VajraYana

 

The Vajrayana form of Buddhism is a specialised type of Tantric Buddhism, closely aligned with teachings of the Mahayana. Matreiya Dharma Sangha Centre practises and teaches a reformed version of the Vajrayana teachings, which also embraces most aspects of the Mahayana doctrine.

 

The word vajra was originally associated with Indra, the Indian version of Zeus, the God of Thunder and Lightning. The vajra was Indra’s ‘thunderbolt’, his rod of power, the mechanism he used to display his supreme brilliance and strength. Thus the term vajra is generally translated from Hindu texts as ‘thunderbolt’. Spiritually it is understood as a representation or symbol of a potent form of energy containing great capacity and power to enlighten and illumine.

 

In Tibetan the word vajra translates as dorje. The literal meaning of dorje in Tibetan is ruler, master or lord. For Buddhists, the dorje and the power and qualities that it imbues, is something essential to obtain, manifest, and embody, in the quest for Buddhahood and the supreme enlightened state. It stands for the immutability of our spiritual essence.

 

The geometrically divine representation of the dorje symbol abounds throughout the pictorial imagery and ritualised activities of the (Tibetan) Buddhist monk’s life. It is seen throughout the thangkhas that adorn the walls of his monastery, it is in the monk’s hand as he mumbles the prayers to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings, and on the end of handle of his bell, that rings fervently throughout the rituals of his daily routine. However, ultimately, it is still that; a symbol of something greater, something vast and powerfully penetrative, a standpoint of ultimate strength from which the entire cosmic universe can be seen, experienced, and understood, with the full capacity of infinite awareness.

 

The English rendering of the word dorje, is presented in various ways, suggestive of its qualities; diamond like, adamantine and indestructible. It is also seen to symbolise wisdom, emptiness and indivisibility. The dorje represents the highest spiritual power; irresistible and invincible, thus it is compared with the diamond, which is capable of cutting asunder any other substance, but which itself can not be cut by anything. The diamond also stands as a symbol of preciousness, changelessness, purity, and clarity. Thus the dorje (vajra) can be seen to symbolise the indestructibility of enlightenment.

 

Vajrayana and Tantra

The root texts and the basis of the Vajrayana, are the tantras. A large corpus of root tantric texts exists, however secret oral instructions given by master to disciple are of greatest pertinence to the practitioner for practice.

 

Vajrayana is a form of tantra. Tantra relates to concepts of weaving, (derived from thread, web, fabric), interwoveness, interdependence, continuity of cause and effect and the inner relationships of things.

 

The threads here are threads of karma, the magic carpet of time and space, which is made up of multitudinous strands of sangskaric ‘threads’ that connect and configure individual karma; moulding and shaping our entire material existences and all that is.

 

The central idea of Tantric Buddhism is prajna, knowledge, often depicted as wisdom (Tib. she-rab). It is a kind of secret language, where the highest is clothed in the form of the lowest, the most sacred in the form of the most earthly, and the deepest knowledge in the form of the most grotesque paradoxes. It is a language for initiates (those who have travelled far along the bodhisattva bhumis in past lives), aimed at shocking those initiates whom are sleeping. It is the body of the rapid and integral path of Transformation.

 

The Vajrayana and tantra is about experience, direct experience with the nature of truth and reality, as it is. It is about the dissatisfaction of merely intellectual or theoretical attitudes, compelling one to penetrate the layers of conceptual mind into the realm of direct experience. It is tantra, aimed at pure realisation; evoked through the power of inner vision and direct contact with that which one seeks and ultimately is. It is a great quest in order to recognise and transform those forces, the dynamic forces of the Universe, in ones own mind- not only for one’s own good, but for that of all living beings,. That is the aim of the tantras and the Vajrayana path.

 

 

 

Yantra, Mantra, and Mudra

The technical aids of the aspiring Vajrayana yogin/i are yantra, mantra and mudra. Yantra is the systematic arrangement of symbols on which the process of visualisation is based. In current Tibetan Buddhism the visualisation is generally built upon a four, eight, or sixteen petalled lotus-blossom (padma) which forms the visible starting-point of meditation. At Maitreya Sangha Dharma Centre the specific type of yantra used would be more varied and changing according to the type of sangskaras the aspiring yogin/yogini was trying to transcend or create. For example, if the yogin/i was experiencing a great sense of separation and distance from his/her Vajrayana brothers and sisters he would go deep into the core of his heart centre where he would begin to produce the visualisation of being surrounded by each of his dharma brothers/sisters in a circle, each and everyone of them pouring out enlightening energies upon him from their heart. Surrounding them in a greater circle he would picture the lineage that stood before them, the Council of Bodhisattvas, the enlightened Sages of Ages, picturing the wise and all embracing energies emanating directly into the disciples hearts. Upon visualising this he would start to see that they, him and his dharma brothers and sisters formed a lotus-blossom, a chakra, within a greater chakra that was created by the past lineage holders and energised by Shambhalla. He would begin to see that the effect of this meditation and interrelation, the love and enlightened forces being generated were being poured throughout the chakras of the Earth and all beings thereon. Thus he would pronounce ‘My dharma brothers and sisters are the key to my enlightenment, may we spread the love of the Bodhisattvas throughout the Earth so that all beings shall be liberated from suffering. Om.’

 

Through the employment of these geometrical diagrams and symbols of mystical significance (yantras), the aspiring yogin’s aim is to establish a greater telepathic communication and energy interrelationship with the deities that he invokes. At Matreiya Dharma Sangha we call upon the more exalted energies of our enlightened aspects and of our personal Diety (yidam)  to construct these visualisations whereby as a consequence of our striving and meditation we obtain a far closer link with them as our energies become more and more likened to theirs.

 

Mantras

The recitation of mantras forms a central theme of many meditations within the Vajrayana system. A mantra, which consists of words or sacred sounds of occult power is given from guru to disciple in the course of the spiritual training in order to open his/her mind to the experience of higher dimensions. This is also true in Matreiya Sangha Dharma Buddhist training, where mantras are also used as a weapon, a mechanism to overcome the major obstacles to enlightenment. The obstacles may involve the quelling of evil forces intent on harm or one’s own personal karma, hindering mental and emotional traits.

The aspiring yogin/i adapts a common form of mantra into a unique phraseology peculiar to his own requirements, oft accompanied by a symbol (yantra) which has specific power to him/her in the immediate battle or challenge that stands before him/her, or perhaps his dharma brothers/sisters or even humanity as a whole.

 

Often simplicity holds the most powerful key. For example, ‘I must Love’, recited repetitively, accompanied by the view of brilliant energy radiating out of the heart centre can be very combative against selfish, separative, aggressive or complacent tendencies. ‘I will sacrifice myself for the good of the whole’, can be another. ‘Humanity must learn the way of the Heart.’ ‘I must be humble.’ ‘I will not blame.’ These type of mantras which can be elaborated and adapted to the specific need, repeated (internally) continuously, at the appropriate moments offer a valuable key to the yogin/i aspiring toward mastery. As each challenge is surmounted a new mantra will be formed in relation to the next arising poison or problem that plagues him/herself or another.

 

If the practitioner is vigilant and bold enough to maintain the correct use of mantras in this way, he/she is then able to create an access whereby the energy of higher dimensions, will or love, can manifest in him/her and allow him/her and those he/she is attempting to help, walk one step closer into the heart of Buddhahood and one step further away from the suffering induced by ignorance and selfishness.

 

At some stage, when the aspiring yogin/i is nearing cleansing his/her emotional and mental karma relating to the lower three worlds (physical/mental and emotional) he will begin to utilise higher vibrations of magical incantation. These will be bestowed upon him from his guru, or from specific dakinis during meditation. The potent forms of energy, which these mantric sounds contain, must only be utilised with the aim of liberating and educating, and when done so will enable him to produce the seen miracles of healing and materialisation, such as transforming objects, alleviating disease and levitation. Such energies can only be utilised in one whose purity and luminosity is spotless and radiant.

Such powers should only ever be utilised to liberate and to heal and never be used as a tool of the ego, which by this stage, in the Vajrayogin/i, is all but dead.

 

The Mudra is the bodily gesture (especially of the hands) which accompanies the ritual act and the mantric word, as well as the inner attitude, which is emphasised and expressed by this gesture.

It is specifically the use of the Mantra and Yantra Yoga that play a part of considerable importance in the Vajrayana path, as seen also in the Matreiya Dharma Sangha Buddhist adaptation of this path.