Chapter 35 Outline
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2. The chapter that shows the reality seal
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.1. The promise to explain
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. The promised import explained
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 1. Explaining in terms of the interpretable meaning
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 1.1. The method of repeating [the mantra]
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 1.2. The method of achieving ritual actions with Khaṇḍarohā
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 2. Explaining in terms of the definitive meaning
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.3. Showing the name of the chapter
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2. The chapter that shows the reality seal
The second part, the chapter that shows the reality seal, has three sections: (1) the promise to explain, (2) the promised import explained, and (3) showing the name of the chapter.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.1. The promise to explain
Now, after stating the thirty-fourth chapter, I will explain the excellent and supreme attainment of ritual actions. What is that ritual attainment like? It is illustrated, i.e., is known, in the manner of the uncorrupted scriptural tradition by means of the succession of the lineage from one guru to another. The mantrin whose nature is united to the worship that is nondual with respect to both art and wisdom should apply the corresponding rite that is the means of achieving each of the ritual actions (35.1) such as pacifying etc. I will explain successively the distinctions by means of each ritual action, the disclosure of these mantras that have or will yield success of whatever rite (35.2ab).
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. The promised import explained
The second part has two sections: (1) explaining in terms of the interpretable meaning, and (2) explaining in terms of the definitive meaning.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 1. Explaining in terms of the interpretable meaning
The second part has two sections: (1) the method of repeating [the mantra], and (2) the method of achieving ritual actions with Khaṇḍarohā.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 1.1. The method of repeating [the mantra]
The term varṇa is translated by some as color, by some as syllable, and by some as class. Here the translation as “syllable” is acceptable.430 This is because it occurs as “syllable” in the Vajraḍāka,431 it is explained as “syllable” in the commentaries,432 and Kambala also explains it as syllable.433 In that way, the syllables are the sixteen vowels and thirty-three consonants. The messengers are the yoginīs, Prachaṇḍā, and so forth, who are the nature of the channels. By and so forth the twenty-four heroes are implied, while the mantras are theirs. [These terms] should be taken as explained in the [Twofold] Commentary, namely that “and so forth” implies the principal deity couple as well, and also their mantras.434
One should repeat those mantras knowing the distinctions of each of the ritual actions. Regarding the visualization accompanying repetition, when commencing the ritual of the destruction of an evil doer, visualize that a knot is connected, one to another, of each of the mantra’s syllables in the manner of well wound thread, such that they quickly enter with the speed of the nocking and firing of an arrow, that is, a bowshot, and that they revolve (35.2cd) in the manner of the buckets of a waterwheel, arising in quick succession from the mouths of both partners.
For pacification, the syllables of the mantra, which are successively linked in form of a garland, are characterized by loose, i.e., not rough, circulation, through entry (35.3ab), i.e., by the process of entering through the region of one’s mouth, and, being emitted again from the path of the vajra so as to enter into the lotus of the goddess, and then entering one’s mouth from the mouth of the goddess.
For destruction, this is done in the manner of entry from one’s mouth to the goddess’s; it is simply that in particular. Just as [the lines] “for pacification it is loose, not rough” occur in many commentaries,435 they also occur in another translation.436 These two lines occurred in the text of the previous scholars. It is said by those who uphold the system of Mal that it did not occur in Sumati[kīrti]’s text.437
For enriching, the garland of seed, i.e., mantric, syllables is taken, meaning that it is repeated in the manner of [the syllables] being joined together, one after another. Regarding then (35.3c), it means after the former syllable, then it is well joined to the latter syllable. This [line] is connected to enriching by Bhavabhaṭṭa.438 Although no [statement] regarding controlling clearly occurs, those who uphold the system of Mal claim that one [visualizes] the circulation of [the mantra] in the form of a chain from one’s mouth to the mouth of the [female] partner.439 For each of the respective ritual actions, you should make the mantra have the corresponding color, white [for pacifying], and so forth.
For destruction, the syllable hūṁ should be placed before and at the end (35.3d) of the victim’s name. [The writing] “hūṁ so-and-so die! hūṁ” (hūṁ che ge mo mā ra ya hūṁ) should be affixed before the hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ. Through doing this, the victim will be restrained, lacking the freedom to proceed even one step (35.4ab); that is, he will die. Regarding envelopment through the state of being enveloped (35.4c), for pacification [the name] is enveloped by two oṁ [syllables], i.e., oṁ so-and-so svāhā oṁ (oṁ lha sbyin440 svāhā oṁ). In rites of destruction, before and after the victim’s name there is envelopment by the vajra, that is, hūṁ; should it be separated by the vajra (35.5a), i.e., hūṁ, successively as if bound with an adamantine chain (35.4d), he will be destroyed.
In three commentaries there is the statement that the equivalent term to “bee” (bung ba) is *pacchika, but as it is also an explanation that it should be translated as a bunch of feathers.441 Therefore, one should visualize the uninterrupted circulation of the mantra from mouth to mouth, with no junction visible, as if surrounded by a bunch of peacock feathers (35.5b).
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 1.2. The method of achieving ritual actions with Khaṇḍarohā
If one desires at some time to summon a victim, one should augment [the mantra with] “ja Summon so-and-so! jaḥ” (dza che ge mo ā karṣa ya dzaḥ), and one should summon the victim by just holding aloft the hook (35.5c) of Khaṇḍarohā. Whenever one desires to agitate and disturb another’s army and so forth, by repeating “Disturb so-and-so! hūṁ” (che ge mo kṣo bha ya hūṁ) and [visualizing] Khaṇḍarohā brandishing a mace in her hand, the entire army and so forth will be agitated. Regarding likewise (35.5d), it means it is done by Khaṇḍarohā in the same manner as summoning.
If one repeats “phaṭ Eat so-and-so!” (phaṭ che ge mo bha kṣa yaṁ),442 it is stated that he will be struck, i.e., devoured, just by Khaṇḍarohā brandishing the vajra (35.6a) in her hand. “Devoured by the vajra” occurs in the commentaries.443 For piercing another’s body, making a hole in it, and making it tremble, one should repeat “phaṭ Pierce so-and-so! phaṭ” (phaṭ che ge mo be dha naṁ phaṭ) and employ Khaṇḍarohā brandishing an arrow (35.6a).
For overcoming untimely death, visualize white Khaṇḍarohā brandishing a skull staff in her limb (35.6cd), i.e., left hand, and a thousand streams of ambrosia trickling from a white hūṁ, and repeat “hūṁ Let so-and-so live! hūṁ” (hūṁ che ge mo dzi ba yā444 hūṁ). For all ritual accomplishments with Khaṇḍarohā, it is explained that one first should give water offerings into the mouth of Khaṇḍarohā by filling up a skull bowl with the five ambrosias. After that one should apply the weapon (35.7), the hook and so forth, to the limb of the victim.445 [The text] from “envelopment” (35.4c) up to “should apply” (35.7c), except for the “piercing” line (35.6b), is also connected by Kṛiṣhṇāchārya to the causal Vajradhara-Heruka.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.2. 2. Explaining in terms of the definitive meaning
Regarding Kambala’s explanation of the definitive meaning of [the text] from “with the speed of an arrow” (35.2b) up to “devoured by the vajra” (35.6a), the arrow is wind, and through its speed going and coming cycles about. Furthermore, interconnected means a knot is formed or joined with the mantra of vowels and syllables when it goes hither and come thither. These vowels and consonants are separated by the regions of the navel, heart, throat, and crown, which means that they are placed in the four channel wheels. “Then,” after the placement of the syllables in the four channel wheels, they are taken by the seed, i.e., vowel and consonant, garland into the left and right channels.446 The Vajraḍāka states:447
On both the left and the right sides,
Write the twelve vowels by gazing up.
Gazing down at ka and so forth,
They increase on both of the sides;
Thus, they are joined in the middle.
Regarding the four lines beginning with “[On both] the left and,” when the two channels move on account of the wind from ka, they move onto the string of the twelve vowels. Since they follow after that string of vowels, the garland of ka etc. increases with ka etc. When the wind has entered from the two orifices, one should draw the garland of vowels and consonants facing down. One should know to gaze up at the movement due to wind, and gaze down at its entry within. This is explained in the commentary.448 Regarding the last line, Kambala states that “[the two garlands of vowels and consonants] should be inserted into the middle of that.”449 This, moreover, means that the wind of the left and right [channels] is inserted into the central [channel].
Regarding will be restrained and the statement that “the two movements are bound,”450 Durjayachandra, with his statement “restraint is restricting coming and going,”451 seems to be explaining in terms of inability to move the wind. That is accomplished, moreover, by the yogic power of pressing vital points on the body. This is relevant to all pressing of the body’s vital points. Thus, one will succeed from the binding of the two winds; one will become accomplished. One will have the nature of great bliss that is uncontaminated, free of physical or objective reference.
Will not proceed one step means that there is no context for movement on account of wind. This is because the wind and mind itself of clear light naturally attain experiential uniformity, on account of the dissolution of the wind that moves conceptual thought.452 Regarding envelopment, it is said that:453
Envelopment and envelopment’s state,
Are proclaimed to be the moon and the sun,
On the side of the left and of the right.
The light-garlanded illuminator’s
Always positioned at the upper gate
Via the adamantine chain binding.
As for the meaning of this, both the lalanā that exists to the left side of the central channel, and which is called “the moon,” and the rasanā that exists to the right side of the central channel, and which is called “the sun,” constitute the envelopment that encircles the central channel at each of channel wheels in the manner of an “adamantine chain,” that is, an iron chain. “Envelopment’s state” is the binding of the winds of these two [channels] in the central channel. The “light-garlanded illuminator” or sun that is “always positioned at the upper gate,” i.e., facing upward in the navel, is the fury fire that, by ascending to the crown, is union in supreme bliss.
As for explaining this in terms of union with the actual seal (consort), it is as stated in the Vajraḍāka:454
The union of wisdom and art
Is what is called envelopment.
’Tis said that both arms’ embrace is
The adamantine chain’s binding.
There is the separation of the lotus of wisdom by the vajra of art; it circles, that is arouses, from outside to inside the lotus like a bee. One should summon all tathāgatas, that is, the spirit of awakening, with the noose, that is, hook of the passionate desire for the vajra to enter the lotus. One should agitate all channels with the mace, i.e., the vajra. As for “striking” or devouring with the vajra, there is enjoyment in the assembly of the tathāgatas, i.e., the spirit of awakening, at the tip of the vajra. [The following] is quoted in Kambala’s commentary:455
The lotus should be pierced by the vajra.
Spread out, it’s known as the honey maker.
Moreover, it trembles through this coursing.
One should insert the noose into the lotus,
Via the nature of sexual bliss.
Then all tathāgatas should be summoned
By being hooked with exhilaration.
The mace is thus renowned as the vajra,
In devouring the vajra is struck;
This is the tathāgatas’ assembly.
[This passage] shows, depending upon the Vajraḍāka, the fury fire of the four channel wheels and the perfection stage of the actual seal (consort). The previous lamas have also explained this chapter in terms of the definitive meaning. It is explained as having four stages in the manner of [Kāṇha’s] Ālicatuṣṭaya. Regarding taking the placement of the syllables on the channels in terms of the reality seal, it is explained that the meditation on that is meditation on the reality seal. However, with respect to the reality seal, one should not engage in just the meditation focusing on the syllables; one should engage in the actual perfection stage that arises in dependence on that.
3.3.3. 2.2.2. 8.2.3. Showing the name of the chapter
In the Concise Shrī Herukābhidhāna Tantra, this is the thirty-fifth chapter on the ritual action of nondual union and the procedure of cheating death, etc. This is the explanation of the thirty-fifth chapter in the Illumination of the Hidden Meaning, A Detailed Exegesis of the Concise Saṁvara Tantra Called “The Chakrasaṁvara.”
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430. It should be noted that the term varṇa was translated as kha dog, “color” in both the PM and SM translations (Gray 2012, 360, 540). This line is omitted in the SL translation. Tsong Khapa here is following Butön’s commentary (NS 215b.6). Butön’s commentary notes the ways the term was translated in the various commentaries, but it does not identify which meaning is correct here.
431. As Tsong Khapa indicates, varṇa is translated as yi ge in the VD parallel passage, which occurs at the opening of VD ch. 15; see VD 38a.1.
432. This is the case in some but not all of the commentaries. Bhavabhaṭṭa, for example, interprets the term as mantric syllables (see Pandey 2002, 530, 726), as does Tathāgatarakṣhita (UN 238a.3).
433. See SN 66a.7.
434. Tsong Khapa here paraphrases Tathāgatarakṣhita’s comments at UN 238a.4.
435. It occurs as follows in Jayabhadra’s commentary: “In pacification [rites] they are loose, not rough” (Sugiki 2001, 135: śantau śithilāny aniṣṭhurāṇi).
436. This text, zhi ba la ni lhod pa ste / drag cing rtsub pa ma yin no, only occurs in the SL translation. See Gray 2012, 461.
437. Tsong Khapa here is paraphrasing the following comment in Sachen’s commentary: “For pacifying illness, etc., the mantra is circulated loosely, i.e., slowly. It is not repeated roughly. It is said that these latter two lines did occur in the Sanskrit texts of the previous masters, but did not occur in Lama Sumati[kīrti]’s text” (PG 355.1: nad la sogs pa zhi ba la lhod pa ni / sngags dal gyis ’khor ba ste / drag cing rtsub par bzlas pa ma yin no zhes pa ste / tshig tha ma gnyis po de ni jo bo snga ma rnams kyi rgya dpe la yod pa / bla ma su ma ti’i dpe la med gsung ngo).
438. See Pandey 2002, 531, 726–27.
439. See PG 355.2.
440. The Tibetan lha sbyin, a translation of the Sanskrit devadatta, is a generic name, like the English “John Doe,” meant to stand in for whomever’s name the adept would want to use here. It thus means “so-and-so.”
441. The Sanskrit here reads picchaka, which means a peacock tail feather or a bunch thereof, as Tsong Khapa correctly identifies below. However, in all of the Tibetan translations this term is mistranslated as “bee” (PM, SM: bung ba; SL: sbrang bu; Gray 2012, 361, 461, 541). Tsong Khapa here follows Butön’s commentary; see NS 216b.1–2. Note that Butön’s commentary doesn’t give the incorrect transliteration pacchika; instead it reads sicchaka, which is almost certainly a corruption of the correct reading picchika, given the similarities between the Tibetan letters pa and sa.
442. The correct imperative reading, bhakṣaya, occurs in Bhavabhaṭṭa’s commentary (Pandey 2002, 532). Tsong Khapa follows Butön in giving the incorrect transliteration bha kṣa yaṁ (NS 216b.5).
443. Tsong Khapa makes this comment because the Sanskrit grasana “devouring” is translated in the PM and SM translations as ’debs, “strike” (Gray 2012, 361, 541). The correct translation, bza’, is found in the SL translation (Gray 2012, 461) and commentaries such as Bhavabhaṭṭa’s (Pandey 2002, 729).
444. The correct transliteration should be dzī ba ya for the Sanskrit jīvaya. See Pandey 2002, 532.
445. Tsong Khapa here paraphrases Bhavabhaṭṭa’s commentary. See Pandey 2002, 532, 730.
446. Tsong Khapa here paraphrases Kambala’s commentary; see SN 66b.1–2.
447. This passage occurs as follows at VD 38a.4–5: g.yon dang g.yas kyi ngos gnyis su / dbyangs yig bcu gnyis steng bltas bris / ka sogs ’og tu bltas pa ni/ ngos gnyis dag tu spel ba ste / dbus su des ni sbyar bar bya.
448. Tsong Khapa here paraphrases Bhavabhaṭṭa’s commentary on the verses above. See VV 92a.2–5.
449. Kambala comments that “the two rows should be placed in the middle. paṅktidvaya madhyīkṛtāḥ” (K 64a.1); phreng ba gnyis te de’i dbus su chud par bya’o (SN 66b.3–4).
450. Tsong Khapa is referring to text quoted in the Kambala’s commentary, namely “‘The victim will be restrained;’ in restraint there is the restriction of the two movements.” (K 64a.2: nirodhās tu bhavet sādhya iti nirodhe gatidvayavibandhaḥ; SN 66b.4–5: bsgrub bya ’gog par gyur na ni / ’gog pa ni rgyu ba gnyis rnam par bcings pa’o).
451. See RG 305a.5.
452. Tsong Khapa here expands upon Kambala’s commentary; see SN 66b.5–6.
453. This is a quotation from Kambala’s commentary, namely saṁpuṭāṁ saṁpuṭībhāvaṁ candrasūryau tu vikhyāte / pārśve tu vāmadakṣiṇāṁ vajraśṛṅkhalabandhena ūrdhvadvāre sthīto nityaṁ bhāskaraṁ dīptimālinaṁ (K 64a.3–4); kha sbyor sbyar bar gyur pa ni / zla ba nyi mar rnam par bshad / g.yon dang g.yas kyi ngos gnyis su / rdo rje lu gu rgyud bcings pa / steng gi sgo ru rtag gnas pa’i / snang byed ’bar ba’i phreng ba can (SN 66b.6–7).
454. VD 38a.7: shes rab thabs kyi mnyam sbyor gyis / kha sbyor zhes byar brjod pa yin / lag gnyis kun tu ’khyud pa yin / rdo rje lu gu rgyud bcings brjod. This verse is also quoted by Kambala as follows: āliṅgana dvaukarābhyāṁ vajraśṛṅkhalam ucyate / prajñopāya-samāyaṁ saṁpuṭam ity abhidhīyate (K 64a.4–5); cf. SN 66b.7.
455. This text occurs as follows in Kambala’s commentary: vajreṇa bhedayet padmaṁ picchakaṁ madhukartṛsmṛtam / bhrāmaṇacālanaṁ hy etat / suratānandasvabhāvena pāśa padmaṁ praveśayet / madanāṅkuśinaiva ākarṣayet sarvatathāgatān / akṣobhitākṣobha-vajreṇa muṣalaṁ tat prakīrta / grasane melaka vajra (K 64a.5–7); rdo rje padma ’phyed ba ni / sgro chun sbrang rtsir byed par bshad / bskor bas ’di ni bskyod pa’o / bde dang dga’ ba’i rang bzhin gyis / zhags pa padmar bcug pa ste / ’dod la chags pa’i lcags kyu yis / de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad dgug / mi ’khrug ’khrug byed rdo rje ste / de ni gtun shing rab tu grags / bza’ ba rdo rje ’debs pa la / de bzhin gshegs pa ’dus pa’o (SN 67a.1–2).
A similar, but not identical passage occurs in VD ch. 15. (VD 38b.1–2).