Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Kyabje Rinpoche explains the symbolic language of Heruka in this 47-minute teaching, beginning with how enlightened deities embody different colors corresponding to their activities: Chenrezig white for peace, Mañjuśrī yellow for increase, Amitābha red for control, Mahākāla black for wrathful power. He then offers a second framework—colors reflect the enlightened basis from which deities arise; Tārā is green because she emerges from the purity of the air element. Heruka’s blue-black represents emptiness itself. Rinpoche then explores deeper symbolism: when Heruka embraces his consort, this represents the union of compassion with non-dual wisdom, transcending all conceptual grasping within the three realms of cyclic existence.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-11-04 – 11A – KR.mp3
UUID: 4084dedc-08c7-4da5-a967-deee8e7288ce
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Heruka Commentary
Date: 1989-11-04
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~760
Representative meaning of all aspects of deity together with the symbolic, mudra, and objects. Before, in the last session, we have generated Heruka, our deity. So today’s teachings will be about The beneficial and the enlightened activities of the deities, their activities can be grouped into four, what is normally called peaceful, increasing, controlling, and wrathful. And with each of these four activities of enlightened beings, they have their respective colors like the peaceful would be white, increasing yellow, controlling red, and the wrathful in black. And same as with these four different kinds of activities, they have different colors. Same like that.
Each of the deities, they have different colors corresponding to what activities they represent. Like, with Chenrezig, it represents peace. Therefore, its physical color is white. And with Mañjuśrī, it represents increase. Therefore, it is yellow.
And with Amitābha, it represents controlling in the sense having control on one’s long life. Therefore, it’s red in color. And Mahākāla is extremely wrathful, therefore, it’s black in color. That’s one or one standpoint of explanation. From another standpoint of view, when the deities at the last moment of their enlightenment or from whatever basis they arise as enlightened deity and enlightened being, so that basis determines what respective colors each of the deity.
Suppose when they were in pure state, that is the basis. For example, with Tārā, because Tārā is the deity which represents or which has emerged from the purity of the air element. And because the air element is green in color, therefore, Tārā happens to be green. So we can present that way too. Whatever be the different colors of the day it is, in the context here, we have to do with Heruka, and his physical color is blue black.
And this blue black is the color remember, it’s the color of or it can be presented as the color of the emptiness. Because when we offer the five sense objects starting from form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, and phenomena or things. And we offer phenomena we offer in the in this mode with the triangular shape, and it is normally called reality source, when it comes to translation, reality source. So whatever be when when these, what call, five sense organs objects are being offered, when it comes to offering the external phenomena, not including the five sense objects, then they offer the phenomena. Because our Heruka deity here is all the time never wavers or never goes away from deep meditation on emptiness. Therefore, these are the three doors of complete liberation.
So complete liberation has to be understood as meaning, referring to liberation. And it is like this house for which if we have to enter this house is like liberation, and we have to enter through doors. So doors means by which we have to enter through this house, They are called the doors. And in this case, to enter into that house of liberation, we have to enter through this doors. And this doors are basically of three number, and they all represent complete understanding of emptiness without, complete understanding of emptiness, nirvana, So those three are complete doors of liberation.
They are called the first one is called the complete door liberation, which is that all phenomena in nature are lacking true existence. And the second one, all phenomena by their cause or from its cause lacking true existence. In short, emptiness in its most great summarization can be summarized into those three. And those four, the last one, the fourth one is the understanding of emptiness of those three previous doors of complete liberation. Meaning, and the fourth one is the main is the main door of liberation because crossed vajra with five points, and then the four vajras, a vajra on each of the four direction. And these links, all sentient and under the left left foot is a red color.
These two being pressed down in normal explanation. Of course, we do explain that these two being suppressed represent which is in the textual word. It translate that. So this means Heruka’s two arms embracing the consort. So that represents or that in meaning, that the pure wisdom, conceptions or conceptuality of self and conceptuality of extreme grasping.
So the first one, where we say conceptuality pervades the three realms. So three means the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm. What’s the