The Means of Cultivating the Path

CULTIVATING THE STAGE OF GENERATION

Meditation Upon the Palace - "That Which is Relied Upon"

Generating the Palace

There is a tremendous amount of information that could be explained about the nature of the palace, its dimensions and proportions, but this would be a bit too cumbersome for the time being. Therefore, one should simply think of it as being a very glorious place 一 not at all like an ordinary house. It has four walls, each of which has a door in its center that faces one of four directions. Above each door a golden Dharma-wheel is flanked on either side by a deer.

One should not think of this palace as being made out of stone, mortar, brick and so forth, but rather think of it as being Buddhd・ In what sense? In the sense that the Wisdom Truth Body of the Buddha manifests in the form of the palace ・ In other words, the palace is actually an emanation, a manifestation of the Buddha-Mind.

The various parts of the palace are manifestations of facets of enlightenment. For example, the doors to the east, south, north and west are manifesting the 4four close applications of mindfulness/ or more commonly known by the Pali term as the lour satipatthanas/ Other aspects of the palace are emanations of the •four bases of miraculous action/ the 'five powers* and so forth, including the '37 facets of enlightenment9 ・

Let us practice visualizing it right now and get a bit of an acquaintance with it!

Meditation on the Deity - 4That Which Relies Upon the Palace"

[Generating Oneself as Kalacakra] In the very center of this palace one generates oneself as the deity Kalacakra, standing upon a throne・ The visualization of Kalacakra is not generated in front of oneself (Tib. mdun.bskyed). This type of visualization, in which one generates oneself as the

deity, is called *self-generation, (Tib. bdag.bskyed; bdag means 4self and skyed means *to generate'). This is a practice in the stage of generation, the first of the two stages of tantra・ It is called the 'stage of generation' (Skt. utpatti-krama; Tib; bskyed.rim) because one is generating the palace and oneself as the Kalacakra deity in that palace.

Kalacakra stands upon a throne of moon, sun, and Rahu, [and Kalagni] discs. The color of Kalacakra is blue.

1. He has four faces: one in the front; two on the sides; and one in the back

The front face is black and in a somewhat wrathful, ferocious aspect so that the eye-teeth are showing slightly. When ordinary people like ourselves get really angry, we grimace and show our teeth. However, such is not the case with a yidam, with Kalacakra・ In this instance, the expression appears out of

the force of compassion ・ The ferocity or wrath is not directed toward any sentient being, but rather toward the 'ignorance of grasping at a false identity.

1 As the great Sakya Pandita said, "Yama, the Lord of Death, kills beings even with a great smile. Whereas, a meditational deity, though appearing wrathful, is actually expressing compassion.

The right face is red and has the appearance of lust or attachment.

The face to the back is yellow with an expression of meditative equipose, as if the deity were in meditation.

The face on the left is white and has a very peaceful expression ・

Each face has three eyes, namely, the two [regular] eyes the third *eye of wisdom.*

2. The hair on the head is coiled into a topknot on top of which is a varicolored vajra with the symbol of the half-moon. In addition, the deity is adorned with many jewel ornaments, such as the ornament on the very crown of the head, the necklace, the earrings, the ornaments on the wrists and ankles and so on. Finally, the deity is dressed in a tiger skin.

3・ There are 24 arms, 12 on either side. The first four arms are red, and the last four arms are white. The first of the right black arms embraces the consort and holds a vajra in the hand; the second 一 a sword; the third - a trident (like that of Isvara); and the fourth - a cleaver ・

The first of the right red hands (or the fifth hand) holds an arrow, which is called a 4fire arrow* in the text, but it is simply an arrow. The second red hand holds a long-handled vajra hook which, on its upper end, has a half-crossed vajra on one side and a hook on the other. The third hand holds a damaru (hand-drum) which is producing a drumming sound. And the fourth hand holds a hammer.

The first of the right white hands holds a wheel; the second - a spear; the third 一 a stick; and the fourth and final of the right white hands - an axe. These are the 12 right hands with their respective implements and they should be kept clearly in mind ・

The first of the left black hands holds a bell; the second 一 a shield. This type of shield was used in the past to guard against arrows and swords when fighting sword-battles. However, if you look at the thanka printed in the book, the illustration is a bit strange because the shield is down. Actually, the

shield should not be held down facing oneself but should be held outward to help you a bit. This incorrect way of depicting the hand holding the shield

down and facing oneself was done repeatedly. A number of artists in Dharamsala (India) were painting the deity in this way. His Holiness the Dalai Lama noted how they were painting it and said "Now, you take a shield and hold it like that! Wouldn't your hand be vulnerable to spears and swords?" They were

very impressed by his practical wisdom and, 1 guess, eventually caught on. In any case, it is indeed a shield, but the way of holding it is a bit backward. In the third left black hand, the deity holds a khatvanga. This is a certain kind of staff that has three skulls and half-crossed vajra impaled on it. It

is the same type as the one held by Cakra・ samvara. In the fourth, the deity holds a skull-cup (Skt. kapala) filled with blood.

Now we go to the red arms on the left. The first hand holds a bow, the second - a lasso, which is not used today. In the past and in Tibet as well, when a couple of people were having a fight they would bring out a lasso, snag the other person and then 4'beat the dickens out of him." The third hand holds a precious jewel; and the fourth 一 a white lotus.

The first of the white hands on the left holds a white conch; the second 一 a mirror; the third 一 a vajra or an iron chain; and finally, the fourth 一 the head of the deity Brahma, by the hair.

4. Kalacakra has only two legs. The right one is red and the left one is white. There is much significance to this which will gradually be explained・ Simply stated, the right leg symbolizes the right energy-channel (Tib. ro.ma) which is filled with blood, and the left leg symbolizes the energychannel on the left (Tib. rkyang.ma) filled with the white bodhicitta. There is much more that could be said but we will leave it at this very simple explanation for the time being.

5. The consort of Kalacakra is called Natsog Yum (Tib. sna.tshog-s.yum). Yum means “consort' [or ^mother*]; thus, the Natsog Consort. She is yellow in color and, likewise, has four faces, each with three eyes: the front one is yellow, the one on the right is white, the one on the back is blue, the one on the left is red.

6・ She has eight arms 一 four to the right and four to the left.

The first of her right hands, the arm of which embraces Kalacakra, holds a cleaver; the second 一 a vajra hook; the third - a drumming damaru, like that of Kalacakra; and the fourth - a rosary, which she is tuming/counting・

The first of her left hands, the arm of which embraces Kalacakra, holds a skull-cup filled with blood; her second hand on the left holds a lasso; the third 一 a white eight-petalled lotus; the fourth 一 a precious jewel.

7・ Natsog Yum is wearing a crown, which is of the nature of Vajrasattva. She is adorned with the five types of ornaments, whereas Kalacakra himself has six types of ornaments. The missing ornament on the consort is the one symbolizing the white bodhicitta・ Her left leg is in union with the deity Kalacakra・

It is very important to clearly understand the significance of the sexual union of the deity and consort. It very specifically symbolizes the union of method and wisdom. In this case, the deity Kalacakra symbolizes method which, in this tantric context, refers to the great bliss. The consort symbolizes

wisdom which is the realization of emptiness・ Their union symbolizes the union of the great bliss and the wisdom realizing emptiness. The further meaning is that without the wisdom of the indivisible bliss and emptiness, it is impossible to reach the state of full enlightenment・ It is

for this reason that Kalacakra, symbolizing the method, and the consort symbolizing the wisdom, are in union. Hold this very clearly in mind! This is a full form of the Kalacakra deity with the 24 arms and his consort, Natsog Yum, with eight arms.'

We should realize the great good fortune of being able to generate, or to meditate on ourselves as a Buddha. We have never done so before and, although we are not Buddhas at the moment, it is legitimate for us to engage in such a meditation because we are cultivating the identification with the deity that we

will become -the resultant Buddha・ Eventually, we will actually attain the state of Buddhahood, manifesting as Kalacakra・ To that end, we are identifying with and drawing that into the present・ With this identification we must cultivate the divine pride of being the deity, Buddha Kalacakra, that we will become. So, the two (the visualization and the pride) go together・ We should meditate on this and do our best.

If you are not able to engage in this visualization in the detailed way, you can generate yourself as the deity in the simple form, having one face and two arms, holding the vajra (right) and bell (left). The consort holds a cleaver in her right hand, a skull-cup in her left.

However, at the beginning you should not expect the visualiza* tion to be dear. It will not be! So, while generating or visualizing yourself as Kalacakra, you can visualize yourself as the generally blue deity in union with the generally yellow consort; vaguely imagine the palace around you, hold it in mind

and be satisfied with that・ You should not immediately expect a very precise visualization, that comes only through practice・ This is not only true for meditation but it is also true for sculpting, painting and so on. At the beginning one has to be satisfied with a crude attempt but, in the course of practice, one's skills increase・ Eventually, in this meditation we gain a very powerful experience of both the pride and the visualization of Kalacakra.

The great tantric master, Gungtang Rinpoche, was once giving the oral transmission of the tantric deity Vajrabhairava. Among those receiving it was a disciple with very, very good powers of visualization. In the course of the teachings, he was visualizing himself in the form of Vajrabhairava with many arms, each hand of which w

I hope that this will not create any great difficulties for us when we have generated a strong visualization of Kalacakra and try to get into the automobile to drive, but cannot get to the steering wheel because all of our hands are full.

NOTES

'Another distinction between the Buddha Maitreya and Buddha ^akyamuni is that Buddha Maitreya will be much larger physically. A Buddha always appears somewhat larger than ordinary people around him. In general, during the time of Maitreya, human beings will be larger and, in turn, Buddha Maitreya will be

even larger. The environment will also be quite different: it will not be mountainous or rough but flat. 2Tu is a very tasty Tibetan dish made from chccsc, brown sugar and butter. It is butter that holds the ingredients together.

First of all, we should cultivate a proper bodhicitta motivation, the awakening mind aspiring for full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings・ With this aspiration, we listen to teachings with the intent of putting them into practice thereby attaining full enlightenment in the form of Kalacakra and leading other sentient beings to the same attainment.