Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Kyabje Rinpoche opens this Vajrayoginī commentary by establishing its supreme status: unlike other tantric systems, this practice’s power increases as the world degenerates. In this 46-minute talk, he outlines the Naropa lineage and its results—practitioners of high ability achieve enlightenment in this lifetime; others will reach it within sixteen lifetimes at minimum. He explains three distinctive advantages: the mandala grows stronger as the five degenerations worsen, it remains active in our world, and it contains the essence of Guhyasamāja tantra. He emphasizes that faith and merit, combined with mantra recitation, form the foundation of all tantric practice. The session concludes with a framework of four types of teachings and previews the detailed practice methods to follow.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1991-09-19 – 1B – Comm – KR.mp3
UUID: b4376c27-97b4-4baf-86e9-33644a755be6
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Vajrayoginī
Date: 1991-09-19
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,996
So So we mentioned the four levels of Tantra, and in reliance upon the first three of these four levels, one can attain Buddhahood, but not in one life — one cannot attain Buddhahood in reliance upon these first three in terms of the short life of a degenerate age. In the course of a short life of a degenerate age, one cannot achieve Buddhahood in one life, in dependence upon the first of these three levels of tantra. On the other hand, in reliance upon the level of highest yoga tantra, one can attain in this very life, a short life of the degenerate times, Buddhahood. Therefore since it has this capacity it is said to be the supreme of levels of tantra. Then with respect to highest yoga tantra, there are the two divisions of Mother Tantra and Father Tantra, and there is no difference in the power of these two, the capacity of these.
So what is the difference between Mother Tantra and Father Tantra? The difference lies in the emphasis in terms of the teachings. In Father Tantra, the method of illusory body is mainly taught. The method of illusory body is mainly taught in Father Tantra. On the other hand, in Mother Tantra, the emphasis the clear light of mainly taught, what is mainly taught, the emphasis is placed upon the teachings of the clear light of emptiness in the Mother Tantra.
So there are many practices within Mother Tantra, but supreme amongst these is the practice of Heruka. And then further on, within Heruka, there is the division with respect to Heruka as the male consort and the Vajrayoginī as the female consort. Then within the division into female consort, there are the traditions of Luipa, Ghantapada, and Krishnapada, and we will be following the tradition of Krishnapada. So there are these three traditions which we just mentioned, and the essential practice is included within the practice of the female consort. So with respect to the practice of the female consort, there are the three traditions of Indrakachhu, Narochachhu, and Matrichachhu, and amongst these, these, the most profound and powerful is the, in connection with the tradition of Narochachhu, which we will be following.
And this comes from the greatest of masters Naropa who achieved the deity of Vajrayoginī and had the actual vision of Vajrayoginī, and this was he took Vajrayoginī as his essential practice. If we were to practice this tradition of Narochachhu well and those of the most intelligent or even mediocre intelligent, we would be able to achieve we would be able to be led to the pure land of the Dakinis without abandoning our body. But even those of least intelligence by practicing well will within the state of the intermediate state be led to the Pure Land of the celestial regions. But minimally, be we able to we will be led to the pure land of the celestial regions within 16 lifetimes. So previously, such great masters who practiced the Narochachhu such as Luipa, Krishnapada, Jalandharipa were able to achieve the Pure Land of Celestial regions in that very life.
And additionally, such great masters as King Darikapa, the master Acharya Lavapa, Getsulpopa. And the two brothers, Phamtingpa. And the translator. And within a cave, seven persons achieved the Pure Land of the Celestial Regions. So, Tsongkhapa, when he was writing a commentary to the practice of Heruka, Bde mchog bsdus pa, and he had a continual vision of Vajrayoginī and after completing it, the actual Vajrayoginī revealed itself to him.
So, etcetera, and so forth. There have been many, many great masters who achieved the Pure Land of Celestial Regions. And one practitioner went to his teacher, his Lama, and said, you know, there’s a sindura on my head and this is the sign of the powdered substance. Two days later he was seen heading toward the Pure Land of the Celestial Region. So, but previously when we talked about those of being intelligent, what, you know, we really don’t mean having a great deal of wisdom, but we mean individuals who have a great deal of merit.
In general, the practice of tantra is very much dependent upon one’s faith and merit. You know, we engage to carry on a complete practice we need faith and creative potential, but also we practice the development of love and compassion, generate the wisdom of understanding emptiness, and we go on to practice the generation and completion stage of Tantra. But even if we simply have faith and merit and only recite the mantra, then we can achieve the goal. The mantra is that powerful. As I mentioned previously, previously, that it is said that the Vajrayoginī mantra is like fire whereas other mantras are like grass.
So the Buddha himself said that by reciting the mantra with faith, one creates extremely vast merit. So, now with respect to the actual teaching, there are four types of teachings. There is the explanatory teaching, there is the revealed teaching or we could say the esoteric teaching, there is the proficiency teaching, and then there is experiential teaching. So in the explanatory teaching, a commentary is given to a particular teaching text, and the meaning of this is this, then this is this, and each word explained. And the second type of teaching called revealed teaching, literally it means red teaching, but that’s beside the point, revealed teaching.
This is like a teaching which would be given at a medical school where an older doctor would be teaching medical students and they would take a body and they would cut it open and they would reveal all the various parts of it. And they would say this is the liver and this is the intestines and this is the lungs and this liver is diseased and this lung has this wrong with it and the intestines can have this illness, etcetera. So everything is opened up and everything is pointed to and explained what each of them, what each of them mean and what can become of them, what can happen to them. And then jumping to the fourth, I gave them wrong order, a different order, experiential teaching. And in experiential teaching, the spiritual teacher, the Lama, through having received the teachings, meditates on those teachings, practices them, gains realization, and he or she then explains from their own experience the way to carry on the practice.
So, then there’s the proficiency teaching where the teaching is given to individual practitioners explaining a specific practice, and then upon gaining proficiency of that practice, then a further teaching is given. So gaining proficiency in that, then a further teaching is given, and so the teaching is given in accordance with the proficiency of the students, whereas in the case of the experiential teaching, the teaching is given out of the actual experience of having practiced by the spiritual teacher, the Lama. So today we will be teaching in accordance with the first type of teaching, an explanatory teaching. So it is said that the practice of Heruka has three superior attributes over other practices, and if you were to understand this, this would help you to gain great conviction in the practice of Heruka. It has three superior attributes.
So the three superiors of the Heruka Tantra, It is said that in general that as the degeneration of the times progresses, the power of mantra decreases. But this is only true of other tantras aside from Heruka. Over the course of the five degenerations, as they increase, the power of tantra decreases. There usually follows errors in practices, and one does not receive blessings of the practice. On the other hand, with respect to the Heruka and consort, Vajrayoginī, as the five degenerations progress, the power of the practice increases.
So what is the reason for Heruka Tantra to increase in power as the five degenerations progressively increase? Previously, Lord Īśvara, along with his consort, were continually bringing harm to sentient beings, and they would obstruct individuals from traveling the spiritual path and path to liberation, that they would seek to help to increase their afflictive emotions, they would prevent them from creating skillful actions, and would lead them to create negative So this, on the occasion of these great troubles, a goddess went before the Buddha and requested his aid saying to please help eliminate this evil force. And the Buddha, out of his compassion, in answering her request, manifested in the aspect of Heruka along with consort displaying the mandala, and actually treads upon the two, Īśvara and consort, male and female, beneath his feet. And by meditating on this mandala with its 62 deities, one is able to eliminate all of obstacles and negativity. So, as the degenerate times progress and the negativities increase, the power of of Heruka to overcome these negativities increases proportionately.
And all of the other mandalas of the deities upon being generated by the Buddha were eventually dissolved, but the mandala of Heruka is still extant within our world system, and we as therefore as living within this world as human beings have a particular close affinity with this mandala and able to receive, since it’s in the same place, and able to receive great blessings from it. Doctor. Because the mandala is still extant, there is the possibility of receiving great blessings, great rapid achievements of powerful attainment. So the mantra is extremely vast, and amongst the vast practices of mantra, that of Guhyasamāja, the essence of Guhyasamāja is contained within Heruka. So the source of the Dharma is the Buddha, and the great masters then went on to commentate, the great panditas went on to comment upon these teachings, and then the various practitioners practice them and gain realizations from them.
And therefore, this is, since it has had this tradition, it is definitely unerring, unmistaken in its method. It’s extremely important that we develop conviction and faith in the And the way, the mantra is practiced in terms of tantric substances, mantra, meditative stabilization, visualization, and faith. If we practice well, then the results will be as we have already described. That those of high faculties and middling faculties will achieve pure land of the celestial realm regions in this very life, or if not that, then during the intermediate state, if not that, within 16 lifetimes that one will be born within the pure land of the celestial regions. And there one will receive teachings from Vajrayoginī and achieve Buddhahood in that life.
So, there is no reason why we can’t achieve this, that just as we have the same abilities as these past masters, that if through our faith and practice we can achieve the same levels that they achieve. There is no reason that we cannot. So we are going to stop there, but if you have some questions. So we were then beginning the next teaching and hence forth we’ll actually explain the practice of how we go about it, how we go about the practice. Yes.
There seems to be generally three three main ways that Vajravārāhī is depicted like that That’s right. There are three traditions which explain the Tantra of Chakrasambhara both in terms of male and female consorts. There was the teachings which were given by Naropa, and then the teachings given by Indrakachhu, and the teachings given by Acharya Matripa. And each of them according to their experience and they taught the Tantra, and out of these there would be their teachings, the books that they wrote, there arose these three different ways of the appearance of Vajrayoginī. There are differences in the appearance of the deity, the differences in the appearance of rituals, differences in the rituals and difference in the way of practicing the generation stages.
The tradition of the Narochachhu is the most profound, the most deep. It condenses all of the best within it.