Cây Giác Ngộ

as well as for the Vajrayana tradition. There is complete agree-

ment between the two up to this point. There is also complete

agreement about the distinction between indirect knowledge

and direct knowledge.

The distinction between understanding the truth intellec-

tually and seeing the truth directly is, of course, recognized

throughout the Buddhist tradition. For example, in the Theravada

tradition, there is recognition of the difference between under-

standing the Four Noble Truths intellectually and seeing them

directly. In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, the crux of

the matter is whether our knowledge of the identity of samsara

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and nirvana is intellectual or direct and experiential.

If we follow the procedures laid down in the Perfection of

Wisdom literature – the arguments spelled out by Nagarjuna,

Asanga, and Vasubandhu – we arrive at an intellectual, indirect

understanding of the non-differentiation of subject and object,

samsara and nirvana. It is with the quicker, more skillful meth-

ods by which indirect intellectual understanding is turned into

direct and transforming understanding that Vajrayana method-

ology comes into play.

The key to an understanding of Vajrayana methodology per

se is an understanding of the emptiness of all things. All phe-

nomena (dharmas) are nothing in themselves. They are what they

are insofar as they are conceived of by the mind. Let me refer

to two examples from the Theravada tradition to illustrate this

point of the emptiness, or neutrality, of all phenomena. In the

Discourse of the Water Snake, Alagaddupama Sutta, the Buddha

likens all phenomena to a water-snake and to a raft. He says that

someone who is skilled at handling a water-snake can capture

and handle it without coming to grief, but someone who is not

skilled will come to grief if he tries to capture one. He also says

that phenomena are like a raft, in that we do not need to hold

onto them, just as we do not need to hold onto a raft once we

have crossed a river.

The Buddha’s discourse expresses very brilliantly and suc-

cinctly the emptiness and neutrality of phenomena. All phenom-

ena are neither this nor that. They are neutral, dependent on how

we take or use them. It is not in the nature of a water-snake to

cause grief; rather, grief depends on the manner in which the

water-snake is caught. Similarly, a knife is neither true nor false,

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but one who grasps it by the blade is surely in error. If we grasp

a knife by its blade, we hurt ourselves, but if we grasp it by the

handle, we are able to use it. If we use a raft to cross a river, we

are using it properly; if we carry the raft on our shoulders after

crossing the river, we are making a mistake. The usefulness or

lack of usefulness of phenomena lies not in phenomena them-

selves but in the way we use them.

This is true not only of objects but also of mental states

like desire and aversion. For example, there is the story of the

Buddha’s instruction to his cousin Nanda, who was persuaded

to join the Order on the day he was to have married. After his

ordination, Nanda began to miss his fiancé and regret that he

had entered the Order. The Buddha was aware of Nanda’s state

of mind, so he took him on a trip to the heavens to show him

the lovely, heavenly damsels there. Nanda was so infatuated

by the maidens in the heavens that, when he was asked how

they compared to his fiancé, he replied that, beside them, his

fiancé looked like the skeleton of a female monkey. The Buddha

advised Nanda that if he wanted to enjoy the heavenly dam-

sels in his next life, the best way to do so was to remain in the

Buddhist Order and practice the Dharma.

Nanda went back to the Order with renewed zeal. When the

other monks found out why Nanda was practicing so diligently,

they teased him. Eventually Nanda realized the hollowness of

his motivation and became an Arhat known as the foremost of

those who are able to control their senses. This is an example of

the neutrality of the mental state of desire. At a particular point

in Nanda’s progress, the Buddha used desire as a motivation to

get Nanda to settle down and practice diligently.

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Thus we can see that not only are objects like water-snakes,

rafts, and knives neutral and dependent on how we take or use

them, but mental states, also, are nothing in themselves: they

depend on how we use them, whether for spiritual progress or

spiritual retardation. This is why the Buddha said that ‘killing

anger benefits the killer.’ Aversion is neither good nor bad. If one

is averse to unwholesome actions, this is conducive to the goal of

liberation, but if one is averse to wholesome actions, this is not

conducive to good. To reiterate, all phenomena are basically neutral or empty.

How they affect our progress depends on how we take them

and what we do with them. This is the insight or attitude which

has been developed in the Vajrayana and which has enabled the

Vajrayana to use particular methods that utilize all phenomena

for spiritual progress. This is the key to the acceleration that

Vajrayana methods bring to spiritual progress.

To the extent that we use only part of our experience to make

progress toward the goal of liberation, our progress is, inevitably,

slower. For example, how much time do any of us spend in medi-

tation or in recitation? Most of our time is spent instead on eating,

sleeping, or chatting with our friends. We are wasting all that

time, and all that experience is not being used to make progress

toward the goal of enlightenment. It is here that the Vajrayana

makes use of the idea of the basic neutrality of all phenomena,

for if all phenomena are empty, why not make use of them – all

sights, sounds, and mental states – for spiritual progress?

This is why the Vajrayana is said to regard all sights, sounds,

and mental states as deities, mantras, and the transcendental

dimension of Buddhahood. Everything that we see, hear, and

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think is really neutral and empty. If we take these sights, sounds,

and thoughts to be manifestations of the pure vision of enlight-

enment, we can utilize these elements of experience to contrib-

ute to our progress toward enlightenment. I will explain this in

greater detail in the chapters that follow, but let me give you

an example at this point. The cup that I am holding belongs to

the aggregate of form, which is a manifestation of the celestial

Buddha Vairochana. The object, which belongs to the aggre-

gate of form, is therefore not simply a cup but a dimension of

the Buddha Vairochana. This is what is meant when it is said

in the Vajrayana that one regards all sights as the deities, as

the particular manifestations of a purified reality. By a particu-

lar act of the mind, we can similarly regard all sounds as man-

tras and all mental states as the transcendental dimension of

Buddhahood.

This careful utilization of sights, sounds, and mental states is

especially evident in the form of the Vajrayana ritual of medita-

tion. In this context the Vajrayana practice of meditation may be

likened to a raft – a raft that is composed of sights, sounds, and

mental states. In the Vajrayana ritual, for example, there is a visual

component, which is the visualization of any one of the deities of

the pantheon; an auditory component, which is the recitation of

the mantra; and a mental component, which is the identification

of the meditator with the object of meditation and the cultivation

of the understanding of nonduality and emptiness.

This will become clearer in later chapters. For the time being,

I would like to conclude by observing that the ritual of Vajrayana

meditation practice employs these three components – visual,

auditory, and mental – in order to create a ‘raft of ritual’ that uti-

257

lizes a variety of phenomena, and that this provides a particu-

larly efficient form of meditation.

Those of you who practice breathing meditation or other

forms of meditation will appreciate the truth of this. If you are

trying to meditate only on your breath, there may be a point at

which your mind becomes tired of trying to concentrate only on

the breath and begins to wander. If you are chanting, your mind

may become tired of the words of the chant. If you are doing

insight meditation, your mind may become tired of the penetra-

tive analysis of phenomena. Because of the multifaceted char-

acter of Vajrayana meditation practice, when the mind becomes

tired and irritated and is no longer able to concentrate on the

visualized form of the deity, it can concentrate on the mantra;

when it becomes tired of concentrating on the mantra, it can

concentrate on emptiness; and when it becomes tired of that, it

can go back to the visualized form of the deity.

Indeed, Vajrayana ritual is more effective as a means of medi-

tation precisely because of its multidimensional character: rather

than setting up a confrontation with the tendency of the mind to

become distracted, it utilizes that tendency. Thus Vajrayana medi-

tation actually lets the mind wander, although it is only allowed

to wander within a particular compass of religious or spiritual

meaning, so that no matter what the mind rests on – whether the

visualized form of the deity, the mantra, the identification of the

meditator with the form of the deity, or even the emptiness of

that form – it is resting on something that has spiritual power.

The Vajrayana ritual is also like a raft in the sense that it is

not anything to be grasped. It is a means, or method, and noth-

ing more. This ritual is also not supposed to be confined to ses-

258

sions of formal meditation but to be extended to all our activi-

ties, both within and outside of meditation sessions. While in

the meditation session, we visualize the form of the deity, recite

the mantra, and cultivate both an understanding of identity with

the form of the deity and an understanding of the emptiness of

that form. Thereafter, this view is extended beyond the limits of

the meditation session to encompass all our activities.

Wherever we are and whatever we do, the totality of our

experience is made a part of this ‘raft of meditation practice,’

so that we can incorporate and utilize all this energy and expe-

rience in our practice. As we go about our daily activities, we

perceive sights, sounds, and mental states in this special, trans-

formed way. In other words, we grasp the elements of our entire

experience by the handle, not by the blade. Through the tech-

niques of Vajrayana meditation, we learn to handle these sights,

sounds, and mental states skillfully, so that we do not come to

grief. We learn to handle sights that we see, sounds that we hear,

and mental states that we experience so that, instead of being

ensnared by these experiences, we can use them for our mental

development and progress toward enlightenment.

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CHAPTER T WENTY-FIVE

Myth and Symbolism

In Chapter 24 we talked about how the special characteristic of

the Vajrayana is its use of the totality of experience to achieve

direct or immediate knowledge of nonduality. In turning the

totality of experience to the use of this spiritual or religious

endeavor, it is important that we select elements of experi-

ence that are specially powerful and meaningful. This does not

exclude using the totality of our experience for our spiritual prog-

ress. Rather, it means that we focus first on types of experience

that are particularly powerful and meaningful, using them as

the building blocks of our transformed vision. We then extend

that transformed experience so that it eventually encompasses all

experiences, even those that were originally less significant.

Initially, then, we select elements of experience that are spe-

cially potent and powerful. In the process, certain archetypal

elements are isolated. Archetypal elements of experience are

those that have a very deep-seated mode of being within both an

individual consciousness and our collective consciousness (that

is, the sum total of all individual consciousness).

Let us look at some specific examples of archetypal experi-

ence. The first belongs to the realm of myth. The most dominant

feature of myth is the struggle between good and evil. This is

perhaps the primordial, fundamental mythological theme, and

has been worked out in myths from the beginning of time up to

the present day. For example, the crux of the contest between

Rama and Ravana in the Ramayana is the struggle between

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the forces of good and the forces of evil, and this continues to

be a dominant theme in most popular myths. Not so long ago,

we even saw the theme of the struggle between good and evil

mythologized in the popular science-fiction movie Star Wars.

We see this theme also in the attitudes and rhetoric of pol-

iticians and national leaders. For example, when U.S. President

Ronald Reagan called the USSR ‘the Evil Empire,’ he was bor-

rowing a phrase from Star Wars to indicate his conviction that

the struggle between the democratic world and the commu-

nist world was one of good against evil. This is a very important

theme in human culture. When we call this theme a mythologi-

cal one, it does not devalue it. If anything, this increases its value

because it gives that theme a superhuman dimension, a univer-

sal significance. To call a theme mythological does not make it

unreal – in fact, it makes it more so.

Good and evil are, of course, a duality (like subject and object,

self and other, samsara and nirvana, and the rest).The transcen-

dence of the duality of good and evil, the mastery of and assim-

ilation of evil by good, is represented symbolically in the appear-

ance of the deities of the Vajrayana pantheon. In Chapter 24, we

talked about how we could transform elements of experience

and put make use of them for our spiritual progress. What we

have here is the mastery of what we would normally think of as

evil by good – namely, the assimilation and transformation of the

mythical totality of evil in the form of specific elements of the

Vajrayana pantheon.

This explains the general appearance of the deities of the

Vajrayana pantheon. Those of you who have seen tantric paint-

ings and sculptures may have wondered why the deities wear

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necklaces of severed heads, ornaments of bone, and so forth, and

also at the prevalence of animal skins, skeletons, weapons, and

the like. Why, in Vajrayana iconography, is there so much of the

macabre?

The answer is that the ornaments of bone, human and ani-

mal parts, weapons, and so on are all paraphernalia of the forces

of evil as they are conceived of in our collective consciousness.

The fact that they are now worn and wielded by Vajrayana deities

symbolizes several things: (1) it symbolizes the victory of good

over evil; (2) it indicates the use of the power of evil for the pur-

pose of good; and most importantly, (3) it represents the union

and transcendence of the duality of good and evil, nirvana and

samsara.

On a mythical scale, this is how we are to understand the

particular nature of the appearance of the Vajrayana deities – as

an expression of the mastery and transformation of evil, and as an

expression of the transcendence of the duality of good and evil.

The Vajrayana also promotes the equality of objects of desire

and aversion. This equality implies transcendence of the oppo-

sites of desire and aversion, good and evil. In the symbolism of

the Vajrayana, we find objects of desire and aversion in close

proximity. For example, we find jewels and severed heads, a

desirable female form and a corpse, lotuses, the sun and the

moon and blood, meat and bones side by side in the same por-

trait. All these objects occurring side by side are symbolic of the

transcendence of the dualities of good and evil, desirable and

undesirable, pure and impure, and the like.

Let us examine, in slightly more concrete terms, the par-

ticular forms of some of the archetypal symbols we find in the

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Vajrayana, many of which have still to do with the transcendence

of duality. First let us consider the symbol of the union of male

and female, which is so dominant in the Vajrayana tradition.

This is a symbol that is archetypal in the sense that it has always

been a fundamental part of the experience of living beings. It is

a deep-seated element in the individual and collective conscious-

ness of living beings. The union of male and female has served

as a symbol of the union of opposites – very often as a symbol of

the union of heaven and earth – in the arts, poetry, and literature

of most cultures at one time or another.

In the Vajrayana, we find the prevalent use of this very pow-

erful and meaningful element of experience to depict or symbol-

ize the union of emptiness and form, nirvana and samsara, wis-

dom and compassion. The female aspect stands for emptiness,

nirvana, and wisdom, as we saw in Chapter 22, where insubstan-

tiality was represented in the form of the goddesses Nairatmya

and Vajravarahi. The male aspect stands for form (phenome-

nal appearance), samsara, and compassion (skillful means). The

female can also stand for emptiness and the male for luminos-

ity, and so on.

Another prevalent symbol used in Vajrayana iconography

is the tree, which is a symbol of life, growth, and development.

When taking refuge at the beginning of a session of Vajrayana

meditation, the meditator often pictures the objects of refuge

placed in a tree. Like the union of male and female, the tree is

an archetypal symbol that has cross-cultural significance.

I have been surprised to find the tree appearing in the sym-

bolism of almost all the major religious and cultural traditions

throughout the world. In the Christian tradition, we find the tree

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of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. In the Buddhist tradition,

too, the tree is an important archetypal symbol. Specifically, the

refuge tree may be identified with the pipal or bodhi tree. But the

tree of enlightenment goes back to a period in Indian cultural

history before the time of the Buddha Shakyamuni. It seems also

to have been important to the people of the Indus Valley civili-

zation, which flourished in the third millennium b.c.e.

If we look further at Vajrayana iconography, we often find a

deity placed upon a throne in a tree. The throne is an archetypal

symbol of royalty, of sovereignty and mastery, as are the crown

and scepter. You may recall that in Chapter 22 we said that the

Vajrayana takes its name from the vajra, the scepter of Indra,

which is a symbol of mastery. There is no doubt that these sym-

bols are important in our individual and collective consciousness.

Even in republican societies, there is a great fascination with

royalty. Americans probably read more about the English royal

family than do Englishmen. There are probably more television

documentaries and dramatizations about the English royal fam-

ily produced in America than in England. Even the institution

of the presidency has come to be associated with all kinds of

symbols of sovereignty.

Like the symbol of the tree, royal symbolism is found in

most of the major religious traditions. Jesus spoke about the

kingdom of God and was called the king of the Jews. The

Buddha has been called the king of the Dharma and the king

of physicians. The first discourse the Buddha delivered, pop-

ularly known as The Discourse of the Turning of the Wheel of the

Dharma (Dhammachakkappavattana Sutta), is actually entitled

The Discourse of the Founding of the Kingdom of the Dharma.

264

Like the tree, light and water occupy prominent places in

Vajrayana symbolism. Fire often surrounds the deities. Light is an

important medium for identification between the meditator and

the visualized forms of the deities. Fire and light are very impor-

tant and meaningful elements of our human experience. It is prob-

ably through the discovery of fire that people became civilized.

All of this is still very clearly evident today, for don’t we all like to

kindle, watch, and manipulate fire? In the Vajrayana tradition, fire

stands for the flames that consume and destroy ignorance.

Water is more crucial to our existence than food and is, of

course, necessary for the fertility of the earth. Not surprisingly,

water also plays an important role in the Vajrayana, where it is

the symbol of initiation – the tantric ritual which stimulates the

seed of spiritual potential. Just as by watering the soil, a seed of

grain comes to life, so by being sprinkled in the ritual of initi-

ation, the seed of one’s spiritual potential puts forth its sprout,

which can then grow into the fully realized and transformed

mode of being, the reality of Buddhahood.

The symbol of the lotus is not peculiar only to the Vajrayana

but exists in all Buddhist iconography. It is more culturally spe-

cific than the other symbols we have considered thus far. The

lotus is perhaps most closely linked with the Indian cultural con-

sciousness, where it is a powerful symbol of spiritual growth and

transformation. For this reason, it appears in the Vajrayana as a

symbol of spiritual growth, transcendence, and transformation.

In the Vajrayana, there is also the very particular use of let-

ters, words, and mantras. This is, again, archetypal, in the sense

that it is a deep-seated and powerful element in the individual

and collective consciousness. For ‘primitive’ and ‘modern’ people

265

alike, the name of a thing is a source of power over it. Ancient

peoples achieved mastery over the forces of nature by giving

those forces names. For instance, by calling the thunderstorm

‘Indra,’ the old Brahmins established a mechanism and degree

of control over it. This is also clearly reflected in our own expe-

rience. If someone side-swipes your car in the parking lot, you

do not have any power over him or her if you do not know their

name, but if you know the name of the person responsible, you

can claim damages. Names are, therefore, power. In a sense, a

name creates the reality of the object for which it stands. For

example, when I say the word ‘diamond,’ in a sense the reality of

that object is created for all of us. Recognizing this power of let-

ters, names, and words, the Vajrayana employs them in the form

of mantras in order to bring about a certain kind of reality.

In the Vajrayana, the naive assumption of the power inher-

ent in names that was characteristic of early human existence is

replaced by a critical understanding of the way names and words

work to create a particular reality. The way they work is through

the power of the mind. It is the power of the mind that enables

letters, words, names, and mantras to possess a particular kind

of creative reality.

Thus we find, in Vajrayana symbolism, a liberal and inten-

tional use of these verbal symbols as vehicles for concentrating

the mind’s power to create and transform. For example, we sym-

bolize the mind with the Sanskrit syllable Hum, and use that

symbol as a vehicle for representing the mind visually as the seed

of the various deities of the Vajrayana pantheon. A deep-seated

archetypal role is played by letters, words, and names in our

individual and collective consciousness. The Vajrayana uses this

266

archetypal power in its symbolism, in order to describe the mind

and facilitate its use in mastering and transforming experience.

Vajrayana iconography also recognizes the importance and

significance of colors as symbols of certain tendencies and atti-

tudes. This is something that has also been acknowledged by

modern psychologists. In the mid-1930s, a famous American

psychologist persuaded a popular cigarette company to change

the logo on its packaging from green to red; overnight, sales shot

up by 50 to 60 percent. When that limited run of packages with

the red logo was sold, the manufacturer went back to the green

logo and sales dropped by the same amount. When the logo was

changed to red again, sales shot up again. Ever since, advertis-

ers and designers have paid very close attention to the effects of

color on prospective buyers.

This is also recognized in the Vajrayana tradition. There are

particular roles and uses for particular colors. White, for exam-

ple, is a symbol of purity – a significance which is common, uni-

versal, and apparent. But white is also a symbol of opaqueness,

ignorance, and, alternatively, a symbol of the knowledge of the

Dharmadhatu. This last explains why, in the mandala of the five

celestial Buddhas, Vairochana is portrayed as white in color, and

why, in the Vajrayana pantheon, Vajrasattva is portrayed as white

to indicate his importance for the purification of sins.

Blue or black is a symbol of immutability. Black, unlike any

other color, cannot be changed. Blue is a color that symbolizes

hatred, on the one hand, and the knowledge that reflects all phe-

nomena without distorting them, on the other (like the blue of

water that reflects innumerable objects impartially). Therefore, blue is the color of what is called the mirror-like knowledge.

267

Red, which is the color of fire, is a symbol of desire and also

stands for the knowledge of discrimination.

These colors are used to carry symbolic messages in connec-

tion not only with the five celestial Buddhas, but also with other

tantric deities. These messages often operate at an unconscious or

subconscious level, but their particular significance nonetheless

triggers certain emotions or reactions (again, often on a subcon-

scious level). One example of this is the fact that smokers who

bought the cigarettes with the red logo instead of the green one

did not know why they were moved to do so.

Let us now look at some of the more particular objects we

find in Vajrayana art and iconography, and at their specific mean-

ings – objects like the support, or base, of Vajrayana deities, the

objects the deities hold in their hands, and the ornaments that

adorn their bodies. The Vajrayana deity Vajrakilaya, for exam-

ple, tramples on two deities of the Hindu pantheon, Shiva and

Parvati. Initially, one might think that this is merely a kind

of triumphalism on the part of the Buddhists, but the signif-

icance is actually far more important. Shiva and Parvati stand

for the extremes of eternalism and nihilism. The base on which

Vajrakilaya stands is therefore a symbol of the transcendence, or

avoidance, of these two extremes. Again, we find the Vajrayana

deity Mahakala standing on a corpse. The corpse represents self,

ego, and substance; Mahakala’s trampling it thus represents his

triumph over the idea of self, or substance. Many of the Vajrayana deities hold knives in their hands.

This is anticipated in Mahayana iconography, where we find

Manjushri holding a sword of wisdom with which he cuts

through the net of ignorance. In the hands of the Vajrayana

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deities, too, knives are instruments symbolizing the wisdom

with which they cut through ignorance and delusion.

In Vajrayana iconography we also find deities drinking from

skull cups filled with blood, which represents the afflictions. By

drinking this blood, the deities symbolically show their ability

to assimilate and neutralize the afflictions.

We find Vajrayana deities commonly holding a vajra and bell.

The vajra is a symbol of skillful means, and the bell is a symbol

of wisdom. Their holding the vajra and bell stands for the unity

of skillful means and wisdom, appearance and emptiness, sam-

sara and nirvana.

Many Vajrayana deities, too, have crowns of five skulls on

their heads. These five skulls stand for the five transcenden-

tal knowledges, or wisdoms, that belong to the five celestial

Buddhas: (a) the knowledge of the Dharmadhatu, (b) the mir-

ror-like knowledge, (c) the knowledge of equality, (d) the know-

ledge of discrimination, and (e) the knowledge of accomplish-

ment. Many of their bodies are adorned with six ornaments of

bone – bracelets, anklets, girdles, and so forth. These six orna-

ments stand for the Six Perfections of generosity, morality, patience, energy, concentration, and wisdom.

The fact that we find such objects prevalent in Vajrayana ico-

nography does not merely indicate some kind of fascination with

the bizarre and macabre. Rather, these objects are very closely

connected with several levels of meaning: (i) a very deep uncon-

scious (or subconscious) level of meaning, (ii) a level of meaning

that has to do with cultural archetypes, and (iii) a level of mean-

ing that is very specifically and precisely related to particular ele-

ments of the Buddhist path.

269

On the broadest level, we have been dealing here with great,

sweeping dualities: mythological themes, the theme of good and

evil, the archetypes of male and female, and so forth. More spe-

cifically, we have been dealing with archetypes that have par-

ticular power and meaning for living beings – the archetypes of

the tree, throne, fire, and so on; the extremes of eternalism and

nihilism; the values of skillful means and wisdom. On an even

more specific level, we have been looking at symbolic objects

that relate to particular items of Buddhist doctrine, like the five

transcendental knowledges and Six Perfections.

What I have tried to do in this chapter is give some indi-

cation of the way Vajrayana myths and symbols work, and of

the meaning of the various portrayals and images we find in

Vajrayana iconography. It is a mistake to regard the imagery and

symbolism of the Vajrayana as in any way arbitrary, accidental,

or simply sensational. On the contrary, the Vajrayana tradition

makes a conscious and carefully calculated use of myth and sym-

bol for the particular purpose of accelerating the practitioner’s

progress toward Buddhahood.

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CHAPTER T WENTY-SIX

Psychology, Physiology, and Cosmology

In the Vajrayana tradition, psychology, physiology, and cos-

mology are closely interrelated. In this chapter I would like to

show how this is the case, and also sketch in general terms the

benefits of this interrelationship.

Let us begin by referring once again to the idea of inter-

dependence and interpenetration. Interdependence is synony-

mous with relativity, or emptiness, and it is one of the two pillars

of the Vajrayana tradition. In this particular context, interdepen-

dence has a specific meaning – namely, interpenetration. Insofar as

everything depends on everything else for its existence and nature,

so everything holds within itself the seeds, the causes and condi-

tions, of everything else. Specifically, we can understand this by

focusing on the idea of the interdependence of the parts and the

whole. The nature of the whole depends on the nature of the parts, and the nature of the parts depends on the nature of the whole. This is the interdependence of parts and whole.

Traditionally, we see this idea elaborated in the Mahayana

in parables such as that of the net of Indra. In this parable, each

part of the net depends for its existence and nature on the other

parts, and each small part of the net in a sense contains in min-

iature the characteristics of the net as a whole. This idea of inter-

dependence or interpenetration of parts and whole became very

important in China, too, where it is probably the single most

important idea in Hua-yen philosophy, or the philosophy of

totality.

271

The idea of interpenetration is found in the Vajrayana tradi-

tion as well, where we can see it expressed even in the term tan-

tra itself. You may remember that tantra refers primarily and lit-

erally to the idea of the weave in a piece of cloth or fabric (see

Chapter 22). Using the analogy of cloth or fabric, we can under-

stand the interpenetration of parts and whole when we see that a

small section of fabric reveals the pattern that extends through-

out the whole.

The idea of the interpenetration of parts and whole is also

expressed in the Vajrayana in the notion of the interpenetration

of individual beings (who here represent the parts, or micro-

cosms) and the universe (which represents the whole, or macro-

cosm). This notion of man and the universe as microcosm and

macrocosm is the first idea I want to consider by way of intro-

duction to a more specific treatment of psychology, physiology, and cosmology in the Vajrayana.

To understand the dynamic role of psychology, physiology,

and cosmology in the Vajrayana tradition, we need also to recall

the second fundamental idea of the Vajrayana tradition – the idea

of the variability of experience. This is expressed in the experi-

ence of Asanga, who saw the Buddha Maitreya first not at all,

then in the form of a diseased dog, and finally in his celestial

and transformed aspect. This idea is also expressed in the fact

that the beings who inhabit the six realms of existence view phe-

nomena differently: this is the variability of experience relative

to the conditioned state of one’s mind. Thus reality is depen-

dent on the conditions of one’s mind: an impure mind will per-

ceive and experience reality in one way, whereas a transformed

and purified mind will experience it in another. It is important

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to keep both interpenetration and the variability of experience

in mind if we are going to understand the relationship between

the individual and the universe in Vajrayana psychology, physiol-

ogy, and cosmology, and if we are going to understand how this

relationship functions dynamically to bring about the transfor-

mation that is the goal of Vajrayana practice.

Let us first look specifically at psychology within the Vajra-

yana tradition. Thus far I have been at pains to show that the

Vajrayana is a natural and logical development of the Buddhist

tradition as a whole, as we find it embodied in the Theravada and

Mahayana. Given this fact, it is not surprising that Vajrayana psy-

chology takes as its basic building blocks elements which belong

to a system that is central to Buddhist psychology in general.

These building blocks are the five aggregates. As in the

Theravada and Mahayana, the five aggregates of form, feel-

ing, perception, volition, and consciousness function as the

basic components of Vajrayana psychology. In the impure con-

dition of mind – the condition common to all of us before we

have transformed our experience – these five aggregates are asso-

ciated respectively with the five afflictions, or defilements, of

ignorance, pride, attachment, envy, and aversion. You will notice

the presence of the three basic afflictions that are causes of the

experience of suffering and, in addition to them, the afflictions

of pride and envy.

We can also see the five afflictions in relation to the five

realms of existence that are not conducive to liberation. In this

context, ignorance corresponds to the realm of animals, pride

to the realm of the gods, attachment to the realm of the hun-

gry ghosts, envy to the realm of the demigods, and aversion to

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the realm of the hell beings. It is interesting to note that the five

afflictions also constitute the causes of birth in the five unfavor-

able realms of existence.

This is the picture of reality seen from the point of view of the

untransformed mode of being, the impure vision which is typi-

cal of our experience, and which was typical of Asanga’s experi-

ence when he was unable to see Maitreya. Even in the Perfection

of Wisdom literature, we find statements to the effect that, as

a Bodhisattva progresses toward Buddhahood, his aggregates

become perfectly pure. In the Vajrayana, this general statement

is given positive and specific content so that, in Vajrayana psy-

chology, the five aggregates are transformed and appear in the

form of the five celestial Buddhas when the mind has been puri-

fied by the cultivation of wholesome conditions. Thus, in their

transformed mode of being, the five aggregates appear as the five

celestial Buddhas: the aggregate of form, when purified, appears

in the form of the Buddha Vairochana; feeling, in the form of

Ratnasambhava; perception, in the form of Amitabha; volition,

in the form of Amoghasiddhi; and consciousness, in the form of

Akshobhya.

Some of you may have seen these five celestial Buddhas icon-

ographically portrayed in the mandala, a sacred or magical cir-

cle which is a representation of the purified or transformed uni-

verse. What the five celestial Buddhas represent is the five com-

ponents of psycho-physical being in their transformed and puri-

fied mode of being. The five celestial Buddhas together represent

the transformation of our impure experience into a purified, or

liberated, mode of being.

Incidentally, these five celestial Buddhas are also said to be

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the Buddhas of the Five Families: the Buddha, Ratna (or jewel),

Padma (or lotus), Karma, and Vajra families, respectively. These

are the symbols that stand for the five aggregates in their trans-

formed mode of being.

Just as, on the untransformed and impure level, the five

aggregates are associated with the five afflictions, so on the

transformed and purified level, the five celestial Buddhas corre-

spond to the five transcendental knowledges, or wisdoms. The

first of these transcendental knowledges is the knowledge of the

Dharmadhatu, which corresponds to the Buddha Vairochana.

The knowledge of the Dharmadhatu is the knowledge of things

as they are in reality, the knowledge of the quintessential nature

or character of things. In other words, the Dharmadhatu is

that essential nature of all phenomena which is their emptiness,

their nonduality. Thus the transformed aggregate of form is the

Buddha Vairochana, and this transformation similarly implies a

transformation from the affliction of ignorance to the transcen-

dental knowledge of the true nature of all things, or emptiness.

Second, with the Buddha Ratnasambhava, who is the

transformed appearance of the aggregate of feeling, we have a

transformation of the affliction of pride into the transcenden-

tal knowledge of equality. This is the knowledge which makes

all things equal. Here, again, we have a specific echo of some-

thing which occurs in the Perfection of Wisdom literature. In

the Heart Sutra, it is said that the perfection of wisdom makes

the unequal equal. In the case of Ratnasambhava, we have the

knowledge which makes things equal. More than anything else,

the knowledge of equality sees no distinction between samsara

and nirvana. The transcendental knowledge of equality which

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sees no distinction between samsara and nirvana enables the

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to operate freely in the world.

Third, in the case of the aggregate of perception, which in

its transformed and purified dimension becomes the Buddha

Amitabha, we have a corresponding transformation of the affliction

of attachment into the transcendental knowledge of discrimination.

This is the knowledge which is able to see all things according to

their individual characteristics. In a sense, this corresponds to the

knowledge of the Dharmadhatu, which is the knowledge of the

quintessential and universal character of all things – that is, emp-

tiness. As a complement to the knowledge of the Dharmadhatu,

we have the knowledge of discrimination, which is the knowledge

of the particular characteristics of all things.

Fourth, in the case of the aggregate of volition, which on

the purified level takes the form of the Buddha Amoghasiddhi,

we have a transformation of the affliction of envy into the tran-

scendental knowledge of accomplishment. This knowledge is

the ability to know with precision the exact situation of all sen-

tient beings so that they can best be helped to progress toward

Buddhahood.

Finally, in the case of the aggregate of consciousness, which

on the purified level takes the form of the Buddha Akshobhya,

we have a transformation of the affliction of ill-will into the tran-

scendental knowledge known as the mirror-like knowledge – the

ability to reflect all things in the manner of the mirror. The mir-

ror reflects precisely whatever is presented to it but remains itself

unchanged, unaffected by the images that it reflects.

You can see that there is here a symmetrical arrangement of

basic psycho-physical constituents, with the five aggregates on

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the impure level corresponding to the five celestial Buddhas on

the purified level. Similarly, there is a symmetrical arrangement

of the five afflictions on the untransformed, or impure, level cor-

responding to the five knowledges on the transformed and puri-

fied level.

This symmetrical arrangement between an impure and a pure

experience is carried over into the building blocks of matter as

well. On the purified level, the five elements of the world – earth,

water, fire, air, and space – take the forms of the five celestial

female deities who are consorts of the five celestial Buddhas. The

element of space, which corresponds to the aggregate of form, is

transformed on the purified level into a female deity who is the

consort of the Buddha Vairochana. The elements of earth, fire, air, and water, which correspond to the aggregates of feeling,

perception, volition, and consciousness, respectively, are trans-

formed at the purified level into the female deities who are the

consorts of Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, and

Akshobhya, respectively.

In Vajrayana psychology, therefore, we have aggregates,

afflictions, and elements on the ordinary, impure level which are

transformed on the purified level into the five celestial Buddhas,

the five transcendental knowledges, and the five female deities

who are consorts of the five celestial Buddhas. We have two

levels of experience that are symmetrical, one level of experi-

ence being typical of an impure form of existence, the other of a

purified form of existence. This is the basic scheme of Vajrayana

psychology.

In the system of Vajrayana physiology, these five celestial

Buddhas, along with their five consorts, are found within the

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body of each individual person. They are situated at five cen-

ters of psychic energy, called chakras, which are found within

the body of every person. The five centers of psychic energy are

situated at the top of the head, the throat, the heart, the navel,

and the genitals. At each place, there is one of the five celes-

tial Buddhas with his consort seated on a lotus throne: the

Buddha Vairochana, who is the purified dimension of the aggre-

gate of form, is at the top of the head; Amitabha, who is the

purified dimension of perception, is at the throat; Akshobhya, who is the purified dimension of consciousness, is at the heart;

Ratnasambhava, who is the purified dimension of feeling, is at

the navel; and Amoghasiddhi, who is the purified dimension of

volition, is situated at the genitals.

There are a number of channels of psychic energy, called nadis,

connecting these centers of psychic energy. Although there are

a great number of these channels, there are three which are very

important: the central psychic channel (avadhuti), which runs

directly from the top of the head to the genitals and which con-

nects the five cakras; and the two psychic channels on the right

and left of the central channel (the rasana and lalana, respec-

tively). On the level of advanced Vajrayana practice, the practi-

tioner is able to manipulate and direct the flow of psychic ener-

gy – which is none other than the energy of mind alone – through

these psychic channels. This enables him or her to unite the

opposites which are reflected in the psycho-physical experi-

ence of the individual person and in the universe as a whole, in

order to realize within him- or herself in meditation the absolute

union of all opposites, the annihilation of all dualities, which is

the goal of tantric practice.

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Through this very brief portrayal of Vajrayana physiology,

you can see how the basic building blocks of psycho-physical

experience, be they viewed from the impure level or from the

purified level, are reflected in the physiological makeup of the

person.

Through achieving the union of opposites within his psycho-

physical experience as an individual person, the Vajrayana adept

is able to bring about the transformation of his vision of the

universe as a whole. He is able to do this because his body is a

microcosm of the universe. In Vajrayana cosmology, the features

of the universe as a whole are present within the psycho-physical

experience of each person. Mount Sumeru, the central moun-

tain of the universe according to Buddhist cosmology, is situated

within the body of the practitioner, just as the sun and moon, the

sacred rivers of India, and pilgrimage places are found within

the body in a microcosmic way.

Not only are these features of the universe situated within

the body but so, too, are the primary features of the transformed

or purified experience. We have already seen that the five celes-

tial Buddhas are found within the body at the five centers of

psychic energy. In the same way, we find that the experience of

the individual person is in fact none other than the experience

of the celestial or purified universe, so that the body is in fact

the celestial mansion of the divine Buddhas. In Vajrayana psy-

chology, physiology, and cosmology, therefore, we find the real

meaning of the expression that ‘The body is a temple.’ It is a tem-

ple that contains the celestial Buddhas, who are none other than

the transformed mode of being of the ordinary mode of being of

the psycho-physical components, or aggregates.

279

You can see how, in the Vajrayana tradition, a close cor-

respondence is drawn between the ordinary level of experi-

ence and the purified level of experience. This correspondence

is established through the idea of microcosm and macrocosm.

Specifically, the Vajrayana supplies a special psychological and

physiological scheme of the elements of experience precisely so

that they can be subjected to the direct and efficient manipu-

lation of the mind. This scheme employs the centers of psychic

energy and the channels through which psychic energy flows.

What I have tried to do in this chapter is show that, in the

Vajrayana system of psychology, physiology, and cosmology, as in

Vajrayana myth and symbol, we do not have an arcane and exotic

portrayal of haphazard or arbitrary forms. Rather, we have a

very carefully designed system which accords with the funda-

mental principles of the Buddhist path to liberation. What we

have is really just a particularly rich and colorful development of

the suggestions we have seen in the earlier Buddhist traditions,

in the psychology of the Abhidharma and in the Perfection of

Wisdom literature. In the Vajrayana tradition, all these sugges-

tions receive a very definite content. The Vajrayana supplies col-

orful, bright, and attractive representations of the various com-

ponents of psycho-physical experience, and a description of how

their transformation can be achieved through the gradual puri-

fication of one’s mode of being.

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CHAPTER T WENTY-SEVEN

The Preliminary Practices

In Chapters 22 through 26, I tried to outline what we might

call the universe of experience of the Vajrayana. That is why

I began with a consideration of the cultural and intellectual cli-

mate in which the Vajrayana first appeared, and only then went

on to consider its religious and philosophical background, meth-

odology, myth and symbol, and psychology, physiology, and cos-

mology. In Chapters 27 through 29, I will look at the actual

stages in the practice of the Vajrayana path. In general, there are

three such stages: (1) the preliminary or preparatory stage, (2) the

stage of entry, and (3) the actual practice. I have divided the pre-

liminary stage into two categories: general and specific.

As mentioned in Chapter 22, the Mahayana and Vajrayana

are in fact two components of a single tradition. Their start-

ing point and goal are identical; they differ only in the methods

employed in getting from that starting point to the goal. From

this we can understand that, in terms of general preliminaries,

there is a great deal of similarity between what is required for

Mahayana practice and what is required for Vajrayana practice.

We need to touch on the preliminaries briefly to empha-

size again that the Vajrayana practices are not ones that can be

undertaken without the proper kind of preparation. In fact, the

general preliminaries required for Vajrayana practice are those

required for the whole of the Mahayana path. In this category

of general preliminary practices, we have (1) the taking of refuge, followed by (2) contemplation of suffering, (3) the law of karma,

281

(4) death and impermanence, and (5) the opportune and fortu-

nate nature of the human situation; (6) cultivation of love and

compassion; and (7) production of the enlightenment thought.

We conclude with (8) cultivation of one-pointedness, or concen-

tration, and penetrative insight. All these serve as a general pre-

requisite to Vajrayana practice.

With a few exceptions, the general preliminary practices

of the Vajrayana are similar to those of the Mahayana. One

of the exceptions is the way the taking of refuge is practiced.

Whereas in the Mahayana tradition there are the three objects

of refuge – the Enlightened One, his teaching, and the Noble

Assembly of the irreversible Bodhisattvas or Bodhisattvas who

have attained the seventh stage of the Bodhisattva path and are

therefore not liable to relapse, in the Vajrayana there is also the

fourth refuge – the preceptor (the guru or lama). In certain tra-

ditions within the Vajrayana fold, there may be as many as six

objects of refuge, the two additional ones being the tutelary

deities and the dakinis. The tutelary deities are the special eso-

teric forms of the Buddha who are any one of the major tant-

ric deities – Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, and the like – meditation

upon whom is a complete path to enlightenment. The dakinis are

female deities who are symbolic or representative of insubstanti-

ality. In the Vajrayana pantheon, the dakinis occupy a position in

some ways analogous to that of the Noble Assembly, being the

special tantric or Vajrayana forms of the Sangha. Although in

certain traditions and contexts we do have references to these six

objects of refuge, it is far more common to find the four objects

of refuge, that is, the preceptor and the Triple Gem. The pre-

ceptor is particularly important in the Vajrayana tradition. Let

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me refer to two ideas that illustrate the role and importance of

the preceptor in the Vajrayana tradition. First, the preceptor per-

forms a function similar to that of a magnifying glass. We know

that the sun is very hot and has great power, yet without a device

like the magnifying glass we cannot harness its heat to kindle a

fire. Similarly, although the Buddha and his teachings are very

powerful, without the preceptor they are unable to kindle the

fire of wisdom within a disciple. The preceptor functions as a

means of concentrating and harnessing the power of the Buddha,

Dharma, and Sangha in such a way as to make that power effec-

tive and immediately applicable to the disciple’s own needs.

Recognizing this role of the preceptor has always been of the

greatest importance. We will understand this better if we con-

sider the story of Marpa, one of the more famous Tibetans who

journeyed to India in order to receive the Vajrayana teaching

from Naropa. Marpa made three journeys to India and studied

at length with Naropa. It is said that on one occasion, when the

manifestation of a tutelary deity appeared before him, Marpa

made the mistake of bowing to the appearance of the deity

rather than to his preceptor, Naropa. The karmic consequences

of this lapse were that Marpa later lost his sons to accidents and

had no descendants to whom he could pass on the teachings he

had received. This is one of a number of stories which indicate

the need to recognize the importance of the preceptor in the

Vajrayana tradition.

In Chapter 29, I will show how the last two components in

these general preliminaries – the cultivation of single-pointedness

and penetrative insight – are applied to one’s practice in the con-

text of Vajrayana meditation. For the time being, let me repeat

283

that these general preliminaries are indispensable prerequi-

sites to serious Vajrayana practice. No tradition within Tibetan

Buddhism encourages the commencement of Vajrayana practice

without having spent a really substantial amount of time on these

preliminary practices. All the Tibetan Vajrayana traditions have

extensive oral and written material on the cultivation and prac-

tice of these preliminaries. Although it does sometimes happen

that people go on to Vajrayana practice without having spent an

appropriate amount of time on these general preliminaries, they

do so at their own risk. However, I do not mean to indulge in

scare mongering. What I mean is that if you do somehow man-

age to go on to your university education without having under-

gone pre-university training, you are liable to have a much more

difficult time in your university career.

I would like to make one more observation before treating the

particular preliminary practices that are special to the Vajrayana.

I have gone to great lengths to show the integrated nature of the

three major Buddhist traditions of Theravada, Mahayana, and

Vajrayana, and have tried to show that the Vajrayana represents

a natural extension of elements found in other Buddhist tradi-

tions. I would therefore like to draw your attention to two steps

in these general preliminary practices: the taking of refuge, and

the awakening of the enlightenment thought, or acceptance of

the Bodhisattva vows. I would like to suggest that these can be

regarded as initiations of a kind. Another practice which may be

seen as analogous to initiation is the novitiate, or entrance into

the Buddhist Order.

All three of these practices may be thought of as varieties of

initiations. All involve entrance into a community with a partic-

284

ular set of practices: in the case of taking refuge, the ceremony

represents entry into the Buddhist community; in the case of

the novitiate, it represents entry into the monastic community;

and in the case of the Bodhisattva vows, entry into the lineage

or family of the Buddha. These three ceremonies are, in a sense,

initiations that involve taking on certain commitments: taking

refuge brings along with it the commitment to try to observe

the precepts of a layperson; entering the monastic order brings

with it the commitment to observe the precepts of a novice; and

taking the Bodhisattva vows brings with it the commitments of

the Bodhisattva. There are aspects of the institutions of refuge,

novitiate, and Bodhisattva vows that are similar to important

elements in the Vajrayana initiation.

Let us go on to look at the specific preliminary practices

generally required for Vajrayana practice. It is not imperative

that one complete the preliminaries before beginning any kind

of Vajrayana practice. It is also not imperative that one complete

these preliminaries before receiving Vajrayana initiation. It is,

however, imperative that one complete them before undertak-

ing meditational retreat on one of the major Vajrayana tutelary

deities. For really serious Vajrayana practice, these specific pre-

liminaries are required.

The term for these preliminaries in Tibetan is ngon-dro,

which literally means ‘going before.’ Hence these practices go

before serious practice. There are four specific preliminary prac-

tices common to all the Vajrayana traditions: (1) refuge, (2) con-

fession, (3) preceptor yoga, and (4) mandala offering. Each has to

be performed one hundred thousand times. In addition to these

four, certain traditions require the performance of prostrations,

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and others require alternative rituals.

Refuge. As already mentioned, in the Vajrayana tradition

one takes refuge in four ‘objects’ – the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha,

and preceptor, or guru. Taking refuge involves visualization of

the objects of refuge either separately or together: (a) one can

visualize one’s preceptor, the Buddha, the texts, and the Noble

Assembly separately, or (b) one can visualize the four objects of

refuge integrated or combined into the single figure of the tute-

lary deity. Some of you may have seen this visualization por-

trayed in painted scrolls, with the objects of refuge pictured in

a tree, on a jeweled throne, on a lotus and a sun or moon disk

(for more on some of these symbols, see Chapter 25). Using this

visualization of the four objects of refuge, we recite a refuge for-

mula one hundred thousand times.

Confession. For convenience, I have called the second spe-

cific preliminary practice ‘confession’ because it is commonly

referred to by this name. However, it is important to remember

here that we are not concerned with confession as a means of

securing forgiveness. We do not use the term in the same sense

in which it is used in Christianity, where the confession of sins

is followed by forgiveness from an external power. In this con-

text, confession merely implies our own recognition of unwhole-

some actions done in the past, and our resolve not to repeat them.

Especially important in this practice of confession of unwhole-

some actions is the Buddha Vajrasattva, another special form

of the Buddha similar to the Buddhas of the Five Families.

Vajrasattva is an archetypal form of the Buddha who embodies

the state of enlightenment for the special purpose of the confes-

sion and purification of unwholesome actions.

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Vajrasattva appears in the Mahayana pantheon as well, and

the practice of confession of unwholesome actions is one of the

preliminaries performed by all who embark on the Bodhisattva

path. Vajrasattva is white in color. He has a single face and two

hands, and holds a vajra and a bell, which stand for skillful means

and wisdom, respectively. In the specific preliminary practice of

confession, we meditate on Vajrasattva and recite the hundred-

syllable mantra of Vajrasattva one hundred thousand times.

It is said that four powers issue from the practice of the

confession and purification of unwholesome actions. The first

power is the ‘power of the shrine,’ which refers to the power of

Vajrasattva as a symbol of purification. There is a certain power

which issues from visualization of the form of Vajrasattva. This

is a symbolic power, similar to the kind of power that issues, in

the mundane context, from a symbol such as the national flag.

The national flag has a symbolic power; similarly, in the sacred

context of meditation, the image of Vajrasattva has a certain

power, the power of symbol.

The second of the four powers is the ‘power of transcen-

dence,’ of going beyond. This refers to a sincere renunciation of

unwholesome actions. In other words, in the course of the medi-

tation, unwholesome actions are transcended.

The third power that issues from this practice is the ‘power

of habitual antidote,’ or the power of persistent correction, which

refers to the sincere resolve not to repeat the unwholesome actions

one has done in the past. This is the power to refrain from doing

unwholesome actions again in the future.

The fourth power is the ‘power of restoration.’ This refers to

the fact that, insofar as unwholesome actions belong to the level

287

of conditioned reality, they do not really penetrate to the core

of one’s own being, which is the Buddha mind, or the nature

of emptiness. Unwholesome actions are, in reality, adventitious.

They are like the dirt that soils a white cloth, or the smoke or

cloud that obscures the sky. Because of this, meditation on

Vajrasattva results in the power of restoration, which is the real-

ization of our intrinsic purity.

Preceptor Yoga. The third preliminary is called preceptor

yoga. The preceptor (guru or lama) is an accomplished master

who bestows tantric initiations and special spiritual attainments.

Although it is quite common for those not conversant with the

Tibetan tradition to refer to any Tibetan monk as a lama, in

the Tibetan tradition this term is reserved for such qualified

masters, while ordinary monks are referred to simply as gelong

(bhikshu). The term yoga means ‘yoking together,’ connecting or

identifying.

The purpose of preceptor yoga is to establish a close bond

between disciple and master. Here again, we can see the impor-

tance of the preceptor in the Vajrayana tradition. This practice

can take different forms, which differ slightly. However, in gen-

eral it involves the recitation, one hundred thousand times, of a

formula that expresses a disciple’s devotion to and regard for the

qualities of the preceptor.

I would like to expand on what I said earlier about the impor-

tance of the preceptor in the Vajrayana tradition – why this is and

must be so. The Vajrayana tradition is first and foremost an oral

tradition, handed down from master to disciple. The association

or connection between master and disciple is particularly impor-

tant. This association leads to the formation of lineage. Lineage

288

is, of course, important not only in the Vajrayana but also in

the Buddhist tradition as a whole, especially when it comes

to monastic ordination. If you look at the history of monas-

ticism in Sri Lanka and Thailand, you will notice the impor-

tance accorded to it. Because of discontinuation of the lineage

of monastic ordination, special envoys had to be sent from one

Theravada country to another on a number of occasions, simply

to renew the lineage.

Lineage is like an electric circuit. When the lineage is bro-

ken, the ordination of new disciples cannot take place. This also

occurred in the monastic history of Tibet when, after the per-

secution of Buddhism under King Lan-dar-ma, the lineage

of monastic ordination had to be reestablished with the help

of Chinese monks. Thus lineage is extremely important. It is

important in the Vajrayana tradition because it is by means

of lineage – the unbroken chain connecting master and disci-

ple – that the Vajrayana teachings are handed down from one

generation to the next.

The concept of lineage implies the identity of each link in the

chain, each member of the lineage. Consequently, the figure of

the preceptor secures identification between the master, disciple,

and tutelary deity. Later, the disciple him or herself forges this

bond as he or she develops his or her own sense of identification

with the preceptor and then with the tutelary deity. The institu-

tion of the lineage, as it is embodied in the figure of the precep-

tor, cuts across time and space. It bridges the gulf that separates

us, here and now, from the time and place and mode of being of

the Buddha. This is why, in Vajrayana initiation and meditation

practice, the preceptor is identified with the tutelary deity, and

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it is then the task of the practitioner to identify with the deity

through the preceptor. This practice of union with the guru is

important for creating the foundation of the special relationship

between practitioner and preceptor.

Mandala Offering. The fourth preliminary practice is the

offering of the mandala. In general, a mandala is a sacred, sym-

bolic (or magic) circle. In the context of the offering ritual,

the mandala represents in symbolic form the whole mundane

universe, as it is pictured in traditional Buddhist cosmology.

Traditionally, the universe is said to have Mount Sumeru at its

center, the four continents on each side of Mount Sumeru, four

intermediate continents, and so forth. The mandala is a symbolic

representation of this traditional cosmology.

In the practice of mandala offering, the practitioner offers

to the four objects of refuge (the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, and preceptor) all his own merit, born of wholesome actions,

in the symbolic form of the universe. He offers all his whole-

some actions to these four objects, which are the repositories of

all excellent qualities, for the sake of the enlightenment of all

sentient beings. This offering is done a hundred thousand times.

Along with the recitation, the practitioner performs a ritual

using a disk of metal, stone, or wood and grains of rice, wheat,

or sand, by means of which he creates symbolically the salient

features of the traditional cosmology of the universe.

This practice of mandala offering is effective because it is the

most excellent form of karma. There are five modifying condi-

tions that intensify the weight of karma – three subjective and

two objective. The three subjective conditions are (a) persistence

or repetition of an action, (b) willful intention, and (c) absence

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of regret. The objective conditions are (d) quality and (e) indebt-

edness toward whom the action is directed (see also Chapter 8).

In the mandala offering, we have all the conditions con-

ducive to enhancing the weight of this wholesome karma. We

have persistence, in that the offering is done a hundred thousand

times. We have the intention of the practitioner to offer all his

merits in this symbolic form to the enlightened ones. We also

have a complete absence of regret. If we were to offer material

objects, we might be liable to experience some feeling of regret.

For example, if I offer a financial endowment to a monastery, I

may later think that I have offered too much. But with a sym-

bolic offering of this sort, there is no ground for that kind of feel-

ing to arise, so the wholesome karma it generates is unopposed. Last, who is more worthy of offering than the enlightened ones,

who are of the highest worth and greatest benefit to us, since it is

they who make enlightenment accessible? The practice of man-

dala offering thus creates the merit required to make rapid prog-

ress along the Vajrayana path.

In short, the four specific preliminary practices have a spe-

cial contribution to make in the preparation for serious Vajrayana

practice. The recitation of the refuge formula establishes one

firmly on the path, creating a secure shelter that protects one

from discouragement and distractions. The practice of confes-

sion purifies unwholesome actions. The practice of preceptor yoga

identifies practitioner and preceptor, establishing the relationship

so crucial to one’s progress on the Vajrayana path. Finally, the

practice of mandala offering creates the positive potential, the

wholesome energy, that one needs in making rapid and efficient

strides.

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CHAPTER T WENTY-EIGHT

The Vajrayana Initiation

With this chapter, we come to a rather important topic in

any introduction to the Vajrayana path. Over the half

century or so that Vajrayana has been known in the West and

the world at large, it has been liable to a great deal of misinter-

pretation and misunderstanding. The element that has probably

been the cause of the greatest misunderstanding is the institu-

tion of initiation. Many have objected to initiation being a com-

ponent of a path in the Buddhist tradition.

As mentioned in Chapter 27, there is nothing formally differ-

ent in the Vajrayana initiation that sets it apart from other rites of

passage which play an important role in the Buddhist tradition. It

is hard to understand why people can accept the refuge ceremony

and the rite of monastic ordination but have difficulty with the idea

of a Vajrayana initiation. I hope that, by indicating the contents of

Vajrayana initiation and its role and function within the tradition,

some of the misinterpretation and misunderstanding will be dis-

pelled.

Let us first look at the meaning of the Sanskrit term abhishekha,

which has been translated as ‘initiation,’ ‘consecration,’ and even

‘empowerment.’ None of these is a literal translation of the original

term, which in fact means ‘sprinkling’ or ‘watering’ – specifically, sprinkling water on an area of earth, such as a field.

We can begin to learn something about the nature of

Vajrayana initiation if we consider why the term abhisheka was

chosen for this ritual. The answer is that we have here a cere-

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mony the purpose of which is to enliven or quicken the disciple’s

progress toward enlightenment. Just as we might sprinkle water

on a field in which seeds have been sown, and by that sprinkling

enliven and quicken the growth of the seeds, so in the Vajrayana

initiation we enliven and quicken the growth of the seed of the

disciple’s spiritual potential.

We have here references to ideas that are already well devel-

oped in the Mahayana tradition – namely, the notion of the

Buddha nature, or the potential for enlightenment, that all liv-

ing beings possess. The process of growth and fruition of this

spiritual potential is quickened by abhisheka, or ‘sprinkling’ – a

clear indication of the function of that sprinkling, or initiation.

Although it is inconvenient to translate abhisheka as ‘watering’ or

‘sprinkling,’ it is important to remember that the term refers to

a process rather different in its purpose and intention from what

we might think if we took it at face value, regarding it as a sort

of initiation into a secret society or the like.

Let me try to expand on this very fundamental and linguis-

tic definition of initiation in the Vajrayana tradition. Vajrayana

initiation means introducing the disciple into the mandala,

the sacred or magic circle, of one of the tutelary deities of the

Vajrayana pantheon – deities who are special esoteric forms of the

Buddha, meditation on whom can bring about enlightenment.

In Chapter 27, we saw that the mandala is a symbolic representa-

tion of the universe. In the context of an initiation, it represents

not the universe as we know it, from an unenlightened point of

view, but the sacred or pure universe that we achieve on the level

of enlightenment, when our vision is purified of unwholesome

tendencies. Much of what I said in Chapter 26 about the trans-

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formation of the five aggregates into the five celestial Buddhas is

applicable to this notion of the purified or transformed universe.

Therefore, when we say that the Vajrayana initiation introduces

a disciple into the mandala of one of the tantric tutelary deities,

what we mean is that it introduces him or her to the purified

universe of one of these deities.

The Vajrayana tutelary deities can be divided into four classes

of ascending power or efficacy in bringing about the transforma-

tion from an unenlightened mode of existence to an enlightened

and sacred mode of existence: (1) the kriya class, (2) the charya

class, (3) the yoga class, and (4) the anuttarayoga class. Initiation

is the introduction of a disciple into the sacred universe of the

tutelary deity of one of these classes of tantra. The kriya class

refers to a group of tutelary deities and practices primarily con-

cerned with externalized rituals and practices. Kriya means

‘action,’ ‘ritual,’ ‘ceremony.’ The tutelary deities who belong to

this class are associated with practices that are, by and large,

external and ritualistic. Practices associated with the kriya class

of tantra often involve vegetarianism, regular and even ritual

bathing, and ritual offering.

In contrast, the tutelary deities of the charya class of tantra

are associated with practices that have to do primarily with the

internal attitudes, intentions, and conceptions of the practitio-

ner. Whereas kriya tantra practices are external, the practices

associated with the charya tantra class are usually internal, to

the exclusion of the external practices. Practitioners of the charya

class often present a much less sociable appearance than those of

the kriya class of tantra.

The third class, the yoga class of tutelary deities, is associ-

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ated with a combination of practices belonging to the kriya and

charya classes. Practices associated with the yoga class seek to

arrive at a balance between the external and internal practices.

This balance, or union, between the internal and external prac-

tices is reflected in the term yoga, which means ‘combination’ or

‘union.’

In the case of the anuttarayoga tutelary deities, we have a

transcendence or dissolution of the barriers that define the first

three classes of practice (external, internal, and the combina-

tion of the two). Anuttara means ‘transcendence,’ in this case, a

transcendence of external and internal practice alike. Thus the

anuttara class of tutelary deities and practices is the most highly

developed within the Vajrayana tradition. It is at this level that

we achieve, in its fullest sense, complete integration of experi-

ence into the Vajrayana path, integration that leads spontane-

ously to the transformation of being. This is the ideal I referred

to in Chapter 24, when discussing the purpose of the method-

ology of the Vajrayana – namely, complete integration of experi-

ence into the path.

Initiation itself can be of three varieties. The first of these

is the major initiation, which has a kind of comprehensive, all-

encompassing function. To use a rather prosaic analogy, a major

initiation might be likened to a license empowering you to drive

all kinds of motor vehicles, or to the broad powers that a govern-

ment might give a special envoy to take up all decisions regard-

ing a particular set of questions. A major initiation is a kind of

complete empowerment that usually requires two days. The first

day is given over to preparatory practices, which in general have

to do with the purification of the disciple. The second day is

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reserved for actually introducing the disciple into the mandala

of the particular deity involved.

The second kind of initiation is the subsidiary initiation,

which might be likened to a license that empowers you to han-

dle a rare, specialized class of practices, which are nonetheless

important and highly efficacious.

The third class is even more limited in scope, consisting of

rather simple initiations, often very brief in terms of the time

required to bestow them, that enable one to engage in relatively

simple practices associated with subsidiary deities belonging to a

larger family to whom one has already been introduced by means

of the appropriate initiation. These are sometimes termed ‘sub-

sequent initiations,’ because they are traditionally given subse-

quent to major or subsidiary ones.

Vajrayana deities are also divided into families (not related to

the four classes of tutelary deities mentioned a moment ago) that

are associated with the Buddhas of the Five Families – Vairochana,

Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, and Akshobhya. For

example, the tutelary deity Hevajra is associated with the Vajra

family headed by Akshobhya, while Chakrasamvara is associ-

ated with the Buddha family of Vairochana.

A major initiation can be likened to the purchase of a sea-

son ticket for a whole series of events. The season ticket entitles

you to participate in any or all of the events, although when-

ever you do you will naturally have to produce your ticket and

perhaps have it stamped. Similarly, a major initiation entitles

you to receive a whole series of subsidiary and lesser initiations,

although, when receiving each initiation, you will still have to

participate in the appropriate ritual.

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Traditionally, it is the major initiation that provides the disci-

ple with access to the whole range of Vajrayana deities and prac-

tices. In recent years, however, because of the growing demand

for tantric initiations, Vajrayana masters sometimes choose to

give one of the lesser, subsequent initiations first, since the prac-

tices associated with them are simpler. This has sometimes been

found to be useful, in that it serves as a kind of trial exposure to

Vajrayana practice, just as one might be given a license to drive

a motor scooter before obtaining a license to drive all kinds of

motor vehicles.

All these initiations must be given by a qualified Vajrayana

preceptor. There are two types of qualification the preceptor may

have. In the first case the preceptor, having achieved a very high

level of mental development, receives direct empowerment from

the deity concerned. This type of qualification is typified by the

cases of the men of great attainment, or Mahasiddhas, in India, and also, less commonly, in Tibet.

The second type of qualification is much more common.

In this case the preceptor receives the empowerment of the

deity from a qualified master. He or she must also perform the

required meditational practices – the retreats and so forth – stip-

ulated by the tradition, so as to secure a sufficiently intimate

association with the deity to function as a go-between with the

power to introduce others to the mandala of the deity concerned.

It is important that the Vajrayana initiation be received from a

preceptor who has at least the second type of qualification.

In the course of the Vajrayana initiation, the disciple regards

the preceptor as identical with the tutelary deity into whose

sacred circle he is being introduced. Similarly, he regards the

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environment, the situation of the initiation, as identical with the

sacred universe of that tutelary deity. In the course of the initi-

ation, he is introduced to and identifies both with that tutelary

deity (in the form of the preceptor in the initiation) and with the

sacred universe, which is symbolized by the situation of the ini-

tiation itself.

This process of introduction and identification takes place

through the use of symbols. These symbols are both specific and

general. The specific symbols are best represented by a variety of

ritual objects. These ritual objects are associated with, and stand

for, the elements or actors who participate in this sacred drama,

who inhabit this sacred universe. In our discussions of the sym-

bols of the Vajrayana and of the five archetypal Buddhas of the

Five Families, we spoke of a number of symbols that have par-

ticular meanings (see Chapter 25 and Chapter 26). We spoke of

the five Buddha families being represented by symbols such as

the vajra, the crown, the bell, and so forth. In the Vajrayana ini-

tiation, these objects function as specific symbols by means of

which the disciple can be introduced to the sacred universe and

then identify himself with that sacred universe, that pure experi-

ence of an enlightened mode of being. In the course of the initia-

tion, the disciple is given a vajra and bell to hold, a crown to wear,

and so forth. These symbolic actions function to bring about

(a) the introduction of the disciple to the sacred universe, and

(b) an identification of the disciple with that sacred universe.

In addition to these specific symbolic objects, there are also

the more general and dynamic symbols of identification. These

are the symbols of light and water, which we also encountered in

our discussion of Vajrayana symbolism (see Chapter 25). In the

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course of the initiation, light and water are used as a way of iden-

tifying the disciple with the tutelary deity and with the sacred

universe. Light is used as a medium for identifying the disciple

with the preceptor, who, in the context of the initiation, is iden-

tical with the tutelary deity. Similarly, water is used as a sym-

bol for identifying the disciple with the various levels of under-

standing of the sacred universe. In the initiation, both light and

water form a kind of bridge by means of which the two initially

different modes of being – namely, the distinction between the

disciple and the preceptor in the form of the tutelary deity, and

that between the experience of the disciple and the experience

of the sacred universe – are identified and made one. The disci-

ple is asked to participate in the process by visualizing light and

water as media of identification with the purified universe por-

trayed in the Vajrayana initiation.

The initiation is a vehicle for transformation or, to put it more

crudely, for rebirth, or regeneration. This is indicated by the fact

that in a major initiation the disciple is given a new name, just

as a new name is given when one becomes a Buddhist in the

ceremony of the taking of refuge, or when one is ordained. The

bestowal of the new name stands for the regeneration of the dis-

ciple in a new form, by virtue of his introduction to and identi-

fication with both the form of the tutelary deity and the experi-

ence of the sacred universe.

The initiation is important not only because it is itself an

introduction to and identification with the sacred universe, but

also because it supplies the disciple with the methods, or keys,

with which he can later reintroduce, re-identify, and reintegrate

himself with the sacred universe first encountered during the

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initiation. These methods or keys are (i) the vision with which

he is supplied in the context of the initiation, when he sees for

the first time, in symbolic form, the sacred and purified universe;

and (ii) the mantra appropriate to the tutelary deity that he is

given in the course of the initiation.

By means of this vision and this mantra, the disciple can rec-

reate the sacred vision, reintroduce himself to the sacred experi-

ence, and re-identify himself with the sacred universe. This will

occur subsequent to the initiation, in the practice of the medi-

tation appropriate to the particular tutelary deity whose initia-

tion the disciple has received. In the context of this meditation,

he will use the keys received during the initiation – the vision

and the mantra – to recreate, reintroduce, and re-identify him-

self with the sacred experience on his own. He will then no lon-

ger need the support, the external environment, of the initiation.

Rather, he will be able to recreate, reintroduce, and re-identify

himself with the pure experience represented by the initiation

by means of the elements he received there. This is the primary

role and function of the Vajrayana initiation.

Like other initiations, the Vajrayana initiation brings with it

certain commitments that must be respected and preserved by

the disciple. Prosaic cases, such as licensing to drive motor vehi-

cles or to practice medicine, also bring with them a commitment

to respect certain codes or rules of action and intention. Similarly,

in the Buddhist tradition as a whole, rites such as taking refuge

and ordination into the monastic order bring with them certain

commitments the disciple is expected to fulfill.

In very general terms, there are three sets of commitments

in the Buddhist tradition – those appropriate for individual lib-

300

eration (the pratimoksha vows), those appropriate for the resolve

to liberate all living beings (the Bodhisattva vows), and those

appropriate to Vajrayana practice (the Vajrayana vows). In brief,

the essential quality of the commitments appropriate for individ-

ual liberation is the avoidance of injury to others; the essential

quality of the commitments of the Bodhisattva is to benefit oth-

ers; and the essential quality of the Vajrayana commitments is

to regard all living beings as part of the pure vision, as deities of

the sacred universe which the disciple has appropriated through

the Vajrayana initiation.

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CHAPTER T WENTY-NINE

Vajrayana Buddhism in Practice

In the last of these eight chapters on the Vajrayana path, I

would like to consider the special meditational practice known

as the Vajrayana Sadhana. The term sadhana means ‘to achieve,’

‘to attain,’ or ‘to establish.’ The Vajrayana Sadhana is the means

by which one can achieve, attain, or establish the experience

of the sacred universe, the experience of enlightenment. One

who engages in the practice of sadhana is called a sadhaka. The

attainment itself is called the siddhi, and one who has attained

it is called a siddha. I mention this because in Chapter 22 I

talked about the men of great attainment, or Mahasiddhas, who

attained the experience of enlightenment through the practice

of Vajrayana meditation, or sadhana.

In Chapter 28 we said that, in the Vajrayana initiation, the

practitioner is given the keys with which to enter and expe-

rience the sacred universe. In general, the keys that are given

are the vision of the tutelary deity and the special verbal for-

mula, or mantra, associated with the tutelary deity. These con-

stitute important elements in Vajrayana meditation, the purpose

of which is the recreation and establishment of the sacred uni-

verse. But if we are to understand how the practice of Vajrayana

meditation enables the practitioner to obtain this enlightenment

experience, we need to consider the general form and contents

of Vajrayana meditation.

In explaining the practice of Vajrayana meditation, I will use

a structure that is not absolutely universal. You will encounter a

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number of practices that do not conform in every particular to the

pattern that I will use here: they may differ in the order of their

elements, or be presented in a slightly different way. In broad

terms, however, the elements of this structure are present in vir-

tually all forms of Vajrayana meditation. Moreover, the interpre-

tation that I will elaborate on is based on authoritative expositions

in the commentarial literature of the Vajrayana tradition.

One other general point I would like to stress is that Vajra-

yana meditation is both method (or path) and goal (or result).

What I mean by method is that, by practicing Vajrayana medi-

tation, one can attain the experience of enlightenment. In this

sense Vajrayana meditation is method. But as one progresses in

one’s practice of the meditation, as one perfects the method, the

method becomes the goal. Thus at one level Vajrayana medita-

tion is method, but as the practitioner perfects the method, the

meditation becomes the goal. It remains the method only in

relation to other, less developed individuals.

Let me try to explain this by introducing the general interpre-

tation of Vajrayana meditation that I propose to adopt – namely,

that Vajrayana meditation is a paradigm, a reenactment, an imita-

tion, or a replica of the careers of the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.

The careers of the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are both method

and goal. As the Bodhisattva progresses along the Bodhisattva

path, for him that path is method. Once he achieves Buddha-

hood, the Bodhisattva path and the career of the Buddha become

the goal for him, even though, in relation to other living beings,

they are still method. For example, as we saw in Chapter 15, in

the context of the Mahayana, the career of the Buddha – his

birth, his renunciation of household life, his practice of austeri-

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ties, and his achievement of Buddhahood – was simply a drama

played out for the enlightenment of sentient beings.

As one progresses along the path, the method and the goal

become indistinguishable. The practice becomes the goal for the

practitioner, yet it remains the method for others, who still have

to be led to Buddhahood. The Vajrayana meditation, therefore, is

both method and goal – depending on one’s place along the path, on the level of one’s understanding and attainment.

Let us divide the Vajrayana meditation into two parts, each

of which can in turn be divided into two subsections. To achieve

Buddhahood, one has to perfect the accomplishments of merit

and knowledge, the two prerequisites which are indispensable

for achieving Buddhahood. Practice of the perfections of giv-

ing, good conduct, and patience results in the accomplishment

of merit, while the perfections of meditation and wisdom result

in the accomplishment of knowledge. Energy, the fourth perfec-

tion, is needed for both accomplishments.

The first half of the Vajrayana practice is an imitation – an

internalized, contemplative, symbolic expression – of the

Bodhisattva path through which merit and knowledge are per-

fected. Vajrayana meditation begins with the taking of refuge. It

continues, in most cases, with awakening of the enlightenment

thought and recollection of the practices of the Six Perfections

and Four Immeasurables (love, compassion, appreciative joy,

and equanimity). All these practices are internalized, medita-

tive, symbolic expressions of the Bodhisattva’s accumulation of

merit.

As we look further into the contents of the Vajrayana

Sadhana, we come next to the meditation on emptiness. This is

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nothing other than an internalized, symbolic expression of the

Bodhisattva’s accomplishment of knowledge. The Bodhisattva

achieves knowledge through the perfection of meditation and

the perfection of wisdom. Here, then we have the meditation on

emptiness, a union of meditation and wisdom.

Thus far, we have considered the first half of the Vajrayana

meditation, which corresponds to the career of the Bodhisattva

up to his attainment of Buddhahood, with his two accomplish-

ments of merit and of knowledge. These are represented symbol-

ically by the taking of refuge, the awakening of the enlighten-

ment thought, the practice of the Four Immeasurables, and the

meditation on emptiness.

After the attainment of enlightenment, once Buddhahood

is achieved, the accomplishments of merit and knowledge

result in two fruits. These two fruits are the two dimensions

of Buddhahood – the form dimension and the transcenden-

tal dimension – which arise directly from the accomplishments

of merit and knowledge. In the second half of the Vajrayana

Sadhana, we have a symbolic, meditative paradigmatic expres-

sion, or replica, of the reality of Buddhahood that includes these

two dimensions. This is represented in the sadhana through the

use of the notion of two processes: (1) the process of creation, origination, or production, and (2) the process of completion,

or perfection. These two processes correspond to the form and

transcendental dimensions of Buddhahood, respectively.

In what way are these processes of creation and completion

reflected symbolically – replicated in meditative experience – in

the context of the Vajrayana meditation? Following the symbolic

attainment of Buddhahood, we have visualization of the form of

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the tutelary deity, in other words, the creation of the phenom-

enal dimension of Buddhahood in the shape of the particular

tutelary deity to which the meditation belongs. The practitio-

ner creates a conscious imitation of the phenomenal dimension

of Buddhahood in the form of the tutelary deity in question. In

addition, we have the recitation of the mantra of that deity. This

recitation is a symbolic, internalized, meditative imitation of the

Buddha’s teaching of the Dharma. These two components – the

creation of the form of the tutelary deity, and the recitation of

the mantra – constitute the process of creation. They correspond

to the form dimension of Buddhahood, and are an imitation of

the phenomenal activities of the Buddha.

These practices of the creation of the form of the deity and

the recitation of the mantra are followed by a dissolution of the

form of the deity into emptiness and a cessation of the recitation

of the mantra. This dissolution and cessation is a symbolic, med-

itative replica of the transcendental dimension of Buddhahood.

In the second half of the Vajrayana meditation, therefore, we

have an imitation of the activities or career of the Buddha, with

its phenomenal and transcendental dimensions of Buddhahood.

This imitation is achieved through use of the conceptions of the

processes of creation and completion. The process of creation

constitutes the visualization of the deity and the recitation of the

mantra, which are paradigmatic of the Buddha’s phenomenal

dimension – his activities and teaching of the Dharma, respec-

tively. The process of completion constitutes the dissolution of

the deity and a cessation of the recitation of the mantra, which

is paradigmatic of the Buddha’s transcendental dimension.

In summary, in the Vajrayana meditation we have a com-

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plete replica or imitation of the careers of the Bodhisattvas and

the Buddhas. The first part of the meditation is a replica of the

Bodhisattva’s accomplishment of merit and knowledge. The sec-

ond part is a replica of the Buddha’s phenomenal and transcen-

dental dimensions.

I would like to return to the notion of meditation and wis-

dom. This point serves to emphasize the complete integrity

of Buddhism, because it is absolutely characteristic of all the

Buddhist traditions to insist on a fusion of concentration and

insight, a union of tranquillity and penetrative vision or wis-

dom. In the context of the Vajrayana meditation, too, this union

is essential. As the practitioner meditates on emptiness in the

context of the imitation of the Bodhisattva’s accomplishment

of knowledge, he or she must unite meditation and wisdom. In

this case, his or her ability to concentrate the mind on an object

is applied to the understanding of emptiness. Whereas formerly

he or she may have cultivated the ability to concentrate his or

her mind with the help of an external support, such as a blue

disk, here, in the context of the Vajrayana meditation, he or she

focuses directly on the understanding of emptiness. In that way,

through the meditation on emptiness, he or she imitates the

Bodhisattva’s accomplishment of knowledge through cultivation

of the perfections of meditation and wisdom.

There must also be a union of meditation and wisdom in the

context of visualizing the tutelary deity and reciting the man-

tra. Here the objects of concentration are the visualized form

of the tutelary deity and the sound of the mantra, but the prac-

titioner has to integrate his or her understanding of emptiness

with his or her concentration on the form of the tutelary deity

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and the sound of the mantra so that, in the course of the visu-

alization and recitation, he or she regards the visualization and

the sound of the mantra as exemplary of empty phenomena – as

similar to a reflection, a magical illusion, and an echo. This is

the case because, just as a reflection or an echo occurs relative to

causes and conditions, so the visualization of the tutelary deity

and the sound of the mantra arise and exist relative to causes

and conditions.

In the context of the Vajrayana meditation, the visualization

and the recitation are also paradigmatic of interdependently orig-

inated phenomena and of emptiness, respectively. In the Vajrayana

meditation, as in the other Buddhist traditions of mental devel-

opment, the union of meditation and wisdom is absolutely neces-

sary. This is perhaps why Nagarjuna said in his Letter to a Friend

(Suhrillekha) that without meditation there is no wisdom, and

without wisdom there is no meditation. But for the practitioner

who puts meditation and wisdom together, the whole ocean of

samsara can be dried up, just as water that gathers in a cow’s hoof

print in the mud is dried up by the noonday sun.

By putting meditation and wisdom together in the context of

the Vajrayana meditation, one can achieve the experience of the

sacred universe, the experience of Buddhahood. This is achieved

gradually, through familiarization with and appropriation of the

sacred universe depicted in the sadhana, which is an internalized,

meditative microcosm of the careers of the Bodhisattvas and the

Buddhas. In this way, one can achieve the goal of Buddhahood.

Thereupon, one’s experience of enlightenment becomes a means

of leading other sentient beings to the same sacred universe, the

same goal.

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Part Four

The Abhidharma

CHAPTER THIRTY

An Introduction to the Abhidharma

In Chapters 30 through 41, I will discuss the philosophical

and psychological aspects of Buddhism presented in the seven

books of the Abhidharma Pitaka of the Pali canon.

I will not look in great detail at the lists of factors, or dhar-

mas, found in many competent books on the Abhidharma.

Instead, my objectives here are three: (1) to outline and describe

the principal methods and characteristics of the Abhidharma,

(2) to relate the Abhidharma to what we generally know about

the teachings of the Buddha, and (3) to relate Abhidharma phi-

losophy to our situation as lay Buddhists.

Throughout the history of Buddhism, the Abhidharma has

been held in high esteem. In the books of the Pali canon, for

example, the Abhidharma is spoken of in terms of praise and spe-

cial regard. There the Abhidharma is the special domain of the

elder monks; novices are even asked not to interrupt the Elders

when they are engaged in a discussion of the Abhidharma. We

also find the Abhidharma recommended only for those who sin-

cerely strive to realize the goal of Buddhist practice, and that a

knowledge of it is recommended for teachers of the Dharma.

This traditional regard for the Abhidharma is found not

only in the Theravada tradition but in other major Buddhist

traditions as well. For instance, Kumarajiva, the great Central

Asian translator renowned for his translation of Madhyamaka

works into Chinese, is said to have firmly believed that he must

introduce the Abhidharma to the Chinese if he wished to teach

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them Buddhist philosophy. In the Tibetan tradition, also, the

Abhidharma is an important part of monastic training.

Why is the Abhidharma held in such high esteem? The basic

reason is that a knowledge of the Abhidharma, in the general

sense of understanding the ultimate teaching, is absolutely nec-

essary to achieve wisdom, which is in turn necessary to achieve

freedom. No matter how long one meditates or how virtuous a

life one leads, without insight into the real nature of things, one

cannot achieve freedom.

A knowledge of the Abhidharma is necessary in order to

apply the insight into impermanence, impersonality, and insub-

stantiality that we gain from a reading of the Sutra Pitaka to

every experience of daily life. All of us may glimpse imper-

manence, impersonality, and insubstantiality through read-

ing the Sutra Pitaka, but how often can we apply that momen-

tary intellectual truth to our daily existence? The system in the

Abhidharma teaching provides a mechanism for doing so. A

study of the Abhidharma is therefore extremely useful for our

practice.

Let us consider the origin and authenticity of the Abhidharma.

The Theravada school holds that the Buddha is the source of the

Abhidharma philosophy and was himself the first master of the

Abhidharma because, on the night of his enlightenment, he pen-

etrated the essence of the Abhidharma. According to a traditional

account, the Buddha also spent the fourth week after his enlight-

enment in meditation on the Abhidharma. This is the week

known as ‘the House of Gems.’ Later in his career, it is said that

the Buddha visited the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, where his

mother was, and taught the Abhidharma to her and the gods. It

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is said that when he returned to earth, he passed on the essentials

of what he had taught to Sariputta – hardly a coincidence, since

Sariputta was his foremost disciple, renowned for his wisdom.

Thus it is claimed in general that it is the Buddha to whom

we owe the inspiration of the Abhidharma teaching. This inspi-

ration was passed on to his disciples who were philosophically

gifted, like Sariputta, and by the effort of these gifted disci-

ples the general outline and contents of Abhidharma philoso-

phy were established.

Let us go on to consider the meaning of the term abhid-

harma. If we look carefully at the Sutra Pitaka, we find this term

occurring frequently, usually in the general sense of ‘meditation

about Dharma,’ ‘instruction about Dharma,’ or ‘discussion about

Dharma.’ In a more specific sense, abhidharma means ‘special

Dharma,’ ‘higher Dharma,’ or ‘further Dharma.’ Here, of course,

we are using Dharma in the sense of doctrine or teaching, not in

the sense of phenomenon or factor of experience (in which case

it would not be capitalized).

There is an even more technical sense in which the term

abhidharma is used in the Sutra Pitaka, and in this context

dharma no longer means doctrine in general but, rather, phe-

nomenon. This technical use is associated with another function,

that is to make distinctions. This most technical use of the term

abhidharma has five aspects, or meanings: (a) to define dharmas;

(b) to ascertain the relationship between dharmas; (c) to analyze

dharmas; (d) to classify dharmas, and (e) to arrange dharmas in

numerical order.

The Buddhist canon is divided into three collections (lit-

erally, ‘baskets’): the Sutra Pitaka, the Vinaya Pitaka, and the

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Abhidharma Pitaka. The Sutra Pitaka is ordinarily termed the

basket of the discourses, the Vinaya Pitaka contains the rules

covering the monastic community, and the Abhidharma Pitaka

is normally referred to as the books of Buddhist philosophy and

psychology. Here I would like to look at the relationship between

the Abhidharma Pitaka and the Sutra Pitaka. There is a great deal

of Abhidharmic material in the Sutra Pitaka. Remember the

technical definition of abhidharma that we considered a moment

ago. Keeping that in mind, we find in the Sutra Pitaka a number

of discourses that are Abhidharmic in character: the Anguttara

Nikaya, which presents an exposition of teachings arranged in

numerical order; the Sangiti Sutta and Dasuttara Sutta, in which

Sariputta expounds on items of the teachings arranged in numer-

ical order; and the Anupada Sutta, a discourse in which Sariputta

analyzes his meditative experience in Abhidharmic terms.

How, then, can we arrive at a distinction between the

Abhidharma and the sutras? To do this we need to look at the

second meaning of the term abhidharma, namely, its use in the

sense of ‘higher doctrine.’ In the sutras the Buddha speaks from

two points of view. First he speaks of beings, objects, the qual-

ities and possessions of beings, the world, and the like, and he

is often found making statements such as ‘I myself will go to

Uruvela.’ Second, the Buddha proclaims in no uncertain terms

that there is no ‘I’ and that all things are devoid of personality, substance, and so forth.

Obviously, the two standpoints in operation here are the

conventional (vohara) and the ultimate (paramattha). We have

everyday language like ‘you’ and ‘I,’ and we also have technical

philosophical language that does not assume personality, objects,

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and so forth. This is the difference between the Sutric contents

and the Abhidharmic contents of the teachings of the Buddha.

By and large, the sutras use the conventional standpoint while

the Abhidharma uses the ultimate standpoint. Yet there are pas-

sages in the sutras that describe impermanence, impersonality

or insubstantiality, elements, and aggregates, and hence reflect

the ultimate standpoint. In this context there is also a division of

texts into those whose meaning is explicit and direct, and those

whose meaning is implicit and indirect.

Why did the Buddha resort to these two standpoints, the

conventional and the ultimate? For the answer we need to look

at his excellence as a teacher and skill in choosing methods of

teaching. If the Buddha had spoken to all his audiences only in

terms of impermanence, insubstantiality, elements, and aggre-

gates, I do not think the Buddhist community would have grown

as quickly as it did during the sixth century b.c.e. At the same

time, the Buddha knew that the ultimate standpoint is indis-

pensable for a profound understanding of the Dharma, so his

teachings do contain specific language for expressing the ulti-

mate standpoint.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Philosophy & Psychology in the Abhidharma

One of the functions of the Abhidharma is definition.

Definition is important because, to successfully commu-

nicate about a rather technical subject, we must know precisely

what our terms mean. Thus I would like to look at a number of

terms used frequently and popularly in speaking about Buddhist

thought. I would like to arrive at an understanding of the defi-

nitions of these terms and then relate them to the nature of the

teachings of the Buddha. Buddhism has often been called a religion, a philosophy, and, in recent years, a psychology. ‘Religion’ refers to belief in,

or recognition of, a higher, unseen power that controls the course

of the universe. Moreover, religion has an emotional and moral

component and has to do with rituals and worship. Because

Buddhism does not recognize the existence of such a power and

does not universally emphasize rituals and worship, it is diffi-

cult to categorize Buddhism in general – and particularly the

Abhidharma – as a religion.

In its original sense, ‘philosophy’ means the ‘love of wisdom

and knowledge.’ More generally, it means investigation of the

nature of the laws or causes of all being. This definition might

apply to Buddhism except that it remains somewhat vague, due

to the various meanings of the words ‘nature’ and ‘being.’ This

has led to two approaches in philosophical thinking, called meta-

physics and phenomenology. Metaphysics is the study of abso-

lute or first principles. It is also sometimes called the science of

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ontology, which means the study of essences or, in simple terms, the study of things in themselves. Phenomenology, in contrast,

is the description of things as they are experienced by the indi-

vidual; it is the science of epistemology, the study of things as

they are known, as they appear to us. Insofar as Buddhism is

philosophical, it is concerned primarily with phenomenology. ‘Psychology’ is the study of the mind and mental states.

Like philosophy, it has two aspects – pure psychology, which is

the general study of mental phenomena, and psychotherapy, or

applied psychology, which is the application of the study of men-

tal phenomena to the problem of disease and cure, disturbance

and adjustment. We might explain the difference between pure

and applied psychology by means of an analogy. Imagine that a

man climbs to the top of a hill and surveys the countryside with-

out any particular purpose in mind. His survey will take in every

detail – the hills, the woods, the rivers and streams – without dis-

crimination. But if he has a purpose in mind – for instance, if he

intends to reach another hilltop in the distance – then his sur-

vey will focus on the particular features that will help or hinder

him in his progress toward that goal. When we speak of applied

psychology or psychotherapy, we mean a study of the mind and

mental states that focuses on those phenomena that will help or

hinder one’s progress toward mental well-being.

Having looked briefly at the definitions of religion, philoso-

phy, and psychology, we can begin to see that the phenomenolog-

ical aspect of philosophy and the therapeutic aspect of psychology

relate best to an understanding of the Buddha’s teaching.

The Abhidharma, like Buddhist thought in general, is highly

rational and logical. If we look closely at the methods of exposi-

316

tion and argument in the Abhidharma, we find the beginning of

dialectics, which is the science of debate, and also the beginning

of logical argument and analysis. This is particularly evident in

the fourfold classification of the nature of questions. It is said

that familiarity with and ability to use this classification is indis-

pensable for anyone who wants to engage fruitfully in discussion

and debate about the Dharma, because to answer a question cor-

rectly, one has to understand the nature of the question.

The first class of questions is the most direct and refers to

those that can be answered directly and categorically, such as

‘Do all living beings die?’ To this the answer is ‘Yes, all living

beings die.’

The second class can only be answered with qualifications,

for instance, ‘Will all living beings be reborn?’ This kind of

question cannot be answered directly and categorically because

it has two possible interpretations. Thus it must be analyzed and

answered individually, taking into account each of the possible

meanings: ‘Living beings who are not free from the afflictions

will be reborn, but those who are free from the afflictions, like

the Arhats, will not be reborn.’

The third class of questions must be answered with counter-

questions, as, for instance, ‘Is man powerful?’ Here the reference

point of the question must be determined before the question

can be answered: in other words, is man powerful with reference

to the gods or to animals? If the former, then man is not pow-

erful; if the latter, then man is powerful. The aim of the coun-

ter-question is to determine the reference point that the ques-

tioner has in mind.

The fourth class of questions are those in which we are par-

317

ticularly interested here. These are questions that do not deserve

an answer; the famous inexpressible propositions to which the

Buddha remained silent fall into this category. Traditionally,

there are fourteen unanswerable questions. We find them, for

instance, in the Chulamalunkya Sutta. These fourteen questions

are grouped into three categories:

The first category contains eight questions that concern the

absolute or final nature of the world: Is the world eternal or not

eternal, or both or neither; finite or not finite, or both or nei-

ther? You can see that this category includes two sets of ques-

tions, and that both sets refer to the world. The first set refers to

the existence of the world in time, and the second to the exis-

tence of the world in space.

The second category contains four questions: Does the

Tathagata exist after death or not, or both or neither? These ques-

tions refer to the nature of nirvana, or ultimate reality.

The third category contains two questions: Is the self identi-

cal with or different from the body? While the first category of

questions refers to the world and the second to what is beyond

the world, this last refers to personal experience. Do we die with

our bodies, or are our personalities altogether different from and

independent of our bodies?

The Buddha remained silent when asked these fourteen ques-

tions. He described them as a net and refused to be drawn into

such a net of theories, speculations, and dogmas. He said that it

was because he was free of the bondage of all theories and dog-

mas that he had attained liberation. Such speculations, he said,

are attended by fever, unease, bewilderment, and suffering, and

it is by freeing oneself of them that one achieves liberation.

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Let us look at the fourteen questions in general to see whether

we can understand why the Buddha took this stand. Generally,

the fourteen questions imply two basic attitudes toward the

world. The Buddha spoke of these two attitudes in his dialogue

with Maha Kachchayana, when he said that there are two basic

views, the view of existence and the view of nonexistence. He

said that people are accustomed to think in these terms, and that

as long as they remain entangled in these two views they will

not attain liberation. The propositions that the world is eternal, that the world is infinite, that the Tathagatha exists after death,

and that the self is independent of the body reflect the view of

existence. The propositions that the world is not eternal, that the

world is finite, that the Tathagata does not exist after death, and

that the self is identical with the body reflect the view of non-

existence.

These two views were professed by teachers of other schools

during the time of the Buddha. The view of existence is gener-

ally the view of the Brahmins; that of nonexistence is generally

the view of the materialists and hedonists. When the Buddha

refused to be drawn into the net of these dogmatic views of exis-

tence and nonexistence, I think he had two things in mind: (1) the

ethical consequences of these two views, and, more importantly,

(2) the fact that the views of absolute existence and nonexistence

do not correspond to the way things really are.

For example, the eternalists view this self as permanent and

unchanging. When the body dies, this self will not die because

the self is by nature unchanging. If that is the case, it does not

matter what this body does: actions of the body will not affect

the destiny of the self. This view is incompatible with moral

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responsibility because if the self is eternal and unchanging, it

will not be affected by wholesome and unwholesome actions.

Similarly, if the self were identical with the body and the self

dies along with the body, then it does not matter what the body

does. If you believe that existence ends at death, there will be

no constraint upon action. But in a situation where things exist

through interdependent origination, absolute existence and non-

existence are impossible.

Another example drawn from the fourteen unanswerable

questions also shows that the propositions do not correspond to

the way things really are. Take the example of the world. The

world does not exist absolutely or not exist absolutely in time. The world exists dependent on causes and conditions – ignorance,

craving, and clinging. When ignorance, craving, and clinging

are present, the world exists; when they are not present, the

world ceases to exist. Hence the question of the absolute exis-

tence or nonexistence of the world is unanswerable.

The same may be said of the other categories of questions that

make up the fourteen unanswerables. Existence and nonexis-

tence, taken as absolute ideas, do not apply to things as they really

are. This is why the Buddha refused to agree to absolute state-

ments about the nature of things. He saw that the absolute cate-

gories of metaphysics do not apply to things as they really are.

As for the Buddha’s attitude toward psychology, there is

no doubt that he placed a great deal of emphasis on the role

of the mind. We are familiar with the famous verses in the

Dhammapada where the Buddha speaks of the mind as the fore-

runner of all mental states. The text says that happiness and suf-

fering result from acting with a pure mind and an impure mind,

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respectively. We need only look at the canonical texts to recog-

nize the importance of mind in Buddhist teachings. There we

find the five aggregates, four out of five of which are mental, and

the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, the majority of which

are mental. No matter where we look, we will be struck by the

importance of mind in the teachings of the Buddha.

Various religions and philosophies have their particular

starting points. The theistic religions begin with God. Ethical

teachings like Confucianism begin with man as a social entity.

Buddhism begins with the mind. It is therefore not surpris-

ing that we often choose to describe the Buddha’s teaching as

a psychological one, and that we also describe it as psychother-

apy, since the symbolism of disease and cure is prominent in the

teaching of the Buddha. The Four Noble Truths are a reflection

of the ancient scheme of disease, diagnosis, cure, and treatment

used in early medical science, and we might also recall that the

Buddha was called the king of physicians.

The Buddha was interested in cure, not in metaphysical cat-

egories. We find his use of various techniques of cure through-

out the discourses in the Sutra Pitaka. For instance, take the

Buddha’s teaching about the self. In the Dhammapada the

Buddha taught that the wise man can attain happiness by dis-

ciplining himself, and yet in other places in the discourses, we

find the Buddha expounding the doctrine of not-self, the idea

that nowhere in the psycho-physical components of experience

is the permanent self to be found.

For the explanation of this apparent contradiction, we need

to look at the Buddha’s dialogue with Vachchhagotta, who

asked the Buddha whether or not the self existed. The Buddha

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remained silent, and after a time Vachchhagotta left. Ananda,

who happened to be nearby, asked the Buddha why he had not

replied. The Buddha explained that if he had said that the self

existed, he would have been siding with those Brahmins who

believed in the absolute existence of the self, but if he had told

Vachchhagotta that the self did not exist, it would have been con-

fusing for Vachchhagotta, who would have thought, ‘Previously

I had a self, but now I no longer have one.’ The Buddha chose

to remain silent because he knew Vachchhagotta’s predica-

ment. Similarly, when confronted by those who did not believe

in rebirth, he taught the existence of the self, whereas to those

who believed in the reality of karma, in the fruit of good and bad

actions, he taught the doctrine of not-self. This is the Buddha’s

skill in the means of instruction.

We can see how this ties in with the Buddha’s rejection of

absolute categories when we look at his use of the symbol of the

water-snake. Here we find the Buddha saying that the factors of

experience are similar to a water-snake. When a person capable

of handling a water-snake and knowledgeable in the method of

capturing one attempts to catch one, he will do so successfully.

But when a person unaccustomed to handling a water-snake and

ignorant of how to capture one attempts it, his attempt will end

in lamentation and pain. Similarly, phenomena – the factors of

experience – are nothing in themselves. They are not absolutely

existent or absolutely nonexistent, neither absolutely good nor

absolutely bad; rather, they are relative. Whether they result in

happiness or pain, in progress along the path or in retrogres-

sion, depends not on the phenomena themselves but on how we

handle them.

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If things are handled in the right way, through a conscious

and deliberate adjustment of the mind, phenomena can be used

for one’s progress along the path. A knife, for instance, is neither

true nor false, yet someone who grasps it by the blade is surely in

error. When we relate to phenomena in terms of craving, ill-will,

and ignorance, this results in suffering. When we take them oth-

erwise, this results in happiness.

To summarize, we can use terms like ‘philosophy’ and ‘psy-

chology’ in relation to the Buddhist tradition as long as we

remember that we are interested in philosophy not as it con-

cerns essences and absolute categories but as a description of

phenomena, and that we are interested in psychology insofar

as it concerns psychotherapy. These qualities of the philosophy

and psychology of the Abhidharma are unique in the history of

human thought. Nowhere else, in the ancient or modern world,

in Asia or the West, has such a phenomenology and psychother-

apy evolved.

What is unique about Buddhist phenomenology and psy-

chotherapy is its rejection of the idea of a permanent self and its

affirmation of the possibility of liberation. In all other systems,

even those of western philosophical phenomenology and psy-

chotherapy, we find an inability to reject the idea of a permanent

self – the very rejection so characteristic of the teaching of the

Buddha and of the Abhidharma. And nowhere within modern

psychology do we find that possibility of ultimate and absolute

freedom so central to the teachings of Buddhism.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-T WO

Methodology

In this chapter I will discuss the methods through which the

Abhidharma investigates our personalities and our relations to

the world around us.

There are two ways to depict a given person and his relation

to the world around him: deductively and inductively. The ratio-

nal or deductive method begins with an abstract idea and applies

that idea to one’s experience. The empirical or inductive method

begins with the facts we encounter in experience; through

observing and analyzing, interpreting and understanding these

facts, we build up a picture of ourselves and the world around

us. In short, the rational method begins with the abstract and

tries to apply it to the concrete, whereas the inductive method

begins with the concrete and builds up a picture of reality grad-

ually and progressively.

The inductive method, which is the one used in the

Abhidharmic system, is quite close to the method of science,

except that in science the focus of the inductive process is out-

ward and in the Abhidharmic system the focus is inward, on the

mind. This is why the Abhidharmic method is sometimes called

introspection or, to use a traditional term, meditation.

When we say that the Abhidharmic method is empirical

and inductive, we mean that it has to do primarily with men-

tal experience. Sometimes we say that meditation is like inter-

nal or mental microscopy: it is a way of investigating very closely

the facts of experience. The Abhidharmic method of introspec-

324

tion yields results because it manages, through meditation, to

slow down mental processes to a point where we can see and

understand them. In this respect there is a remarkable parallel

between the Abhidharmic method and the scientific method.

In science, when we want to find out how a certain transforma-

tion actually takes place, we slow down the process or speed it

up. In Abhidharmic meditation, too, we can slow down men-

tal processes so that we can see what is actually happening, or

we can speed things up. If we could see our human life, from

birth to death, within the space of five minutes, it would give

us great insight into the nature of life. However, because this is

usually not possible, we slow things down. This is the basis of

Abhidharmic meditation.

The lists of mental factors and the like in the books of the

Abhidharma may appear tedious and speculative at first glance,

but in fact they are just the written form of the data we find

in this very careful investigation of experience. Far from being

speculative, the Abhidharma is the result of careful and close

introspective analysis of experience. That said, you may ques-

tion the use of studying the Abhidharma at all, thinking that

it is surely more useful to sit in meditation and reproduce the

Abhidharmic experience of reality in one’s own meditation. This

is true to the extent that, as in all aspects of Buddhist teaching, direct as well as indirect acquaintance is required.

With the Abhidharmic view of the elements, the picture we

get when we analyze experience is certainly much more effec-

tive if it is a direct picture achieved through our own meditation.

But even if it is an indirect picture gained through study, it is

still of use to us, because when we sit down to meditate we will

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already have some intellectual acquaintance with the general

outline of the picture we are trying to bring into focus. In this

sense studying the Abhidharma can be useful in bringing about

an indirect understanding of ourselves and the world around us

in Abhidharmic terms.

There are two ways Abhidharmic investigation works:

(1) through analysis, and (2) through synthesis, or relation.

The basic structure of these two methods is given in the first

and last books of the Abhidharma Pitaka, the Dhammasangani

(Classification of Factors) and the Patthana (Book of Causal

Relations), respectively. These are the two most important

books of the Abhidharma. It is through the analytical method

and the synthetic or relational method that the Abhidharma

arrives at a basic understanding of not-self and emptiness.

Let us look first at the analytical method and then at the

relational method; finally, we will combine the two, as, indeed,

we must to reap the full benefit of the Abhidharmic method of

investigation. In The Questions of King Milinda (Milinda Panha),

it is said that the Buddha has accomplished a very difficult

task: ‘If a man,’ Nagasena says in reply to King Milinda, ‘were

to take a boat out to the sea, and if he were to take a handful

of sea water and were then able to tell you that in it this much

water is from the Ganges, this much from the Yamuna, and

this much from the other great rivers of India, this would cer-

tainly be a very difficult thing to accomplish. In the same way,

the Buddha has analyzed a single conscious moment of experi-

ence – for instance, the experience of seeing a form – into its var-

ious component parts: matter, feeling, perception, volition, and

consciousness.’

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Analysis is the dissection of an apparently unitary, homo-

geneous whole into its component parts. This analysis can be

applied not only to the self, as we find in the analysis of per-

sonal experience, but also to external objects: just as we can

break down the personality into the five aggregates, so we can

break down external phenomena into their component parts. For

example, we can break down a table into its legs, its top, and so

forth, and, even further, into the molecules and atoms of vari-

ous elements that compose the table.

The purpose of dissecting an apparent whole is to uproot

attachment to internal and external phenomena. Once we rec-

ognize that this apparently homogeneous self is really just a col-

lection of components, our attachment to the notion of the self

is weakened; similarly, once we realize that external phenom-

ena are just collections of individual smaller components, our

attachment to external objects is weakened. What do we have

as a result of our analytical process? Internally, we are left with

moments of consciousness; externally, we are left with atoms. If

we consider the two together, we are left with elements, or fac-

tors of experience.

The mental and material elements of experience do not in

themselves bring us to the ultimate understanding of reality

because we are left with moments of consciousness and atoms

of matter – elements of experience. These elements remain irre-

ducible no matter how long and how far we go in our process of

dissection. Although we come up with smaller and smaller parts,

we are left with a picture of reality that is broken up into little

bits and pieces as a result of dissection. This in itself is not an

accurate and complete picture of reality.

327

To arrive at the ultimate picture of reality, we need to couple

the analytical approach with the synthetic or relational approach.

That is why a great Buddhist scholar and saint, Nagarjuna, once

expressed his reverence for the Buddha as ‘the teacher of inter-

dependent origination.’ The truth of interdependent origination

pacifies and calms the agitation of thought-construction. This is

an indication of the importance of relation, interdependence, or

conditionality in understanding the real nature of things. It is

also why scholars have focused on the Book of Causal Relations,

which supplies the other half of the Abhidharmic method of

investigation.

Just as, through analysis, we arrive at the insubstantiality of

personality and phenomena (because we see that they are made

up of component parts), so, through the process of relational

investigation, we arrive at the emptiness of personality and phe-

nomena (because we see that the component parts which consti-

tute them are all conditioned by and relative to each other). We

arrive at this insubstantiality and emptiness by focusing on the

teaching of interdependent origination.

We can see how, within a given thing – be it the personal-

ity or an external object – the component parts depend on one

another for their existence. For instance, within a single phe-

nomenon, such as an apparently unitary table, there are several

component parts (the legs, the top, and so forth) that depend

on each other for their existence as part of a table. Similarly, the

table depends on its antecedent causes (the wood, the iron, and

action of the craftsman who put it together) and also on proxi-

mate conditions (like the floor on which it stands).

We can also explore the idea of interdependence in relation

328

to three dimensions: time, space, and karma. For instance, the

table is dependent in terms of time in the sense that, prior to the

table existing, a series of events occurred – the cutting of lum-

ber, the construction of the table, and so forth. This sequence of

events led to the arising of the table. Similarly, the table is depen-

dent in terms of space in the sense that it stands on the floor, and

so forth. The third dimension of conditionality operates beyond

time and space. This dimension is explained by karma, because

karma has its effects depending on time and space, yet it is not

directly apparent in time and space. Because of karma, an action

done at a very distant point in time and space can have its effects

here and now. Conditionality is therefore not only temporal and

spatial, but also has a karmic dimension.

Let us take two examples to establish more firmly what we

mean by the analytical approach and the relational approach. Take a chariot, which is a phenomenon, an identifiable entity.

We apply the analytical approach to the chariot by breaking it

down into its component parts: the wheels, axle, body, shaft, and

so forth. Application of the synthetic method looks at the same

chariot in terms of the lumber that goes to it, the action of the

builders who put it together, and so forth. Alternatively, we can

take the classical examples of the flame in an oil lamp, which

exists dependent on the oil and the wick, and the sprout, which

depends on a seed, soil, sunlight, and so forth.

The analytical and the relational methods together yield the

ultimate picture of things as they really are. They yield this ulti-

mate picture through careful investigation. We use the analyt-

ical method to break things up into the component parts of an

apparent whole; then we use the relational method to show that

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these component parts do not exist independently and separately

but depend on other factors for their existence.

There are many places in the Buddha’s teaching where meth-

ods of investigation are used singly and then in combination. For example, we apply mindfulness first to internal phenomena,

then to external phenomena, and finally both to internal and

external phenomena. By using analysis and relation together, we

overcome many problems. Not only do we overcome the idea of

self, substance, and personality, we also overcome the problems

that result if we believe in the independent existence of separate

factors and ideas like existence and nonexistence, identity and

difference.

The analytical and the synthetic approaches are actually

reflected in the chemistry of the brain. Neurologists have discov-

ered that the brain is divided into two hemispheres, one whose

function is analytical and one whose function is synthetic. If

these two functions are not in harmony, not in balance, person-

ality disturbances result. Someone who is too analytical tends to

overlook the more intuitive, dynamic, fluid aspects of life, while

someone who is too relational tends to lack precision, clarity, and

focus. Thus even in our personal lives we need to combine ana-

lytical and relational thinking.

The psychological and neurological dimensions of these two

approaches are also clear in the development of western philos-

ophy and science. Philosophies in which the analytical approach

is predominant have left us with realistic, pluralistic, and atomis-

tic systems like the philosophy of Bertrand Russell. By the same

token, in the latest developments of science, such as quantum

theory, we find a more relational view of reality gaining ground.

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When we look at the history of philosophy and science in the

West, we can see that each of these two approaches to investi-

gation has been dominant at one time or another.

Perhaps we are reaching a point where we can combine the

two even in western science and philosophy. Perhaps we can

arrive at a view of reality not too different from the one that the

Abhidharma arrives at through the experience of introspective

meditation – a view of reality that is both analytical (in that it

rejects the idea of a homogeneous whole) and relational (in that it

rejects the idea of independent, separately existing bits and pieces

of reality). We would then have a very fluid and open view of real-

ity in which experience saturated by suffering could be dynami-

cally transformed into experience free from all suffering.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Analysis of Consciousness

Because of its importance and scope, I will dedicate three

chapters to the analysis of consciousness within Abhidharma

philosophy. In this chapter I look at some of the systems for clas-

sifying consciousness and also at the sense-sphere consciousness

in particular.

To understand why we begin our Abhidharmic analysis

of experience with consciousness, it is important to remember

the therapeutic concern of Buddhist philosophy in general and

the Abhidharma in particular. The starting point of Buddhist

thought is the truth of suffering. Suffering is a problem of con-

sciousness; only that which is conscious can suffer. Consciousness

is subject to suffering because of ignorance, or fundamental not-

knowing, which divides consciousness into subject and object,

into a self and an other-than-self (i.e., the objects and people

around the self).

In Buddhism, ignorance is defined as the notion of a per-

manent, independent self and its object. Once we have this divi-

sion of consciousness into a self and an other-than-self, we have

suffering, because tension is created between the two. We also

have craving and aversion, because we want those things that

support the self and are averse to those things that are not con-

ducive to the self.

This division or discrimination between the self (or subject)

and the other-than-the-self (or object) is the fundamental cause

of suffering. Such a division is possible because of ignorance – the

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belief in a real self existing independently and in opposition to

the other-than-self. Thus it is not surprising that the Abhidharma

should turn first to an analysis of subjectivity and objectivity. Indeed, when we examine the teaching of the five aggregates,

we see that form (rupa) is the objective component, while name

(nama), consciousness, and the mental aggregates of volition, per-

ception, and feeling are the subjective component. Before look-

ing at how this division affects the Abhidharmic analysis of con-

sciousness, we must be clear about what it means. In Buddhism,

this division does not mean that we have an essential, irreduc-

ible duality of mind and matter. Buddhism is not concerned with

mind and matter as ultimate metaphysical facts but with mind

and matter as they are experienced. Mind and matter are forms

of experience, not essences. This is why Buddhism is a phenome-

nological, not an ontological, philosophy, and why the division of

mind and matter in Buddhism is a phenomenological division.

There are two systems for classifying consciousness in the

Abhidharma: objective and subjective. Objective classification

refers to the objects of consciousness, while subjective classifica-

tion refers to the nature of consciousness.

Objective classification primarily takes into account the

direction in which consciousness is oriented. Within this objec-

tive scheme, there is a division into four classes of consciousness:

(1) the sense-sphere consciousness, or consciousness directed

toward the world of sense desire (kamavachara); (2) the con-

sciousness directed toward the sphere of form (rupavachara);

(3) the consciousness directed toward the formless sphere (aru-

pavachara); and (4) the consciousness directed toward nirvana

(lokuttara). The first three classes of consciousness are worldly

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(lokiya) and are concerned with the world of conditioned things.

The fourth class, also known as supramundane consciousness

(alokiya chitta), refers to the transcendental direction of con-

sciousness (lokuttara) and is the consciousness of the four types

of noble ones – the stream-winner, once-returner, non-returner, and liberated one (see Chapter 35).

The object of the kamavachara is material and limited; the

object of the rupavachara is not material but is still limited; and

the object of the arupavachara is not material and is unlimited.

If we look at these three in order, we find (a) a material and lim-

ited object, (b) an immaterial but still limited object, and (c) an

immaterial and unlimited object of consciousness. All three

types of consciousness are directed toward mundane objects.

There is a progressive unification and homogenization in the

object of each consciousness. The object of the consciousness of

the sphere of sense desire is the most proliferated and differenti-

ated, those of the form and formless types of consciousness are

increasingly less proliferated. The fourth type of consciousness

is directed toward a transcendental type of object.

Let us now look at the subjective classification of conscious-

ness. This consciousness has to do with the nature of the subjec-

tive consciousness itself and is also divided into four classes: the

wholesome consciousness (kusala), the unwholesome conscious-

ness (akusala), the resultant consciousness (vipaka), and the inef-

fective or functional consciousness (kiriya).

The wholesome and unwholesome classes are karmically

active classes of consciousness; in other words, they have kar-

mic potential. The resultant and functional types of conscious-

ness are not karmically active and do not have karmic potential.

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The resultant class cannot bring about results because it is itself

the result, while the functional class cannot do so because its

potentiality is exhausted in the action itself.

We can thus place the wholesome and unwholesome catego-

ries in the more general category of karmically active conscious-

nesses, and the resultant and functional types into the category

of passive consciousnesses that do not have karmic potential.

It might be useful to look for a moment at the meaning of

the terms ‘wholesome’ (kusala) and ‘unwholesome’ (akusala), and

then at the definition of the wholesome and unwholesome cat-

egories of subjective consciousness. Wholesome means ‘what

tends toward cure’ or ‘what tends toward desirable results.’ Here

we are again reminded of the therapeutic concern of Buddhist

philosophy. Unwholesome means ‘what tends toward undesir-

able results’ or ‘what tends toward perpetuation of suffering.’ The

terms ‘wholesome’ and ‘unwholesome’ are also related to skill-

ful and unskillful, or intelligent and unintelligent, moments of

consciousness. However, for convenience, people still some-

times refer to wholesome and unwholesome consciousness as

good and bad, moral and immoral. ‘Wholesome’ and ‘unwhole-

some’ can also be defined with reference to the three wholesome

and unwholesome root causes (non-greed, non ill-will, and non-

delusion, and greed, ill-will, and delusion, respectively). Greed,

ill-will, and delusion are the derivative forms of fundamental

ignorance, which is the mistaken notion of a self as opposed

to what is other-than-self. Ignorance in its fundamental sense

might be likened to the root of a tree, and greed, ill-will, and

delusion to its branches.

The karmic potential of a moment of consciousness con-

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ditioned by any of the three unwholesome causes is unwhole-

some, while the potential of a moment conditioned by any of

the three wholesome causes is wholesome. These wholesome and

unwholesome classes of consciousness are karmically active, and

they are followed by a resultant class – in other words, by the rip-

ened results of those wholesome and unwholesome actions. The

inactive or functional class refers to actions that are not produc-

tive of further karma, and that also do not result from whole-

some and unwholesome karma, such as the actions of enlight-

ened ones – the Buddhas and Arhats – and deeds of indifferent or

neutral karmic content.

In addition to these two general systems for classifying con-

sciousness – the objective, which classifies consciousness accord-

ing to its object and direction, and the subjective, which classi-

fies consciousness according to its nature – we have a third sys-

tem in which consciousness is distinguished according to feel-

ing, knowledge, and volition.

In the classification according to feeling, every conscious

factor partakes of an emotional quality: agreeable, disagreeable,

or indifferent. These three can be expanded into five by divid-

ing the agreeable category into mentally agreeable and physically

agreeable, and the disagreeable category into mentally disagree-

able and physically disagreeable. There is no category of physi-

cally indifferent consciousness because indifference is primarily

a mental quality.

In the classification in terms of knowledge, again we have

a threefold division: conscious factors accompanied by know-

ledge of the nature of the object, conscious factors unaccompa-

nied by knowledge of the nature of the object, and conscious

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factors accompanied by definite wrong views about the nature

of the object. These can also be called the presence of correct

knowledge, the absence of correct knowledge, and the presence

of erroneous knowledge.

Finally, in the classification according to volition, there is a

twofold division into automatic and volitional consciousness – in

other words, moments of consciousness that are automatic in

nature, and moments that have an intentional element.

Let us now look at the sense-sphere consciousness (kama-

vachara). There are fifty-four types of consciousness in this cat-

egory, which divide into three groups:

The first group consists of twelve factors that are karmically

active and that have unwholesome karmic potential. The twelve

can be subdivided into factors conditioned by one of the three

unwholesome conditions of greed, ill-will, and delusion.

The second group consists of eighteen reactive or passive fac-

tors of consciousness, which can be further broken down into

those that are resultant and those that are functional. Fifteen

of the eighteen are resultant, and refer in general terms to expe-

riences that are agreeable or disagreeable, the result of whole-

some or unwholesome factors experienced through the five phys-

ical senses and the sixth mental sense. The remaining three are

functional, having no karmic potential and not being the conse-

quence of karmically active wholesome or unwholesome factors.

The third category consists of twenty-four wholesome factors

of consciousness that are karmically active and thus have kar-

mic potential conditioned by non-greed, non-ill-will, and non-

delusion.

Within the class of sense-sphere consciousness, therefore,

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we have fifty-four types of consciousness that can be analyzed

in terms of active and passive, wholesome and unwholesome,

resultant and functional, and even in terms of feeling, know-

ledge, and volition.

I want to conclude by spending a few moments on the mul-

tivalent nature of terms in the Abhidharma in particular and in

Buddhism in general. The factors of consciousness listed in the

Abhidharma, and the terms used to describe them, have differ-

ent values and meanings according to the functions they perform.

Failure to understand this leads to confusion about Abhidharmic

classifications.

Even in the early years of the Abhidharma, there were critics

who failed to understand that the factors in it are classified func-

tionally, not ontologically. What this means is that if you survey

the factors of consciousness listed in the Abhidharma literature,

you find the same factor occurring in different categories. Your

initial conclusion may be that there is a great deal of repetition

in Abhidharmic material, but this is not the point. The presence

of the same factor in different categories is due to its function-

ing differently in each one.

The commentary to the Dhammasangani (Classification of

Factors) records the objection of repetition raised by an oppo-

nent. It replies with the analogy that when a king collects taxes

from people, he does so not on the basis of their existence as

identifiable individuals, but of their functions as earning enti-

ties. (This is also the case today, when one pays taxes on the basis

of being a property owner, a salaried worker, on the earnings of

one’s stocks and bonds, and so forth.) In the same way, the fac-

tors enumerated in the Abhidharma occur in different catego-

338

ries because in each case it is the factor’s function that counts, not its essence.

This is also the case with terms. We need to understand

terms in context – by the way they are used – rather than impos-

ing rigid, essentialistic, and naturalistic definitions. Take, for

instance, ‘suffering’ (dukkha) and ‘happiness’ (sukha). In the

analysis of the factors of consciousness, these terms mean phys-

ical suffering and physical happiness. Yet when we talk about

dukkha in the context of the first noble truth, it includes not

only four physical sufferings but also four mental sufferings.

Similarly, sankhara means simply ‘volition’ in one context but

‘all compounded things’ in another.

Thus when we study the Abhidharma, we need to under-

stand the words in context. If we keep this in mind, we will be

adopting the phenomenological spirit of Buddhist philosophy

and will find it easier to approach the significance of what is

being said. Otherwise, we will find ourselves trapped into rigid,

unworkable definitions of terms and rigid, unhelpful ideas about

factors of experience.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The Form and Formless Spheres

In Chapter 33 I introduced several schemes for classifying con-

sciousness that may be difficult to grasp, particularly for new-

comers to Abhidharmic studies. Hence there are two additional

points I would like to make as we proceed with our discussion.

First, to acquire understanding, one needs to cultivate

(1) study, (2) consideration, and (3) meditation. It is not enough

just to hear or read about the classifications of consciousness: one

needs to consider exactly how they function, exactly what their

meaning is. From my own experience, these schemes of classifi-

cation will not begin to make sense until one spends some time

running them back and forth in one’s mind. Finally, after study

and consideration, one can use them in one’s meditation.

Second, to understand these classifications, it helps to con-

sider a more concrete and accessible model. Suppose you want to

know how many people are likely to watch daytime television in

Singapore. You might classify the population into employed and

unemployed; again, you might divide the unemployed group into

English-speaking and Chinese-speaking, so you know how many

are likely to watch English programs compared to Chinese ones.

You might divide the population into male and female, or into

school-going and non-school-going, and the school-going group