Vajra, was: Polarity illusion - the Tao

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In _Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism_, Lama Anagarika Govinda says the

Vajra is truly

>.... the Philosopher's Stone, the precious jewel (mani), the prima materia

>of the human mind, nay, of the very faculty of consciousness in whatever

>form of life it might appear. This was the real aim of all great

>alchemists, who knew that 'mercury' stood for the creative forces of

>higher consciousness, which had to be freed from the gross elements of

>matter in order to attain the state of perfect purity and radiance, the

>state of Enlightenment....

> Already in the earliest forms of Buddhism the jewel was made the

>symbol of 'the three vessels of enlightenment, namely, the Enlightened one

>(Buddha), the Truth (dharma) in the realization of which enlightenment

>consists, and the community (sangha) of those who have entered or trodden

>the Path of Enlightenment. It is for this reason that the jewel is spoken

>of as the 'three-fold jewel' (tri-ratna).

> He who possesses this shining jewel overcomes death and rebirth, and

>gains immortality and liberation. But this jewel cannot be found anywhere

>except in the lotus (padma) of one's own heart.

> Here mani is indeed the Philosopher's Stone, the cintamani, the

>wish-granting jewel of innumerable Buddhist legends, which in Tibet until

>the present day stands in the centre of folklore and religious poetry.

> In later forms of Buddhism the idea of the jewel took the form of the

>Diamond Sceptre, the Vajra, and became as such the most important symbol

>for the transcendental qualities of Buddhism. The Vajra was originally an

>emblem of the power of Indra, the Indian Zeus, the god of thunder and

>lightning, who is often mentioned in the Pali texts....

> Thus it happened that, though Indra (like all the other gods) became a

>mere background-figure for the towering personality of the Buddha, the

>symbol of Indra's power was raised from the sphere of nature and physical

>forces to that of spiritual supremacy by becoming an attribute of the

>Enlightened One.

> In this connexion the vajra is no more a 'thunderbolt', an expression

>to which many translators stubbornly cling and which would be adequate

>only if one were dealing with the vajra as the emblem of the Thunder-God.

>In Buddhist tradition, however, no such association persists. The vajra is

>regarded as the symbol of highest spiritual power which is irresistible

>and invincible. It is therefore compared to the diamond, which is capable

>of cutting asunder any other substance, but which itself cannot be cut by

>anything.

> Likewise the properties of preciousness - nay, of supreme value - of

>changelessness, purity and clarity, were further reasons why in Buddhism

>the vajra was equated with the diamond. This is expressed in such terms as

>'Diamond Throne' (vajrasana), for the place on which the Buddha attained

>Enlightenment, 'Diamond Saw' (vajracchedika) for one of the most profound

>philosophical scriptures of the Mahayana, which ends with the words: 'This

>sacred exposition shall be known as Vajracchedika-Prajna-Paramita-Sutra -

>because it is hard and sharp like a diamond, cutting off all arbitrary

>conceptions and leading to the other shore of Enlightenment.'

> Those Schools of Buddhism which placed this teaching in the centre of

>their religious life and thought are therefore known under the collective

>term 'Vajrayana', the 'Diamond Vehicle'. In all these terms the concept

>'thunderbolt' is completely excluded, and the same is true for pali names,

>like Vajiranaa (diamond-knowledge), etc.

> The ideas which were associated with the term vajra by the Buddhists

>of the early Vajrayana are clearly demonstrated by the Tibetan equivalent

>for vajra, i.e.,'rdo-rje' (pronounced 'dorjay'): 'rdo' means 'stone',

>'rje' means 'ruler', 'master', 'lord'. The dorje, therefore, is the king

>of stones, the most precious, most powerful and noble of all stones, i.e.,

>the diamond.

> As a visible symbol the vajra takes the shape of a sceptre (the emblem

>of supreme, sovereign power), and therefore it is correct to call it

>'diamond sceptre'. This sceptre assumes a form corresponding to its

>function. Its centre is a sphere which represents the seed or germ of the

>universe in its undifferentiated form as 'bindu' (dot, zero, drop,

>smallest unit). Its potential force is indicated in pictorial

>representations by a spiral issuing from the centre of the sphere.

> From the undifferentiated unity of the centre grow the two opposite

>poles of unfoldment in form of lotus-blossoms, which represent the

>polarity of all conscious existence. From this originates space, i.e., our

>three-dimensional world, symbolized by the 'four quarters of the

>universe', with Mount Meru as its centre or axis. This spatial unfoldment

>corresponds to the spiritual differentiation of the principle of

>Enlightenment in form of the five transformed constituents of

>consciousness and their corresponding Dhyani-Buddhas, in whom the

>consciousness of Enlightenment appears differentiated like rays of light

>passing through a prism. Therefore we see that from each of the two

>lotus-blossoms issue five 'rays of power' (represented by five metal ribs

>or spokes), which again converge upon a point of higher unity (forming on

>each side a tip of the vajra), just as in meditation all conscious forces

>of the Sadhaka (or adept) are gathered in one point. And in the same way

>as in a mandala1 the number of lotus petals can be raised from four to

>eight, by indicating the intermediate directions - thus too the rays or

>spokes of the vajra, converging upon the axis, can be raised from four to

>eight. In the first case one speaks of a five-spoked (Tibetan: rtse-lna),

>in the latter case of a nine-spoked (Tibetan: rtse-dgu) vajra. The centre,

>as in a mandala is always included in the number. Indeed, the vajra is an

>abstract (i.e., non-figural) plastic double-mandala, the duality of which

>(though not affecting the above-mentioned numbers, which are only

>concerned with the common design of both sides) expresses the polarity,

>the relative dualism in the structure of consciousness and world, and

>postulates at the same time the 'unity of opposites', i.e., their inner

>relationship.

>[1 A concentric diagram or plastic model, used for purposes of meditation,

>which will be the subject of Part III (Padma).]

> The central idea of the vajra, however, consists in the purity,

>radiance and indestructibility of the Enlightenment-Consciousness

>(bodhi-citta ; Tibetan: byan-chub-sems). Though the diamond is able to

>produce all colours, it is colourless according to its own nature, a fact

>which makes it - as we have seen in Guru Kankanapa's story - a suitable

>symbol of that transcendental state of 'emptiness' (Sunyata; Tibetan:

>ston-pa-nid), which is the absence of all conceptual determinations and

>conditions that the Buddha described as 'the Unborn, the Unoriginated, the

>Uncreated, the Unformed', because it cannot be determined by any positive

>qualities, though being present always and everywhere. This is the

>quintessence of the above-mentioned 'Diamond Sutra' and the foundation of

>the 'Diamond Vehicle'.

> The relationship between the highest and the ordinary state of

>consciousness was compared by certain schools of alchemy to that between

>the diamond and an ordinary piece of coal. One cannot imagine a greater

>contrast, and yet both consist of the same chemical substance, namely,

>carbon. This teaches symbolically the fundamental unity of all substances

>and their inherent faculty of transformation.

> To the alchemist who was convinced of the profound parallelism between

>the material and the immaterial world, and of the uniformity of natural

>and spiritual laws, this faculty of transformation had a universal

>meaning. It could be applied to inorganic forms of matter as well as to

>organic forms of life, and equally to the psychic forces that penetrate

>both.

> Thus, this miraculous power of transformation went far beyond what the

>crowd imagined to be the Philosopher's Stone, which was supposed to fulfil

>all wishes (even stupid ones!), or the Elixir of Life, which guaranteed an

>unlimited prolongation of earthly life. He who experiences this

>transformation has no more desires, and the prolongation of earthly life

>has no more importance for him who already lives in the deathless.

> This is emphasized over and over again in the stories of the Siddhas.

>Whatever is gained by way of miraculous powers loses in the moment of

>attainment all interest for the adept, because he has grown beyond the

>worldly aims which made the attainment of powers desirable. In this case,

>as in most others, it is not the end which sanctifies the means, but the

>means which sanctify the end, by transforming it into a higher aim....

> Thus the wise ones do not use the Elixir of Life to preserve the body

>beyond its time, but to attain the higher life, which does not know the

>fear of death. He who would utilize it only for the preservation of his

>physical existence, would die from within and continue to exist merely as

>a 'living corpse'. In selfish hands even the Elixir of Life turns into

>poison, just as truth in the mouth of a fool turns into falsehood and

>virtue into bigotry in the narrow-minded.

> However, he who has found the Philosopher's Stone, the radiant jewel

>(mani) of the enlightened mind (bodhi-citta) within his own heart,

>transforms his mortal consciousness into that of immortality, perceives

>the infinite in the finite and turns Samsara into Nirvana - this is the

>teaching of the Diamond Vehicle.

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[see the attachment for a double vajra (dorje).]