It is essential to settle the meaning of the scriptures with stainless reasoning. The meaning of passages that are spoken only for certain trainees must be interpreted and the meaning of extremely subtle passages must be penetrated; this is difficult, and some are in danger of misunderstanding. Also, for many the countless books of sūtra and tantra do not appear as instructions for practice, and they are satisfied with seeing only a fraction of the path. Others are able to analyze a great many points but are unable, even though they are learned, to discern the important ones. They know, in general, how to practice but do not make any effort at practice. Those in these three situations cannot practice tantra properly.
Tsongkhapa saw that if the meanings of the countless scriptures were collected, settled with stainless reasoning, and set forth in the sequence of their practice, many sentient beings who had come under the influence of these bad circumstances would be helped. Captivated by the good explanations of the Indian and Tibetan tantrics such as Nāgārjuna, his spiritual sons, and the omniscient Butön, Tsongkhapa was enthused to gather together these explanations in order to rectify the faults and omissions existing in the presentations by earlier lamas.
Writing a book on Secret Mantra is not like writing a book on the Middle Way School or on the teachings of the paths contained in the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras (prajñāpāramitā). The topics of Secret Mantra are not to be displayed like merchandise but practiced secretly. If they are not, instead of helping, there is a danger of harming many people due to generating misunderstanding. For instance, some who are unable to practice the four tantras in general and Highest Yoga Tantra in particular merely wish to play with Mantra. Some, although they have faith, do not accurately know the Buddhist presentations of view, meditation, and behavior. Others know these topics accurately but do not have an ability to maintain vows, sustain faith, and be strong of mind. Without this knowledge and this ability, practice of the Mantra path is impossible.
In India fully qualified gurus taught the doctrines of Secret Mantra to only a few students, whose karma and aspirations were suitable and whom they knew well. The gurus passed the doctrines directly to their students, and when the students were able to practice with great effort the teachings that they received, the corresponding spiritual experiences and realizations were generated. In just that measure the Victor’s teaching was furthered and the welfare of sentient beings was achieved. However, in the snowy country of Tibet these factors were largely absent. Secret Mantra was disseminated too widely, and people sought it because of its fame, without considering whether they had the capacity to practice it or not.
One is wise if, though wanting the best, one examines whether the best is fitting. The Tibetans wanted the best and assumed that they could practice the best. As a result of this, Secret Mantra became famous in Tibet, but the mode of practice was not like the proper hidden practice of the Indians, and thus we were unable to achieve the feats of Secret Mantra as explained in the tantras; the imprint of Secret Mantra practice did not appear. As it is said in the Tibetan oral tradition, “An Indian practices one deity and achieves a hundred; a Tibetan practices a hundred deities and does not achieve even one.”
It is not good to begin many different works, saying “This looks good; that looks good,” touching this, touching that, and not succeeding in any of them. If you do not generate great desires but aim at what is fitting, you can actualize the corresponding potencies and become an expert in this. With success, the power or imprint of that practice is generated.
Especially nowadays, Secret Mantra has become a topic of interest, but merely as an object of inquiry. From the viewpoint of a practitioner, it seems to have become an object of entertainment and to have arrived at a point where one cannot know whether it will help or harm. Many of the secrets have been disseminated; many lecturers are explaining tantra, and books are being translated. Even though Secret Mantra is to be achieved in hiding, many books have appeared that are a mixture of truth and falsity.
I think it would be good if the means and circumstances appeared which could clear away these wrong ideas. In general, translating a book of Mantra for sale in the shops is unsuitable, but at this time and in this situation there is greater fault in not clearing away wrong ideas than there is in distributing translations. Much falsely ascribed information about Secret Mantra has wide repute nowadays, and, therefore, I think that translating and distributing an authoritative book may help to clear away these false superimpositions. This is the reason for my explanation of Tsongkhapa’s work.
If Secret Mantra is practiced openly and used for commercial purposes, then accidents will befall such a practitioner, even taking his or her life, and conditions unfavorable for generating spiritual experience and realizations in his or her continuum will be generated. With other books it is not too serious to make an error, but with books of Mantra it is very serious to err either in explanation or in translation. Furthermore, if the fault of proclaiming the secret to those who are not ripened is incurred, there is danger that instead of helping, it will harm. There are many stories of people who have begun treatises on Mantra but have been unable to complete their lifespan and of others whose progress was delayed through writing a book on Mantra.
A person who has practiced the stages of sūtra and wishes to attain quickly the state of a blessed Buddha should enter into the Secret Mantra Vehicle that can easily bestow realization of Buddhahood. However, you cannot seek Buddhahood for yourself, engaging in Mantra in order to become unusual. With a spiritual guide as a protector, you need to train in the common paths, engaging in the practices of beings of small and middling capacity—realizing suffering and developing a wish to leave cyclic existence. Then you must train in the compassion that is the inability to bear the sight of suffering in others without acting to relieve it. Beings want happiness but are bereft of happiness; they do not want suffering but are tortured by suffering. You must develop great compassion and empathy from the very orb of your heart for all sentient beings traveling in cyclic existence in the three realms—desire, form, and formless. You need to have a very strong mind wishing to free all sentient beings from suffering and its causes.
Through the force of having accumulated predispositions over many lifetimes, some persons have a good mind even when young; they have unbearable compassion for insects who are in danger of dying and for humans stricken with suffering; they have a keen sense of altruism. Such persons should enter the Mantra Vehicle in order to attain Buddhahood quickly.
Not all persons can practice tantra, but those who have performed good actions over many lifetimes, who even as children possessed a strong thought to help, and who have good predispositions should seek the aid of a spiritual guide. Through his or her quintessential instructions, these students should, with effort and over a period of months and years, raise this good mind to higher and higher levels. Finally, whether going, wandering, lying down, or staying still, they have a strong force of mind seeking to do whatever can be done to help others. They wish very strongly to bring vast help to others in a spontaneous manner, effortlessly, as a Buddha. Such persons are suitable to enter and should enter Secret Mantra in order to attain Buddhahood quickly.
If you are seeking a mere temporary sufficiency of food and clothing for yourself and others, seeking only the temporary purposes of this lifetime, avoiding temporary disease, attaining affluence of resources or a temporary good name or a great deal of money, certainly there are means for the temporary achievement of great wealth, for temporarily relieving sickness and disease, and for achieving temporary fame. You can be greedy and deceptive, sometimes being honest and at other times lying, sometimes fighting and at other times not. These are temporary means, and nowadays many people are proceeding in this way. If this is your intention, you have no need for Tsongkhapa’s Great Exposition of Secret Mantra.
If, on the other hand, you do not take this system of the elders of the world to be sufficient, if you view such activities as senseless, pithless, if you know that these do not help future lives or higher aims, if you know that even in terms of this life no matter how wealthy you become, it is difficult to have peace of mind, and if you are seeking peace of mind for yourself and others, it is very important to improve your mind.
Many have given advice for this purpose, but we say that only the teacher Buddha taught forcefully that we should cherish others more than ourselves and that we should develop an intention definitely to establish sentient beings in a state free from suffering and the causes of suffering. All of the world’s religious systems teach a means of bringing a little peace to the mind and cleansing coarser aspects of the mental continuum. They either directly or indirectly create improvement in terms of a good mind and of altruism, but among them it seems that only Buddhism presents, by way of a vast number of reasonings, scriptures, and views, the means of transforming the mind into ultimate goodness. I am not saying that Buddhism is best because I am a Buddhist. I think that if it is considered honestly one would think so, but even if it is the best, this does not mean that everyone should be a Buddhist. All do not have the same disposition and interest. All should have the best, but since not all are capable of practicing the best, it is necessary for each person to observe a path that accords with one’s own disposition, interest, and ability.
If it were true that everyone should be a Buddhist, that everyone should be a Tantrist, and that everyone should follow Highest Yoga Tantra because it is the best, then Vajradhara would have taught only Highest Yoga Tantra. He would indeed have done so if everyone were capable of practicing it. But for those for whom Highest Yoga Tantra was not suitable he taught Yoga Tantra. For those for whom Yoga Tantra was not suitable he taught Performance Tantra. For those for whom Performance Tantra was not suitable he taught Action Tantra. Those for whom Action Tantra was not suitable he taught by way of sūtra in which not even the name of “Secret Mantra” occurs.
Within sūtra he taught the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras setting forth the Middle Way (madhyamaka) view, and for those for whom this was not suitable, he taught sūtras presenting the view of Mind-Only (cittamātra). He set forth the Vehicle of Solitary Realizers which could help even more persons, and again, to help even more, he set forth the Hearer Vehicle, and within that there are vows for monks, nuns, novices, and two types of vows for laypersons. Within the lowest type of layperson’s vow there is assumption of all five precepts or four or three or two or just one, or even just maintaining refuge; there are many who can do this.
Buddha set forth, in accordance with the dispositions and interests of those who could not practice the most profound aspects of his path, limitless forms of stages beginning from a layperson’s vow of refuge and going through to training in the Vajra Vehicle of Highest Yoga Tantra. From the viewpoint of number of reasons, vastness, and depth, Buddhism has the most paths and techniques for the transformation of the mind into ultimate goodness.
In order to enter the profound vehicle of Secret Mantra one must know the essentials of the Vajra Vehicle, and for this reason Tsongkhapa explains the stages of its path. Among the eighteen volumes of his collected works, the Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path Common to the Vehicles and the Great Exposition of Secret Mantra are the most important. Many of his books are about selected topics in tantra—the stage of generation, the stage of completion, granting initiation, achieving special activities, and so forth—but that which presents in an ordered fashion the important essentials of all four tantras is his Great Exposition of Secret Mantra [the first section of which comprises Part Two of this volume].
When an oral transmission explaining the Great Exposition of Secret Mantra is given, listeners should have the initiations to the four tantras—for instance, of Mahākaruṇika for Action Tantra, of Vairochana for Performance Tantra, of Sarvavid for Yoga Tantra, and of Saṃvara, Guhyasamāja, or Bhairava in a maṇḍala of colored powders for Highest Yoga Tantra. At the least, one should have an initiation of Highest Yoga Tantra in a maṇḍala of colored powders or painted cloth. Also, when an oral transmission is bestowed, the lamas who form the continuum of the lineage should be identified. The full title of the Great Exposition of Secret Mantra is The Stages of the Path to a Victor and Pervasive Master, a Great Vajradhara: Revealing All Secret Essentials. It indicates the contents of the book. “Victor” generally means one who has conquered over coarse and subtle demons, and on this occasion of Mantra “Victor” refers to conquest over mistaken dualistic appearance. Extremely subtle obstructions to omniscience [which is the simultaneous and direct knowledge of all phenomena and their mode of being] are mentioned only in the teaching of Highest Yoga Tantra, the fourth and highest Mantra path. These are the stains of mistaken dualistic appearance that are called appearance, increase, and near attainment. Those who have conquered such sources of error by means of their antidotes are Victors. These beings have completely overcome the coarse and subtle obstructions both to liberation and to omniscience in their own continuum and are also capable of causing the conquest of these obstructions in other sentient beings, thereby overcoming the causes of suffering by which those beings are stricken.
A Victor is “pervasive” in that the emanator of all Buddha lineages, the Original Protector, Vajradhara, pervades all the lineages, such as those of Vairochana, Akṣhobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitābha, and Amoghasiddhi. The excellent hundred, five, and three lineages are all included into one basis of emanation, the Body of Enjoyment, the great secret Vajradhara, who is therefore called the “Master.” Because of pervading and being the master of all lineages, Vajradhara is the “Pervasive Master.”
A “vajra” is the best of stones, a diamond; there are external symbolic vajras, as in the case of the vajra and bell used in ritual, and there are vajras that are the meanings symbolized. With respect to the latter, a vajra common to all four sets of tantras is an undifferentiability in one entity of method and wisdom. Method is observation of the vast—the body of a deity—conjoined with an altruistic aspiration to highest enlightenment. Wisdom is the knowledge of the suchness of phenomena just as it is. Also, according only to Highest Yoga Tantra, a vajra is the undifferentiability in one entity of method—great bliss—and wisdom—realization of emptiness. Because of bearing (dhara) such a vajra in his continuum, he is called “Vajradhara.” He is “great” because there is none higher. Tsongkhapa’s text is a presentation of the paths leading to the state of a great Vajradhara, not of assorted essentials of the path in unrelated groups but an arrangement in the order of practice. Since these essentials must be practiced in secret, hidden from persons who are not suited for them at this point, these are called the secret essentials of the Secret Mantra Vehicle.
Tsongkhapa gave this title to his book because it accurately presents in summary, through citing reasoning and scripture, the stages of the path by which one progresses to the ground of a great Vajradhara, pervasive master over all lineages.
THE HOMAGE
At the beginning Tsongkhapa pays homage in general to his vajra lamas—the chief of whom was Khaydrub Khyungpo Lhaypa (mkhas grub khyung po lhas pa)—and in particular to the revered Mañjushrī in dependence on whose kindness he realized the essentials of sūtra and tantra. The Sanskrit word for homage etymologically means “seeking the indestructible” and involves physical, verbal, and mental activities; it means, “I am placing my hope in you.” He pays homage over his continuum of lives to the compassionate lamas who know the essentials of the path and then to his special guru, Mañjushrī.
Because Mañjushrī is the natural form of the wisdom of all Victors, one relies on him as one’s special deity in order to increase the wisdom discriminating the truth. Discriminating wisdom thereby increases as it otherwise would not. Tsongkhapa and Mañjushrī met directly, like two people. Originally, Tsongkhapa meditated at Gawadong (dga’ ba gdong) in central Tibet in order to achieve a meeting with Mañjushrī. At Gawadong there was a Khampa (khams pa) lama named Umapa Pawo Dorjay (dbu ma pa dpa’ bo rdo rje) who had been under Mañjushrī’s care for many lifetimes and who had repeated Mañjushrī’s mantra, oṃ a ra pa tsa na dhīḥ, even in his mother’s womb. He had been born into a poor shepherd family, and one day when he was out herding sheep he encountered a black Mañjushrī, after which his intelligence increased. When Tsongkhapa met Lama Umapa at Gawadong, he was able to ask Mañjushrī questions about the profound emptiness and the vast deeds of compassion of sūtra and tantra through Lama Umapa.
There was a painting of Mañjushrī on the wall of Tsongkhapa’s Gawadong retreat, and upon improvement of his meditation a great light emitted from Mañjushrī’s heart. That was the first time Tsongkhapa saw Mañjushrī, and thereafter at his wish he met with Mañjushrī, who taught him the difficult points of the stages of the path. Therefore, Tsongkhapa pays homage to the lowest part of Mañjushrī’s body, his feet.
In ordinary refuge, once our temporary purpose has been satisfied, we no longer need that source of refuge. Here, Tsongkhapa takes refuge not for a trifling superficial purpose, but for the ultimate purpose of attaining the fruit of complete liberation from suffering and the causes of suffering, and, since this is not usually done in a few years or even in one lifetime, he pays respectful homage in all his lifetimes. This indicates that the path must be practiced within the context of refuge from lifetime to lifetime until becoming a Buddha.
THE EXPRESSION OF WORSHIP
Books are generally divided into three parts, expression of worship, body of the text, and conclusion. Having paid homage to his lamas in general and Mañjushrī in particular, Tsongkhapa begins the expression of worship to spiritual guides. Usually expressions of worship are made to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; however, Chandrakīrti took compassion as his object of worship in his Supplement to the Middle (madhyamakāvatāra), and Maitreya took the Mother, the perfection of wisdom, as the object of worship in his Ornament for the Clear Realizations (abhisamayālaṃkāra). Here, Tsongkhapa takes the lamas as his object of worship. This is because it is necessary to depend on a lama (guru) in order to complete the progression through the grounds and paths, and in particular it is extremely important to rely on a qualified spiritual guide in order to train in the paths of Mantra. If one relies on a lama over a long period of time with a union of faith and respect, one can learn quickly and easily the paths that are free from error and from the taints of seeking only one’s own welfare. The spiritual guides teach out of great compassion, not out of desire for fame or wealth; they teach without confusion exactly as those paths were taught by Buddha.
Tsongkhapa next praises and pays homage to Vajradhara, the Original Protector. Vajradhara, without stirring from the state of the expanse of suchness, which is the extinguishment of all conceptual and dualistic proliferations, appears through his physical sport like a rainbow, emanating collections of deities to countless lands, pure and impure, in many forms, whatever is suitable for taming trainees. A Buddha’s Truth Body has two aspects, a Wisdom Truth Body and a Nature Truth Body. Vajradhara’s mind, the original innate wisdom, is the Wisdom Truth Body, remaining continuously in meditative equipoise on the expanse of suchness as long as space exists. The final expanse of suchness, the state of extinguishment of all proliferations—both naturally pure and purified of adventitious stains—is the Nature Truth Body.
A Bodhisattva generates a wish to attain Buddhahood for the sake of others; therefore, the purpose of actualizing the Truth Body is the welfare of others. However, that which directly appears to trainees is not the Truth Body but Form Bodies; thus, it is necessary to help migrators by way of Form Bodies, which a Buddha emanates without stirring from the nonconceptual, nondualistic Truth Body and without exertion, effort, or thought. Form Bodies appear spontaneously in accordance with the need of trainees.
The subtler of Form Bodies is the Body of Complete Enjoyment, and the coarser are Emanation Bodies, among which there are physically obstructive and nonobstructive types. Thus, this expression of worship indicates the Three Bodies: Truth Body, Complete Enjoyment Body, and Emanation Body, or Four Bodies: Nature Body, Wisdom Body, Complete Enjoyment Body, and Emanation Body. According to Highest Yoga Tantra, the Nature Body can also be considered compounded and not necessarily uncompounded, as it is considered in the sūtra systems, because the clear light wisdom of great bliss that is a Wisdom Truth Body is also said to be a Nature Body. The Complete Enjoyment Body is the sport of mere wind and mind. Emanation Bodies appear in countless pure and impure lands, sometimes with a coarse form. Tsongkhapa praises and makes an expression of worship to such a Vajradhara, the lord or principal of the maṇḍalas.
He next makes obeisance to Vajrapāṇi, master of the secret, leader of the bearers of knowledge mantras, and caretaker of the tantras. Vajrapāṇi collected all the secret essentials, the many and various teachings that Vajradhara set forth from the viewpoint of his exact knowledge of the trainees’ disposition, interest, and potential. Tsongkhapa pays homage to Vajrapāṇi, arousing his compassion and suggesting that inner and outer demons beware.
Then Tsongkhapa takes Mañjushrī, who is the mother, father, and child of all Victors, as a special object of worship. He is the mother of all Victors in that he is the essence of all wisdoms; the father of all Victors in that he takes the form of spiritual guides and causes beings to generate an altruistic aspiration to highest enlightenment; and the child of all Victors in that he assumes the form of Bodhisattvas as he did within Shākyamuni Buddha’s retinue.
When a trainee pleases him, Mañjushrī can, with merely a glance, bestow the wisdom discriminating the truth in the sense of quickly increasing realization, like lighting a flame. Tsongkhapa says that having heard such a marvelous account, he has relied on Mañjushrī as his special deity over a long time and will not forsake him in the future, there not being another refuge for him. Tsongkhapa pays homage to Mañjushrī as a treasure of wisdom, arousing his compassion through praise and asking him to bestow the fruition of his wishes.
PROMISE OF COMPOSITION
At the request especially of Kyabchog Palsang (skyab mchog dpal bzang) and Sönam Sangpo (bsod nams bzang po), Tsongkhapa promises to compose the text for the reasons described above. To do this, he arouses the compassion of the Field-Born, Innate, and Mantra-Born Sky-Goers for the sake of bestowing feats on him, like a mother to her child. Field-Born Sky-Goers are born with bodies of flesh and blood; Innate Sky-Goers have attained realization of the stage of completion in Highest Yoga Tantra; Mantra-Born Sky-Goers have not yet generated the stage of generation. According to another explanation, Field-Born Sky-Goers have attained the subjective clear light [the third of five levels in the stage of completion]; the Innate have lesser realization but are still within the stage of completion; and Mantra-Born Sky-Goers are said to abide in the stage of generation. Tsongkhapa requests these feminine caretakers of tantra to be affectionate to him and overcome all obstacles to clear presentation of tantric doctrine and, seeing the purpose of his deeds, to grant the feats and activities benefiting all beings.