The Tree of Enlightenment
An Introduction to the Major Traditions of Buddhism
by Peter Della Santina
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Part Three
The Vajrayana
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Chapter Twenty-Nine
Vajrayana Buddhism in Practice
In the last of these eight chapters on the Vajrayana path, I would like
to consider the
special meditational practice known as
the Vajrayana Sadhana. The term
sadhana means
'to achieve,' 'to
attain,' or 'to establish.' The Vajrayana Sadhana is
the means by
which
one can achieve, attain, or establish the experience of the
sacred
universe, the experience
of enlightenment. One who
engages in the practice of sadhana is called
a sadhaka. The
attainment itself is called the siddhi, and one who has attained it is
called a siddha. I
mention this because in Chapter 22 I talked
about the men of great
attainment, or
Mahasiddhas, who attained
the experience of enlightenment through the
practice of
Vajrayana
meditation, or sadhana.
In Chapter 28 we said that, in the Vajrayana initiation, the
practitioner is given the keys
with which to enter and experience
the sacred universe. In general, the
keys that are given
are the
vision of the tutelary deity and the special verbal formula, or
mantra, associated
with the tutelary deity. These constitute
important elements in
Vajrayana meditation, the
purpose of which
is the recreation and establishment of the sacred
universe. But if we
are
to understand how the practice of Vajrayana meditation
enables the
practitioner to obtain
this enlightenment experience, we
need to consider the general form and
contents of
Vajrayana
meditation.
In explaining the practice of Vajrayana meditation, I will use a
structure that is not
absolutely universal. You will encounter a
number of practices that do
not conform in
every particular to the
pattern that I will use here: they may differ
in the order of their
elements, or be presented in a slightly different way. In broad
terms,
however, the
elements of this structure are present in
virtually all forms of
Vajrayana meditation.
Moreover, the
interpretation that I will elaborate on is based on
authoritative
expositions
in the commentarial literature of the Vajrayana tradition.
One other general point I would like to stress is that
Vajrayana
meditation is both method
(or path) and goal (or result).
What I mean by method is that, by
practicing Vajrayana
meditation, one can attain the experience of enlightenment. In this
sense Vajrayana
meditation is method. But as one progresses in
one's practice of the
meditation, as one
perfects the method, the
method becomes the goal. Thus at one level
Vajrayana
meditation
is method, but as the practitioner perfects the method, the
meditation becomes
the goal. It remains the method only in relation
to other, less
developed individuals.
Let me try to explain this by introducing the general
interpretation of
Vajrayana
meditation that I propose to
adopt--namely, that Vajrayana meditation
is a paradigm, a
reenactment, an imitation, or a replica of the careers of the
Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
The careers of the Bodhisattvas and
Buddhas are both method and goal.
As the
Bodhisattva progresses
along the Bodhisattva path, for him that path is
method. Once he
achieves Buddhahood, the Bodhisattva path and the career of the
Buddha
become the
goal for him, even though, in relation to other
living beings, they are
still method. For
example, as we saw in
Chapter 15, in the context of the Mahayana, the
career of the
Buddha--his birth, his renunciation of household life, his practice of
austerities, and his
achievement of Buddhahood--was simply a
drama played out for the
enlightenment of
sentient beings.
As one progresses along the path, the method and the goal
become
indistinguishable. The
practice becomes the goal for the
practitioner, yet it remains the
method for others, who
still have to
be led to Buddhahood. The Vajrayana meditation,
therefore, is
both method
and goal--depending on one's place along the path,
on the level of
one's understanding
and attainment.
Let us divide the Vajrayana meditation into two parts, each of
which
can in turn be
divided into two subsections. To achieve
Buddhahood, one has to perfect
the
accomplishments of merit and
knowledge, the two prerequisites which are
indispensable
for
achieving Buddhahood. Practice of the perfections of giving, good
conduct, and
patience results in the accomplishment of merit, while
the perfections
of meditation and
wisdom result in the
accomplishment of knowledge. Energy, the fourth
perfection, is
needed for both accomplishments.
The first half of the Vajrayana practice is an imitation--an
internalized, contemplative,
symbolic expression--of the
Bodhisattva path through which merit and
knowledge are
perfected. Vajrayana meditation begins with the taking of refuge. It
continues, in most
cases, with awakening of the enlightenment
thought and recollection of
the practices of
the Six Perfections and
Four Immeasurables (love, compassion,
appreciative joy, and
equanimity). All these practices are internalized, meditative,
symbolic
expressions of the
Bodhisattva's accumulation of merit.
As we look further into the contents of the Vajrayana
Sadhana, we come
next to the
meditation on emptiness. This is
nothing other than an internalized,
symbolic expression
of the
Bodhisattva's accomplishment of knowledge. The Bodhisattva
achieves knowledge
through the perfection of meditation and the
perfection of wisdom.
Here, then we have
the meditation on
emptiness, a union of meditation and wisdom.
Thus far, we have considered the first half of the Vajrayana
meditation, which
corresponds to the career of the Bodhisattva up
to his attainment of
Buddhahood, with his
two accomplishments of
merit and of knowledge. These are represented
symbolically by
the
taking of refuge, the awakening of the enlightenment thought, the
practice of the Four
Immeasurables, and the meditation on
emptiness.
After the attainment of enlightenment, once Buddhahood is
achieved, the
accomplishments of merit and knowledge result in
two fruits. These two
fruits are the two
dimensions of
Buddhahood--the form dimension and the transcendental
dimension--
which arise directly from the accomplishments of merit
and knowledge.
In the second
half of the Vajrayana Sadhana, we
have a symbolic, meditative
paradigmatic expression,
or replica, of
the reality of Buddhahood that includes these two
dimensions. This
is
represented in the sadhana through the use of the notion of two
processes: (1) the process
of creation, origination, or production,
and (2) the process of
completion, or perfection.
These two
processes correspond to the form and transcendental
dimensions
of
Buddhahood, respectively.
In what way are these processes of creation and completion
reflected
symbolically--
replicated in meditative experience--in the
context of the Vajrayana
meditation?
Following the symbolic
attainment of Buddhahood, we have visualization
of the form of
the
tutelary deity, in other words, the creation of the phenomenal
dimension of
Buddhahood in the shape of the particular tutelary
deity to which the
meditation belongs.
The practitioner creates a
conscious imitation of the phenomenal
dimension of
Buddhahood in
the form of the tutelary deity in question. In addition,
we have the
recitation of the mantra of that deity. This recitation is a symbolic,
internalized,
meditative imitation of the Buddha's teaching of the
Dharma. These two
components--
the creation of the form of the
tutelary deity, and the recitation of
the mantra--constitute
the
process of creation. They correspond to the form dimension of
Buddhahood, and are
an imitation of the phenomenal activities of
the Buddha.
These practices of the creation of the form of the deity and the
recitation of the mantra are
followed by a dissolution of the form of the deity into emptiness and a
cessation of the
recitation of the mantra. This dissolution and cessation is a symbolic,
meditative replica
of the transcendental dimension of Buddhahood.
In the second half of the Vajrayana meditation, therefore, we have an
imitation of the
activities or career of the Buddha, with its
phenomenal and
transcendental dimensions of
Buddhahood. This
imitation is achieved through use of the conceptions
of the
processes
of creation and completion. The process of creation
constitutes the
visualization of the
deity and the recitation of the
mantra, which are paradigmatic of the
Buddha's
phenomenal
dimension--his activities and teaching of the Dharma,
respectively.
The
process of completion constitutes the dissolution of the deity
and a
cessation of the
recitation of the mantra, which is
paradigmatic of the Buddha's
transcendental dimension.
In
summary, in the Vajrayana meditation we have a complete replica
or
imitation of the
careers of the Bodhisattvas and the Buddhas.
The first part of the
meditation is a replica
of the Bodhisattva's
accomplishment of merit and knowledge. The second
part is a
replica of the Buddha's phenomenal and transcendental dimensions.
I would like to return to the notion of meditation and wisdom. This
point serves to
emphasize the complete integrity of Buddhism, because it is absolutely
characteristic of
all the Buddhist traditions to insist on a fusion of concentration and
insight, a union of
tranquillity and penetrative vision or wisdom. In the context of the
Vajrayana meditation,
too, this union is essential. As the practitioner meditates on
emptiness in the context of
the imitation of the Bodhisattva's accomplishment of knowledge, he or
she must unite
meditation and wisdom. In this case, his or her ability to concentrate
the mind on an
object is applied to the understanding of emptiness. Whereas formerly
he or she may have
cultivated the ability to concentrate his or her mind with the help of
an external support,
such as a blue disk, here, in the context of the Vajrayana meditation,
he or she focuses
directly on the understanding of emptiness. In that way, through the
meditation on
emptiness, he or she imitates the Bodhisattva's accomplishment of
knowledge through
cultivation of the perfections of meditation and wisdom.
There must also be a union of meditation and wisdom in the context of
visualizing the
tutelary deity and reciting the mantra. Here the objects of
concentration are the visualized
form of the tutelary deity and the sound of the mantra, but the
practitioner has to integrate
his or her understanding of emptiness with his or her concentration on
the form of the
tutelary deity and the sound of the mantra so that, in the course of
the visualization and
recitation, he or she regards the visualization and the sound of the
mantra as exemplary of
empty phenomena--as similar to a reflection, a magical illusion, and an
echo. This is the
case because, just as a reflection or an echo occurs relative to causes
and conditions, so
the visualization of the tutelary deity and the sound of the mantra
arise and exist relative
to causes and conditions.
In the context of the Vajrayana meditation, the visualization and the
recitation are also
paradigmatic of interdependently originated phenomena and of emptiness,
respectively.
In the Vajrayana meditation, as in the other Buddhist traditions of
mental development,
the union of meditation and wisdom is absolutely necessary. This is
perhaps why
Nagarjuna said in his Letter to a Friend (Suhrillekha) that without
meditation there is no
wisdom, and without wisdom there is no meditation. But for the
practitioner who puts
meditation and wisdom together, the whole ocean of samsara can be dried
up, just as
water that gathers in a cow's hoof print in the mud is dried up by the
noonday sun.
By putting meditation and wisdom together in the context of the
Vajrayana meditation,
one can achieve the experience of the sacred universe, the experience
of Buddhahood.This is achieved gradually, through familiarization with and
appropriation of the sacred
universe depicted in the sadhana, which is an internalized, meditative
microcosm of the
careers of the Bodhisattvas and the Buddhas. In this way, one can
achieve the goal of
Buddhahood. Thereupon, one's experience of enlightenment becomes a
means of leading
other sentient beings to the same sacred universe, the same goal.
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Contents
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01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11
| 12 | 13
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41
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Layout: Nhi Tuong
Update : 11-05-2002
