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Vajrayana Buddhism
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A mandala used in Vajrayana Buddhist practices.
'Vajrayâna
Buddhism, also known as Tantric Buddhism, Mantrayana,
Tantrayana, Esoteric Buddhism, '"Diamond Vehicle" or "True
Words Sect", is often viewed as the third major school of
Buddhism,
alongside the
Theravada
and Mahayana
schools. (Note that 'Yana' means 'vehicle' in Sanskrit.)
The Vajrayana is actually a subset of Mahayana Buddhism. Vajrayana
Buddhists themselves often classify their school as the final stage in
the evolution of Indian Buddhist
theory which they enumerate as: Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana.
Vajrayana exists today in the form of two major
sub-schools:
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Tibetan Buddhism,
found in Tibet, Bhutan, northern India, Nepal,
southwestern China, Mongolia and, various constituent
republics of Russia that are adjacent to the area, such as: Amur
Oblast, Buryatia, Chita Oblast, Tuva Republic, and Khabarovsk Krai.
There is also Kalmykia, another constituent republic of Russia that is
in fact the only Buddhist region in Europe, located in the north
Caucasus. |
| Shingon Buddhism, found in Japan. |
The key
advantage Vajrayana Buddhism claims to provide is an accelerated path
to enlightenment. This is achieved through use of
tantra
techniques, which are practical aids to spiritual
development, and esoteric transmission (explained below). Whereas
earlier schools might provide ways to achieve
nirvana
over the course of many lifetimes, Vajrayana techniques make full
enlightenment or Buddhahood possible in a much shorter
timeframe, perhaps in a single lifetime. Vajrayana Buddhists do not
claim that Theravada or Mahayana practices are in any way invalid, only
that they represent slower paths. It should also be noted that the goal
of the Mahayana and Vajrayana is the attainment of Buddhahood, whereas
the goal for Theravada practice is liberation from the cycle of
rebirth
by achieving Nirvana.
Vajrayana relies on various tantric techniques rooted in scriptures
known as tantras, written in India. The most important
aspect of the tantric path is to 'use the result as the
Path'; which means that rather than placing full enlightenment as a goal
far away in the future, one tries to identify with the
enlightened body, speech and mind of a Buddha.
The buddha-form which one can best relate to is called the yidam
(Tibetan) or (Sanskrit: ishtadevata) or 'personal buddha-form'. In order
to achieve this self-identification with a buddha-form, much
symbolism
and visualization is used in Buddhist tantric techniques.
Detail of the mandala shown above. This is a
Garbhadhatu mandala, representing Vairocana Buddha surrounded
by eight Buddhas and bodhisattvas (clockwise from top: Ratnaketu,
Samantabhadra, Samkusumitaraja, Manjusri, Amitabha, Avalokitesvara,
Dundubhinirghosa, Maitreya).
Secrecy is an important cornerstone of tantric Buddhism, simply to avoid
the practices from harming oneself and others without proper guidance.
One should realize that it is not even allowed to explain the full
symbolism and psychology of the practice to the un-initiated, so
obviously, this leads to misunderstanding and dismissal. Tantric
techniques may initially appear to consist of ritualistic nonsense;
however, it should only be practiced on the basis of a thorough
understanding of
Buddhist philosophy
and strictly following the traditions.
Tantric techniques include:
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repetition of special
ritual phrases (mantras),
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use of various
yoga
techniques, including breath control (Pranayama),
yantra and the use of special hand positions (mudras)
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| use of an extensive vocabulary of visual aids, such
as cosmic mandala diagrams which teach and map pathways to spiritual
enlightenment |
| the use of ritual objects such as the vajra and
bell (ghanta), hand drum (damaru), and many other symbolic tools and
musical instruments |
| use of specialized rituals rooted in Vajrayana
cosmology and beliefs |
| importance of a guru-disciple relationship, for
example by ritual 'empowerments' or 'initiations' wherein the student
obtains permission to practice a particular tantra. |
| of most importance are
the oral transmissions given by a tantric master. These teachings are
only given personnally from teacher to student and are secret, because
they demand a certain maturity of the student. Otherwise they might
have a negative effect. Such teachings describe certain aspects of the
mind and how to attain them, realize them by certain practices that
can be dangerous to ones health if not prepared thoroughly, as such
states of mind are normally experienced at the time of death. A mature
yogi 'dies' in the
meditation
and comes back again, experiencing all the levels of mind.
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There is an aspect of sex in Buddhist tantra which is
first and foremost intended as symbolic, although there is also an
aspect of transforming one's sexual energy into a blissful consciousness
which can then be directed towards achieving wisdom and enlightenment
through the act of sexual intercourse. However, it cannot be stressed
enough that this has very little to do with 'having sex' in the normal
sense; instead it is about controlling one's sexual energies. Sexual
symbolism is common in Vajrayana iconography, where it basically
represents the marriage of wisdom and compassion or method.
It is from the tantra that Vajrayana Buddhism gets the
alternative names of Mantrayana and Tantrayana. The word "Vajrayana"
itself comes from vajra, a Sanskrit word which can mean
"diamond", "indestructible" or "thunderbolt" and which also has the
connotation of "reality". This gives rise to two more names for
Vajrayana Buddhism: Diamond Vehicle, and Adamantine Vehicle
(adamantine means "diamond-like"). The vajra (or dorje in
Tibetan) is an important ritual object symbolizes compassion/method,
while the bell symbolizes wisdom.
The other conspicuous aspect of Vajrayana Buddhism is
that it is esoteric. In this context esoteric means that the
transmission of certain accelerating factors only occurs directly from
teacher to student during an initiation and cannot be simply learned
from a book. Many techniques are also commonly said to be secret, but
some Vajrayana teachers have responded that the secrecy itself is not
important but only a side-effect of the reality that the techniques have
no validity outside the teacher-student lineage. As these techniques are
said to be highly effective, when not practiced properly, the
practitioner can harm him/herself physically and mentally. In order to
avoid these kind of dangers, the practice is kept 'secret' outside the
teacher/student relationship. The esoteric aspects of Vajrayana Buddhism
results in several more names for the school: Secret Buddhism,
Esoteric Mahayana, and Esoteric Buddhism (the most common
name in Japan).
The esoteric transmission framework can take varying
forms. The Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism uses a method called
dzogchen. Other Tibetan Kagyu schools and the Shingon school in Japan
use an alternative method called mahamudra.
While tantra and esoterism distinguish Vajrayana Buddhism, it is, from
the Tibetan Buddhist point of view, nonetheless primarily a form of
Mahayana Buddhism. Sutras important to Mahayana are
generally important to Vajrayana, although Vajrayana adds some of its
own. The
importance of bodhisattvas
and a pantheon of deities in Mahayana carries over to Vajrayana, as well
as the perspective that Buddhism is not just for monks
but for the laity too.
The Japanese Vajrayana teacher Kukai expressed a view
contrary to this by making a clear distinction between Mahayana and
Vajrayana. Kukai characterises the Mahayana in its entirety as exoteric,
and therefore provisional. From this point of view the esoteric
Vajrayana is the only Buddhist teaching which is not a compromise with
the limited nature of the audience to which it is directed, since the
teachings are said to be the Dharmakaya (the principle of enlightenment)
in the form of Mahavairocana, engaging in a monologue with himself. From
this view the Hinayana and Mahayana are provisional and compromised
aspects of the Vajrayana - rather than seeing the Vajrayana as primarily
a form of Mahayana Buddhism.
Some aspects of Vajrayana have also filtered back into
Mahayana. In particular, the Vajrayana fondness for powerful symbols may
be found in weakened form in Mahayana temples where protector
deities may be found glaring down at visitors.
There are several points of view as to just where Vajrayana
started, some claiming that it began in Udyana - the modern day Swat
valley in Pakistan, while others say that it began in southern India. In
the Tibetan tradition, it is claimed that the historical
Shakyamuni Buddha taught tantra, but as these are 'secret'
teachings outside the teacher/disciple relationship, they were written
down generally long after the Buddha's other teachings, known as sutras.
The earliest texts appeared around the early 4th
century. Nalanda University in northern India became a center for the
development of Vajrayana theory, although it is likely that the
university followed, rather than led, the early Tantric movement. India
would continue as the source of leading-edge Vajrayana practices up
through the 11th century.
(Vajrayana)
Buddhism had mostly died out in India by the 13th century, its practices
merging with Hinduism,
and both tantric religions experiencing pressure from
the rising importance of Islam. By that time, the vast majority of the
practices were also made available in Tibet, where they were preserved
until recently.
In the second half of the 20th century a sizeable
number of Tibetan exiles fled the oppressive anti-religious rule of the
Communist Chinese to establish Tibetan Buddhist communities in northern
India, particularly around Dharamsala. They remain the
primary practitioners of Tantric Buddhism in India and the entire world.
Vajrayana followed the same route into
northern China as Buddhism itself, arriving from India via the
Silk Road some time during the first half of the 7th century.
It arrived just as Buddhism was reaching its zenith in China, receiving
sanction from the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang capital at
Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an) became an important center for Buddhist
studies, and Vajrayana ideas no doubt received great attention as
pilgrim monks returned from India with the latest texts and methods.
In 747 the Indian saint Padmasambhava
traveled from Afghanistan to bring Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet and
Bhutan, at the request of the king of Tibet. This was the original
transmission which anchors the lineage of the Nyingma school. During the
11th century and early 12th century a second important transmission
occurred with the lineage of Atisa, Marpa and Brogmi, giving rise to the
other schools of Tibetan Buddhism, namely Kagyupa, Kadampa, Sakyapa, and
Gelukpa (the school of the Dalai Lama).
In 804, the Emperor Kammu of Japan
sent the intrepid monk Kukai to the Tang capital at Chang'an to retrieve
the latest Buddhist knowledge. Kukai absorbed the Vajrayana thinking and
synthesized a version which he took back with him to Japan, where he
founded the important Shingon school of Buddhism, a school which
continues to this day.
In the late 8th century, Indian models
of Vajrayana traveled directly to the Indonesian island of Java where a
huge temple complex at Borobudur was soon built.
Vajrayana Buddhism would survive in Indonesia and Malaysia until
eclipsed by Islam in the 13th century.
In the 13th century, long after the original wave of
Vajrayana Buddhism had died out in China itself, two Tibetan eminent
Sakyapa teachers, Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen and Chogyal Phagpa,
visited the Mongolian royal court. Marco Polo was serving the royal
court at about the same time. In a competition between Christians,
Moslems, and Buddhists held before the royal court, Prince Godan found
Tibetan Buddhism to be the most satisfactory and adopted it as his
personal religion, although not requiring it of his subjects. As Kublai
Khan had just conquered China (establishing the Yuan Dynasty), his
adoption of Vajrayana led to the renewal of Tantric practices in China
as the ruling class found it useful to emulate their leader.
Vajrayana would decline in China and Mongolia with the fall of the Yuan
Dynasty, replaced by resurgent
Daoism
(Taoism),
Confucianism, and
Pure Land Buddhism.
However, Mongolia would see yet another revival of Vajrayana in the 17th
century, with the establishment of ties between the Dalai Lama in Tibet
and the remnants of the Mongol Empire. This revived the historic pattern
of the spiritual leaders of Tibet acting as priests to the rulers of the
Mongol empire. Tibetan Buddhism is still practiced as a folk religion in
Mongolia today despite more than 80 years of state-sponsored communism.
Adapted
with permission from
Wikipedia. |
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