Tantric Techniques (14 page)

c
Tsong-kha-pa gives this opinion in his explication of Yoga Tantra in the
Great Exposition of the Stages of Secret Mantra:

Cultivation of deity yoga in the pattern of the stages of production of [a life] in cyclic existence [mimicking the process of death, intermediate state, and rebirth]—the thoroughly afflicted class [of phenomena]—is not set forth in any reliable text of the three lower tantra sets; consequently, such is a distinguishing feature of Highest Yoga Mantra. However, [in the three lower tantra sets] there is a cultivation of deity yoga in the pattern of the very pure class [of phenomena], for the cultivation of the five manifest enlightenments [in Yoga Tantra, for instance] is said to be meditation within assuming the pride of such and such [stage] in

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Tantric Techniques

rebirth by (1) mimicking the eight signs of death,
a
appearing (2) as a seed syllable, and then (3) as a deity with a physical body, it strikes me that these stages of gradual appearance as a deity in Action Tan-tra mirror, in pure form, an ordinary, uncontrolled process of appearance—the imitation being for the sake of gaining control over it. Given the selfishness of ordinary life, there must be a phase in the process of awakening after sleep opposite to the compassionate emanation of myriad helpful forms. In ordinary, selfish life, the corresponding psychological structuring of our relation to the environment would be the emanation of forms similar to ourselves for the sake of warding off anyone who would interrupt our pleasure, making sure that disease visits others and not ourselves, wreaking havoc on others for the sake of control, and so forth. It also may be that this process in ordinary life is so out of control that one emanates forms that destroy one’s own welfare, much like dream be-ings that pursue us or a paranoiac’s attackers.

In this transmutory practice, after the enactment of such compassionate activity, the rays and deities return with actualized (not just potential) compassion to dissolve with all their power and experience into the moon, letters, and hand-symbol which turn into the deity. The meditator now could not view the deity as just a neutral appearance of light in a certain form but must see and feel it as an active expression of compassion and wisdom. Ke-drup says:

Then, from those letters innumerable rays of light are emitted, at the points of which innumerable aspects of the body of just that deity being meditated are emitted. These purify all ill deeds, obstructions, and sufferings of all sentient beings and delight all the Buddhas as well as their children [that is, Bodhisattvas] with offerings. Then the rays of light together with the deities again gather, dissolving into the letters, due to which the moon together

accordance with the stages of full purification of Bodhisattvas in their last lifetime.

See H.H the Dalai Lama, Tsong-kha-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
Yoga Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2005), 76.

a
Mirage, smoke, fireflies, flame of a butter lamp, mind of vivid white appearance, mind of vivid red or orange increase, mind of vivid black near attainment, and mind of clear light. See Lati Rinbochay and Jeffrey Hopkins,
Death, Intermediate State, and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism
(London: Rider/Hutchinson, 1980; Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1980), 15-19 and 32-46.

Tantric Mode of Meditation
57

with the letters thoroughly transforms into the body of whatever deity is being meditated. Observation of the full generation of this divine body is the form deity. When doing approximation upon cultivating self-generation, ex-cept for just the principal [figure] it is not necessary to meditate on the surrounding [figures], inestimable mansion, and so forth.

The rays of light emitted from the moon, which itself is a manifestation of the mind realizing the ultimate deity, are endowed with compassionate potential for appearance in forms working the weal of sentient beings. One has appeared in divine form, the essence of which is the wisdom of emptiness and active compassion.

Still, self-generation is not complete. The imagined deity must be further enhanced.

Seal deity.
Enhancement is accomplished through uttering mantra at the same time as physically touching important places on one’s imagined divine body with a hand-gesture called a seal.
a
Dül-dzin- drak-pa-gyel-tsen says:

The seal deity is to construct the pledge seal of the particular lineage and to bless into a magnificent state the heart, point between the brows, the neck, and the shoulders through touching them with the seal and repeating the pledge mantra.

The one pledge seal of the particular lineage may be used or individual seals for each of the places may be used. Ke-drup speaks of touching not five (counting the shoulders as two) but nine places:

Then, touch the crown protrusion, hair-treasury [a single coiled hair in the middle of the brow], eyes, the two shoulders, neck, heart, and navel with the individual mantras and seals if you know them. If you do not know that much, do it with the single mantra and seal of whatever the general lineage is from among the three lineages [One-Gone- Thus,
b
lotus, and vajra lineages]. Touching and blessing those places into a magnificence is the seal deity. It is the equivalent of blessing the [six] sense spheres [that is, sense

a
phyag rgya
,
mudr
ā
.

b
de bzhin gshegs pa
.

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Tantric Techniques

organs] in the higher tantras.

The word for “blessing”
a
means to transform into a magnificent state. Thus, with each mantra and touch the meditator imagines a heightening of the particular area of the divine body in terms of its brilliance and magnificence. This is a further sanctifying of an appearance that is already sacred due to being a manifestation of wis-dom and compassion.

Sign deity
.
Now that all the signs of a full-fledged deity are present, the meditator, based on clear appearance of pure mind and body, can gain a sense of divine personhood or selfhood. Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen says:

The sign deity is, within observing just that deity that has been generated, to perform analytical meditation— visualizing it [more clearly] and so forth—as well as the stabilizing meditation of mental one-pointedness.

Two types of meditation are used,
analytical,
which involves particular attention to details or brightening of the object, and
stabilizing,
which is one-pointed attention on just one aspect.

For deity yoga to succeed, two prime factors are needed—clear appearance of a divine body and pride in being that deity. Ke-drup says:

Then, clearly visualizing the aspect of the deity and making the pride [of being the deity] firm, mentally observe it one-pointedly. This is the sign deity.

With success in visualizing the deity, both mind and body appear to be pure; hence, the sense of self that the meditator has in dependence upon purely appearing mind and body is of a pure self, a di-vine self. About such divine pride, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama says in
Tantra in Tibet:
b

…initially one meditates on an emptiness, and then, within the context of the mind’s continuous ascertainment of emptiness, the meditator believes that he/she is using this mind as the basis [or source] of appearance. At that time, the sense of a mere “I” designated in dependence on the

a
byin gyis rlobs pa, adhi
ṣṭ
h
ā
na
.

b
Tantra in Tibet,
64.

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