Padmasambhava's Initiation

[Guest guest]

>From _Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism_ by Lama Anagarika Govinda

 

Part Four: The Path of Integration

 

14

 

PADMASAMBHAVA'S INITIATION

 

What is the esoteric meaning of Padmasambhava's initiation by a Dakini?

The sandal-wood garden in the midst of a cemetery is the samsaric

world: pleasant in appearance, but surrounded by death and decay. The

Dakini lives in a palace of human skulls: the human body, composed of the

inheritance of millions of past lives, the materialization of past thoughts

and deeds, the Karma of the past.

When Padmasambhava arrives, he finds the door of the palace closed:

he has not yet found the key to the meaning of corporeality. The true

nature of the body was not yet known to him.

Then appears a maidservant, carrying water into the palace. 'Water'

signifies life-force, prana. Padmasambhava thereupon arrests this force by

the power of his meditation, i.e., he brings it under his control through

pranayama. Therefore it is said that her water-carrying was halted by his

yogic power.

The maidservant, thereupon, produces a knife of crystal (the clear,

razor-sharp, penetrating insight of analytical knowledge), cuts open her

breast, i.e., she reveals the hidden inner nature of corporeality (like

that Khadoma in the Demchog Tantra, who represents the insight into the

body) - and Padmasambhava perceives the mandalas of the peaceful and

wrathful forms of the Dhyani-Buddhas. He now recognizes that this body, in

spite of its transitoriness, is the temple of the highest forces and

attainments.

He bows down before the maidservant, who has thus revealed herself

as a Dakini, and asks for her teachings, whereupon she allows him to enter

the palace. Thus humility and the readiness to see things as they really

are, opened the hitherto closed door of the palace: his own body, whose

secret forces had been inaccessible to him.

Now he beholds the chief Dakini (a form of Vajra-Yogini) seated on

a sun and moon throne. 'Sun' and 'Moon' represent, as we have seen before,

the psycho-cosmic solar and lunar energies, polarized in pingala and

ida-nadi. These forces are under the control of the chief Dakini. The

double drum (damaru) in her right hand is the symbol of the eternal rhythm

of the universe and of the transcendental sound of the Dharma, at which the

Buddha hinted, when in his first utterance after his enlightenment he spoke

of the 'drum of immortality' (amata-dundubhin), which he wanted to be heard

throughout the world.

In her left hand the Dakini holds a skull-bowl filled with blood,

the symbol of knowledge which can be gained only at the price of death.

She is surrounded by thirty-two lesser Dakinis, reminiscent of the

thirty-two marks of physical perfection, which characterize the body of an

Enlightened One.

When Padmasambhava asks for her teachings, the two mandalas of

Dhyani-Buddhas, which had been revealed to him by the Dakini's maidservant,

appear now in their full reality overhead, as if projected into space. But

in the moment of initiation they are absorbed into the chief Dakini, who

thus becomes the embodiment of all the Buddhas and is therefore also called

'Sarvabuddha-Dakini'.

Padmasambhava, however, is transformed into the seed-syllable HUM

and becomes one with the object of his devotion. In other words, the

Sadhaka, by completely identifying himself with the Mantra, which

spearheads his meditation, becomes one with the inspirational force (the

urge towards enlightenment) of all the Buddhas, and thus confers upon all

the Centres of consciousness the bliss of Buddhahood, transforming them

into vessels of enlightenment.

The Centres, which are alluded to here, are:

I. that in which Amitabha is realized (when the HUM is 'on the

lips'), i.e., the Throat Centre (visuddha-cakra), from which emerges the

mantric sound;

2. that in which Avalokitesvara (symbolized by the 'jewel', mani) is

realized: the Navel Centre (manipura-cakra);

3. the Root Centre (muladhara-cakra), the meeting-place of the three

nadis (trijunction, Tib.: gsum-mdo), in which the creative forces of the

body are transformed into spiritual potentialities, thus bringing about the

regeneration of body, speech, and mind.

These are the three initiations, which the Dakini confers in the

three Centres of psychic power.

The threefold potentiality of the highest Dakini and her integral

nature, which comprises all Buddha-Wisdoms, is also expressed in the oldest

known mantric formula of the Vajra-Yogini, as found in the Sadhanamala; a

Sanskrit work of the Buddhist Tantras.

The formula runs:

'OM OM OM Sarva-buddha-dakiniye Vajra-varnaniye

Vajra-vairocaniye HUM HUM HUM PHAT PHAT PHAT Svaha!'1

 

[1 Sadhanamala, p. 453 (Gaekwad; Oriental Series No. XLVI);

Benoytosh Bhattacharyya An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, p. 160.]

 

The threefold OM, HUM, and PHAT corresponds to the three main forms

of Vajra-Yogini on three different planes of experience or, more cautiously

expressed (in case 'planes' might suggest the idea of 'higher' or 'lower'

qualities, or greater or lesser degrees of reality, which is not intended

here), in three different connexions, from three different points of view

of meditative experience.

As Sarva-buddha-dakini, i.e., as 'genius' (daimon) of all Buddhas,

she embodies the inspirational impulse, which urges the Buddhas towards the

realization of Buddhahood, towards Perfect Enlightenment, and is the

driving force of all aspects of wisdom.

As Vajra-varnani she represents the true nature (varna,

lit.'colour') of the vajra: being transparent, pure, object-free, non-dual,

indestructible and immutable, like the Great Void. For this reason it is

said at the beginning of the treatise on gTum-mo-practice that one should

visualize the body of Vajra-Yogini as empty, transparent, and the like - in

short, as a symbol of reality, which is Voidness according to its true

nature.

As Vajra-vairocani she represents the outward-directed activity of

the vajra, its radiation: the active consciousness of the adamantine

sphere, the Dharma-Reality.

The seed-syllable HUM is common to all forms of appearance of the

Vajra-Yogini and to her male counterparts, known as Herukas, with whom she

is united in the yab-yum aspect (the union of Father and Mother). Herukas

are the embodiment of the 'male' qualities of Buddhahood: the dynamic

aspect of Enlightenment.

'HUM' is the quintessence of the vajra-order, in its mild and

peaceful (Santa; Tib.: zi-ba) as well as in its terrifying (bhairava; Tib.:

drag-pa) forms of appearance.

The mantras of the latter often add to the HUM the onomatopoeic

exclamation Phat, which, according to the context and the circumstances,

serves as a protection from inimical influences, as well as for the removal

of inner hindrances, or for the strengthening of the Sadhaka's power of

concentration, like a rallying-cry to call up the forces of the mind.

Svaha is an expression of goodwill and auspiciousness, like 'Hail',

'May it be for the good, may it be blessed, may it be auspicious'. It is an

expression used in offering sacrificial gifts and prayers or formulae in

praise of gods or enlightened beings. Like the Christian 'Amen', it stands

at the end of mantric formulae.

Phat Svaha is thus at the same time a defence against evil and a

welcoming of beneficial forces, a removal of hindrances and an act of

opening oneself towards the light.

And if it is said at the end of Padmasambhava's initiation that he

received the 'initiation of body, speech, and mind', it means that his body

became the body of all the Buddhas, his speech the sacred word of all

Enlightened Ones, and his mind the bodhi-citta (Tib.: byan-chub-sems) the

enlightened mind of all the Buddhas. Therefore the Demchog Tantra says:

'When pronouncing the word "kaya", we think of the body of all [buddhas and

their divine forms of appearance] (Tib.: ka-ya ses brjod-pas thams-cad-kyi

sku); when saying "vak", we think of the speech of all [buddhas]; when

saying "citta", we think of the mind of all [buddhas], and that all these

are inseparable from each other' (vak-yis gsun dan tsi-tta-yis thugs rnams

dbyer mi-phyed-par bsams).

[Guest guest]

Dear Dharma: Thank you for posting this and the previous post

regarding Dakini. While the post may seem technical, I find that this

translation process (firstly from Tibetan to English, but more

importantly, from the outer to the inner meaning, and then from the

meaning to its application to our own state) is fascinating, and so

useful to illustrate how "the finger pointing to the moon" applies to

virtually every situation and story. Some are just more elaborate and

take longer to tell. Thanks for your patient transcription and for

caring enough to share. Terry

[Guest guest]

Hi Terry,

>Thank you for posting this and the previous post

>regarding Dakini. While the post may seem technical, I find that this

>translation process (firstly from Tibetan to English, but more

>importantly, from the outer to the inner meaning, and then from the

>meaning to its application to our own state) is fascinating, and so

>useful to illustrate how "the finger pointing to the moon" applies to

>virtually every situation and story. Some are just more elaborate and

>take longer to tell.

 

That's an interesting perception. I wonder if it indicates something about

the Tibetan mind/brain. In their usual course of study, there is first the

Creation Stage, during which (for one thing) one learns to construct very

elaborate and detailed visualizations which can be used in meditation.

Then as one moves into Completion Stage, one tears apart all the beautiful

visualizations and learns to meditate without them. What a contrast that

would be!

 

It seems to me that there is a tendency of the (East) Indian mind/brain,

whether from nature or nurture, to make lists of everything... four of

this, seven of that, twelve of something else... My mother and I found the

Kama Sutra hysterically funny because of this list-making kind of

thinking... three kinds of men, 67 (?) things an accomplished woman knows,

so many kinds of love bites that can be used, so many different sounds

uttered in sex at the appropriate moments, etc. Mom kept trying to make

the "sound of the partridge" and cracking up completely. ))

 

Love,

Dharma