Essential Tibetan Buddhism

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ESSENTIAL

TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

>ctan Bud(

tspopularityas apathor

»le introduction to the traditio

rature, prese a true insid<

makes authentic Tibetan

Buddhism

accessible to

contemporary Western...

Robert

Thurman

expertlyand lucidlysurveys thebasic

teachingsandvarietiesofTibetan Buddhism.

A

concise

mary ofBuddhism's deve nt across Asia, with

particularemphasis on itsevolution in Iibet, provides

vital orientation, but the core of this much-neede

ne nrst-ever co or key Iibeta

ings on Buddhism and attain

ere are all the essential texts, freshly transb ins to Tara, the liberator goddess,- the ri

irepa, the wandering poet-saint of the

Himalayas,- instructions ngthecompassionate isattva

Way

of Life, selections from T

of theDead:andmore.

ic practice texts and selections from Nagarjuna'sFive Stade'. Master teachers fr

;chools-Nagarjuna, Shantideva, Atisha, and Tsong

Khapa-themodernreader, providing adviceon >etanBuddhisminto daily

Digitized

by

the

Internet

Archive

in

2012

Essential

Tibetan

Buddhism

ROBERT

A. F.

THURMAN

Gratefulacknowledgmentismadetothefollowingforpermissionto reprintpreviouslypublishedmaterial:

BantamforexcerptsfromTheTibetanBookoftheDead

byR. A.F.Thurman.

Library ofTibetanWorksandArchives,whichpublishedearlierversions oftranslationsof"ThreePrinciplesof thePath"and "Transcendent

Insight"in LifeandTeachingsofTsong KhapabyR.A.F.Thurman. Princeton UniversityPress,whichpublishedanearlierversionof "Praise

forRelativity" inTheCentralPhilosophy ofTibet

byR.A.F.Thurman.

SnowLionPublicationsfortheNobelPrize lecture in

A

Policyof KindnessbyH. H.DalaiLama.

WisdomPublicationsforanexcerptfromTheDoorofLiberation

by GesheWangyal.

ThepaintingonthecoverisTheRefugeTree,anarray of enlightened beingslikethewish-fulfillinggemsonthemythicaltreeoflife. TibetanBuddhist meditatorsvisualizesucha tree in vivid details aspresent

beforetheminthesky of themind'seye,showeringthemwithliquid

jewellight-raynectarblessingsthatfillupbody andmindwithlight

andunderstanding.Oneimaginesone'sownmentorasthe Shakyamuniinthecenter,whohas the Tantric

BuddhaVajradharain hisheart. Tibet,eighteenthcentury,gouacheoncotton.

CourtesyShelleyandDonaldRubincollection.

Photographcourtesy ofMokotoffAsianArts.

ESSENTIAL TIBETAN

BUDDHISM.

Copyright

©

1995by RobertA.F.Thurman.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthiswork

maybe reproducedortransmitted, inanyformorby any means,

electronicormechanical, including photocopying, recording, or

anyinformation storageandretrievalsystemwithoutpermission

inwritingfromthepublisher.

This edition publishedby arrangement andwith permission of HarperSanFrancisco, a division ofHarperCollinsPublishers, Inc.

This edition copyright

©

1997byCastleBooks.

Publishedby

CASTLE

BOOKS

A

Division ofBookSales, Inc.

114NorthfieldAvenue,Edison,

New

Jersey08837

ISBN0-7858-0872-8

Contents

Introduction 1

i.

The

Quintessence:

The Mentor Worship 47

2.Seeing the

Buddha

61

3.

Meeting

the

Buddha

inthe

Mentor

₉₅

4.PracticingTranscendent Renunciation 115

5. PracticingtheLovingSpiritofEnlightenment 135

6.Practicing theLiberating

Wisdom

169

7.Practicing theCreationStage 213

Practicingthe Perfection

and

GreatPerfection Stages

249

9.VariousTreasures ofTibetanSpiritualCulture 265

To

His HolinesstheDalai

Lama

ofTibet

"You

are

Lama!

(all

my

mentors)

You

areArchetype! (all

my

deities)

You

areDakini!

(allenlightened

women)

You

areProtector!

(allfierceangels)

For

now

'tilenlightenment,

No

Saviorotherthanyou! . . .

Be

my

eternalfriend!"

Introduction

i.

The

Tibetan

World and

Its

Creators

The

Three

Most

Gracious

To

lookfortheessence of theTibetanworldview, apopular Tibetansaying

isa

good

place to start: "There

were

three

who

were

most

kind to Tibet:

thePrecious

Guru

(Padma Sambhava);

the

Lord Master

(Atisha);

and

the

Precious

Master

(TsongKhapa)."

The

Tibetan titles that

come

before the

names

of these three

—

Guru

Rimpochey,

Jowo

Jey,

and

Jey

Rimpochey,

re-spectively

—

could applyto anyof the tens ofthousands of other great

fig-ures in Tibetan history. But

any

Tibetan, of whatever persuasion or affiliation,

knows

immediately

who

is

meant

by the Precious Guru, the

Lord

Master, or the Precious Master.

The

keyto the

whole

matter isthat

all three of these

names

indicate that their bearers are considered actual

Buddhasintheir

own

right.

They

arenotthoughtofas

mere

human

beings,

albeit extremely holy, wise, or capable,

who

broughtto or propagated in

Tibet ateaching

about

Buddhas.

They

are clearlyconsidered bythe

mass

populationasexamplesof therealthing.

The

essence of Tibetan culture is defined by this experience of real

Buddhas dwelling

among

them. It is thus a civilization that feels itself

touched by Buddhas,

marked

by having experienced the living impact of real Buddhas. Tibetans have even

come

to take for granted the constant

presence of

many

Buddhas around

thecountry. Tibetan

Buddhism

isthus a

reorientation of individual

and

social life to account for the reality of

Buddhas,the possibilityof

becoming

oneoneself,

and

theactualityof a

me-thodicalprocess ofdoingso.

This is the characteristicthat distinguishes

Buddhism

in Tibet

from

the

Buddhisms inothercivilizations,

though

Indian civilization initsclassical

heyday of roughly

500

to

1000

C.E. enshrined the

human

possibility of

#

ESSENTIAL TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

Zen

subcultures of East Asia.

Theravada

Buddhism

ofSouth Asia, a

form

of

what

Tibetans call

Monastic

or Individual Vehicle

Buddhism,

believes

thata

Buddha

is apurifiedbeing, a saint or arhat,

who

has attained cessa-tion of

embodiment

in Parinirvana, a realm ofabsolute freedom,

and

so

hasdefinitelydeparted

from

theworld.Accordingtothisview, therewerea

fewother

Buddhas

priorto

Shakyamuni,

there areotherpurified saints

fol-lowing in Buddha's footsteps,

and any

human

who

hasthe teachings

and

makes

the effortcan

become

oneofthose. Butthere are

no

living

Buddhas

around

untilMetteya, thenext

Buddha,

comes

to the

world

thousandsof

years

from

now.

The

Universal Vehicle, or Messianic,

Buddhism

now

remaining in East

Asia has

many

forms, butin generalithas a different viewofBuddhas.It

teaches that there are infinite

numbers

ofBuddhas.All haveaTruth Body,

a

Body

ofAbsoluteReality(whichisundifferentiated;theyallshareitin in-finite peace),

and

a

Form Body

ofrelative, compassionatemanifestations.

This

Form Body

subdividesintoa BeatificBody, animmeasurable

body

of infinite bliss, color,

and

light, imperceptible to ordinary beings,

and

an

Emanation

Body, a

body

of boundless manifestations. This

Emanation

Body

hasthreeforms: theIdeal,of

which

Shakyamuni

isthe

example

inour

epoch; the Incarnational,

which

manifests limitlessexamples

who

appear

likeordinary

humans

and

otherkinds ofbeings,even inanimateobjectslike

planets,oceans, continents,islands,bridges,

and

buildings;

and

theArtistic,

which

includes all kinds of representations of

Buddhas

in all art forms.

Thus

all Universal Vehicle Buddhists consider that the Buddha's final

Nirvana

was

a kind of instructional

show

and

that

Buddhas

can manifest

any

time,

any

place.

However,

exceptfor theTibetans, they

do

not expect

any

Buddhas

to

show

up

here

and now,

exceptinotherdimensions(apure landsuch as Sukhavati or the visionary

world

of the Lotus, for instance).

They

remain

more

orlessattached toan originallybrahminical

cosmology

whereintheplanet isexperiencing a

"Dark Age"

{kaliyuga),

and Buddhas

have given

up on

itfor thetime being.

The

Ch'an/Son/Zen Buddhistsare

oneexceptiontothis.

They

considerperfect

Buddhahood

tobeamental

en-lightenment, thedirect resultof thepracticeoftheir

methods

of

contempla-tion

and

understanding;yettheyhaveonlya

weak

sense of theemanational

richness, the

embodiment

potential, of

Buddhahood. The

Shingon Tantric Buddhists ofJapanare theotherEastAsianexception, inthattheyalso cul-tivatea sense of the

immediacy

of the

Buddha

presence

and

potential.

Tibetan

Buddhism,

almostalone

among

Asian Buddhisms,preserved the

hugetreasury of IndianBuddhistTantric traditions.

The

Tantras

emerged

from

the third Vehicle of Indian

Buddhism,

the Tantric, Mantric,

Introduction 3

the Universal Vehicle,

and

it emphasizes practices based

on

the cultivated

sense of the immediate presence of the

Buddha

reality. Itteaches

methods

for the attainment ofcomplete

Buddhahood

in this very life, or at least

within afew

more

lives,thusvastlyaccelerating the Universal Vehicle

evo-lutionary path

on which

a Bodhisattva transforms

from

a

human

to a

Buddha

over three incalculableeons of self-transcendinglifetimes.

A

major

component

of these accelerated

methods

is the accessibilityof beings

who

havealready

become

Buddhas.

Thus

for the Tibetans,

Shakyamuni Buddha,

the foremost

Buddha

of

thisworld-epoch,isnotjustadeadhero.

He

isnot justan object ofbelief,

adivine beingencounterableinanother dimensionoranalteredstate.

He

is

a being believed to have conquered death, just as Jesus Christ is. But

Tibetans arenotawaitingBuddha's triumphalreturn;they feel

He

is right

now

utterly availabletothem,thatin a realsense

He

neverleft

them

when

He

withdrew

the Ideal

Emanation

Body

known

as

Shakyamuni.

Tibetans

think that

Shakyamuni

Buddha

Himself taught both theUniversal Vehicle

and

the Apocalyptic Vehicle, as well as the

Monastic

Vehicle,

and

that

every

human

can

become

a

Buddha.

They

findthe proofofthis teachingin

thepresence

and

deeds of the

many

peoplethey considerlivingBuddhas.

Padma Sambhava

was

the earliest

and

most

legendary:

He

was

born by

miracle

from

a lotus blossom, millennia ago, at approximately the

same

timeas

Shakyamuni Buddha.

He

was

adopted asa prince of Afghanistan, thencalledOdiyana, atthe time aculturalpartof theIndian subcontinent.

He

became

a perfect

Buddha,

practicing all three Buddhist Vehicles, the

Monastic,theMessianic,

and

the Apocalyptic.

He

visitedTibet

toward

the

endof theeighthcentury of the

common

era, inthetwelfthcentury ofHis

alreadylonglife. His impactinTibet

was

crucial;without

Him, Buddhism

would

neverhave takenrootthere.

He

ispresented asnot only conquering

the

minds

of the kings

and

warlords of Tibet by extravagant displays of

magical power,charismatic kindness,

and

astounding

wisdom,

but also as

capable of"taming" the savage

war

gods ofTibet,thewild

and

powerful

deitiesof thetribes,theTibetan equivalentsof the gods Odin, Zeus, Thor,

Indra,

and

so on.

Padma

eventuallyleftTibetbutisbelievedtobestillalive

today in ahidden paradise, Copper-coloredGlory

Mountain, somewhere

inthe vicinityofMadagascar.

Another important

Buddha,

Atisha,

was

born naturally as a prince of

the

Zahor

kingdom

of the Paladynasty Bengal, in

982

C.E.

At

the age of

twenty-nine, afterextensiveTantricstudies,

He

renounced His throne

and

becamea

monk,

soon

becoming

a

famous

teacherofalllevelsofBuddhism. Atthe

prompting

of the

Goddess

Tara,

He

traveled toJavato recover the

4

#

ESSENTIAL

TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

compassion.

He

went

toteachinTibetin

1040

C.E.,

where

He

had

an

enor-mous

impact

on

the people.

He

died there

around

1054.

A

later

Buddha,

Tsong Khapa,

was

bornin

1357

C.E. inthefarnortheast ofTibet, intheprovinceof

Amdo.

He

was

achildprodigy, recognizedearly

as

an

incarnation ofManjushri,the

god

of

wisdom.

He

spenthislife

from

theage of three in study, contemplation,

and

social action, attaining His

own

perfectenlightenmentin1398,after a five-yearmeditationretreat.

He

foundeda progressive

movement

inTibetan

Buddhism

that looked

toward

theadvent of the future

Buddha

Maitreya, the "Loving

One."

He

revital-ized the practice of monasticism through revision of the Vinaya Rule in

1402.

He

universalized themessianic spiritby foundingtheGreat Miracle PrayerFestivalthatbroughtthe

whole

nation together

around

the

Jokang

Cathedral in Lhasa for

two weeks

every

new

year, beginningin 1409.

He

refined

and

spreadthe

wisdom

teachingsbywritingmastertreatises

and

es-tablishing a definitive curriculum for cultivating insight in the monastic

universities.

Above

all,

He

facilitated

and

energized the Apocalyptic

Vehicle,Tantricritual

and

contemplativepractice

and

attainment,bygiving

inspiring

and

penetrating teachings, writing critical, comprehensive,

and

lucid treatises, building exquisite three-dimensionalmandalas,

and

initiat-inghosts ofwell-prepared disciples.

He

passed

away

witha demonstration

of miraclesin 1419.

The

Founding Teacher

and

His

AngelicDisciples

AllTibetans

would

agreethatthekindnessthese threegreat

men

showed

the

Land

of

Snows would

neverhave beenpossibleifthe

most

important

human

ofour world-epoch

had

notfirstdemonstratedthe highestevolutionary perfec-tion accessible to

humans,

the mental

and

physical enlightenment of

Buddhahood.

That

human

being

was

theprince Siddhartha oftheShakya

na-tion in northern India,

who

became

the unexcelled, perfectly fulfilled

Enlightened Lord under thetree of enlightenmentinaround 536 beforethe

common

era.

Once

aBuddha, His

name

was

Shakyamuni,the"ShakyaSage," consideredtohave

become

a

form

oflifebeyondthe

human

orthe divine,the

"Human-Lion"

{Narasimha), or the

"God

Beyond

Gods"

{Devatideva).

By

definition,

no

beingcanpossiblybe

more

kindtoallother beings thana perfect

Buddha; suchkindnessisultimatelysomething superhuman.

Among

theBuddha's

many human

and

divinedisciples, there

were

four great celestialor angelic Bodhisattvas, "Enlightenment Heroes,"

who

are believed tohave takenaspecial interest inTibet

and

the Tibetans.Theseare

thefemaleBodhisattva Tara,

Lady

ofMiraculousActivities,

and

theusually

Introduction 5

Wisdom, and

Vajrapani,

Lord

ofPower. TheseBodhisattvasareonlyinone

sensedisciplesof the

Buddha;

inanothersensethey are themselves already

perfect Buddhas.

They became

perfect

Buddhas

innumerable world-eons

beforeouruniverse

and

vowed

tomanifestas disciplesofall

Buddhas

inall world systemsinordertomediate between those

Buddhas and

the

human

populations of those worlds.

Among

these, Lokeshvara

and

Tara areakind ofdivine,or archangelic,

couple, a father

and mother

for Tibetans.

He

is the mythic Father of the

Nation, siring the first six Tibetans during a mythic life as a Bodhisattva

monkey

intheprehistoric past. Laterhereincarnates repeatedlyasthe

em-peror,king,or

lama

(mentor) rulerofTibet.Sheis the ever-present

Mother

of theNation, a fierce female

who

unites with the

monkey

to bring forth

the

human

children

who

starttherace. Later sheserves asempress,queen, and defenderof the ruler. She manifests numberless incarnations in every

walk

oflifeto helpTibetans

overcome

their difficulties

and meet

the chal-lengeof

making

human

lifemeaningful.

Lokeshvara incarnated as the thirty-third emperor, the first great

Dharma

kingofTibet,

Songzen

Gambo

(ca.

617-698

C.E.).

He

unified the

land, builtthefirst

network

ofBuddhistshrines,

had

theTibetan alphabet and

grammar

created

on

the

model

ofSanskrit,

and

promulgatedthe foun-dationalBuddhistlaw codeofTibet.Bothofhischiefempresses

—

Bhirkuti,

princessofNepal,

and

Wencheng,

princess ofGreat

T'ang

—

were

incarna-tionsof Tara.

Manjushri

was

a

Buddha

countlesseonsago

who

vowed

toincarnatein

everyworlda

Buddha

visited,toaskthehardquestionsabouttheprofound

teaching ofselflessness

and

voidness.His

aim

istohelp people developthe

transcendent

wisdom

that is thesole cause of the ultimate

freedom

from

sufferingthat is enlightenment.

He

isa pervasivefigurein Buddhist litera-ture,beinga

god

of learning

and

apatronofliteratureaswellasthe arche-type of enlightenedrealization.

He

incarnatedasthe thirty-seventhTibetan

emperor,TrisongDetsen (ca.

790-844

C.E.),

who

builtthefirstmonastery

in Tibet, inviting the

Abbot

Shantarakshita

and

the

Adept

Padma

Sambhava and

commissioningthefirstgreat

wave

of translations ofIndian

Buddhist texts. Later

came

the "three Manjushris"

among

teachers: the

great scholar,mystic,

and

first

lama

rulerofTibet,theSakyaPandita

Kunga

Gyaltsen (1

182-125

1); tne great

Nyingma

philosopher

and

mystic

Longchen

Rabjampa

(1308-1363),

and

the greatest of Tibet's

"Re-naissance

men,"

scholar, mystic yogi,

and

social activist

Tsong

Khapa

Losang

Drakpa

(1357-1419).

Vajrapani,the "ThunderboltWielder," isquite fierceinappearance

and

represents the

adamantine

power

of enlightenment to

ward

off evil

and

ESSENTIAL

TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

bring about the good.

He

incarnated as the fortieth

and

last Buddhist

Tibetanemperor,Tri Relwajen(ca.

866-901

C.E.),

who

completedthe early

dynasty's

work

ofunification

and

culturaltransformation. Laterhe

reincar-nated as

many

rulers,ministers,

and

lamas.

From

the timeof

Lord

Atisha,Lokeshvara reincarnated as

Dromtonpa

(1

004-1

064), Atisha's

main

disciple,

who

founded

Radreng

Monastery.

During

the time of

Tsong Khapa,

he incarnated as Jey

Gendun Drubpa

(1391-1474),

who

later

became

known

asthe FirstDalai

Lama.

The

Dalai

Lamas

became

important spiritual leaders, first of the

New

Kadam

or

Geluk

Order

and

eventually,

from

the coronation of the Great Fifth

(1617-1682)

in 1642,of theentirenation.

Lokeshvara'scontinuousreincarnationastheDalai

Lama

of the

Land

of

Snows

sealed the Bodhisattva's covenant with the Tibetan people:

He

would

always serve them, reborn in

many

regions, in families ofvarious

levelsofsociety, skillfullypreservingtheirrealmasaspecial

sanctum

of the

Buddha Dharma,

building a culture thatmaintainedrelativelyideal

condi-tions forindividualstoeducatethemselvesin

Dharma.

Today

Tibet has been shattered almost

beyond

recognition, suffering

horrendously for thefirsttimein itstwo-thousand-yearhistory under the

oppressivedomination ofanoutsideinvader

and

occupier. Tibetans within

and

withoutTibetstillregard theFourteenthDalai

Lama

as their legitimate leader, thecurrentreincarnation ofLokeshvara,

and

theylookwith

plead-ing glances to his

Ganden

Palace

government

in exile to represent their

plight totheworld

community.

Of

course, Lokeshvara,Tara,Manjushri,

and

Vajrapaniare believed to

manifest themselves in countless other

ways

at the

same

time,

and

the

Tibetan imagination iswaiting for their activities tosurface in a

new

era.

Lokeshvaramanifests himselfasother lamas

who

do

not have such

politi-cal responsibilities,lamas suchasthe

Karmapa

incarnations. Manjushriis

evident in the manifestations of the Sakya lamas

and

in

many

a great

scholar, artist,

and

spiritual teacher. Tara has

numerous

female

incarna-tions, bothformallyrecognized

and

informallyactive. Vajrapaniisthought

tobeexercisinghisindomitableprotective

power

in

some

currently

unfath-omable

way.

And

there are innumerableothermessianicfigures.

The

richtapestryof theactivitiesof these enlightened beingsconstitutes

theTibetan senseof historyitself.Tibetans livein amultidimensional uni-verse;they are quite

aware

that a single event appears quite differentlyto different beings.

Thus

inhistory theypositan "ordinaryperception" (thun

mong

paisnangba)

and

an"extraordinary perception" {thun

mong

ma

yin pai

snang

ba);orsometimes"outer," "inner,"

and

"secret"levelsofhistory.

Introduction

level, Siddhartha

was

a

human

prince

who

was

toointelligenttoaccept an

unawakened

mode

of mechanical living, so he renounced his inherited identity,strove mightilytounderstandhis

own

innermostessence,

and

suc-ceeded inattainingcomplete awakening.

At

the

same

time,

on

an

extraor-dinary or inner level,

Shakyamuni had

attained

Buddhahood

many

eons

earlier

and

chose this time to incarnate as Siddhartha

and

manifest the

deeds ofa Buddha-life in order to educate

and

liberate the beings of this

world.

Inthe case of thetamingofTibet,

on

theordinarylevel,Songzen

Gambo

built

on

theconquestsofhisancestors

and

expanded

theTibetan

Empire

to its

maximum

feasiblesize,spillingoverabitinalldirections

beyond

the

gi-ganticTibetanplateau.

He

then beganthe process oftransforming a

war-riorempireintoa peacefulcivilization, importinganalphabet,traditionsof

learning,

and

a nonviolentethic, fashioninganappropriate

law

code,

and

initiatingpeacefulrelationswith neighboring statesthroughtreaties sealed

with marriages.

On

the extraordinarylevel, Lokeshvara

and

his

two

Tara

consorts looked

down

into Tibet

from

their vantage in the South Indian

paradisecalled Potalaka

and

saw

thetime

was

rightto bring

Buddhism

to

the Tibetans.

A

light-meteor streaked

from

his heart

and

landed in the

womb

of the

queen

ofTibet; similar meteors

went from

the hearts of the

two

Tara goddessestothe

wombs

of thequeensof

Nepal

and

T'ang China. Nine

months

laterthe princeSongzen

was

borninTibet, as

was

Wencheng

in China

and

Bhirkuti inNepal,the

two

princessesdestined to

become

his brides,

who

brought

Buddha

icons, books,

and

learned teachers in their

dowry

trains. Tibetansbelieve that every eventin the life ofan individual

andofanationis susceptible tosuchamultileveledanalysisofmeaning.

In a last,extremelypoignant, example,

on

the ordinarylevel,inthelast

forty-six years, Tibet has been invaded, occupied,

and annexed

by the

People'sRepublicofChina.ThisChinese

communist government

has

made

asystematicefforttoexterminateTibetanreligious belief

and

cultural

iden-tity,resultinginthedeaths ofover a million Tibetans

and

thedestruction of

all but 13 ofTibet's 6,267 significantmonasteries. Ithasestablished large colonies ofChinese settlersthroughoutTibet,defended by

up

to half a

mil-lion troops,

whose

presence

and

abuse of land, wildlife,

and

natural

re-sourceshave badly

damaged

thefragile

Himalayan

ecosystem (theTibetan

plateau has an average altitudeofabout fifteen thousand feet).

How

can

thisbe explained

on

theextraordinarylevel?

There arevarious theories.

The most

compellingone, if

somewhat

dra-matic,isthatVajrapani

emanated

himselfas

Mao

Tse-tung

and

took

upon

himself the heinous sin of destroying the

Buddha Dharma's

institutions,

#

ESSENTIAL

TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

human,

materialists

from

reaping theconsequencesofsuchterribleacts,to

challenge the Tibetan Buddhists tolet

go

of the trappings of theirreligion

and

philosophy

and

force themselves to achieve theabilityto

embody

once

again in this terrible era their teachings of detachment, compassion,

and

wisdom, and

to scattertheIndo-Tibetan Buddhistteachers

and

disseminate

their teachings throughout the planet

among

all the people, whether

reli-gious orsecular, atthisapocalyptictime

when

humanity must

make

a

quan-tum

leap

from

violencetopeacefulness inordertopreserveall life

on

earth.

This all

happens

within the context of the advent of

Shambhala

upon

the entire planet, according to the

prophecy

originating with the

Kala-chakra Tantra, a central

component

of the national cultof Tibetsincethe

seventeenth century.

The

prophecy emergesinIndian

and

Tibetanliterature

intheeleventh century,datingitself

from

theBuddha'stimefifteen

hundred

years earlier. It

shows

the

Buddha

as

emanating

himselfin the

form

of a

"time

machine"

or "history machine," an

embodiment

of

what

the

unen-lightened perceive as the flow of time, adopting such a

form

to

show

his

commitment

tothe futureenlightenmentofallbeings.

Thus

thisTantracontradicts the outer orordinary

cosmology

thatsays that the

Buddha's

teaching lastsfor a

few

thousand

years

and

then

dis-appears until the next

Buddha,

with the condition of life

on

the planet

worseninguntilit

becomes

unimaginablyhorrible,somethinglikethe

brah-minical notion ofa

"Dark

Age."

The

Time-machine

Buddha

rather

pro-claims that all beings are evolving in a positive or progressive manner,

beneaththesurface eventsof a planet apparently

dominated

bytheegoism,

militarism,

and

materialism ofgods

and humans.

Finally,

some

three

thou-sand years after the Buddha's time,

when

the outer

world

is completely

dominated

bya single materialistic dictatorship,thecountryof

Shambhala

emerges

from

behindan invisible barrier.

The

dictator'smilitary forces are

destroyed trying to

conquer

this

new

land,

and

the enlightened people of

Shambhala

emerge

and

sharetheirhigh-tech,liberated, enlightenedstyleof

livingwithallthe otherpeoples of theplanet, usheringinagolden agethat lasts for at least eighteen

hundred

years. Tibetans believe that this ageof

Shambhala

is only a

few

centuries inthe future,

and

thedestruction of the

Buddhistinstitutionsintheir

homeland

isasignof thenearing of theageof

|

liberation,forthe

whole

world, notjustfor Tibet.

Thus

at least

one

of the levels (the highest,

most would

say) of the

Tibetan sense of historyseesthe planetas progressingpositively

toward

a

time of unprecedented fulfillment. Tibetan Buddhist society therefore is perhaps unique

among

Buddhist societies in that thepeople livewithin a consciously articulated

myth

ofhistoricalprogress, carrying within itselfa

Introduction ₉ akindof millennial timeforthe Tibetans, since theirmessiahreturned reg-ularly

and

remained a tangible presence preserving the

community.

They

saw

Tibetas akind ofholyland, a purerealm of the highestopportunity

forthe individual's evolutionary fulfillment.

At

the

same

timethey

under-stood that thismillennial

moment

itself

would

perish in aplanetary

holo-caust,onlytobereborn onefurthertimeduringa planetary time offruition

intheage ofShambhala.

Tibetans thus believe that

anyone

who

looks

upon

the color-particle

mandala

of theKalachakra

Buddha

withreverence

and

faith will bereborn advantageously during the era ofShambhala.

That

is

why

they undertake arduouspilgrimages

and

make

intenseeffortstoattendperformancesof the

Kalachakrainitiationritual.

2.

The

_{Essence of}

Buddhism

Itself

To

appreciateessentialTibetan

Buddhism,

we

must

lookfor theessence of

Buddhism

itself.

The

Tibetangenius did

make

its

own

distinctive

contribu-tion tothegreatriverofBuddhism. ButTibetans consideredittheir discov-ery,achievement,

and

specialoffering tofind,

embody,

preserve,

and

extend

thedeep

and

magnificent

Buddha

Teaching.

The

enlightenmentof the

Buddha

was

not primarily a religious discov-ery.It

was

notamysticalencounterwith

"God"

oragod.It

was

notthe re-ception ofadivine missiontospread the "Truth" of

"God"

intheworld.

The

Buddha's enlightenment

was

rathera

human

being's direct, exact,

and

comprehensiveexperience of thefinalnature

and

totalstructureofreality.

It

was

theculminationforall timeof themanifestideals of

any

tradition

ofphilosophical exploration orscientific investigation.

"Buddha"

isnota personal

name;

it is a title,

meaning "awakened,"

"enlightened,"

and

"evolved."

A

Buddha's enlightenmentis aperfect omniscience.

A

Buddha's

mind

is

what

theistshave thoughtthe

mind

of

God

would

have tobe like, totally

knowing

ofeverysingle detail ofeverythinginan infiniteuniverse, totally

aware

ofeverything

—

hence by definitioninconceivable,

incompre-hensible tofinite,ignorant,egocentric consciousness.

No

matter

how

preposterousit

may

seem

tous atfirst,itis necessaryto

acknowledge the Buddha's claim of the attainment ofomniscience in

en-lightenment. It is foundational for every

form

of

Buddhism.

It is rarely

broughttothe forenowadays, even by Buddhistwriters,sincethisclaimby

abeingonce

human

is uttermost,

damnable

sacrilegefor traditional theists

anda primitive fantasy,anutterimpossibility, for

modern

materialists. But itisindispensable forBuddhists.

A

Buddha

is believedtohaveevolvedto a

lO

#

ESSENTIAL

TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

state of

knowing

everything knowable, evolving outof the statesof

igno-rance of the limited

and

imperfect awareness of animals,

humans, and

gods.Therefore thepurposeof one's

own

life, seen as a process ofinfinite

evolution,is to

awaken

such omniscient awarenesswithinoneself, to

tran-scendthe egocenteredanimalcondition to

become

aperfect Buddha. Everything in

Buddhism

follows

from

this singlechain of propositions that the

Buddha

is believed to have exemplified: Life has the purpose of

achieving

supreme

happinessthroughtotalawarenessofitself

and

the

uni-verse;everybeing hasbeen

working

at this

from

beginningless time inlife

afterlife;the

human

life-formisitselfthe resultofinconceivable evolution-aryefforts

and

isrelatively quiteclose toultimateevolutionary fulfillment;

this fulfillment,this blossoming,thisbutterflyawakening, occursby

means

of perfecting the understanding, through sensitivity

and

wisdom;

upon

such awakening,sufferingis

no

more and

happiness isunimaginably

com-plete;

and

the infinite

numbers

ofbeings

who

have already

become

such

Buddhas

arenaturally

moved

toshare thathappinesswithallotherbeings,

which

they aredoingallthe time,effortlesslyyeteffectively.

In spiteofthisultimatelyrosy picture of evolution,even

Buddhas

cannot simply force ignorant beingsto

become

wise

and

thereforefree

and

happy.

While

the

Buddha

did,

on

numerous

occasions,calmlymention His

attain-ment

ofGodlikeomniscience,

He

emphatically disclaimed the possession of the Godlike

power

ofcreatorhood.

He

criticallyrejected theplausibilityof

anybeinghavingtotal

power and

controloverallother beings

and

things.

This does not

mean

that

He

disbelieved the existenceofgods

—

the

Buddha

was

not an atheist.

He

not only believedin gods but,like

Moses

orJesus,

He

personally

met

a great

number

of them, including

Brahma,

the

god

credited with creatorship by

many

Indiantheists, Indra, the Father of the

Vedic pantheon,

and

Yama,

the

Lord

of theDead. (By definition,Tibetan Buddhists believe that

He

certainly

would

have

met

the

Jehovah

of the

Bible, aswellasevery

god

ofevery nation

on

theplanet.)

He

gavevarious

accountsofhisencounterswith thiswidevarietyof gods,angels,

and

even

devils.

He

found

them

tobejustas real as anyotherlivingbeings.

He

sim-ply discovered that

no

one of

them had

created the universe,

no

one of

them

possessed the keyto salvation orliberation,

no

one of

them had

at-tainedomniscient awareness.

Beyond

their

immense

pride inbeing

power-ful gods, they themselves ultimately needed help to save themselves

from

their

own

entrapmentinsuffering, justas

humans

and

other egocentric

an-imals do.

They

all needed the teachings of perfected

Buddhas

who

have

evolved the omniscient awareness of enlightenment.

Among

a Buddha's

most

important

names

are

God

Beyond

Gods

and

Teacher of

Gods

and

Introduction 1

1

As

a

Buddha,

one discovers the unity ofone's awareness with the

om-nipresentawareness ofall beings

and

things.

One

actuallyexperiences the

realityof absolute voidness, one's

own

and

other beings' freedom

from

a fixed individual

and

substantialself

and

all things'

freedom

from

intrinsic identityorobjectivity.

One

integrates thisexperience ofcosmicunity with

the realization of one's ability to manifest freely a responsive interactive

presence

among

other beingsasa supple,open, happy,blissful,

and

power-ful

Buddha

person, orevenmultitude of persons.

One

livesthisrealization as the

happy

relaxation offutile servitude to the illusion of beinga fixed subject in a realobjectiveworld,enjoying aninfinitelyfresh

and

boundless continuumof loving

and

liberativerelationshipswithothers.

Buddha

liberation is so

happy and

completethat itcan effortlessly

in-cludewithoutdistortion or separation theinfinite realmofinterconnected

beings

and

things.

From

thereone has the experience ofallbeingsas

insep-arable

from

oneself; onefeelsthe condition ofothers.

One

is sensitive to

the continual suffering that arises

from

their

imprisonment

within a rigid

self-image

opposed

toanapparently

overwhelming

objective

and

alien

uni-verse. One'sbeatitudethus naturally reacts against the self-created

suffer-ing ofother beings. For

them

onemanifests educational events that help

them see through their beginningless delusions

and

arrive at freedom by coming toan understandingoftheir

own

deepernature.This natural

and

inexhaustible reaction energizes theBuddhistliberative arts

and

the

teach-ings of the

way

of

freedom

through exact intuition of the nature of all

things.

3.

The

Teaching:

The

Buddhist

Enlightenment

Movement

Tibetans believethen that

Buddha

Shakyamuni's enlightenmentisnot

mys-tical, inthesenseof"contrarytoreason."It isrational,guided byacritical

inquiry into the nature of the realityofself

and

of the world,

and

experi-mental,proceeding

from

solid conclusionsto the experiential verification

of those conclusions. Indeed, the

Buddha

considered beings' ignorance,

theirinsistence

on

theillusionofanintrinsicallyestablishedworldof beings

andthings, tobe "mystical"

and

"nonrational."

He

didnotconsider irra-tional faith,evenin

good

things suchasliberation

and

enlightenment,tobe powerful

enough

in itselftobringabeingto liberation.

It isthus clearthat His

compassion

for beings forced

Him

not to offer

thema religious solutionto theirpredicament,aredemptivebelief in

Him,

orany

dogma,

deity, salvificrite,or

membership

ina

group

ofelect. Since

12 4fe

ESSENTIAL TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

He

knew

that theonly

means

for beings to gainfreedom

was

their

individ-ual understanding oftheir unique situation,

He

was

forced to try to help

them

come

tosuchanunderstanding.Simplefaithcannot produce such

un-derstanding. Blind faith in implausible things blocks understanding,

pre-venting the

open

experience of reality itself,

and

rational faith

becomes

obsoleteonce understandingtakesover.

Buddha

was

thuscompelledto

cre-ate

methods

ofeducationforbeings, "education" inthetruesenseof

elicit-ing in beings the understanding of

which

they are capable, without

indoctrinating orconditioningthem.

As

thecelebrated verse ofMatercheta,

a

well-known

authorof thethirdcenturyC.E.,says:

"Buddhas do

not

wash

away

sinswithwater,

They do

nothealsufferingbylaying

on

ofhands,

and

They do

not transmit their understanding into others' minds;

They

intro-ducebeingstofreedom by educating

them

about reality."

According to this perspective,

Shakyamuni had

to face a

monumental

task:

He

had

tofound aneducational

movement

inasociety that

was

orga-nized only for professional training

and

religious indoctrination.

He

re-jected the Vedas, the brahminical Scriptures of the day, not in order to

found

an opposing religion but because

He

found

religion itselfto be of limited value,even of negative value, inHisenterpriseofeducatingbeings

forfreedom.

He

lived ina

world

whereinahealthysecularity

had begun

to

developonly

among

the

merchant

classesof thecities,those

who

generated theIndian traditions of "the

good

life"

—

namely,materialists,economists,

and

politicalscientists.

Shakyamuni

was

brought

up

by Hisfatherto

become

amilitarygeneral

and

rulerof

men,

the firstdutyof acity-state

monarch

beingmilitary

orga-nization

and

social discipline.

Thus

when

Hisbeatitude

moved

Him

to offer

an educational processtoHis contemporaries

and

posterity,

He

began His

work

in a skillfully organized manner. His organization

was

militant in a

way

preciselyoppositetothe prevailing militancy ofmilitaryorganizations.

His enlightenment

showed

Him

a

new

meaning and

purposefor

human

life. Itshould notbewasted

on

relativelyunsatisfyingegocentric pleasure,

on

procreation,

economic

productivity, conquest, the amassingofriches,

fame,glory,oreven

on

religiouspiety,purity,orsanctity.

He

found Himself

infinitely intertwinedwith the fates

and

feelingsofinfinite beings.

He

rec-ognized that

human

beings arebiologically best suited to

awaken,

to

dis-cover their

own

ultimate

freedom and

immortal beatitude.

He

had

the

powerfulinterestofHisinfinitealtruismin redirecting

humans'

investment

oftheir life-energies, shiftingit

from

mundane

preoccupations

toward

evo-lutionary

and

liberativeends.

He

built

on

the existing Indian tradition of ascetic,

wandering

Introduction 1

3

to thetensionsthis

would

createwiththewarrior-kings,

He

proclaimedthe

Community

tobean "otherworld," a sacred realm,a spiritual society

out-sideordinarysociety.

He

pledgedthecontinuingobediencetotheking'slaw

of

anyone

still within the king's realm ofordinary society.

He

asked only

forexemptions

and

special support for those

who

moved

outside intothe

extrasocial

Community:

exemptions

from

duties ofproductive labor,

pro-creation, family, military service,

and

taxes,

and

specialsupportinthe form

of free time for self-development, free food for subsistence, free land for

temporaryshelter,

and

freeclothforrobes, alllimitedtothe

minimum

nec-essary.

He

was

alert also tothe dangerofthreateningtoostrongly the

reli-gious priesthood of the times, so

He

prohibitedHismendicant

monks

and

nuns

from

performing priestly services.

They were

not allowedtoperform

rites ofbirth, blessing, marriage, funerals,or divinations

and

were

forbid-dentoperformmiraclesorhealings.

4.

The

History

of

This

Movement

in

India

and

Its

Spread

Throughout

Asia

This militant organization of the previously loose-knit ascetic traditions

was

utterly revolutionary.

The

Buddha's near contemporaries such as

Confucius

and

Socrates

had

no

such luck in organizing their

movements;

nor did the

much

later Mencius,

Chuang

Tzu, Jesus, Paul, or Peter.

The

mainstreamactivity inall the Eurasiancity-statesofthistime

was

the

op-posite

—

namely, the organizing of professional armies, in the

manner

of

Darius of Persia, Ajatashatru of

Magadha,

Alexander the Great,

Ashoka

Maurya, Chin

Shih Huang-ti,

and

the caesars. Like the

monk

or nun, the

professional soldier alsoleftordinaryoccupationsintheserviceof a univer-sal ideal

—

world

conquest, the veryoneprinceSiddhartha

had

abandoned

to

become

a

Buddha.

Like a renunciant, the soldier also shaved hishead,

donned an impersonal uniform,

and

trainedhimselfto facedeath

unflinch-ingly. Like anascetic,the soldier

abandoned

ordinarysocialconstraints for thefrenzy ofbattle,droppingall

normal

concernsinthe

samadhi

of

slaugh-ter.

The

_language of the Buddhist

Sangha

was

a mirror image of military

language:

The

monk

was

toconquerhisinnerenemy,facedeath

moment

to

moment, and

give

up

attachmenttocomfort

and

even thesenseof

person-alityinorderto find the victoryofliberation

and

transcendentbliss.

In sum, the Buddhist monastic, educational

movement

was

the only

major universallyexpanding institution inancient

urban

India otherthan

the universallyexpandingmilitaryorganizations

and

mercantile trade

14

#

ESSENTIAL TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

intothe

Magadhan

and

Mauryan

empires.

The

monasticorganization

was

akindof inversionof themilitaryorganization:a peace

army

ratherthana

war

army,a self-conquesttraditionratherthananother-conquesttradition,

a science of inner liberation rather than a science ofliberating the outer

world

from

thepossession ofothers.If

we

understand thisperspective,then the later, millennia-long encounter between monasticism

and

militarism

throughoutAsia,

and

especiallyinTibet,emergesinanentirely

new

light.

In its role as universal educator, the Buddhist

Sangha

can be seenas a

powerful "taming," or civilizing, force in ancient India. It

was

the one

multinational institution,

opposed

totheconquest

army

and

the trade

em-pire, thatcould providetheindividual

some bulwark

against the

power

of the

monarch

and

his state. It also

was

the engine of the inward-looking

bent ofIndianscience,which,incontrasttothesciencesofGreece,Iran, or

China, foundthe inner

world

of the

mind and

itsenergies

more

important

than theouter

world

of naturalelements

and

forces.

The

systematiceffort

ofmonastic education to measure, understand,

and

control the

mind

for

the purpose of

human

bettermentresulted in India's uniquerefinement of

various kinds of yoga, technologies for harnessing

mind and body

to

achieve happiness

more

effectively.

Once

we

glimpse in this

way

how

the

Buddhists created the

main

institutionoutside thestate

and

developedthe

curricula oftaming, liberating,

and

empowering

education,

we

can better

assessits keyconstitutive role inthe formationofclassical Indian

civiliza-tion, its arts, philosophies, religions, state institutions,

and

social ethics.

This thenchanges the

way we

look at Buddhist institutions in relationto socialdevelopmentinlatersocieties

where Buddhism became

even

more

in-fluential.

5.

The

Three

Stages

of

Buddhism

in

India

and Beyond

Most modern

historians ofIndian

Buddhism

have seen "early" or

"pris-tine"

Buddhism

asthemonastic

Buddhism

known

from

the Pali literature,

the only one they consider close to credibly attributable to

Shakyamuni

Buddha.

The

messianic

Buddhism

of the Universal Vehicleisviewedaslater

Buddhism'sdesperateattemptto

compete

with "Hinduism," with its

popu-larworship of gods. These historians' account putsTibetan

Buddhism

in

theworstpossiblecontext,astheextension ofa degenerate

form

ofIndian

Buddhism.

According to this depiction, Buddhist

monks

were losing

ground

with thepeople, sothey

made

up

a "Universal Vehicle,"

which

put

monks

ina lowerplace(odd that they

would demote

themselves!), deified

so-Introduction 1

5

cialgospel of universal love

and

compassion;then they attributed this

new

VehicletotheBuddha. This strategykept Buddhism'sheadabovetheflood

ofpopular

Hinduism

for a while, so the story goes,

somehow

persuading

the peopleto continue to support the

newly

devalued

monks.

A

few

cen-turiesfurther

down

the slope,popular

magic and

mysticism

became

more

irresistible,

and

so thisuniversal, messianic

Buddhism compromised

even

further by developing an esoteric

Adamantine

or Apocalyptic Vehicle.

Buddhism

now

incorporatedVedicfire-sacrifice rituals,mantras, mandalas,

feasts, sexuality,breathcontrol,

and

yoga,alongwith an even

more

imagi-nativelylushdeificationof the

Buddha,

on

topof the inclusion of

women

in

the ranks ofreligious virtuosi. After reachingthis lowest levelof

popular-ization, so the accountgoes, nothing

was

left for Indian

Buddhism

but to sink intothe

swamp

ofHinduism, submerging its

own

identity forever

and

disappearing

from

the land ofits birth.

The main

difficulty with such a rendering of Indian Buddhism's

evolu-tion

—

the inexplicablemystery ofit

—

is, ifBuddhistskept needingto

com-promise to

compete

with

Hinduism

for survival,

why

didn't they simply

forget the

whole

thing

and

become Hindus?

They

were all born Hindus.

Sincethe

Buddha was

apparentlysuchadetriment,suchakilljoy,

why

keep

botheringwith

him

atallcenturyaftercentury?

Obviouslythere

must

have beensomething

more

satisfyingabout being aBuddhistthan developingelaborate

ways

to

compete

with Hindus.

The

evidencein fact supports aview of

Buddhism

as apowerful social

movement

with a definite educating

and

civilizing

program.

During

its

fifteen-hundred-year sojourn in India, the Buddhist education

movement

was

a catalystfor liberation

and

progress.

The

three Vehicles (Monastic,

Messianic,

and

ApocalypticVehicles) socrucial toTibetan

Buddhism were

manifestations ofaprogressivedevelopment.

Its firstfive

hundred

years

were

primarilymonastic, solidifyingthe

ex-trasocial societyof the

Sangha

and

providing theeducationally oriented

individual an

asylum

from

economic, social, political,

and

religious

de-mands.

During

its next five

hundred

years

—

with the addition of the

Messianic Vehicle

—

Indian

Buddhism

moved

aggressively

outward from

a

solidmonastic baseinthe

economy,

society,

and

culture (already

changed

byfivecenturiesoffeedback

from

the thrivingeducational

community)

to

tackle the

more

violent aspects of society

and

to teach a social ethic of

love _{and compassion.}Its last five

hundred

years

were

culminatively

apoc-alyptic:Insisting

on

a

more

evolvedlevelofbehaviorindeveloped society,

Buddhists entered the marginal areas of society

among

the lower castes,

tribals,

and

foreigners, such as the Tibetans.

They

used magical

and

6

#

ESSENTIAL TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

the literate conventions of the by

now

highly refined, urbane, peaceful,

and

civilizedSanskritsociety.

Insum,

we

canseetheThreeVehicles orstylesof

Buddhism

asproducts

of thegradual

improvement

ofanentire civilization.

That

society

had

orig-inallyrespondedtothe basicegocentrismof individuals not byquestioning

itbutbycontrollingitthroughasystemofbeliefs,rituals,duties,

and

man-ners that required individuals to sacrifice themselves for the group.

The

evolving goal, by contrast,

was

a condition

where

individuals challenged

the egocentric outlook

and

actually

went on

not only to experience

free-dom

from

itbutalso tolive

and

flourishwithin thatfreedom.

The

table

in-cluded here

summarizes

this

new

accountof thedevelopmentof

Buddhism

inIndia.

VEHICLES

OR

STYLES

OF

BUDDHISM

IN

INDIA

A.

Individualistic

Style,

Monastic

Buddhism-dominant

CA.

5OO

B.C.E.

TO

O C.E.

1. Emphasizes monasticismasnecessaryfor individualliberation.

2. Sociallyrevolutionary,stressing ethicaldualism, thoughantitheistic. 3. Idealof

monks

and

nunsisarhat

—

sainthood.

4. Urgeslay

community toward

tenfoldpathof

good and bad

evolu-tionaryaction.

5. Warriortraining reversed produces

tamed

person,freeof wild,

egocentricdrives.

6. Socialresult:tamed-warriorsociety,valuessupportingurban, mer-chantclasses.

7. Spreadsoutside India

—

mainlytoSriLanka,centralAsia, Iran,

and

westAsia.

B.

Universalistic

Style,

Messianic

Buddhism-dominant

O

TO 5OO

C.E.

i. Incorporating coremonasticism,reachesout nonduallyinto lay

so-cietytotransformsocialethicthroughlove

and

compassion.

2. Sociallyevolutionary; monasteriesdevelopinto universities.

3. Idealof the Bodhisattva, hero/ine

who

aimsto liberateallbeings

from

suffering

and

totransformthe universe into a buddhaverse;doctrine

of theThree Bodiesof

Buddha,

Truth, Beatific,Emanation.

4.

Nondualism

ofNirvana/samsaraundergirdsnondualityof

wisdom

Introduction 17

5. Conscious adoptionof the process of evolution,whereinone

em-barks

on

acareer of millions of future individuallivestoevolve to

Buddhahood.

6. Social result:

moves

a

more

civilizedsociety

toward

a universalistic orientation; freesthepopular imaginationtoenvision a colorful

cosmos

of infinitebuddhaverse.

7. Spreadstowherever monasticstylespread

and

farther toChina andtheMediterranean.

C.

Apocalyptic

Style,

Esoteric,

Magical

Buddhism-dominant

ca.

500-1000

c.e.

1. Sociallyculminatory,monasticuniversitiesreach out

beyond

the literatestate intomarginal areas.

Unpacks

furthestimplicationsof

mes-sianicstyle.

2. Idealof the

Mahasiddha,

femaleormale Great Adept,the

"psy-chonaut" ofIndian innerscience,actualperfect

Buddha

maintaining

ordi-nary

human

form

inhistory,latentkingship of individual explicated ritually

and

artistically.

3.

Nondualism

elucidatedtoinclude everything, includingsexuality,

death;

wisdom-compassion

union

becomes

wisdom-blissunion,

Buddhahood

asmale-female-sexual-union-orgasmicreality.

4. Apocalypticinsistence

on

acceleratinghistory

and

evolution,

real-izationof individual

Buddhahood

and

universalbuddhaversehere

and

now,in thislifetimepreferably,throughmagical, high-tech means. 5. Socialresult: elevationof

women;

expansionof cultureto

margi-nal lowcastes,tribals,aliens; permeationofhigh culturewith aesthetic values;loosening ofrigidities; living

beyond

this-lifeidentities;unilateral

disarmament.

6. Spreadseverywhere monastic

and

messianicstylesspread,though

insubtlestreams,reachingfarthertoIndonesia,Korea, Japan,

and

Tibet,

uniquely keptintotalintegrationwith

two

previousstylesinTibet

and

laterMongolia.

The

firstof these five-hundred-year periods, the monastic Buddhist pe-riod,established its

main

foothold outside Indiain Sri Lanka,

where

it con-tinuestoday.

The

second, themessianic Buddhistperiod, spreadalso toSri

Lankain the

same

way

it

was

integratedwithmonastic

Buddhism

inIndia,

but it also

opened up

new

territory in central Asia

and from

there into

China.

The

third, apocalyptic Buddhist, period

was

integrated with both

ESSENTIAL TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

Buddhist

world

in small streams. But then ittransplanted itselfwholesale

into Tibet, especially attheend ofIndian

Buddhism,

duetothe Islamically

drivenculturaltransformation of India

from

theeleventhcentury.After the

loss of Buddhist India, as the matrix civilization within

which

the three

stylesor Vehicleswerenested,Sri

Lanka

rejectedapocalyptic

and

messianic

styles

and

became

a bastion of themonasticstyle alone. East Asia

empha-sizedmonastic

and

messianicstyles,allowingonlya trickleof the

apocalyp-tic to survive.

Only

Tibet attempted toincorporate all threestyles intheir originally integratedpattern.

6.

The Advent

_of

Buddhism

in

Tibet

It apparentlytook the efforts ofliving

Buddhas

to establish

Buddhism

in

Tibet. GreatAdepts suchas

Padma Sambhava

and

Atisha

were

archetypes

of the apocalypticstyle of the TantricVehicle.

They had

tomanifestdirect

control of the processes of nature, of life

and

death, to impress the

Tibetans,

who

were

usedto

shamanic

priestsof intensecharisma

and

who

had

no

literatecultureasIndia

and China

did. Tibetansweretribalistic

the-ists

and

fiercemilitarists,having developedthe technology

and

social

orga-nization necessary for large-scale

campaigns

of conquest.

They had

an

elaborate cult of divine kingship, probably

modeled

on

what

they

had

learned of Persian imperialcustoms,includinglarge-scalesacrificial rituals, elaborate tumuli, court priests

and

magicians,

and

family, tribal,regional,

and

national gods. It is likely,however, thatthe authority oftheroyal fam-ily stillrelied

on

continually

renewed

successinconquest, holdingtogether the allianceof regionalwarlords

on

the basisof the

common

advantageof

extending

dominion and

increasingspoils.

As

in

Japan

duringthe

same

cen-turies,there

was

probably

no

clear-cutideology of imperial

supremacy

in-ternalized bythe nobles or the peoplethatcould guaranteethe survivalof

thecentraldynastyintimes of hardship.

The

royal dynasty therefore found that its spiritual inspirations

coin-cided nicelywith itspolitical interests in itsmultigenerational driveto im-port

Buddhism from

India.

By

doingso, itimitatedregimesinIndia, central

Asia,

and

China, creatingspiritual legitimacyforthedynastyasdefenders

of the

Dharma,

developing systemsof writing, education, mythology, law,

scientific

and

humane

medicine,literature,

and

art

modeled on

the

sophisti-catedtraditionsofIndia.

Of

course therewerestrong tensions inherentina

warrior dynasty

becoming

the sponsor of a peace-cultivating, nonviolent

Introduction 1

9

these

would

ultimatelyproveunsustainable bythatdynasty, for

more

than

two

centuries the

new

import

was

considered highly beneficialfor boththe

regime

and

thepeople.

Buddhism

was

acceptedinTibetonly becausethey perceiveditas

deliv-eredby

some

sortof superior being,

whom

they learnedtocallaBuddha. It

arrivedin Tibet full-blown,with its monastic education, universalistic

so-cial ethic,

and

apocalyptic vision ofreality. It

had

to confront

and

over-come

analreadydeveloped priestcraftcapableofaddressing every aspect of

life

and

death

—

birth,marriage,

economic

ethics,magic,protection against

demons,

and

so forth. In the mid-seventh century, an

emperor

named

Songzen

Gambo

(a near

contemporary

of theJapaneseculture-transformer

Prince

Shotoku

Taishi)begantheattempttotransformthecivilization

from

feudal militarism to peaceful monasticism. In a systematic process of

cul-ture building, he senta

team

of scholarstoIndiato learn Sanskrit, tocreate

awrittenlanguageforTibetan,

and

to beginto translate the vastBuddhist

literature.

He

marriednine queens

from

neighboringcountries, requesting eachtobringBuddhist artifacts

and

textswith hertoTibet.

He

built a

sys-tem of imperial temples laid out in a geomantic grid, centering

on

the

Jokhang and

Ramoche

cathedralsinhis

new

capital atLhasa,thereby cre-ating ageometryofsacrednesstocontain the nation.

For the next

two

centuries, subsequent emperors continued his work,

defending Tibet internationally againstArab,Turkish,

and

Chinesepowers,

sponsoring translations, holding conferences, building Buddhist

institu-1 tions,

and

educatingthe people.

Around

the turn of the ninth century, the

Emperor

TrisongDetsen,with the help of the magical intervention of the

[ Great

Adept

Padma Sambhava

and

the monastic

knowledge

of the Indian if

Abbot

Shantarakshita, built the first monastery at Samyey.

He

thus

im-1 ported the Indian Buddhist university curriculum

and

began a sixty-year

1 process ofcollectingalluseful

knowledge

thenavailable.Mathematics,

po-i etry, medicine, the artofgovernment,fine arts,

and

architecture

—

allthese

branches of learning

were

cultivated, not only Buddhist philosophy

and

n psychology. Scholars

were

invited

from

Persia, India, the Turkish

and

n Mongoliansilk-routestates,

and

T'ang China.Tibetansdeveloped their

ge-ral niusatcomparison

and

combination,lookingforthebestunderstandingof

•is humanity

and

nature.

nv,

Padma

Sambhava

spentthistime ranging

around

the country,imparting so- tothe

most

capable disciplesthe

most advanced

teachings, taking

them on

r; long retreats,

and

even wrestling with

and

"taming" the tribal gods of

en; Tibet,gods ofmountains,rivers,

and

sacredsprings,gods ofsky,

and

gods

ESSENTIAL

TIBETAN

BUDDHISM

people,starting achainreactionofchangingindividual hearts

from

egocen-tricviolence

and

insensitivitytoopennessofidentity,altruism ofsensibility,

and

peacefulnessoffulfillment.

After the high point ofSamyey's ascendancy duringthe ninth century, a

period ofconfusionensued,brought about bythecontradictions ofa

mili-tary dynastysponsoringa nationalpacificationcampaign. There

was

a

re-volt within the royal family itself. Assassinations

and

coups d'etat

ended

with the collapseof the dynasty, the regional fragmentationof the nation,

and

the suppression of

Buddhism

as the official culture.

However,

the

twenty-five major,

and numerous

minor, lay teachers

who

had

become

Great Adepts underthe tutelage of

Padma Sambhava

evadedthe

suppres-sion

and

preserved

many

of the teachings in a countercultural

movement

that endured. These lineages of masters of inner

knowledge

persisted

through the next century,

and

a sense of the

power and

benefits of

Buddhism,

a longingforthe beautyofitsvisionofahigherworld,

was

kept

alive atthegrassrootslevel. Infact,afteralittle

more

than acentury,

when

regional rulersreturned toofficial patronageof

Buddhism,

their efforts

res-onated withagroundswellofpopular supportthat

was

theflowering of the

seeds planted by

Padma

Sambhava.

7.

The

Later

Dissemination of

Buddhism

The

second

major

phaseof thespread of

Buddhism

began withthe advent

of Atisha

Dipamkara

Shrijnana (982-1054) in 1042. Atisha's impact

on

Tibet

was

profound: It

was

possible, as inthecaseof

Padma Sambhava

in

the early period, only because he

was

perceived as a superior being, as a

Buddha.

Inthe

new

climate of the eleventh century, Atisha

was

ableto bring to

Tibet thelivingsynthesisofmatureIndian

Buddhism,

a

Buddhism

that

had

fullyintegrated theMonastic,Messianic,

and

ApocalypticVehiclesof prac-tice.

Other

Indian teachersvisitedTibet

around

Atisha'stime, but healone

became

known

as

Jowo

Jey,

"Lord

Buddha

Master,"

meaning

"a spiritual

master

who

is himself a

Buddha."

(Theother

major

figure inTibetcalled

Jowo

is

Jowo

Rinpoche, the national icon of

Lord

Buddha,

the sacred

statueof

Shakyamuni

Buddha

that

was

installed by Songzen

Gambo

inthe

Jokhang

Cathedral in Lhasa.) This superlative honorific indicatesthe

im-mensityofAtisha'simportance. Itisnotjustthathe

was

agreat pandit,not

just a "reformer" backed by the king of the west, not just a dean

from

Nalanda

MonasticUniversityinIndia.

He

must

have been seenby