Tantric Techniques (13 page)

Ke-drup simplifies the example, suggesting that, at least to him, Tsong-kha-pa did not emphasize this fusion of sound and visible form:

Then, meditate on what in entity is just whatever deity is being meditated but in aspect is the letters of the mantra to be repeated in the aspect of the color of refined gold [standing] on one’s own mind which has transformed into a moon in space. This is the letter deity.

Despite Ke-drup’s not mentioning the mixture of sound and visible

a
Ye-shay-gyel-tsen (
ye shes rgyal mtshan
, 1713-1793),
Illumination of the Meaning of Action Tantra
(
bya rgyud don gsal
), Collected Works, vol. 9 (New Delhi: Tibet House, 1976), 487.3.

Tantric Mode of Meditation
53

form, it seems to me to be an important connecting link in the gradual evolution from emptiness to sound to visible form.

Form deity.
The next step is the transformation of this moon disc with upright letters into the usual physical form of the deity with a face, arms, legs, and so forth. Prior to that, however, there is an in-termediary step of emitting from the moon a multitude of compassionately beneficent forms of the deity, through which active compassion is established as the precursor of one’s own bodily appearance. As Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen says:

The form deity is creation of the pride that the deity is not different from yourself within meditating on the deity:

[The moon and mantra letters] are transformed such that the hand symbol of the deity [appears on the moon] with the mantra letters. Variegated rays of light are emitted from the moon, hand symbol, and mantra. From the points of the light rays innumerable forms of the deity emerge, pervading the entire sphere of space. Through emanating great clouds of offerings they make splendid offerings to all the Conquerors. Also, they emanate great clouds from which a rain-stream of ambrosia descends, extinguishing the fires of the sufferings of all transmigrators—hell-beings and so forth—as well as satisfying those [beings with whatever they want]. Then, the rays of light as well as the divine bodies return and enter the moon disc, hand symbol, and mantra which are my mind, whereupon I emerge in the full form of the deity.

The moon and mantra letters transform such that a hand-symbol— a vajra or wheel, for instance—also appears on the moon. Then, from all of these emanate rays of light from which, in turn, myriad forms of the deity emerge. These deities then emanate great clouds piled with offerings which they offer to already enlightened beings. The deities also emanate great clouds from which a rain-stream of ambrosia descends, cleansing and satisfying all other beings. The Dalai Lama movingly describes this phase of the meditation:
a

a
Deity Yoga,
23.

54
Tantric Techniques

Imagine that from the moon and the mantra letters light rays are emitted, from the points of which emerge forms of the deity to be meditated. These deities emanate clouds of offerings to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and so forth, as well as clouds with a rain of nectar. It falls on the beings in cyc-lic existence
a
and purifies them, giving a good body to those who need it, coolness to those suffering from heat, the warmth of the sun to those suffering from cold, food and drink to the hungry and thirsty—emanating to each just what he or she needs, affording beings the basis for practicing the path as well as teachers to instruct them in the essential paths of the four truths, the two truths, and so forth. They are caused to ascend the paths and attain the final happiness of Buddhahood.

The activity of offering to high beings fortifies the basic motivation toward enlightenment by associating the purpose of worthwhile material things and pleasures with Buddhahood. The activity of cleansing those trapped in suffering makes the very essence of physical appearance be compassionate activity for the welfare of the world.

Psychologically, the meditator must confront and transform many untamed contents of mind which appear as the deprived and depraved beings who receive the bountiful blessings of the rain of ambrosia. One can speculate that a prime reason for the vivid descriptions of the hells and other unfortunate existences found in other texts
b
is to make manifest to oneself unconscious tendencies of mind and spirit so that such meditative confrontation and transformation can be enacted.

According to Tibetan explanations, imitating the deeds of Buddhahood through raining down this ambrosia establishes patterns and predispositions to be fulfilled after one’s own enlightenment. In addition, an internal transformation is enacted in a process that begins with a step much like Jung’s description of assimilation of unconscious complexes, not through identification,

a
’khor ba
,
sa
ṃ
s
ā
ra
.

b
See, for example, H.V. Guenther’s
Jewel Ornament of Liberation
(Berkeley, Calif.: Shambhala, 1971), 56-62, and Khetsun Sangbo’s
Tantric Practice in Nyingma
(London: Rider/Hutchinson, 1982; Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1983), 65-72.

Tantric Mode of Meditation
55

but through confrontation. Jung says:
a

The supreme aim of the
opus psychologicum
is conscious realization, and the first step is to make oneself conscious of contents that have hitherto been projected.

Recognition of the needy and unpleasant beings to be helped by the beneficent rain constitutes confrontation with one’s own tendencies and predispositions. It is interesting to note that the transformation is not an instantaneous transmutation into divinity but be-gins with first
satisfying
the needs of the deprived and depraved contents.
b
Also, oral explanations from lamas indicate that the rain of ambrosia
gradually
leads these beings (psychological contents) to higher and higher levels through providing opportunities for practice, teachings, and so forth. The sense of quasi-otherness under the guise of which this practice is done has, as its basis, the same wisdom as Jung’s warning to assimilate unconscious contents through confrontation, not through identification, in order to avoid being taken over by them, as will be discussed in the next chapter. The step of healingly transforming these contents after recognizing them proceeds a step beyond Jung’s confrontational assimilation in that these forces, once confronted, not only lose much of their autonomous power but also are transformed.

Although only Highest Yoga Mantra mirrors in its deity yoga the afflicted processes
c
of (1) death, (2) intermediate state, and (3)

a
The Collected Works of C.G. Jung
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971, second printing 1974), vol. 16, para. 471 (the last number refers not to the page number but to the paragraph number, which is used for coordination between editions).

b
See the description of a similar practice done in the Vajrasattva meditation and repetition of mantra in Khetsun Sangpo,
Tantric Practice in Nyingma,
149-150.