Tantric Techniques (90 page)

Buddhaguhya’s
Condensation of the Vairocan
ā
bhisa
ṃ
bodhi
(
Vairocan
ā
bhisa
ṃ
bodhitantrapi
ṇḍā
rtha
).

In summary, the two individual Mah
ā
y
ā
nas are posited from the viewpoint of having or not having cultivation of a path having the four complete purities of the fruition [the body, abodes, resources, and activities of a buddha] or having three features [a very pure object, the power of aids, and deeds]. Ratn
ā
kara
śā
nti’s
Presentation of the Three Vehicles
(
Triy
ā
navyavasth
ā
na
) says:

Due to a very pure object, The power of aids, and deeds, The vehicle of the intelligent

Is known as the great of the great.
a

Regarding this someone objects:
“It follows that it is not correct to define the Vajra Vehicle as that which abides in the class of being Mah
ā
y
ā
na and having cultivation of a path according in aspect with a form body that is the fruition, for it is established that achievement by a cause similar to the effect is extremely indefinite. If you say that it is not the case, then it follows that a body adorned with the major and secondary marks of a universal monarch (
cakravar-tin
), for example, or the physical base of a happy or bad transmigration must be achieved by a cause similar in aspect with it.”

Answer:
It is true that there would be a fault if one propounded that a path according in aspect with that [form body] is necessary for a maturation cause to take birth as a form body adorned with the major and secondary marks of a buddha, the fruition. However, we do not assert this. There is a reason for distinguishing the two Mah
ā
y
ā
nas by whether or not, within the context of the Mah
ā
y
ā
na, they have cultivation of a path that accords in aspect with a form body, the fruition. For there is a very great difference in the way a follower of the Perfection Vehicle and a follower of the Vajra Vehicle achieve a form body adorned with the major and secondary marks of a buddha, the fruition.
b

Those of the Perfection Vehicle assert that the cause of the ent-ity of a form body is the collection of merit, whereas the particular causes of the instances of the major and secondary marks and so forth are to escort one’s guru and so forth. Through accustoming to these [causes] over many lives, a [high] stage (
bh
ū
mi
) is attained;

a
Cone: rgyud
tsu,
100b2.

b
Textual note at 13a6: mistakenly reads
gsang sngags
instead of
sangs rgyas
.

The First Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama’s Reformulation
377

the mode of assuming a birth of maturation improves, and finally, during the last lifetime, one attains the major and secondary marks of a learner and actualizes a truth body. A continuation of similar type of the major and secondary marks of a learner turns into a body adorned with the major and minor marks of a nonlearner.

Beginners in the Vajra Vehicle system who achieve buddhahood in one lifetime do not have marks naturally with them from birth, as is the case with those in their last lifetime in the Perfection Vehicle. Because that maturation body [an ordinary body] also does not turn into an enjoyment body, they must newly achieve a form body adorned with major and secondary marks of buddhahood, the fruition, and there is no means to achieve it other than deity yoga. Since this definitely is the cultivation of a path similar in aspect with a form body, the difference [between the vehicles] is very great.

Objection:
The fruitions of the two Mah
ā
y
ā
nas differ in superiority and inferiority because the paths for achieving those fruitions differ. It so follows because the difference in the paths is meaningful and because the thirteenth stage of a Vajradhara is superior to the eleventh stage of Complete Light in the Perfection Vehicle. The
Sa
ṃ
pu
ṭ
a Tantra
says:

In short, in this birth you will achieve, By the most excellent bliss

The buddhahood achieved over Countless eons or ten million eons Or the state of Vajradhara.

Also, the same text says, “In this birth you will attain either buddhahood or [the state of] Vajradhara. Those who do not attain the state beyond thought are
sugatas
, buddhas.”

Response:
This is not correct because there is the fallacy of internal contradiction in asserting these passages of the
Sa
ṃ
pu
ṭ
a Tan-tra
to be literal and asserting the passage from the
Lamp for the Three Modes
[which says that the goal is the same] to be literal. This assertion is also not correct because in that passage [just cited] the teaching is not of having a choice between attaining the buddhahood explained in the Perfection Vehicle or attaining the state of Vajradhara explained in the Vajra Vehicle. Further, the “buddha” literally indicated in that passage and the buddhahood of abiding in the eleventh stage, Complete Light, of the Perfection Vehicle’s own

378
Tantric Techniques

path are not synonymous. For the “buddha” literally indicated in that passage and that in the following passage from the
Ornament for the Realizations
are the same:

Passing the ninth stage, the wisdom

By which one abides on the stage of a buddha Is known as the tenth

Stage of a bodhisattva.

Therefore, another thirteenth stage of a Vajradhara that is superior to the eleventh stage of Complete Light does not exist. However, the description in the Vajra Vehicle of the modes of the twelve, thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen stages,
etc.
is a positing [of stages] by way of either further division or consolidation. Though the two, the Perfection Vehicle and the Vajra Vehicle, do not differ in superiority and inferiority regarding the fruition, a difference of superiority and inferiority in the causes is however not meaningless. For, by reason of there being a difference in superiority and inferiority of causes, there is a great difference in the speed of progressing on the path in the two vehicles.

Detailed explanation of the divisions of entry into the Vajra Vehicle

This section has three parts: the different doors of entry into Man-tra, identification of the features that posit the different doors of entry, and the mode of proceeding on paths possessing those features. [The first two parts are translated here.]

The different doors of entry into Mantra The
Vajrapañjara
says:

Action Tantra is for the low.

The yoga without actions is for those above that. The superior yoga is for superior beings.

Highest yoga is for those above that.
a

Because Action Tantras were set forth for low disciples, Performance Tantras for middling disciples—those above them—Yoga Tantras for superior disciples, and Highest Yoga Tantras for the superior of the superior, four sets of tantras are posited from the viewpoint of four different doors of entry.
Ś
raddh
ā
karavarma’s

a
P11, vol. 1, 234.1.5-6.

The First Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama’s Reformulation
379

Introduction to the Meaning of Highest Yoga Tantra
says, “These are known in general as Action, Performance, Yoga, and Highest Yoga Tantras.”
a

Identification of the features that posit the different doors of entry

Why are the four doors of entry of the different sets of tantras explained from the standpoint of superiority and inferiority of disciples?

They cannot be posited by way of only the inferiority and superiority of disciples, because if they were, one would have to posit five doors that are different sets of tantras for
Guhyasam
ā
ja
[alone]. This is because it says in the
Compendium of Wisdom Vajras
(
Vajrajñ
ā
nasamuccaya
) that regarding the disciples of the
Guhyasam
ā
ja
, there are five: persons who are like the white lotus, utpala, lotus, sandalwood, and a jewel.

The four sets of tantras cannot be posited from the standpoint of superiority and inferiority of view or object of attainment, the fruition, because neither of those has any difference in the four sets of tantras.
b
Four sets of tantras cannot be posited from the standpoint of a difference in the general body of the path for achieving a truth body and a form body, because there is no difference among the four with respect to traveling a path whose life is constituted by the yoga of nonduality of the profound and the manifest, which is a union of two: the wisdom realizing emptiness—the profound—and deity yoga—the vast—and because all these are of one type, the Va-jra Vehicle. The four sets of tantras are not posited from the viewpoint of different rites of deity generation, because if they were, even in the individual sets of tantra, there would be the fault of it being the case that many doors of entry which are different sets of tantras would have to be posited.