Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.s2: 3. The Psychic Process of Sādhana

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c9.s2

Language
English

3. The Psychic Process of Sādhana

c9.s2.1

The Tāntrics of ancient India were formidable optimists. They intuitively realised that though this universe is composed of matter and spirit, it is the spirit which always dominates over matter, and is undoubtedly more powerful than the latter. There were several schools of thought in ancient India which took it for granted that spirit was supreme and that this spirit should be developed in order that power may be gained. Amongst these schools the Yoga and Tantra were preeminently the most influential and popular. The followers of these schools, particularly the latter, wanted to achieve through spiritual or psychic power everything that could be achieved in the material sphere. To-day for quick travel the material world presents to us railways, aeroplanes and steamers, but the Tāntrics claimed that by spiritual culture weight of the body can be so reduced that it can fly over space to any distance within the shortest possible time. To-day for information about kinsmen in distant lands people send letters, wires and cables, but the Tāntrics claim that by intense meditation alone they can visualize what is happening in other parts of the world, either by a projection of the mind or by mentally travelling the distance in a few seconds. For conversing with a friend at a long distance the material world provides telephones and wireless instruments but the Tāntrics claim that by psychic exercises they can hear anything from any distance, even the voice of gods and other invisible beings in the firmament. When a man suffers from disease the material world provides doctors, medicines, injections and so forth, but to a Tāntric these are unnecssary. By developing psychic resources of the mind he can cure by a mere glance, or touch or by recitation of Mantras. These extraordinary powers of the mind are called Siddhis.

c9.s2.2

Thus it can be seen that the Tāntrics recognised long before the present age that psychic culture is of the utmost importance in life, and through these exercises anything that can be accomplished in the material sphere can be achieved in the psychic sphere. This tendency even in the present day is a dominating factor in Indian life, and no one should wonder seeing people running after Sādhus and Sannyāsins leaving aside modern scientific men in many of their difficulties. Occasionally, stories are told of miraculous powers of ascetics over the elements of nature or of their power of curing diseases for which apparently no recognised system of scientific medicine has discovered a cure. There are many such Yogins even now in India moving about in jungles, cities, caves and mountains, possessing wonderful and miraculous powers.

c9.s2.3

The Tāntrics who were the advocates of psychic culture, by persistent efforts through mental exercises, used to obtain super-normal powers which were known as Siddhis. Those who gained such Siddhis were called Siddhas, and the process through which they obtained Siddhis called Sādhana. In the Yogasūtra which is recognised to be the earliest work in Sanskrit on the subject of psychic exercises, enumerates eight different Siddhis. Later works mention more and the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa mentions thirty-four kinds of Siddhis including the eight already mentioned in the Yogasūtra.

c9.s2.4

The Siddhas or those who attain super-normal powers are considered to be of three distinct varieties, the Best, Middling and the Mild. The first class magicians can fulfil all their desires by mere thought, that is to say, as soon as a desire arises in his mind it is instantly fulfilled.

c9.s2.5

The Middling variety of Siddhas is able to conquer death, commune with gods, enter unperceived into dead bodies or homes of others, move in the air, hear the gods talk, understand all terrestrial truths, obtain conveyances and ornaments, and are able to bewitch people, perform miracles, remove diseases by glance or touch, extract poison, obtain erudition in scriptures, renounce all worldly enjoyments, practise Yoga in all its subdivisions, show compassion to all beings and even obtain omniscience. The Mild or the third class of Siddha obtains fame, long life, conveyances, ornaments, familiarity with the king, popularity with royal personages and people of influence and power, wealth and prosperity, children and family.

c9.s2.6

The Siddhas of the first and second class were known as Mahāsiddhas ‘Great Magicians’ and in India their number was recognized as eighty-four. Most of these Mahāsiddhas flourished during the Pāla Period of Indian history (8th to 12th centuries A.D.) and were famous because of their uncanny and prodigious feats.

c9.s2.7

The Sādhana or the process prescribed for attaining the different Siddhis forms the bulk of the Tāntric literature of both the Buddhists and the Hindus. Thousands of Sādhanas were written, both in prose and in verse, in Sanskrit and thousands were translated into Tibetan and are now preserved in the pages of the Tibetan Tangyur. Besides, every Tāntric manuscript, cart loads of which are even to-day to be found in public and private collections, describes the Sādhanas through which Siddhis are possible of attainment. The Buddhists had a special literature called the Sādhanas and they were always written in Sanskrit by many of the well known Tāntric authors and the Mahāsiddhas. This literature is now almost lost in original Sanskrit, but fortunately for us some collections of Sādhanas are still extant. These collections were given the names of Sādhanamālā and Sādhanasamuccaya, and a critical edition of all available Sādhanas in these two collections is already published in two volumes in the Gaekwad’s Oriental Series as Nos. 26 and 41. The publication of these Sādhanas has revealed a number of hitherto unknown and important facts. The Sādhanas revealed that the Buddhists were not lagging behind any other religion in India in the matter of psychic culture as advocated in the Tantras. Secondly, as these Sādhanas contain the description of a large number of Buddhist deities it becomes possible to differentiate them from the deities of the Hindu and Jain faiths, and to determine the purpose for which they were made and what they stood for.

c9.s2.8

The Sādhanas being most important for the study of Buddhist iconography it is necessary to give a general idea of the contents of the Sādhana or the detailed process through which spiritual eminence or Siddhi is obtained. For this purpose a summarised translation of an elaborate Sādhana in the Sādhanamālā is given here. But before proceeding to translate the Sādhana it may be emphasized that it is a purely psychic process for the realisation and visualisation of the deity with whom the worshipper is asked to identify himself. The Sādhana in all cases is prescribed for the realisation of some god or goddess according to a fixed procedure laid therein.

c9.s2.9

For describing the contents of the Sādhanas a specimen is here selected which is published as Sādhana No. 98 in the Sādhanamālā of the printed edition, for the realisation of the goddess Tārā, composed by Sthavira Anupama Rakṣita who was a well-known Tāntric author and who flourished before 1165 and whose works, five in number, are preserved in translation in the Tibetan Tangyur. The contents of this Sādhana is given below.

c9.s2.10

“The worshipper after leaving the bed in the morning should wash his feet and face and after purifying himself should go to a place which is lonely, agreeable, besmeared with scents, strewn with fragrant flowers, and then sit there in an easy pose. Then he should meditate on his heart the orb of the moon which originates from the first syllable -A- and on it think on the form of a beautiful blue lotus. On the filament of the lotus he should meditate on another moon the yellow germ syllable—Tām—as destroying the darkness of ignorance, illuminating innumerable worlds of the ten quarters, and bringing from the firmament innumerable Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

c9.s2.11

“Then after an elaborate worship of these great compassionate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with celestial flowers, incense, scents garlands, unguents, powders, mendicant dress, umbrellas, flags, bells, banners and the like, the worshipper should confess his sins with the following words; ‘Whatever sinful deeds I have done, caused to be done, or consented to be done, in this endless cycle of creation, everything I confees’.

c9.s2.12

“Thereafter, meditating on the restraint of wrong deeds he should give his assent to the meritorious deeds of others with the following Mantra; ‘I assent to the virtuous deeds of the Sugatas, Pratyekas, Śrāvakas, the Jinas and their sons the Bodhisattvas, and of the world with all the gods beginning with Brahman’.

c9.s2.13

“Then he should take refuge in the Three Jewels with the Mantra; ‘I take refuge in the Buddha so long as the Bodhi essence subsists; I take refuge in the Dharma so long as the Bodhi essence subsists; and I take refuge in the Saṅgha so long as the Bodhi essence subsists’.

c9.s2.14

“Thereafter the adherence to the path of the Tathāgatas should be made with the Mantra: ‘By me shall be followed the path indicated by the Tanthāgatas and naught else’.

c9.s2.15

“Then a prayer should be uttered with the Mantra: ‘The gods and the Tathāgatas instruct me with such incontrovertible advices on law by which all beings may be freed from the bonds of the world quickly’.

c9.s2.16

“Then he should meditate on the results of his meritorious deeds with the words; ‘Whatever merit I have acquired by the seven kinds of extraordinary worship like the confession of sins, etc. all that I devote to gain at the end the final Sambodhi’.

c9.s2.17

“After having finished the seven kinds of extraordinary worship the deities should be dismissed with the formula: -Oṃ Āḥ Muḥ- or with the following words: ‘Thou movest now according to Thy will, being besmeared with the sandal paste of Śīlas (conduct), wearing the garments of the Dhyāna (meditation) and strewn with the flowers of the Bodhi (Enlightenment)’.

c9.s2.18

“Then the worshipper should meditate on the Four Brahmas, of Friendship, Joyousness, Compassion and Indifference. Friendship is the love that exists in all beings like the love towards the only son, or like its fruition in their welfare and happiness.

c9.s2.19

“Compassion again is of what kind? It is the desire to save all beings from misery and from causes that lead to misery. The desire that I shall even save the beings who are burnt in the great fire of suffering from the three evils and have entered the prison of Saṃsāra is what is called Compassion. Or it is the desire to save all beings suffering from the three evils from the sea of Saṃsāra.

c9.s2.20

“Muditā or Joyousness is of the following nature. It is the desire in all beings of the world for the attainment of Buddhahood which is unlikely to materialize. Or it is the attraction in all beings towards the virtues that exist in the world and to the enjoyment of spiritual powers arising out of them.

c9.s2.21

“What is Indifference or Upekṣā? It is the doing of great welfare to all beings, good or bad, by overcoming adverse requests and obstacles. Or it is the desire that comes of its own accord to do good to all beings without the least craving for any return, love or hatred. Or it is the indifference towards the eight human institutions of gain or loss, fame or notoriety, praise or blame, pleasure or pain, and similar things.

c9.s2.22

“Thus meditating on the Four Brahmas the inherent purity of the phenomenal world should be meditated upon. All phenomena are indeed inherently pure, and therefore, the worshipper should think himself to be pure by nature. This natural purity of all phenomena should be established by the formula: Oṃ svabhāvaśuddhāḥ sarvadharmāḥ svabhāvaśuddho’ham—. If all phenomena are inherently pure, where then is the possibility of the cycle of existence? Because of its being covered up with such thought categories as the subject and the object. The way of purging of this impurity is the meditation on the good path By this it is made to disappear. Thus is established the inherent purity of all phenomena.

c9.s2.23

“After meditating on the purity of the phenomenal existence the Śūnyatā of all phenomena should be meditated upon. Here Śūnya means this. He should conceive the entire universe with its mobile and immobile creations as the clear manifestation of non-duality when the mind is devoid of all the extensions of such thought categories as the subject and the object. The Śūnyatā should be established by the formula—Oṃ Śūnyatājñānavajrasvabhāvātmako’haṃ—.

c9.s2.24

“Then as previously stated, the worshipper should meditate on his heart the goddess Āryatārā who originates from the yellow germ-syllable—Tāṃ—placed on the orb of the moon with the deer on its lap.

c9.s2.25

“The worshipper should meditate on goddess Āryatārā as one-faced and two-armed of deep green complexion, fully decked in all ornaments, of youthful appearance, clad in celestial garments, holding on her crown the miniature figure of the parental Dhyāni Buddha Amoghasiddhi. The deity should further be meditated upon as sitting in the ardhaparyaṅka attitude and showing the gift-bestowing signal in the right hand and carrying a full-blown lotus in the left hand.

c9.s2.26

“The goddess of this description should be meditated upon as long as desired. Then the eternally accomplished Bhagavatī should be drawn out from within by the spreading rays that illumine the three worlds, the rays that issue forth from the yellow germ syllable—Tāṃ—placed on the orb of the spotted moon which is enclosed within the filament of a beautiful blue lotus. After thus discovering her, she should be placed on the firmament and should be worshipped with the offerings of scented water and fragrant flowers contained in the vessel inlaid with gems at the feet of the goddess. She should also be worshipped with various rites, external and internal, by means of flowers, incense, light stick, food offerings, scents, garlands, unguents, powders, mendicant dress, umbrella, flags, bell, banner and the like. Thus after repeatedly worshipping her and offering her panegyrics, the Mudrā or the mystic signal should be exhibited. The palms of the hands, should be joined together with the two middle fingers stretched in the form of a needle. The two first fingers should be slightly bent their tips touching the third phalanges of the first fingers. The two third fingers should be concealed within the palm, and the two little fingers should be stretched. This is called the Utpala Mudrā or the signal of the night lotus.

c9.s2.27

"With this Mudrā the goddess of the essence of Knowledge in the front should be propitiated, and then she should be commingled with the goddess of the essence of Time within, and by so doing the non-duality of the two should be meditated upon. Then the rays issuing forth from the yellow germ syllable—Tām—placed on the spotless moon will appear to him as illumining the ten quarters, as causing the removal of the poverty and misery of all beings by showers of various gems and as satisfying them by the nectar of advice on the nature of Śūnya.

c9.s2.28

"Engaging himself in doing good to the world, the worshipper should meditate on the form of goddess Tārā which is identified with the universe. Further, he should meditate repeatedly until tired on the yellow germ syllable and the Bhagavatī contained therein. He who is unable to meditate thus should mutter the Mantra which in this case is—Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā—. This is the lord of all Mantras, is endowed with great powers, and is saluted, worshipped and revered by all Tathāgatas.

c9.s2.29

"After having finished his meditation on the form of Tārā he should think the world as identical withe th goddess and should move about thinking his own form as that of the goddess. Generally speaking, those who meditate on the Bhagavatī in this manner, all the eight supernormal powers fall at their feet, and other small powers come to him as a matter of course. Whoever meditates on the Bhagavatī in the lonely caves of mountains espies her with his own eyes. The Bhagavatī herself gives him his breath, nay more, even the Buddhahood which is most difficult to attain comes to him like a plum on the palm of his hand."

c9.s2.30

The above is a summary of the contents of a Sādhana devoted to a single goddess, Tārā, and there are hundreds of such Sādhanas for other gods and goddesses. But the important point to be noted in this connection is that the gods have no independent and real existence apart from the mind of the worshipper and the manner of worship. The deities possess no external form, but represent purely mental conceptions of the Sādhaka who by means of the Sādhana undergoes a detailed mental exercise for the development of his spiritual or psychic powers.

c9.s2.31

The discussion in this section leads to a consideration of godhead in Tāntrism in order that the deities treated in this work may be studied in their true perspective.

Linked texts (3)