Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute commentary on Heruka, Kyabje Rinpoche unpacks how the four syllables of the mantra (Sri, He, Ru, Ka) embody the tantric path from emptiness to wisdom. He opens with purification of Sattva, then guides the three purifications of body, speech, and mind through meditation on emptiness, self-generation as the deity, and visualization of mantra rosaries at the navel. The core of the teaching explains each syllable: He refers to environment and beings, Ru to selflessness of person, Ka to the awareness realizing emptiness, and Sri to the non-dual wisdom of bliss and emptiness. He instructs practitioners to visualize these mantras moving outward through the right nostril to clear obstacles, returning through the left nostril and dissolving at the heart. The teaching continues with blessings of aggregates, elements, and sense faculties through syllables at key body locations. For practitioners who have already received Heruka initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-10-14 – 5A – KR.mp3
UUID: b777a38f-9505-4588-ae18-83ece4b0b1f1
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Heruka Commentary
Date: 1989-10-14
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,787
So in order to practice generation stage of Heruka, it’s necessary to remove all the obstructions and negativities and as a method of doing this we practice the purification of Sattva. And then we meditate in abbreviated fashion on the practice of the yogi, the yoga of the purification of body, speech and mind. So the Yoga, the Three Purifications, is meditated by means of the cultivation of the understanding of the emptiness of the mind. And this is the method whereby we eliminate the negativities of the mind. And then all things become empty and out of this emptiness we arise as the single Heruka with one face, two arms.
And by meditating on oneself as having the form of the deity, physical un skillful actions are eliminated. Then meditating on the rosary, the mantra rosary at the heart and reciting the mantra of purification is the means of the purification of speech. So there are four syllables which we’re going to explain. Sri, Heruka, four syllables. And the explanation of the syllable He, the meaning of that is that first we talk about the environment and the beings who exist within that environment or the container and the contained.
The environment refers to the mountains, the earth, the various buildings, etc, all of that surrounding us. And then the container or that which is contained is the sentient being. So within the environment and the beings themselves are the pure and impure land. And the determining factor whether a place is pure or impure is dependent upon mind. So we ask what what and what does the mind depend upon for its arising?
And it relies upon causes and conditions. It represents an expression of the aggregation of momentary causes and conditions. It is not self powered. It does not exist under its own power. It does not arise from no cause, but in fact it arises in reliance upon causes and conditions.
So as it says in the text of fundamental wisdom or root wisdom that the mind is a dependent arising and therefore is not naturally existent. That it arises in dependence upon the aggregation of causes and conditions. It is not established by its own power. Reliant on other So the mind is empty of natural or independent existence. This is the in terms of mind.
When we say emptiness of the mind it is in terms of its being empty of natural or independent existence. That there are two types of selflessness the selflessness of phenomena and the selflessness of persons. And the emptiness of the mind is the selflessness of phenomena. So that There is a subtle mind which exists as a single entity with a subtle wind. This combination of subtle mind and subtle wind, wind energy, is basis of imputing the being, or in this case we say the person.
So the subtle mind wind energy, this combination is the basis for imputing the being or the person. And therefore the person is merely imputed by terms or by name. That the person does not exist from its own side nor is the person naturally existent. Therefore this is is termed the selflessness of person and this is what the second syllable, RU stands for. RU stands for the selflessness of person.
So the subtle selflessness of phenomena and persons is referred to as suchness. This This is the object of wisdom understanding emptiness. The subjective consciousness which subjective awareness which ascertains this emptiness is the same entity that is to say it’s not of a different entity than the object at which it is realizing. And this is what is understood by the term KA and the syllable KA. So then the the syllable SRI.
The object, emptiness, is known directly by the awareness, there is a decline of dualism. That is to say at this point there is no conventionality arises appears to that awareness. There is no appearance of the difference of subject and object. It is as if water poured into water without differentiation the subjective awareness and the object of emptiness. They are of the same taste.
This is what is meant by exalted wisdom. Term Sri stands for the meaning of Evam. E stands for the objective emptiness. So the SRI stands for the meaning of Evam. E stands for the objective emptiness which is being directly understood, and Vam is the subjective awareness that these two are of the same entity. Therefore what is being referred to by the term Sri is the wisdom realizing the non duality of bliss and emptiness.
So we don’t have time to go into the extensive meaning of the term Evam. It explains the complete path of tantra by means of basis, path and fruit. So if we explain in abbreviated fashion the meaning of It is the mind which is realizing the selflessness of phenomena and persons, that this mind is empty, and the direct awareness of the emptiness of this mind is inseparable from the object emptiness, that is the emptiness of the mind which is being understood, and one should abide in meditative equipoise upon this, and this is the method of purification of mind. Now at this point the wisdom which is realizing the emptiness is in the nature of the aspect of light, and this light transforms in one instant into a single Heruka holding and embracing his consort, and this is generated in this manner. This was was explained previously in the Self Generation that the wisdom which is understanding emptiness takes on the aspect of a light and this light transformed in one instant into body of the single form of Heruka with two arms, one face, holding.
By means of the self generation arising in the aspect of Heruka, one should then develop the divine pride based upon this appearance that this is the resultant time embodiment which I will achieve upon my attainment of Buddhahood, and that the this I, the embodiment I will achieve upon my future Buddhahood and developing divine pride based upon this appearance. This is the purification of body. So that’s the completion of the first two, the purification of mind and body, and now the purification of speech. So you have the self generation. So we are in the form of Heruka, and at our heart is a blue HUNG, upon a moon disc is a blue HUNG, and surrounding this blue hung are three concentric circles of Mantra rosaries.
Three rows of concentric Mantra rosaries. So there are three concentric mantra rosaries in clockwise fashion, no, counterclockwise. The outer one is white, the middle is red, the inner blue. The outer one is the physical, the mantra associated with the body, the middle one associated with speech, and the inner one associated with mind. This first mantra the Ah is the small, the long, then there’s the short Ah.
These are the vowels, these are 16 vowels. Ah, there’s the short vowel Ah, the long vowel, the short vowel, long vowel, and so forth down through the 16 vowels. So this first mantra, the 16 vowels, is the outer mantra, the outer of these three concentric mantras which is associated the body. It’s not at the heart, it’s at the navel. It’s at the navel.
You have the three concentric circles. The outer one is white, middle is red, and the inner is blue. Then we should imagine as we recite these mantras that the mantras in form of light move out, go out through the right nostril out to the environment removing all the obstacles interference and to our practice of Dharma. And then having removed the various obstacles, they reenter through our left nostril and we, and dissolve into the the three mantras previously visualized at the navel. So the mantra is in the nature of wisdom.
It is Buddhist speech which is in the nature of wisdom. And one should imagine that one’s own speech and the mantra which you are reciting are the same entity. And by understanding this the one speech is purified. So by means of this purification, the negativities of body, speech, mind are eliminated. And this mainly concerns the negativities in conceiving one’s own body and speech and mind as ordinary, and this is purified through the conception of one’s body, speech, and mind as pure and this is the means of purification.
So according to the tradition of Luipa, there now comes the blessings of one’s body, speech and mind, the blessings of aggregates elements and sources. In the tradition of Ghantapada, there is no body mandala whereas there is in the tradition of Luipa. No, I’m sorry there’s no blessing of the body mandala where there is in Luipa. So in this tradition, blessing the aggregates and elements that one would visualize at the six places, the six letters at the forehead, at the throat, at the navel, at the neck, at the leg, feet, at the heart, at the crown, and then these were transformed into the deities, and these are the deities, these are the blessing, these are deities who perform the blessing. So these six deities are referred to the six lineages of the conquerors.
So the forehead is OM, the navel is ANG, the neck is HRI, the feet is HE, the heart is HUNG, the crown is HIK. Maybe you turn that light on, Would be that helpful? I can hear better. Then we bless the sense faculties. The at the by the visualization of the of the appropriate syllables at each of the sites of the faculty.
At the eye sense faculty is HANG. At the ear is HUNG, H A N G. At the nose is Dram, T R A M. At the tongue is Ang, A N G. Then body sense faculty, these are all the sense faculty. The body sense faculty which is mainly it would be visualized at the crown of the head is Tom, and then the mental sense faculty which would be visualized at the heart is Hung.
Hung. So eye HANG, ear HUNG, nose TRAM, tongue ANG, body TOM, mind HUNG, You got it. Then then the the letters at the navel, LAM, the crown KAM, the neck PAM, the heart MAM, the secret place KAM, the forehead TAM. These six letter transform into the six consorts of the conquerors. The navel LAM, crown KAM, neck PAM, heart MAM, secret place KAM, and the forehead TAM.
So these various deities, which have been generated at various places in the body, then radiate out light, and that portion of the body where they are placed.