Key Practices of Kriya and Charya Tantra

How to do the prior approximation retreat has two points: 

• The necessity for doing it 
• How to do it. 

First, the necessity. Once we have received the initiation, if we don’t do an approximating practice, which is actually referring to a retreat of four sessions a day, there is no way to actually gain the attainments. 

As for how to do the prior approximation retreat, this involves two stages: 

• The way to attain the mental constancy (dhyana) gained by relying on mantra repetition 
• The way to attain the three mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition. 

The first of these, the way to attain the mental constancy gained by relying on mantra repetition, has three steps:

• Generating oneself as a deity through the six-fold deity generation process 
• Calling forth the wisdom beings and making offerings to them
• The fourfold branches of mantra repetition that are mixed together with the practice of holding the breath.

We have already discussed the first of these, the six-fold deity generation process. The second, calling forth the wisdom beings and making offerings to them, has two ways of doing it.

• Either we generate the wisdom beings before us, make offerings to them, then generate ourselves as the deity and the wisdom beings merge with us.
• Or in the way mentioned in the text, we first generate ourselves as the deity, then call forth the wisdom beings and then make offerings at that point before they merge with us. 

The way that we call forth the wisdom beings (the deep awareness beings) to make offerings to them is to imagine a beautiful vast land made of precious gems, and in the center of that, Mount Meru. Mount Meru is shaped like a stepped, square pyramid with progressively smaller tiers and a broad, flat top. The procedure for generating this is very clear in the various sadhanas where there are mantras recited with each of the different parts of the things to be visualized. 

On the top of Mount Meru, in the center of a lake of milk, we visualize an enormous lotus. On top of the lotus, from a white syllable HUM, we generate a celestial mansion, square in shape. Inside the palace, if there are many deities besides the main figure, we visualize lotus seats for the central deity and each of the others. As was explained yesterday, we then have the sound of the mantra just reverberating in the air; the sound crystallizes and takes on the form of the letters of the mantra and so forth for generating ourselves as the central figure. We can have the way of generating the deity that goes through all the stages, as we had before, or we can have an instantaneous generation. 

We then call forth the wisdom beings from the ten directions into the mandala. We are there in the midst of them in the form of the deity; we make the offerings to them and so on; they merge into us; and then we proceed with the rest of the ritual. 

Before we even start this sort of ritual practice, we have done an extensive cleaning of the meditation place and washed ourselves, performing all the ritual mantras and mudras that are involved with that. This is something that we can find in the Ngag-rim chen-mo, the extensive explanation of the stages of tantra by Tsongkhapa. There is no time to go into this extensively today as it is far too complicated.  

There is another presentation of ten main points that make up the kriya prior approximation retreat.

First, the mental constancy gained by relying on mantra repetition has three points:

• The place for practicing
• The person doing the practice 
• The four-fold branches of mantra repetition while holding the breath. 

Then, the three mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition cover the next three points.

• The mental constancy gained by dwelling on the flame 
• The mental constancy gained by dwelling on the sound
• The mental constancy gained by dwelling on the ultimate sound that confers liberation.

Then, there are:

• The actual practice of the two types of meditation: absorbed concentration (samadhi) and mental constancy (dhyana)  
• The rituals done before and after the prior approximation retreat for gaining the actual attainments

• The initiation and its rituals before the retreat
• The first puja and its rituals after the retreat.

To recap, the point of the place, the person and the four-fold branches of mantra repetition constitute the mental constancy gained by relying on mantra repetition, whereas the mental constancies gained by abiding on the flame, on the sound and on the ultimate sound that confers liberation constitute the three mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition. These four mental constancies gained by relying and then with relying on mantra repetition are the main points of kriya practice. Then there are two types of meditation. The point of rituals before and after the four-fold recitation refers to the procedures for gaining the actual attainments. All the rituals of the initiations are the next point and then follows the point of all the rituals of the fire puja and following rituals. With all of this, we get the ten points. 

Regarding mental constancy gained by relying on mantra repetition, that is divided into the generation of the deity with the six-fold deity generation, calling forth the wisdom beings and making offerings. Then, there are the four-fold branches of mantra repetition while holding the breath.

Holding the breath, pranayama in Sanskrit, refers to the various energy-winds; as we exhale, they go out to external objects. Holding it prevents it from going to external objects. The point is to hold the breath in order to prevent the mind from wandering and the energy-winds from going outside. We practice holding the breath while doing mind recitation. This is the four-fold mantra recitation.

Energy-wind and awareness or consciousness come together in one package. They don’t come as separate things. In other words, wherever we have the awareness, we have an energy-wind that carries it. When we have an object and we have awareness of the object, the awareness aspect is the consciousness side, and the energy that brings that awareness to it is the energy-wind side. We can’t have the energy-winds and the awareness separately. As described, they come together in one package.

The consciousness itself is like the king, and the attendants around the king are the mental factors, the ways to consider things. The attendants around the king ride around on the force of the energy-winds. If we can gain control over the force of the energy-winds, then we can gain control over the king, the mind, the main awareness itself. This is the purpose of doing this practice. It is to control the energy-winds.

If you ask what the four-branch mantra repetition is, this is referring to recitation aimed at the basis of the self, the other, the basis of the mind and the sound. 

The way of reciting mantras aimed at the basis of focusing on the self is with generating ourselves as the deity. The way of doing the recitation aimed at the basis of the other is doing it on the basis of the front generation. The recitation aimed at the basis of the mind, regardless of what deity we are practicing – in this case, in the kriya tantra practice of Avalokiteshvara – would be aimed at the moon disc in the heart of the deity generated in front. On the basis of the sound, we visualize on the moon disc at the heart of the deity in front of us the six syllables of the mantra arranged there, and these six syllables are giving forth the sounds of the mantra to focus on. To focus on that is to focus on the sound. As I said before, we are just focused on the self, or the deity in front, or the moon at the heart of the deity, or the sound of the syllables coming from the heart of the deity. We do whispered repetition with the first three branches and then, with the fourth, silent mental repetition while holding the breath.

When we do the recitation, make sure to have all the vowels and the nasals at the end, like the m, with a dot or two dots after them. Each of them has a specific way to be pronounced in Sanskrit, and we should pronounce correctly according to the Sanskrit. We recite it without mixing up and messing all the vowels in the mantras. It is important to know exactly how the Sanskrit is pronounced. In tantra, it is extremely important to have faith in what we are doing. The recitation of mantras correctly is, of course, best, but even if we can’t do it perfectly in the Sanskrit way, we should still have very deep faith and confidence in what we are doing and not let our mind wander around. It’s best to be focused. In addition, we should recite the mantras at an even pace, neither too slowly nor too quickly. If too quickly, we leave out syllables and things get slurred together and it comes out unclear. That’s not proper. 

The rosary that we use can be made out of jewels or we can use rosaries made out of the bodhi seed, like we can get in Nepal. When we begin to recite the mantras, we hold the rosary with the mudra, the hand gesture of each of the Buddha-families involved – either the Tathagata family, the vajra family or the lotus family. We begin that way, but if that becomes uncomfortable, we can hold the rosary in the normal fashion. 

Number of Mantra Repetitions

The number of mantras that we do varies. We can do a retreat according to signs; in other words, we keep doing the mantra until we get signs of success. Some people get this in seven days, and other people can take a very long time. We can also do a certain number of mantras in accordance with the number of syllables. For example, if there are six syllables in the mantra, such as om mani padme hum, we would do 100,000 for each syllable, or 600,000. If it’s less than 15 syllables, we can do 600,000 of them. If the mantra has 15 up to 32 syllables, then we do 300,000 recitations of the mantra. If it’s more than 32 syllables, then we would do 10,000. For instance, if we are doing the long Avalokiteshvara mantra, which has more than 32 syllables, and if doing a retreat, we would just repeat that 10,000 times. To review, less than 15 syllables, we do 600,000; 15 to 32, we do 300,000; and more than 32, we do 10,000. If we are doing the retreat for Avalokiteshvara with the long mantra, we would just repeat that mantra 10,000 times. This we can do in three or four days.

The fire puja is done to make up for any deficiencies or mistakes that we made during the retreat. The mistakes can include adding extra syllables or leaving syllables out or anything we did wrong. If we do the fire puja directly after the retreat, that’s the best; however, if there are some days in between or a month or whatever amount of time, we must recite the sadhana every day until we do the fire puja. If we miss a day of doing the sadhana before we do the fire puja, it’s finished. We need to repeat the retreat.

When doing the kriya tantra retreat, during that time, we aren’t allowed to eat meat, garlic, onions or any of these types of black foods. During that time, we should live on the three white and the three sweet foods. This is required whether we are doing a retreat of four sessions a day, two sessions or one. However, it doesn’t matter; it doesn’t have to be four sessions a day. If it’s very difficult for us to not eat meat, and if we are only doing one or two sessions a day, before and during the time of the sessions, we would never eat meat or any of the restricted black foods. Only afterward, if needed, when the sessions are completed, we can eat them. 

We can do the recitations with the deity in front of us with the syllables of the mantra in the heart of the deity. We recite the mantra of the deity like that. When we breathe in, we imagine that the letters from the mantra in the heart of the deity in front of us transfer to our own heart as the deity. Next, we do the practice of holding our breath, the breath control that we spoke about before, to prevent the mind from wandering outward. We recite like that to ourselves. When we breathe out, the mantra recitation goes back to the deity in front. We alternate like that.

There are two types of mental focus on the visualization: focusing for mental constancy and focusing for absorbed concentration. After we have gone through the procedure of generating the deity through the six-fold deity generation as before, in our visualization, we sweep focus back and forth on all the aspects and details of the deity, including all the jewelry and so on. Going over it that way is the beginning concentration of mental constancy. Focusing on one aspect only is for developing single-minded concentration. These are two different types of focusing.

It is extremely important to do the practices of holding our breath when doing this mantra recitation to prevent the mind from wandering. When we focus on all the aspects of the deity for mental constancy, it’s not that there is no need for holding the breath. There is still the need for doing the breath-holding practice; however, it is especially called for in the focusing on one aspect for gaining single-minded concentration. When doing the focusing for mental constancy – the dhyana one when we go through the generation of the deity – although we do the breath-holding technique as the mind is moving back and forth with all the objects of the concentration, the main emphasis isn’t on this breath-holding. Whereas, when we’re focusing on one to get single-minded concentration, the breath-holding technique is very important to do strongly.

There are other types of focus that we have. On one level, as mentioned, we are focusing on three things: the deity, the moon disc and the sound. On the second level, we are focusing on the moon disc and the sounds coming from it. For the third level, we do it just focusing on the sounds coming out of the mantra letters of the deity in front of us. 

Masters also describe these visualizations with lights coming out from the deity in front of us and from the letters of the deity in front of us. Also, we can be doing all the actions of purifying all beings and their suffering in the six states of existence and making offerings to the Buddhas and so forth. 

While we are doing the recitation of the mantra, we shouldn’t fall asleep, yawn, talk or expel wind from our bottom or fart. If we do any of these things that are not permitted, we have to wash our hands and mouths and say some extra mantras to make up for this. We do the recitations and then the 100-syllable mantra. If practicing from the lotus family, instead of Vajrasattva, we do Padmasattva and its corresponding visualization.

This is the way of doing the four-fold recitation.

In the text regarding the practice of pranayama, where the Sanskrit term is translated into Tibetan as sogtsol dompa (srog-rtsol sdom-pa), breath-force binding, it says that sog, breath, is referring to the various energy-winds that pass through the gateways of the senses and the pores of the skin. Tsol, force, refers to the force of it wandering off with the mind to distraction. Dom, restraint, refers to the mindfulness that restrains and controls the winds from going off to the senses and keeps the mind from wandering off to other objects. 

Offerings and Praises

Another aspect of the ritual is the offerings and the praises. As for the making of offerings, when we say to Avalokiteshvara, we offer water for the mouth and the feet, flowers, incense, light and perfume water for the heart. Avalokiteshvara is referring to Chenrezig together with entourage. 

The making of the offering here is in addition to the steps made earlier in the procedure. Offerings can’t be done without having blessed the offerings and transformed them into the substances. We have to change them from the impure aspects into pure aspects that are uncontaminated. Uncontaminated means that they are not associated with any confusion. The blessing is to transform them into their radiance. They’re consecrated; thereby, in their previous moment, they’re impure, and in the following moment, they’re pure. That is the blessing. 

Blessing

The blessing that we do of the water, flower, incense, light and so forth is that we imagine that they all dissolve into voidness, and then from a state of voidness, they arise as jeweled vessels that hold these things. We need three things: single-minded concentration, mantras and the mudra or gestures. The concentration aspect means to be concentrated on all these things being the manifestation of the deep awareness unassociated with any confusion, or not contaminated by that. The mantra refers to the syllables of Avalokiteshvara.

Mudras for the Four Waters

For kriya tantra, the mudras or hand gestures are as being demonstrated. The mudras in kriya tantra are different from the ones in anuttarayoga tantra. We offer two more waters in the fire puja, making four waters. For the usual water to drink, argham, the two palms face upwards, the three last fingers are intertwined, with the left in front and the thumbs are bent. For the usual water to wash the feet, padyam, the left hand is clenched facing down with the thumb tucked in and the right is above, thumb tucked in and fan out the fingers starting with the first finger. 

Then we add water to wash the mouth, anchamanam. Start with clenched fists facing downwards, thumbs tucked in, fan out the fingers by releasing little fingers first and ending with first finger. The water for sprinkling on the body as a shower, prokshanam, is done with the mudra for splashing water. The palms face each other and wave up and down with the first two fingers on both hands extended out. Those are the mudras for the four waters. Then, there are also other mudras for offerings – for the flowers, incense and so forth.

Vajra and Bell

When we do the phrases like “Your body is white without any stain,” we hold our vajra up with our right hand. During the first line of the phrase, we hold the vajra by our heart. In the second line, we ring the bell. The third line “You look at all beings with compassion,” we do the lotus mudra waving our hands, and then we put our hands together in the homage mudra and then recite the verses for prostrations.

The vajra is to remind us of the qualities of the omniscient mind of a Buddha. The second line, when we ring the bell, based on the omniscient mind of a Buddha, the Buddha gives forth the teachings of the Dharma, and therefore we become mindful of the qualities of the speech of the Buddha and ring the bell.

When we speak of the deep awareness that is referred to in kriya and charya tantra, it is nondual or non-discordant profundity and clarity. The profundity is the profound view of voidness, and the clarity is the clarity of the body of the deity. We don’t have these two as separate or discordant. We have them together, and the deep awareness of that is what we are generating in the first two classes of tantra. We don’t have the inseparable voidness and bliss aspect; that is only in anuttarayoga tantra. 

When we do the third line of the lotus mudra, we think that in order to teach the Dharma, we need a basis. For that, we need a body; therefore, the deep awareness of nondual profundity and clarity takes on the aspect of the body of the deity. That’s what we become mindful of with the third line. 

When we hold the bell, the face on it is the face of Vairochana, and that should face toward us. When we ring the bell, we have our first finger holding the top of the bell, and then with our fourth finger, we ring the bell.

Whatever praises we do, however many four-line praises that we do, this is the type of thinking that we do with the mudra. This concludes the concentration in connection with the recitation of mantra.

The Three Mental Constancies Gained without Relying on Mantra Repetition

The next point is the three mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition. Concentration that doesn’t rely on recitation. The first of these three is the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the flame. During the previous mental constancy, the mental constancy gaining by relying on mantra repetition, we focused on the sound of the mantra being emitted from a moon disc in our heart as the deity. Now, what we imagine is a flame on the moon disc inside our heart. The flame is emitting the sound of the mantra. As a sign of the accomplishment of this, our body becomes very hot, very warm inside. 

The next mental constancy is the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the sound. We no longer imagine the flame, but we just focus on the sound of the mantra itself. Before, when we were focusing on the sound, we imagined it being emitted from various sources. Now, we imagine the syllables of the mantra on the moon disc and focus just on hearing the sound itself. 

The final mental constancy is the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the ultimate sound that confers liberation. This is thinking about the voidness of the sound of the mantra, thinking about all the various lines of reasoning that we usually have, such as “neither one nor many” and the line of reasoning based on dependent arising. In this way, we focus on the voidness of the sound.  

If we haven’t achieved shamatha before, we achieve it with the practices of the first three mental constancies. When we are practicing the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the ultimate sound that confers liberation, we develop vipashyana on top of that state of shamatha. It says in the text that if we do too much analysis with the discriminating awareness that understands the individual nature of things, we lose our previous placement. Therefore, by alternating the analytical and formal meditation, we will be able to get the combined shamatha and vipashyana focused on voidness. We will be able to get a stilled and settled mind and an exceptionally perceptive state of mind focused on voidness.

When we get vipashyana, the exceptionally perceptive state of mind that cognizes voidness conceptually, at that time, we achieve the second of the five paths, the path of application in kriya tantra. Then, when we get the nonconceptual cognition of voidness, we achieve the path of seeing. We go on from there in the same way as we have in the perfection vehicle. 

Review of the Main Stages of Kriya Tantra Practice

If we want to achieve any of the actions and so forth of the actual special attainments, which are found in kriya and charya tantra, we have to accomplish – on the basis of having previously realized the four-fold branches of mantra repetition – the three mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition. 

To review, we need to go through the four-fold branches of mantra recitation, focused on the self as a base, the other as a base, the mind as a base and the sound as a base. Then, after that, there are the three levels of mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition: the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the flame, the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the sound and the mental constancy gained by dwelling on the ultimate sound that confers liberation. These are the main stages of the practice in kriya tantra. We have to go through all of that in order to gain the actual attainments.

In order to avoid gaining a trivial attainment that isn’t pervasive with the full attainment, we have to go through all the stages explained like this in the Ngag-rim chen-mo, the Great Stages of the Tantric Paths, according to Tsongkhapa.

We have gone through the sections in the outline of how to be a proper vessel, keeping the vows and close bonds, and how to do the prior approximation. The prior approximation is divided into the ways to attain the mental constancy gained by relying on mantra repetition and the way to attain the three mental constancies gained without relying on mantra repetition. Now, we move onto the fourth part of the outline, how to accomplish the actual attainments.

Three Levels of Attainments

There are levels of actual attainments: the best, the middling and the very least. There are many different ways of dividing these three. As for the best level of actual attainments, there is the knowledge-holder attainment, the attainment of extrasensory perceptions and the attainment of full understanding; knowledge of all the texts is in the level of best attainment. In the best level, the knowledge-holder attainment is the gaining of actual realizations on our mind-stream. The attainment of the extrasensory perceptions is referring to the usual types of ESP. The full knowledge of all the texts is referring to all the sutra and tantra texts. There are many different levels of attainment that we can get from this. For example, there is one of just reading the beginning of a text and getting the full understanding of the entire text from just the beginning.

The middle level of attainments would be to gain the power of being invisible and to be able to take the essence of small pills and live on that. There is also the fast walking, being able to move to the top of mountains. These are the types of attainments on the middle level. The text is missing the part about fast walking. Instead of fast legs or fast walking, there is the attainment of crooked legs, which is like someone being crippled. The attainment is not to be crippled. It is referring to making concentrated realized substances that are rubbed on the leg, and then we are able to go very quickly. Or we would be able to gain the attainment of being able to live off the essence of flowers, for instance. This is something very accepted. 

However, this attainment of being able to live on the essence of flowers is something practiced only at the very advanced stage to be able to gain the actual attainment. This is for someone advanced and able to live in complete isolation up in the mountain peaks and uninvolved in busy work, without having the distraction of making food and things like that. It’s for that purpose that we do this – this taking of the essence practice. We can gain that attainment at that stage. 

We have the example of one highly realized master. He was one of the close disciples of Tsongkhapa, and when it came time for him to gain his actual attainments and so forth, he went to the mountains in complete isolation, and he lived on the taking the essence practice. If we receive the lineage of this taking of the essence practice, that’s something that is very good. If we do this in the state in which we have completely given up all concern for this life, all involvement in this life and have total involvement in the Dharma, then this is something fortunate. If we are on that level, then it is a thing that is needed as a practice; however, if we aren’t on that level, practicing this for any odd reason, Milarepa said, would just cause pain to ourselves, bringing more pain than we would ordinarily have.

It’s not the type of practice that is just done without a level of attainment. Also, if many people do the practice of, let’s say, this taking of the essence practice in one place together, it is an inauspicious sign, a sign of bringing on famine to the place where the practice is done. That is why it’s inauspicious for people to do this in a group. 

If we really are an excellent practitioner and qualified to do the practice, then this taking of the essence practice is something that is quite good to do. If not, it brings on many disadvantages as explained here, such as torturing ourselves and bringing famine to the place.

On the least level attainment, we are able to get others under our control, to kill others and to chase others away from a certain area. These are the small level attainments. 

Attainments from the Point of View of Signs and from the Body

There are also attainments from the point of view of signs. For instance, the various substances start to boil, be on fire, give off smoke, or emit heat and so forth. This would be attainments from signs. 

From the point of view of the body, there are also actual attainments. Actual attainment of substances are attainments regarding things that we make use of or enjoy. From the point of view of the speech, there are the mantras of the aryas, the deities and the earth deities. Actual attainments from the point of view of the Buddha-family would be the pacifying, increasing and forceful. The peaceful is from the Tathagata family, the increase is from the lotus family and the forceful is from the vajra family. This is according to the Ngag-rim chen-mo. 

The five Buddha-families are included in the three Buddha-families of kriya tantra. The Vairochana family is included in the Ratnasambhava family, the jewel family, which is the Tathagata family. The Amoghasiddhi family is included in the lotus family of Amitabha. Also in each family, we have the three different types of attainments and also the peaceful and forceful attainments in each of the three Buddha-families. Also, in each family, we have the guardian of the family, the consort of the family and the forceful figure of the family. 

Someone with extremely sharp senses will be able to gain a very long life through the procedures of kriya and charya tantra. On the basis of that actual attainment of an extremely long life, we will be able to attain enlightenment within that. Even though in some texts there are some people who say that it’s possible to gain enlightenment in one lifetime through these lower classes, it’s not just stated clearly in the Ngag-rim chen-mo. According to a text The General Presentation of the Four Tantra Classes by the great master Panchen Sonam Dragpa, in kriya and charya tantra, they do not have a different way of asserting how to achieve enlightenment that differs from the perfection vehicle. 

Nevertheless, it has to be investigated whether or not the achievement of enlightenment has to be done from the Akanishtha realm. According to the perfection vehicle, it is only possible to achieve enlightenment from the pure Akanishtha realm, and not from the earthly desire realm. The great masters Buddhaguhya and Varabodhi each have a different way of stating the manner of achieving enlightenment through the first two lower classes of tantra. This is something found extensively in the Ngag-rim chen-mo. We can learn about it from there. The two main masters to follow for the kriya and charya tantra are these two masters.

That completes the brief presentation of kriya tantra.

Charya Tantra

The path explained in the charya tantra is very similar to that of kriya tantra. Therefore, I will explain it in brief. Charya tantra is divided into the same four categories as outlined before: how to become a proper vessel, holding the vows, how to do the prior approximation and how to achieve the actual attainments.

It says in the text, to become a proper vessel for entering into the meditations, we need to receive an initiation, such as into the mandala of Mahakarunika, The Great Compassionate One. It’s not sufficient to receive the water and crown initiation. We need to receive all the initiations of the five Buddha-families. Except for that, there is no difference in the qualifications for the meditation practice. We need to have at least that. 

In charya tantra, there is equal emphasis on outer and inner practices. As for the vows to keep, there are the 18 root bodhisattva vows and the 46 secondary vows, as we had in the kriya tantra. The close bonds are also similar to those in kriya tantra. For instance, if we are eating off leaf plants, we aren’t allowed to eat off the back of the leaf. If we take things to eat with our hands, we are supposed to take it with both of our hands together. Likewise, we aren’t to eat meat, onion or garlic and so on.

The texts for the charya tantra practice of the Mahavairocana Abhisambodhi form of Vairochana state that we should not give up the Dharma or give up bodhichitta even at the cost of our life. This is emphasized very strongly in this charya tantra Vairochana practice. It also says not to be miserly and not to cause any harm to other beings. These would be causes for having a poverty of wealth. 

Avoiding Destructive Actions Emphasized

If we take the syllables of the word “miserliness” separately, serna (ser-sna), the first syllable means yellow and the second means nose. This is referring to a yellow nose, and it refers to dogs. It’s not pervasive, but most dogs have yellow noses. Dogs are very miserly; this is seen when we try to take something from a dog, they will immediately bark and bite. This is an indication of how miserly it is by how it responds to things. The division of miserliness is therefore represented by a dog, and how the name is given for miserliness in Tibetan. Avoiding the ten types of destructive actions is the main thing emphasized in charya tantra. 

Yogas with and without Signs

The way that practice is done is divided into yogas with and without signs. Yoga with signs is divided into the outer four-fold branches of mantra repetition and the inner four-fold branches of mantra recitation. The four-fold branches are the same as in kriya tantra. Each set of four entails doing a non-degenerating whispered repetition with the first three and a mental repetition with the fourth with the breath-controlling practice.

The second of these, the yoga without signs, is when we have already achieved shamatha, a stilled and settled mind based on the focus on the body of the deity. Then, it is followed by a meditation on voidness in conjunction with this deity yoga. Alternating between analytical and formal meditation, we get a combined state of shamatha and vipashyana realizing voidness. 

According to Tsongkhapa, the meaning of the yoga with signs and without signs is that the first is a meditation and recitation on a deity that is separate from the meditation on voidness. Yoga without signs is when we have a way of meditating on the deity with voidness, and it doesn’t refer to just meditation of voidness by itself. 

The text goes on with various controversial points of debate. This is something quite difficult, and we can go through this more slowly and carefully. One great master, not just anybody, said that the difference between the yoga with signs and the yoga without signs is that it is either meditation on a deity conjoined with a mind that either does or does not understand voidness. This type of differentiation of meaning has to be analyzed. 

There is a difference in the way in which we have the non-separateness of deep awareness (wisdom) and method in sutra and tantra. This is something which is explained with very complicated quotations here from the Ngag-rim chen-mo, and you can study it later in more detail with your teacher. Even though in tantra we have these two coming in one package – the deep awareness that understands the non-true existence or appearance of the deity and also the extent of the appearance of the deity – nevertheless, we can point out the deep awareness separately because, although they come in one package, they have different double negatives. We have to understand, for instance, in terms of understanding of the voidness of the appearance of the deity, that the appearance of the deity isn’t something that exists as inherently findable; nevertheless, we understand that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist at all. We have to differentiate between these extremes. It doesn’t mean that the deity is findably existent or that the deity doesn’t exist at all. In this way, we understand the voidness of the deity.

We can’t simply say that the difference is just connected with the force of the meditation on voidness or not as the difference between yoga with signs or yoga without signs. This is because, as in the Paramitayana, when we have bodhichitta before the voidness meditations, even though we aren’t meditating on voidness, it is carried by the force of that bodhichitta. The difference between yoga with or without signs is whether our focus on the appearance of a deity actually has the meditation on voidness at the same time with it. Therefore, we need the meditation without signs to be able to cut the root of samsara. Without the actual meditation on voidness at the time of appearing as the deity itself, we won’t be able to cut through the root. This is something certain in terms of what has been said here.

Objections

Some people might say that if we need the yoga without signs in order to cut the root of samsara, as something which has the complete view on voidness, they say that this can’t be a deity yoga with the appearances of a deity with faces and arms because it’s a mind that equally understands voidness, and that wouldn’t be pervasive if at that time when the mind understands voidness, a deity would have to appear. They assert that it is deity yoga, and because of that, it has to appear. Nagarjuna says that to a mind that completely understands voidness, there isn’t the appearance of anything. This is an objection that is raised here. In order to cut the root of samsara, we have to have a way of progressing that is completely opposite to this ego way of grasping things. Therefore, we have to have an understanding of voidness, which is what is required for cutting the root of samsara, and the appearance of the deity isn’t something that can cut it off.  

It is necessary for the deity to actually appear; these relative appearances actually have to appear for it to be a deity yoga. In general, whether it is a yoga with or without signs, it’s not pervasive that we have to have the appearance of the deity with the arms and the faces because of the four different types of yoga. There is the deity yoga, the voidness yoga, the wind yoga, and the recitation yoga. They are the four yogas, and it’s not necessary to have the appearance of the deity for it to be a deity yoga. 

There are various types of actual attainments. There are attainments that rely on external objects or substances. For example, there is a certain type of sword that we actualize, and with the sword we can fly anywhere. 

As for the inner type of attainments, by meditating on mandalas of earth, water, fire and air that are within our body, we are able to achieve the actual attainments of pacifying, increase and so forth. When we achieve actual visions of Manjushri and other bodhisattvas, they lay their hands on our head and say, “Well done, well done,” and things like this. When these things happen in this type of tantra, we have achieved single-minded concentration, the samadhi of not forgetting things, particularly of not forgetting bodhichitta. In this way, we have many ways of achieving attainments with tantra.

Meditating on the Great Yoga of Self-Completion

We also need to meditate on the great yoga of self-completion. These teachings are related to different mandalas, but maybe it is difficult to understand what we are talking about. However, to understand, we need to know the types of mandalas in relation to this tantra, together with the rituals and practices related to these mandalas; otherwise, it is unlikely that a precise idea will arise in our mind.

The prominent spiritual masters or acharyas from which this tantra draws inspiration are three: Buddhaguhya, Shakyamitra and Anandagarbha. In the tantra that we have previously considered, there were two important masters, and here there are the three.

To meditate on the great yoga of self-completion, it is necessary to become receptive to this particular tantra through initiation, then to keep the commitments and the particular promises to approximate the divinity, and after this to obtain spiritual powers. In order to become receptive to the practice of this tantra, it is necessary to be introduced into it by an initiation, such as that in the mandala of vajradhatu.

Here it is also necessary to take the aspects that are called the initiation of the disciple. So, if we take this initiation, we must also take on the commitments in relation to it, and if we continue taking the initiation of the acharya also here, the complete initiation, the taking of other commitments is also involved.

The most important thing after taking the initiation is to keep these commitments pure, to be able to recognize which is the origin of negative and positive actions and to know the methods to eliminate negative actions, etc. These methods have been taught by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas themselves: knowing and practicing these is the greatest commitment made explicit in this tantra. It is, therefore, necessary to look at two texts in particular that explain the commitments of this tantra.