SeanFeitOakes.com | 2017

Intro to the History of Yoga: Philosophy, Practice, Transformation with Dr. Sean Feit Oakes

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Tantra: 1. A body of Indian esoteric texts (tantra, āgama, & sūtra) mostly written between the 4th and 13th c. 2. Etymology: √tan: propagate, spread; √tra: save, protect.

Because it elaborates copious and profound matters, especially relating to the principles of reality [tattvas] and , and because it saves us [from the cycle of suffering], it is called a tantra.1

Tantra is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy of the godhead that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways.2

Tantric schools/lineages

Śaiva (orienting toward Śiva as primary divinity, though many schools were Goddess oriented)

Buddhist/Bauddha (orienting toward Buddhas and (Enlightened Beings) as divinities)

Tantra also influenced Vaiṣṇava (orienting toward Viṣṇu) , Jainism and Indian Islam. Tantric principles spread to include Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhisms, Chinese Daoism and Ch’an, Japanese esoteric Buddhisms such as Tendai, Shingon, and aspects of .

Modern Tantric lineages, with some prominent Western or accessible teachers, include:

Hindu: Kaśmiri Śaivism/Swami Lakṣmanjoo: Mark Dyczkowski, Bettina Baümer Baba Muktānanda/Siddha Yoga: Gurumayi Chidvilasānanda, Paul Muller-Ortega, Christopher Wallis Śrī Vidyā: Douglas Brooks

Tibetan/Nepalese/Bhutanese Buddhist: (“Old Translation”): (R), R. Kadam/Sakya: Nyoshul Khen R., Dzongsar Khyentse R., Surya Das Kagyū: Milarepa, Kalu R., Chogyam Trungpa R., Pema Chödrön, Tsoknyi R., Mingyur R. Geluk: The Dalai

* A note on “tantra”: Sexually-oriented schools, known as “Neo-Tantra” by scholars, largely derive from 19th c. European/American practices around sexual discipline and spirituality, combining ideas from classical Tantra, Haṭha Yoga, Daoism, globalized Hinduism, New Age mysticism, occultism, and modern yoga. Most Neo-Tantra has only minimal connection with Indian or Himalayan Tantric lineages.

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Tantric principles: Guru

22. The disciple, directed by the compassionate guru who is pleased with his devotion, is liberated from [the fetters of] action and gains liberation as well as other rewards (bhuktimukti).

38. Why such exertions as those of pilgrimage, wherefore observances that emaciate the body, when the pure service of and devotion to the guru [afford the same fruit]?

51-52. Siva is all-pervading, subtle, transcending the mind, without attributes, imperishable, space-like, unborn, infinite: how could he be worshiped, O Dear One? This is why Siva takes on the visible form of the guru who, [when] worshiped with devotion, grants liberation and rewards.

53. I am Siva without any form, O Goddess, imperceptible to the human senses. This is why the virtuous disciples can worship [Me] in the form of the guru.

54. The guru is the the supreme Siva himself, manifestly perceptible as enclosed in human skin. Remaining thus concealed, he bestows grace (anugraha) on the good disciple.

99. Difficult to find is the guru who, when pleased, immediately affords the treasure of liberation, thus saving from the cosmic flow.

104. Many are the gurus who shine [feebly] like lamps in a house. Difficult to obtain is the guru who, like the sun, illuminates everything.

105. Many are the gurus well versed in the Veda, the Sastras, and so forth. Difficult to find is the guru who has mastered the supreme Truth (paratattva).

108. Many are the gurus who despoil their disciples of their wealth. Difficult to find, O Goddess, is the guru who destroys the sufferings of the disciple.

109. Many on earth are [the gurus] who follow the rules of caste and stage of life (varnaśramadharma) and who know the kula practice (kulacara), but the guru whose mind is free of all discursive thought is not easy to find.

130-32. Having found a holy guru endowed with all the proper qualities, one who destroys all doubts and bestows knowledge, O Goddess, one should not stay with another one. If, however, one happens to have a guru who has no real knowledge and who causes doubts, no harm would be incurred by leaving him. Indeed, as the bee eager for honey flies from flower to flower, so the disciple eager for knowledge goes from master to master.3

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Tantric principles: Mantra (from the Kulārṇava Tantra)

The subtle breath which rises up from the heart of the master, and which is like the moon or a crystal, or a very fine thread, is composed of sound, which serenely travels along the series of centers until it comes to rest at last in the dvādaśānta. The dvādaśānta is the terminal point where the suṣumnā comes to an end. The suṣumnā is the central pathway of the three paths. At this point, after having caused his heart to overflow, the teacher must recite the mantra, which then blazes brightly like a submarine fire and bursts forth from his eye sockets and skin pores, until filling the tranquil top knot, in which are melted the streams of clarified butter, which has been propitiated and satisfied by the streams of clarified butter. The mantra then reaches the disciple’s heart. In this way mantras give liberation when they are awakened and completely purified. In whatever center the mantra is then recited, whether it be the root, the bulb, the ether, the navel, the heart, the throat, the forehead, the palate, the half-moon, the obstructor, the sound, the limit of sound, the pervading one, the power, the equalized one, the transcendent, or the supreme center of the purified Self, in short, in whatever center, and whether all together or separately, that mantra is then the supreme mantra. This is the wisdom-vow described in the Devya-yamala-tantra which has as its purpose the establishment of the potency of mantras.4

3.49 The supreme mantra that bestows the grace of the Auspicious One (Śrī) is the foundation of the highest path (urdhvāmnāya). He who knows this as our supreme form is himself Śiva.

3.50 This mantra is performed, O beloved, with each exhalation [which makes the sound ham] and inhalation [which makes the sound sa] of breath, repeated by all breathing beings, from Śiva all the way down to the worms.

13.64 Just as words such as “pot,” “vessel,” and “jar” all mean the same object [artha: goal, meaning, thing], so too are god and mantra and guru said to be the same object.

15.34 Placing oneself in postures such as the lotus, the cross-legged, or warrior pose, one should perform repetition of the mantra and offer worship. Otherwise [initiation, grace, and effort] will bear no fruit.

15.113 One should perform the recitation of the mantra by fixing oneself on it, with life breath coursing through it, setting it within one’s consciousness, and making the deep connections that form the meaning of its syllables.

16.116 One who knows the mantra of supreme grace is liberated whether he dwells in a place of true pilgrimage, or a place without means to ford across the world, or even in the midst of the ocean of worldliness—there is no doubt about it.5

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Tantric Principles: Tattva

0. The Heart (hṛdaya)/Śiva-Śakti in perfect fusion (Parama-Śiva, Paramārtha): Ultimate Non-dual Reality.

1. Pure Consciousness (Śiva): unlimited absolute consciousness; the formless ground.

2. Power/Goddess (Śakti): unlimited creative power; divine feminine, “great goddess” (Mahādevī); blissful Self-reflective awareness (vimarśa).

3. the still-benevolent one (Sadāśiva): first differentiation. Associated with icchā-śakti. 4. the lord (Īśvara): personal God. Associated with jñana-śakti. 5. pure wisdom (Śuddha-vidyā): mantra as conscious reality. Associated with kriyā-śakti.

6. illusion (māyā): “supreme veil”, “the world-source” (jagad-yoni), the power of differentiation.

Māyā is the source of the 5 veils (kañcuka):

7. limited action (kalā), veils kriyā-śakti 8. limited knowledge (vidyā), veils jñana-śakti 9. lack (rāga), veils icchā-śakti 10. time (kāla) 11. space/causality (niyati)

12. puruṣa: individual consciousness, knowing subject, ātman, jīva, kṣetrajña.

13. prakṛti: nature, the substance of the universe, matter/energy.

14. intelligence (buddhi): reason, imagination, like a mirror 15. ego (ahaṅkāra): the I-maker, identity 16. mind (manas): thoughts & feelings, attention

Organs of Knowing (jñānendriya) Organs of Action (karmendriya) Senses (tanmātra) Elements (mahā-bhūta)

17. ears (śrotra): hearing 22. mouth (vāk): speech 27. sound (śabda) 32. space (ākāśa) 18. skin (tvak): contact 23. hands (pāni): manipulation 28. touch (sparśa) 33. air (vāyu) 19. eyes (cakṣus): sight 24. feet (pāda): locomotion 29. form (rūpa) 34. fire (tejas / agni) 20. tongue (rasanā): taste 25. genitals (upastha): procreation 30. taste (rasa) 35. water (āpaḥ) 21. nose (ghrāṇa): smell 26. bowels (pāyu): elimination 31. smell (gandha) 36. earth (prthvī)

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Tantric Principles: 3 Mala (Impurities) & 5 Acts (pañca-kṛtya)

1. Individuality, primal contraction (āṇava-mala). The primary cause of suffering (duḥkha). 2. Differentiation, limitation, illusion (māyīya-mala). The feeling of separateness. 3. Action (kārma-mala). The bondage of karma via attachment (rāga) and aversion (dveṣa).

1. Creation, expansion (sṛṣṭi) 2. Preservation, sustaining (sthiti) 3. Dissolution, contraction, withdrawal (saṃhāra) 4. Concealing, forgetting, self-limitation (tirodhāna) 5. Revealing, remembering, grace (anugraha)

Kṣemarāja, The Heart of Recognition (tr. Wallis)

1. Awareness, free and independent, is the cause of the performance of everything. 2. She unfolds the universe through Her own Will and on the canvas which is Herself. 3. It is diverse because it is divided into mutually adapted subjects and objects. 4. The individual conscious being also, as a contraction of universal Awareness, embodies the entire universe in a microcosmic form.

5. Awareness descends from her wholly Self-aware and expanded state and becomes contracted in order to perceive an object: this is the mind.

13. When there is full realization of that, the mind turns within and ascends to its wholly self-aware and expanded state, and thus is [realized as] Awareness.

16. When one discovers this Bliss of Awareness, and firmly fixes the realization that the body etc. are one with that Awareness—so that it persists even when they are still perceivable—this is jīvanmukti: embodied liberation.

17. The Bliss of Awareness is discovered through the expansion of the Center.

18. The means here are: dissolving mental constructs, contraction and expansion of energy, cutting off the flows, concentrating on the beginning and ending point, and so on.

19. Upon emerging from meditation, while still experiencing its impression, contemplate that whatever arises is one with [the same pure] Awareness [of the samādhi state]: practicing this again and again, one will attain a samādhi that continuously arises.

20. Then, due to immersion in the fully expanded, all-encompassing Self—which is in essence the bliss of the Light of Awareness and the great potency of [all] mantras—one attains the state of being the Lord of the Circle of the goddesses of one’s own consciousness, who are constantly engaged in the creation and dissolution of all things. All this is Śiva. All is blesséd.6

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Tibetan Tantra: The Abbreviated Quintessence Sadhana of Yeshé Tsogyal, Queen of the Ocean of Wisdom

Ho! In the Guru Wisdom Dakini, I take ; I arouse the mind of awakening for the benefit of all beings. Instantaneously, I am perfectly and completely aware of myself As the wisdom form of Tsogyal Vajra Yogini. From the visualized heart center life force syllable and mantra-garland, Rays of light radiate forth and gather back, performing the two benefits. Within dharmata, the true nature of phenomena, ordinary forms and sounds as deities and mantras, Coalesce as the single bindu of great bliss. I awaken to the emptiness of the manifest aspect of the visualization. The natural expressivity of emptiness arises as the deity. To all beings, I dedicate the of striving in this practice. May the auspiciousness of the spontaneously accomplished two benefits be present.7

Tibetan Tantra: The Single Word of Heart-Advice

Homage to all the sacred masters. The heart-mind of all the Buddhas of the past, the present, and the future, widely renowned as Dharmakaya, as Mahamudra, as enlightened mind, is precisely your own mind, which thinks of this and that.

Simply allow this unique awareness to rest vividly awake and present in its natural way.

You don’t need to worry or think, “Is this really it? Could this be Mahamudra?” Don't bother yourself with these doubts and questions. Don’t hope for improvement or be afraid of degeneration.

By practicing in this extraordinarily simple way, again and again, you will definitely recognize the groundless, rootless open essence of all thoughts, appearances, and phenomena. When that happens, realization blooms naturally. All attachments, all habitual patterns, all conditioning is spontaneously liberated and released in this blossoming of realization.

I swear there is not a more profound and ultimate instruction from all the holy and realized masters of the enlightened that is more profound and more vital than this single word of my heart-advice. Please don't waste this. Don’t squander it. Remember this teaching always. There is no mistake in it. Rely on the blessings of such a teaching, rather than on the blessings of others.

This was written by Rangjung Dorje in the Yangon Hermitage. May all beings be happy. Sarva mangalam.8

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Bibliography

Muller-Ortega, Paul. The Triadic Heart of Śiva. Albany: SUNY Press, 1989.

Wallis, Christopher. The Recognition . Boulder: Mattamayura Press, 2017.

———. Tantra Illuminated. The Woodlands: Anusara Press, 2012.

White, David Gordon. Tantra in Practice. Princeton: Princeton, 2000.

Notes 1 Kāmikā-tantra, quoted in Christopher Wallis, Tantra Illuminated (The Woodlands: Anusara Press, 2012), 26.

2 Definition of Tantra by White, after Madeleine Birdie and André Padoux, in David Gordon White, Tantra in Practice (Princeton: Princeton, 2000), 8-9.

3 From the Kulārṇava Tantra, in Andre Padoux, “The Tantric Guru” in Ibid., 48-51.

4 Abhinava Gupta, Tantrāloka (10th c.), in Paul Muller-Ortega, The Triadic Heart of Śiva (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989), 167-68.

5 Douglas Renfrew Brooks, “Ocean of the Heart: Selections from the Kulārṇava Tantra” in White, Tantra in Practice, 353-60.

6 Kṣemarāja (d. 1025, disciple of Abhināvagupta), The Heart of the Doctrine of Recognition (Pratyabhijña-hṛdayam), Christopher Wallis, The Recognition Sutras (Boulder: Mattamayura Press, 2017).

7 Composed by Jñana (Dudjom Rinpoché, Jigdral Yeshé Dorjé).

8 Composed by the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje.

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