This book is concerned with a rite of initiation for the Kālachakra (Wheel of Time) Tantra, a Buddhist tantra of the Highest Yoga Tantra class. It presents the series of initiations authorizing practice of the first of two stages involved in the tantra, the stage of generation – the period of imaginative appearance as an ideal being. A system of daily practice required of those who have received initiation is also included. Discussed are the process of preparing the student for initiation and the actual stages of the seven initiations that authorize practice of visualization of a practitioner as a deity – or ideal, altruistically active being – in a mandala, an ideal environment.
This is the first time that a tantric initiation ritual has been explained in detail in a Western language. The initiation ritual is translated, interspersed with commentary from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, temporal and spiritual leader of Tibet, mainly from a ceremony conducted in Wisconsin in 1981. The Kālachakra initiation was offered for the first time in the West by His Holiness the Dalai Lama during July of 1981 (the year of the Iron Bird) at Deer Park, a small rural site outside of Madison, Wisconsin, that is the home of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery and temple. The initiation was organized and sponsored by the Deer Park Buddhist Center and friends, a Buddhist organization under the direction of the Venerable Geshe Sopa, author of Steps on the Path to Enlightenment.
During the process of the initiation, the Dalai Lama, as is customary, gave copious commentary detailing the proper attitude and motivation of the recipient and the individual steps of visualization and of reflection on profound and subtle topics that are at the heart of the initiation, or authorization, process. His explanations offered during the ceremony, as well as others given privately to me in preparation for serving as his translator, bring the basic initiation ceremony to life, rich with meaning and contextualization. The special tantric techniques for transforming body, speech, and mind into completely altruistic expression are thereby made lucid and accessible to interested readers.
The introduction first describes the general Great Vehicle view on purification into a state of altruistic service as well as the special tantric practice of deity yoga that is founded on compassion and realization of emptiness. Next, it describes the process of initiation for the stage of generation, outlining and explaining the many steps in the ritual. It also provides background on the history of the Kālachakra Tantra and introduces the authors and texts.
I would like to thank Elizabeth Napper for making numerous editorial suggestions on the entire manuscript, Gareth Sparham for typing the translation of the ritual text, and Karen Saginor and Daniel Cozort for proof-reading the galleys. As is detailed in the ninth chapter of the introduction, I have attempted, through consulting lamas competent in the tradition, to keep errors of translation and interpretation to a minimum; I ask for readers’ forebearance for those undiscovered.
Jeffrey Hopkins
Charlottesville, Virginia