Samding Dorje Phagmo
83-493: The Gankyil ( Tibetan : དགའ་འཁྱིལ། , Lhasa IPA: [/kã˥ kʲʰiː˥/] ) or "wheel of joy" ( Sanskrit : ānanda - cakra ) is a symbol and ritual tool used in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism . It is composed of three (sometimes two or four) swirling and interconnected blades. The traditional spinning direction is clockwise (right turning), but the counter-clockwise ones are also common. The gankyil as inner wheel of
166-415: A liminal zone on the borders between fields and forests. Their rites involved the conjunction of sexual practices and Buddhist mandala visualization with ritual accoutrements made from parts of the human body, so that control may be exercised over the forces hindering the natural abilities of the siddha to manipulate the cosmos at will. At their most extreme, siddhas also represented a defensive position within
249-532: A mantra. Vajrayāna Buddhists developed a large corpus of texts called the Buddhist Tantras , some of which can be traced to at least the 7th century CE but might be older. The dating of the tantras is "a difficult, indeed an impossible task" according to David Snellgrove . Some of the earliest of these texts, Kriya tantras such as the Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa ( c. 6th century ), teach
332-594: A movement called Sahaja -siddhi developed in the 8th century in Bengal . It was dominated by long-haired, wandering mahasiddhas who openly challenged and ridiculed the Buddhist establishment. The mahasiddhas pursued siddhis , magical powers such as flight and extrasensory perception as well as spiritual liberation. Ronald M. Davidson states that Buddhist siddhas demonstrated the appropriation of an older sociological form—the independent sage/magician, who lived in
415-526: A particular cycle of discourse in the Buddhist literature that relates to the doctrinal field ( kṣetra ) of the second turning of the dharmacakra. The Dzogchen teachings focus on three terms: The Triratna , Triple Jewel or Three Gems are triunic are therefore represented by the Gankyil: The Three Roots are: The three higher trainings (Tibetan:ལྷག་བའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་, lhagpe labpa sum, or Wyl. bslab pa gsum) The indivisible essence of
498-502: A result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa , there is a great divergence between current spelling, which still reflects the 9th-century spoken Tibetan, and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform , to write Tibetan as it is pronounced ; for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka'-rgyud . The nomadic Amdo Tibetan and
581-535: A symbol of the Three Jewels it may also appear as the "triple-eyed" or wish-granting gem of the chakravartin . In the Dzogchen tradition the three swirls of the gakyil primarily symbolize the trinity of the base, path, and fruit. The "victory" referred to above is symbolised by the dhvaja or "victory banner". The divisions of the teaching of Dzogchen are for the purposes of explanation only. Realization
664-407: Is "obscured by discursive thought". This doctrine is often associated with the idea of the inherent or natural luminosity ( Skt: prakṛti-prabhāsvara-citta , T. ’od gsal gyi sems ) or purity of the mind ( prakrti-parisuddha ). Another fundamental theory of Tantric practice is that of transformation. In Vajrayāna, negative mental factors such as desire, hatred, greed, pride are used as part of
747-677: Is a Buddhist tradition of tantric practice that developed in Medieval India . Tantrism, which originated within Hinduism during the first millennium CE, significantly influenced South Asian Mahāyāna Buddhism, giving rise to distinct Buddhist tantric traditions. Emerging in the 7th century CE, these traditions spread across Southeast, East, and Central Asia, leading to distinct East Asian and Tibetan practices. Vajrayāna practices are connected to specific lineages in Buddhism, through
830-523: Is a method which works faster. Various classifications are possible when distinguishing Vajrayāna from the other Buddhist traditions. Vajrayāna can be seen as a third yana , next to Śrāvakayāna and Mahayana . Vajrayāna can be distinguished from the Sutrayana . The Sutrayana is the method of perfecting good qualities, where the Vajrayāna is the method of taking the intended outcome of Buddhahood as
913-615: Is a mythical weapon associated with Indra which was said to be indestructible and unbreakable (like a diamond) and extremely powerful (like thunder). Thus, the term is variously translated as Diamond Vehicle, Thunderbolt Vehicle, Indestructible Vehicle and so on. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism it is generally known by various terms such as Zhēnyán ( Chinese : 真言, literally "true word", referring to mantra), Tángmì or Hanmì (唐密 - 漢密, " Tang Esotericism" or " Han Esotericism") , Mìzōng (密宗, "Esoteric Sect") or Mìjiao (Chinese: 密教; Esoteric Teaching). The Chinese term mì 密 ("secret, esoteric")
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#1732780425798996-609: Is a translation of the Sanskrit term Guhya ("secret, hidden, profound, abstruse"). In Japan , Buddhist esotericism is known as Mikkyō ( 密教 , secret teachings) or by the term Shingon (a Japanese rendering of Zhēnyán ), which also refers to a specific school of Shingon-shū ( 真言宗 ) . The term "Esoteric Buddhism" is first used by Western occultist writers, such as Helena Blavatsky and Alfred Percy Sinnett , to describe theosophical doctrines passed down from "supposedly initiated Buddhist masters." Tantric Buddhism
1079-553: Is associated with groups of wandering yogis called mahasiddhas in medieval India . According to Robert Thurman , these tantric figures thrived during the latter half of the first millennium CE. According to John Myrdhin Reynolds, the mahasiddhas date to the medieval period in North India and used methods that were radically different from those used in Buddhist monasteries, including practicing on charnel grounds . Since
1162-494: Is bound, by passion too it is released, but by heretical Buddhists this practice of reversals is not known. The Hevajra further states that "one knowing the nature of poison may dispel poison with poison." As Snellgrove notes, this idea is already present in Asanga 's Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika and therefore it is possible that he was aware of Tantric techniques, including sexual yoga. According to Buddhist Tantra, there
1245-589: Is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday writing is called umê script . This writing system is used across the Himalayas and Tibet . The script is closely linked to a broad ethnic Tibetan identity, spanning across areas in India , Nepal , Bhutan and Tibet. The Tibetan script is of Brahmic origin from the Gupta script and is ancestral to scripts such as Lepcha , Marchen and
1328-666: Is designed as a simple means for inputting Dzongkha text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2000. It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the Unicode & ISO 10646 standards since the initial version. Since
1411-530: Is developed. Other early tantras include the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi and the Guhyasamāja (Gathering of Secrets). The Guhyasamāja is a Mahayoga class of Tantra, which features forms of ritual practice considered "left-hand" ( vamachara ) such as the use of taboo substances like alcohol, consort practices, and charnel ground practices which evoke wrathful deities . Ryujun Tajima divides
1494-530: Is held within the energetic signature of the Gankyil. The doctrine of 'Sound, light and rays' is intimately connected with the Dzogchen teaching of the 'three aspects of the manifestation of energy'. Though thoroughly interpenetrating and nonlocalised , 'sound' may be understood to reside at the heart , the 'mind'-wheel; 'light' at the throat , the 'voice'-wheel; and 'rays' at the head , the 'body'-wheel. Some Dzogchen lineages for various purposes, locate 'rays' at
1577-633: Is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript. ར /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /ɲa/. Similarly, the consonants ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྲ /ʈ ~ ʈʂa/; ཀྱ /ca/. Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance,
1660-534: Is more common for a yogi or yogini to use an imagined consort (a buddhist tantric deity, i.e. a yidam). These later tantras such as the Hevajra Tantra and the Chakrasamvara are classed as " Yogini tantras" and represent the final form of development of Indian Buddhist tantras in the ninth and tenth centuries. The Kalachakra tantra developed in the 10th century. It is farthest removed from
1743-444: Is more complex than a simple process of religious imitation and textual appropriation. There can be no question that the Buddhist tantras were heavily influenced by Kapalika and other Saiva movements, but the influence was apparently mutual. Perhaps a more nuanced model would be that the various lines of transmission were locally flourishing and that in some areas they interacted, while in others they maintained concerted hostility. Thus
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#17327804257981826-496: Is no strict separation of the profane or samsara and the sacred or nirvana , rather they exist in a continuum. All individuals are seen as containing the seed of enlightenment within, which is covered over by defilements . Douglas Duckworth notes that Vajrayana sees Buddhahood not as something outside or an event in the future, but as immanently present. Indian Tantric Buddhist philosophers such as Buddhaguhya , Vimalamitra , Ratnākaraśānti and Abhayakaragupta continued
1909-618: Is not something that must be constructed; to become realized simply means to discover and manifest that which from the very beginning has been our own true condition: the Zhi (gzhi) or Base. And, in particular, in Dzogchen－which not a gradual Path－the Path consists in remaining in the unveiled, manifest condition of the primordial state or Base, or in other words, in the condition which is the Fruit. This
1992-672: Is not specifically Buddhist, Shaiva or Vaishnava . According to Alexis Sanderson , various classes of Vajrayāna literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Shaivism. The relationship between the two systems can be seen in texts like the Mañjusrimulakalpa , which later came to be classified under Kriya tantra , and states that mantras taught in the Shaiva, Garuda and Vaishnava tantras will be effective if applied by Buddhists since they were all taught originally by Manjushri . Sanderson notes that
2075-528: Is simply read as it usually is and has no effect on the pronunciation of the consonant to which it is subjoined, for example ཀ་ཝ་ཟུར་ཀྭ (IPA: /ka.wa.suː.ka/). The vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus ཀ /ka/, ཀི /ki/, ཀུ /ku/, ཀེ /ke/, ཀོ /ko/. The vowels ཨི /i/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while
2158-615: Is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/. The head ( མགོ in Tibetan, Wylie: mgo ) letter, or superscript, position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/. The subscript position under a radical can only be occupied by the consonants ཡ /ja/, ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ཝ /wa/. In this position they are described as བཏགས (Wylie: btags , IPA: /taʔ/), in Tibetan meaning "hung on/affixed/appended", for example བ་ཡ་བཏགས་བྱ (IPA: /pʰa.ja.taʔ.t͡ʃʰa/), except for ཝ , which
2241-559: Is symbolic of the Trikaya doctrine of dharmakaya (Tibetan: ཆོས་སྐུ།, Wyl.Chos sku), sambhogakaya (Tibetan:ལོངས་སྐུ་ Wyl. longs sku) and nirmanakaya (Tibetan:སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། Wyl.sprul sku) and also of the Buddhist understanding of the interdependence of the Three Vajras : of mind, voice and body. The divisions of the teaching of Dzogchen are for the purposes of explanation only; just as the Gankyil divisions are understood to dissolve in
2324-785: Is the central part of the shang (Tibetan: gchang ), a traditional ritual tool and instrument of the Bönpo shaman . Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or abugida , derived from Brahmic scripts and Gupta script , and used to write certain Tibetic languages , including Tibetan , Dzongkha , Sikkimese , Ladakhi , Jirel and Balti . It was originally developed c. 620 by Tibetan minister Thonmi Sambhota for King Songtsen Gampo . The Tibetan script has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as Thakali , Nepali and Old Turkic . The printed form
2407-631: Is the energetic signature of the Trikaya , realised through the transmutation of the obscurations forded by the Three poisons (refer klesha ) and therefore in the Bhavachakra the Gankyil is an aniconic depiction of the snake, boar and fowl. Gankyil is to Dharmachakra , as still eye is to cyclone, as Bindu is to Mandala . The Gankyil is the inner wheel of the Vajrayana Dharmacakra (refer Himalayan Ashtamangala ). The Gankyil
2490-522: Is the superiority of Tantric methods, which provide a faster vehicle to liberation and contain many more skillful means ( upaya ). The importance of the theory of emptiness is central to the Tantric Buddhist view and practice. The Buddhist emptiness view sees the world as being fluid, without an ontological foundation or inherent existence, but ultimately a fabric of constructions. Because of this, tantric practice such as self-visualization as
2573-522: Is to become a Sammāsambuddha (fully awakened Buddha ); those on this path are termed Bodhisattvas . As with the Mahayana, motivation is a vital component of Vajrayāna practice. The Bodhisattva-path is an integral part of the Vajrayāna, which teaches that all practices are to be undertaken with the motivation to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. In the vehicle of Sutra Mahayana,
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2656-550: Is usually composed of either three or four sections. The Tibetan term dga' is used to describe all forms of joy, delight, and pleasure, and the term 'khyil means to circle or spin. The wheel of joy is commonly depicted at the central hub of the dharmachakra, where its three or four swirls may represent the Three Jewels and victory over the three poisons , or the Four Noble Truths and the four directions . As
2739-459: Is why the Gankyil, the symbol of primordial energy, which is a particular symbol of the Dzogchen teachings, has three parts which spiral in a way that makes them fundamentally one. The Gankyil, or "Wheel of Joy", can clearly be seen to reflect the inseparability and interdependence of all the groups of three in the Dzogchen teachings, but perhaps most particularly it shows the inseparability of the Base,
2822-463: The Hīnayāna ) and Mahāyāna (a.k.a. Pāramitāyāna ). There are several Buddhist tantric traditions that are currently practiced, including Tibetan Buddhism , Chinese Esoteric Buddhism , Shingon Buddhism and Newar Buddhism . Historically, there were also other esoteric Buddhist traditions, such as that of maritime Southeast Asia , which are no longer practiced today. In India, the initial term
2905-712: The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, a work associated with the Guhyasamaja tradition , which prescribes acting as a Shaiva guru and initiating members into Saiva Siddhanta scriptures and mandalas. Sanderson says that the Samvara tantra texts adopted the pitha list from the Shaiva text Tantrasadbhāva , introducing a copying error where a deity was mistaken for a place. Ronald M. Davidson meanwhile, argues that Sanderson's arguments for direct influence from Shaiva Vidyapitha texts are problematic because "the chronology of
2988-898: The Latin script . Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound. While the Wylie transliteration system is widely used to Romanize Standard Tibetan , others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012). Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: Wylie transliteration (W), Tibetan pinyin (TP), Dzongkha phonetic (DP), ALA-LC Romanization (A) and THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription (THL). The first version of Microsoft Windows to support
3071-606: The Mantrayana leads one to Buddhahood in a single lifetime. According to the literature, the mantra is an easy path without the difficulties innate to the Paramitayana . Mantrayana is sometimes portrayed as a method for those of inferior abilities. However the practitioner of the mantra still has to adhere to the vows of the Bodhisattva . The goal of spiritual practice within the Mahayana and Vajrayāna traditions
3154-527: The Pabonka Hermitage . This occurred c. 620 , towards the beginning of the king's reign. There were 21 Sutra texts held by the King which were afterward translated. In the first half of the 7th century, the Tibetan script was used for the codification of these sacred Buddhist texts, for written civil laws, and for a Tibetan Constitution. A contemporary academic suggests that the script
3237-738: The Three Dharma Seals (ལྟ་བ་བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་གསུམ།) is embodied and encoded within the Gankyil: As the inner wheel of the Vajrayana Dharmacakra, the gankyil also represents the syncretic union and embodiment of Gautama Buddha 's Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma . The pedagogic upaya doctrine and classification of the "three turnings of the wheel" was first postulated by the Yogacara school. The gankyil
3320-561: The Vidyapitha tantras is by no means so well established" and that "the available evidence suggests that received Saiva tantras come into evidence sometime in the ninth to tenth centuries with their affirmation by scholars like Abhinavagupta (c. 1000 c.e.)" Davidson also notes that the list of pithas or sacred places "are certainly not particularly Buddhist, nor are they uniquely Kapalika venues, despite their presence in lists employed by both traditions." Davidson further adds that like
3403-453: The dharmachakra is depicted on the Flag of Sikkim , Joseon , and is also depicted on the Flag of Tibet and Emblem of Tibet . In addition to linking the gankyil with the "wish-fulfilling jewel" (Skt. cintamani ), Robert Beer makes the following connections: The gakyil or 'wheel of joy' is depicted in a similar form to the ancient Chinese yin-yang symbol, but its swirling central hub
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3486-488: The "path of the cause" is taken whereby a practitioner starts with his or her potential Buddha-nature and nurtures it to produce the fruit of Buddhahood. In the Vajrayāna, the "path of the fruit" is taken whereby the practitioner takes his or her innate Buddha-nature as the means of practice. The premise is that since we innately have an enlightened mind, practicing seeing the world in terms of ultimate truth can help us to attain our full Buddha-nature. Experiencing ultimate truth
3569-821: The Ah-wheel (for Five Pure Lights pranayama ) and 'light' at the Aum -wheel (for rainbow body ), and there are other enumerations. The Gankyil also embodies the three tantric lineages as Penor Rinpoche , a Nyingmapa , states: According to the history of the origin of tantras there are three lineages: The Gankyil also embodies the energy manifested in the three aspects that yield the energetic emergence (Tibetan: རང་བྱུན། rang byung ) of phenomena ( Tibetan: ཆོས་ Wylie: "chos" Sanskrit: dharmas ) and sentient beings (Tibetan: ཡིད་ཅན། yid can ): Though not discrete correlates, dang equates to dharmakaya ; rolpa to sambhogakaya ; and tsal to nirmanakaya . In Bon ,
3652-534: The Bhagavan Kalacakra, which has sixteen petals and constitutes the bliss-cakra (ananda-cakra) of the cosmic body. Attributes connected with the three humors (Sanskrit: tridoshas , Tibetan: nyi pa gsum ): These three aspects are the mūla prajñā of the sādhanā of the prajñāpāramitā , the "pāramitā of wisdom". Hence, these three are related to, but distinct from, the Prajñāpāramitā that denotes
3735-447: The Buddhist tradition, adopted and sustained for the purpose of aggressive engagement with the medieval culture of public violence. They reinforced their reputations for personal sanctity with rumors of the magical manipulation of various flavors of demonic females ( dakini , yaksi , yogini ), cemetery ghouls ( vetala ), and other things that go bump in the night. Operating on the margins of both monasteries and polite society, some adopted
3818-521: The Buddhists, the Shaiva tradition was also involved in the appropriation of Hindu and non-Hindu deities, texts and traditions, an example being "village or tribal divinities like Tumburu". Davidson adds that Buddhists and Kapalikas as well as other ascetics (possibly Pasupatas ) mingled and discussed their paths at various pilgrimage places and that there were conversions between the different groups. Thus he concludes: The Buddhist-Kapalika connection
3901-519: The Indian subcontinent state that the classical orthography should not be altered even when used for lay purposes. This became an obstacle for many modern Tibetic languages wishing to modernize or to introduce a written tradition. Amdo Tibetan was one of a few examples where Buddhist practitioners initiated a spelling reform. A spelling reform of the Ladakhi language was controversial in part because it
3984-483: The Path, and the Fruit. And since Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is essentially the self-perfected indivisibility of the primordial state, it naturally requires a non-dual symbol to represent it. Wallace (2001: p. 77) identifies the ānandacakra with the heart of the "cosmic body" of which Mount Meru is the epicentre: In the center of the summit of Mt Meru, there is the inner lotus (garbha-padma) of
4067-732: The Tibetan keyboard layout is MS Windows Vista . The layout has been available in Linux since September 2007. In Ubuntu 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows. Mac OS -X introduced Tibetan Unicode support with OS-X version 10.5 and later, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani. The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme
4150-410: The Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as subscript and superscript forming consonant clusters . To understand how this works, one can look at the radical ཀ /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes ཀྲ /kra/ or རྐ /rka/ (pronounced /ka/). In both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/
4233-401: The Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter ཨ is also the base for dependent vowel marks. Although some Tibetan dialects are tonal , the language had no tone at the time of the script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words. One aspect of
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#17327804257984316-600: The Vajrayāna Yogini tantras draw extensively from the material also present in Shaiva Bhairava tantras classified as Vidyapitha . Sanderson's comparison of them shows similarity in "ritual procedures, style of observance, deities, mantras, mandalas, ritual dress, Kapalika accouterments like skull bowls, specialized terminology, secret gestures, and secret jargons. There is even direct borrowing of passages from Shaiva texts." Sanderson gives numerous examples such as
4399-435: The adherents and texts of Vajrayāna claim these teachings have been passed down by an unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha ( c. the 5th century BCE ) or to other mythical Buddhas and bodhisattvas (e.g. Vajrapani ). According to Vajrayāna scriptures, the term Vajrayāna refers to one of three vehicles or routes to enlightenment , the other two being the Śrāvakayāna (also known pejoratively as
4482-509: The arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongkha and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key. The Dzongkha (dz) keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of XFree86 . Tibetan was originally one of
4565-407: The basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds. In addition to the use of supplementary graphemes, the rules for constructing consonant clusters are amended, allowing any character to occupy the superscript or subscript position, negating the need for the prescript and postscript positions. Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in
4648-523: The behaviors associated with ghosts ( preta , pisaca ), not only as a religious praxis but also as an extension of their implied threats. Tantrism originated within Hinduism and significantly influenced early South Asian Mahāyāna Buddhist practices, contributing to the emergence of unique Buddhist tantric traditions. These Buddhist tantric traditions, which developed in the 7th century CE, spread quickly across Southeast, East, and Central Asia, resulting in
4731-415: The c. 620 date of development of the original Tibetan script. Three orthographic standardisations were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of Buddhist scriptures emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not been altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters . As
4814-418: The consonants ག /kʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/, མ /ma/ and འ /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants ག /kʰa/, ན /na/, བ /pʰa/, ད /tʰa/, མ /ma/, འ /a/, ར /ra/, ང /ŋa/, ས /sa/, and ལ /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position
4897-490: The deity is seen as being no less real than everyday reality, but a process of transforming reality itself, including the practitioner's identity as the deity. As Stephan Beyer notes, "In a universe where all events dissolve ontologically into Emptiness, the touching of Emptiness in the ritual is the re-creation of the world in actuality". The doctrine of Buddha-nature , as outlined in the Ratnagotravibhāga of Asanga ,
4980-424: The earlier Buddhist traditions, and incorporates concepts of messianism and astrology not present elsewhere in Buddhist literature. According to Ronald M. Davidson, the rise of Tantric Buddhism was a response to the feudal structure of Indian society in the early medieval period (ca. 500–1200 CE) which saw kings being divinized as manifestations of gods. Likewise, tantric yogis reconfigured their practice through
5063-533: The energetic whirl of the Wheel of Joy . The Gankyil also embodies the three cycles of Nyingma Dzogchen codified by Mañjuśrīmitra : This classification determined the exposition of the Dzogchen teachings in the subsequent centuries. "Three spheres" (Sanskrit: trimandala; Tibetan: འཁོར་གསུམ།'khor gsum). The conceptualizations pertaining to: The triunic continuua of the esoteric Dzogchen doctrine of 'sound, light and rays' (སྒྲ་འོད་ཟེར་གསུམ། Wylie: sgra 'od zer gsum)
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#17327804257985146-756: The formation of various distinct traditions in East Asia and Tibet. There are other Mahāyāna sutras which contain "proto-tantric" material such as the Gandavyuha and the Dasabhumika which might have served as a central source of visual imagery for Tantric texts. Later Mahāyāna texts like the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra ( c. 4th –5th century CE) expound the use of mantras such as Om mani padme hum , associated with vastly powerful beings like Avalokiteshvara . The popular Heart Sutra also includes
5229-775: The gankyil denotes the three principal terma cycles of Yungdrung Bon: the Northern Treasure ( Wylie : byang gter ), the Central Treasure ( Wylie : dbus gter ) and the Southern Treasure ( Wylie : lho gter ). The Northern Treasure is compiled from texts revealed in Zhangzhung and northern Tibet, the Southern Treasure from texts revealed in Bhutan and southern Tibet, and the Central Treasure from texts revealed in Ü-Tsang near Samye . The gankyil
5312-466: The influence was both sustained and reciprocal, even in those places where Buddhist and Kapalika siddhas were in extreme antagonism. Davidson also argues for the influence of non-Brahmanical and outcaste tribal religions and their feminine deities (such as Parnasabari and Janguli). According to several Buddhist tantras as well as traditional Tibetan Buddhist sources, the tantras and the Vajrayana
5395-413: The metaphor of being consecrated ( abhiśeka ) as the overlord ( rājādhirāja ) of a mandala palace of divine vassals, an imperial metaphor symbolizing kingly fortresses and their political power. The question of the origins of early Vajrayāna has been taken up by various scholars. David Seyfort Ruegg has suggested that Buddhist tantra employed various elements of a “pan-Indian religious substrate” which
5478-402: The multilingual ʼPhags-pa script , and is also closely related to Meitei . According to Tibetan historiography, the Tibetan script was developed during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo by his minister Thonmi Sambhota , who was sent to India with 16 other students to study Buddhism along with Sanskrit and written languages. They developed the Tibetan script from the Gupta script while at
5561-453: The path. As noted by French Indologist Madeleine Biardeau, the tantric doctrine is "an attempt to place kama , desire, in every meaning of the word, in the service of liberation." This view is outlined in the following quote from the Hevajra tantra : Those things by which evil men are bound, others turn into means and gain thereby release from the bonds of existence. By passion the world
5644-471: The path. Vajrayāna can also be distinguished from the paramitayana. According to this schema, Indian Mahayana revealed two vehicles ( yana ) or methods for attaining enlightenment: the method of the perfections ( Paramitayana ) and the method of mantra ( Mantrayana ). The Paramitayana consists of the six or ten paramitas , of which the scriptures say that it takes three incalculable aeons to lead one to Buddhahood. The tantra literature, however, says that
5727-569: The practice of Tantra focuses on the transformation of poisons into wisdom, the yogic circles came together in tantric feasts , often in sacred sites ( pitha ) and places ( ksetra ) which included dancing, singing, consort practices and the ingestion of taboo substances like alcohol, urine, and meat. At least two of the mahasiddhas cited in the Buddhist literature are comparable with the Shaiva Nath saints ( Gorakshanath and Matsyendranath ) who practiced Hatha Yoga . According to Schumann,
5810-650: The revelation of Buddhist tantras to Padmasambhava , saying that he was an emanation of Amitabha and Avaloketishvara and that his arrival was predicted by the Buddha. Some accounts also maintain Padmasambhava is a direct reincarnation of Buddha Shakyamuni. According to Alex Wayman , the philosophical view of the Vajrayana is based on Mahayana Buddhist philosophy , mainly the Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools. The major difference seen by Vajrayana thinkers
5893-923: The scripts in the first version of the Unicode Standard in 1991, in the Unicode block U+1000–U+104F. However, in 1993, in version 1.1, it was removed (the code points it took up would later be used for the Burmese script in version 3.0). The Tibetan script was re-added in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0. The Unicode block for Tibetan is U+0F00–U+0FFF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks and special symbols used in religious texts: Vajrayana New branches: Tantric techniques : Fourfold division: Twofold division: Thought forms and visualisation: Yoga : Vajrayāna ( Sanskrit : वज्रयान ; lit. ' vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Mantranāya ('path of mantra'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism , and Esoteric Buddhism ,
5976-532: The tantras into those which were "a development of Mahāyānist thought" and those "formed in a rather popular mould toward the end of the eighth century and declining into the esoterism of the left", this "left esoterism" mainly refers to the Yogini tantras and later works associated with wandering yogis. This practice survives in Tibetan Buddhism, but it is rare for this to be done with an actual person. It
6059-455: The tantric view continued to be debated in medieval Tibet. Tibetan Buddhist Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo (1012–1088) held that the views of sutra such as Madhyamaka were inferior to that of tantra, which was based on basic purity of ultimate reality. Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) on the other hand, held that there is no difference between Vajrayāna and other forms of Mahayana in terms of prajnaparamita (perfection of insight) itself, only that Vajrayāna
6142-422: The teachings of lineage holders. Others might generally refer to these texts as the Buddhist Tantras . It includes practices that make use of mantras , dharanis , mudras , mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas. According to contemporary historical scholarship, Vajrayāna practice originated in the tantric era of medieval India ( c. the 5th century CE onwards ). However, traditionally,
6225-706: The tradition of Buddhist philosophy and adapted it to their commentaries on the major Tantras. Abhayakaragupta's Vajravali is a key source in the theory and practice of tantric rituals. After monks such as Vajrabodhi and Śubhakarasiṃha brought Tantra to Tang China (716 to 720), tantric philosophy continued to be developed in Chinese and Japanese by thinkers such as Yi Xing and Kūkai . Likewise in Tibet , Sakya Pandita (1182–28 – 1251), as well as later thinkers like Longchenpa (1308–1364) expanded on these philosophies in their tantric commentaries and treatises. The status of
6308-482: The use of mantras and dharanis for mostly worldly ends including curing illness, controlling the weather and generating wealth. The Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra ( Compendium of Principles ), classed as a "Yoga tantra", is one of the first Buddhist tantras which focuses on liberation as opposed to worldly goals. In another early tantra, the Vajrasekhara (Vajra Peak), the influential schema of the five Buddha families
6391-512: The vowel ཨུ /u/ is placed underneath consonants. Old Tibetan included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in loanwords , especially transcribed from the Sanskrit . The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as Balti , Chinese and Sanskrit , often has additional and/or modified graphemes taken from
6474-582: The western dialects of the Ladakhi language , as well as the Balti language , come very close to the Old Tibetan spellings. Despite that, the grammar of these dialectical varieties has considerably changed. To write the modern varieties according to the orthography and grammar of Classical Tibetan would be similar to writing Italian according to Latin orthography, or to writing Hindi according to Sanskrit orthogrophy. However, modern Buddhist practitioners in
6557-480: Was Mantranāya (Path of Mantras), and Mantrayāna (Mantra Vehicle). Later, other terms were adopted, like Vajrayāna. In Tibetan Buddhism practiced in the Himalayan regions of India , Nepal , and Bhutan , Buddhist Tantra is most often termed Vajrayāna (Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ་, dorje tekpa , Wyl. rdo rje theg pa ) and Secret mantra (Skt. Guhyamantra , Tib. གསང་སྔགས་, sang ngak , Wyl. gsang sngags ). The vajra
6640-457: Was also an important theory which became the basis for Tantric views. As explained by the Tantric commentator Lilavajra, this "intrinsic secret (behind) diverse manifestation" is the utmost secret and aim of Tantra. According to Wayman this "Buddha embryo" ( tathāgatagarbha ) is a "non-dual, self-originated Wisdom ( jnana ), an effortless fount of good qualities" that resides in the mindstream but
6723-467: Was first initiated by Christian missionaries. In the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as a space. Spaces are not used to divide words. The Tibetan alphabet has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants. As in other Indic scripts , each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel ; in
6806-428: Was instead developed in the second half of the 11th century. New research and writings also suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to the introduction of the script by Songtsen Gampo and Thonmi Sambhota . The incomplete Dunhuang manuscripts are their key evidence for their hypothesis, while the few discovered and recorded Old Tibetan Annals manuscripts date from 650 and therefore post-date
6889-545: Was taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni , but only to some individuals. There are several stories and versions of how the tantras were disseminated. The Jñana Tilaka Tantra , for example, has the Buddha state that the tantras will be explained by the bodhisattva Vajrapani . One of the most famous legends is that of king Indrabhuti (also known as King Ja) of Oddiyana (a figure related to Vajrapani, in some cases said to be an emanation of him). Other accounts attribute
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