Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Kyabje Rinpoche opens this 48-minute introduction with a striking fact: only three universal teachers throughout a cosmic eon will teach tantra, making these teachings extraordinarily precious. He then explains the four levels of tantric practice—action, performance, yoga, and highest yoga tantra—by how practitioners naturally generate bliss: through seeing, laughing, hand-holding, or consort embrace. Each level combines this bliss with realization of emptiness, but they require different initiations to enter. Tantra’s distinctive feature is this union of bliss and emptiness in a single mind, and it is the only Buddhist path with the power to eliminate the subtlest obstacles to enlightenment. He covers the structure of empowerments required for each level, emphasizing throughout that the opportunity to receive and practice these teachings is extraordinarily rare.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-02-13 – 1B – Introduction to Tantra – KR.mp3
UUID: a683e660-edd0-4dbb-a657-11f9575699ba
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Tantra Introduction
Date: 1989-02-13
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,446
Then on the other, further, the third level, that is yoga tantra, that between these two, internally and externally orientated, that the Yogatantric practitioner would be naturally orientated more toward inner practice. And therefore, the main thrust of his practice would be involved in meditation and development of, for example, meditative stabilizations. So he’s there’s an internal orientation, mainly internally orientated as compared to external. And then the fourth level, highest yoga tantra. Here, as before, the practitioner is naturally inclined toward internal practices, mainly meditative stabilizations.
But additionally to that, not only that, but additionally to that, he engages in a, you know, we said in the the yoga which is concerned with inner practices of developing meditative stabilization. He engages in even higher practices of yoga and therefore, you know, of what types of practice of which there are types of yogas in which there are no higher. Therefore, in addition to the yoga practices at the third level, therefore he is called the highest yoga practitioner. So there’s this mainly orientation with internal practice of yoga, of meditative stabilization, but in addition, engaging in higher or highest types of yoga practice and therefore it’s termed highest yoga tantra. So therefore, we posit four levels of tantra from the point of view of inclination or the I mean, there’s two words that Rinpoche is using.
One of them is faith and the other is inclination. And these are posited from and these four levels are action, performance, yoga, and highest yoga tantras. So we’re discussing the four levels of tantra, the action, performance, yoga and highest yoga tantra. And we posit them by one way as from the point of view of faith and inclination. There’s another way of positing the difference between these four levels of tantra.
And tantra, as was mentioned as far as method and wisdom, is necessary to the actual wisdom, or the emptiness which is cognized within tantra, is the same wisdom which is cognized in the perfection path. But there’s a difference in the way that they’re cognized as the awareness which is actually doing the cognizing is different from the perfection vehicle and the tantra vehicle. We said there is it’s being cognized by a subtle bliss, blissful awareness. It’s doing the cognizing of emptiness. So there’s no difference in the effect of in the emptiness of the object, but there’s difference in the subject that is the blissful awareness which is doing the cognizing of emptiness.
And so there are different ways in which we can generate the blissful consciousness which is necessary to cognize emptiness. And this is this this way this difference in the method of developing the bliss in order to cognize emptiness is the difference in a way in which we can posit the four levels of tantra. Now the first level of tantra, the action level of tantra, we are able, we have the inclination or the natural tendency to develop bliss simply through seeing a member of the opposite sex. Simply through, you know, visually seeing a member of the opposite sex, we’re able to induce some bliss and then we make use of this blissful awareness to meditate on emptiness. That’s the that’s the nature or the characteristic of action tantra.
Within performance tantra, we have the inclination to to generate bliss through laughing, you know, laughing with a part with a partner of the opposite sex engaging in frolic. We we are able to induce bliss. We use this bliss to meditate on emptiness. In yoga tantra, we are able to induce this bliss by holding hands with a member of the opposite sex and using, again, this bliss to meditate on emptiness. And in highest yoga tantra, we make use of the blissful awareness which is developed through a embrace in meditative equipoise, actually embracing a consort.
And this bliss is made use of in order to meditate on emptiness. So this difference of the way the bliss is induced is the can be posited as the difference in the four levels of tantra. So within the the practice of tantra or mantra, we must seek to generate a union of bliss and emptiness. That is the indistinguishable — the consciousness which is experiencing bliss, cognizes emptiness. This union in which become the awareness and the object emptiness become indistinguishable is the the exceptional quality of the Vajra, of the mantra vehicle.
And when we do Guru Puja, offering to the spiritual master, there’s one verse in which it says, engaging in the path of of indivisible bliss bliss and void. And this is what this is referring to. So these four levels of tantra can be posited from the point of view of the bliss the how the blissful awareness is induced, which is going to be made use of in cognizing emptiness. But with respect to the object of of these blissful awarenesses, that is, you know, if we just, you know, posit it from the — as I I’m I’m not sure about the translation. I have to check up.
As a there are two types of objects that which can be which are used. One of them is a, a Thank you. An action seal. Yeah. That’s right.
An action seal and a imaginary seal. An action seal, an imaginary seal. Now, an action seal is a or a karma seal is a seal, you know, would be an actual, for example, a person who we use — by our action, by our karma, we actually come to make use of a person to induce this bliss. Whereas the imaginary seal is one which was, has been mentally created or emanated and this is made use of to induce the bliss. So, in general, the entrance doorway onto the great vehicle is the great vehicle mind generation which is another term, for awakening mind, the mind of enlightenment, bodhicitta.
So, it is through the generation of, bodhicitta that one actually enters into and is able to practice the, the, perfections of the great vehicle. So the entrance way into the great vehicle in general is bodhicitta. The entrance way into the tantric vehicle is empowerment. Without the empowerment, then we cannot engage in the practices of tantra. Now within within the types of empowerment, and by empowerment, initiation.
Okay? I use the word empowerment, but also initiation. There are four levels of empowerment. The first is vase empowerment, secret, exalted wisdom, and word empowerment. Within the highest yoga tantra, that is the highest of these four levels of tantra, there exist all four levels of empowerment.
So, so the highest yoga tantra has all four levels of empowerment. If the highest yoga tantra has all four levels of empowerment, the third level of tantra, that is yoga tantra, only has the first level of empowerment. And within the first, that is to say, the vase empowerment, and within the vase empowerment there is the common and uncommon vase empowerment. And the uncommon vase empowerment is referred to as the referred to as the knowledge empowerment — I have to check on the translation — the knowledge empowerment. That’s the common division of vase empowerment.
Within the uncommon, the uncommon empowerment is referred to as the vajra master empowerment. And this had there are six divisions of vajra master empowerment. True. So, yeah. Also, with respect to performance tantra, there is the Vase Empowerment, and I made a mistake.
There are six within Vase Empowerment. There are I said there were a common and uncommon empowerments within that division. The there are and I said the the common was knowledge. And there are five knowledge empowerments. And one uncommon that is the Vajra Master Empowerment.
So, it’s it’s a total of six empowerments within the Vajra Empowerment. Five knowledge and one Vajra Master. And, this also within the performance tantra there are the complete six divisions of empowerment within the Vajra Empowerment. So I made a mistake. You know, I and what I said was was referring to performance tantra refers to Yoga tantra.
And that there is there is only there is only the vase initiation and within that division of vase initiation or vase empowerment, there are both uncommon and common initiations, the five knowledge initiations and the one Vajra Master initiation. So that applies only to Yoga tantra. And we go beneath that and we go to Performance tantra. I referred to Performance before, that was a mistake. Now are referring to performance tantra.
Within performance tantra, again there is only the vase initiation, but within that there is only the common initiation of the five knowledge empowerments. There is no there is not the uncommon empowerment of the Vajra master. So, okay. So I within performance tantra, you know, I’ve talked about within the, vase empowerment, there is the common and uncommon divisions. And within the common, there are five knowledge empowerments.
Now, five knowledge empowerments are The first is water empowerment. The second is crown empowerment. The third is vajra. The fourth is bell. And the fifth is name.
So these are, these are, I’m just, these are as, as been explained before. These five empowerments. So the five knowledge empowerments. Now within the action tantra, the lowest of the four levels of tantra, there is only the, water and crown empowerments. There is not the remaining three.
So action tantra only has these two empowerments, the water and crown empowerment of within the division of vase empowerment. Within the within these four levels of tantra, the first two, action and performance, the it is necessary to, to be to possess the Bodhisattva vows. One must have Bodhisattva vows in order to take these empowerments. The it’s not necessary to have the Tantric empowerments Tantric vows. But on the other hand, in the in the remaining two levels of tantra, because we are taking the vajra master empowerment, we must have the we must have possessed tantric vows.
So I have a few minutes left if you have some questions. So, yeah, you need an unobstructed path. We need a good car? So we have a we have a good car, a motor, petrol, good driver, and we can we can go anywhere we want and ride very quickly. Same same with an airplane.
You know, we have if we have the petrol and we have a good pilot, then we can arrive anywhere we want to very quickly. So there’s no certainty. There’s not definite. Some study a few years, some study many years before they actually engage in tantric practice. Yeah.
No matter who or where, you must enter into the the in order to attain Buddhahood. It’s only only it is only the mantra vehicle which has the the power sufficient to abandon, to get rid of the very subtle abandonments which are necessary to achieve Buddhahood, very subtle abandonments. It’s only the Vajrayāna vehicle which has that capacity. So we we have to develop an extremely stable mind. It’s like, there’s a a section in in the extensive mandala offering where it I’m not quite sure what this refers to.
It’s as if requesting that the stability of mind. And it’s like driving a tent peg into the ground, and then making it very stable. We have to develop the stability of mind. And also, we have to the the very the most subtle abandonment that we have to overcome in order to attain Buddhahood is the appearance of duality. And, and, it is only this is a it’s only through the tantra vehicle that we can attain the stability of mind and the ability, to overcome, to abandon, to eliminate this appearance of duality which acts as an obstacle to Buddhahood.
In order to attain Buddhahood, we must abandon all the various types and levels of obstacles. And these abandonments are Some of them are very coarse, and some of them are extremely subtle. And it’s only the mantra vehicle which has the capacity to eliminate the most subtle types of abandonment. So we we engage in the perfection vehicle in order to begin to abandon the grosser types of abandon abandon the grocer eliminate the grosser types of abandonments. But additionally, we unite this with the practice of the tantric vehicle in order to eliminate the even the most subtle obstacles to enlightenment or Buddhahood.
And this is, therefore, this is the union of sūtra or perfection and tantra, which is the most efficient way to achieve Buddhahood. So it’s the the teachings on on tantra are are extremely rare. That from the point of creation of our particular universe until its destruction, this incalculable period of time. There were said to be there will there will be 1,000 universal universal teachers during this period of time. Buddha Śākyamūni was the fourth in this in this this in this line of 1,000 universal teachers.
During this period, of these 1,000 teachers, only three will teach tantra. Śākyamūni Buddha, the fourth taught tantra. Then the the next teacher will be Tsongkhapa or Je Rinpoche. He will be the second. And then the the very last of these 1,000 will also teach tantra.
So there will only be three teachers of tantra during this complete eon, incalculable eon, who of the 1,000 universal teachers who will teach tantra. And this is established through reasoning and and scripture. So in the the mere appearance of a universal teacher, is extremely rare in in the universe. But even amongst the various of these rare, cases of the appearance of universal teachers, those who teach tantra are even rarer. So, we, we live in a very fortunate time that, the teachings of tantra are still extant.
They will reach a time when they were no longer, where they would degenerate and they will go out of existence. And it’s only through the kindness of Śākyamūni Buddha that that these teachings are present. So we should, we should appreciate the extremely precious opportunity that we have and the great benefit which can be derived if we engage in the tantric practices. So it’s, you know, we’re in an extremely fortunate situation that we’ve gathered here in order to listen to teachings on tantra. It’s through the kindness of my teachers that I’ve heard these teachings on tantra, now I’m, you know, explaining what my teachers have have explained to me, and it’s extremely fortunate that you have the opportunity to to listen to such teachings.