PARAMITAYANA AND MANTRAYANA - 5

Mahayana, the 'Great Spiritual Course', is known as the 'spiritual course of Bodhisattvas' in order to distinguish it from the 'Lesser Course' or Hinayana with the two divisions, Sravakayana and Pratyekabuddhayana, both of which are recognized by Mahayana as preliminary steps. Sravakayana is the spiritual course of those who 'listen' to the discourses of religious

masters, have to be told everything regarding what to do and what not to do, and are unable to find their way and attain their goal without that continuous guidance upon which they thoroughly depend. In the course of human development the Sravaka belongs to the infancy stage. Pratyekabuddhayana is the course of the self-reliant persons who by their own power want to go their way and

reach their goal. They may be persons of the lone-wolf type, men of the common herd, or selective persons who carefully choose their company. The common characteristic of Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas is their selfcentredness which is only mitigated by the circumstance that in following a certain discipline they may become living examples of how to pursue the aim of self-development and in this way have a mediate effect on society.

The spiritual course of the Bodhisattvas or of those who belong to the superior type of man in the triple classification of mankind and who have realized that the idea of man is never an image of fulfilment but merely a stimulus to his desire to rise above himself, comprises two courses which closely intermingle and, indeed, are complementary to each other, Paramitayana and Mantrayana.

Paramitayana, as its name implies, emphasizes the practice of the 'perfections' of liberality, ethics and manners, patience, strenuousness, meditative concentration, and intelligence as the function which apprehends no-thing-ness. The former five are subsumed under 'fitness of action' or the moral frame within which the sixth, intelligence, operates as a discriminative and appreciative function. Precisely because of its

capacity to intuit reality as it is and to appreciate it by separating it from all its adumbrations due to wishfulness and uncritical thinking, it is a truly transcending function and leads man out of bondage to freedom as an active and dynamic way of being. This is realized by scaling the ten spiritual levels which commence when the path of 'seeing reality or no-thing-ness' opens, and continues by the path of 'attending to the seen' to the path of 'no more learning' or goal-attainment. It is on these

levels that the perfections can express themselves properly and do not degenerate into sentimentalities and affectations. Other, though less known, names for this aspect of Mahayana Buddhism are Lak$aQayana (course of philosophical investigation) and Hetuyana (course of spiritual training in which attention is centred on the ultimate cognitive norm in human experience).

Mantrayana (its full name is Guhya-mantra-phala-vajra-yana) is variously called Guhyamantrayana, Phalayana, Upayayana, and Vajrayana.

The term Vajrayana has become the common name for this aspect of Mahayana Buddhism which has been misrepresented grossly by writers of different professions, mostly for two reasons. The first is plain ignorance. The Vajrayana texts deal with inner experiences and their language is highly symbolical. These symbols must be understood as symbols for the peculiar kind of

experience which brought forth the peculiar verbal response, not for things which adequately (and even exhaustively) can be referred to by the literal language of everyday life. The symbols of Vajrayana do not stand literally for anything, they are meant as a help uto lead people to, and finally to evoke within them, certain experiences which those who have had them consider to be the

most worth-while of all experiences available to human beings" 1. In brief, the language of Vajrayana is mystical and although it has an essentially material element in it, its intention is never material. The second reason for gross misrepresentation is that writers about Vajrayana have already made up their

minds about the nature of Buddhism. This attitude has its root in the peculiar outlook that developed in the West after the Middle Ages. There was, here, a progressive emphasis upon knowledge which was born from

the desire to achieve control over nature together with a possible transformation of cultural patterns. Such a knowledge-norm does not take kindly to accepting and appreciating different cultural forms or different premises of thought in their own right. It automatically will fit any

1 John Hospers, Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1956, p. 374·

factual information about something alien to it into its preconceived schemata. As a matter of fact, that which is to be considered as factual or objective' (or whatever revised version of this now threadbare abstraction may be brought forward) is already a selection from the vast amount of data that eventually will be made to suit the existing pattern. Everything else is pushed into the background or dismissed as not being relevant ; otherwise it remains unintelligible why patently absurd theories should be perpetuated 1.

The long, though unwieldy, term Guhya-mantra-phala-vajra-yana can be translated as a course grounded in the ultimate structure of the noetic as taking shape in active Buddhahood, and which is the crowning result of a process of transformation that remains hidden to the ordinary

observer'. It points to every feature peculiar to this aspect of Mahayana. Its meaning has been given by Tsong-kha-pa as follows 2 : ((Since it is hidden and concealed and not an object for those who are not fit for it, it is secret' (gsang-ba, guhya). ((The etymology of mantra is man mentation' and tra protection', as laid down in the Guhyasamiijatantra (p. 156) 3 :

Mentation which proceeds

Through senses and sense-objects

Is named manas;

Protection is meant by tra

That which Liberation from wordliness is said to be Consists of commitments and restraints ;

To guard them with existential

Norms is said to be the Mantra-conduct.

((Another explanation is that man refers to the awareness of reality as it is and tra to compassion protecting sentient beings.

1 Closely connected with this peculiar outlook is the traditional religious background of the West. It took over from the Semitic conception the story of the Fall of Man and this Biblical tale underlies openly or covertly all accounts about the

history of the development of Buddhist thought. Inasmuch as erotic imagery is taboo in the Western traditional religion, this local belief is nevertheless made the basis for judging cultural patterns that have a different premise and can be understood only from grasping them in their own right. Tantrism puts no premium or sanction on sexual licence. Its moral code is about the strictest that can be demanded.

2 Tskhp III r2a seqq. 3 See also Tskhp VI 4, roa.

("Course' (theg-pa, yana) is both goal-attainment or result, and goalapproach or causal situation, and since there is goal-directed movement, one speaks of a 'course'.

(('Result' ('bras-bu, phala) refers to the four purities of place, being, wealth, and action, i.e., the citadel of Buddhahood, the Buddha-norms (of cognition and communication), the Buddha-riches, and the Buddhaactivities. When in anticipation of this goal one imagines oneself now as being engaged in the purification of the without and within by sacred utensils in the idst

of gods (and goddesses) in a divine palatial mansion, one speaks of a Phalayana (a course which anticipates the goal), because one proceeds by a meditation which anticipates the result. Thus it is stated in the Bla-med-kyi rgyud-don-la 'jug-pa : 'Result -, because one proceeds by way of the purities of existence, wealth, place, and action'. ((The Vimalaprabhii states : 'Vajra means sublime indivisibility and indestructibility, and since this is (the nature of)

the course, one speaks of Vajraship'. This is to say that Vajrayana is the indivisibility of cause or Paramita method and effect or Mantra method. - According to the dBang mdor bstan :

Awareness of no-thing-ness is the cause; To feel unchanging bliss is the effect. The indivisibility of no-thing-ness And bliss is known as the enlightenment of mind.

((Here the indivisibility of awareness which directly intuits no-thingness and the unchanging, supreme bliss is conceived as consisting of the two phenomena of goal-approach and goal-attainment. Such an interpretation of Vajrayana, however, applies to the Anuttarayogatantras, not to the three lower Tantras, because, if this unchanging, supreme bliss has

to be effected by meditative practices preceding and including inspection, since it settles after the bliss-no-thing-ness concentration has been realized, these causal factors are not present in their entirety in the lower Tantras. Therefore, while this is correct for the general idea of Vajrayana, it is not so for the distinction in a causal situation

course or in one anticipating the goal. For this reason the explanation of the sNy im-pa' i me-tog will have to be added: 'The essence of Mahayana is the six perfections; their essence is fitness of action and intelligence of which the

essence or one-valueness is the enlightenment-mind. Since this it the Vajrasattva-concentration it is Vajra, and being both Vajra and a spiritual course, one speaks of Vajrayana. And this is the meaning of

Mantra yoga'. Thus Vajrayana is synonymous with Vajrasattva-yoga which effects the indivisible union of fitness of action and intelligence. In it there are the two phases of a path and a goal.

Upayayana' (course of methods) means that the methods stressed in this course are superior to those of the Paramitayana. As stated in the mTha' gnyis sel-ba : 'Because of indivisibility, the goal being the path, superiority of methods and utter secrecy, one speaks of Vajrayana, Phalayana, Upayayana, and Guyha(mantra)yana respectively'".

This authoritative interpretation of the meaning of Paramitayana and Mantrayana needs only a few words by way of comment. Mantrayana certainly is a hidden and secret lore, not because something that is offensive has to be concealed, but because it is nothing tangibly concrete that one can display. It is something which relates to that which is most intimate: the refinement of the personality, the cultivation of human values, the liberation of man from his bondage to things and, above all,

from the mistaken and debasing idea that he himself is a thing, a narrowly circumscribed entity in a vast array of impersonal and inhuman things. Certainly, a discipline which aims at preventing life from becoming a mere vegetative

function and at rescuing man from being lost in an alldevouring, spiritless, unspirited, and inhuman mass, is of no value to him whose only desire is to be led in such a way that he believes he is a leader. It is with regard to such people that Mantrayana has to be

kept hidden and must never be divulged. A person who has not yet become fit and mature through having practised all that which is common to both Siitras and Tantras by following the graded path of the 'three types of man' - 'the person who is not a suitable receptacle for instruction',

as the texts repeatedly refer to him-is unable to understand its significance and by his lack of understanding is merely courting disaster. He will at once try to turn it into something which it never can be. Enmeshed in his superstitions and goaded on by rash conclusions he will discount new and divergent insights as already long familiar, and he will level down the exceptional to

the average (if not the below-average). For he hates to be forced to stand on his own feet ; after all it is so much easier and reassuring to find oneself supported by a prevailing opinion, even if it should be a most absurd one.

Every developmental process is something that occurs in the secret depths of man's being and that has to be guarded carefully against and protected from all that might interfere with it. This is done by remaining aware of what is real. Therefore at every phase the contemplation of no-thing-ness is an inevitable accompaniment. Once this awareness is

lost man glides off into uncertainty and becomes susceptible of error. Although in Buddhism error never implies culpability, it must be overcome because it is a straying away from an initial vividness and richness of experience into a bewildering state of disintegration and dead concepts. Such a necessary protection is offered by the mantra which,

as a rule, is either decried as unintelligible gibberish or believed to possess occult powers, all of which merely serves to mystify the issue. The mantra, like the visualized images of gods and goddesses, is a symbol which, precisely because it has no assigned connotation as has the literal sign we use in propositions, is capable of being understood in more significant ways, so that

its meanings are fraught with vital and sentient experience. The mantra opens a new avenue of thought which becomes truer to itself than does any other type of thinking which has found its limit in de-vitalized symbols or signs that can be used to signify anything without themselves being significant.

Being a course (yana) of transformation and transfiguration in which the goal determines the course, Mantrayana demands a different kind of thought, which in the very act of thinking transforms me and in so doing brings me nearer to myself. This is not so much an achievement which, once it has been performed, can be labelled and shelved somewhere, because as a new determinate

and narrowly circumscribed state it would be as much a fetter as was the previous one. Rather, it remains a task which opens our eyes to new horizons. In other words, the goal is the project of myself as I am going to be when all bias due to direct and indirect indoctrination is abolished, and since our projects are not isolated events locked up inside a mind, they refer to a whole world and

its ordering. The goal, commonly referred to as Buddhahood, is never a fixed determinate essence ; it is a whole world-view. There is the 'citadel of Buddhahood' or the divine mansion which is not empty but lived in by 'bodies' or more precisely by body-minds, which give this world its

divine status by reaching out to it by means of existentials, the norms of spirituality, communication, and authentic being in the world. There is the richness of communication as an act of worship and lastly an enactment of Buddhahood, the transformation and transfiguration of oneself and of the world in producing a new pattern that is more promising and more satisfying. Since one acts here in support of a goal as yet unrealized, this discipline is aptly called the course which makes the goal

its base. This does not exclude its 'cause', the Paramitayana, which lays the foundation for an intellectual and spiritual maturation. This enables man to acquire the values, ideals, and principles with which he can create

for himself those future forms of understanding which will impart meaning to his life through a constantly growing appreciation in terms of which he can estimate the worth-whileness of certain things and acts and the futility of others.

The indivisibility of cause and effect is one of the many meanings of vajra. In this sense Vajrayana is synonymous with Mantrayana and is the name for a technique or course of action which is controlled by the goal, the 'result' towards which the act is directed. In other words, the end controls the means, but the action is here and now, although the goal to · be reached is still at some 'place', the citadel of Buddhahood which in the pure Buddha-sphere is the Akani$tha-heaven

and in the human-divine sphere the palatial mansion of the ma1J4ala, both of which are as yet undetermined in ordinary place and time. This is not purposive in the ordinary sense of the word, it is an integrative process of a higher order. It leads to the second meaning of vajra and indicates the blending of action and insight. In theory, we may separate awareness from action, but as phases of our being they are closely interdependent. The more I understand myself as being a fixed entity the

more degraded my actions become ; and, conversely, the less self-centred I become the less biased are my actions and relations with others. The unificatory process is named Vajrasattva-yoga. In Buddhism, yoga never means to be swallowed up by an Absolute, nor does it imply anything which Occidental faddism fancies it to be ; it always means the union of 'fitness of action' and 'intelligence'. In this process certain norms are revealed, which are always active and dynamic. They have become known by their

Indian names, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirma!).akaya, but never have been understood properly, within the framework of traditional Western semantics, because of the essentialist premises of Western philosophies. Essence is that which marks a thing off and separates it from other entities of a different kind. From such a point of view all of man's actions spring from that which is considered to be his intrinsic nature. Its fallacy is that it makes us overlook man's relational being ; the actual

person always lives in a world with others. And, in human life, essence tells man that he is already what he can be, so there is no need to set out on a path of spiritual development. Seen as existential norms these three patterns reveal their significance.

Dharmakaya indicates the intentional structure of the noetic in man. It is the merit of Buddhism that it has always recognized this feature of awareness : I cannot know without knowing something, just as I cannot do without doing something. But in ordinary knowledge whatever ss

I know is overshadowed by beliefs, presuppositions, likes and dislikes. However, the more I succeed in removing myself from self-centred concerns and situations and free myself from all bias, the more I am enabled to apprehend things as they are. This happens in disciplined philosophical enquiry through which one gradually approaches no-thingness and indeterminacy, from the vantage point

of which one can achieve a view of reality without internal warping. This cognitive indeterminacy which underlies .the whole noetic enterprise of man is richer in contents and broader in its horizons than any other awareness because it is an unrestricted perspective from which nothing is screened or excluded. If anything can be predicated about it, it is pure potency which, when actualized, enables us to see ourselves and things as we and they really

are. In order to gain this capacity we have to develop our intelligence, our critical acumen, which is the main theme of the Paramitayana and without which Mantrayana is impossible. But all the information we receive through such sustained analysis is not merely for the sake of pure awareness or contemplation, but in order that we may act. Every

insight is barren if it does not find expression in action, and every action is futile if it is not supported by sound insight. Only when we succeed in understanding ourselves, our projects and our world from a point of view which is no point of view, will a sound direction of human action be possible, because it is no longer subordinated to petty, self-centred concerns. This active mode of being is realized through the two operational patterns or norms, the Sambhogakaya and the

Nirmal).akaya, both of which have their raison d'etre in the cognitive-spiritual mode. Strictly speaking, only the Nirmal).akaya is perceptible, although it would be wrong to assume that it is of a physical nature. As a matter of fact, as ordinary beings we are unable to discern whether somebody embodies the Nirmal).akaya or not. Only at some later time, after centuries and generations may we come to realize that this person or that has been that

which we would term the Nirmal).akaya. This gives the clue to an understanding of this technical term which is left untranslated in works dealing with Buddhism. Nirmal).akaya signifies being in the world, not so much as a being among things and artifacts, but as an active being in relation to a vast field of surrounding entities which are equally vibrating with

life, all of them ordered in a world structure. As an active mode of being Nirmal).akaya is the implementation of man's whole being, the ordering of his world in the light of his ultimate possibilities. In our everyday life we understand others, for the most part, from what they do, the functions they perform, and this appears to be a static

and impersonal order. Anyone may perform this function or that. The main thing is that business goes on. There is little scope for the NirmaI).akaya, because that would be something exceptional, and the exceptional is at once levelled down to the average. However, the ordering of one's

life and of the world in which one lives is certainly not an impersonal or depersonalized act. Man is never alone, but always reaches out to others. He does this through communication. Usually this happens in the verbosity of everyday chatter. The more words that are uttered the more there seems to have been said, and therefore some modern philosophers think that a proper

manipulation of linguistic symbols will solve all problems of being. Just as a world of things cannot give meaning to man's being in the world, the verbose discourse indulged in by various groups is unable to clarify man's being with others. Universal concepts and ready-made judgments are utterly inadequate. Real being with others must spring up on the spur of the moment and arouse us to our possibilities. That which does so is the Sambhogakaya. Grounded in unrestricted and unbiased

cognition it can establish contact with others and stir them to authentic action. The union of insight and action, of unlimited cognition and its active framework of communication with others in a world order, is referred to by the symbol of Vajrasattva : ((Vajra is the Dharmakayic awareness in which three types of enlightenment enter indivisibly from ultimateness, and Sattva is the apprehendable form pattern deriving from it" 1. The attempt to effect this integration of thought and action is termed Vajrasattvayoga, which is synonymous with Vajrayana.

There is yet another meaning to Vajrasattva, which is the central theme of the highest form of Mantrayana, the Anuttarayogatantra or 'the continuity of the unificatory process which is unsurpassed'. This truly inward event is represented symbolically by two human bodies in intimate embrace. This is so because the human body is the easiest form in which we

can understand that which is most important to us, and the embrace is the most intimate connection that can exist between two different persons. This seemingly sexual symbolism has shocked many an observer who merely read his own pre-occupation with

sex into the symbol representation and completely failed to grasp the premises from which this symbolism sprang. L. A. Reid aptly remarks : ((There is mythic thinking here, and it is necessary. It is not the end or the last word, but only one way in which we physically bodied creatures can live intensely

our spiritual life. The same is true of sexual love when it is fully human. The lover desires physical contact, almost identification and assimilation of the beloved, which is one unique way in which a person can achieve closest spiritual unity with another. The language of poetry and religion which expresses these things is mystic

language. It has an essentially material element in it, but its intention is not finally material or it would be mere idolatry or sensuality. In our embodied experience the two aspects are so interfused that the language of space and time and of

actions therein is the language of the spirit as embodied" 1. Certainly, such symbol language and representation is more effective than to say abstractly that Va;'ra is the symbol for the noetic which is present as an

indeterminate relational form, grounded in the knowing agent, and that Sattva is determinate and has apparently its own ground, and that this duality, which we encounter as the subject-object division, is overcome when the indeterminate relational form is terminated or filled by the object and thus becomes determinate. It is cold comfort to speak of Vajrasattva as the symbol of noetic identity, where

identity is formal, not existential ; and this becomes still more uncomfortable when we consider it merely from a cognitive-intellectual aspect, because we have tended to separate feeling from knowing and to consider them as incompatible. In Buddhism, knowing has a connotation of

bliss, while unknowing is suffering. This bliss reaches its highest pitch when knowledge becomes free, when nothing restricts the range of its possible terms. Cognition is thus commensurate with ecstasy. This experience is technically known as

the 'indivisibility of bliss and no-thing-ness' which Tsongkha-pa defines as follows : ((When the subjective pole or the noetic, which has become its existentially inherent bliss, understands the objective pole or no-thing-ness without internal warping, this union of subject and object is the indivisible unity of bliss and no-thing-ness" 2 .

The recognition of existential categories as dynamic ways of being centres attention on how man acts rather than on what he is. The Sutras, on which the Paramitayana bases its teaching, give us a disciplined analy­ sis of man's cognitive capacity, but they do not, or at least not with unmistakable clarity and distinctness, study the active modes by which this power realizes itself in ordering the world in which we live with others. Since we cannot live well with others unless we have first de-

1 Ways of Knowledge and Experience, p. 147· 2 Tskhp VII r, 55b .

veloped a decisive insight into our nature and our role in establishing a world order, the Sutras are a preliminary step in this direction as they concentrate on the development of the cognitive capacity which, when brought to utmost clarity, enables man to set out on the Mahayana path. Thus Mantrayana and Paramitayana, contrary to the opinion of

certain scholars, are not two different and incompatible aspects of Buddhism, but are complementary to each other because the one concentrates on the development of an unbiased outlook and an unrestricted perspective, the other on the implementation of the cognitive norm through operational ones in authentic being with others and for others in a world that has been ordered in the light of man's ultimate and existential norms.

This complementary character of Mantrayana and Paramitayana is clearly evident from Tsong-kha-pa's and other Tibetan sages' writings. Tsong-kha-pa's words are 1 : Buddhahood, which fulfils the needs of others by manifesting itself to them, does not do so through the cognitive norm, the Dharmakaya, but through the two operational ones, the Sambhogakaya and NirmaI).akaya. In

this respect it is the philosophical conviction of all Mahayanists that the realization of the cognitive norm through intelligent appreciative discrimination which intuitively apprehends the profound nature (or no-thing-ness) of all that is, that the realization of the two operational norms comes through unbounded activity, and that insight and action must for ever work together because they are unable to effect anything if they are

divorced from each other. Intelligence which apprehends the profound nature of all that is, is the same in Mantrayana as it is in the two lower courses (Hinayana and Paramitayana), because without understanding existentiality it is impossible to cross the ocean of Sarp.sara by

exhausting our emotional reactions. Therefore, the special and prominent feature of the Mahayana path is the instrumentality of the two operational norms which manifest themselves to the prepared and serve as a protective guidance to sentient beings as long as

Sarp.sara lasts. Although the followers of the Paramitayana attend to an inner course that corre­ sponds to the ultimate cognitive norm by conceiving the nature of all that is as beyond the judgments of reason and as not existing in truth, they have no such course as the one of Mantrayana which corresponds to the richness of operational modes. Therefore, because there is a great difference in the main feature of the path, the realization of operational

norms for the sake of others, there is the division into two courses. While

the division into Hinayana and Mahayana is due to the means employed and not because of a difference in the nature of intelligence through which no-thing-ness is apprehended, the division of the Mahayana into Paramitayana and Mantrayana also is not due to a difference in the discriminative acumen which understands the profound nature of all that is,

but because of the techniques employed. The differentiating quality is the realization of operational norms, and the transfigurational technique which effects tpe realization of these norms is superior to all other techniques used in the other courses".

From this it follows that the combination of Paramitayana and Mantrayana is more effective than any course pursued alone, although each course has its goal-achievement. This, too, has been stated by Tsongkha-pa 1 :

((It has been said that one is liberated from Sa:rp.sara when one knows properly both the Mantrayana and Paramitayana methods. Common to both is the idea that, failing to understand the nature of mind as not existing as a self, through the power of believing it to be a self all other emotional upsets are generated, and through them, in turn, karmic actions

are performed, and because of these actions one roams about in Sa:rp.sara. Specific to the Anuttarayogatantra is the idea that motivity, which spreads from an indestructible creativity centre in the region of the heart as a focal point of experience, initiates emotively toned responses by which karmic actions are performed. If one does not know how this process

comes into existence, and finally recedes gradually into this centre, one is fettered in Sa:rp.sara. This means that, when regarding the common process of birth and death one has realized the necessity of finding that point of view which one intuitively apprehends the nonexistence of a self, as explained by the Madhyamika philosophy, one will become utterly

convinced about the efficacy of this view which makes the round of birth and death ineffective. It also means that in regard to the specific process of birth and death one realizes the necessity of knowing the specific means to make ineffective motility, which initiates emotively toned responses. This latter method, however, is not necessary for merely becoming

liberated from Sarpsara, because Srav akas and Pratyekabuddhas also find deliverance from Sarpsara, although they do not resort to this special method of Mantrayana. It is (commonly) claimed that it is not enough to eliminate overt emotional responses which cause one to roam about in Sa:rp.sara, but that all their latent potentialities

have to be eliminated in addition. Yet it is the claim (of Mantrayana) that Buddhahood is found quickly, and not realized only after many aeons as it is stated in the ParamiUiyana works. When the emotively toned responses such as passion, a version and others which fetter beings in Sarp.sara and which in the Paramitayana have been said to arise from the belief in a self, have

been abolished, their power has come to an end. This is because, though they have not been shown to arise from motility, motility aids them when they have come into existence by the belief in a self as the organizatory cause. Therefore, if one does not have the discriminative acumen which apprehends the non-existence of a self, the real means to stop the organizatory power of the belief in a self which brings about Sa:rp.sara, one will not be able to become free from Sa:rp.sara, even

if the generally aiding power of motility has been stopped. Hence both procedures are necessary. While the former method has the capacity to eliminate emotively toned responses completely, it does so more quickly when it combines with the latter method; hence Mantrayana is the quick path". Two points deserve special notice. The one is the statement that Mantrayana is a quick method; the other is the specific

terminology of this discipline which deals with the same subject matter as does the Paramitayana. The language of the Siitras, which are the basis of the Paramitayana, is 'nominal' and propositional inasmuch as that which is stated can be apprehended intellectually with but incidental references to experience. What the Siitras say can be said again quite intelligibly

without, however, having any concern in that to which it pertains. The language of Mantrayana, on the other hand, attempts to express valuable experiences, which are 'felt' knowledge rather than knowledge 'about' something. Following the distinction by L. A. Reid , it is important

always to be aware that the language of Mantrayana is 'embodying' language, while that of the Paramitayana is predominantly 'categorizing'. And as it is not immediately necessary to experience what the Siitras teach, they can be studied at arm's length (although they were never

meant to be dealt with in such a way, to be discussed at social gatherings where 'interesting' people are inordinately puffed up with their own importance). It will readily be admitted that it will take a long, indeed, a very long time until one 'feels' what it is all about. Mantrayana, whl.ch is always 'felt' knowledge, presupposes 'engagement' and therefore is immediate. But there lies the tremendous danger which is not realized

by those who crave for that which is labelled 'Tantrism'. Unless properly prepared by first having developed one's intellectual acumen and having gained an unrestricted perspective, which is a most gruelling process, there is no chance to realize the goal; insanity in its milder or more severe form has too often been the outcome for those who attempted a shortcut in spiritual development. While it is possible to gain an unrestricted perspective, a 'middle view', without pursuing the path of self-develop­

ment, Mantrayana is indissolubly connected with this path for which the initiatory empowerment is a necessity. This is so because the em­powerment itself releases an experiental process which must be guarded by the strictest self-discipline. Although Mantrayana is the climax of Buddhist spiritual culture, it remains in itself a graded process. This is evident from its division into Kriyatantra, Caryatantra, Yogatantra, and Anuttarayogatantra.

The word Tantra defies any attempt at translation, because it is too complex to be rendered adequately. It denotes all that is otherwise described as the ground, the path, and the goal . As the ground it is the primal source from which everything takes its life and seems to lie beyond all that is empirical and objective. It is a light by which one sees rather than that

which one ses And in this illuminating character it is the ground against which everything objective stands revealed. It has no specific traits of its own and seems to be a vast continuum out of which all specific entities are shaped. As the ground it is the self-conscious existence of the individual who through this awareness is stirred to express himself in the

light of his possibilities. In so expressing himself he travels a path that is graded towards an apex. This travelling along the road of self-development is an unfolding of infinite riches, rather than a march from one point to another. Unhindered by tendencies to consider goalachievement as a final state, the goal remains an inspiring source. Since

the ground is often called the cause and the goal the effect, in between which comes the path, one is tempted to think of the causal situation as a linear succession of events. But such an idea is foreign to Mantrayana which takes the effect for its way. There is certainly a directive behaviour, but the determination of the pattern of action is intrinsic to the process. There is no external agent acting upon a natural process as a deus ex machina in some mysterious ways which we are told we will never be able to understand. Although there is no causality in the traditional

pragmatic sense, a genuine teleology seems to be involved, which is best called the principle of circular causation. The idea of the end or the goal determines and motivates conduct, but to have an idea of the future is a present act. Thus Tantra is both man's existence and transcendence, his beginning and end. But to state it in

this way is to prejudge and to misconstrue it, for beginning and end contradict continuity, and existence introduces a static element which is not recognized in Buddhism. Here one encounters an almost insoluble difficulty. Most of our Western terms

are statically explicit, while almost all Buddhist terms are dynamically suggestive. The basic idea of Tantra as continuity does not imply a survival in another form. It, rather, is a time-negating immersion in that which appears to man as a path of action continued for ever in time.

Inasmuch as man is the central theme of Buddhism, it has been realized from the very beginning that he finds himself continually in a world and in interaction with others. Since interaction is between persons who are men and women, it is only natural that male and female symbols occur throughout man's development. Development aims at integration, which

essentially means unity and harmony within the individual, a harmony between wishes, thoughts, purposes and actions. The integrating process itself takes on the character of a social act because it involves interaction with others both direct and indirect, overt and symbolic. Such interaction may most easily be compared to the progressive stages in courtship. Every incipient love relationship is to a great extent a matter of the eyes. The foreplay is almost completely

concentrated in the exchange of glances, which is then followed by smiles, a grasping of the hands (which in various cultures is a tacit consent to proceding towards the final stage of the love play), and physical consummation. Courtship is thus the readiest symbol to illustrate a process of integration which always means the unity between diverse factors. Just as integration is a need, so man needs a woman. But it is an important feature of this need that in all societies and under all known circumstances woman has always been

regarded as something more than the mere object for satisfying a physiological urge. Woman has always been a source of inspiration, whether she has been an image in man's psyche or a concrete person in the physical world. The within and the without intermingle and it is difficult to draw a dividing line. That which is an inward drama is

depicted in terms of the relationship between man and woman in the outer world as a deep and growing consummation in which the bodily and the spiritual indivisibly blend in the one life which constitutes the union of two individuals; and that which is an outward act becomes an

inner stimulus to a transfigured existential unity. The four phases of courtship : exchange of glances, an appreciating and encouraging· smile, a grasping of the hands, and the consummatory sexual act, symbolize the gradation of the four Tantras : Kriya-, Carya-, Yoga-, and Anuttarayogatantra. Those who can identify their desire to look

at the goddess of their contemplation with the path of their spiritual development are taught the Kriyatantra; those who, in addition, are able to smile at their partner, but cannot do more than this, are given the Caryatantra ; those who can hold the hands of the inspiring female or desire bodily contact, but are unable to proceed further towards the consummatory act,

are taught the Yogatantra ; and those who not only stay with contemplation but make the desire to copulate with a real woman the path of their spiritual growth, are taught the Anuttarayogatantra "1. The description of a psychological process of integration in the symbol of a love relationship, which has misled many

an uninformed person into believing that Mantrayana is an 'erotic' form of Buddhism, (a conception as absurd as the assumption that Christian mysticism in the Middle Ages was an eroticized Christianity), has been prompted by the fact that

"those who first set out on the path of Mantrayana belong to a sensuous and sensual world and are, moreover, apt to seek enlightenment merely by making their passion for the charms of their female fellow-beings the path to it" 2• Therefore, one hunts in vain for concrete "sex practices"

in any one of the four Tantras, each of which in its own way contributes to the realization of the essential topics of Mantrayana: the apprehension of no-thing-ness and the transfigurational technique. As Tsong-kha-pa declares : "The means utilized to make the sensuous and sensual the way is the apprehension of no-thing-ness and a transfigured existence. He who, in order to realize both these experiences,

mostly depends on external acts of ritual, is a man of the Kriyatantra order. He who does not care too much for external acts and contemplation, both of which are equally distributed, is a man of the Caryatantra. He for whom contemplation gains in importance while

ritual acts become less and less significant, is a man of the Y ogatantra. He who without caring for ritual acts is capable of bringing about an unsurpassed integration, is a man of the Anuttarayogatantra" 3• This gradation of the Tantras relates to their contents rather than to the individual who engages in them, because, as

Tsong-kha-pa points out, ((while there may be a greater or lesser interest in ritualistic acts and contemplative exercises, persons may also be interested jn a path which is not suited to their capacities" 1. The gradation of the experiential process towards an apex is not restricted to the Buddhist path as such nor to the division into four Tantras, for it is also the essential characteristic of the Anuttarayogatantra with its Two Stages, the Developing and the Fulfilment Stage.

The First or Developing Stage (bskyed-rim, utpannakrama) is preeminently a process of imagination. Imagination is the employment of past sensory and perceptual experiences, revived as images in a present experience at the ideational level. In fact, any past experience is potentially recallable, and therefore it is possible for feelings and emotions as well as cognitive processes to be imagined. The present experience,

however, will not be in its entirety a reproduction of a previous one, but constitutes a new organization of material derived from past experience, sometimes in a pattern different from the original experience. Imagination is thus productive as well as re-productive, inasmuch as it suggests both memory and the image-making power. It also enriches and transforms the experience by its ability to make us conceive of that which is seen in fragments or on the surface as a complete and integral whole. Accordingly, to

the purely sensuous content, there will be added intellectual elements that elevate imagination to the plane of inventive creation : artistic, musical, literary, and religious. It is natural that the greater the range of experience and the more fully developed the apperceptive background becomes by disengaging oneself from presuppositions and petty concerns, the wider and richer

will be the imagination. The importance of imaginative thinking can never be overestimated, nor must it ever be underestimated, because it is the only means by which to counteract the trained incapacity of modern man, be he a specialist or a man in the street, preventing him from breaking old connections and for allowing new and vital linkages to emerge. However, imagination,

if uncontrolled, becomes a vehicle for escape, but if properly directed it reveals values that are vital to human existence. Imagination is the very nature of the Developing Stage. This has been stated explicitly by Tsong-kha-pa 2 : a As the Developing Stage is an imaginative process, it is a creation or a product of the mind not a physical phenomenon", and ((Developing Stage, Imagination Stage and Premeditated Integration Process are the names of the First Stage; Fulfilment

Stage, Non-imagination Stage and Genuine and Spontaneous Integration Process those of the Second" 1• These terms clearly show that the Developing Stage is essentially that of the generation of a new understanding and attitude. However, to let a new attitude and a new appreciation and understanding of a situation be born, the old one must die. In this process of self-development and integration the 'old' constitutes our self-imposed ficticity and limitation which

we have accustomed ourselves to take for granted. To break these bounds is, certainly, a kind of death, and its dynamic aspect is referred to in the texts by such terms as 'immersing oneself in one's existentiality'. Here existentiality and immersion in it do not mean a mystical communion with transcendent being nor with an all-engulfing being in a sort of pantheism, but a process in which we

open ourselves to a basic creativity which is our total being and which we have lost sight of because we have become involved in the objects of our appetance. The process of dying and of regeneration is described in terms of a cosmological myth, since an experience like the one in which old connections are broken is cataclysmic 2• This poses the question of just what is the function of

myth in the individual integrative process. The answer which L. A. Reid has given regarding the function of myth in religion applies here in full. He says that uif we do say that myths are attempts to say in imaginative language what is true, we have also to be careful not to assume that myths are cold, deliberate constructions, in imaginative form, representing the objective world. They are not scientific (or pre-scientific) cosmologies; they are not like early philosophical

cosmologies, attempts to describe the origins and processes of nature on a large scale. Or at any rate they are not always this. Much more they seem to be dramatic and anthropomorphic projections expressing something of the deep and elemental tensions, conflicts and encounters taking place in our individual and collective lives. Perhaps much myth

cannot be understood at all until it is related to the inner life of man. Much mythical cosmology is spontaneously (not instantaneously) projected dramatic construction, on a cosmic scale, of the drama of man's life on this earth and of the lifeforce of the spirit ceaselessly struggling to enclose and master the infinite" 3•

\Vhile the Developing Stage emphasizes the creative process and is the necessary preliminary experience (the apperceptive mass of Herbartian psychology), the Fulfilment Stage (rdzogs-rim, sampannakrama) signifies the

emergence and recognition of the new situation with its appreciative understanding as a self-active and free-rising phenomenon. The Two Stages represent a definite mental activity on the part of existing systems of knowledge and the new understanding of the situation striving for

recognition. The Two Stages in their interrelation show a certain similarity with Herbartian psychology, inasmuch as the cognitive or intellectual aspect is emphasized throughout. However, the intellectualism involved is different from that of Herbart as it is never divorced from an emotionally enriching quality because the structure of

the noetic in Buddhism is such that it is never without its emotive component. The similarity with Herbart's conception of the working of the mind is evident from the explanation of the relation of the Two Stages, which Tsong-kha-pa gives 1 :

((If someone who wants to enjoy a banquet on the other side of a river cannot do so because he is prevented by the river, he may get into a boat and cross to the other side. Similarly, if someone wants to enjoy the riches of the Fulfilment Stage, but is unable to do so because he has been cut off by the river of his ordinary world of appearance and appetnce for it, he may step into the boat of

the Developing Stage and cross over to the other shore where the ordinary world of appearance and the appetance for it have left behind. Just as the crossing of the river by a boat is one process and the enjoyment of the banquet another, so also the Developing Stage is a process that prepares our mind for the birth of the Fulfilment Stage, but the enjoyment of the [[no-

thing-ness]] and transfigured existence of the Fulfilment Stage is another process for which the experience of vibratory and creative processes is necessary. This shows that the Developing Stage must be pursued to its end and that alone it is not sufficient".

Inasmuch as the process described by the Two Stages serves to bring about a new orientation based on inner harmony, the purpose of the Developing Stage as the preliminary to this orientation is primarily the severance of all connections with the ordinary world of appearance and all appetance for it. This ordinary' world of appearance relates to both the without and the within. Internally it is the self-complacency of utter

impersonality and is termed the 'common self-consciousness'. This selfconsciousness is not aware nor concerned with man's humanity but with that which M. Heidegger has characterized as 'das man' 1• Here one is always

master of a situation, one knows already everything and feels so reassured by finding oneself supported by widely prevailing opinion, but woe to him who dares to challenge this impersonality and insists on man's humanity. In order to overcome this complacency it is of primary importance to see oneself and the world in which

one lives in a different light. This mode of seeing is both a 'seeing' and a 'feeling', but done in such a way that complacency has surrendered itself to a feeling of transfiguration. The literal translation of the term for this feeling (lha'i nga-rgyal) would be 'a God's pride', but literal translations rarely convey any meaning and because of the use of the word '

God' in our world there could be no greater misunderstanding than to see in this process some sort of deification. The latter elevates a concrete person into a superhuman being and expects wonders of him. Actually, therefore, it is an abuse of man, not an appreciation of humanity. There is an element of poetic justice in this process of deification that those who deify man are the first to be abused by the deified man. The feeling of transfiguration, on the other hand, is an emergence in

freedom of mind and a more positive and revealing orientation towards the world in which one lives. The transition from the ordinary mode of seeing oneself and things to an appreciative one of transfiguration is a process of deepening insight. "It has been said that the Developing Stage in which one imagines the world to be a divine mansion and the beings in it as transfigured beings ('gods', 'goddesses') counteracts the common way of appearance and

the appetance for the latter; by familiarizing oneself with the appearance of the world as a divine mansion and of its inhabitants as transfigured beings, the ordinary mode of appearance is abolished; and by the certain feeling of being Akobhya or Vairocana or other deities, the common self-

complacency is left behind. The transition from this self-complacency to the feeling of transfiguration is as follows : when one has reached real knowledge the former belief concerning one's identity is discarded and the idea that one is of a divine nature sets in. Similarly, when idea of being Ak$obhya or Vairocana or any other deity is

established, the transition from common self-complacency to the feeling of transfiguration has been effected" 2• Tsong-kha-pa then explains that

the conquest of self-complacency is of primary importance and is the essential feature of the process, while the transfiguration of the world of appearance comes as the accompaniment of the conquest. That such a practice does not imply a negation of the world, but is a new orientation towards it and as such can never be a passing whim or affectation, is also clearly elaborated by Tsong-kha-pa 1 :

((The common way of appearance that is to be abandoned is not the world as it appears before our senses, but our feelings and ideas about it. The method of overcoming the common way of appearance and of the complacency we have. towards it by the Developing Stage is neither the eradication of the potentiality of appearance as is done by the trans­

worldly path, nor is it the weakening of this potentiality and the abolishing of the manifest form as is done by the worldly path. The conquest consists in the eradication of the common way of appearance and of the appetance for it by changing one's feelings and ideas about it when that which one has clearly imagined stands before one's mind in all its transparency. This

happens when, in imagining the world and its inhabitants as a mar;rf,ala and in feeling oneself as transfigure, both the capacity for feeling transfigured and the mar;cjala are clearly present before one's mind. It is not enough to bring about a little change for a while, it must be a stable experience".

Although in the First Stage it is of utmost importance to learn to see the world as a divine mansion and the beings in it as gods and goddesses, and in so doing to be permeated by a feeling of transfiguration, it is equally important not to project these images of the imagination on concrete objects and persons. The purpose of all these practices is not to change the

world nor to mould the persons according to an image, but to change one's attitude towards them and to find a new and more promising orientation. We must never forget that the knowledge which is valued in these practices, and which accompanies the process of re-orientation and integration, is never knowledge born of the desire to dominate and control others or the world in

which we live. It is knowledge which expresses itself in the life of man and in an authentic manner, because it is born out of his nature which, though it cannot be grasped by essentialist categories, can be lived in the light of [[Wikipedia:Absolute

(philosophy)|ultimate]] existential norms. For this reason the contemplation of no-thing-ness, the immediate apprehension of the fact that nothing exists in truth which by so existing

might warp and clog the free activity of the noetic in man, must be _ present at every step and turn. This has been insisted upon emphatically by Tsong-kha-pa 1 :

((The contemplation of no-thing-ness in the First Stage is a most important factor. The reason for this is that since the First Stage prepares the mind so that the full understanding which marks the Fulfilment Stage, can burst forth, without this contemplation of no-thing-ness this necessary readiness cannot be effected. This is so (I) because it has been stated that the contemplation of no-thing-ness is necessary from the

very beginning inasmuch as many Tantras of the Mantrayana declare that before one visualizes the circle of gods one has to speak the mantra which begins with the words svabhava 2 and that the meaning of this mantra is the contemplation and apprehension of the ultimate nonexistence of an

ontological status ; (n) because in order to make the cognitive norm the path one's spiritual development it is necessary to contemplate no-thing-ness inasmuch as in the First Stage the three existential norms (of cognition, communication, and authentic being in the world) are made the path of spiritual growth ; (III) because in order to familiarize oneself with the process of dying one must contemplate

nothing-ness inasmuch as on this Stage one has to understand the spiritual significance of birth, death and the intermediate stage ; and lastly (Iv) because in many Tantras and Sutras it has been said more than once that everything, such as the visualization of the world as a divine mansion and of the beings in it as gods and goddesses, has to come out of a feeling of apparitionalness".

Once the Developing Stage has become a stable experience and the necessary preliminary experience is present, the Fulfilment Stage can be entered upon. This passes through five steps each of which is a purely psychological process even if it is

described in terms of physical locations. After detachment from the preoccupation with the body has been established the first step (I) is one of an awareness of motility which is the cradle of cognizable mind. From this awareness develops an experience (n) which is likened to an emptying of the mind and which is in itself not determined at all. It is not just nothing, but an intensive mode of existing and acting, which underlies all actual cognition. When it achieves

determination its objective pole (rn) is of the nature of an apparitional being, while its subjective pole (rv) is the cognition of its no-thing-ness. The last step (v) is the unity of apparitional existence and no-thing-ness. All this, however, is not an end in itself, it is a means to realize Buddhahood which is the most sublime idea man can have of man.