Reviving the tantric teachings of Hevajra

October 17, 2015 News Leave a comment 2,719 Views

Religion: The first tantric institute in the country, which will soon be ready with proper classrooms and hostels, is expected to revive the Hevajra tantra, an advance teaching and practice of understanding the nature of mind.

Started in 2007, the institute, Ngagdra Dorji Choegar still being built at Kurizampa, Mongar, has been sending at least 60 monks a year to nine retreat centres to undergo six practices of Naropa. It offers all major tantric studies of Vajrayana Buddhism.

During the six-year course, monks and lay monks learn mandala making, in-depth study in spiritual instructions, visualization practice, contemplation, receive oral transmission, and learn mantra.

One of the main subjects that are taught throughout the course is Hevajra Tantra, a comprehensive study of Buddhist text taught by the tutelary deity, Hevajra. Hevajra is a male deity that holds personified symbol for the Buddhist concept of a supreme being in the state of nonduality.

Statue of Hevajra being built at the institute

The introduction of this course will help revive the teaching that was on the brink of extinction, said founder of the institute, His Eminence Gyeltshen Trulku.

His Eminence said Hevajra Tantra is an advance teaching and practice of understanding the nature of mind. He added that Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal brought the lineage of Hevajra Tantra that was passed down by the great master, Kunkhyen Pema Karpo in Tibet. The teaching had waned after Zhabdrung.

However, the 69th Je Khenpo, late Gendun Rinchen who requested an oral transmission of the teaching from His Holiness Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche wrote a commentary based on the transmission. Since then the teaching was revived.

His Eminence Gyeltshen Trulku said Hevajra Tantra is one of the oldest texts taught before the time of Sakyamuni Buddha. Buddhist canon (kanjur) explains that Hevejra taught Hevejra Tantra on the tip of Mount Meru after subduing lord Shiva.

It is believed that before the existence of Buddha there was no god on the earth to whom people could take refuge. They approached lord Shiva who was day and night uniting with his consort Parvati.

Having no time to attend to peoples’ request, Shiva gave devotees his representative, Shivalinga. In Hindu faith Shivalinga is worshipped even today.

It is also believed that devotees who had tremendous desire indulged in sex, and those who had high level of hatred slaughtered animals, and offered their blood to Shiva. While people with ignorance kept drinking day and night.

Knowing that people were going on the wrong path, the bodhisattvas sent Hevajra to Mount Meru to subdue Shiva. Hevajra took the form of Sihva so that people would not mistake with their lord.

As a mark of victory Shiva was put beneath the feet of Hevajra deity and it is depicted in the statue today. After subduing Shiva the first teaching Hevajra gave was Hevajra Tantra. Gyeltshen Trulku said after that Hevajra converted eight sites of Shiva into eight major crematoriums and 32 villages into pilgrim sites.

As homage to Hevejra, the institute is building a 21-feet tall statue of the deity. It will be the largest statue in the country. The deity has eight faces with 16 arms. He holds his consort, which in Buddhism is union of wisdom and compassion, the essence of ultimate realization.

His Eminence said tantric study would give a complete set of knowledge and skills that one requires in retreat centres. “Once they graduate from the institute they can straight away start with meditation,” he said.

The courses began with the construction of the institute in 2007. Each year at least 60 monks graduate from the institute and join the retreat centres for three and six year-meditation course. There are around 200 monks.

His Holiness the Je Khenpo on October 30 will consecrate the institute.

Tenzin Namgyel

http://www.kuenselonline.com/reviving-the-tantric-teachings-of-hevajra/

on Eternalism and Nihilism

What Buddhists BelieveVenerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera

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Eternalism and Nihilism   The Buddha rejected both extremes of eternalism and nihilism.   To develop Right View or Perfect View, we must first be aware of two views which are considered imperfect or wrong. The first view is eternalism. This doctrine or belief is concerned with eternal life or with eternal things. Before the Buddha's time, it was taught that there is an abiding entity which could exist forever, and that man can live the eternal life by preserving the eternal soul in order to be in union with Supreme Being. In Buddhism, this teaching is called sassata ditthi ----the view of eternalists. Such views still exist even in the modern world owing to man's craving for eternity. Why did the Buddha deny the teaching of eternalism? Because when we understand the things of this world as they truly are, we cannot find anything which is permanent or which exists forever. Things change and continue to do so according to the changing conditions on which they depend. When we analyse things into their elements or into reality, we cannot find any abiding entity, any everlasting thing. This is why the eternalist view is considered wrong or false. The second false view is nihilism or the view held by the nihilists who claim that there is no life after death. This view belongs to a materialistic philosophy which refuses to accept knowledge of mental conditionality. To subscribe to a philosophy of materialism is to understand life only partially. Nihilism ignores the side of life which is concerned with mental conditionality. If one claims that after the passing away or ceasing of a life, it does not come to be again, the continuity of mental conditions is denied. To understand life, we must consider all conditions, both mental and material. When we understand mental and material conditions, we cannot say that there is no life after death and that there is no further becoming after passing away. This nihilist view of existence is considered false because it is based on incomplete understanding of reality. That is why nihilism was also rejected by the Buddha. The teaching of kamma is enough to prove that the Buddha did not teach annihilation after death; Buddhism accepts 'survival' not in the sense of an eternal soul, but in the sense of a renewed becoming. Throughout the Buddha's long period of teaching the Dhamma to His followers, He actively discouraged speculative arguments. During the 5th century B.C. India was a veritable hive of intellectual activity where scholars, yogis, philosophers, kings and even ordinary householders were constantly engaged in the philosophical arguments pertaining to human existence. Some of these were either ridiculously trivial or totally irrelevant. Some people wasted valuable time arguing at great length about all manner of subjects. They were far more concerned about proving their powers in mental gymnastics than seeking genuine solutions to the problems that beset humanity. (In the 18th century Jonathan Swift satirized a similar pastime in England when he showed the Lilliputians in 'Gulliver's Travels' waging a war to decide whether an egg should be broken on its sharp end or its broad end). The Buddha also refused to get involved in speculations regarding the universe. He stated very clearly that the problem facing mankind is not in his past or his future but in the immediate present. Knowledge about Eternalism or Nihilism can in no way help man to break the present fetters which bind him to existence and which are the source of all his feelings of discontent which arise from his inability to completely satisfy his cravings. The Buddha stated that before one can begin to tread the path which leads to Nibbana one must have Right View. Only when one knows clearly what one is seeking will one be able to attain it.   -ooOoo- Previous Page  Contents  Next Page https://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/111.htm

Trending today: "It may seem contradictory, but Yidam practice, where we visualize ourselves as an enlightened deity, is designed to help us overcome our sense of "ordinariness" and to demonstrate, in a sense, the emptiness of our perceptions.

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche described Yidam practice — in an interview in Buddha Weekly — in context with "emptiness":

"...Every time you do any of these practices, first you meditate on emptiness. You start with the Sanskrit mantra, Om Svabhava Shuddo and so on, “every thing becomes voidness.” Then you visualize your consciousness arising as a seed syllable, then the deity. So, when you do these practices, this “I” — ordinary man or woman ego — is already gone. You transform the I, or ego, by meditating on emptiness. When there is no self, who is there to be angry? Who is there to be terrified?""
https://buddhaweekly.com/the-lightning-path-of-buddhism-th…/

https://buddhaweekly.com/the-lightning-path-of-buddhism-the-power-of-yidams/

If I do not go to hell to help, who will go? Only when all beings have been liberated, will I become Buddha 
~ Kṣitigarbha

At the time of death, our dwelling place is of no use to us. Even if it is a measureless palace in the god realms, we will have to leave it behind and depart. We might hide somewhere impregnable, but there is nowhere that can help us, as we read in the Vinaya scriptures:

Wherever one is, there is nowhere
That is not struck by death:
Neither in the air, nor yet in the ocean,
Neither in the gods’ abodes, nor even in a hidden valley.

The wealth we have accumulated will not help. The gods’ precious attributes and possessions, the universal monarch’s dominion, and the treasuries of the rich will all have to be left behind, as the Vinaya scriptures explain:

When a tree falls down,
What use are the twigs and leaves?
Likewise, when a person dies,
What use are possessions?

Food, clothes, and the other things we enjoy will not help. The gods’ sweet nectar, their finest clothes of five-colored silk, the most delicious human foods “with a hundred tastes,” the finest satin and cotton — in short, the whole variety of beautiful forms, pleasant sounds, sweet scents, delicious tastes, and stuff that is soft to touch—none of these will help us when we die. As we find in the Sutra of Extensive Play, Constantly these beings are caught and snared By lovely forms and beautiful sounds, sweet smells, The most delicious tastes, delightful sensations, and death.

Like a monkey caught in a hunter’s net, To those who delight in the senses much harm will come, With fear, with constant enmity and afflictive emotions, Like a sword’s sharp edge and the leaves of a poisonous plant. And in The Way of the Bodhisattva we read:

Though we be rich in worldly goods,
Delighting in our wealth for many years,
Despoiled and stripped as though by thieves,
We must go naked and with empty hands.

- Dudjom Rinpoche - A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom - Shambhala Publications

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156399828022928&set=gm.1149461771875650&type=3&theater&ifg=1

https://dudjomtersarngondro.com/2018/10/01/samaya-continued/

Because all vajra brothers and vajra sisters are bound
by a single samaya to be our companions on the path to enlightenment,
we must abandon the reverse views of anger and malice toward each other
and have the pure view of seeing each other as male and female wisdom deities.

༄། དམ་ཚིག་གཅིག་གིས་བསྡུས་པའི་མཆེད་ལྕམ་རྣམས། །

     བྱང་ཆུབ་བར་དུ་ལམ་གྱི་གྲོགས་ཡིན་ལས། །

     ཞེ་སྡང་འཁུ་སེམས་ལོག་ལྟ་སྤང་ནས་ཀྱང་། །

     ལྷ་དང་ལྷ་མོར་མཐོང་བའི་དག་སྣང་དགོས། །  །།

A Concise Heart Advice of His Holniess Dudjom Rinpoche

gateway A.

When the vajradhara Lord of Mysteries had finished speaking thus, the World-honored One addressed him, saying, “Excellent, excellent, Lord of Mysteries! It is indeed excellent that you have asked the Tathāgata about this matter. You should listen attentively and consider it carefully as I now explain.”

The Lord of Mysteries said, “So be it, World-honored One. I am eager to listen.”

The Buddha addressed the Lord of Mysteries, [saying,] “One achieves accomplishment by means of the letter-gateway A. Either in a place inhabited by monks, or inside a mountain cave, or in a clean chamber one places the letter A on all one’s limbs and recites three lakṣa [times]. Then at the full of the moon one uses everything one has to make offerings until the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, Vajradhara (i.e., Vajrapāṇi), and so on or other holy divinities appear before one and caress one’s head, exclaiming, ‘Excellent, practitioner!’ One should [then] bow down, make obeisance, and offer up argha water, whereupon one will achieve the samādhi of not forgetting the bodhi-mind. Again, if one repeatedly recites it with such lightness of body and mind, one will obtain purity of mind and purity of body wherever one is born. If one places [the letter A] on one’s ear and recites it, one will obtain purity of the organ of hearing. If one perfoms exhalation and inhalation with the letter-gateway A, meditating three times [daily], and if the practitioner is then able to maintain this, he will be longevous and live in the world for long eons. If he wishes to be loved and respected by a rāja (king) and so on, then he makes the person who is to be won over into the letter-gateway Ha, and giving him a padma flower and himself holding a śaṅkha, they look at each other, whereupon they will engender joy.”

--THE VAIROCANĀBHISAṂBODHI SUTRA