Sunday, January 03, 2010

Praise to H.E. Luding Khenchen Rinpoche




BELOVED FATHER MASTER

Not having any stain of faults of three vows,
Accomplished all the qualities of the path of three vehicles,
Naturally remains in the three secrets of the victorious one,
The embodiment of the three refuges, think of me Oh master!

By this virtuous may I never be departed from (Sun of Teaching) Tenpi Nyima,
Be able to hold the treasure of whispering gems,
To be skilled in disseminating the essence of teaching for longer and
Inseparably be attained buddhahood together with you.

Day on lotus and moon disc throne on the top of my head,
Night in five shined tent in bottom of my heart
Inseparably remain and through great compassion
Bless me present, intermediate and many life times.


You are my father master who gave me the warmest and smoothness bliss and happiness from the lap of your compassion and loving kindness.

You are my father master who gave me the happy mood of feeling from your unpretending expression.

You are my father master who sustains me through the delicious meals from the compassionate palm of hand.

You are my father master who bestowed me the nectar of dharma from the unshakable space of firm encouragement.

You are my kindness father master who possesses the immeasurable thoughtfulness to all being.

You are my kindness father master who holds the perfect and excellent quality of scholarly subject.

Kindness father master you who keeps the unbroken rules of morality as one keeps the essence point of eyes.

You are the sun from mountain tip who valued by the rays of compassion.
I am a baby blade of grass who grown up through the light rays of your nourishment.

I supplicate from the bottom of my heart to bless me and
You live long for hundreds of a-eon for the sake of all sentient beings.


WRITTEN BY H.E. THARTSE KHEN RINPOCHE
TRANSLATED BY TAKYA BISTA LAMA ON 10 October 2009

Friday, April 06, 2007

Kudung - part 1 -


Kudung - part 2 -


Kudung - part 3 -

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Chogye Trichen Rinpoche's passing

Friends,

This year, the annual ten day Sakya Monlam prayer festival began on December 29, 2006, the tenth day of the eleventh Tibetan month, in Lumbini, Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, where Chogye Trichen Rinpoche has two monasteries. At each monlam festival, all the lamas make a great offering to Chogye Trichen Rinpoche with requests and prayers for his long life.

Normally, Chogye Rinpoche would always receive the offerings of the mandala, the three objects, and so on, with great enthusiasm, carefully participating in the ceremony. This year, Rinpoche was reluctant to participate and to accept the offerings and wishes for his long life, saying it was not necessary. After repeated appeals by those present, finally H.H. Sakya Trizin requested that Chogye Rinpoche recite the four lines of acceptance, just in order to make an auspicious connection. Rinpoche accepted but only recited one or two of the four lines. This was the first indication Rinpoche gave that he might be preparing to leave his body.

Following the monlam festival, Chogye Rinpoche remained in Lumbini, and diligently practiced the Kun Rig ritual of Buddha Mahavairochana. Every night for one week, Rinpoche would summon his attendants at midnight or even 2 or 3 a.m. to begin the ritual with him. Chogye Rinpoche explained that he had received many offerings to liberate people from the suffering of illness, and that if he did not fulfill those wishes it would not be good. Rinpoche said he needed to complete this activity.

Chogye Rinpoche's blood sugar reading in Lumbini was a little high, and a doctor was brought from the nearby city of Bhairava to offer Rinpoche a check up. Rinpoche met the doctor but insisted he did not need to be examined. The doctor remarked that Rinpoche seemed quite well and strong. Many others also commented that Chogye Rinpoche looked healthy and fresh during his time in Lumbini.

On one of his final days in Lumbini, Chogye Rinpoche was in his room and gestured toward one wall, asking his attendant to open the door. Rinpoche was indicating a wall which had no door, and the attendant informed Rinpoche that there was no door there, and that even if there was a door, there would be no way to go from there. Rinpoche replied, "No, there is a way to go there; that is to the west, it is the direction of the Pure Land of Great Bliss (Dewachen)."

During these last days in Lumbini, Chogye Rinpoche's attendants observed that Rinpoche seemed to be having a lot of experiences of pure vision (dag nang). For example, once when no one was in the room other than an attendant who was nearby, he heard Chogye Rinpoche say, "Now we have finished the earlier empowerments, Rinpoche, which is the next empowerment I must give?" In his state of pure vision, Chogye Rinpoche was continuing to bestow empowerments.

In mid-January 2007, Chogye Rinpoche decided to return to Kathmandu from Lumbini. Normally, Rinpoche would conduct ten days or more of the rituals of Mahakala and Mahakali in the last month of the Tibetan year, which began on Jan. 20. This year, for the first time, Rinpoche said that he wished to return to Kathmandu, and that the monks knew well how to perform the rituals and could do so without Chogye Rinpoche being present. As he left Lumbini, Rinpoche remarked to the Lumbini monks that now he was going to Kathmandu, and that he would be happy and relaxed there. At the Lumbini airport, as Rinpoche sat waiting for his plane, he said to his attendants, "I need to go now, I am ready to go", while making walking movements with his legs.

Chogye Rinpoche returned to Kathmandu by plane. Rinpoche's attendants noticed that it seemed difficult for Rinpoche to walk up the few steep steps into the small airplane. Chogye Rinpoche would never let his attendants carry him, saying that if people carry you, it means that your life is at an end. But when Rinpoche's attendants asked how Rinpoche would like to get down the steps to exit the airplane, Rinpoche paused for a moment, and said "Carry me."

On returning to Kathmandu, Chogye Rinpoche was checked by his doctor. Rinpoche's attendants had been concerned by a slightly high blood sugar reading in Lumbini, but otherwise Rinpoche had seemed quite fresh and healthy. Rinpoche's doctor in Kathmandu found no signs of fever or cough, no difficulty breathing, and Rinpoche's oxygen levels were found to be normal. Gar Shabdrung Rinpoche had been in retreat in Lumbini, and Chogye Rinpoche sent word to him on Wednesday, January 17 that he should leave his retreat and come to Kathmandu within two days.

On Saturday, January 20, Chogye Rinpoche was staying at his monastery, Jamchen Lhakhang, at the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. During the afternoon, Chogye Rinpoche kept thanking his attendants as they helped him about his rooms. Rinpoche told them, "Thank you so much for always helping me and taking such good care of me. It is very difficult for an elderly person to find people to take such excellent care of them. I really appreciate it so much, but I don't want to be any more trouble for anyone." Rinpoche's attendants immediately replied, "No, no Rinpoche, please don't say that. We are so happy to help however we can."

Then on Sunday January 21, in the evening about 6 p.m., Chogye Rinpoche showed a slight difficulty in getting his breath. This passed, and Rinpoche was fine the rest of the evening. Again about 11 p.m., Rinpoche again showed a little difficulty in breathing, and the attendants offered him tea to drink, and again he seemed better. A little after midnight, Rinpoche again expressed difficulty in taking his breath, so the attendants offered Rinpoche soup, but Rinpoche began to show signs of gasping somewhat to catch his breath.

Chogye Rinpoche's attendants called the CIWEC Clinic in Kathmandu, and made an appointment to meet the American doctor who was on call that night at the clinic. An ambulance came to Jamchen Lhakang in Boudhanath to take Rinpoche in his wheelchair, and they reached the clinic by 1:30 a.m. Once the doctor had completed Rinpoche's examination, he concluded that Chogye Rinpoche's oxygen levels in his blood were very low, and that Rinpoche's lungs had filled up with fluid, indicating a sudden onset of pneumonia. The doctor felt that there was not much more that could be done, but that Rinpoche could be taken to another clinic and given oxygen to breathe.

Chogye Rinpoche's attendants phoned H.H. Sakya Trizin in India from the clinic at about 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. on Monday January 22. His Holiness performed a Mo divination, and said that the divination did not look auspicious, which caused everyone to be concerned.

At the advice of the American doctor at CIWEC Clinic, Chogye Rinpoche was taken to another nearby clinic and given oxygen. After some time, the doctors found that this had not raised Rinpoche's oxygen levels, and so there had been no improvement in Rinpoche's condition. The decision was made that it would be best to go from Kathmandu to Chogye Rinpoche's retreat house near Narayantan on the edge of the Kathmandu valley, not far from Nagi Gompa. Further up the same hill a few kilometers is Rinpoche's retreat center at Bagdora, the place of the Buddha of an earlier age, Buddha Krakucchandra.

Chogye Trichen Rinpoche took his last breath about 6:45 a.m. Monday morning January 22, 2007, entering the state of tukdam, the spiritual practice of recognizing and resting in the clear luminosity of death (chiwai osal)

As of today, Feb. 4, Chogye Rinpoche has remained in tukdam or "spiritual practice" (thugs dam), the meditative state where the breathing has ceased but the mind is still connected to the body. Only the most subtle consciousness remains, becoming all-pervasive, and the subtle life-force withdraws from the entire body, and remains only as warmth in the area of the heart. When great lamas pass away, their tukdam experience is resting in the clear light of the dharmakaya, the clear light awareness of the ground of being (zhi'i osal). A realized master such as Chogye Trichen Rinpoche remains in the state of dharmakaya buddhahood, resting in the nature of reality, dharmata. A master may remain in this state for a few days or longer, prior to manifesting sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya enlightened emanations for the benefit of sentient beings.

His Holiness Sakya Trizin and H.E. Luding Khenchen Rinpoche made arrangements to allow Chogye Rinpoche to remain in tukdam as long as he wishes with no disturbances. Rinpoche has presently rested for fourteen days in the tukdam state. Some of the high lamas have regularly checked Rinpoche's body for signs of the completion of Rinpoche's tukdam practice. There was not the slightest scent of decay in Rinpoche's room, nor any signs of any fluids or anything leaving Rinpoche's body. Rinpoche's skin looked fresh, with his normal complexion as though he were still alive. Chogye Rinpoche remained sitting upright in meditation, with his head leaning slightly forward and his eyes closed. Those who have viewed Rinpoche in this state say that he looks like he is resting in meditation. Many people have commented that this is quite amazing from the scientific point of view. As of today, Feb. 4, Chogye Rinpoche has remained in tukdam for fourteen days without any noticeable change in his condition.

At present it is planned that following the completion of his tukdam, Chogye Rinpoche's holy body (kudung) will be brought to the Boudhanath Gompa Jamchen Lhakang. Rinpoche's kudung will make one round of circumambulation around the Boudhanath Stupa, following which the kudung will be placed in Rinpoche's meditation room on the top of the Boudha gompa for three days. Rinpoche's kudung will then be placed in the Lamdre Lhakhang temple at the back of the Jamchen Lhakhang for the remainder of the ceremonies until his cremation on the Buddhist holy day of Chotrul Duchen, the fifteenth day of the Tibetan New Year, March 3, 2007. Rinpoche's cremation will take place in the back residential area of the Boudhanath Jamchen Lhakang Monastery.

May everyone receive the blessings of Chogye Trichen Rinpoche through the practice of Guru yoga, and may he always remain with those who have faith in him. May Rinpoche send forth countless further emanations for the sake of sentient beings, and may he be swiftly reborn among us and continue to guide his faithful disciples.


Tuesday February 6, 2007, Chogye Trichen Rinpoche completed his spiritual practice of tukdam, the meditation state where the master's outer breathing has ceased but the "inner breath" or subtle life force remains within the body until the tukdam is complete. H.E. Luding Khenchen Rinpoche and Khenpo Appey Rinpoche examined the body of Chogye Trichen Rinpoche throughout the morning of Feb. 6, and reported all their findings to H.H. Sakya Trizin Rinpoche by telephone.

Chogye Rinpoche's spiritual practice finished mid-morning, so Rinpoche remained fifteen days in the state of tukdam. During this time, Rinpoche showed no signs of decay or any physical change in his body, appearing to be resting in meditation. Even by the evening of Feb. 6, there was very little noticeable change in Rinpoche's appearance. There was no scent of decay in the room, nor any appearance of fluids leaving Rinpoche's body. The high lamas commented that upon close examination during the hours of Tuesday morning, there was some subtle but noticeable change in Rinpoche's complexion and skin tone, that his fingers had become smaller, and that there was no longer any warmth concentrated around Rinpoche's heart region, as there had been up to that point.

The Buddhist teachings explain that now that Chogye Rinpoche's tukdam is complete, from out of his Dharmakaya realization, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya emanations come forth for the benefit of sentient beings. It is a time to make prayers and aspirations that those emanations benefit limitless beings, and that Rinpoche will continue to guide us, now and through his future manifestations. Chogye Rinpoche's holy body (kudung) will remain at his retreat house near Narayantan until Friday, Feb. 9, when Rinpoche's kundung will be brought to Boudhanath. Rinpoche's kudung will make one round of circumambulation around the Boudhanath Stupa, following which Rinpoche's holy body will be placed in his meditation room on the top of the Boudhanath gompa, Jamchen Lhakhang, for three days.

At present it is planned that Rinpoche's kudung will then be placed in the Lamdre Lhakhang temple at the back of the Jamchen Lhakhang for the remainder of the ceremonies until his cremation on the Buddhist holy day of Chotrul Duchen, the fifteenth day of the Tibetan New Year, March 3, 2007. Rinpoche's cremation will take place in the back residential area of the Boudhanath Jamchen Lhakang Monastery. The Kun Rig ritual of Mahavairochana will be performed daily in the front Maitreya Temple, the Hevajra ritual will be performed daily in the back Lamdre Temple, and the Vajrayogini ritual will be performed daily, probably at Chogye Rinpoche's Narayantan retreat house. Also, the lamas are discussing the possibility that those who wish will be able to sit with Rinpoche's kudung in the evenings after the puja and do their own practice.

May everyone receive the blessings of Chogye Trichen Rinpoche through the practice of Guru yoga, and may he always remain with those who have faith in him. May Rinpoche send forth countless further emanations for the sake of sentient beings, and may he be swiftly reborn among us and continue to guide faithful disciples everywhere.

by John Dewees Blazing-Splendor

Friday, September 29, 2006

Vajrayogini - An Introduction
Naropa's VajrayoginiVajrayogini or Vajravarahi as a tantric Buddhist meditational deity (Tibetan: yidam or Sanskrit: ishtadeva) comes to us in many forms and from various lineages. She embodies principally: (1) the fully enlightened female, wild, fiery, and energetic (shakti/kundalini) aspect of a Buddha; (2) the wisdom (= experiential) aspect leading to Buddhahood; and (3) as a principal dakini (Tibetan: mKha' gro; "sky-goer") the (com)passionate guiding and inspirational aspect leading the practitioner to enlightenment.

Vajradakinis
In Anuttara Yoga Tantra the principal dakini (often called "Vajra-" or "Wisdom-dakini") is mostly shown in union with a male consort, like in the deities Guhyasamaja, Hevajra, Kalachakra, etc. In our case, Vajrayogini/Vajravarahi is the principal female buddha in the Chakrasamvara Tantra and is in union with Heruka Chakrasamvara. Since the Vajradakinis are considered buddhas and yidams in their own right over time several spin-off practices have evolved from those practices simplifying the otherwise complicated main practice and reducing it to a single-deity meditation without dropping the principal aspects/benefits of the main practice (e.g. Vajrayogini/Vajravarahi out of Chakrasamvara and Nairatmya out of Hevajra).

Thursday, September 28, 2006

The Great Praise to Maitreya Buddha
~Je Rinpoche

May the fire of great loving kindness
Burn away the fuel of anger and hatred;
May the radiance of the transcendental wisdom
Illuminate the darkness of ignorance;
May the holders of the Dharma enact the deeds
Of protecting transmigratory sentient beings.
I prostrate to you who is residing
In the blissful realm heaven of Tushita.

Even though you are moistened forever
With the affection of loving kindness,
However you burn away all black relationships
Even though you have cut through all bondage
Which is so difficult to sever.
However you bind us tight in your compassion
Even though you are endowed forever
With an equanimity of peace, however you cherish
Cherishing others amid renouncing yourself.
I humbly bow at the Holy Feet of Manjugosha and
Offer admiring praise to the Invincible Protector

You are esteemed in the speech of the four faced Brahma
And gazed at by Indra's thousand eyes of devotion
Lord of Love - Kama, possessor of the beautiful Rati
Bows to you without any pride and I humbly bow
In respect, at the feet of the Conqueror's Regent.

Like a hundred petal lotus in a clear lake
Opened by the radiance of the rising sun,
Like a garden of kundali - lily flowers blooming
In the clear sky is the Lord of the constellation of stars,
So also is the sight of your Holy Body
Wreathed with signs and exemplifications
Capturing the hearts of all migrators, the moment it is seen.
May I be born at Your Lotus Feet, Oh Protector Maitreya
And in all my lives may you adorn the crown of my head

Destroyer of evil, you are free from the surroundings of all states of fear,
Supreme Teacher, You are an
incomparable Hero of the three realms
Please watch us continuously, for we are migrators
Who have fallen into the dangers.
I prostrate at Your Lotus Feet O Compassionate Leader.

You access without obstruction
All the limitless objects of knowledge.
You conquer with your powerful omniscience the evil army horror
Whose thunder bolt weapons fall before you like fresh flowers and
You defeat them with the radiant glory of your ten powers

You scorch the haughty brains of your opponents
Who have the pride of an elephant.
You spread the great sound of your excellent sayings
Amidst them and in their retinue.
You put an end to the foxes
With the speech of their false philosophy.
Endowed with the four states of fearlessness,
You are a lion amongst men

The supreme wheel of Dharma which cannot be expressed by anyone,
Unturnable even by the proud World-Creator, lord of passions,
And not even by priests, ascetics, those training in virtue and so forth,
But You as a Guardian with loving kindness,
Turn the wheel of Dharma for migrators.

Not even the name of "error" affects Your Holy Body and Speech.
You abide in equipoise forever, with a memory which never declines.
Your equanimity, without conceptual thoughts is free of discrimination.
Because of Your isolation Your activities are completely pure.

Your aspiration, perseverance and Your memory,
Concentration and wisdom are completely liberated.
You have long gone beyond all occasions for failure
Therefore your realizations are unsurpassable.

You know all three times without obstruction and attachment.
Your holy body, speech and mind's activities are completely pure.
You fulfill benefits for migrators until the end of cyclic existence.
You engage with joy in the responsibilities of your deeds.

You have fully perfected the aggregates of extensive qualities.
You have destroyed any chance of incurring the slightest fault.
Please consider for a moment the lamentable plight of me
Who has become the object of you loving kindness.

Although I have a basis of life complete with freedom and richness,
Like a ship capable of liberating from the great ocean of suffering,
I am saturated with the faults of carelessness and laziness,
The stupor of frivolous gossip and the desire for gain and fame.
In directing this birth of great value in pursuing what is meaningless,
I waste away this good body which can accomplish ultimate happiness.
Thus I inhabit this human flesh with an attitude of a beast.
Please look upon me with Your great compassion.

Although I have found freedom and richness,
Which is difficult to find and great in meaning,
When the powerful Lord of Death sends his messenger,
There is no power to reverse it nor can I ever escape from it.
Although I can see myself caught in sickness and death,
I am still uncertain when I will die, even at the time of death
While knowing that I have to go leaving everything behind,
I still spend meaninglessly all the years, months and days.
Please bestow upon me, who is so deluded, your timely compassion.

What need is there to mention the state of definite liberation
When I do not have the confidence to attain even a high rebirth
Which is praised by the Capable Ones as the basis of the path?
Will You not bestow upon me your equanimity?

Although I have a body endowed in the glory of a higher rebirth
With the wisdom that precisely investigates the entire teachings,
If I am unable to find the unmistaken path of fortune
Once again I fall into the causal ocean of cyclic existence
And in that great killer darkness of ignorance
For a long time I am obscured from the points of practice
and completely confused as to how to do so.
Please bestow upon me your illuminating light of wisdom.

Faces covered with hair and with thirsty mouths
Running to drink wherever seeing a flow of water
But are stopped by beings wielding swords and spears
And before their eyes even the water changes to blood and puss.
Mouth like the eye of a needle and a goiter choking the neck,
Unable to partake or enjoy even when food or drink is found.
Whenever eating or drinking a blazing fire burns within me.
Thus in order to survive I even cut and eat my own flesh.

Enveloped by a great darkness of ignorance
Without the capacity to discriminate right from wrong
Killing each other, controlled by goals and hungry beings
Showered by the sufferings of being beaten and burdened.

All peace of mind is destroyed by a burning fire
Of a consuming jealousy, disturbed by the glory of the gods.
The body is slashed and lost from the fighting
Deceived by trickery, with no fortune to see the truth.

Not to mention the experience, merely hearing about these realms
Produces terror in my heart and shudders of fear
Of the complete fall into these great abysses
Of the hell, hungry ghost, animal and demi-god realms.
Having accumulated since beginningless time and still accumulating
Those unbearable evil actions condemned by the holy beings,
I am trembling in the face of this great abyss.
Please save me in time, from this fate of bad migration.


Even in the human realm, with the riches of power and possession,
There is the fear of losing these very high estates.
When ruined by parting from the excellent fortune of higher rebirth,
I am physically exhausted searching for the happiness of my desire.
When I do fulfill the means to the wishes for happiness,
Much worse than attaining the happiness, is instead
The physical pain and the mental anguish
Which is experienced in all the various aspects.
With beautiful bodies adorned bejeweled ornaments
In celestial palaces, surrounded by gardens of pleasure,
Enjoying for long the pleasures of the desire.

Even as the deva-gods, sporting the glory of higher rebirth,
When I am gripped by the signs of unwanted death,
I lose my mind and my heart just stops.
When I see that very soon I unwillingly will have to separate
From the beautiful goddesses capturing my heart
And the delightful gardens for pleasure
From food of nectar, finest clothing and ornaments of beauty
And from the other youthful sons of the gods
More than the happiness of being born in this realm
Is the extraordinary great suffering of the mind
I am burnt by the fiery tongues of the sorrow generated.

By exhausting the joy of fruits accumulated with much effort
Through my actions of goodness, undertaken over many lifetimes
Overpowered by carelessness, I accomplish causes for lower migration
And thus once again I fall into the hellish realms.

Without notions longing for desire and the thoughts of malice,
Having abandoned all deeds of sleep and mental anguish,
By being free of the sufferings from physical and mental harm,
Abiding for long in bliss, through the power of concentration,
Even though I attain the form and formless realms of the gods,
One to not being free from bondage and the compounded suffering
When I exhaust the benefits of my past concentration
Again I fall low down and continue with the circulation.

Thus, even the Lords of life's migration, the gods and the humans
Are also caught in birth, death, sickness, aging and so forth
And carried by the waves of suffering in the ocean of existence.
What need is there to mention that it is improper
To be attached to the pleasures of cyclic existence?
But my eye of awareness is still obscured to life
Having the wrong wisdom, grasping at suffering as happiness.
I, who am so obscured by such perverse concepts,
Please free me from the great current of existence.

Sunk in the quagmire of desire,
I have strayed from the path of liberation.
Possesses by the darkness of ignorance,
I am separated from the eye of wisdom.
Caught in the trap of fabrications,
I am chained to the prison of samsara.
Tormented by my karmic actions,
I am the object in need of your compassion.

In order to stop at the fearful cliff of cyclic existence,
I must rely upon stainless forms of extensive listening. Through the power of pure reason of correct analysis
Of definitive and interpretive methods of the boundless teachings,
By discerning rightly and by depending on no other
When I definitely need to find the state of impeccable learning,
What need is there to mention the subtle intentions of the Victorious Ones?
When even the most gross points of involvement and cessation
Are not clear and open to the vision of my intellect
Still, the enemy of gross delusion obscures my heart.

And for a long while I have no chance of liberation
Considering this situation, please clear the darkness from my heart.

In the presence of the sciences taught by the Conquerors and their Sons,
I will extend an ocean of learning over many different lifetimes
And then excellently awaken the imprints of practices again and again.
You are the sole eye revealing the fortunate path for transmigrators.
Abandoned by all the pure beings of the past,
I am at a loss of being separated from a protector
In becoming like a guest arriving from a distant region.
It is time that you cared for me with your great kindness.

You are the refuge I humbly turn to again and again.
You are Love-Maitreya, with Your great love for all transmigrators,
In coming quickly and more quickly, please become mine.
My Mahayana-virtuous friend in lifetime after lifetime.

Before the presence of your look without interruption
At all embodied going, with your great love forever;
Whoever recalls with a mind of faith your excellent qualities
Daily, you will come to them.

In a place far away, in order to experience all
The taste of solitude in the place of a fortunate field,
Even though I wish to engage, I am physically unable to do so;
Thus You are the holiest field of merit.

To please You with extraordinary pure thoughts,
With jewels, gold nuggets and celestial silks,
With the tree robes, monk's staff and ascetic's bowl,
Practiced by the Capable One for all those training in virtue,
Also emanated through prayers and concentration,
An excellent array of exquisite offerings pervading space
Thus completely filled in offered to the Chief Lord of Humans,
With a mind detached and free of expectations.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Vajrayogini, the 'Khechari of Naropa' (Tibetan: dor je nal jor ma, na ro kha cho ma). Belonging to the Chakrasamvara collection of Tantras and one of the five principal tantric practices of the Sakya School.

Sanskrit: Vajrayogini

Tibetan: Dorje Naljorma

Red in colour with one face and two hands she holds a curved knife in the right and a skullcup upraised in the left. Resting on the left shoulder is a katvanga staff. Adorned with a tiara of skulls and gold, jewel and bone ornaments she wears a necklace of fifty dry skulls standing with the two feet placed on the bodies of red Kalaratri and black Bhairava above a sun disc and multi-coloured lotus seat. Completely surrounded by the flames of pristine awareness she looks up to the pure realm of Khechara and drinks from the skullcup in the left hand.

At the top center is Vira Vajradharma, a form of the primordial buddha Vajradhara, unique to the Vajrayogini system of practice. Red in colour, with one face and two hands he holds aloft a damaru drum in the right and a skullcup held to the heart in the left, with a katvanga staff leaning against the left shoulder, seated in vajra posture.

At the top right and left are two Sakya Lamas wearing monastic robes and the dark red Pandita hats typical of scholars. Both are seated on cushion thrones possibly indicating that the painting was sponsored during the lifetime of the two lamas. (Placed above a lotus seat is often an indication that the individual has passed on to the pure realms).

The lama on the left displays the iconographic signature of the great Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo (1820-1892). Placed in the two hands are a vajra and upturned bell while holding the stems of two utpala flowers supporting a vase on the right and a sword and book on the left. Important to Kyentse Wangpo, he wrote 22 texts on the ritual and practice of Vajrayogini. The lama on the right, possibly Loter Wangpo, places the right hand in the mudra of blessing while holding the stem of a blossom supporting a sword on the right side. The left hand placed in the lap holds the wisdom book. The fact that both these lamas are seated on thrones as opposed to lotuses would indicate that they were alive when the painting was commissioned.

Vajrayogini, is a representation of complete buddhahood in female form. Classified as Wisdom or 'Mother' Anuttarayoga Tantra the practices originate with the Chakrasamvara Cycle of Tantras. Although found in a variety of forms, she is common to all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In this particular form she is a special teaching passed down from the lineage of the Indian mahasiddha Naropa through to the Sakya School. This form is also popular within the Gelugpa Tradition.

Guru Lineage: Vajradhara, Vajrayogini, mahasiddha Naropa, Pamthingpa, Sherab Tseg, Mal Lotsawa, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Sonam Tsemo, Drakpa Gyaltsen, Sakya Pandita, Chogyal Pagpa, etc.