Tibetan Buddhism and Culture

Monday, March 20, 2023

The King of knowledge - Trailokyavijaya 降三世明王

A Wisdom King (Sanskrit: Vidyaraja, Chinese: 明王) is a type of wrathful deity. Whereas the Sanskrit name is translated literally as "wisdom / knowledge king(s)," the term vidyā in Vajrayana Buddhism is also specifically used to denote mantras and the term may thus also be rendered "mantra king(s).

A similar category of fierce deities known as Herukas are found in Tibetan Buddhism.The female counterparts of Wisdom Kings are known as Wisdom Queens (Sanskrit : Vidyarajni)

Vidyarajas, as their name suggests, are originally conceived of as the guardians and personifications of esoteric wisdom (vidyā), namely mantras and dharanis. They were seen as embodying the mystic power contained in these sacred utterances.

During the early stages of esoteric (Vajrayana) Buddhism, many of the deities that would become known as vidyarajas (a term that only came into use around the late 7th-early 8th century) were mainly seen as attendants of Bodhisattvas who were invoked for specific ends such as the removal of misfortune and obstacles to enlightenment.

The King of knowledge - Trailokyavijaya 降三世明王

Is the King of knowledge having conquered the three worlds, one of the five kings of knowledge of Buddhism. His mission is to protect the eastern part of the world. Trailokyavijaya trample on Mahesvara (shiva) and his consort as great victor.

In general, the three worlds represent the world of desire, the world of form and the formless world; some interpret this king of knowledge is called so because he wants to

the supreme leader of the three worlds, Mahesvara.

The most logical explanation reveals that the three worlds denote the three poisons: greed, hatred and ignorance, three trends that humans can not conquer during the past, present and future that the king hoped to help people eliminate.

The Lord Trailokyavijaya was born from the blue syllable, Hûm. He is blue, with four faces, and eight arms. His primary face expresses a love fury, the right, anger, disgust in the left, and behind, that of heroism.

His main hands bear the bell and lightning, his chest says Vajra-hum-Kara; his three right hands hold (in descending order) a sword, the elephant hook, and an arrow; the three left hands hold a bow, lace, and a discus. He carries, among other adornments, a garland made of a cord of Buddhas, is being developed as identical to him, that has (according fingers) magic gesture after touching fists back to back, attach two small chain-like fingers. The formula is "Om"

* Footnote

For those who had received the empowerment of this Tantric practice, you are reminded not intentionally or unintentionally to disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practice, and by disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.

Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practice! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practice, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain and sure that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.

Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practice is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power and self-interests.

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Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

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Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

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Friday, March 17, 2023

The Noble Immovable Lord - Krodharaja Achala 不動明王

A similar category of fierce deities known as Herukas are found in Tibetan Buddhism.The female counterparts of Wisdom Kings are known as Wisdom Queens (Sanskrit : Vidyarajni)

*Krodharaja Achala (In Tibetan word: Tro Wo Gyal Po Me'o wa. In Japanese word: Fudo Myoo, or Fudo Myo-o. In English: The Immovable One, King of the Wrathful). Achala, also known as Krodha Chanda and Chanda Maharoshana, is a meditational deity in wrathful appearance. He is not a protector. There are however forms of Achala that are included in the Anuttarayoga groupings of the Ten Wrathful Ones.

Explanations and descriptions of these deities including Achala are found in the Tantras such as Guhyasamaja, Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, Vajrabhairava, etc. In the context of these Tantras, and the Twelve Wrathful Ones, Achala is a protector deity as part of a group of protectors within a larger system, or cycle, of practice.

Achala, blue, with one face and two hands. The right hand holds a sword raised to the sky. The left, a wrathful [gesture] together with a lasso, held in the heart. Having two red round eyes and pressing the lower lip with the upper teeth. Having a top-knot of black hair. Adorned with jewel ornaments and a white snake necklace. Having a lower garment of tiger skin. Kneeling with the left leg, and the right heel pressing on the seat in a manner of rising.

Very wrathful, blue in colour, with one face, three eyes, brown hair flowing upward and two hands, he holds aloft the flaming sword of wisdom in the right hand. With the left placed at the heart in a wrathful gesture, he holds a Vajra lasso. Adorned with a crown of skulls and gold and jewel ornaments, earrings and necklaces he wears a scarf of green silk and a lower garment of tiger skin.

Kneeling with the left knee pressed down and the right raised, he dwells upon a sun and lotus seat as if about to stand, completely surrounded by the flames of pristine awareness atop a throne supported by the four worldly deities, Brahma, Vishnu, Indra and Shiva. The front is adorned with a sword motif. At the right and left sides are four Achalas, all in the same appearance save for the colours, red, yellow, green and white.

Krodharaja Achala is found in the Siddhaikavira Tantra, commonly known as the White Manjushri Tantra of the Kriya classification. It is from here that he takes on his role as a remover of obstacles and the special protector for the practices of Manjushri. In Anuttarayoga, Achala is also known as Candamaharoshana from the tantra of the same name, and has the same appearance with an added consort and nine-deity mandala.

The Kriya Tantra practice of Achala was popularized by Lord Atisha (982-1054), the founder of the Kadampa School and also by lobpon Sonam Tsemo of Sakya (1142-1182). The commentary is still in use today as the principal explanatory text. The practice of Achala in a standing posture was popularized by both Lord Atisha (982-1054) the founder of the Kadampa School followed by the Mitra Yogin (12th - 13th century) famous for the text known as the Mitra Gyatsa.

In the Kadam Tradition of Atisha, Achala is counted as one of the four principle deities (Kadam Lha Shi):

[1] Akshobhya

[2] Avalokiteshvara

[3] Tara

[4] Achala.

In this configuration of four, Achala has the same role as a meditational deity and remover of obstacles.

Fudo Myoo, or Fudo Myo-o, is the Japanese version of the Vajrayana Buddhist and East Asian Buddhist deity Acala or Acalanatha. In all its variants and all religions he exists in, Fudo Myoo is a wrathful deity and a protector of Dharma – a set of virtues and personal behaviors considered righteous in multiple Eastern religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and others.

Most of all, however, Fudo Myoo’s (Achala Krodharao 不動明王) main goal is to literally frighten people into following the teachings of the Dainichi Buddha, also known as Vairocana or Maha Vairocana in Sanskrit. Dainichi Buddha is an old Indian Buddha that’s integral to Japanese Buddhism. Fudo Myoo is not the only “Myoo” who protects the faith in that Buddha.

Who are the Myō-ō Wisdom Kings in Japanese Buddhism? (Krodharaja Achala)

Fudo Myoo is one of the five Myō-ō of Japanese Buddhism. Also known as the Five Wisdom Kings, Mantra Kings, Knowledge Kings, Kings of Light, Kings of Mystical Knowledge, or just The Vidyaraja in Sanskrit, these five deities include:

Gōzanze Myoo – King of the East
Gundari Myoo – King of the South
Daiitoku Myoo – King of the West
Kongōyasha Myoo – King of the North
Fudo Myoo – King of the Center.

(Not to be confused with the Four Heavenly Kings who include Bishamonten/Vaisravana).

* Footnote

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Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Eight Herukas of the Nyingma Mahayoga - No. 8 Vajramantrabhiru

Heruka ( Sanskrit ) Tibetan: ( Khrag Thung), is the name of a category of wrathful deities, enlightened beings in Vajrayana Buddhism that adopt a fierce countenance to benefit sentient beings. In East Asia, these are called Wisdom Kings.

Herukas represent the embodiment of indivisible bliss and emptiness. They appear as Istha-devata (Tibetan: Yidam) or meditational deities for Tantric Sadhana, usually placed in a mandala and often appearing in Yab-Yum.

Heruka represents wrathful imagery with indivisible emptiness (Sunyata), bliss, peace, wisdom, compassion (Bodhicitta), and love. Herukas represent unified consciousness, with emptiness being a reflection of "non-phenomena" or emptiness which is "all love," or removal of imagery to reach universal love, mercy, and compassion-mind. Interpretation of Heruka is similar to the female Dakiṇi or Buddha Vajrayogini.

* The eight Herukas of the Nyingma mahayoga

The Nyingma mahayoga tradition (and their corresponding sadhanas) are said to have been received by Padmakara from the Eight Vidyadharas or Eight Great Acharyas: Manjushrimitra, Nagarjuna, Vajrahumkara, Vimalamitra, Prabhahasti, Dhanasamskrita, Shintamgarbha and Guhyachandra. They were proficient in the practices of, respectively:

(No.8) Vajramantrabhiru (Tibetan: Mopa Dragnak) the wrathful Maitreya, the deity of wrathful mantras.

* Footnote

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Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

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Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

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Eight Herukas of the Nyingma Mahayoga - No.7 Lokastotrapuja-Natha

* The eight Herukas of the Nyingma mahayoga

*(No.7) Lokastotrapuja-natha (Tibetan :Jigten Chotod) the wrathful Ksitigarbha, the deity of worldly offering and praise.

* Footnote

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Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

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Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Tsa Lung Healing Practice And Meditation

What is Tsa Lung?

Tsalung in Sanskrit word is "Nadi-Vayu" and in Tibetan word it is called "Rtsa rlung" where "Rtsa" denotes an energetic channel) are special yogic exercises. The exercises are used in the Bon tradition and the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tsa Lung Healing Practice

In Tibetan, it is known as "rtsa rlung gi bcos thabs" is a method for healing body-mind disorders that is not based on material medicines. It is derived from Tibetan Buddhist tantric practice; a precious yogic practice which is also called geksel trulkhor (bgegs bsal ’khrul ’khor): “magical obstacle-clearing techniques.”

The practices of Tsa Lung Trulkor / Tsa Lung Tikle is an ancient art of movement, postures and breathing exercises; its knowledge is very much associated with the Tibetan Medicine Doctrine. It was originally performed in Tibet in the Bon tradition and later the Great Master Padmasambhava combined it with other methods and modified it according to the Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist School.

That is why it is also called the Nyingma Tsa Lung Trulkor / Tsa Lung Tickle. However, this practice went through the Kagyu Buddhist School also. This practice very much relies on Tibetan Buddhism and it is inseparable from the practice of compassion and emptiness. Although it may seem only physical, it is deeply rooted in the school of the mind.

Tsa means nadis or channels
Lung means Prana or Wind energy
Trulkor means our body is like an engine
Tikle means the essence of drops

The body depends on the elements; the elements depend on the 72,000 channels (Tsa); these channels depend on the life sustaining wind (Lung); the wind depends on the mind and on the essence of drops (Tikle).

If the channels are trained, then the wind can be held. If the wind can be held, then the essence of drops can be freed. If the essence of drops is freed then the innate clear light wisdom (mind) can arise. This makes the practice of Tsa Lung Trulkor / Tsa Lung Tikle very important.

When the channels are not well trained, the wind becomes disturbed and the essence of drops cannot be freed, causing numerous difficulties in the physical and mental dimensions. For example: irregular menstruation, muscular and joint point, and mainly all physical sicknesses that arise from the mind that a common doctor is unable to cure (negative emotions, unhappiness, suffering, and so on).

In order to exercise the Tsa Lung Trulkor / Tsa Lung Tikle, there are some preliminaries that are needed. It is also very important to have good physical behavior and adequate moral values. The practitioner must also have knowledge on how the wind exists as well as an understanding of the benefits gained from the practice.

Finding the Right Teacher

In the world today there are many other different practices of training the wind energy, but most important is that it should always be transmitted and taught by a master to a student.

For this reason, one should find an authentic teacher that has a peaceful mind, who guides and serves other being compassionate, and that has a pure unbroken lineage. The type of master who keeps the lineage should have a profound realization and is not only learned but has a cultivated a genuine experience. It is said that the union between the right master, the right disciple and an effective practice is like having in your hand a wish-fulfilling jewel.

The Benefits of Tsa Lung Healing Practice

Tsa Lung is a traditional Tibetan Tantrayana practice that incorporates breath retention with movement for the purpose of releasing blockages in the subtle body channels. The result is increased energy and vitality, as well as the cultivation of a calm, clear mind.

Tsa Lung Trulkor provides benefits on both the physical and mental levels. It will improve the firmness and flexibility of your body and mind. The practice will purify your wind channels, allowing blood to run more freely and to improve your circulation.

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Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.

Eight Herukas of the Nyingma Mahayoga - No. 6 Matarah (Mamo Botong)

* The eight Herukas of the Nyingma mahayoga

(No.6) Matarah (Tibetan : Mamo Botong) is also called Unsurpassable Heruka, the wrathful Akasagarbha, the deity of calling and dispatching. The 6th deity in the set of Eight Pronouncement Herukas of the Nyingma Tradition. This system is associated with the Indian Adept Danasamskrita. Mamo Botong is a practice for restoring, for reconnecting, for stabilizing, for harmonizing the elemental energy of the feminine world. This is basically our outer physical world, the inner body world, and the innermost tsalung tikle world (Substance)

Tsalung tikle world.

Tsalung Healing Practice

Matarah or Tibetan word "Mamo Boring" is one of the deities from the eight deities of Kagyé. Mamo Bötong is a deity who is in-between (literally ‘on the border’) the wisdom and the worldly deities and neither male nor female.

That is the reason [for Mamo Botong practice]. Any obstacles leading to that are hopefully reversed or overcome by the practice of Mamo Bötong. It’s actually, essentially, a feminine world of outer, inner, innermost substance.

* Footnote

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Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

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Monday, February 27, 2023

Eight Herukas of the Nyingma Mahayoga - No. 5 Vajrakilaya

* The eight Herukas of the Nyingma mahayoga

(No.5) Vajrakilaya/Vajrakumara (Tibetan: Dorje Phurba) the wrathful Vajrasattva, the deity of purification. Vajrakilaya is a wrathful manifestation of Vajrasattva, the Buddha of purification. This powerful practice of Vajrakilaya focuses on removing outer and inner obstacles to happiness, peace, bliss, and enlightenment.

Vajrakilaya - Dagger of Indestructible Reality

Vajrakilaya, also called Vajrakila and Dorje Phurba, is a wrathful Tantric meditation deity whose practices are most often performed by the disciples of the Nyingma order. Vajrakilaya's practices are particularly effective methods for removing obstacles and obstructions, and for destroying and purifying negative forces.

Vajrakilaya embodies the powerful enlightened activity of all the Buddhas, and his special emblem - the ritual phurba dagger - represents the sharp point of wisdom fixed immobile on emptiness through the power of single-pointed concentration.

When the great Guru Padmasambhava first arrived in Tibet, the first transmission that he gave to his twenty-five "heart disciples" were the practices of the Varjakilaya Tantra. Padmasambhava gave these teachings in order to eliminate obstructions to the propagation of Buddhadharma in Tibet.

Gestures and Attributes

Vajrakilaya has three heads, six arms, and four legs. His two main hands embrace his consort Khorlo Gyedunma, and hold the magic phurba dagger. The lower blade of his phurba represents a method or skillful means, and its upper handle represents wisdom.

The triple-edged nature of the blade symbolizes the severance of the three root delusions of hatred, ignorance, and desirous attachment, and its triangular single-pointed shape symbolizes the realization of emptiness. Vajrakilaya's other right hands hold five- and nine-pronged vajras, representing his power and indestructibility. His other left hands hold a flaming triple wishfulfilling jewel, and a trident which symbolizes his abandonment of the imprints of the delusions of the three realms.

He wears an elephant skin across his back, showing that he has abandoned the ignorance of self-grasping. A human skin is hung diagonally across the front of his body, indicating his conquest of the self-cherishing ego. His loin cloth is made of tiger skin, symbolizing his abandonment of hatred, and he wears a long necklace of freshly severed human heads, representing his abandonment of ordinary appearances and conceptions.

Vajrakilaya's consort, whom he holds in a passionate embrace, complements his masculine skillful methods with her feminine wisdom. They each wear crowns adorned with five human skulls, indicating their purification of the five aggregates. Khorlo Gyedunma holds a skull cup brimming with the blood of the four maras, symbolizing her experience of the clear light of bliss, and her victory over uncontrolled death.

They stand together in the warrior's pose, with one leg bent and the other extended, surrounded by the blazing fire of exalted wisdom which annihilates all delusions and consumes neurotic states.

* Footnote

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Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and or studios.

Picture(s) is/are intended for editorial use only.