Kālachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation

3 Silk Ribbon Initiation

The first two initiations purify body; the next two purify speech. Since the root of speech is wind, or inner energies, which dwell mainly in the two channels, the silk ribbon initiation and the vajra and bell initiation purify the ten winds and the two channels, respectively. For these initiations, the students proceed to the southern door of the mandala so that they can face the exalted speech face of the central deity, Kālachakra.

OFFERING AND SUPPLICATION

Again, circling to the right, the student is led to the southern door. [334] Facing the [red] exalted speech face [of Kālachakra], the student sits on the initiation seat. Mandala is offered to the lama, undifferentiable from the Vajra Speech of Kālachakra, as a present for giving the silk ribbon initiation that cleanses defilements of the ten winds.

Offer mandala.

To the lama, personal deity, and Three Jewels I offer in visualization

The body, speech, mind, and resources of myself and others,

Our collections of virtue in the past, present, and future,

And the wonderful precious mandala with the masses of Samantabhadra’s offerings.

Accepting them through your compassion, please bless me into magnificence.

Idaṃ guru-ratna-maṇḍalakaṃ niryātayāmi. [I offer this jewelled mandala to the guru.]

By reciting a mantra, the student requests the initiation. The mantra means, “May the ten Shaktis, having the nature of the ten perfections, confer on me the silk ribbon initiation.”

Make supplication three times with:

Oṃ a ā aṃ aḥ ha hā haṃ haḥ phreṃ hoḥ sarvapāramitā mama vajra-paṭṭam bandhayantu huṃ hūṃ phaṭ. [Oṃ a ā aṃ aḥ ha hā haṃ haḥ phreṃ hoḥ please may all the Perfection Goddesses tie on me the vajra silk ribbon huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.]

INTERNAL INITIATION

Since the silk ribbon initiation and the vajra and bell initiation are means of purifying speech, for these initiations the students have to generate themselves as Vajra Speech Deities. Therefore, you should imagine such in accordance with the rite.

With the six syllables [oṃ āḥ hūṃ hoḥ haṃ kṣhaḥ] and water from the conch, [obstructors] are cleared away.

Rays of light from huṃ at the heart of the lama who is not different from the principal deity draw you in; you enter his mouth, pass through the center of his body, and through the vajra path enter the Mother’s lotus and melt into a drop, which turns into emptiness. From within emptiness comes an āḥ [which transforms into] a jewel from which a red Vajra Speech Deity is generated, with three faces – red, white, and black – and six hands holding in the three right hands a triple arrow, a vajra hook, and reverberating drum and in the left hands a bow, vajra noose, and nine-faceted jewel. You are embraced by Māmakı.

Rays of light from the heart of the lama who is not different from the principal deity draw in the Wisdom-Beings like the meditated ones. Jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ hi. [Be summoned, enter, become fused with, be pleased, and become of the same taste.] They become of the same taste.

Light rays from the heart of the lama who is not different from the principal deity draw in all the Conquerors of the ten directions – Fathers, Mothers, Sons, and Daughters. Vajra-bhairava ākarṣhīyī jaḥ. [Vajra Frightful One, summon jaḥ.]

Make offering with:

Gandhaṃ puṣhpaṃ dhūpaṃ dīpaṃ akṣhate naividye lāsye hāsye vādye nṛtye gītye kāme pūja kuru kuru svāhā. [Make offering with perfume, flowers, incense, lamps, fruit, food, lower robe, smiles, music, dance, singing, and touch svāhā.]

Just as Vajradhara bestowed

Initiations, sources of good qualities,

On the Buddhas for the sake of protecting transmigrating beings,

So please also bestow such here.

Through making supplication in that way, all the Conquerors, Fathers and Mothers and so forth, become absorbed, are melted by the fire of great desire [i.e., by great bliss], and enter by way of the crown protrusion of the lama who is not different from the principal deity. Emerging from the vajrapathway, the mind of enlightenment confers initiation on yourself made into a Vajra Speech Deity. You emerge from the Mother’s lotus and sit on the initiation seat.

CLEANSING PURIFICATION AND DEIFICATION OF THE STUDENTS AND INITIATION SUBSTANCES

The silk ribbons that are the external substances involved in the initiation are to be generated as goddesses called the ten Shaktis (nus ma), and the ten winds of the students are also to be generated as similar deities.

Then, clear away [obstructors] from the student and from the silk ribbon [with the six syllables, oṃ āḥ hūṃ hoḥ haṃ kṣhaḥ, and water from the conch] and purify them. With:

Oṃ shūnyatā-jñāna-vajra-svabhāvātmako ’haṃ [I have the essential nature of indivisible emptiness and wisdom,] your ten winds and the silk ribbons transform into emptiness.

The fire-accompanying wind and turtle wind are winds of the wind constituent. The upward-moving wind and chameleon wind are winds of the fire constituent. The pervasive wind and devadatta wind are winds of the water constituent. The serpent wind and dhaṃnajaya wind are winds of the earth constituent. The vitalizing wind is a wind of the space constituent. The downward-voiding wind is a wind of the pristine mind [or bliss] constituent.

From within emptiness, your fire-accompanying wind and turtle wind and two black silk ribbons [appear as two sets of] a and ha [which transform into] censors and black yak tail fans, from which are generated black Kṛṣhṇadīptās with four faces – black, red, yellow, and white – and eight hands, holding in the right hands vessels of incense, sandalwood, saffron, and a mixture of camphor and musk and in the left hands a bell, lotus, flower of the deva tree, and a string of various flowers and also black Dhūmās with four faces – black, red, yellow, and white – and eight hands holding eight yak-tail fans.

Your upward-moving wind and chameleon wind and two red silk ribbons [appear as two sets of] aḥ and haḥ [which transform into] butter lamps and red yak-tail fans, [335] from which are generated red Raktadīptās, having red, yellow, white, and blue faces and eight hands, holding in the right hands a butter lamp, string of pearls, crown, and bracelet and in the left hands a garment, belt, earring, and anklette, and also red Mārīchīs, with red, yellow, white, and blue faces and eight hands, holding eight red yak-tail fans.

Your pervasive wind and devadatta wind and two white silk ribbons [appear as two sets of] aṃ and haṃ [which transform into] divine food and white yak-tail fans, from which are generated white Shretadīptās, with white, black, red, and yellow faces and eight hands, holding in the right hands vessels of milk, water, the supreme of medicines, and beer and in the left hands vessels of ambrosia, accomplished taste,56 ambrosia-fruit, and food, and also white Khadyotās with white, black, red, and yellow faces and with eight hands holding eight white yak-tail fans.

Your serpent wind and dhaṃnajaya wind and two yellow silk ribbons [appear as two sets of] ā and hā [which transform into] religious conches and yellow yak-tail fans, from which are generated yellow Pītadīptās, having yellow, white, blue, and red faces and eight hands, holding in the right hands a conch, flute, jewel, and ḍāmaru and in the left hands a guitar, drum, resounding gong, and copper conch, and also yellow Pradīpās, with yellow, white, blue, and red faces and eight hands, holding eight yellow yak-tail fans.

Your vitalizing wind and the green silk ribbon [appear as two] ho [which transform into] vajras, from which are generated green Vajradhatvīshvarīs with three faces – green, red, and white – and six hands, holding in the right hands a vajra, curved knife, and axe and in the left hands a vajra bell, skull, and head of Brahmā.

Your downward-voiding wind and the blue silk ribbon [appear as two] phreṃ [which transform into] curved knives, from which are generated blue Vishvamātās with three faces – blue, white, and red – and six hands, holding in the three right hands vajra, bell, and axe and in the three left hands a bell, skull, and head of Brahmā.

At their foreheads is oṃ; at their throats āḥ; at their hearts hūṃ; and at their navels hoḥ. Light is emitted from the hūṃ at their hearts, which draws in Wisdom Beings like those meditated. Jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ hi. [Be summoned, enter, become fused with, be pleased and become of the same taste.] They become of one taste with their respective Pledge Beings.

Oṃ ā ī ū pañcha-dhātu-vishodhani svāhā. [Oṃ ā ī ū be founded in the purification of the five constituents.] The Mothers confer initiation on the deities of the initiation substances. These are seal-impressed by Vajrasattva.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE DEITIES BACK INTO THE INITIATION SUBSTANCE IN HEIGHTENED FORM

Make offering [to those deities] with:

The ten Shaktis melt, whereupon they become the silk ribbons that are the substances of the initiation.

INITIATION OF THE STUDENTS THROUGH USING THE INITIATION SUBSTANCE

Light rays from the heart of the lama who is not different from the principal deity draw in the initiation deities – Father and Mother Conquerors, Sons, and Daughters – filling the expanse of space. Vajra-bhairava ākarṣhaya jaḥ. [Vajra Frighthul One, summon, jaḥ.]

Make offering with:

Make a supplication:

Just as Vajradhara bestowed

Initiations, sources of good qualities,

On the Buddhas for the sake of protecting transmigrating beings,

So please also bestow such here.

Then:

The Conquerors in space – Fathers and Mothers – make the intention to confer initiation. The Bodhisattvas make expressions of auspiciousness. Rūpavajrā and so forth make offering, and a rain of flowers and so forth descend. Male and Female Wrathful Ones expel obstructors. The ten Shaktis residing in the mandala that has been achieved, holding the silk ribbons, [are about to] confer initiation.

The Vajra Worker raises up the silk ribbons. Auspiciousness is expressed with:

Through an auspiciousness dwelling in the hearts of all the sentient,

The essence of all, the supreme lord of all lineages,

Progenitor of all the sentient, the great bliss,

May you have today auspiciousness at the supreme conferral of initiation.

Through the Buddha possessing perfection like a gold mountain,

Protector of the three worlds who has abandoned the three defilements,

With a face like the broad petals of a lotus,

May you have today the auspiciousness of pacification.

Through the highest supreme unwavering teaching set forth by him,

Renowned in the three worlds, worshipped by gods and humans,

Most excellent of doctrine, pacifying all beings,

May you have today the auspiciousness of pacification.

Through the excellent spiritual community, rich with the auspiciousness of having heard the doctrine,

Place of worship by humans, gods, and demi-gods,

Highest supreme of assemblies, knowing conscience, and the foundation of glory,

May you have today the auspiciousness of pacification.

When doing self-entry, a rain of flowers falls on oneself, and when initiation is conferred on a student, a rain of flowers falls on the student. Then, the master, with right leg outstretched, says:

I will give the great vajra conferral of initiation,

Revered by those of the three realms,

Arisen from the source of the three

Secrecies of all the Buddhas.

The ten Shaktis are the eight Shaktis actually visible in the mandala as well as two Shaktis, Prajñāpāramitā (shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin ma) and Jñānapāramitā (ye shes kyi pha rol tu phyin ma) who are of one undifferentiable entity with Kālachakra’s consort, Vishvamātā, and are here to be separated out from her. When I make the gesture of touching the silk ribbons to your five places, imagine that these ten Shaktis who reside in the mandala confer on you the silk ribbon initiation.

The function of the silk ribbon initiation is to bless your ten winds into magnificence, making them serviceable. Think that the fluctuation of impure conceptuality ceases, in dependence upon which a special non-conceptual wisdom is generated, and bliss is generated. Imagine that an exalted wisdom of undifferentiable bliss and emptiness is engendered in your continuum.

Oṃ a ā aṃ aḥ ha hā haṃ haḥ hoḥ phreṃ dashapāramitā pāripūraṇi svāhā. [Oṃ a ā aṃ aḥ ha hā haṃ haḥ hoḥ phreṃ the Female Fulfillers of the ten perfections svāhā.]

Touch the silk ribbons to the five places [crown protrusion, both shoulders, upper arms, thighs, and hips],57and tie them on the forehead.

Next is a water initiation as an appendage to the silk ribbon initiation.

Then, the master, with right leg outstretched, says:

I will give the great vajra conferral of initiation,

Revered by those of the three realms,

Arisen from the source of the three

Secrecies of all the Buddhas.

Oṃ ā ī ū pañcha-dhātu-vishodhani svāhā.

[Oṃ ā ī ū be founded in the purification of the five constituents.]

With the water, touch the five places – crown protrusion, right and left shoulders, upper arms, thighs, and hips – and having sprinkled a little, [have the student] drink a little and also wash, conferring initiation.

That completes the appendage.

Through being conferred initiation in that way, your ten winds become the ten Shaktis.

According to the Kālachakra system, the ten winds are associated with the eight channel petals at the heart and the channels above and below the heart. Above the heart is the vitalizing wind, and below the heart is the downward-voiding wind; the remaining eight winds are associated with the eight petals of the heart. Your ten winds are to be generated as the ten Shaktis at those places.

Light rays from them draw in the ten Shaktis of the mandala in the manner of a second butter lamp separating off from the first. The ten Shaktis dissolve into the ten Shaktis of your own body. Also, all the initiation deities are summoned and dissolve into your ten winds clarified as the ten Shaktis.

Make offering with:

MEANING OF THE INITIATION

Then, express the meaning of the initiation and its purification:

This corresponds to piercing the ears of a child and hanging on adornments. [336] It cleanses defilements of the ten winds and makes them serviceable. It authorizes you to achieve feats by way of the ten Shaktis. It sets potencies for the ten perfections in your continuum and causes you to have the capacity to attain the third ground as its fruit.