Tantric Techniques (67 page)

stage, which he takes to be deity yoga, is the distinctive feature of Mantra. He rejects meditation on emptiness as a distinctive feature because it occurs also in the Perfection Vehicle, and he rejects bliss because Bodhisattvas of the Perfection Vehicle are able to maintain a feeling of pleasure or bliss even in the midst of extreme torture.

In a typically laconic way, Tsong-kha-pa leaves many points unsaid or only hints at them. He merely says:
a

[Ratnarak
ṣ
hita] says this, thinking that all cultivations of deity yoga are included in the generation stage, that the yogas of channels, winds, and drops are for generating bliss, and that bliss is similar [in the S
ū
tra and Mantra Great Vehicles].

Tsong-kha-pa is making several points important to his own sys-tem:

1. Although all four tantra sets involve deity yoga, only Highest Yoga Mantra has a generation stage; Action, Performance, and Yoga Tantra do not. The reason is that the deity yoga of the generation stage in Highest Yoga Mantra must be modeled after the processes of death, intermediate state, and rebirth, whereas the three lower tantras, while using deity yoga, do not present this way. Specifically, the meditation on emptiness that is at the beginning of deity yoga must, in Highest Yoga Mantra, include a mimicking of the eight signs of death:
   

   four appearances
   

   1. like a mirage
      

   2. like smoke
      

   3. like fireflies within smoke, and
      

   4. like the flame of a butter lamp
      

      the dawning of three subtler consciousnesses
      

   5. the mind of vivid white appearance
      

   6. the mind of vivid red or orange increase, and
      

   7. the mind of vivid black near attainment
      

      and the dawning of the most subtle consciousness
      

   8. the mind of clear light.
      

      

      h
      ā
      tantrar
      ā
      jasya padmin
      ī
      n
      ā
      mapañjik
      ā
      ;
      P2137, vol. 51.
      

      a
      Tantra in Tibet,
      144.
      

      280
      Tantric Techniques
      

      

      This is called “bringing death to the path as the Body of Attributes.” The yoga must also mimic the process of assuming an intermediate state through appearance as a seed syllable and then the process of rebirth through appearance in divine physical form. These latter two are called “bringing the intermediate state and birth to the path as the Complete Enjoyment Body and Emanation Body” respectively. Since the deity yogas of the three lower tantras—Action, Performance, and Yoga—do not involve such a patterning on the stages of being born in cyclic existence, they cannot fulfill the characteristics of a generation stage. Since the generation stage does not occur in three out of the four tantra sets, it cannot differentiate the S
      ū
      tra and Mantra Great Vehicles, and thus Ratnarak
      ṣ
      hita is wrong to hold that the generation stage is the distinctive feature of Mantra.
      

2. Just as meditation on emptiness occurs in Highest Yoga Mantra in both the generation stage and the completion stage, deity yoga also occurs in both stages. (The distinctive feature of the completion stage is that the three subtler minds and the fourth subtlest one are
   actually
   manifested through causing the winds to enter, dissolve, and remain in the central channel.) Therefore, Ratnarak
   ṣ
   hita is wrong in holding that all cultivations of deity yoga are included in the generation stage.
   

3. The blissful minds generated in the completion stage in Highest Yoga Mantra are more subtle consciousnesses than any generated through S
   ū
   tra practice, and once generated, they are used to realize the emptiness of inherent existence. Hence, Ratnarak
   ṣ
   hita is wrong in holding that bliss is similar in the S
   ū
   tra and Mantra Great Vehicles.
   

According to Tsong-kha-pa, when these points are not differentiated, the distinctive features of Highest Yoga Mantra are blurred. It can be seen that one of his aims in finely and critically delineating the difference between the S
ū
tra and Mantra Great Vehicles is so that the uncommon techniques of Highest Yoga Mantra can be appreciated. The doctrine of the most esoteric system affects the presentation of the less esoteric.

Refutation of Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la

The second position that Tsong-kha-pa examines is that of

Tsong-kha-pa’s Reasoned Analysis of Path-Structure
281

Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la as found in his
Lamp for the Three Modes
.
a
Though Tsong-kha-pa earlier
b
cited the
Lamp for the Three Modes
as a source for the division of vehicles into three types—Lesser Vehicle, S
ū
tra Great Vehicle, and Mantra Great Vehicle—from the viewpoint of trainees’ interests (and abilities) and although he cites it later
c
as a source for etymologies of the names of the four tantra sets, here he presents and refutes the
Lamp for the Three Modes
at length. Since, as we have seen, Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s presentation is central to the expositions not only of Bu-tön and Long-chen-pa (as well as other major scholars in Tibetan orders), Tsong-kha-pa’s refutation of it is a radical and dramatic attempt to change the focus of tantric exposition. Let us consider the refutation in detail.

Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la holds that the Mantra Vehicle is superior by way of four features: being for the nonobscured, having many methods, not being difficult, and being contrived for those of sharp faculties. Bu-tön paraphrases Tripi
ṭ
akam
ā
la’s own explanation of these, and Tsong-kha-pa condenses it (both without, to my sight, any war-page), and I shall condense it even further.

1. Being for the nonobscured.
   Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la explains that those following the Perfection Vehicle try to complete the perfection of giving, for instance, by physical acts of charity that include, in dire instances, even giving away one’s own body. He says that followers of the Mantra Vehicle see that since “a perfection is the ability to fulfill a want of all sentient beings simultaneously”
   d
   and since this cannot possibly be done by giving away one’s body, head, or the like, M
   ā
   ntrikas engage in the superior technique of meditatively satisfying the wishes of all beings. This lack of obscuration, according to Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la, characterizes the trainees of the Mantra Vehicle as superior.
   

   Tsong-kha-pa disagrees with Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la’s basic notion of how the Perfection Vehicle describes fulfillment of a perfection. He cites Sh
   ā
   ntideva’s description of the perfection of giving in his
   Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds,
   e
   an unchallengeable treatise of S
   ū
   tra Great Vehicle:
   

   

   a
   Ibid., 145-150.
   

   b
   Ibid., 91.
   

   c
   Ibid., 163-164.
   

   d
   Ibid., 145.
   

   e
   V.9-10.
   

   282
   Tantric Techniques
   

   

   If through eliminating the poverty of beings A perfection of giving occurred,
   

   Then since there are still poor beings, how did The former Protectors achieve perfection?
   

   Through an attitude of giving to all beings All one’s possessions with their fruits
   

   A perfection of giving is said to occur, Thus it is just in attitude.
   

   According to Sh
   ā
   ntideva, the perfection of giving is a matter of bringing the
   attitude
   of generosity to full development, not of satisfying the wants of all sentient beings. Otherwise, a perfection of giving never could have previously occurred, since obviously there are still beggars in the world. In that case, Sh
   ā
   kyamuni Buddha could not have become enlightened, since he would not have attained the perfection of giving. Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la’s description of this first feature of Mantra’s being for the nonobscured is, as Tsong-kha-pa says, “in trouble.”
   a
   

2. Having many methods.
   Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la explains that the techniques of the S
   ū
   tra system are all peaceful and thus “cannot take care of all sentient beings.”
   b
   It might seem that he is suggesting that the achievement of activities of pacification, increase, control, and ferocity in Mantra is unique to Mantra, but he does not even mention this line of argument and, instead, speaks of the mental, verbal, and physical aspects of ma
   ṇḍ
   ala meditation for the sake of undermining a single afflictive emotion, such as desire. Tsong-kha- pa does not address this explanation, only mentioning
   c
   that Tibetan explanations of this feature as referring to the four types of activities are not based on Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la’s own words.
   

3. and 4.
   Not being difficult and being contrived for those of sharp faculties.
   Under these headings Tripi
   ṭ
   akam
   ā
   la discusses four levels of capacity of Mantra trainees: