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1 a Crash Course on Samaya the Mention of Samaya Often Evokes

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A Crash Course On Samaya The mention of samaya often evokes images of rules and punishments, but this is not the spirit of samaya. Samaya helps us to live 24/7 in the correct view of the underlying principle of all types of Buddhism, namely, that what is inside is connected to what is outside—that how we use our mind has results across the board, for ourselves, for others, and for the world. Deep breath! The observance of vows has always played an essential role for the faithful in all spiritual traditions. In Buddhism, the normative rules or vows of hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana guide us through the stages of these approaches to enlightenment. As Secret Mantra yogins or tantrikas, we are responsible not only for ourselves, but also for the welfare of all beings, the health of the planet, and the future of Buddhist teachings— that they remain in this world for as long as possible during this dark degenerative time. The problem is that we don’t know ourselves as buddhas. We don’t respect our innate nature, so we transgress it, thinking and acting with impropriety and distancing ourselves from truth. This is the reason for keeping samaya. It’s an aid to taming our minds. The Sanskrit word samaya refers to a conjunction or meeting place. In tantra, this place is our body, speech, and mind wherein enlightenment’s wisdom (yeshe) is embedded. In Tibetan, samaya is dam-tshig. Dam has two meanings. The first is as the adjective sacred or holy, and the second is as the verb to bind—to unite our body, speech, and mind with our buddha nature. Tshig as a noun means word or promise, and as a verb, it means incinerating, i.e., keeping samaya incinerates deviations. The great master Padmasambhava summarized the practice of keeping samaya: Outwardly, practice according to the sutras, being meticulous about cause and effect, and what to cultivate and avoid. Inwardly, practice according to the unsurpassable Secret Mantra, integrating the creation and completion stages of meditation. Secretly, practice according to the great secret Atiyoga and gain liberation in a body of light within a single lifetime. The importance of samaya in Secret Mantra: Here the term tantra refers to the scriptural texts of the resultant vehicle (the 1 Vajrayana/Secret Mantra), which elucidate the three continua of the basis of being, the path to enlightenment, and the fruition of enlightenment. This includes all the scriptures of transmission and realization that teach the nature of reality that is to be realized, the means of realizing it, and the culmination of the buddha-bodies (kayas) and wisdoms (yeshes). A number of texts have identified ten practices that form the core of Secret Mantra. These are: holding the view of the real, observing determinate conduct, receiving empowerment, not transgressing samaya, performing enlightened activity, fulfilling the aspirations, making offerings, cultivating unwavering contemplation, reciting mantra, and binding with mudra. Among these, not transgressing samaya is the lynchpin. Classifications of samaya: 1) The general samaya are: a) The sravaka (Listeners) samaya, emphasizing the selflessness of the individual and requiring arduous renunciation of sensory pleasures. b) The pratyekabuddha (Self-Realized Ones) samaya, carrying a subtler appreciation of the selflessness of phenomena, these are the same as the sravaka samaya, but they are observed in a more relaxed manner. c) The bodhisattva samaya emphasize the practices and understandings of relative and absolute compassion and rejecting self-interest. Keeping these samaya requires supreme knowledge (prajna) and a commitment to joyful self-sacrifice for the sake of others. d) For the three outward tantras, also called the three tantras of vedic asceticism, in kriya tantra, the yogin relates to the meditational deity as a servant to a master, and there is an emphasis on the external observances of purity regarding diet, cleanliness, attire, astrology and so forth. The yoga tantra samaya require one to reject those views which distance oneself from union with the meditational deity, and also, to reject those whose views distance him/her from union with the meditational deity. For charya tantra, its discipline and conduct conform to kriya tantra, and its meditation to yoga tantra, with more emphasis on the recitation of mantra. 2) The samaya of the three inward tantras of maha, anu, and ati are: This classification is specific to the Nyingma tradition in which, according to the three tantric scriptures of Scripture (anuyoga), Illusion (mahayoga), and Mind (great perfection mind class), the samaya are listed as the three samayas of vajra body, speech, and mind, and the twenty-five branch samayas for a total of 28 enumerations: 2a) The three root samayas of the vajra body, speech, and mind: 2 1) the body samaya are to respect your teacher and your deity by abandoning harmful behavior toward all beings, of whom your vajra kindred are representatives 2) the speech samaya are to continually practice the mantras and mudras of your deity and not to transgress your teacher’s commands and the wishes of your vajra kindred 3) the mind samaya are to cultivate twofold bodhicitta and not to divulge the secret teachings 2b) The twenty-five branch samayas (five groups of five): 1) The five to be accepted as pure at the time of practicing are the five amritas. 2) The five not to be rejected are the five defilements. 3) The five actions to be skillfully performed are tana, gana, theft, lying, and idle chatter. 4) The five to be known by means of the view are the aggregates, elements, sense objects, five sense organs, and the five colors 5) The five to be integrated by means of meditation as inseparable from oneself are the five enlightened lineages—tathagata, vajra, jewel, lotus, and action. 3) In addition, the exceptional samaya of Atiyoga, Great Perfection are: These are the natural samayas of the view of great perfection which cannot be observed through the ordinary mind: 3a) The samaya of the single nature means to perfectly realize that all the vows and samayas are encompassed within the single expanse of the mind’s nature. 3b) The samaya of nonexistence means to perfectly realize that all vows and samayas, in their ultimate nature, are free of transgression or deterioration, and are therefore without limits to be observed 3c) The samaya of spontaneous presence means to perfectly realize that all the vows and samayas are naturally pure and spontaneously fulfilled in the state that does not stray from dharmata 3d) The samaya of pervasiveness means to realize that the expressions of all vows and samayas transcend dualistic clinging and are therefore all-pervasive Thank you. © Copyright 2020, Jnanasukha Foundation and the Tsogyal Center All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. 3 .
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