36 Cheating Death

Michael Walter

Death and dying are significant topics for all religions, including Buddhism. When Tantra was the dominant form of Buddhism in both northern India and Tibet, Buddhists displayed a voracious curiosity about this topic. Ritual and meditational materials show a variety of methods for dealing with the process of decline and death.

Sometime before the year 1000, Tantric teachings that dealt with preparation for death, cremation, and so forth, had been organized into cycles. One group is a set of teachings by Atisa, an eleventh-century Buddhist master from Bengal, on the goddess Tara, called the “Thirteen Spells.” These teachings provide instruction in recognizing and preparing for death, as well as in perpetuating the practice of merit making, a process that allows a Buddhist to accrue merit for spiritual im

provement and then selflessly to transfer that merit to beings who are not in a position to obtain such merit. (Tara and the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara are Bud dhist deities who model and display selfless compassion to suffering sentient beings, and thus are especially to be sought at times of physical danger and distress.) Six of these teachings, including one entitled “Cheating Death” (mrtyu vancana in Sanskrit, ‘Chi bslu in Tibetan) deal with the human lifespan, its length ening, decline, and end. The first teaching is an introduction to the significance of the spells; the last is on the casting and distribution of tsha tshas, small, usually circular pressed sacred images made in part from the ashes of the dead, which are designed to generate merit continuously. By the fourteenth century, such ritual instructions had attained great size, as exemplified by Karma Gling-pa’s gatherings in the Bar do thos grol cycles. The literal title of these texts, which teach people how to avoid an evil rebirth, is “Release from the Intermediate State by Merely Hearing These Teachings.” Selections from this cycle have been studied and pub lished as “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”; in fact, the cycles total many hundreds of pages in length. It is these cycles that include sections devoted to “cheating death.”

In addition to eight texts on “cheating death” found in the Tantra commentary

606 MICHAE L WALTER

section of the Tibetan canon - all taught by or connected with Vagisvarakirti, a predecessor of Atisa as abbot at the Nalanda monastery and the author of the text studied here - various recipes, instructions, and rites, with accompanying anec dotal materials and fulsome praises, are also found embedded in medical, al chemical, and Tantric ritual materials. In addition, much supporting anecdotal and mythological material is also found in histories of Tibetan Buddhist traditions, biographies of yogins, and even general sketches of the development of Buddhism. This is because “cheating death” helps one to continue exercising the vows of a bodhisattva, a Buddhist who has taken a vow to aid suffering sentient beings to achieve enlightenment.

The goal of Mahayana Buddhism is enlightenment, with a view to universal enlightenment: that is, to become enlightened, but to do so in order to help fill the universe with other enlightened sentient beings who see existence as it is, and who act selflessly and with compassion because they share the realization of the Buddha about the nature of all things. The Mahayana view of the nature of things is that samsara, the endless cycle of births that unenlightened sentients go through, and nirvana, release from samsara, are ultimately mere concepts of the unenlightened mind, and are empty of reality. They are, instead, of the nature of Voidness (sunyata). Insight into the true nature of Voidness is achievable because we have the Buddha nature within us, and there is a variety of ways in which Mahayana Buddhist traditions teach its realization. The present text comes from the Tantric tradition, which aims its followers at buddhahood itself, at realizing the fully developed Buddha nature within us.

Tantra, which has been practiced in Hinduism and Buddhism for centuries, is a set of practices based on two principles. The first is that of subtle physiology. The body exists on a series of vibrational levels, and our physical body is the lowest of those levels. We also contain what might be called a subtle body, which consists of channels through which flow our life energy and our consciousness, the latter in what are described as “winds.” To understand our true nature - the goal of this yoga - we must gain control over the elements (water, air, fire, earth, and “ether,” that is, space) of which we are made, and the winds just described. The cosmos is made up of these same elements, and the second principle states that the structure and function of our subtle body parallels the greater structures of the cosmos: the planets, stars, constellations, and so forth. This second prin ciple, sometimes referred to as a system of macrocosmic and microcosmic cor

respondences, allows the yogin to escape human finitude by understanding how both his individual body and the cosmos are ruled by the same processes. In terms of dying, a yogin must know how to overcome his internal “time” mechanism - what we call aging - by controlling it in the same way that Bud dhism and Hinduism believe that external time can be stopped: by stopping the motion of the sun and moon. The yogin does this internally, in the present text, by meditating on deities who represent the reality behind the internal sun and moon, respectively: red Amitabha, the buddha of infinite light, and white Abhaya Lokesvara, a form of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. (Of course,CHEATIN G DEAT H 607

people also die from accidents, and so on; such deaths are explained in this text as death “coming from the gods.”)

The sun dries, burns, and robs beings of their energy. Thus, the yogin’s “internal sun” also causes the desiccation of his life force; at one point this text advises the yogin to shield his nutritive moisture, called “ambrosia,” from that sun, since we are all born with this ambrosia and it has the potential to give us eternal life if we protect it from our internal sun and open the body up to its flow. Similarly, our ambrosia originates near the top of our skull, dripping from our internal moon. Thus, the way Tantra visualizes internalized universal processes is by ori

enting them around the body, especially in power centers aligned along the spinal cord.

Astrological correspondences are an important part of Tantra yoga. The spinal cord is a “cosmic pillar” as well, perhaps (from an astrological point of view), as the Milky Way, around which two “veins” representing the paths of the sun (heating and drying) and the moon (cooling and moist) twine themselves. These paths are actually the channels by which breath enters, in the yogin’s practice, through either the left or right nostril, and exits through the opposite nostril. The breath thereby passes through both the solar and lunar paths, as well as through the constellations, which are conceived to be located on the twelve “petals” of that circle which, at the level of the heart, is usually conceived to be a lotus. When the yogin controls the powers of the sun and moon, and then unites them, he overcomes their grip on his life-breath and ambrosia, and takes in his grasp the very process of time in the universe. This also provides the yogin with the ex perience of ultimate transcendence (“enlightenment,” in Buddhist terms). Tantric yogins with perfect practice do not, in fact, die, but pass into subtle bodies that are eternal; the Knowledge Holders in Part Three below are one such group of yogins.

The yogin must calculate the time at which the sun passes through the twelve houses of his zodiac; as the text shows, it has a set time for transiting, or crossing, each of these; variations can affect the power or length of life of the yogin. The yogin should also analyze both outer and inner astrological systems to understand propitious and nonpropitious times for meditations, and so on, as well as personal traits (such as susceptibility to illness, and preferred seasons and times of the day to do things) and changes in his internal states. The yogin’s universe becomes divided into two-hour intervals (the six transits of both the sun and mooon through the signs of the zodiac in a twenty-four-hour day) as well as time intervals based on the control of the circulation of this breath. Through continual attention to these processes, he escapes the control of the sun and signs of the zodiac, and controls the winds that suppport his mind and consciousness.

In fact, the ultimate reason why the yogin engages in this yoga is to purify his consciousness; he uses his control over the heat of his inner sun to cleanse the impurities in the winds that shape that consciousness. Unenlightened conscious ness is prevented from realizing its enlightened nature because of these impurities, whereas through these practices they are gradually removed, if the yogin controls

608 MICHAE L WALTER

each inhalation and exhalation in what Buddhism calls a mindfulness yoga cen tered on the observation and regulation of breathing.

Mention was made above of the Buddha nature within us; Buddhist Tantra develops this through spiritual cultivation (sadhana). A repetition of the “seed” syllable of a deity will actualize it and bring it clearly into the yogin’s conscious ness, so that the deity will merge with the yogin, and become the true “self of the yogin. This process is accompanied by yogic postures (asanas) and gestures (mudras), and sometimes dance. This deity represents enlightened being, and the consciousness of the yogin also becomes enlightened, through two stages of prac tice: these are the development and perfection of the presence of the deity, fol lowed by the dissolution of that deity, such that the yogin comes to realize the Voidness (sunyata) from which all things - even Buddhas - emerge and back into which they dissolve.

It is partly because of the refined state of a yogin’s consciousness through this practice, and partly due to the homologous system described above, that dreams, omens, and such as presented in the text here provide insight into the yogin’s physical and meditative states. Furthermore, Tantric “subtle physiology” provides the link between an individual’s meditative and visionary experiences and the external signs that are meaningful for events transpiring in a yogin’s practice.

Buddhism does not depend solely on Tantra and its yogic practices to lengthen life, or even to attain immortality. Elixirs based on organic ingredients, as well as mercury- and sulphur-based compounds, are also used, as in Western alchemy. Even Buddhist medical traditions contain compounds designed to lengthen life. The effectiveness of many of these preparations rests either on the meditative practices that accompany their creation or on the “empowering” of compounds through a blessing by a master, such as when he blows on it. Power over life is also attained by the yogin through sexual activity with an accomplished consort. By retaining his semen, the yogin reverses the normal bodily processes; and, here, as described in Part Three, special power comes from bodily fluids generated during sexual union. Acts of devotion also have a place here: we see that building and restoring stupas, circular structures that are circumambulated to gain merit and show respect for the Buddha, are also means to achieve a longer life. (Stupas have a central wooden pole, analogous to the spinal column and here called the “life-tree pole,” which is an auspicious object when viewed in a dream). In Part Three, we see that simply contributing a robe to a monk creates sufficient merit to hold death at bay.

In addition, it is maintained in many sources that advanced yogins can create elixirs or obtain other powers (as mentioned here, an enchanted sword and med icine for the eyes afford the yogin the power to see through matter and the ability to travel long distances rapidly) as a routine benefit of advanced practices. These are known as “accomplishments” (siddhis), which the yogin is eventually to dis card as he procedes to complete enlightenment, since to concentrate on them would be a sign of the yogin’s clinging to his ego rather than eradicating it totally. Much of what has been presented here applies to both Hindu and Buddhist

CHEATIN G DEAT H 609

Tantra. The truly Buddhist elements in these teachings come out both in the visualization of Buddhist spiritual beings, such as Amitabha (buddha of infinite light), and Amrtakundalin (who represents the process of uniting the sun and moon, and causing the ambrosia to flow), as well as in the centrality of Sunyata and belief in the creation and transfer of merit.

The selections below come from the most extensive teaching in the Tibetan canon on “cheating” or “tricking” death. It was composed by Vagisvarakirti, and must have been a standard Buddhist work on the subject - first in India, and later, through Atisa, in Tibet - but one filled with uncertainties of interpretation, since a second translation of this text, also found in the canon, is supplemented with many interlinear notes. The material here is presented with some interpre tation from those notes and other commentaries. These teachings mix divinatory practices, astrological guidance (most of the materials not included here were detailed astrological calculations), and Tantric practices, in a set of indications of death and how to avoid it, especially intended for yogins but also for lay Buddhists in their analysis of dreams, visions, internal changes, and so on.

The material presented here is a translation of excerpts from the Teaching on Cheating Death (‘Chi ba bslu ba’i man ngag in Tibetan, Mrtyuvancanopadesa in San skrit) by Vagisvarakirti, as found in The Tibetan Tripitaka, Bstan-hgyur, vol. 59, pp. 103-110, and in the Sde-dge Bstan ‘Gyur, Rgyud ‘Grel, vol. 27, columns 236- 66, along with a few elucidations from various commentaries. This work is di vided into four parts: external signs of death; internal signs of death; instructions for cheating death by external means; and instructions for internal means for cheating death.

Further Reading

To gain some idea of the wealth of Buddhist practices and attitudes toward death, see some of the recent works by Gregory Schopen, including “Deaths, Funerals, and the Division of Property in a Monastic Code,” in Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Buddhism in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), pp. 473-502, as well as Tadeusz Skorupski, The Sarvadurgatiparisodhana Tantra: Elimination of All Evil Destinies (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983). Also of value are the numer

ous selections of and commentaries to the Bar do thos grol texts, such as Robert Thurman, The Tibetan Book of the Dead (New York: Bantam, 1993), and Chogyam Trungpa and Francesca Freemantle, The Tibetan Book of the Dead (London: Oxford University Press, 1975). Lati Rinbochay, Death, Intermediate State, and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion, 1985) is a useful overview. A good source on the connections between astrology and Tantric yoga is Alex Wayman, “Tantric Teachings about the Inner Zddiac,” in his The Buddhist Tantras (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1973), pp. 151-63.

610 MICHAE L WALTE R Mrtyuvancana/‘Chi bslu

PART ONE

[The work opens with an homage to Manjusri, the bodhisattva who bequeaths wisdom, especially that connected with traditional sciences.]

The Lord of Death manifests all variety of illusion; the answer to this is to achieve power over old age and death. This teaching being difficult to grasp by those of inferior intellect - whose minds vacillate - attaining power over the Lord of Death and the signs of death, the texts on death, and their com

mentaries, will be explained here.

Total cheating of the Lord of Death is the realm of liberation itself; extending for some short time the lives of all sentients is not being liberated. The ceasing of life-duration, the senses, and the working of the mind is the characteristic of death. Living on for some time through various means has been explained to be “the cheating of death.”

Disciplining the senses through practicing the Dharma, one will live as long as he wishes in samsara; for that long, one accumulates merit, and so on. Acting so as to cultivate the thought of enlightenment, it will truly arise. So, not seeing anything more dear than life in samsara, quickly and by many means one will act habitually to deceive death. Applying means in the right way to this end, it is not at all difficult to achieve. By the powers of precious stones, spells, and medicines, a person realizes anything he wishes.

Signs that death is approaching should be understood by any means neces sary. Although some develop the desire to know the signs of death, there may also well be hesitation by others about such objects of knowledge, because these latter are then in a state of well-being. However, when those people who were well become controlled by painful states, passions, dimness of mind, and so on, and as a consequence of the fear, suffering, and so on that arise from those symptoms, signs of death will of course manifest themselves to those people, as well.

Through a division into outer and inner, it is intended that the signs of death are to be analyzed as twofold, the upsetting of the gods and the upsetting of the elements. Dying from the total upsetting of the gods is explained to be “coming from the gods”; famine and so on, and lightning, hail, and so on, are the signs of their being upset. Dying from the total upsetting of the elements is explained to be “coming from the elements.” When the elements are upset, bile, and so on, and the fire and water elements, and so on, are damaged. When both are upset, death is explained as “coming from both.” When both are upset, [there is] thunder, and so on, and bile, phlegm, and so on, are damaged.

Although one may see signs of death at any time, at some times they show that death is not coming; in an unerring way, they can be examined [by the yogin] for impediments that damage one’s practice of the Dharma. Likewise,

CHEATIN G DEAT H 611

any time that one does not see signs of death, even at some of those times death will appear. At such times, in the lack of [appearance of] a fixed time for death, it is not that there is a lack of signification concerning a fixed time for one’s death [that is, there are always signs, if one knows how to look for them].

When the yogin is permanently established in equanimity, with his mind accordingly placed in one-pointedness by that practice, he should first closely examine, briefly, the external signs.

[What follows here is an excursus on searching for external signs of death.]

The transiting of the sun, the fifteenth lunar day, and so on, may result in that illness, and so on, suddenly becoming one’s master.

When the time of death is explained to be “certain,” it is not certain only insofar as there is a mistaken understanding of the signs of death. [For ex ample,] when the far side of one’s left cheek shakes, that is a very strong indicator of death. When one’s inner winds and a feeling of cold rush together, however, one must search elsewhere for any signs of death.

Signs of death appear in the house of Cancer, in the middle summer month, and in Capricorn, proceeding through the middle month of winter. On the day of the sun’s transit, in the middle month of summer, the measure of its foot [that is, the angle of its rays] is at midday; when one looks to the north then, the shadow there is the true nature [of his lifespan]. On the exact day of transit in the middle winter month, there are seven measures to its foot; at noon of that day, if the sky is clear, one should examine his shadow.

For each month there is an increase of one foot, and [then] there is a decrease of one. If anything other than this is seen, the yogin should truly fear death. From the middle summer month until Capricorn, the sun’s foot increases. From Capricorn until Cancer, the sun’s foot diminishes. From the middle sum

mer month they increase in degrees; likewise, from the middle winter month they decrease in stages. If one sees a change in his shadow [at those times], one will truly die in one month. If there is an increase of one’s shadow when it should diminish, and a diminishing when it should increase, then, calculating from that time, one will truly die in one month. If there is too much increase [of one’s shadow] at the time of increase, one will be harmed by various ill

nesses. Likewise, if there is too much diminishment at the time of diminishing, death will undoubtedly occur.

At the end of the middle summer and winter months, timely and untimely death are accurately calculated from the first six days each of Cancer and Pisces. The twenty-four-hour days of the middle and last summer months and the extra days of the middle and last winter months may be either good or bad for calculating death.

If someone feels a depression [in the flesh] somewhere between the inner most soles of the feet and the tip of the nose, then, truly, three days hence one will die at once. At the time of defecating and urinating, if one is simultaneously

612 MICHAEL WALTER

seized by [a fit of] sneezing, then, from the moment of being seized, one will age and die in one year. If one experiences a depression [in the flesh] at the nape of the neck, after five days he will die. If one cannot see the tip of his tongue, he will then die in three days.

If one feels that something is continuously stinging the tip of the nose, he will die in four months. If one imagines a depression in the spot between his eyebrows, death is truly imminent. Whenever there is pain simultaneously in both nostrils, one will die one month hence. For this reason, merit should be gathered [during that month], cheating death [that is, lengthening this period].

At night, while uniting the wind from both channels, if one sneezes during and at the end of the session, one will die five months after equanimity of meditation has been achieved.

If one feels pain at the same time in the joints of the little fingers and toes, death will come in one month’s time. If pain occurs at the same time all the way from the heart to the throat, and if one is not grounded in Dharma practice, death will occur in half a month. If pain occurs at the same time on three of one’s palms and soles, then, even if one is equal [in strength] to Indra, he will die in three days.

Whoever cannot see his left eye in a mirror, and doesn’t act to correct this situation, he will truly die in seven days. When engaging in sex, if someone doesn’t hear a bell when it is rung, even though he is equal to Brahma, he will die three months from that time.

On the first day of the waxing moon, if one’s semen is black, he will die in six months; if red, he will be struck with an illness. If pain occurs between the tip of the nose and the space between the eyes, or at the top of the head, death is imminent and cannot be averted.

If there is pain with fever, starting at the toes and going to the navel, one will certainly die in six months. If there is pain from the toes to the heart, throat, or even as far as the head, developing by degrees from half a month to three month’s time, one will be dead within one day.

If one’s heart suddenly sinks in the body, death will occur after two weeks. If the two veins on the sides of the neck are cut, death will also occur in two weeks.

If a black spot suddenly appears in the middle of the tongue, then, gritting one’s teeth tightly, one will die in two days from that time. If the veins behind, inside, and around the ears appear cut, if not on that day, then in five days, one will die. If the red color of one’s nails suddenly disappears, and if one then doesn’t practice mantra, and so on, he will die in six months.

If one is meditating and making a threatening gesture, and is suddenly dis turbed by fear and anger, then, to the extent that he is not grounded in the Dharma, he will die in one or two years.

Fluid dripping constantly from the eyes, causing one to be mistaken in what one sees; not seeing one’s shadow in water, or in a mirror; also, seeing rainbows

CHEATIN G DEAT H 613

at night or groups of stars in the daytime; seeing lightning in a clear sky in the south, or the Milky Way in the daytime; likewise, seeing a star fall in the daytime; and seeing geese, crows, and peacocks mixing together: after seeing these, death will come in two months and two days.

Likewise, seeing a glow around one’s head; a gandharva city [gandharvas are spirits who dwell in the air and live on scents] at the top of a tree or at the base of a mountain, or seeing pretas (ghosts) and pisacas (ghouls) or other fearsome beings; shaking violently; falling down again and again; seeing gold and silver coloring in vomit, feces, and urine - one who sees each of these things will die within a month.

If semen, feces, and urine flow from the body at the same time, the per son who suffers that will die in one year; however, he can be healed by medicines. Whoever has half his body hot while the other is cold, since death will come after seven days, that person should begin thinking about the world beyond.

That yogin who experiences himself as filled with the letter ha, and whose breath has become like fire, will see the Lord of Death after ten days. If one sees a black spot at the base of the ring finger, then, at the end of eighteen days, he will truly die. If a three-colored chameleon climbs onto someone’s head and then runs away quickly, that person will truly die after five months.

If no sound comes from the yogin’s body when he rubs it with his hands, and all his limbs feel cold, he will die in ten days. If someone’s calves and hands suddenly twitch and move, and he lacks the thread of the twice-born [castes], he will die after one or two years.

When someone fills his mouth each day with water warmed while the sun is hot, and then blows out his breath, he will see various rainbows that persist in stages in the midst of that breath. Such people, who are generally very long lived, will fail to see that they have only six months to live.

All these things are general knowledge; these particular points need to be made:

One will die in six months from a change in one’s basic nature. If one cannot see the tip of his nose, he will die in five months. If one becomes deaf, one will die after four months. If the senses become dispersed and one falls off his seat, he will die in three months. If one sees light between his eyebrows, he will see Yama [the Hindu and Buddhist god of death, who gathers the spirits of the dead in his house] in two months. If one’s testicles shrink, he will die after one month. If the yogin doesn’t see his reflection in another’s eyes, he will die in two weeks. If someone can’t move his tongue, he will die after ten days. If one turns away from food, he will meet Yama after five days. If one feels a pulling at his sides, he will die after three days. If one’s whole body becomes stiff, that person will die in one day.

During the waxing or waning of the moon, if one’s semen becomes black and this isn’t cured, he will die in six months. However, if someone completely avoids doing things in the dark half of the month, and turns to doing things

614 MICHAEL WALTER

in the bright half, then, when the breath exits from the left nostril and enters [the right nostril], he will be healed again.

Although one’s body may be firm, if his shadow is crooked, he will die in four months.

Those learned in such things have taught the following:

If one sees his shadow going in the southern direction, he will die, it is said. In such ways, one sees the signs of his perishability. Although such signs have been explained [by some] to be meaningless, misleading, perverse, and so on, even if all dreams were untrue, such a criticism would not apply to this path, which involves a mind strengthened in faith through practice of the repetition of spells. The gods [that is, the personal deities of yogins] teach in dreams, and yogins who see the truth in dreams will develop faith in them and then will look for signs of death in them.

Whenever lac, kovidara (Bauhinia) or open karavira (Nerium indicum) flow ers appear at the end of a dream, that person will die in six months. When an offering-lamp to whatever god, or [when] sand or a pile of ashes arises in a dream, that person will also die in six months. If one heads off to the south, riding a donkey [in a dream], and does not return, one again has six months left [to live]. Whoever mounts a monkey and rides toward the south, if he awakens while he is still there, he will die as above. If one dreams of climbing up a long stick, the life-tree pole of a stupa, an anthill, or a heap of dust, he will not live more than six months. Anyone bound [in a dream] by an angry, black girl will die; she is called “The Mark of Time” and causes death after seven days. The person who dreams of a woman wearing black clothing and enjoying a black man, or who dreams of a garland of karavira, will go to the place of Yama.

If one dreams of a darkness, a wide-open place, or, likewise, being thrown into prison; or, if one dreams of falling from a tree, that person will reside with the Lord of Death. During sleep, if one sees a great tree, grass, or fruitless trees on his head and body, he will not live beyond six months.

A body rubbed with red aromatics, ornamented with a red rosary, or smeared with sesame is to be much feared. Likewise, cutting off of hair, wearing red, riding an ass, or a person heading quickly to the south - if someone sees such [visions] as these in a dream, he will die in six months. Incense with a red rosary, or red clothing - if these are [seen] in someone’s dreams, he will die in eight months.

The externals of death are beyond number. Since these have been made known, a yogin should quickly strive to cheat death through spells, and so on, when he experiences these signs.

PART TWO

Now will be discussed clearly the internal signs of death, which are understood from the appearance of the vital wind. The mouth and the nose are the spheres of action of the wind.

CHEATIN G DEAT H 615

To whatever extent one does not understand well and truly the internal signs, to that same extent the reality of death will not be truly comprehended in its external signs.

The certainty we can have about death is twofold: [Its time] having been established with certainty, [the signs] can then be explained completely. If a person, upon reflection, makes an accurate analysis of one twenty-four hour day in some appropriate way, then, calculating from that day, he will know how much time will elapse until he will die. [This is because] the life force possessed by ordinary sentient beings wanders constantly and in all of them [in the form of] the vital wind that is based for each of them in their right and left nostrils. Those [paths] that we call “sun” and “moon” are that wind, [which] circulates every ninety minutes. The wise yogin will analyze the wind, since death, and so on, result from a deviation from this regularity. When death is coming in six months, one should practice mindfulness of the Dharma. When the order of the wind is disturbed in the last month, friends and relatives will become troubled. In the last two weeks, because one’s mind has become deranged, the illness will appear to be intolerable. When the mo tion of the wind has been disturbed during the last one, three, four, five, or six days, contention and quarreling will appear. When the natural state [of the wind’s movements] has been lost, and it moves along the three paths to try to gain perception, there is no power to become healthy again, and one will die after half a day has passed.

[Using the movement of the vital wind to calculate death:]

Calculating from the time of the sun’s transiting in the first month of winter, if the wind travels five days in the sun, one will die eighteen years after that time. Calculating from the time of the sun’s transiting in the middle fall month, if the wind travels [in the sun’s path] for a period of five days, one will die after fifteen years. Carrying out the same calculation from the last month of summer, one will die after twelve years; from the first summer month, one will die after nine years. Calculating from the time of the transiting of the middle spring month, if the wind travels [in the sun’s path] for five days at that time, one will die after six years; from the middle winter month, after three years.

Perceptions about the inner wind and all the paths of the sun should be examined by learned ones for either timely or untimely death. Whenever the wind, traveling [through] the body, suddenly enters another path and so, at that time, quickly exhausts one’s life-force, there will no doubt be death at that time.

If the yogin perceives his wind to be in the sun [path, that is, the right nostril], and it travels for half a solar day at the time that the sun is at its maximum distance from the horizon, it should be understood that he will die fourteen years after that time. If, for one solar day, a day and night, two twenty

four-hour days, or three, or four [days], the wind travels on the sun path, one will die within twelve years. If it travels in such a way through five, ten, or

616 MICHAE L WALTE R

fifteen twenty-four-hour days, then, one will die in three, two, or one years, respectively.

Likewise, if it travels there for twenty or twenty-five twenty-four-hour days, then one will die in six or three months. If it travels there for twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, or twenty-nine such days, then one will die in two months, one month, one-half month, or ten days. If it travels there for thirty, thirty-one, or thirty-two such days, then one will die after three, or two, or one day(s), respectively. When the wind travels the sun path for thirty-three days, one will die that very day; even if one is Visnu, without a doubt.

This is the appearance of the signification of death.

Developments regarding the vital wind are to be known through the senses. There are no indicators more important than the senses.

I have thus explained the inner signs of death, otherwise known as “omens of death.” Having made those signs known to himself, the yogin should there fore strive to cheat death through meditative concentration, and so on, as quickly as possible.

PART THREE

Having made known to the yogin the collection of omens of death relating to both the outer and inner signs, I will now make known a condensed set of indications for cheating death that relates to both sets of signs.

Because of the workings of body and speech, internal cheating is accom plished through the action of meditative concentration. External cheating through wealth, spells, and medicines becomes internal as well through the power of yoga.

Faith makes possible one’s efforts to cheat the Lord of Death, so one should make oneself firm in faith. Otherwise, even if a yogin tires himself from practice through body and speech [that is, postures and chanting], no benefit will result. Indeed, the faithless god Indra will not find any subtle Dharma with his hoards of wealth for his bodily sufferings. Faith is the most subtle Dharma; it is the release to Paradise [in the use of] ascetic practice, fire offerings, and wisdom. Faith is the basis for success in all these methods. One may have wealth, life, everything - such things mean nothing if one has no faith. Even though there seems to be some small result due to one’s wealth and so on, nothing will ultimately be accomplished if one has no faith.

Acting to protect oneself from death by means of the Dharma [that is, by studying the teachings of the Buddha] has been explained to be “cheating death.” By delighting in irreligiosity and by being heedless, a person behaves as if he would not remain in this life for even an instant. Even though one were Brahma, when there is no Dharma practice there is no power to cheat the Lord of Death. The Dharma of the Holy Ones is true; they delight in giving, and in enduring ascetic practices. They have the highest love for all - what do they need from the many other teachings? When one’s heart drips with com-CHEATING DEATH 617

passion for sentients at all times (and because the Dharma is a liberating wis dom), what does one need from the many other teachings? Human life is asserted in all religious and philosophical systems to be the most excellent of the elements of existence; if one studies that constantly, he will gradually in crease his distance from the Lord of Death.

If one eschews nonvirtuous acts, takes the Three Vows for refuge [that is, the vow to be a lay supporter of Buddhism, the vow of an ordained monk, and the vow of a Tantric yogin], and keeps the temporary vows or the vows of a layperson as his Buddhist practice, his distance from the Lord of Death will be lengthened.

People are afraid of such things as being thrown into prison or struck [down] by a great disease; if they are protected from such dangers, their lives are truly lengthened, and the Lord of Death is cheated. In the devotion that the lowly and the lordless have in accepting the wonderful moral teachings of the Bud

dha, they realize the goals of their desires, and their lifetimes truly increase. By understanding one’s father, mother, and elder guru, one has reverence for the aged, and so on; when one bestows offerings and honor upon them, the Lord of Death will not approach them. One should likewise revere one’s per

sonal deity. The life [span] of the yogin is increased when, with equal devotion in undertaking ascetic practices for that being, he constantly and faithfully pays inward obeisance to it.

If one repairs cracked or broken stupas with bricks, and so on, a short life will be lengthened, and this will create the same merit as that of giving alms to a monk. Life is perpetually extended by creating temples, images, stupas, and so on, by establishing pleasure groves, and by offerings, and so on, at the eight great stupas. If one offers feasts, with supplies collected by supplication, to the sangha, then, after seven days, one will acquire power over a long life equal to that of Dharmaraja Asoka [a Buddhist “King of Dharma” who ruled India in the third century B.C.E.].

When one creates stupas of sand, and casts tsha tshas in the same way, and then pays homage to those stupas and tsha tshas, the length of one’s life will truly be extended.

In reading the Mahasamaya (the Sutra on the Teachings of the Great Bodhi sattva Vow) [and other sutras], if someone intones them with reverence, long life will be achieved and the Lord of Death will be cheated. Likewise, if one reads all of the Yoga Tantras, and so on, taught by the Buddha, or through the rites taught in the five texts of protective spells known as the Pancaraksa, one will come to cheat the Lord of Death. Likewise, by making circumambulations of such a stupa as that which is constructed with a top-knot, or causing the recitation of spells, one counters the efforts of the Lord of Death.

The wise ones who practice such methods cause death and the sun to dwell far from them. Likewise, drawing mandalas and making fire offerings, mudras, strewn offerings, and food offerings to yogins will also cheat the Lord of Death. When one offers food, drink, and bedding, or even merely a robe, for the

618 MICHAE L WALTER

possession of the Arya Sanghas [the monks and nuns of the Buddhist com munity] of the four directions, one cheats the Lord of Death. Undertaking such actions that should be done is the signifier of Dharma and merit. Through merit, life is extended and, accordingly, the Lord of Death is cheated. In the same way, even considering increasing the teaching of the Dharma by a small amount has been taught by the learned to cheat the Lord of Death.

Making efforts such as these at practicing the Dharma causes immediate confidence in spells of accomplishment, medicines, and other matters that completely clear away the Lord of Death. When one apprehends that the Lord of Death [can be] kept away from our world by the power of spells of wealth, medicines of accomplishment, and medical elixirs, one also realizes [the state of being of a] Knowledge Holder.

If a yogin understands all the texts there are on testing jewels, then that learned one will find himself in the possession of a jewel for realizing any wish, and will even be fit to hold the Jewel of Life of Vajradhara, which is just the same as the jewel for realizing all of one’s wishes. Because these teachings can bring one precious sapphires as well as other great jewels, there is no doubt that all the Lords of Death will be repulsed. For these reasons, one should not raise doubts about the power of such jewels; everyone wishes to have a jewel with inconceivable powers.

If one makes offerings in a desolate place before a figure of one’s personal god on cotton cloth, and so on, then, by merely reciting the proper spells, the cheating of death will come about.

[An example of this follows:]

If a yogin repeats this spell 100,000 times, with faith, to Lokesvara, for that one to truly appear before him, [then] death will truly be cheated. First, say vairocana; after that, say tare three times; then tuttare and ture two times each; finishing with svaha - death will be deceived. As it is said in the Tarabhava

tantra [the “Tantra on the Arising of Tara”]: “When one recites this spell 100,000 times before the eyes of Tara, with curds and honey placed before her, and with a sprout of durva grass to the east and a fire offering showing its flames to the north, then the yogin will truly cause death, which has sprung from the totality of former actions, to be averted.”

One would really do things just this way.

The spell that is the heart of the Arya Pratisara is the bestower of all magical powers. One should recite the ten letters of this secret spell, called “Victor over Death,” 100,000 times in the presence of Lokesvara. After that, offer 100,000 fire offerings with white flowers lifted up and cast into melted butter as a means of pacification for bringing down Avalokitesvara. Following this, by the power of this spell, the deceiving of the Lord of Death will truly occur: First, say om, then am; after that, om and am again; then, om mrtyun ja ya (“victory over death”), and after that, again, om - these are the ten syllables of that spell. This

CHEATING DEATH 61 9

was taught by the tathagatas [buddhas] for living a kalpa [the duration of a universe] or longer.

Along with the rites explained by those who know, and other preparations the yogin may wish to use, he should [also] combine medicines [derived from] Sophora flavescens and urine for regions with great hunger. Sophora flavescens should always be used either by itself or together with the three myrobalans. After that, one’s body will become firm and he will not see the gate of Yama. Although there are other such medicines of realization, when one has true faith in any of them, one’s life is extended and one does not see death, because the power that illness and old age hold over him has come to an end.

If one eats mercury with gold and silver in it, prepared according to the correct ritual, it will possess the nature of a medical elixir, and will cheat death. After a day, or about a month or so, when it has overcome the [mortal] con dition of the body, then, one will, by the rite of administering it as a medicine through the nose, come to deceive death.

Some who have died in a number of ways can be seen to live again. One example [of a method for achieving this] would be that of a man, or of a woman having her menses: their blood and other bodily elements, which have become mixed when they emerge in the course of their mutual exchange, are not con

nected strongly together. Extract two drops of such blood immediately upon the death of someone. These two drops will be released via a small, hollow cylinder smeared with butter, so as to be injected into the nostrils. When one drop emerges from a nostril, it should be rolled into the other. This is done, in turn, for each nostril. It has been seen that people become alive again in this way, so this is a recommended procedure for stopping death in this life.

An indestructible [literally, vajra, “diamond”] body possesses a pleasing form. When one attains through it a lifetime matching the years in kalpa, such is truly a turning back of death.

Some urines protect the body when magically realized according to the rele vant teachings. They will cheat death immediately when drunk or rubbed on [the body]. Someone who habituates himself to the constant practice of such teachings, along with the correct use of butter and honey, will cause both timely and untimely death to be averted.

It is not proper to cast doubt on the power of such medicines; their potency appears, in a manner that is inconceivable, everywhere. There is a direct rela tionship between the reverence one shows these teachings in his external re ligious actions and the extent to which one can cheat the Lord of Death in this life. There is a great degree of fear attached to death, which has great power; accordingly, there are inner religious actions given here for that fear.

PART FOUR

Now, with regard to cheating death:

Death is explained to be truly cheated when some learned one possessing inner greatness exerts himself. Such a person is fearless before a king, a thief,

620 MICHAE L WALTER

a great mara [there are four maras: these are beings who attempt to seduce bodhisattvas and yogins into attachment to the world], a tiger, and so on. He is a mountain, or something like that, free from human bustle, abiding by himself, wherever it pleases him. Eating-moderately and speaking little, he finds no pleasure in a strong desire for things. Much of the time, he remains in meditation and sleeps little, exerting himself greatly in the repetition of spells. The action of making offerings to a personal deity, and so on, of reading holy texts, casting strewn offerings, and so on, are efforts he makes with a compas sionate mind for sentient beings of the past, present, and future.

He realizes what he wishes for through his merit; to accumulate merit, he must avoid distractions. Because everything is realized through faith, he works to increase his faith. Through diligence, what one begins is finished; therefore, he makes diligence a preliminary practice. Because wished-for results can be assured through meditation, he makes one-pointed effort in that [meditation]. By avoiding distractions, he develops his practice; thus, he diligently avoids [distractions]. Since everything can be achieved by means of perfect knowl edge, he possesses all knowledge through his great faith and diligence. Because he sees that suffering arises in the act of dying, he also sees that Dharma originates from the act of living. Free of all doubt, he practices at all times the cheating of death through veneration of Amrtakundalin.

[Now follows the invocation of Amrtakundalin, which opens thus:]

For that cheating, there are first 100,000 recitations of a spell that, performed through meditation, is an enemy of obstacles. When it is properly recited, and when one has made 10,000 fire offerings during this recitation, all obstacles are repelled.

These spells remove all maras and obstacles; the yogin who wishes to practice fearlessly in this way will meditate day and night while reciting them. Residing in the abode of Ghanavyuha [a Buddhist paradise], he acts as a buddha again and again through peaceful means. Atop a lotus-moon seat, in a squatting posture and with a mudra that represents the highest thought of enlighten

ment, he emanates clusters of white light. While the yogin is meditating in this way on White Vairocana [a buddha who, although a solar deity, originates from the lunar center], it is not deserving that he should die and return to the cycle of birth and death.

Meditating on Aksobhya [a buddha associated with winter and the sun] and the other tathagatas, with their colors and mudras, when the yogin bases him self in their divine pride, his body will truly become indestructible. When the yogin then resides in the union of the sun and moon, there is white Abhaya Lokesvara, peaceful like the moon and decked out with all possible ornaments, and red-bodied Amitabha, holding all the marks of complete buddhahood, atop [his] two lotus feet in a squatting posture. When this lord of yogins centers his mind on ever more subtle forms of Lokesvara, the Lord of Death himself

CHEATIN G DEAT H 621

will die, and illnesses born for the skandhas [the aggregates from which we construct our illusion of a self] will be destroyed.

Chant this spell of ten syllables with a mind unwearied by other practices: Having established first Om, join tare to it immediately; then, tuttare ture; svaha completes it. Brahma, Siva, Visnu, the Sun, the Moon, the rudras [a group of spirits who represent storms and wind], dikpalas [the guardians of the direc

tions], and even Kamadeva [the god of sensual love] - will all conquer death in this way, [even] as the Lord of Death himself had [done], without so much as damaging the tips of one of their hairs. White hair, wrinkles, pernicious conditions, illness, and poverty - all will disappear. The eight great fearful things - such as fear of a lion, and so on - as well as entire aggregates of miseries, will be destroyed. Food and drink, clothing, and so on, will be ob

tained without the effort of gathering them. Magical powers, such as the en chanted sword, eye medicine, quick-foot salve, the good vessel for all wishes, and others; having a skillful mind; knowing how to speak in verse; immaculate, unique insight; and other desired magical powers as well - all will arise from this circle of magic syllables. This is taught in the Cakrasamvaratantra [a teach ing on Heruka, a form of the buddha Aksobhya]:

Meditate on the form of Heruka [a form of Aksobhya who frightens away evil spirits and helps yogins]. Having accomplished this, when one has really become him, meditate on the form of a skull, on a skeleton, or on the form of an ascetic’s staff. Since it is wrong to kill a yogin, death will not come to him.

All the parts of a yogin will be satiated by drops of ambrosia dripping, in the form of the moon, at the top of the head, which then appear from all the pores of his body.

Completely avoiding all distractions, the yogin should meditate in this man ner for six months; having thereby conquered all illnesses, he will conquer death, even in the form of the Lord of Death.

Likewise, practicing mindfulness meditation on inhalation and exhalation of the breath itself, the yogin should direct his efforts toward other divisions of the respiratory process. Being certain about the increasing number of breaths, the yogin will become ageless and deathless. The breath of sentient beings travels [is breathed in and out] over 21,600 times in the course of a day and night: the number of these breaths should be called aloud. Because the syllable by which we bring the deity into our consciousness is the source of ambrosia, that syllable is repeated each time the wind enters the yogin. And, since ambrosia is the means by which we remain alive, when one is mindful of these breathings [in and out], death will not find a hold in his body.

One should number the breaths that enter the body. According to one method, [when one is] in one-pointed concentration one counts the breaths that enter the body up to 100,000 or another [higher] number, in increments. It is taught that this should be a silent recitation. When one finishes counting [by] using such a method, he will theft certainly live another five years, even if his life span has been diminished [for some special reason]. If one repeats

622 MICHAE L WALTER

that recitation 200,000 times, and so on, the extension of his liftime will then be multiplied. Becoming learned in the means for doing this, the yogin should strive in the recitation of his breaths. [By] enumerating the breaths constantly and correctly 1,000 times in their inner, rising, one is freed from all illness and will live as long as the sun and moon remain [in the sky].

Since the yogin enjoys nothing other than adhering to these teachings, he will strive not to sleep for even a moment until he has conquered sleep; then, he will do the same for food, drink, and so on. Because the yogin makes the travels of the wind manifest in his body, the yogin who strives, in an appro

priate manner, to attend to its movements will truly conquer death. If he de parts from this but once, for some pleasure, because his mind has become obscured, he will die because his means have become inappropriate. The yogin’s own body shall become an appropriate means; if the yogin turns away from that means, his methods will not be appropriate [for realizing his goal].

One can obstruct the wind by binding it with the “Gesture of the Lion’s Play” [the gesture used by the Buddha to show the fearlessness his teachings instill]. In other words, by conquering death through blocking the wind, the yogin creates “the cheating of death by obstruction.” The yogin should fill up his body, in stages, with wind, all the way to the bottom of his feet, and then hold it; this is called “the pot” (kumbhaka). When breath-holding is divided into small and middling, and so on, it is to assert that there are three sorts of stoppage of the upper wind. What is called “stopping the upper wind” is ex plained as follows to make its meaning clear: The small [breath-holding] is thirty-six units in measure; the middling is two times that; the great, three times. Through such holdings, the yogin becomes victorious over death. When the yogin has filled himself with breath from this stoppage, he will then lightly rest his hands on his kneecaps and snap his hand six times, and then begin the practice again.

Further, if the yogin suspends his wind for a long period, and examines its nature constantly during that time, he will render himself victorious over death, mara, and other enemies. All evils being completely pacified, all virtues will then spring up in their place. A yogin who is victorious by such methods will realize his most fervently desired things.

When one does not meditate on meditation or the lack of meditation, sun yata is realized. The wise one, not meditating on existents, and not meditating on the absence of existents, completely abandons both. Such meditation is free of meditating. When a yogin meditates continually on “the sunyata that com pletely avoids grasping,” he becomes invisible to the Lord of Death. The dying that comes from the merest discursive thought will also not see him; indeed, the many maras and their retinues, and others, will not see him.

As it has been taught, “This discursive perception known as ‘dying,’ which has no place in any existents, is overcome by the miraculously transformed perception of ordinary beings [that is, through yogic practice]. All the suffer ings of discursive perception are explained as ’the mara of perception.’ Over-

CHEATIN G DEAT H 623

coming mistaken perception by that understanding, the yogin acts in a state of nonperceptivity.”

Meditating constantly [on the yogin’s personal deity], with special emphasis on reverence based in faith, and so on, the yogin is comfortable in whatever arises [in meditation] - that this and that are becoming clear, and that, for example, desire and misery are manifestations of the mind. Treatises are hard to find wherein these practices are easy to achieve; it is not hard to find these practices, however, in the world of those who know them. Being skilled in such practices, and truly established in [the perfections of] patience and heroism, the yogin who knows how to strive in constructive meditation is a fit vessel for cheating death.

Using butter, the heart of a person who has died in old age, and other items, the yogin uses butter lamps and such for acts of destruction; again, by using materials such as grain and butter offerings, he will abide [in his body] for the duration of a kalpa. The same applies to dying from old age in this body: why shouldn’t one live to the end of this kalpa if he has procured these teachings of realization? Old houses, for example, will stand a long time through main

tenance, so why shouldn’t the bodies of the elderly also endure for a long time through maintenance?

There is nothing difficult to achieve through effort; so, do not shirk in your effort for something that is precious. In time, even slabs of stone are perforated by the gentle, constant fall of water; fire comes from rubbing sticks together; water rises out of the earth when it is ploughed. If someone takes pains, there will certainly be realization. Realized through effort, and correctly, one will have all results he strives for.

Human beings in the mouth of the Lord of Death are like boats in the mouth of a sea monster; if their religious actions are not perfect, they will fall into the waves of his realm. In a like way, any means of cheating death is taught to be an enemy of the Lord of Death. A yogin should cultivate the work of meditation that is realized on the basis of benefiting oneself and others. He should put his effort into means that will free people from the fear of dying without being loved. For this reason, there is nothing more pleasing than life.

When the yogin will have endeavored [to gain understanding] in the texts on these teachings, and will have understood them, the complete deception of the Lord of Death will have been explained, with loving care, for future generations.

GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

Except where indicated, all terms are in Sanskrit. Literal translations appear in quotation marks.

abhiseka (Chinese guanding; Japanese kanjo) - “Annointing”; a form of consecration, often involving sprinkling, that transforms an heir apparent into a royal sovereign, or a novice into a monk or member of a religious order. In Tantra, abhiseka qualifies a person to initiate or consecrate others,

acarya - “Teacher, preceptor”; a guru or instructor of sacred or secret teachings. adhikarin’ - “One who possesses authority”; a person authorized to undertake a given Tantric practice or give a Tantric teaching,

advaita - “Nondualism”; the philosophical position that all is one.

agama - In Hindu Tantra, an early corpus of scripture, generally dualist in its metaphysics, revealed by Siva to the Goddess.

ahimsa - “Noninjury”; doctrine of noninjury or nonviolence, common to Jainism, Bud dhism, and some forms of Hinduism,

ajna - Name of the sixth of the seven cakras in most Hindu and Jain mappings of the yogic body. It is at the level of the ajna that the three principle subtle channels come together in a plait between the eyebrows. See also cakra; nadi.

amrta - “Nondeath”; the nectar of immortality that is generated internally through yogic practice. In Hinduism, the sacred fluid in which the feet of a divine image or one’s guru have been bathed.

Anuttarayoga Tantra - “Tantra of Supreme Yoga”; one of the four classes of Buddhist Tantric texts, sects, and teachings,

arghya - An offering of a few rice grains, tips of durva grass, and sanctified water to a deity in Tantric worship,

asana - “Seated position”; yogic posture in which a practitioner holds himself immobile while practicing breath control and various types of meditation.

atman - The individual self or soul. See also brahman.

avadhuti - In Tantric Buddhist mapping of the yogic body, the female energy that rises up from the lower abdomen to the heart or cranial vault, where it “melts” or is merged with the subtle male principle. See also candali.

bardo (Tibetan) - “Liminal passage, intermediate state”; the state of consciousness in the course of migration between death and rebirth.

bdud (Tibetan) - “Demon”; in good yul, psychopathological mental or emotional states. bhakti - “Partaking”; Hindu devotionalism, in which selfless loving devotion to a personal deity is reciprocated with that deity’s grace.

bhava - “Becoming, being”; in Hinduism, a religious disposition or emotional approach to the divine and to one’s practice. See also rasa,

bhukti - “Enjoyment”; in Hindu Tantra, pleasure as a goal of one’s practice. See also mukti.

626 GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

bhutasuddhi - “Purification of the elements”; preliminary ritual process of self-purifica tion in which the practitioner identifies his body with the five elements of the macro cosmic universe, and implodes these into their higher evolutes.

bija - “Seed”; the seminal essence of a sacred utterance or formula, usually monosyllabic, which constitutes the energy of the deity it acoustically embodies. See also mantra and shingon.

bodhi - “Enlightenment”; perfect knowledge or wisdom by which a person becomes a buddha (in Buddhism) or a jina (in Jainism).

bodhicitta - “Thought of Enlightenment”; in Buddhism, the mental state in which an individual takes the decision to become an enlightened being. In Buddhist Tantra, the inner energy or fluid that flows through the practitioner’s cakras following the internal union of female Wisdom and male Skill in Means. See also prajna, upaya.

bodhisattva - “One Who Possesses the Essence of Enlightenment”; in Buddhism, a deified savior figure, a fully enlightened being who remains in the world in order to release other creatures from suffering existence.

brahmajnana - “Knowledge of the absolute”; the infinite wisdom sought by the Hindu Tantric practitioner.

brahman - In Hindu metaphysics, absolute Being; the self-existent, eternal, universal soul; the infinite power of beginningless being and becoming. See also atman. buddha - “Enlightened being”; in Buddhism, a fully enlightened being. In the Mahayana and Vajrayana systems, a number of celestial buddhas spread the Buddhist teachings of the way to enlightenment throughout a multiplicity of universes.

Buddha - “The Enlightened One”; Gautama Buddha, the historical founder of Buddhism, who lived in Nepal and India in the sixth to fifth centuries B.C.E.; the Absolute. cakra - “Circle, wheel”; one of the usually seven energy centers aligned along the spinal column of the subtle or yogic body; in East Asian Tantric Buddhism, one of the five geometric forms representing the five elements.

cakravartin - “Wheel-turner”; in Buddhist polity, a universal monarch, a patron and pro tector of Buddhism.

candall - “Female outcaste”; in Buddhist Tantra, the idealized Tantric consort; in Bud dhist Tantric mapping of the subtle body, the “red element,” female energy that rises up from the lower abdomen to melt the male “white element” in the cranial vault. See also avadhuti.

Carya Tantra - “Tantra of Observance”; one of the four classes of Buddhist Tantric texts, sects, and teachings.

chi bslu (Tibetan) - “Cheating death, ransoming from death”; term employed for a num ber of rituals employed to postpone the time of death.

dakini - One of a group of powerful female beings, possessed of the power of flight, who mediate between the worlds of the buddhas, the demonic, and the human in Tantric ritual and meditative practice. In Tantric Buddhism, a woman embodying enlightened wisdom.

damaru - Hourglass-shaped two-headed “shaman’s drum” carried and played by Tantric deities and practitioners.

dantian (Chinese) - “Cinnabar field”; in Daoism, one of the three centers of pure energy in the subtle body. Control of these centers enables the practitioner to achieve liberation from the coarse or gross body and become an “Immortal.”

darsana - “Seeing”; in Hindu worship practice, the act of viewing a deity through its

GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS 627

image (murti). Eye contact with the eyes of the icon effect a direct experience of the divine.

deva (Tibetan lha; Japanese ten) - “Shining one”; a celestial deity; one of the high gods of Hinduism, who also figure as “unliberated deities” in Buddhist and Jain pantheons. dharani - In Buddhist Tantra, an esoteric formula, magical verse, or charm, employed against demons. See also shingon.

dharma - The teachings of the Buddha; the law, doctrine, or ethical precepts of Bud dhism; an underlying cosmic principle taught by the Buddha; a constituent element of reality; a phenomenon. The complex of religious and social obligations that a devout Hindu is required to fulfill; right action, duty; morality; virtue.

dharmadhatu - In Buddhism, the absolute reality experienced in enlightenment. dharmakaya - “Body of teaching”; in Mahayana and later forms of Buddhism, the third and most exalted of the three bodies of the Buddha, composed of the Buddha’s teachings. Tantric Buddhism knows of a fourth, called the diamond body (see also vajrakaya) or the body of essential nature (svabhavikakaya).

dhatu (Tibetan dbyings) - In Buddhism, the space or sphere of absolute reality itself. dhyana - Ritual visualization, inner vision, yogic meditation; instructions for visualizing a Tantric deity.

diksa - Inititation; the ritual by which a person is rendered fit to undertake a given type of religious practice. See also abhiseka.

dorje, rdo rje (Tibetan) - See vajra.

garbha mandala - “Womb circle”; in Shingon traditions, a meditation support that uses the imagery of womb and fetus to represent both the compassionate soteriological ac tivity of the Buddha that permeates the entire universe and the principle of universal salvation. Like the vajra mandala, this diagram is divided into sections centered on a specific buddha or bodhisattva representing various aspects of the enlightened cosmos.

good yul, cho yul (Tibetan) - “The object that is to be cut off; system of dramatic shamanic practices that effect the severing or cutting off of demons as a means to annihilating the ego that otherwise keeps one trapped in suffering existence. goma (Japanese) - See homa.

guru - A religious preceptor or teacher, often the person from whom one receives initi ation or consecration.

guruparamparya - “One guru after another”; a succession or lineage of teachers and dis ciples. See also kula.

hatha yoga - Body of yogic practice that combines postures, breath control, seals, and locks as a means to bodily immortality and supernatural powers.

himitsu (Japanese) - Secret, esoteric.

homa (Chinese humo; Japanese goma) - Fire offering, fire invocation; ritual practice that involves offering an oblation of an animal, vegetable, or dairy substance into fire. In East Asian Tantric Buddhism, there are five types of homa rites, practiced for the goals of protection, increase, subjugation, subordination, and acquisition.

honji (Japanese) - Fundamental or universal basis; the universal, which is united with the particular through initiation. See also suijaku.

ida - In the Hindu mapping of the yogic body, the major subtle channel identified with the moon that runs the length of the spinal column, to the left of the medial channel. See also nadi.

‘ja’ lus (Tibetan) - “Rainbow body”; supernatural body attained through Tantric tech niques, by means of which the practitioner is able to disappear into another dimension.628 GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

jamat (Urdu) - “Meeting, assembly”; in the Nizari Isma’ilism of India and Pakistan, the gatherings or meetings in which sacred songs are sung.

japa - “Muttering”; in Hinduism and Jainism, the muttered, chanted, or whispered repe tition of prayers, spells, or charms. See also mantra,

jiachi (Chinese) - See kaji.

jina - “Conquerer”; title or epithet of a Jain tirthankara.

jivanmukti - “Bodily liberation”; in Hindu Tantra, the goal of liberation in life, of im mortality while still inhabiting one’s physical human body.

jnana (Tibetan ye shes) - “Gnosis”; supreme knowledge; the highest form of knowledge, which affords liberation from suffering existence,

jogi (Hindustani) - Member of an antinomian medieval Hindu Tantric order; a Nath or Nath Siddha. Although a vernacularization of the Sanskrit yogin, the term jogi has this more specialized meaning,

kaji (Japanese; Sanskrit adhisthana) - In Buddhist Tantra, the empowerment ritual by means of which a practitioner’s body is transformed into a buddha-body through his interaction with a buddha.

kalpa (Chinese yigui) - Sacred precept, law, ritual, or ordinance; a ritual handbook, compendium of ritual instructions; an eon, a fantastically long period of time. kama - In Tantra, desire and sexuality used as a means to liberation or transcendence of the human condition,

kami (Japanese) - A local, indigenous deity of Japan.

kapalika - “Skull-bearer”; member of a medieval Hindu (and perhaps Buddhist) religious order or movement who carried the skull of a murdered brahman as his begging bowl, in imitation of the Tantric god Bhairava.

kaula, kaulika - Overarching term for a movement or period within early medieval Hindu Tantra, in which erotic ritual practice was highlighted. See also kula. kechimyaku (Japanese) - “Blood line”; chart or genealogical table tracing a Zen Buddhist teacher-disciple lineage, in which master and disciple physically mix their blood together to produce ink for writing the chart,

kekkai (Japanese) - “Binding the realm”; boundary line, railing, or marker surrounding a monastery or shrine to demarcate sacred and profane space; the Japanese Tantric ritual by means of which the borders of a kingdom, a piece of land, or institutional structure are sealed off and protected from interference from outsiders or invasion by demons,

kenmitsu bukkyo (Japanese) - The combined exoteric and esoteric form of Buddhism that dominated medieval Japan.

kirikami (Japanese) - Documents on which secret initiations into the esoteric lore of Zen Buddhism were recorded,

kongo - See vajra.

kongo ho kai (Japanese) - “Vajra Jewel Precepts”; the intangible, wordless essence of the buddha wisdom.

Kriya Tantra - “Action Tantra”; one of the four classes of Buddhist Tantric texts, sects, and teachings,

kula - “Famly, clan”; a Tantric lineage or family, extending back through a series of male and female teachers to a divine pantheon and the supreme god at the heart or summit of the pantheon itself.

kulacara - “Clan practice”; in Hindu Tantra, the definitive body of ritual practice that differentiates the Tantric clan from other groups and practices.

kundalini - “She who is coiled”; in Hindu hatha yoga and Tantra, the female energy that

GLOSSAR Y O F FOREIG N TERM S 629

lies coiled at the base of the yogic body. Through combined yogic techniques, the kundalim is “awakened” and made to rise through the cakras to the cranial vault. See also sakti.

lama, bla ma (Tibetan) - A Tantric teacher or guru, in Tibetan Buddhism. linga - The male sexual organ; the phallic image by which the Hindu god Siva is repe sented iconographically. See also yoni.

lta khrid (Tibetan) - “Instructions on the view”; dGe lugs teachings of the correct un derstanding of the Mahayana concept of emptiness (sunyata).

mahamudra - “Great seal”; gnosis realizing the mind’s own emptiness in a nondual, non conceptual fashion, with the mind “sealed” by emptiness, and emptiness “sealed” by mind. In Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism, the ultimate nature of mind; an instanta neous practice for purifying the mind.

mahasiddha - “Great perfected being”; a highly perfected and accomplished mystic; one of a legendary class of demigods or superhuman Tantric practitioners who propagated Tantra throughout South Asia and Tibet.

maithuna - “Pairing, coupling”; sexual intercourse as a means to liberation, gnosis, and transcendence of the human condition; the fifth and ultimate Tantric “sacrament”; an iconic representation of a pair engaging in sexual intercourse. See also makara; yab-yum.

makara - “M-word”; one of the five Tantric “sacraments” beginning with the Sanskrit letter ma-. The five are mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (parched grain?), madya (alcohol), and maithuna (sexual intercourse).

mandala (Japanese mandara) - “Circle”; an idealized circular model of the cosmos, with the source of cosmic or temporal power located at the center, and deities or beings representing lesser powers or energies radiating outward toward the periphery, the limits of the system. In Tantric practice, mandalas are often employed as visual meditation supports.

mantra - “Mental device, instrument of thought”; an acoustic formula whose sound shape embodies the energy-level of a deity; a spell, incantation or charm employed in Tantric ritual or sorcery. Tantric practitioners use mantras more than any other meditative device to identify with the deity that is the object of their practice. See also shingon.

mantrasastra - “Teaching on mantra”; a manual or compendium on the theory and prac tice of mantras; the science of mantra and yantra.

mantrasiddha - In Jain Tantra, a master of mantra; one of the legendary superhuman figures who were exemplars in the practice of mantra-based magic.

marga - “Path”; way of practice. Certain classificatory systems divide Hindu Tantric prac tice into “left-handed” (vama-marga) and “right-handed” (daksina-marga). matrka - “Mother, matrix”; one of a class of mother goddesses, closely identified with the yoginis. In Hindu Tantra, the matrkas are the phonemes of the Sanskrit language, acous tic matrices that are the ground for mantric utterances.

maya - “That which is measured out; cosmic illusion”; in pure nondualist philosophy, maya is the illusion that impedes human understanding of the unity underlying all apparent multiplicity. In Hindu Sakta Tantra, maya is the generative, creative power of the Goddess.

mikkyo (Japanese; Chinese mijiao) - “Secret teaching”; pure Buddhist esotericism, stripped of the taint of transgressive, heterodox Tantric belief or practice. mkha’ ‘gro ma (Tibetan) - “She who flies in space.” See dakini.

moksa - “Release, liberation”; liberation from rebirth into the cycle of suffering existence; the fourth aim of life and the ultimate goal of mainstream Hindus.

630 GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

mudra - “Seal”; a symbolic gesture of the body. In ritual practice, a mudra is an intricate configuration of the fingers of one or both hands; in yogic practice, it is an inner “hy draulic” seal effected through breath control and other techniques. In Hindu Tantra, mudra is one of the five makaras: in this context, the term is often translated as “parched grain.” In Buddhist Tantra, mudra is one of the terms used for a male practitioner’s female consort. The thick hoop earrings of the Naths are called mudras. See also sam bhavi-mudra.

muladhara - “Root support”; in Hindu and Jain yogic body mapping, the lowest of the seven cakras, located at the level of the anus.

murti - An image or icon of a deity, executed in wood, stone, paint, or other materials. nadi - One of an elaborate network of 72,000 subtle ducts of the yogic body through which breath and energy are channeled.

nam mkha’ sgo ‘byed (Tibetan) - “Opening the door of the sky”; in Tibetan Buddhism, ascension to a state of transcendent consciousness, the projection of consciousness up through the fontanelle. This same expression is also found in popular Tibetan religion, where it designates ascent into the celestial sphere by means of a magic rainbow light cord.

nath (Hindi; Sanskrit natha) - “Master, lord”; member of a medieval Hindu Tantric order founded by Gorakhnath. See also jogi.

nirmanakaya - “Form body”; in Mahayana and later forms of Buddhism, the first of the three bodies of the Buddha; the physical form in which the historical Buddha appeared to the world.

nirvana - “Extinction”; the soteriological goal of Buddhism; the final cessation of rebirth into suffering existence.

nyasa - “Laying down, superimposition”; the cosmologization or divinization of the body (or of an object), effected by touching its various parts and depositing corresponding deities or energies into them, usually through the use of bija-mantras. pancamakara - See makara.

pingala - In Hindu mapping of the yogic body, the major subtle channel identified with the sun that runs the length of the spinal column, to the right of the medial channel. See also nadi.

pir (Persian, Hindi-Urdu) - “Venerable old man”; a South Asian Muslim saint, holy man, or wonder-worker, whose tomb (dargah) is generally associated with miracles and healing.

pitha - “Bench, footstool”; in South Asian Tantra, a pilgrimage site and power place iden tified with a goddess and her male consort.

prajna - “Wisdom”; insight into the true nature of reality, a principal goal of Mahayana Buddhism; a Tantric practitioner’s female consort. In Mahayana, Prajna becomes deified as a Buddhist goddess whose bipolar relationship to male Upaya (“Skill in Means”) closely resembles that between Siva and Sakti in Hinduism. See also upaya.

prajfia-paramita - “Perfection of wisdom”; the female embodiment of wisdom. In Ma hayana, Prajna-paramita becomes deified as a Buddhist goddess, also considered to be the “mother of all buddhas.”

prana - “Breath”; the breath of life; one of the multiple breaths or energies that, flowing through the nadis, vitalizes and is the active element in the transformation of the yogic body.

pratyekabuddha - A buddha who lives a solitary existence and realizes nirvana for himself alone. See also buddha.

GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS 631

puja - “Honoring, veneration”; the body of practices that comprise the worship of a deity. qi (Chinese) - In Daoism, the breath-energy residing inside the human body. rasa - “Juice, flavor”; an essential fluid of yogic, alchemical, or Tantric practice. In the

Sahajiya school of Hindu Tantra, the elevated state of religious rapture in which one experiences the purified emotion of love for the divine.

sadhaka - A Tantric practitioner; a level of initiation among Hindu tantrikas. sadhana - Tantric practice.

sadhu (Prakrit sahu) - A South Asian holy man; a level of initiation among Jain monks. sahaja - “Simultaneously arisen; innate”; the original state of cosmic unity and bliss; a state that transcends the realm of phenomenal reality; the fourth in a succession of

Buddhist Tantric initiations involving sexual intercourse. In the Hindu Sahajiya tradi tion, sahaja is the state of liberation attained through a body of yogic, ritual, and sexual techniques.

sakti - “Energy”; the energy of a deity personified as his female consort; a name for the Hindu Goddess.

samadhi - Total yogic integration; enstatic consciousness; in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the culminating phase of the meditative process, in which the meditator’s consciousness identifies with the object of his meditation.

samatha (Tibetan zhi gnas) - “Tranquil abiding, quiescence”; a Buddhist form of medi tation; in Tibetan systems, the minimum level of mental strength at which emptiness may be understood in a transformative way.

samaya - “Coming together [of a transcendent image and an immanent image]”; conven tional rule or practice; sacrament; a specific body of Buddhist precepts. In Hindu Tantra, a level of initiation.

sambhavi-mudra - “The seal of Sambhu, Siva”; in Hindu Tantra, a type of “bifocal” mys tical vision involving the simultaneity of outer sensory perception and inner yogic vision. sambhogakaya - “Body of shared enjoyment”; in Mahayana and later forms of Buddhism, the second of the Buddha’s three bodies, in which he preaches to the assembled bod hisattvas. This body is seen only by beings who have acquired merits through practice. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the sambhogakaya is the plane of reality on which the Tantric deities operate.

sampradaya - “Tradition, transmission”; in Hinduism, an established doctrine, belief or usage, or sectarian tradition.

samsara - “Flowing together”; the cycle of transmigration; suffering existence; phenom enal reality.

sangha - “Assembly”; Buddhist society, comprised of monks, nuns, laymen and lay women.

sannyasi - In classical Hinduism, a renouncer who has laid together (sannyasa) and ritu ally internalized his sacrificial fires.

sanrinjin (Japanese) - “Three bodies with discs” theory, which divides the Buddha’s appearances in the phenomenal world into three types, as an explicit means for incor porating the Indian deities of Hinduism into the Buddhist fold as “propagators of Bud dhism,” as well as for Buddhicizing indigenous Japanese kami deities

sastra - Precept, rule, teaching, instruction; any book or treatise; a sacred book or com position of divine authority.

satkarmani - “Six acts”; a group of six Tantric rites, of which one (appeasement) is aus picious and five (subjugation, immobilization, enmity, eradication, and liquidation) are destructive forms of “black magic.”

632 GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

shingon - (Japanese; Chinese zhenyan). “True words”; general term for spells such as dharanis, mantras, and bijas; name for the school of Japanese Tantric Buddhism founded by Kukai.

shugendo (Japanese) - Practice of mountain asceticism in which pilgrimage through designated peaks is visualized as a journey through a mandala.

siddha - “Perfected Being”; a Tantric practitioner who has realized embodied liberation. In Hindu and Buddhist Tantra, the Siddhas are a group of itinerant and idiosyncratic culture heros who founded lineages and traditions of teaching and practice. The Siddhas also form a class of demigods who inhabit the atmospheric regions.

siddham - The hieratic script of East Asian Tantra; the Indic script used in East Asia for writting Sanskrit, especially dharanis, mantras, and bijas.

siddhi (Chinese chengjiu) - “Perfection”; one of the many supernatural powers possessed by Siddhas as a result of their practice, their sadhana. Included among the siddhis are the power of flight, invisibility, the power of attraction, and the power to realize one’s every desire.

sokushin jobutsu (Japanese) - “Becoming a buddha in this very body”; a fundamental concept of Tantric Buddhism, popularized in Japan by Kukai.

sravaka - “Auditor”; a person who attains emancipation while listening to a buddha; a disciple of the historical Buddha. Mahayana Buddhists use this term to designate a follower of the Hinayana.

stupa - A Buddhist funerary monument in the shape of a dome or pyramid, containing a relic of a buddha or some other object of veneration; a meditation support symbolizing the formless body of the Buddha and the essential structure of the cosmos.

suijaku (Japanese) - “Trace”; a particular or concrete appearance, which is united with the universal through initiation. See also honji.

sunyata - “Emptiness”; in Mahayana and later forms of Buddhism, the principle that all objects of the senses, mental concepts, and categories are void of self-existence. surimantra - “Mantra transmitted by a Jain teacher”; a Prakrit-language formula trans mitted privately by a senior Jain teacher or suri of one of the Svetambara image worshiping sects to a pupil during the ceremony in which the latter is promoted to that same rank.

susumna - In Hindu mapping of the yogic body, the major subtle channel identified with fire, which runs down through the center of the spinal column. See also nadi. tantrika - A specialist of Hindu Tantra.

tapas - Internal heat generated through yogic practice; religious austerity. tathagata - “One who has come thus”; an epithet of the Buddha or of one of the five celestial buddhas.

terma, gter-ma (Tibetan) - “Treasure”; indigenous Tibetan Buddhist collections of works, mainly containing instructions for special forms of Tantric practice, concealed in the eighth- and ninth-century imperial period of Tibetan history for the express purpose of being revealed at the “right time” in the future, and brought to light by Treasure-Dis coverer specialists, either in the form of hidden manuscripts or of visionary revelations

with no physical substrate.

tlrthankara - “Ford-Maker”; in Jainism, one of the twenty-four saviors of the present world age. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism is the last of this series. torma, gtor ma (Tibetan) - In Tibetan Buddhism, conical flour and butter cones used as ritual offerings to a person’s enlightened beings and protectors.

GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS 633

tsha tsha (Tibetan) - A small, usually circular, pressed sacred image made in part from the ashes of the dead, designed to generate merit continuously.

tulku, sprul sku (Tibetan) - “The form body of a Buddha” (see also nirmanakaya); in Tibetan Buddhism, a recognized reincarnation of a past Buddhist master, such as the Dalai Lama.

upaya (Japanese hoben) - “Skill in Means”; array of expedient devices employed by bo dhisattvas to enlighten beings trapped in suffering existence. In Mahayana Buddhism, Upaya becomes deified as the male member of a bipolar relationship - with the female Prajna (“Wisdom”) - that closely resembles that between Siva and Sakti in Hinduism.

utpanna-krama - “Completion stage”; the second phase of the Vajrayana Buddhist path, in which sensory perception and ideation cease, and the practitioner cognizes the ulti mate nature of mind itself.

utpatti-krama - “Generation stage”; the first phase of the Vajrayana Buddhist path, in which the creative power of mind is harnessed, through the use of a mandala, to produce a new divine vision of reality.

vajra (Tibetan dorje; Chinese jingang; Japanese kongo) - “Thunderbolt, diamond, pe nis”; adamantine symbol of the strength, immovability, and transcendent nature of the state aimed at by Tantric practitioners; name of an implement used in Tantric ritual.

vajra mandala - “Diamond circle”; in Shingon traditions, a meditation support that rep resents the absolute wisdom attained by the enlightened practitioner. Like the garbha mandala, this diagram is divided into sections centered on a specific buddha or bodhi sattva that represents various aspects of the enlightened cosmos.

vajrakaya - “Diamond body”; the fourth and most exalted of the four bodies of the Bud dha, in Vajrayana Buddhism.

vajrayoga - “Adamantine union”; in Vajrayana Buddhism, the fusion of wisdom realizing emptiness and compassion, which spontaneously manifests appearances in order to guide living beings to freedom from samsara.

vidya - “Esoteric knowledge, wisdom”; wisdom personified as a goddess in Hindu Tantra; a type of mantra directed to and identified with a goddess; a magical spell. In Buddhist Tantra, vidya is one of the terms used for a male practitioner’s female consort.

vidyaraja (Chinese ming wang; Japanese myoo) - “King of wisdom”; one of a class of supernatural beings, similar to the Siddhas (and Hindu vidyadharas), who inhabit the atmospheric regions.

vipassana (Pali; Sanskrit vipasyana; Tibetan lhag mthong) - “Penetrative insight”; a clas sical Buddhist form of meditation. In the Tibetan tradition this most commonly involves the sustained visualization of a golden image of the Buddha.

vira - “Hero”; in Hindu and Jain Tantra, a male Tantric pracitioner; one of a class of powerful male deities who protect faithful Jains and defeat enemies of the Jain com munity.

vyuha - “Array”; in Vaisnava theology, one of the four formations taken by the supreme deity Vasudeva to produce the cosmos and its creatures.

xianren (Chinese) - “Immortal being”; goal of Daoist practice, which follows on libera tion from the coarse or gross body.

yab-yum (Tibetan) - “Father-mother”; term used in Tibetan Buddhism to describe deities in sexual union.

yaksini - One of a class of supernatural female beings, often in the form of voluptuous yet dangerous tree-spirits, who are closely related to the yoginis. Yaksinis are sought after by Tantric practitioners for the supernatural powers and other boons they grant.

634 GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

yantra - “Instrument of restraint; machine”; one of a group of instruments, including diagrams (see also mandala), amulets, and alchemical apparatus, used by a Tantric prac titioner to control or subdue his own mind, demonic beings, or elements of the phe nomenal world.

yi-dam (Tibetan; Sanskrit istadevata) - “Vow, oath, covenant”; in Tibetan Buddhism, a tutelary deity.

Yoga Tantra - “Tantra of yoga”; one of the four classes of Buddhist Tantric texts, sects, and teachings.

yogin - A male practitioner of yoga; a Tantric practitioner.

yogini - One of a class of powerful, fierce and often sexually alluring female demigods, and the human sorceresses who imitate or are identified with them; a female Tantric practitioner.

yoni - The female sexual organ, womb; the setting or chasing into which the linga, the phallic representation of the Hindu god Siva is inserted.

zhenyan (Chinese) - See mantra.

Abhayadatta, 52, 53, 55, 58 Abhidharmakosa, 385, 402

INDEX

bhutasuddhi, 30, 278, 474, 486, 509-20 bija, 12, 150, 274, 275, 282, 470, 512, 599

Abhinavagupta, 45, 348, 351, 464, 573-86, 585

abhiseka. See consecration

Acala (Fudo), 58, 65

acarya. See guru

Agama Prakasa, 32, 266-84

Agamas. See Pancaratra Agama; Saiva Agamas Aksobhya, 8, 23, 256, 329, 362, 370-79, 471, 478, 502, 503, 527, 528, 533, 536, 552, 620, 621

alchemy, 12, 17, 23, 309, 314, 608

Alvars, 7, 216, 217

Ambika, 8, 49, 196, 467

Amitabha, 70, 256, 329, 362, 370-79, 494, 504-8, 527, 606, 620

Amoghasiddhi, 257, 330, 362, 370-79 Amoghavajra, 21, 123, 125, 128, 154, 384 amrta. See nectar

Amrtakundalin, 609, 620-24

Amrtaratnavali of Mukundadasa, 308-25 Antal, 206-27

Anubhavanivedana Stotra, 573-86

Anuttarayoga Tantras. See Tantras of Supreme Yoga

Assorted Topics of the Great Completeness (rDzogs chert thor bu), 557-72

Avalokitesvara, 8, 26, 123, 129, 157, 158, 377, 378, 489, 496, 605, 606, 618. See also Lo kesvara

Bauls, 7, 173, 317

bdud. See Maras

Beidou at xing huma miyao yigui, 383-95 Beidou qi xing niansong yigui, 383-95

Bhairava, 8, 23, 29, 30, 33, 45, 46, 190, 274, 348, 354, 355, 356, 417, 444, 478, 536, 576 bhakti, 78, 79, 97, 167-83, 199, 269, 310, 575

bhukti, 8, 12, 98

Bhutas, 29, 30

Blue Annals (Deb gter sngon po), 396, 401-3, 406

bodhicitta, 14, 15, 16, 17, 363, 365, 370 brtul-zhugs, 335-36, 344-46

Buddhisagarsuri, 418-33

Busso shoden bosatsukai kechimyaku saigoku mujo no koto, 306-7

cakra, 10, 11, 14, 15, 42, 44, 70, 167-84, 313, 314, 321-25, 329, 386, 426-27, 438, 442, 445, 491-505, 554, 599, 603

Cakrasamvara Tantra, 65, 346, 409, 621 Carya Tantras. See Tantras of Observance Chan, 8, 240, 561

‘Chi bslu (Mrtyuvancana) of Vagisvarakirti, 605- 23

cinnabar field (dantien), 366, 383

completion process (utpanna-krama), 326, 330-46, 588

consciousness, 12, 16, 128, 155, 156, 160, 172, 203, 206, 207, 212, 214, 242, 289, 293, 294, 301, 307, 313, 314, 319, 320, 329, 349-57, 360, 364, 368, 371, 373, 405,

406, 461, 464, 466-68, 491, 516-18, 520, 524, 526, 527, 531-33, 537-40, 548, 550, 551, 555, 566, 567, 573-86, 592, 606, 607, 608, 621

consecration, 11, 13, 22, 27, 53, 56, 68, 69, 70, 71, 97, 122, 123, 125, 126, 136, 146- 64, 195, 210, 214, 233, 235, 409

Crazy Yogis, 16, 335, 336, 345, 346

dakini, 16, 19, 20, 29, 53, 57, 59, 65-66, 239-65, 404-5

Dakinivajrapanjara, 23

Dalai Lama, 26, 330, 336, 559, 560, 561 Daoism, 7, 8, 20, 30, 148, 149, 362-80, 383- 95, 543

deity yoga, 12, 240, 523-42

Devi Mahatmya, 465, 468

636 INDE X

dharani, 19, 119, 140, 142, 149, 150, 159, 160, 361-80, 384

dharma, 10, 30, 55, 93, 124, 125, 126, 129, 133, 134, 185, 245, 246, 247, 277, 299, 301, 303, 304, 306, 307, 340, 354, 364, 370, 374, 379, 384, 395, 555, 610, 612, 615, 616,617,618, 620

dharmadhatu, 7, 363, 364, 370, 492, 494 dharmakaya, 61, 330, 364, 365, 371, 372, 375, 376, 378, 379, 492, 592

dhyana, 8

digbandhana, 31, 119-30

diksa. See initiation

divination, 30, 97-115, 383-95, 595-604, 610-18

Dodrupchen III, 557-72

Durga, 43, 196, 316, 448, 454, 463, 469, 479 Dzogchen (rDzogs-chen). See Great Perfection

Ekajata, 251,465, 471,484

Essential Heart of the Great Expanse (kLong chen snying thig), 557-72

exorcism, 29, 30, 396, 397, 412

Fu shuo beidou ai xingyan mingjing, 383-95

Ganesa, 8, 124, 144, 204, 423, 470

garbha mandala, 124, 129, 362, 363, 377, 544-46, 554

Garland of Gems (Rin chen phreng ha zhes bya ba), 52-71

Gaudlya Vaisnavas, 7, 26, 319

Good-pas, Good yul, 30, 396-416

Gelugpas, 7, 26, 523-42, 558

generation process (utpatti-krama), 330-46, 588

Ghantakama, 417-33

Ghantakama Mantra Stotra, 418-33

ginan, 285-95

Goraksanatha, 44, 279

Great Collection of the Teachings (Bka’ tshoms chen mo), 397-416

Great Perfection (rDzogs-chen), 7, 239-65, 557-72

Great Seal, 53, 327, 328, 329, 330, 333, 336, 338, 340, 342, 589

Guhyasamaja Tantra, 23, 345, 448, 541 guru, 3, 11, 13, 14, 16, 20, 24, 26, 41-54, 60, 68, 69, 72, 75, 77-79, 133, 135, 139, 188, 189, 204, 205, 210, 212, 214, 246, 287-90, 293-95, 309, 311, 312, 316, 318, 319, 322, 329, 350, 352, 353, 355, 356, 358-60, 422, 429, 432, 473-75, 484, 486, 487, 512, 526, 527, 530, 541, 590, 617. See also lama

guruparamparya. See lineage

Guru Rinpoche. See Padmasambhava

Hasan Kabiruddin, 285-95

hatha yoga, 12, 276, 309, 577. See also kundal ini; yoga

Hayagriva, 492, 495, 496, 500

healers and healing, 24, 28, 30, 97-115, 371, 372, 373, 407

Heizei tenno kanjobun, 146-64

Heruka, 23, 621

Hevajra Tantra, 10, 15, 21, 23, 65, 327, 403, 412

homa, 18, 25, 76, 299, 383-95, 452, 489-508

initiation, 11, 13, 16, 27, 34, 44, 46, 47, 121, 132, 133, 136, 138, 139, 146, 152, 153, 154, 167, 195, 210, 214, 276, 278, 299- 307, 312, 319, 329, 330, 336, 339, 340,

347-50, 353, 358, 359, 360, 366, 368, 403, 408, 409, 418, 419, 426, 474, 489

he denki, 543-56

Isma’ilis, 285-95

Jains and jainism, 231-38, 417-33, 595-604. See also Svetambaras

jamat, 286-87

japa, 43, 46, 48-49, 274, 275, 283, 284, 483, 487-88, 600

Jayakhya Samhita, 509-20

jina, 41, 428, 430

Jinapati Suri, 231-38

Jogis. See Nath Siddhas

Kalacakra, Kalacakra Tantra, 7, 330, 336, 337, 385, 587-94

Kali, Kalika, 17, 43, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 80, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 177, 178, 180, 182, 185, 186, 187, 195, 202, 275, 284, 316, 437, 448, 454, 463-88

kama, 8, 187, 192, 207, 214, 313, 321, 442- 46, 597

kamakala yantra, 442-46

Kandroma (mkha’ ‘gro ma). See dakini Kanipha, 285-95

kanjo. See consecration

Kannon,8

Kapalikas, 4, 7, 22, 23, 81-96, 404

Kaulas and Kaulism, 7, 11, 12, 42, 43, 47, 190, 196, 199, 275, 276, 347-60, 434-46, 463, 464, 574, 585

kenmitsu, 147, 299

Kharataragacchapattavalisamgraha, 236-38 kirikami, 299-307

INDE X 637

Krama, 7, 45, 465

Kriya Tantras. See Tantras of Action

Krsna, 26, 42, 43, 172, 173, 206-27, 274, 278, 308-14, 317, 318, 322, 324, 511 Kubjika, 17, 33, 34, 188-94

Kubjikamata Tantra, 184-94

Kujinsho kirikami, 303-5

Kukai, 21, 119-30, 146-64, 299, 303, 489, 504, 547, 553, 547, 553, 555

Kula, 11, 14, 16, 27, 188, 194, 347-60 Kulalikamnaya, 184-94

Kularnava Tantra, 42-51, 347-60

Kundali, 123, 129, 130

kundalini, 15, 167-83, 188, 465, 474, 480, 481. See also hatha yoga

lama, 11, 13, 14, 16, 24, 26, 27, 30, 32, 247, 249, 259, 260, 261, 334, 337, 339, 527, 528, 530, 533-36. See also guru

Lce-sgom-pa, 326-46

lineage, 14, 18, 20, 31, 32, 35, 44, 52, 54, 93, 131-38, 148, 150, 152, 209, 299-307, 319, 329, 347, 348, 349, 359, 362, 401, 410, 418, 426, 485, 487, 488, 489, 513, 527, 533, 534, 542, 557-60, 563

Lokesvara, 606, 618, 620. See also Avalokites vara

Longchenpa, 239-65

Lotus Sutra, 19, 157

Luipa, 59-61

lunar lodge (xiu), 386-95

Madhyamaka, 398, 526, 529, 530-42, 561, 563, 565, 587-94

Ma gcig Lab sgron, 17, 396-416

Mahacinacarakrama Tantra, 470

Mahakala, 8, 478, 479, 487, 488

Maha Kasyapa, 300, 301, 303, 304

Mahamayatantra, 409

mahamudra. See Great Seal

Mahanirvana Tantra, 471

Mahasiddhas, 7, 20, 46, 52-71, 408 Mahavairocana, 124, 157, 362, 364, 365, 370- 80, 503. See also Vairocana

Mahavairocanasutra (Dainichi-kyo), 21, 23, 120, 361,489,555

Mahavidyas, 274, 463-88. See also Tara Mahavira, 6, 233, 417, 418, 419, 432 Mahayana Buddhism, 7, 19, 21, 22, 24, 34,

149, 326-28, 337-39, 364, 399, 401, 402, 489, 523-42, 587, 591, 606

maithuna. See sexuality and sexual imagery makara, 16, 75, 167, 169, 170, 172, 285, 350, 354-56, 577

Manjusri, 8, 58, 338, 375, 377, 385-87, 391, 489-508, 526-28, 533, 542, 561, 565, 610 mandala. See garbha mandala; kamakala yantra; vajra, vajra mandala; vastupurusa mandala; yantra; yogini yantra

Mantramahodadhi, 447-62

Mantrayana, 7, 326-46, 402, 524

Maras, 29, 392, 400-16, 620

Mataji (Bimla Devi), 97-115

matrka, 278, 438, 475, 486, 547

Mattamayuras, 131-45

Mattavilasa of Mahendravarman, 81-96 mikkyo, 7, 21,24, 119,384

Milarepa, 46, 328

Minapa, 64-65

monks and monasticism, 14, 18, 22, 24, 32, 55, 89-96, 119-45, 231-38, 241, 245, 299-307, 393, 403, 407, 409, 418, 420. See also Gelugpas; Mattamayuras; Nyingmapas; Sakyapas

Mothers, 19, 23, 29, 403

mrtyuvancana. See ‘Chi bslu (Mrtyuvancana) of Vaglsvarakirti

mudra, 12, 16, 23, 34, 82, 163, 274, 275, 289, 354, 378, 387, 392, 394, 438, 445, 450, 472, 475, 481, 482, 492-508, 576. See also sambhavi mudra

Nacciyar Tirumoli, 213, 221-27

nadi, 14, 294, 295, 313, 314, 321-25, 329, 385,481, 511, 599

Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, 562-72

Naropa, 46, 70, 333

Nath Siddhas, 7, 31, 44, 231-38, 268, 275, 278, 285-95. See also Jogis

nectar, 15, 16, 54, 60, 161, 168, 169, 171, 172, 179, 180, 181, 281, 287, 293, 294, 315, 324, 325, 329, 438, 474, 481, 482, 487, 514,518, 519, 577

nirmanakaya, 330, 364, 370, 376, 379 Nizaris, 285-95

Northern Dipper, 383-95

nyasa, 23, 273, 354, 442, 452, 460, 473, 475, 485-88, 599-600

Nyingmapas, 7, 26, 557, 560

Outline of the Jewel Mound of Instructions, 326- 46

Padmasambhava, 20, 21, 240, 241, 244, 245, 246, 248, 251, 257, 258, 262, 557, 558, 570 paduka, 47-51

pancamakara. See makara

pancanamaskara mantra, 232, 233, 602638 INDE X

Pancaratra Agama, Pancaratra Samhitas, 209, 212, 509-20

Pancaratras, 7, 20, 23, 45, 209-10, 214, 471, 509-20

Paraiurama Kalpa Sutra, 471

Parvati, 143, 145, 185-87, 465,

Pascimamnaya, 7

Pasupatas, 7, 20, 82, 83, 84, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 144 Perfection of Wisdom, 12, 338, 397-99, 407, 523, 524, 587, 589, 592

Pha Dam pa Sangs rgyas, 398, 408

Pinnai, 209, 211, 213, 215, 219, 220 possession, 10, 24, 30, 62, 70, 97, 99, 188, 210, 240, 244, 245, 246, 247, 249, 401, 468, 584, 618

Prajna. See Wisdom

prajna-paramita. See Perfection of Wisdom prana, pranayama, 14, 287, 289, 329, 481, 484, 487-88, 599

pratyekabuddha, 304, 328, 337, 376, 494, 497, 499, 503

priests and priesthood, 3, 14, 18, 24, 30, 33, 34, 43, 73, 74, 76, 79, 136, 187, 193, 212, 213, 283, 441, 544, 545, 548

puja, 43-44, 274, 278, 279, 283, 428-33, 442, 463-88

Radha, 42, 172, 308, 310, 311, 313, 314, 316, 320

rasa, 289, 308-25

Ratnasambhava, 123, 256, 329, 330, 362, 370- 79, 503, 527, 552

Ritual of the Secret Dharanis, 361-80

Sadasiva, 23, 50, 133, 468, 479, 480 sadhana, 8, 20, 200, 210, 214, 283, 308, 314, 442, 448, 602, 608

sadhu, 72-79, 421

Sahajryas, 7, 56, 308-25

Saicho, 21, 121, 146, 149

Saiva Agamas, 7, 22, 45, 93

Saiva Saiddhanta, 7, 13, 18, 22, 23, 45, 131- 45, 510, 512

Saivas and Saivism, 20, 23, 34, 42, 43, 45, 131-39, 143, 195, 196, 201, 232, 234, 235, 266-85, 288, 311, 313, 314, 347-60, 404, 445, 463, 509, 510, 573-86, 596, 597, 601

Sakti, sakti, 14, 16, 18, 28, 29, 72, 79, 99, 167, 169, 170, 171, 187, 188, 274, 277, 281, 311, 316, 347, 349, 350, 355, 356, 359, 434, 437, 442, 444, 445, 463, 465, 468, 478-80, 488, 547, 586

Saktas and Saktism, 7, 17, 32, 34, 73, 79, 80, 167-94, 266-85, 287, 288, 311, 314, 347- 60, 437, 440, 445, 463-88

Saktisangama Tantra, 464, 465, 467

-Sakyamuni, 122, 123, 129, 300, 301, 303, 304, 305, 364, 553

Sakyapas, 7, 26

samadhi, 68, 70, 157, 214, 215, 357, 534, 535, 541

samatha, 331, 525

samaya, 150, 157, 160

sambhavi mudra, 573-86

sambhogakaya, 11, 330, 364, 372, 376, 379, 592

Sanron, 149, 156

Saraha, 62-64

Sarvaparadhastotra, 195-205

Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha, 385, 392 Sati, 184-85, 470, 472

satkarmani, 23, 35, 235, 327, 417, 420-33, 447-62

Seminal Heart of the Dakinis, 240-65 Seminal Quintessence of the Dakinis, 239-65 sexuality and sexual imagery, 5, 11, 12, 13-17,

21, 22, 23, 28, 36, 80, 82, 92, 135, 167-83, 189, 194, 202, 212, 213, 214, 215, 231, 243, 245, 259, 267, 269, 272, 278, 281, 308, 311-15, 322, 323, 329, 350, 354, 355, 403, 434-46, 462, 463, 466, 467, 468, 470, 471, 480, 487, 489, 531, 543-56, 551, 553, 577, 579, 608, 612

Shingon, 8, 20, 21, 24, 27, 119-30, 146-64, 299, 361, 365, 369, 384, 389, 489-508, 544, 545, 547, 548, 549, 551, 556

Shinto, 7, 30, 299, 543-56

Shoryoshu, 156-57

Siddham script, 20, 379, 388, 553

Siddhas, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 29, 32, 43, 44, 46, 52-71, 138, 144, 188-89, 236, 275, 309, 312, 315, 402, 403, 408, 440, 548, 552, 553, 599, 602, 603

siddhi, 8, 12, 261, 289, 362, 366, 376, 384, 404, 434, 494, 528, 591, 602, 608

Silpa Prakasa of Ramacandra Kaula, 434-46 Siva, 13, 14, 15, 23, 42, 43, 46, 48, 49, 50, 81, 82, 83, 86, 88, 93, 109, 132-44, 167-71, 173, 184-90, 199, 201, 203, 207, 214, 271, 273, 276, 277, 279-81, 311, 347, 349, 350, 352, 353, 354, 356, 357, 359, 435, 437, 438, 442, 445, 453, 461, 464, 465, 466-84, 512, 573-86, 601, 621

Skanda, 8, 144. See also Manjusri

skill in means (upaya), 15, 16, 17, 21, 148, 328, 329, 340-44

INDE X 639

sokushin jobutsu, 367, 553

sorcery. See satkarmani

sravaka, 304, 328, 337, 376, 494, 497, 499, 503

Sri Cakra, Sri Yantra, 10, 11, 28

Snvidya, 7, 42, 43

Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Byang chub lam rim chen mo), 523-42

stupa, 121, 124, 126, 153, 304, 344, 365-68, 375, 377, 379, 555, 608, 614, 617

Subhakarasimha, 21, 361, 370, 384

sunyata, 300, 326, 327, 332, 335, 341, 343, 344, 371, 373, 374, 375, 379, 399, 523-42, 587, 606, 608, 609

surimantra, 232, 233

Svetambaras, 417-33, 595-604

Tachikawa-ryu, 21, 24, 27, 302, 543-56 Taleju, 33, 34, 195-205

Tantraloha, 577-80

Tantras of Action, 18, 22, 23, 329, 339 Tantras of Observance, 22, 23, 329, 339 Tantras of Supreme Yoga, 12, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 329, 331, 340

Tantras of Yoga, 21, 22, 23, 330, 340, 617 Tara, 8, 176, 337, 410, 454, 464-72, 475, 478, 483, 484, 605, 618

tathagata, 157, 162, 329, 377, 390, 493, 541, 561,618

Tattvasamgrahasutra, 21, 23, 489

Tendai, 8, 21, 22, 119, 121, 146, 147, 149, 156, 157, 160, 299, 302, 304, 362

Tengyur, 398, 403

terma. See Treasure

Theravada, 8

Tibetan Buddhism, 7, 23, 24, 46, 55, 56, 71, 239-65, 454, 523-42, 557, 558, 559, 564. See also Vajrayana Buddhism

Tilopa, 46, 66, 67, 70

Tirthamkara, 23, 417

tirthamkara, 9, 30, 416-17, 428

Tiruppavai, 212-14, 217-20

Todala Tantra, 463-88

Treasure (terma), 20, 26, 239-65, 372, 557, 558

Trika, 7, 464, 469, 573-86, 585

tsha-tsha, 343, 617

Tsong kha pa, 523-42

Tulku Thondup, 557-72

Upaya. See skill in means

Vairocana, 18, 23, 256, 329, 362, 370, 380, 527, 533, 544-56, 620. See also Mahavairo cana

Vaisnavas and Vaisnavism, 7, 20, 23, 26, 45, 73, 83, 172, 173, 199, 206, 210, 216, 217, 268, 280, 285, 288, 308, 309-17, 466, 509-20. See also Gaudiya Vaisnavas

Vaisno Devi, 97, 99, 100

vajra, vajra mandala, 22, 120, 124, 127, 129, 241, 246, 247, 248, 252-55, 258, 259, 262, 301, 304, 307, 362-79, 393, 524, 541, 544-56

Vajrabodhi, 21, 128, 154, 384-95

Vajradhara, 14, 527, 534, 541

Vajrasattva, 15, 128, 154, 262, 370, 378, 526, 527, 534, 589, 592

Vajrasekhara Sutra, 120

Vajra Turquoise Lamp, 247, 259

Vajravarahi, 23, 204, 241 246, 259

Vajrayana Buddhism, 7, 15, 16, 21, 22, 24, 34, 128, 396-416, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591, 597

vajrayoga, 587-94

vastupurusa mandala, 435-36

Vedas and Vedic tradition, 18, 34, 41, 49, 50, 76, 78, 80, 132, 134, 135, 138, 187, 204, 209, 234, 266, 269, 271, 274-80, 302, 308-25, 355, 385, 386, 436, 437, 438, 475, 485, 489, 543, 555, 574

vidya, 189, 360, 469, 475, 482, 483, 599, 600, 602

Vidyarajas, 29, 123, 505

Vimalamitra, 20, 21, 240, 241, 244, 246, 251, 253, 255, 258, 259, 570

Vimalaprabha, 590-94

vipasyana, 331, 525

Virupa, 61-62

Visriu, 26, 48, 50, 185, 187, 191, 193, 207, 214, 216, 277, 278, 288, 308, 353, 354, 464, 466, 479, 489, 510, 511, 513, 518, 616,621

Wisdom, 14, 16, 17, 21, 56, 65, 150, 157, 240, 250, 291, 301, 303-7, 326, 327, 329, 336, 337, 338, 345, 365, 371, 372, 377, 378, 379, 389, 396-401, 407, 410-12, 489, 524, 529, 552, 553, 564, 589

womb mandala. See garbha mandala

Yaksinis, 19, 23, 29, 53, 59-71

yantra, 11, 232, 238, 424, 434, 438, 434-46, 452, 457, 459, 472, 599. See also kamakala yantra; yogini yantra

yoga, 10, 14, 15, 23, 53, 56, 68, 70, 71, 135, 136, 144, 188, 189, 194, 202, 243, 276, 285-95, 308-25, 329, 333, 340, 342-44, 347, 353, 359, 371, 402, 403, 410, 430, 439, 465, 480, 482, 530, 546, 555, 577,

640 INDE X

yoga (continued)

579, 580, 586, 588, 594, 599, 606. See also hatha yoga; kundalini; vajrayoga

Yogasastra of Hemacandra, 595-604 Yoga Tantras. See Tantras of Yoga

yoni, 16, 207, 277, 287, 438, 442-45, 476, 481-82

yogin, 24, 56, 70, 186, 188, 285-95, 335, 343, 353, 358, 386, 402, 404, 405, 409, 426,

440, 441, 442, 445, 560, 562, 580, 589, 591, 593. See also Crazy Yogis

yogini, 7, 16, 17, 19, 23, 29, 56, 70, 73, 234- 37, 239, 243, 245, 246, 247, 249, 250-52, 253, 256, 258, 260-64, 397, 408, 410, 435, 436,438,440,441, 606-23

yogini yantra, 435, 437, 440-42

Zen, 8, 12, 119, 299-307, 361, 561