri. So we have to use some very strong energy. The name Bhairava indicating one of Shivas main forms and the various attributes/implements like the trident, tiger-skin, ashes, drum (Skt: damaru), etc. So whos Yama? After His Holiness had taken his seat on the throne, Theravada monks once again chanted the Mangala Sutta in Pali. Yamantaka Empowerment As Part of Teachings in Bodhgaya. Whatever understanding, whatever positive force has come from this, may it act as a cause for all beings to reach enlightenment as quickly as possible through a sincere practice such as this Yamantaka system. Yamantaka appears there. He has thirty-four hands and sixteen legs. Anywhere else would be too distracting. The Guru was very stubborn. What is it that is going to prevent us from attaining that state of a Buddha? Then warnings against disasters that will happen if you dont do each of the steps properly. Numerous discourses on the fire puja, the self-initiation, the mandala measurements, and many of the auxiliary practices of Yamantaka from Serkong Rinpoche. The three right faces are yellow, blue and red and the three left are black, white and smoky. Should you wish to practice a brief visualisation and mantra recitation for Vajrasattva, recite the following: The Guru said they were all successful, The vision was correct, you have had nonconceptual cognition of voidness. Theyre all very qualified paths, its just depending on the method. So if you think Well, did the historical Buddha do that? then you get very confused. You can envision this person with a Mahayana sutra type of vision. Ive already spoken in previous visits about Chakrasamvara and Guhyasamaja, so now we have Vajrabhairava left. Were not talking about the historical Shakyamuni. Now, within those so-called hidden tantras in which the fourth initiation is hidden, you have different systems: you have mother tantra (ma-rgyud); you have father tantra (pha-rgyud). I think that basically what is possible is to just give a little bit of information about it. So, this one you can do either the short one, you can do the long one, its up to you. Shes called Vajravetali, or Dorje Rolangma (rDo-rje ro-lang-ma) in Tibetan. So since the Manchus wanted to rule over the Mongols as well, they adopted Yamantaka also. His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeting a policeman providing security as he arrives at the Kalachakra Ground on the third day of his teachings in Bodhgaya, Bihar, India on December 26, 2018. If you memorize this verse, well give you cattle. Next to where the Eastern Mongols lived were the Manchus. In that he says, Yamantaka, throw your wheel of sharp weapons. All this is in the condensed root tantra. Both practice texts are available in English translation on this website. And then the second one is that you take control of yourself and just do it. In the Gelug school, Yama- or Dharmaraja is part of the Vajrabhairava practice. [See: What Is Guhyasamaja Practice? So that means that he incorporates the Guhyasamaja type of practices. The understanding is the same in all practices, of course, but youre using the forceful energy of Vajrabhairava to get to it, so its strong (with, of course, bodhichitta; thats to be understood). Its an interesting one. Once you have that yidam, it is the yidam of Tsongkhapa, it is the vehicle in which Tsongkhapa became Enlightened. October 30, 2020 Leave a comment Leave a comment So because youve made this offering it inspires me to give you a little bit of information, a little bit of talk and explanation of Yamantaka, which should be translated to you, and you can listen to it very carefully. Mother tantra emphasizes the practices for getting the clear-light mind (od-gsal) and understanding of voidness and the mind of a Buddha. Having the the opportunity to practise Yamantaka is extremely rare. Its (The mandala is the palace in which we live as this figure: not that theres a kitchen and a living room or anything like that, but were in this palace. They made this association that Manchu well, that sounds like Manju of Manjushri so their rulers eventually became recognized as emanations of Manjushri like the association of Avalokiteshvara with the Tibetans and Vajrapani with the Mongols. Okay? How do you envision such a person in terms of your goal, in terms of your method? It can also subdue the four maras, Devaputra mara, Skanda mara, Klesa mara, and Mrtyu mara. You could ask, Well, how does that work? During that period of death whats called the clear light of death before the bardo (the in-between state) and rebirth, we are just experiencing that clear-light level. In general Buddhas teaching is as wide and deep as the ocean and tantra is like a wish-fulfilling gem in the ocean. In Kalachakra as well, Yamantaka appears as the protector of one of the gateways of the body mandala, as well as one of the sixty protectors in the protection wheel. He got the insight that we need a Guru to cross the ocean of samsara. With Yamantakas tantra alone one can become fully Enlightened. This is because Yamantaka is very strong and powerful, and Mongols are very strong and powerful people, so they would like that type of practice. There is a version that you find in the Pali canon, where Shakyamuni was a prince, and he had his life, and there are all these accounts of what he did during his actual historical life. Maybe it has that connotation. The (mostly secret and arcane) practices involve different activities for various purposes. He took these as manifestations of the teachings of the Guru. (Now, remember in tantra that having all these faces and arms and legs they all represent different realizations, different aspects of the path that we want to be able to have fully realized simultaneously. This is not childrens games here. And so in this highest class of tantra practice what we want to do is imitate death in our meditation by using very subtle methods to get down to that subtlest level as well. Well, youd have to say, Yes, theyre all the same person. Now, personally I find this very interesting. So we have: But all of these have a buffalo head and a Manjushri head on top. His hundred-syllable mantra is the quintessence of all mantras. All the former are yidams (meditational deities) whereas Yamaraja (sometimes also called Dharamaraja) is a Dharma protector. These teachings were first spread from Urgyen to India in the tenth century by a great master from Nalanda Monastery called Lalitavajra, and then to Tibet in the next century, in the eleventh century. From Tibet, late 19th century to early 20th century CE. The right legs are bent pressing down on a man, animals and various gods. He is adorned with bracelets, necklaces and a girdle all formed of interlaced bone ornaments, a necklace of snakes and a long necklace of fifty moist human heads. And on tsog day you do Yamantakas mantra three times more than your normal. luis urdaneta monat venezuela. So this is basically the tantra path of the highest class of tantra. He has three red, blood-shot eyes; his breath swirls from the anger-creased nose in black clouds, his jaw wide agape with four sharp fangs bared, the tongue flickering like lightning, and orange hair, eyebrows and moustache bristling upward like the fire. In the Shiva tantra context (plus you get tantra in the Shaivite system) and in the Buddhist one, you get a very parallel development and parallel names. Its very interesting. Because a Buddha in Mahayana is one that teaches the entire universe. So what we need to do is to somehow gain access to this subtlest level and not only stay with it, but work with it to transform it into the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. Then he was ready to do more meditation, there was no need for further teachings. Then mantras to be recited for various actions. Thats understanding Buddha as someone who was enlightened many, many eons ago, who just manifests becoming enlightened, and who does these incredible things to teach the whole universe. This nine-headed form appears either in a forty-nine-deity mandala, a thirteen-deity mandala, or a single-deity mandala. So now we have to qualify what I just said. Hes described as being very wise, and he judges the rebirth of those who die. Now, soon after that, Yama becomes incorporated into the Shiva complex of Hindu deities. Where is Ogyen? Then it becomes a little bit more understandable. Manjushri acts as the focus for this with a sword, sharp, to cut through your confusion and because you have such force for wanting to get that clarity of mind and that understanding, your mind comes together, and it is clearer. Regardless which manifestation of Vajrabhairava you are looking at, he is always depicted as fear-inducing, scary, and intimidating. For some disciples, one type of form is more helpful; for other types of disciple, another form is helpful. And one of Atishas teachers was Dharmarakshita, who was the author of this mind training (lojong) called Wheel of Sharp Weapons (Theg-pa chen-poi blo-sbyong mtshon-cha khor-lo). It should be given only to as few disciples as possible. So therefore, I rejoice and Im very happy for you and I feel very fortunate and do that initiation well. Theyre not. So Yamantaka sets of tantras are very, very powerful because they focus on both clear light and illusory body, simultaneously. Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school, emphasized and promoted the practice of Vajrabhairava. And all these different Indian traditions have their own variant of them, their own version. by . While trying to find him, one day at the bank of a river he saw a boat without an oarsman overturn and all of the passengers drowned. Alright, you should read the Six Session Guru Yoga every day, three in the morning, three at night or you can do six times in one shot, it doesnt take very long. Yamantaka is the manifestation of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Stainless Wisdom. And one collects great amount of merit while one is perpetuating Yamantaka. Within, within the four, the highest is the Maha Anuttara tantra. Yamantaka with 9 heads, 34 arms, 16 legs. Recent Posts. Vajravetali is the emanation of White Saraswati (dbyans can ma dkar mo). She has calm, partially furious, and fully furious looks. They refuse to let him take the texts with him; he was only allowed to memorize as much as he could in a short time and then write it down upon his return.Siklos (pp.5-10) gives a fascinating analytical account of the origins of the Vajrabhairava Tantra pointing towards the non-Buddhist Shaivite tradition in Western India (Kashmir & Afghanistan). OM YAMANTAKA ARGHAM, PADYAM, GHENDE, PUSHPE, DHUPE, ALOKE, NAIWITYE, SHABTA PRATICCHA HUNG SOHA. This cleansing is most easily accomplished at this time of the year and helps to decrease suffering and increase peace. Are they all the same person that you find in the Pali canon, that you find in the Mahayana sutras, that you find in the tantra texts? Rather than saying hidden maybe thats not a good word here its encoded into these vajra expressions. She asked, Have you received the full teaching? He told her what he had received. The binding factors that keeps us in Samsara is, ignorance. One is a realistic attitude you realistically accept that its going to be difficult and take a long time. My speech, although its in English can be burned into a CD and sent to you by email so you can keep it for future reference if you like also. So, that type of suffering that we have to endure, by Yamantaka holding that man on a stick, represents that even some karma that means you have to really go to the Three Lower Realms, to Hell to suffer, you can purify through Yamantaka tantra. That ignorance is, is manifested as grasping of the self that does not exist. Yama also appears as one of the eight directional protectors that appear, one each, in the eight charnel grounds that surround many anuttarayoga tantra mandalas, such as Yamantaka, Vajrapani Mahachakra, Chakrasamvara, Vajrayogini and Hevajra. They built big statues of Yamantaka and so on in the Beihai Temple in Beijing and one of the main halls of the Yungho Gung temple was devoted to Vajrabhairava practice, with a portrait of Qianlung Emperor as Manjushri/Tsongkhapa hanging inside it. So that means the third mantra, if you do 21 times a day, youll do that three times extra on the tsog day to cover your tsog commitments for now, okay? When the Manchus conquered China, they identified themselves with Yamantaka and Vajrabhairava and Manjushri. So environmental, meaning place, time meaning how far away it is from the Buddha first turned the wheel of Dharma to the end of the Dharma, which is 5,000 years. instructions for painting the full single-deity Vajrabhairava, with a repeat of the full description of the deity as well as of the charnal grounds (cemetaries). Its done in so many of the tantra practices. Lets focus on the nine-headed Vajrabhairava. This is very, very dangerous, very delicate. Now, there are several ways in which we could work to attain the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. And it works but not by some power of some magic or miracle. This is a Buddha according to Mahayana, who then manifests in so many different forms and in Buddha-fields, and he teaches to hundreds of thousands of devas and asuras and gandharvas all these figures from general Indian mythology or whatever you want to call it all these various beings in these incredible settings, and so on. And so he wondered, Who is this Vajrabhairava? It is even more extraordinary to be able to receive regular guidance from such an experienced practitioner as Les, who has received extensive teachings from Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden . Both do both, but the emphasis is different. More precisely, the Manchus identified Beijing as the Vajrabhairava manadala with the Forbidden City, the Imperial City and the Outer City forming three concentric mandala circles, with the Emperor as Vajrabhairava in the center. From amongst the many lineages of practices to enter Tibet, two translators, Ra Lotsawaand Mal Lotsawa were known to have disseminated the main transmissions of Yamantaka. He has eight heads.The principal head is that of a bull or a buffalo. But in order to do that, we have to have a very, very strong motivation because its really very difficult to do that. One is Pawo Chigpa, is Solitary Hero, Solitary Hero, Solitary Vajra Terrifier, and then the other one is (Tibetan name) or Thirteen Deity Yamantaka. In Buddhism, Yamntaka is a wrathful expression of Majur, the bodhisattva of wisdom who, in other contexts, also functions as a dharmapala or a Heruka. Discourses on the main commentary of the text of the Single Deity from Serkong Rinpoche and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. Highest Yoga Tantra understanding Emptiness, overcoming death Alexander Berzin explains the Highest Yoga Tantra, such as Yamantaka practice, and how it helps us understand Emptiness (Voidness) and, with practice, ultimately overcome death, for the benefit of all beings: Buddha appears in a stupa, and theres the dakinis, and all this sort of stuff. Depending on the Yamantaka manifestation, Tibetans call him either gSin-rje-gsed or in the buffalo-faced aspect of Vajrabhairava rdo-rje jigs-byed. You get that in Jungian psychology, for example. Anuttara Yoga Tantra is divided into father- (Tib: pha-rgyud) and mother-tantra (Tib: ma-rgyud). Thats one of the teachings of whats called virya, perseverance, one of the six far-reaching attitudes. Dancing costume and mask of Yamantaka, worn by Tibetan monks (Buddhists) during Cham Dance. He stands in (or rather is caught in) the warrior pose that will be familiar to those who practice Hatha Yoga. So the Second Buddha is called Gyalwa Nyipa. Thats called the Avesta, just as the proto-Hindus have the Vedas. The most ferocious, the most wrathful is Yamantaka. Fire Ritual(Part 4) Fire Ritual(Part 3) Fire Ritual(Part 2) Fire Ritual(Part 1) Yamantaka Initiation July 17-18; Recent Comments. So, no other tantra, no other tantric system, no other sutra system, can promise us to purify, example, even if we have created the most heinous crimes. First about my own background. Inner and Outer Yamaraja are blue/black, and the Secret Yamaraja is red. It provides the most detail about the methods for generating the four levels of blissful awareness of voidness within the central energy-channel, enabling access to the subtlest level of mind, clear light. All of that is implicit in these various rituals and things that are explained in the texts which sound as though they are horrible black magic for actually harming others, harmful beings, whereas the intention is for harming the internal enemy, our own selfishness. rimersburg, pa obituaries. (1) The first is that in this age of degeneration, practitioners will not be harmed by interferences. And the palace every little feature of it represents some other aspect of the path and realization. You can work with this person from an anuttarayoga tantra vision. That has to be explained by a teacher. and then theres another one, Vajra Arali which Ive never heard of anybody actually practicing which is transforming naivety or unawareness into a path. From Tibet it spread to Mongolia, and then the Manchus took it up and it was a big practice in Beijing, where the Manchus ruled. So therefore if we have created something very negative, very powerfully negative, imagine what Yamantaka can help us in. (Dedication Prayer), http://www.tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Advice_to_a_Yamantaka_Initiate&oldid=247747. In both schools, Vajrabhairava is seen as the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of wisdom. And one should also learn the Lama Chopa Tsog, one should learn the Lama Chopa Tsog, to be done to Yamantaka every two weeks. Ive received the empowerment of the Single-Deity Vajrabhairava (rDo-rje jigs-byed dpa-bo gcig-pa) many, many times, from: And Ive been practicing it every day for more than forty years. Before the Manchus conquered China (in 1644), they had already accepted certain elements of Gelug when they built the Yellow Temple in Mukden, their capital (1636-38). A water buffalo is very, very strong and is used for work in India and its specified as a male water buffalo, not a female water buffalo so its very strong. So you imitate death and imitate the process of death but without dying, obviously. Kriya Tantra: The Four Types of Mental Stability, The Nature of Appearances: Madhyamaka & Highest Tantra, The Nature of Appearances: Gelug Explanation - Part 5 of 5. Then the lady said that the Guru would manifest as a dog. If youre able to transform the clear light of death into this understanding of voidness, you wont get the aggregates of another samsaric rebirth, so it overcomes the mara of the aggregates. That will be more than enough for you. Thats really quite odd, isnt it? You can look at it two ways, cant you? So you think Well, thats what it means for it to be a hidden tantra. Its not. According to the pure and unbroken lineage of the. Then you fall to one extreme of either Only this is true or The other one is true. There are various depictions of what a Buddha is: Thats the way that a Buddha is described in Mahayana. Now we get to Lalitavajra (Rol-pai rdo-rje) in the tenth century. Theyre all talking about the same things. The Yamantaka drubchen, traditionally held near the end of the Tibetan year, is conducted in order to cleanse all obstacles not only for oneself, but for every being in the world. Father tantra emphasizes the practices to basically get illusory body (sgyu-lus) and the physical bodies of a Buddha, the Form Bodies of a Buddha. So Kalantaka, and then you have the Buddhist variant Yamantaka, the one that puts an end to Yama.. It is possible, though, that in western Tibet (Ngari) where Atisha taught, Vajrabhairava teachings were already present directly via Ugyen. Its supposed to be kept that way because it could be completely misunderstood as some horrible thing, and that practitioners actually go out and kill people. With all the protector practices, they are done as being Vajrabhairava yourself, and then you invite the protector into your mandala. In the highest class of tantra you have four initiations (or four empowerments), and the fourth one is to empower you to do the final, final, final practices where you have the practice of the two truths simultaneously., Thats the only point that is hidden or secret in terms of that division. Consequently the practice became one of the three principal tantras taught at the tantric colleges and monastic universities. And so Yama rides on a male water buffalo. So its the same thing: the practice of Yamantaka imitates the practice of death, what happens at death. It can also subdue the four maras, Devaputra mara, Skanda mara, Klesa mara, and Mrtyu mara.
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