Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition, and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism by Andreas Doctor

Author:Andreas Doctor
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Snow Lion
Published: 2006-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Even though (or perhaps because) the text has prominent origins in the much hailed (but obscure) Vidyottamatantra collection, it is directly approachable only by someone of the highest spiritual caliber, as the meditation techniques taught in this tantra are only implicitly expressed within the abstract and symbolic language employed. In this way the Treasure must undergo some form of transformation before it can function as a suitable means for the salvation of an ordinary practitioner. Padmasambhava is crucial in this hermeneutic metamorphosis, for he not only transmits and conceals the original tantric scripture but also composes a method by which an ordinary practitioner can bring its message into actual experience-the sadhana of Vajrakilaya. In the cycle of Vajrakilaya of the Seven Profound Cycles this text is called the Practice Manual of Combined Activity and is the first of the texts translated here.335 In the root Treasure text, the compilation of which is attributed to Padmasambhava, this ritual is included in an abridged form that allows the aspiring practitioner to assume the identity of Vajrakilaya through a series of visualizations that transform ordinary experience into a direct perception of enlightenment as formulated in the Mahayoga scriptures. In this way the genre of sadhana literature manifests as the central genre of Treasure literature as it becomes the medium that represents the direct method for awakening-more so than even the original and fundamental tantra itself.

The second translation is a commentary on Padmasambhava's practice manual explaining the way to perform the prescribed ritual. As such, this commentary is not a Treasure text and does not claim ancient roots. It is entitled Instructions of the Knowledge-holders-Clearly Arranged Deity Guidance for the Single Form of the Most Secret Kila of Mind and was composed by Tsawa Bhande Karma Rinchen Namgyal (nineteenth century), a close student of Chokgyur Lingpa's.336 In this text Rinchen Namgyal elaborates on the import of the complex meditative visualizations that are only implicitly contained in Padmasambhava's practice manual. Although this ritual is generally classified as a "wrathful" (khro bo) practice, Rinchen Namgyal's commentary demonstrates how the sanguinary and seemingly antinomian rituals described in the Vajrakilaya scriptures should not be seen in isolation from the peaceful achievement of enlightenment. 337 In this way these two Treasure genres illustrate how enlightened intent is processed in the vision ary literature from its raw form in the original tantra, through the skilled interpolation of Padmasambhava, into the practical pedagogy of explaining the actual application of the ritual to the ordinary devotee in search of the transformative experience of awakening.

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