Hartzell JF 2015 Authors Copy Corrected PDF

Author’s Copy, Corrected Proof, Hartzell, J.F.
(2015) “Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s Vimalaprabhā on

Kālacakrtantra 5.127” in Śāsanadhara: Essays in Honor of Robert A. F. Thurman on the Occasion of his
70th Birthday, Wedemeyer C.K., Dunne, J.D. and Yarnall, T.F. (eds.), New York: American Institute of
Buddhist Studies and Columbia University Press, pp. 193–236.
Hartzell, J.F. (2015) “Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s Vimalaprabhā on Kālacakrtantra 5.127” in
Śāsanadhara: Essays in Honor of Robert A. F. Thurman on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday,
Wedemeyer C.K., Dunne, J.D. and Yarnall, T.F. (eds.), New York: American Institute of
Kalkin Puṇḍarīka, author of the principle commentary on the Kālacakratantra, the
Vimalaprabhā, devoted forty-three Sanskrit pages (in the Sarnath edition)1 to a commentary on
KCT 5:127. From within the elaborated net of his arguments, citations, detailed examples, and
pūrvottarapakṣāḥ2—and in honor of Professor Thurman, who always has asked about these
complex texts, “yes, but what does it mean?”—this essay attempts to extract some of Kalkin
Puṇḍarīka’s systematic arguments.
The full title of the Sarnath edition of the Sanskrit Kālacakratantra (KCT) is “The
Stainless Light commentary, composed by Kalkin Śrī Puṇḍarīka, on the short King of Tantras
Kālacakra [which was] extracted from the Paramādibuddha [which itself was] composed by Śrī
Mañjuśrī Yaśas.”3 The fifth chapter of the text is the Gnosis Chapter (jñāna-paṭalaḥ), of which
the third major teaching or mahoddeśaḥ is entitled the “The Perfection of Knowledge of the
1
Rinpoche, et al., eds., Śrīlaghukālacakratantrarājaṭīkā Vimalaprabhā; hereafter, KCT.
2
In the Sanskrit tradition of argument and debate, one debater begins with the pūrva-pakṣa or
prima facie or first part of the argument, raising the first point, and the opponent then answers
with the uttara-pakṣa, the rebuttal or following part of the argument. In compound pūrva +
uttara becomes pūrvottara(-pakṣa). It is standard practice in Sanskrit commentaries, such as the
one we consider in this essay, for the author to present a pūrva-pakṣa, representing a view from
someone else he disagrees with, and then proceed to its disproof.
3
Śrī-mañjuśrī-yaśo-viracitasya paramādi-buddhoddhṛtasya śrī-laghu-kālacakra-tantra-rājasya
kalkinā śrī-puṇḍarīkeṇa viracitā ṭīkā vimala-prabhā; Rinpoche, et al., title page.
1
Author’s Copy, Corrected Proof, Hartzell, J.F. (2015) “Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s Vimalaprabhā on
Supremely Imperishable” (paramākṣara-jñāna-siddhir nāma mahoddeśaḥ). This third major
teaching is a forty-three page Sanskrit commentary by Kalkin Puṇḍarīka (“the Cementer, the
White Lotus”) on just one verse, KCT 5:127.4 The commentary is many orders of magnitude
longer than any other verse commentary in the full five chapter KCT/VP;5 and as the editors
point out, the section is unusual in using illustrative full-verse quotations from the KCT,
including many from the Nāmasaṃgīti (NS) and various additional texts. Kalkin Puṇḍarīka (KP)
refers to this section at several earlier points in the VP with the phrase: “[this] will be explained
in detail in the fifth chapter” and particularly refers to this portion of his commentary on KCT
5:127.6 This essay focuses on KP’s forty-three pages of commentary.
The text begins with homage to Śrī-vajrasattva, the glorious lightning bolt being, and to
Mahāmudrā, the great consort, [who is/is possessed of] the paramākṣara-sukham, the bliss or
happiness of the supremely imperishable. Understanding [i.e. knowledge of] the relationship of
the lightning being to the great consort who is the happiness of the supremely imperishable is the
central focus of this mahoddeśa. The verse 5:127, which triggers the long commentary, is almost
incidental to much of the commentary’s content. KP introduces it by referring to the bīja-
mantra-nyāsa practice, i.e. the application of seed-syllable mantras to the body—and the
correlation of these seed-syllables with the elements of the internal and external universe—a
4
A note on numbering: 5:127 refers to KCT Chapter 5, verse 127; whereas 60.7–10 refers to
page 60 of the third volume of the Sarnath edition, lines 7–10.
5
I will use the following abbreviations: KCT for Kālacakratantra, VP for Vimalaprabhā, the
name of Puṇḍarīka’s commentary, NS for the Nāmasaṃgītiḥ, and KP for Kalkin Puṇḍarīka.
6
pañcame paṭale vistareṇa vaktavyam iti 1.23.15-16, 1.55.14, 1.141.10, and 2.104.24, where P
specifically refers to this section: pañcame paṭale vakṣyamāṇe paramākṣarajñanasiddhau
vaktavyam.
2
topic occupying considerable space in the preceding sections of KCT.7
Because there is unity of the vowels and consonants, of the moon and the sun,
there is no āsana for the lightning-possessor. By the huṃkāra itself, the mark is
transformed. The other is not desired as the form of the syllable. [The mark is the
mark] of this divine sense organ which is produced by the imperishable, [yet] has
gone to [the] perishable destruction/receptacle. [It is the mark] of the drop of
universal form, of the supreme victory lord, of [he who] sustains the universal
illusion.8
Before discussing the details of KP’s commentary, I will first consider some particular
Sanskrit terms and explain my choice of English equivalents for them (bearing in mind that
translation is something of an art, and admits of considerable interlingual polysemy). The terms
to be explored are: 1) akṣara, 2) acyuta, 3) padma, 4) vajra, 5) sahaja, and 6) vāsanā, each of
which has here intimately sexual meanings in addition to their more common Sanskrit usage.
The main body of the essay will, I hope, demonstrate the reasonableness of my translation
choices, based directly on KP’s use of these terms in his commentary.
7
e.g. KCT 1.2, 1.5–9, 1.15, 1.36, 1.91, 1.95, 1.99–100, 1.104, 1.113, 2.68, 2.75, 2.87, 3.24–3.35,
3.56–3.70, 3.76–3.87, 3.96, 3.154, 4.75–4.85, 4.143, 4.185–4.191. These numbers refer to
chapters and verses, not page numbers. I include the verse here primarily for completeness,
though we will consider some phrases; a full exegesis would require a different focus than that of
KP’s own commentary, and require more space than we have.
8
ekatvaṃ hy ādi-kādyoḥ śaśidinakarayor āsanaṃ vajriṇo na, hūṃkāreṇaiva cihnaṃ pariṇatam
aparaṃ neṣyate varṇa-rūpam | utpannasyākṣareṇa kṣara-nidhana-gatasyāsya divyendriyasya,
sarvākārasya bindoḥ parama-jina-pater viśva-māyādharasya ||; KCT 5:127, 60.7–10.
3
Kṣara/Akṣara as perishable/imperishable
Various English equivalents have been used for the term akṣara. The Sarnath editors use
“unchanging.”9 A similar term, and my preference, is “imperishable,” which means essentially
the same thing in English, but has a slightly different connotation. The word is a derivative of the
verb Ökṣar (1P), used transitively or intransitively to mean to flow or glide, to send or stream
forth, pour out, emit; to drop, trickle, ooze; to waste away or perish, to become useless or have
no effect, to melt10 The adjective akṣara means imperishable, i.e. not wasting away, not oozing
away, not flowing or streaming out; akṣaraṃ (neuter) is a term for a Sanskrit syllable or word.
The terms kṣara for perishable (as in the human body) and akṣara for imperishable (particularly
for the puruṣa11 for whom the perishable human body is the vehicle) are widely used in Sanskrit
literature. The human body is typically considered perishable and is known more generally in
Sanskrit as śarīra, i.e. that which breaks or wears out, from the verb root Öśṝ, because—as stated
9
See, e.g., vol. 3, Preface, 19.
10
Apte, Vaman Shivram, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Revised & Enlarged
Edition, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass 1965, p 384; and Monier-Williams, Monier, A Sanskrit-
English Dictionary, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1960, p. 327.
11
The primary meaning of puruṣa is male, man, human being, or person. It also comes to mean
the supreme being, who is sometimes referred to as the Mahāpuruṣa or the great person. Here in
the KCT system Kālacakra Buddha is essentially identified with the idea of Mahāpuruṣa. In
Sanskrit puruṣa is often paired with prakṛti. The latter term has as its most basic meaning the
idea of the natural state or primary substance or original matter, the unrefined form of a thing. In
this sense it is the complement of Saṃskṛta, what is refined, polished, made perfect and finished,
etc. In the Sāṃkhya-Yoga system, puruṣa represents something akin to our spirit or soul or
transmigrating consciousness, while prakṛti represents something similar to our physical material
form or presence. Nonetheless, neither puruṣa nor prakṛti fits simplistically into Western ideas
of spirit and matter, so it is better to leave the terms in the original Sanskrit.
4
in the Śabdakalpadruma—it is broken by diseases and so forth (śīryyate rogādinā yat).
Tarkavachaspati gives a similar explanation of the word in his Vācaspatya, deriving it from Öśṝ,
pratikṣaṇaṃ kṣīyamāṇe, i.e. because of being at every moment destroyed or devoured.12 Śabda-
kalpadruma cites Bhagavadgītā 15:17 (15:16 in some editions): “In this world the puruṣas are
said to be two: perishable and imperishable; the perishable is all living beings; the imperishable
is said to be what stands at the top.”13 The imperishable quality intended by the notion of akṣara
is explained as “Indestructible, without remainder, Brahma is the name of the syllable oṃ; [this
is] the eternal soul [that] stands at the top.”14
KP reiterates the dichotomy of perishable and imperishable, citing KCT 5:245 in
illustration of the idea that Kālacakra, Time, is the imperishable, the “incomparable puruṣa,”
even using the same term “standing at the top” (kūṭastha): “[Who is] Time, the lightning bolt of
the universe, etc., the incomparable puruṣa, omnipresent, without manifestation; standing at the
top, the ears, nose, mouth, eyes, and head, the hands and feet, everywhere, the end of being, the
leader of beings, the best supporter of the three worlds, the cause of causes, the beginning of
science, achievable by yoga, the place of ultimate happiness, I praise Kālacakra.”15 As we shall
12
See Deva, Śabdakalpadrumaḥ, vol. 5, 30, and Tarkavachaspati, Vācaspatyam, 5087,
respectively.
13
dvāvimau puruṣau loke kṣaraś cākṣara ucyate | kṣaraḥ sarvvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭastho ’kṣara ucyate
||; Śabdakalpadrumaḥ, 1:6.
14
avināśi nirvviśeṣaṃ praṇavākhyaṃ brahma | kūṭasthaḥ nityaḥ ātmā |; Śabdakalpadrumaḥ,1:5.
15
kālaṃ viśvādivajraṃ puruṣam anupamaṃ sarvagaṃ niṣprapañcaṃ, kūṭa-sthaṃ karṇa-nāsā-
mukha-nayana-śiraḥ sarvataḥ pāṇi-padam | bhūtāntaṃ bhūta-nāthaṃ tri-bhuvana-vara-dhṛk
kāraṇaṃ kāraṇānāṃ vidyādyaṃ yoga-gamyaṃ parama-sukha-padaṃ kālacakraṃ namasye || iti ||;
KCT 5:245, 61.23–26.
5
see, the dichotomy of imperishable and perishable, akṣara and kṣara, and the relationship
between the two, is a central theme of KP’s commentary.
KP’s discussion of akṣara in the KCT system has some subtle dimensions. The very
notion stems from early Vedic ideas about the nature of a Sanskrit syllable and its relationship
with reality. In Buddhism, though, the notion of anything permanent is generally anathema. So
how does one discuss the idea of something imperishable without crossing the line into
portraying it as permanent? In other words, how does one describe a Buddhist version of the
notion cited from Bhagavadgītā 15:17 in Śabdakalpadruma of a perishable and imperishable
puruṣa, while at the same time adhering to the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence? How can
there be a Buddhist paramākṣara or supremely imperishable who is Time itself, the
incomparable puruṣa? Quoting KCT 2:96, KP includes the definition that real vidyā (as opposed
to the false version promoted in the non-Buddhist texts) is the “imperishable science of the
adhyātma”16
KP introduces a distinction between the approach of yogins interested in worldly
perfections/magical powers (laukika-siddhi-sādhanārtham, 62.22–23) vs. the Buddhist
Kālacakra yogins, who are rather interested in the perfection of the great consort (mahāmudrā-
16
vidyety adhyātma-vidyākṣaram api; KCT 2:96c, 62.4. Though it might be tempting to
translate the term adhyātma into English with something like ‘internal,’ this would obscure the
extraordinarily rich idea conveyed by the term in the KCT system. The second chapter of the
KCT/VP is entitled the Adhyātma-paṭalaḥ, outlines a detailed, multidimensional picture of what
the KCT system means by this term, describing how KCT practice enables us to become aware
of our dynamic individual experience as intimately entwined in the cosmic web. Vesna Wallace,
in her sensitive and erudite translation of this chapter, chose the English term ‘individual’ for
adhyātma in the chapter title (See Wallace, Vesna, The Kalacakratantra: The Chapter on the
Individual Together with the Vimalaprabha. Translated from Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Mongolian.
New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Columbia University, 2004.)
6
siddhy-artham 62.22). The lesser yogins (whose mistaken approaches and understandings KP
describes in detail) are engrossed in the perishable, and interested in a supporter-supported
logical relationship, an ādhāra-ādheya-sambandha (the phrase could also be translated as
container-contained relationship, included and to-be-included relationship, placed and to-be-
placed relationship, or the like). KP comments that the worldly siddhis resulting from such
practice “do not provide the quality of omniscience, because [they’ve been] stated as precedent,
because they lack the language of omniscience, and because they investigate the concealed
magical power of the physical body.”17 That is to say, the focus of such practices is still within
the realm of the perishable. The distinction of the KCT yogins is subtle, and intriguing. One of
the differentiating characteristics of the KCT yogin (which KP also lists in detail) is that he is
one “who has observed the non-arisen properties in the space-path that are like the voidness of
all forms in the divinatory mirror, whose thoughts are on the dream-like objective that is a
vibrating appearance from his own thinking, for whom the void is an investigation into the
properties that constitute the collection of ultimate particles.”18
Here we begin to get a clue to the frame of reference KP is working with—the KCT
yogin evidently has a different take on the realm of the perishable. The yogin who delights in the
practice of the supremely imperishable (rather than worldly perfections and magical powers) is
something of an investigator, a researcher, who explores the properties of the ultimate particles
17
ato laukika-siddhayaḥ sarvajña-guṇa-dāyikā na bhavanti, prādeśika-vacanāt, sarvajña-bhāṣā-
abhāvāt, sāvaraṇa-kāya-ṛddhi-saṃdarśanāt; 67.9–11.
18
ākāśa-gatau sarvākāra-śūnyatā-ādarśa-pratisenāvad anutpanna-dharma-avalokitena, sva-citta-
spharaṇa-pratibhā-svapna-sadṛśa-artha-cittena, parama-aṇu-sandoha-ātmaka-dharma-vicāra-
śūnyena; 62.29-63.1.
7
(that constitute prakṛti). Yet in order to explore the properties of the ultimate particles of prakṛti,
the perishable, one has to be aware of oneself as distinct from what one explores. The
vajrasattva-path-yogin is also something of what we might call a theoretician, who thinks about
the ideas he (or she?) has created, investigating the “vibrating appearance of his own thinking.”
Notable here too is the sense of the insubstantiality of thought, its dream-like quality, and the
yogin’s recognition that all properties are ultimately non-arisen, sharing the transient (perishable)
and insubstantial character of all the forms and shapes and events seen in the divinatory mirror.
The Lord Kālacakra is the one who sustains the universal illusion, who has great perseverance in
the illusion net, and who is the supporter of the illusion of the universe.19 Since this is the case,
we may then ask: is the Lord Kālacakra the sustainer of the perishable? Does the vajrasattva
yogin become a sustainer and supporter—with great perseverance—of the universal illusion,
without being caught in it?
Acyutaḥ as ‘Unejaculated’, The Route to the Imperishable
Acyutaḥ, the negative of the past passive participle of the verb root Öcyu (1A), defined by
Apte as to fall or drop down, slip or sink, come out of, flow or issue from, and so on.20 In the
context of the KCT, cyuta refers to the ejaculation (or emission) of semen, acyuta means
unejaculated. An early notation of this terminological use is found in the commentary on KCT
19
viṣva-māyā-ādhāra, KCT 5:127d, 61.21; māyā-jāla-mahodyogaḥ, NS 8.38a, 74.15; viśva-
māyā-dharo, NS 8.35a, 80.5.
20
Apte, 440.
8
1.48.19–21, where we find the term bhaga for vagina, divyendriya for penis, and a reference to
śukra-cyuti, i.e. ejaculation or emission of semen.
Here are the syllables of gnosis and knowledge aggregates, and so on: the gnosis
aggregate is aṃ; the knowledge aggregate is a; the knowledge element is aḥ, the
space element is ā. The mind sense is aṃ; the ear (sense) is a; sound is aḥ; the
dharmadhātu is ā; the vagina is ha; the flow of urine is haḥ; the divine sense (i.e.
the penis) is haṃ; the emission of semen is hā.21
KP provides in the KCT 5:127 commentary an explicit use of the nominal derivative
cyuti for ejaculation in a prima facie point (pūrvapakṣa) about sex in the dream state: “Certainly
[one may argue], when sexual intercourse is being performed in the dream state, there is
ejaculation in the sleeping body, [that is] not because the body [is guided by] the habit of its
thinking when dreaming.”22 KP goes on to explain in detail that the ejaculated semen, containing
the seed of the perishable physical body, is formed by our consumption of the six flavors (i.e.
food), and carries both the seed consisting of the five primary elements, as well as the habits of
thinking. When we die, and leave behind our perishable bodies, our śarīrāḥ, we leave behind
only the ultimate atoms:
The semen and seed of men and animals is the cause for the birth of the physical
body; that [semen and seed combination] is itself the state of the elements of the
21
atra jñāna-vijñāna-skandhādīnāṃ svarāḥ; tad-yathā jñāna-skandho aṃ | vijñāna-skandho a |
jñāna-dhātu aḥ | ākāśa-dhātuḥ ā | mana indriyaṃ aṃ | śrotraṃ a | śabda aḥ | dharmadhātu ā |
bhago ha | mūtra-srāvo haḥ | divyendriyaṃ haṃ | śukra-cyutiḥ hā |; 1.48.19-21.
22
nanu svapnāvasthāyāṃ maithune kṛte sati supta-kāye cyutir bhavati, na svapne citta-vāsanā-
kāyāt; 84.1–2.
9
six flavors that have gone into the physical body. The sattva-element consists of
the collection of the ultimate particles of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, [and]
consists of smell, form, taste, touch, and sound; this, through the intrinsic nature
of the seed, is produced as the karma-born physical body, and is stopped at the
time of death; that itself flows forth [in ejaculation] as the five-natured seed. In
addition, like the dreaming body, the inclination-body (vāsanā-śarīram) is void,
free of the collection of ultimate particles, [and] unobstructed; by that very
unobstructed inclination body, produced by karmic inclinations, [one] again
perceives/grasps the [perishable] body (śarīraṃ) that consists of the collection of
the ultimate particles. In addition, from perceiving/grasping the body that consists
of the collection of the ultimate particles, having completely abandoned the
inclinations of the previous body, the inclination of the [new] living physical body
(vartamāna-śarīra-vāsanā) arises in the thinking. By that cause, from the voids—
[i.e.] from the thinking, inclinations, and aggregates—the incidental aggregates
and dharmas come into being; from the incidental aggregates and dharmas the
voids [i.e] the thinking, inclinations, and aggregates come into being; so only the
ultimate particle doesn't go into the next world.”23
23
Tena tiryaṅ-manuṣyāṇāṃ śukra-bījaṃ śarīrotpatti-kāraṇaṃ, tadeva ṣaṅ-rasānāṃ śarīre
dhātutvaṃ gatānāṃ pṛthivy-ap-tejo-vāyv-ākāśa-paramāṇu-sandohātmako gandha-rūpa-rasa-
sparśa-śabdātmakaḥ sattva-dhātuḥ, etad-bīja-svabhāvāt karmajaṃ śarīram utpadyate, nirudhyate
ca ṃrtyu-kāle tadeva pañcātmakaṃ bījaṃ niḥsarati | punaḥ svapna-śarīravad vāsanā-śarīraṃ
śūnyaṃ paramāṇu-sandoha-varjitam aniruddham, tenaivāniruddha-vāsanā-śarīreṇa karma-
vāsanodbhūtena punaḥ paramānu-sandohātmakaḥ śarīraṃ gṛhṇāti | punaḥ paramāṇu-
sandohātmaka-śarīra-grahaṇāt prāk-śarīra-vāsanāṃ parityajya vartamāna-śarīra-vāsanotpadyate
citte | tena kāraṇena śūnyebhyaś citta-vāsanā-skandhebhya āgantuka-skandha-dharmā bhavanti,
āgantuka-skandha-dharmebhyaḥ śūnyāś citta-vāsanā-skandhā bhavantīti paraloke paramāṇu-
10
As discussed below in more detail, KP links ejaculation to the perishable, transmigrating
existence, and non-ejaculation to the supremely imperishable (and the supremely imperishable
happiness): “The perishable is the moment of ejaculation, characterized by states of arisal and
cessation” while “what has become the termination of (all) that [i.e. of the arisal and cessation,
which is the characteristic of saṃsāra] is the supremely imperishable moment of non-
ejaculation, designated as ‘time.’”24 Understanding the relationship of ejaculation and non-
ejaculation to the perishable and supremely imperishable is key to understanding KP’s
presentation of the KCT system.
Padma/Lotus as Vulva/Vagina, Vajra/Lightning Bolt/Diamond as Penis
The word padma is of course very well known to Indologists, and appears in many
Buddhist and non-Buddhist contexts (including Vedic sacrifice), with many shades of meaning
and symbolism. KP specifically identifies the term in the KCT as a code name for the female
mātro ’pi na gacchati|; 84.32–85.8. I have emended teneva at the end of 85.4 to tenaiva, since the
tena is appositional to the compound that follows.
Using descriptors from modern Biology, we might say that the ejaculated semen,
containing the seed of the mortal body, grows within us thanks to our own genetics and our
consumption of food and carries the seed containing the DNA, etc., with its molecular substance
formed by a subset of the periodic table of the elements—rather than the five primary elements.
In modern Biology we do not describe that we pass along the habits of our thinking through our
semen (and egg cells), or that the child conceived brings with him/her their own thought habits
from their previous lives.
24
kṣara utpāda-nirodha-avasthā-lakṣaṇś cyuti-kṣaṇaḥ, 61.17–18; and sa yasya nidhanaṃ gataḥ,
sa paramākṣaro ’cyuta-kṣaṇaḥ kāla ity-abhidhīyate |, 61.18–19, respectively.
11
genitalia: “According to the samaya-language25 … the woman's organ [vulva] is [what is meant
by] the lotus; the man’s organ [penis] is the lightning bolt” (samaya-bhāṣayā…strī-indryaṃ
padmaṃ, puruṣendriyaṃ vajram 69.13–15).
Vajra (masculine or neuter) is frequently, perhaps even preferentially translated as
diamond, one of its two main meanings. As a result, the term Vajrayāna is sometimes translated
at the Diamond Vehicle. The other primary meaning of the word is thunderbolt or lightning
bolt—i.e., the powerful electric discharge in the sky during thunderstorms, conceived of in
ancient India as a form of divine fire and in the Ṛgveda as “a particular missile or bolt weapon of
Indra’s,”26 which he can hurl from the sky to start fires or kill. Among the synonyms of vajra in
the classical lexicons is kulīśam, which specifically means Indra’s thunderbolt.27 It appears that
“lightning bolt” is frequently the intended sense of vajra in the KCT and VP.
Vajra also means a diamond, the English equivalent most often used by Buddhist
scholars. A diamond is of course a particular type of gem, or maṇi. Another Sanskrit term used
for both a thunderbolt and a gem-stone is aśman, a synonym already in use in the RV and
Brāhmaṇa literature, meaning rock, hammer, stone, gem-stone, and thunderbolt, or the cloud or
sky from which the thunderbolt comes. So the bivalence of the term vajra has ancient roots. In
25
Samaya (from sam + Öi) means a meeting, a coming together, a covenant, an agreement, etc.
The term is used in compound samaya-sattva or samaya-person to refer to a Tantric initiate, e.g.
KCT 5.108 commentary: ‘Here, indeed, having become a Tantric initiate in the maṇḍala and
cakra meditation…| iha kila maṇḍala-cakra-bhāvanāyāṃ samaya-sattvaṃ niṣpādya,….
(Rinpoche et al 1994b:51, lines 13-14). In the KCT system, samaya appears to be used as a
name for the Tantric community.
26
indrasya astra-viśeṣaḥ; Śabdakalpadrumaḥ 4:247.
27
Śabdakalpadrumaḥ, 4:248.
12
Suśruta-saṃhitā, the vajra is listed as one of the “cold” jewels (maṇi) which are good for the
eyes, along with pearl, coral, lapis lazuli, and quartz crystal.28 As noted above, another, and more
specialized Tantric meaning of vajra, also used in KCT/VP is that of the aroused or erect penis.
In this latter Tantric sexual meaning (erect penis) the two ideas of diamond (or jewel, with maṇi
as an equivalent) and thunderbolt or lightning bolt appear to be combined: i.e the erect penis as a
(hard) jewel or gem that transmits the divine fire.
Sahaja and Vāsanā
Sahaja, a term Apte gives as inborn, natural or innate,29 also literally means born or
produced together or at the same time, saha jayate as glossed by Tarkavachaspati.30 Though
‘innate’ is certainly the intended sense in some contexts here, the more literal gloss appears more
in keeping with the idea of the sajaha-kāya occurring in the embrace of the vajrasattva with the
mahāmudrā as discussed below. 31Another term that bears brief examination is the well-known
term vāsanā. The verb Övās 10P is to perfume something or make it fragrant. Perfume’s signal
quality is that it lingers, or leaves traces, which can remain or be followed for some time after the
28
muktā-vidruma-vajrendra-vaidūrya-sphaṭikādayaḥ | cakuṣyā maṇayaḥ śītā lekhanā
viśvasūdanāḥ |; from Suśrutasaṃhitā, sūtrasthāne 46 adhyāye, cited at Śabdakalpadrumaḥ 3.575
under maṇiḥ.
29
Apte, 976.
30
Tarkavachaspati , Vacaspatya, 5263.
31
Davidson has examined the term sahaja in superb detail, illuminating its deep polysemy in
esoteric Buddhism, and a rich history in ‘natural and literary’ Sanskrit literature, dating back to
the Bhagavad Gītā. It is, as he elegantly remarks, an “extraordinary fertile term” (Davidson
2002:71).
13
wearer of the perfume has moved on. The nominal derivative vāsanā refers to memory effects,
trace effects in memory from prior events, just like trace perfume scents. I will use the translation
“inclination,” since the idea KP explores in a variety of ways is that it is the habits or inclinations
from prior experience, i.e. their trace effects, that determine current behavior, and these are
amenable to change.
KP’s Commentary on KCT 5:127
KP begins his discussion by setting up and then refuting the view that the application of
bīja-mantras to the body (specifically to the arms) is correct practice:
Why is that? Because the applied characteristic is intrinsically perishable. Here
the vowels (the a-sounds, etc.) and the consonants (the ka-sounds, etc.)—having
perishable natures, and interdependently arisen—are said to be imperishable by
those who know the śāstras32. In the same way it is said, “[It] does not perish, it
does not move, it goes to another place, hence the vowel is called by the word
imperishable.” Therefore, the one possessed of bad mantras, confused, perceives
32
Śāstra (n) is a nominal derivative of the verb Öśās (2P), meaning to teach, command, govern,
communicate etc. A simple translation into English of sāstra could be ‘teaching’, but this is not
the most felicitous choice, given the current and perhaps dominant religious connotation of ‘a
teaching’. Scanning the entries s.v. in Apte and MW one finds synonyms such as treatise,
teaching, command, precept, knowledge, department of knowledge, science, religious teaching,
order, precept, instruction, counsel etc. As Monier-Williams (1069) notes, India has Veda-śāstra,
the various philosophical texts such as Vedānta-śāstra, the law books or dharma-śāstras, the
works of poetics and poetry or kāvya-śāstra, teachings on erotics or kāma-śāstra, and many
more. I suggest we leave the term in the original Sanskrit.
14
as imperishable either the collection of vowels or the collection of consonants.33
So, according to KP, the Brahmanical view of the imperishability of the collection of Sanskrit
vowels and consonants is erroneous. Because, as he says, “From [the point of view of] ultimate
reality the collection of vowels and consonants is not imperishable.”34
In place of what are considered the Vedists’ erroneous idea about Sanskrit, KP and the
KCT speak of the language of omniscience (sarvajña-bhāṣā), described in KCT 5:96 as multiple
language[s] with a single meaning (ekārthāneka-bhāṣā). KP quotes both 5:96–97 in full, though
I include here only KCT 5:97, specifically countering the Vedic idea of Sanskrit as the language
of the gods:
To animals, spirits, and demons, to serpents, gods, and men, to Indians and
Tibetans, and so forth, in the threefold [time, i.e.] past, future, and present, even,
[she] is continually expressing the true law. [She] is stabilizing on the path the
entire threefold world with its individually different languages. This is the
language of the omniscient, the provider of the fruit of equal happiness, and is not
the language of the gods.35
33
Kasmāt? Abhiniveśa-lakṣaṇāt kṣara-svabhāvāt | ihākārādayaḥ svarāḥ kakārādīni vyañjanāni
kṣarabhūtāni ca pratītyasamutpannāni śāstravidbhir akṣarāṇyuktāni | tathā cāha – “na kṣarati na
calatyaparsthānaṃ gacchatīyakṣaraśabdena svara ityucyate” | tena kumantrī bhrānto ‘kṣaratvena
svarasamūhaṃ gṛhṇāti vyañjanasamūhaṃ vā | 60.18-22.
34
paramārthataḥ svara-vyañjana-samūho ’kṣaro na bhavati; 60.22–23.
35
tiryak-pretāsurāṇām uraga-sura-nṛṇānām ārya-bhoṭādikānāṃ, bhūtaiṣyad-vartamānaṃ
trividham api sadā satya-dharmaṃ bruvantī | mārge saṃsthāpayantī tribhavam avikalaṃ sva-sva-
bhāṣāntareṇa eṣā sarva-jña-bhāṣā sama-sukha-phala-dā deva-bhāṣā na ca syāt || iti ||; KCT.5:97,
65.31–66.2.
15
KP uses a variety of arguments for the superiority of the Buddhadharma over the
Vedadharma. One is what appears to be an eleventh-century version of a Big Bang theory,
comparing Vedadharma to the original darkness of the universe out of which all things come,
and the Buddhadharma to the light of the Sun that burst forth from that darkness, and is therefore
preferred by those with eyes.
First the great darkness arose innately, without an illuminator of the path of
omniscience; afterwards, for the sake of its destruction, the world of the sun,36 the
illuminator of all the paths, came to be. Of these two, the great darkness and the
light, the innate darkness is not superior, it is not favored by those with eyes. In
the same way, the earlier Vedadharma, innate and eldest, did not illuminate the
path to nirvāṇa; afterwards, for the sake of its destruction, the youngest (kaniṣṭha)
dharma of the omniscient one, illuminating the path to nirvāṇa, came into being.
Of these two—the Vedadharma and the dharma of the omniscient one—the
Vedadharma, innate [and] oldest, is not preferred by the knowers, just as the great
darkness [is not preferred] by those with eyes. So, between the eldest and the
youngest, the youngest is the best. Therefore, by the practice of the knowledge of
the supremely imperishable, nirvāṇa comes to be, not the inclination towards
ejaculation by the Vedadharmists.37
36
sahasra-kiraṇā-loka, the world of a thousand light rays; the name is related to the Hindu name
for the crown cakra, the sahasrāra, or thousand-rayed center.
37
prāṅ-mahāndha-kāraḥ sahajaḥ sarva-jña-mārga-aprakāśakaḥ, paścāt tasya vidhvaṃsana-arthaṃ
sahasra-kiraṇā-lokaḥ sarva-mārga-prakāśako ’bhūt | anayor mahā-andhakāra-ālokayor na-
andhakāraḥ sahajo jyeṣṭhaḥ, sa-cakṣuṣāṃ na priyaḥ | evaṃ prāg-veda-dharmaḥ sahajo jyeṣṭho
nirvāṇa-mārga-aprakāśakaḥ, paścāt tasya vidhvāṃsanārthaṃ sarvajña-dharmaḥ kaniṣṭhaḥ
16
Denying the validity of the Śaivite/Vedist perspective, KP argues that the KCT system
brings about for the male38 a conscious understanding, experience, and identity with a bliss or
happiness or joy that is ultimate and imperishable. Imperishable means not perishing, not
disappearing, though KP carefully avoids using the idea of permanent. The mantras are not
permanent, though they provide an intuition, knowledge or awareness of what is imperishable.
KP says the vajrasattva and the mahāmudrā/buddha-mātṛ (hereafter VS and MM/BM) are
imperceptible to the interdependently arisen senses,39 and so are effectively not part of prakṛti
since they “have gone beyond the properties of the ultimate atoms.”40 The VS and MM/BM are
however accessible by the divine sense,41 have the intrinsic nature of the supremely imperishable
happiness, and have the intrinsic form of the supremely imperishable.42 Further, KP describes the
two, the vajrasattva and the mahāmudrā/buddha-mātṛ, as being similar to a dream, or to the
image seen in the divinatory mirror.43
nirvāṇa-mārga-prakāśako ’bhūt| anayor veda-dharma-sarvajña-dharmayor na veda-dharmaḥ

sahajo jyeṣṭho jñānināṃ priyaḥ, sacakṣuṣāṃ mahāndhakāravat | ato jyeṣṭha-kaniṣṭhayoḥ
kaniṣṭhaḥ śreya iti | tasmāt paramākṣarajñāna-sādhanena nirvāṇaṃ bhavati, na cyuti-vāsanā veda-
dharmair iti |; 95:20–26.
38
Though the role of women as consorts, tantric partners, and even mothers is extensively
discussed in the KCT/VP (particularly chapters 3 and 5), the details of their internal yogic
experience is left much less clear.
39
pratītya-samutpannānām indriyānāṃ agocarau.
40
paramāṇu-dharma-atītau; as we have seen above, the ultimate atoms are what are left behind
with the perishable śarīraḥ upon death.
41
divyendriya-gocarau; and as mentioned above the term divendriya may refer to the penis.
42
paramākṣara-sukha-svabhāvau…. paramākṣara-svarūpāv iti.
43
ādarśa-pratisenā-svapna-tulyau, 60.26–28.
17
Apparently then the goal-state for male Tantric Buddhist KCT practitioners is beyond
normal sensory awareness, is beyond normal physicality even in its most refined state, is in some
as yet undefined way accessible by divine sense organ awareness, and is somehow dream like, or
similar to what the young virgin girl can see in the divinatory mirror. The goal state also requires
one to realize the true nature of the KCT Buddha, who does not have a perishable form-body:
Hence, according to the Lord’s statement in the Nāmasaṃgīti, the Buddha, being
examined critically, does not have a form body. Why is that? Since it is produced
from the sky, since it is self-produced, since it is [both] the universal form and
without form, since it holds the four drops, since it transcends the comprehension
of the partless, since it holds a crore of the fourth joy, since it is the great passion
of dispassion and so forth, since it is without possessiveness, since it is without
self-consciousness, since it has the property of being the creator of everything,
since it produces the objectives of all the mantras, the great drop, since it is
imperishable, since it is the great void of the five syllables, [and] since it is the six
syllables of the drop void, since it has become identical with the ākāśa44, and so
44
Ākāśa is one of the five major elements (paṇcamahābhūtas) along with earth, air, fire and
water. Although ākāśa is often translated as ‘space’ (or previously ‘ether’), the Sanskrit lexicon
definitions suggest a closer English equivalent would be ‘the sky.’ Śabdakalpadrumaḥ p.163
defines it a ‘where the Sun etc shines from all directions, a particular element included in the five
elements; and it is empty.’ (ā samantāt kāśyate dīpyate sūryyādayo yatra, pañcabhūtāntargata-
bhūta-viśeṣaḥ | sat u śūnyaḥ |.) Śabdakalpadrumaḥ cites other sources: Amarakaośaḥ has as
definitions anantam infinite, antarīkṣam the region between heaven and earth, i..e the sky or
atmosphere, vyoman the sky, gaganam the sky, etc. and Viṣṇupadam, i..e. the path of Viṣṇu. The
Śabdaratnāvalī also adds terms like meghaveśma and meghavartma, the home or road of the
clouds, marudvartma the road of the winds, and tripiṣṭapam one of the three divisions of the
universe, According to Nyāya, its particular quality is sound, it is eternally without bodily form,
18
forth.45
KP cites KCT 5:60 in pointing out that since the Buddha does not have a perishable form body,
the Buddha’s body (buddhasya kāyaḥ) doesn’t die: “One should teach that this sky-like, single
ātman is everywhere in the purified ground. In this way the Buddha’s body comes into existence,
and it does not die, either, since it has the single happiness as its intrinsic nature.46
If the KCT Buddha is non-perishable, and has no form body, i.e. no perishable body, how
may the KCT yogin practitioner possibly become a vajrasattva while still here, alive, with a
form (read: perishable) body? Put another way, what is the nature of the relationship (if there is
one) between this ultimately imperishable and blissful dream or divinatory mirror-like Tantric
state of the VS and MM/BM, and the very physical matter/substance with its ultimate particles
whose properties they have gone beyond? In the KCT Buddhist understanding, personal prakṛti
is defined as the well-known five aggregates (skandha: form, sensation, perception, imagination,
and consciousness), the five elements (dhātu: earth, water, fire, air and space), the six media
(āyatana: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and flesh), and its interaction with the sense-objects
(form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma). For the enlightened VS and MM/BM, all of these
and its sense organ is the ear. The Vācaspatyam devotes nearly 6 pages to discussing the term
(562-568). Given the polysemy and depth of the term, I prefer to leave it untranslated.
45
ato bhagavato vacanād nāmasaṃgītyāṃ parīkṣyamāṇo buddho rūpakāyo na bhavati | kasmāt |
gaganodbhavatvāt, svayaṃbhūtvāt, sarvākāra-nirākāratvāt, catur-bindu-dharatvāt, akala-
kalanātītatvāt, caturthānanda-koṭi-dharatvāt, virāgādi-mahārāga-tvāt, nir-mama-tvāt, nir-
ahaṃkāra-tvāt, sarvākṣaya-dhātṛ-tvāt, sarva-mantrārtha-janaka-tvāt, mahā-bindur anakṣara-tvāt,
pañcākṣara-mahā-śūnya-tvāt bindu-śūnya-ṣaḍ-akṣara-tvāt, ākāśa-samatā-gatavād ityādi |; 71.15–
20
46
ekātmānaṃ samantād gagana-samam idaṃ darśayec chuddha-bhūmyām evaṃ buddhasya kāyo
bhavati na mriyate ’py eka-saukhya-svabhāvāt ||; KCT 5:61, 74.29–30.
19
skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas (hereafter SDA) are unveiled or uncovered (nirāvaraṇa). The
drop’s void becomes the unveiled SDAs, which are completely mixed together into unity.47
We may then ask: what is the drop’s void (bindu-śūnya)48 and how is it possible for the
drop’s void to become the unitary perfect mixture of all the personal dimensions of prakṛti? KP
says this drop (there are others in the KCT system) is unejaculated, existing, and the ultimately
imperishable.49 So the drop (or at least the fourth drop) and the ultimately imperishable appear to
be one and the same.
KP then elaborates on what he means by the ultimately imperishable (paramākṣara). It is
the syllable a; it is the source of the syllable a (and so, by extension, both the language of
omniscience and the source of that language), the truly completely awakened one (samyak-
saṃbuddha) whose nature is wisdom and means, the lightning bolt being, the neutral (or
grammatically neuter) place (napuṃsakapadaṃ), called the co-generated body (sahaja-kāya),
whose nature is knowledge and the knowable, due to the indivisibility of the cause and the
fruit/result.50 The unity of the female wisdom (prajñā), which is the knowable (jñeya) and the
male means (upāya), which is knowledge (jñāna) is the unity of the cycling wheel of the three
realms of samsaric existence and time itself. This is the basis of the name of the KCT, the
47
etāni skandha-dhātv-āyatanāny eka-sama-rasī-bhūtāni bindu-śūnyo bhavati; 61.3–4.
48
Note I’ve taken bindu-śūnyaḥ as a genitive tat-puruṣaḥ samāsaḥ, which seems to me the most
reasonable interpretation.
49
sa ca bindur acyutaḥ san paramākṣara ucyate; 61.4.
50
paramākṣaro ’py a-kāro ’kāra-saṃbhavaḥ samyak-saṃbuddhaḥ prajñopāya-ātmakaḥ
vajrasattvo napuṃsaka-padaṃ sahaja-kāya ucyate jñāna-jñeyātmakaḥ, hetu-phalayor
abhedyatvāt; 61.4–6.
20
Kālacakra or Time’s Wheel.
In addition, he alone is the Lord Kālacakra who consists of wisdom and means,
described by the relationship of the knowable and knowledge. Here, knowledge of
the supremely imperishable [which] has become the cause of the destruction of all
obscurations [is] the means called “time.” The knowable is the wheel consisting
of the three realms, characterized by infinite existence; that indeed is wisdom. The
unity of knowledge and the knowable is the wheel of time.51
So KP lays out a paradigm which says: the yogin should not ejaculate his semen, and in
doing so can access a transcendent state of awareness. Without exploring all the details of
Tantric practice, it’s important to bear in mind that non-ejaculation is (typically) only relevant
when a man is sexually aroused. Since nowhere in the KCT do we find mention of homosexual
yoga practices, what is meant here is that the male yogin is sexually aroused in the context of
intimacy with a female Tantric lover, though KP presents a method for the male yogic that does
not (necessarily) involve a physically present female partner. For a male, ejaculation is usually
concomitant with orgasm, a heightened state of pleasure which is typically referred to in KCT as
simply sukham (happiness). KP discusses in depth two dimensions of this orgasmic happiness: 1)
the normal happiness of two types of ejaculatory orgasm, and 2) the happiness of non-ejaculatory
orgasm.
51
punaḥ sa eva kālacakro bhagavān prajñopāyātmako jñeya-jñāna-sambandhenoktaḥ | atra
paramākṣara-jñānaṃ sarvāvaraṇa-kṣaya-hetu-bhūtaṃ kāla ityukta upāyaḥ | jñeyaṃ traidhātukam
ananta-bhāva-lakṣaṇaṃ cakram, tadeva prajñā | jñāna-jñeyayor ekatvaṃ kālacakram iti |; 62.7–9.
21
KP quotes KCT 5:126 to illustrate that ejaculatory orgasm is equated with conception,
rebirth, and transmigration, i.e. continuing involvement in saṃsāra. The drop also is now
referred to as the “bodhicitta drop” and it is a fourth state or fourth drop:
In this way, the thought is fourfold, residing in the threefold world, in the middle
of the drop of living beings; The pervader [i.e. the drop], providing the fruit of
equalized happiness, is to be protected by the Indras of Yoga (yogīndras)52 for the
purpose of liberation. When there is release of the drop, where is the release? It is
in the birth-seed of the yogins, [the seed] that lacks the supreme happiness.
Therefore, for this reason the happiness-moment of transmigration is always to be
shunned by the ascetics.53
In his gloss KP specifies: “Therefore the bodhicitta is to be very firmly protected by the yogin; it
is not to be released”54 The bodhicitta drop(s) have special status, and are not to be equated with
drops of urine or drops of sweat: “And there are no other drops either in the body, or externally,
other than the bodhicitta drop, such as the urine, water, and the like, that will become the
52
Many key terms in Sanskrit are polysemous, making choice of English equivalents
challenging. The Vedic Indra hurled lightning bolts, releasing the life giving waters from the
heavens (and consumed copious amounts of Soma). An ‘Indra’ of Yoga would be a practitioner
who controls his own inner fires, his own inner vajra, the life-giving thunder-lightning bolt
energy of consciousness.
53
evaṃ cittaṃ caturdhā trividhabhavagataṃ prāṇināṃ bindu-madhye, yogīndrai rakṣaṇīyaṃ
samasukhaphaladaṃ vyāpakaṃ mokṣahetoḥ | bindor mokṣe kva mokṣaḥ parama-sukha-gate
yogināṃ janma-bīje, tasmāt saṃsāra-saukhya-kṣaṇa iha yatibhiḥ sarvadā varjanīyaḥ ||; KCT
5:126, 79.12–15.
54
tasmād yoginā bodhicittaṃ sudṛḍhaṃ rakṣaṇīyam, na mokṣaṇīyam; 79.20.
22
providers of the fruit of buddhahood.”55
What KP seems to be arguing for—and this is very much part of the KCT system—is the
idea that a conscious awareness and sense of self-control of one’s urge to ejaculate provides in
some sense the energy for self-transformation. This ejaculatory urge is primal and, unrestrained,
leads only to rebirth. Its restraint during sexual arousal is acknowledged as a difficult practice to
master, yet it is held to have fundamentally life-changing effects:
In this sense, sentient beings who (otherwise) end up dead, i.e. reach the final
destruction, on account of this passion that has fallen [dripped—rāgena cyutena—
i.e., ejaculated], (can) become liberated buddhas, saviors, by means of the non-
fallen [i.e. non-ejaculated passion] that becomes the supremely indestructible.56
This is a large claim: that by ethical Buddhist yogic Tantric practice of intimate orgasmic
sexuality without ejaculation the practitioner(s) may fundamentally alter their biological destiny
of old age, death, and rebirth. Yet it is an explicit claim:
What sentient beings protect—such as their sons, wives, and so on—the saviors
give away. What sentient beings give away—that great bliss—the Buddhas
protect. For that reason, the practice that is a difficult task for gods, demons, men,
and serpents is transformed by the tathāgatas57—that very practice of the
55
na cānye bindavaḥ śarīre bāhye vā santi bodhicitta-bindu-rahitā mūtratoyādayaḥ, ye
buddhatva-phala-dāyakā bhaviṣyanti; 79.20–22.
56
iha sattvā yena rāgeṇa cyutena pralayaṃ maraṇam upagatāḥ, tenaiva acyutena paramākṣara-
bhūtena tāyino buddhā muktā bhavanti |; 81.8–9.
57
Tathāgata is one of many names for the Buddha, though here it is used in the plural, referring
to buddhas. Monier-Williams (sv. p. 433) has an interesting gloss, ‘he who comes and goes in
the same way [as the Buddhas who preceded him].’ Tathā is an indeclinable, meaning ‘like
23
unemitted bodhicitta is to be routinely practiced by the yogins for the purpose of
the spiritual practice of the supremely imperishable.58
Even more explicit is the point that the Buddhist Tantric meditation is on and in the state
of heterosexual orgasmic pleasure that does not involve ejaculation: “Therefore that which is
stated to be the bliss-meditation with the joining together of the two organs (i.e. the male and
female genitalia) is not a state of ejaculating the bodhicitta.”59
Given that the ejaculatory urge is primal, it is only through practice that one learns the
non-ejaculation, in the same way that a child learns to avoid fire, i.e. by getting too close and
feeling the burn. The problem, KP explains, is deep within us:
This inclination towards ejaculation [of the bodhicitta] on the part of sentient
beings has as its intrinsic nature the incidental impurity from the primal time;
from this [impurity] saṃsāra [results]. The inclination towards ejaculation that
occurs with the sexual embrace of the consort, will become, by that very embrace,
an inclination towards non-ejaculation, like the child and the fire.60
that’, ‘ in that way’, ‘in that manner’ etc. –gata is a past participle suffix from the verb gam to
go. Because of euphonic combination rules in Sanskrit (i.e. sandhi), tathāgata could either be a
compound formed from tathā-gata or tathā-āgata, the former meaning, literally, ‘gone in that
way’ and the latter ‘came like that’. Typically the term is left untranslated.
58
sattvā yan mocayanti mahāsukhaṃ tad buddhā rakṣayanti | tena kāraṇena devāsura-manuṣya-
nāgānāṃ duṣkaraṃ caritaṃ tathāgatānāṃ vikurvitaṃ yadeva tadeva yoginā bodhicittam acyutaṃ
kartavyaṃ yathānukrameṇa paramākṣara-sādhanārtham |; 81.9–12.
59
tena dvīndriya-samāpattyā sukha-bhāvanoktā no bodhicitta-cyavanāvasthā |; 81.12–13.
60
sā yena mudrāsaṅgena cyuti-vāsanā bhavati, tenaiva saṅgena acyuti-vāsanā bhaviṣyati, sūtaka-
agni-vat |; 81.14–15.
24
Conceptual Meditation, Conceptual Thinking
KP devotes considerable space in the KCT 5:127 VP to refuting the proposition that one
can achieve the goal of KCT practice through vikalpa-bhāvanā, or vikalpa-citta. The Sarnath
editors translate vikalpa-bhāvanā as conceptual meditation.61 Sanskrit-English dictionaries, such
as those by Apte and Monier-Williams, provide English equivalents of vikalpa such as doubt,
uncertainty, alternative, imagined, optional, variable. The verbal prefix or upasarga “vi-”
typically has an oppositional or reciprocal sense, though occasionally it also functions as an
intensifier. In vikalpa it appears to have the oppositional sense. Kalpa, from the verb Ökḷp 1Ā, to
be capable or efficient, to be regulated or ordered, to be suitable, etc. A literalistic interpretation
of vikalpa meditation or thought would then be incapable, inefficient, unsuitable, disordered,
unregulated, etc., all notions that in this context fit well with alternative, optional, variable,
imagined—i.e., improper, not of the correct, ordered, regulated, appropriate and effective type.
In much of what follows, the Sarnath editors’ choice of ‘conceptual’ seems apt, but given the
related potential polysemy, I will leave the term in Sanskrit.
KP first associates vikalpa meditation with egotism, rejecting both: “So, according to the
Tathāgata's statement, the vikalpa meditation and self-consciousness (egotism) on the part of the
lightning-being are not to be practiced by the yogin who has resorted to the truth of the ultimate
objective.”62 Though visualized meditation of the maṇḍalacakra is greatly detailed, KP’s
summary point is that, however successfully performed, the practice is limited to the realm of the
61
VP, vol. 3, Preface, 19; citing the introductory verses of the VP, vol, 1, 2.15.
62
atas tathāgata-vacanād vikalpa-bhāvanā vajrasattvāhaṃkāro ’pi paramārtha-satyāśtritena
yoginā na kartavya iti; 63.26–27.
25
three-worlds, and cannot bring about real enlightenment: “the yogin does not become completely
awakened when this maṇḍalacakra is being made visible in front of his eyes.”63 The yogin
cannot become omniscient through the power of meditation on vikalpa forms, since he lacks the
requisite merit and knowledge.64 Were it the case that vikalpa-meditation actually worked, KP
says, then even with the lack of any material wealth one could simply think “I am a King” and
through continuous meditation on this unreal idea over a long time, even many kalpas,65 he could
become a real king, but this is not the case.66
Part of why KP argues that vikalpa meditation is simply inadequate for KCT practice is
due to the nature of the KCT Buddha. The actually omniscient one, the Lord Kālacakra, has
genuine divine powers67, and experiences a set of twelve stages:68
The stage that is entirely radiant with the brilliance of the great solar disk; the
63
tasmād yogī sambuddho na bhavaty ekasmin maṇḍalacakre sākṣāt-kṛte; 67.1–2.
64
vikalpa-rūpa-bhāvanā-balena yogī sarvajño na bhavati, 68.8; and puṇya-jñāna-hīno vikalpa-
rūpa-bhāvanābhyāsa-vaśād buddho na bhavatīti; 69.9–10.
65
Kalpa has quite a few different meanings in Sanskrit. In this context it refers to a very long
period of time, specifically a thousand yugas, i.e. 4,320,000,000 human years or 432,000,000
years. See Monier Williams 262 and Apte A kalpa is considered to encompass the duration of
the world. We are currently considered to be living in the Śvetāvārāhakalpa, which is the 51st
‘day’ of Brahmā, who in Indian mythology creates the world anew after each destruction.
66
tadā ’nyo ’pi dravya-hīno rājā ’ham iti cintayet, so ’py abhyāsavaśād … anekakalpair abhyāsād
rājā na bhaviṣyati; 68.30–69.3.
67
These include divine eye, ear, knowledge of other’s thoughts and one’s own former lives,
ability to see into past, present and future, etc.; see 67.11–30 for details. The list differs a bit
from the traditional list of the daśa-balāni of the Tathāgata given at Dharmasaṃgraha, 76.
68
These twelve stages differ from the bodhisattva stages found in Dharmasaṃgraha, 64–65.
26
stage with the radiance of nectar, shining with the great moon; the stage with the
light of the atmosphere, well-established like the sky; the stage with the radiance
of lightning, charming; the stage with the light of a gem, established by
consecration; the stage with the light of a lotus, its stainless properties
intrinsically purified, without limitations; the stage of performing the actions of a
buddha; the incomparable stage; the stage whose comparison pierces all
comparisons; the stage of the unsurpassed light of wisdom; the tremendously
brilliant stage of omniscience; the stage knowable by each individual, filled with
the knowledge of yogins.69
KP rejects the argument that the [collective] body of sentient beings is the Buddha’s
emanation body, noting that the Tathāgata “tears to shreds” such thinking.70 He quotes three
verses from the Nāmasaṃgīti, describing a very solar-deity-like KCT Buddha who is possessed
of the extremely purified knowledge of the dharma realm (suviśuddha-dharma-dhātu-jñāna):
The sole essence of the [storm] cloud [of dharma], the [true] nature of the
thunderbolt, the instantaneously born lord of the world, arising from the
atmosphere, self-engendered, the fire of wisdom and knowledge, the great one,
Vairocana [i.e. solar], the great flame, the light of knowledge, the Sun, the
69
Tathā samanta-prabhā mahā-sūrya-maṇḍala-varcasā bhūmiḥ, amṛta-prabhā mahā-candra-
prabhāsvarā bhūmiḥ, gagana-prabhā gaganavat-supratiṣṭhitā bhūmiḥ, vajra-prabhā manoramā
bhūmiḥ, ratna-prabhā abhiṣeka-pratiṣthitā bhūmiḥ, padma-prabhā svabhāva-śuddha-dharma-
nirmalā niṣparigrahā bhūmiḥ, buddha-karmakārī bhūmiḥ, anupamā bhūmiḥ, upamā sarvopamā
prativedhitā bhūmiḥ, prajñā-prabhā ’nuttarā bhūmiḥ, sarvajñatā mahā-prabhāsvarā bhūmiḥ,
pratyātmavedyā yogi-jñāna-prapūrikā bhūmir iti |; 67.17–21.
70
tasmāt sattvānāṃ kāyo buddha-nirmāṇa-kāyo … parīkṣamāṇaṃ vighaṭayati; 68.13–14.
27
world’s lamp, knowledge’s meteor/torch, the great brilliant flame, the brightly
shining, science’s king, the foremost mantra master, the mantra king, the great
accomplisher of objectives, the great uṣṇīṣa71, the miraculous uṣṇīṣa, all-seeing,
master of the sky.72
Vairocana and Virocana are names of the Sun and for Agni in non-Buddhist writings, from vi +
Öruc, to shine forth or be radiant. In the long list KP then gives of the Buddha’s attributes (drawn
often from the Dharmasaṃgraha), he speaks of the “worldly elements that are the emanation of
the five sorts of maṇḍalas that consist of heaps/bundles of light.”73
Bearing in mind the question raised earlier in this essay on how the paramākṣara or
supremely imperishable relates to the kṣara or perishable, here we have the hints of an
explanation: the supremely imperishable Kālacakra puruṣa radiates the light of the sun, and this
light produces maṇḍalas, themselves consisting of bundles or collections of light, that emanate or
manifest the worldly elements of which the physical body consists. Yet as noted above, and
71
Uṣṇīṣa is a challenging word to render in English, since even its meaning in Sanskrit is less
than perfectly clear. Its most common meaning is perhaps ‘turban’, and it is sometimes used to
describe a sort of protuberance at the crown of the Buddha’s head. Yet the root of the word uṣṇa
refers to heat. MW p.220, Śabdakalpadruma 277 and Vācaspatyam 1381 all cite the Vārttika on
Pāṇini 6.1.94, uṣṇam īṣate hinasti, i.e. heat escapes, [it] causes harm. In the Buddhist yogic and
Tantric physiology, uṣṇīṣa is regularly used as a synonym for the brahmarandhracakra, the subtle
body center at the crown of the head.
72
Ghanaika-sāro vajrātmā sadyo-jāto jagat-patiḥ | gaganodbhavaḥ svayambhūḥ prajñā-jñānānalo
mahān || vairocano mahādīptir jñāna-jyotir virocanaḥ | jagat-pradīpo jñānollakā mahātejā
prabhāsvaraḥ | vidyārājo ’gra-mantreśo mandra-rāja-mahārtha-kṛt | mahoṣṇīṣo ’dbhutoṣṇīṣo
viśva-darśī viyat-patiḥ || iti ||; Nāmasaṃgīti, 6.20–22, KCT/VP 69.20–26. Cf. Davidson 1981:54,
vss. 60-63.
73
pañca-prakāra-prabhā-nikara-maṇḍala-nirmāṇa-loka-dhātuṣu; 70.24–25.
28
reiterated several times by KP with supporting quotes from both the KCT and the NS, the
Buddha does not have a form body.74 In fact, if the buddhas had form bodies, then these form-
embodied buddhas’ eyes would never blink, even at the level of the ultimate particles.75 If the
Lord had a form body, he would be subject to arisal and destruction; and then, from the point of
view of ultimate reality, there would be no point to his being born into a womb, of the events of
his life for the sake of all sentient beings, and the complete view of all the elements upon great
enlightenment (mahā-parinirvāṇa).76 KP quotes KCT verses 5:60–61 by way of explanation of
the Buddha’s relationship with conventional reality as we experience it:
And with the great many emanation bodies Kālacakra manifests magical power;
with the flashing flames of lightning [he manifests the magical power] of the
demigods, gods, and men residing in the desire realm. [He manifests magical
power] with the enjoyment [bodies] of the form possessors, certainly, in the navel,
[and manifests magical power] with the dharma bodies of the Victors’ sons, and
so forth, and the saints. With the void portions [he manifests] the entirety of the
void, [and] the entire three worlds, [and] with the winds [he manifests] the entire
wind. With the fire portions [Kālacakra manifests] the entire fire; and the water
likewise [he manifests entirely] by the world-wide diffused water portions; the
74
ato bhagavato vacanād nāmasaṃgītyāṃ parīkṣamāno buddho rūpa-kāyo na bhavati |; 71.15–
16.
75
Yadi rūpakāyā buddhāḥ, tadā paramāṇu-rūpeṇāpi mīlanaṃ na syad iti; 71.29.
76
iha hi bhagavato yadi parmārthato ’yaṃ garbhotpādaḥ sarvasattvārthāya gamanāgamana-
vyāpāro mahāparinirvāṇa-dhātu-saṃdarśanam asti cet, tadā tathāgatasya sādhanaṃ niṣphalam
bhavati |; 70.7–9.
29
entire earth [he manifests] by the earth portions, with the assembled sense objects
the entire intrinsic nature of material objects.77
The Great Consort
Certainly we must accept that with 5:60–61, and KP’s supporting arguments, the Lord
Kālacakra is presented as a conscious entity creating and powering manifest reality (the KCT
verses have even co-opted the use of the term ātman). The emanation magic (nirmāṇa-māyā),
with which magical power the Buddha Kālacakra emanates the manifest universe, is described in
another KCT (5:98) verse quoted by KP:
For the buddhas also [she] is unapproachable, because [she] is of unlimited
quality, the buddhas’ emanation magic. She displays the ātman in the three
worlds’ abode, exactly like Indra's net. Divided by the varied states/feelings, she
has entered into the individual thinking of the Victors together with the gods and
men. This one is the arisen dharma, in the semen, in the navel, seemingly, she is
the origin of what causes error in this world.78
How are we to understand this idea of the Buddha’s emanation magic, which appears to
be feminine (and not just grammatically so), in the Tantric context of the KCT system? This
77
Taiścarddhiṃ kālacakraḥ prakaṭayati mahān eka-nirmāṇa-kāyair vajra-jvālā-sphuradbhir
asura-sura-nṛṇāṃ kāma-dhātau sthitānām | sambhoge rūpiṇāṃ vai nabhasi jina-sutādy-arhatāṃ
dharmakāyaiḥ śūnyāṃśaiḥ śūnya-kṛtsnāṃ tri-bhuvana-sakalaṃ vāyubhir vāyu-kṛtsnam ||
tejoṃ’śaiḥ vahni-kṛtsnaṃ hy udakam api jagat-sphāritaiś codakāṃśaiḥ pṛthivī-kṛtsnaṃ
dharāṃśaiḥ samudita-viṣayaiḥ sarva-vastu-svabhāvam |; KCT 5:60–61, 74.24–28.
78
buddhānām apy agamyā hy aparimita-guṇā buddha-nirmāṇa-māyā ātmānaṃ darśayantī
tribhuvana-nilaye śakra-jālaṃ yathaiva | nānā-bhāvair vibhinnā sajina-sura-nṛṇāṃ sva-sva-citte
praviṣṭhā eṣā ’nutpanna-dharmā payasi nabha iva bhrāntidotpattir atra ||; KCT 5:98, 71.24-28.
30
māyā appears to be closely identified with, perhaps even the same as the mahāmudrā or great
consort herself. Perfection of the Great Consort, the Mahāmudrā is described by KP as an
intrinsic part of the goal-state. At several points in the KCT 5:127 commentary KP describes the
Mahāmudrā, one of whose synonyms is as mentioned dharmoday[a/ā]. The term is intriguingly
used in both masculine and feminine gender, and might be translated into English in a variety of
ways: the arisal of Dharma, the arisal of reality, the source of (manifest) reality, etc., and appears
in some contexts to be the female Tantric equivalent of the bodhicitta. Given the following
extract from KP’s text, I will use, for the moment, source of (manifest) reality or reality-source
as a working equivalent:
The great consort is characterized by intrinsic lack of all properties, is endowed
with the best of all forms, is the perfection of wisdom, is the mother of buddhas;
she is also called by the name Source of Manifest Reality (dharmodayā).
Therefore, from the Source of Reality, there is the arisal, without intrinsic nature,
of all things. The things without intrinsic nature are the ten powers and
proficiencies, etc., [and] the eighty-four thousand dharma aggregates. Their arisal
having taken place, there is reality source, the Buddha field, the dwelling of
buddhas and bodhisattvas, the place of sexual pleasure, the place of birth. There is
no reality source in addition to this that is the arisal of blood, urine, and semen. In
this case the domain of passion and dispassion [exists on the part] of the
transmigrators, not [on the part] of the tathāgatas. Therefore, Source of Reality is
she who has the intrinsic form of the dharma realm, the universal mother,
constantly sexually embraced by the Lord in the wheel of time, removing all
31
obscurations.79
So the Mahāmudrā, who was also referred to as the mother of the buddhas (buddha-
mātṛ), with whom the vajrasattva joins in Tantric embrace, and who is constantly sexually
embraced by the Lord in the wheel of time, is the source of dharmas, having the intrinsic form of
the dharma-realm (dharma-dhātu-svarūpiṇī), yet is herself characterized as without the intrinsic
nature of all dharmas (sarva-dharma-niḥsvabhāva-lakṣaṇā) and removes all obscurations. A
paradoxical figure indeed.
The mahāmudrā, according to KP’s next description, is not a physical woman, but merely
the appearance of one’s own thinking (sva-citta-pratibhāsa-mātrā). Understanding her and
sexually embracing her repeatedly, the yogin may attain the omniscience of the Kālacakra:
Here, passion is the time of birth, ejaculation is the time of cessation (death?); the
meeting of the two is the imperishable time. Its [i.e., the imperishable time’s]
cakra is known as the great circle of the lightning element, the aggregates,
elements, and sense media without obscuration, called the great circle of the
lightning bolt element. With this [cakra that is] produced from the imperishable,
she [who is] not-arisen is sexually embraced as the great consort. Whosoever
embraces this great consort many times, day and night, because of the influence
of merit and memory traces (inclinations) from a former life, [or] because of the
79
mahāmudrā sarva-dharma-niḥsvabhāva-lakṣaṇā sarvākāra-varopetā prajñā-pāramitā buddha-
jananī, dharmodaya-śabdenāpi sā ucyate | tasmād dharmodayāt sarva-dharmāṇāṃ niḥsvabhāvena
udayo bhavati | niḥsvabhāvā dharmā daśa-bala-vaiśārady-ādayaś catur-aśīti-sahasra-dharma-
skandhāḥ, teṣām udaya-bhūto dharmodayo buddha-kṣetraṃ buddha-bodhisattvānāṃ nivāso rati-
sthānaṃ janma-sthāṇaṃ ca, na punar yasmād rakta-mūtra-śukrānāṃ udayaḥ sa dharmodaya iti |
iha saṃsāriṇāṃ rāga-virāga-kṣetraṃ na tathāgatānām iti | tasmād dharmodayā dharma-dhātu-
svarūpiṇī viśva-mātā kālacakre bhagavatā’’liṅgitā sarvadā sarvāvaraṇa-rahitā |; 75.14–20.
32
instruction of a true guru—[the great consort who is] free of all qualities and
conceptualizations, who is merely the appearance of one's own thinking, who is
endowed with the best of all forms, who is the great voidness, who is the mother
of innate [orgasmic] joy—having made [her] visible before his eyes, he, having
attained perfection in the great consort, is called the omniscient Lord.80
We may acknowledge that the audience of Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s readers/reciters was most
probably a community of Buddhist monks in the eleventh century, so the turn from Tantric
practice of men and women in sexual yogas (which KP himself refers to in considerable detail
earlier in the KCT/VP and which was clearly part of the Tantric tradition preceding him) to a
systematic description of Tantric yoga practice for the male yogin with an envisioned great
female consort who would be generated by the practiced and vivid imaginative power of the
trained yogic mind, becomes understandable. What becomes quite interesting then, is what sort
of psycho-spiritual dynamics would be expected to occur for the solo yogic practitioner with his
imaginary Tantric consort? KP addresses the question: the fruit of omniscience (sarvajña-phala)
is achievable by the yogin who is not dependent on the dharmas, as this fruit is not established in
form, aggregates, perception, consciousness, saṃskāras,81 worldly knowledge, any of the five
80
iha rāga utpāda-kālaḥ, cyutir nirodha-kālaḥ, tayoḥ samāpattir akṣara-kālaḥ | tasya cakraṃ
vajra-dhātu-mahāmaṇḍalam iti skandha-dhātv-āyatanaṃ nirāvaraṇaṃ vajra-dhātu-
mahāmaṇḍalam ity ucyate | anenākṣarotpannena sā anutpannā mahāmudrāliṅgitā iti | imāṃ
mahāmudrāṃ yaḥ kaścid janmāntara-puṇya-vāsanā-vaśāt sad-gurūpadeśād aneka-kālaṃ
rātrindivaṃ sarva-dharma-kalpanā-rahitāṃ sva-citta-pratibhāsa-mātrāṃ sarvākāra-varopetāṃ
mahāśūnyatāṃ sahajānanda-jananīṃ sākṣāt-kṛtvā’’liṅgayati, sa mahāmudrā-siddhiṃ prāptaḥ
sarvajño bhagavān ity ucyate |; 75.20–26.
81
Saṃskāra is a word derived from the verb sam+Ökṛ, the same root from which the word
Saṃskṛta (Sanskrit) derives. It means most literally to put something together, form it well,
33
major elements (dhātus), or any of the sensory media.82 So, however the meditation on and
repeated day and night sexual embracing of the visualized consort may occur, the fruit of
omniscience that is intrinsically part of the goal-state for the KCT practitioner is in no way
established or based in any of the aspects of the consort herself. Recall that the mahāmudrā as
described above is the source of manifest reality, the dharmodaya/ā, and all properties of
manifest reality are said to arise with/from the mahāmudrā. Evidently, the yogin is to repeatedly
sexually embrace this mahāmudrā and, in so doing, in attaining omniscience, recognize his own
complete and utter distinction from the mahāmudrā and all the dharmas. KP quotes from the
Prajñāpāramitā (noting that the text is for those of young minds who have yet to perceive the
profound and lofty Dharma) the Tathāgata’s description of all the dharmas as without
conceptualization, void, signless, wishless, free of embellishments, without production,
imperishable, void of cause, and inconceivable.83
make it perfect or complete, etc. In the Hindu tradition saṃskāra refers to the series of 12
coming of age rituals, which include naming and investiture with the sacred thread upon
completion of Vedic studies. In the Buddhist system, saṃskāra is the fourth of the five skandhas
(22 pañca skandhāḥ / rūpam, vedanā, saṃjñā, saṃskārā, vijñānaṃ ceti ||),. and means something
like ‘mental creation’ or ‘mental aggregate.’
82
tasmāt sarvajña-phalāvāptaye bodhisattvena mahāsattvena sarva-dharma-nirapekṣakeṇa
bhavitavyam, na rūpaskandhe sthātavyam, na vedanāyāṃ na saṃjñāyāṃ na saṃskāre na vijñāne
na pṛthvī-dhātau sthātavyam, nābdhātau…na tejodhātau na vāyudhātau na śūnyadhātau na
cakṣurdhātau… na rūpadhātau na cakṣurvijñānadhātau … na dharma-dhātau na
manovijñānadhātau sthātavyam iti |; 77.4–10.
83
bāla-matīnāṃ gambhīrodāra-dharmāparīkṣakāṇāṃ prajñāpāramitāṃ deśayiṣyanti |
tadyathoktaṃ bhagavatā tathāgatena prajñāpāramitāyāṃ nirvikalpāḥ sarvadharmāḥ śūnyāḥ
sarvadharmā animittāḥ sarvadharmā apraṇihitāḥ sarvadharmāḥ saṃskāra-rahitāḥ sarvadharmā
utpāda-rahitāḥ sarvadharmā anakṣarāḥ sarvadharmā hetu-śūnyāḥ sarvadharmā acintyāḥ
sarvadharmā iti 76.31–77.3.
34
Assuming my preceding attempt to translate and interpret KP’s text is not inaccurate, we
may address ourselves to the following question: how might it be possible for a male yogic
practitioner in the KCT system to attain the fruit of omniscience KP describes? KP has made it
quite clear that the KCT goal-state is not achievable by conceptual or vikalpa meditation. He also
expends considerable effort in describing and then rejecting a wide variety of then-prevalent
yogic and magical practices, including Atharvaveda-like magical practices, rules about what
types of food a yogin may eat, a variety of meditation practices from other Buddhist Tantras and
Śaivite practices, etc. The very inconceivability of buddhahood, its unthinkability (acintya), is a
central characteristic; it is a samādhi without conceptualization (nirvikalpa), even without
thinking (niścintanam).84
As one might expect though, the description of the Tathāgata’s knowledge as unthinkable
is insufficient, since fools will believe they might achieve buddhahood simply by not thinking.
Were this true, then anyone who enters deep sleep, according to KP, would attain enlightenment,
since we do not think while we are sleeping, and lack passion for desired things, and antipathy to
those not desired. The issue is more complex. KP cites KCT 5:99 as demonstration (along with
quotes from other texts) that the knowledge that is the Tathāgata is self-knowable, yet without
sense organs:
Taking all forms, yet inaccessible by those with sense domains and senses, the
body-lightning of the victor, the speech lightning, producing the dharma with the
voices in the individual hearts of all creatures, the intrinsic nature of the thought
84
ato buddha[tva]-sādhanaṃ niścintanaṃ tathāgataṃ jñānaṃ, nānyo vikalpaḥ samādhiḥ; 77.15–
16.
35
of intelligent beings, present throughout the entire earth, the thought lightning of
the lightning bolt-possessor, the perceiver of (emotional?) states, like a spotless
gem, that in fact is the knowledge lightning bolt.85
The suggested interpolation of “emotional” is mine here, for the phrase bhāvānāṃ
grāhakaṃ of the knowledge-vajra. The classic body-speech-mind trilogy in the Buddhist system,
and its Hindu correlate, the tamas-rajas-sattva triology, encompass the physical body, all speech
acts, and all mental processes. Rajas in the Hindu formulations more explicitly includes
emotional experience. It is hard to imagine that Tantric yoga practice was intended to be without
feeling. Indeed it seems more probable that it was intended to harness the energy of feelings of
passion and sexual arousal. I may simply be mistaken in my interpolation, but it seems consistent
with the rest of KP’s discussion and other material in the KCT system, that the enlightened KCT
vajrasattva Tantric yogin would gain the ability to clearly perceive all feeling states, as though
seeing through a spotless gem.
Returning to our consideration of the mahāmudrā, KP points out that prajñā is threefold:
there are three consorts and three correlative states of bliss or happiness according to the Lord.
Of these, the action consort’s happiness and the knowledge consort’s happiness are both
characterized by vibration, while the great consort’s happiness is vibration-less.86 KP quotes
KCT 4.199 to illustrate the relationship between the three:
85
sarvākāraṃ hy agamyaṃ viṣaya-viṣayiṇāṃ kāya-vajraṃ jinasya vāg-vajraṃ sarva-sattva-
hṛdaya-rutakair dharma-sampādakaṃ yat | sattvānāṃ cit-svabhāvaṃ sakala-bhuvi gataṃ vajriṇaś
citta-vajraṃ bhāvānāṃ grāhakaṃ yad vimala-maṇir iva jñāna-vajraṃ tadeva ||; 78.13–16.
86
iha vajrayāne laukika-lokottara-satyam āśritya bhagavatā tridhā prajñā proktā – karmamudrā,
jñānamudrā, mahāmudrā iti ekābhidhānataḥ | tāsu karmamudrā-jñānamudrā-sukhaṃ spanda-
lakṣaṇaṃ, mahāmudrā-sukhaṃ niḥspanda-lakṣaṇaṃ yogino bhavati |; 79.25–27.
36
Leaving aside this action consort with her turbid heart, [and leaving aside] the
[mentally-]created knowledge consort, one should [meditatively] generate the
divine consort who engenders the best of the Victors, for the purpose of true
enlightenment. [She] is stainless, without alternation, the most contacted, equal to
the sky, pervading, accessible via yoga, standing supreme, the brilliant fire of
knowledge, removing the turbidity of life, [she who has been] completely
penetrated by Kālacakra.87
KP then quotes KCT 4.198, a verse which describes nicely the personal location of the
consort (not incidental for the practicing yogin seeking to embrace her) and the ontology of the
consort, whom one may recall is also known as the dharmodayā:
The consort, taking on the form of magical illusion (māyānurūpā), is in the navel,
in the mind, and in the form-possessing (i.e. corporeal) mirror, illuminating the
three worlds, emitting multiple light rays whose appearance is like lightning's fire.
Externally in [many] physical bodies she is undivided, free of [external] sense
objects, [she] is pure light, located in the sky. Made of the thinking consciousness
(cetomayā), [she] embraces the thinking, and she is one in a world of many
forms.”88
87
tyaktvemāṃ karma-mudrāṃ sakaluṣa-hṛdayāṃ kalpitāṃ jñāna-mudrāṃ samyak-sambodhi-
hetor jina-vara-jananīṃ bhāvayed divya-mudrām | nirlepāṃ nirvikārāṃ kha-sama-hata-tamāṃ
vyāpinīṃ yoga-gamyāṃ kūṭasthāṃ jñāna-tejāṃ bhava-kaluṣa-harāṃ kālacakrānuviddhām ||;
KCT 4.199, 80.9–13. In a related quote on the same page from KCT, the jñānamudrā is
described as vikalpitā, i.e. conceptual (80.20).
88
mudrā māyānurūpā nabhasi manasi vai rūpavad-darpaṇe ca trailokyam bhāsayantī taḍid-anala-
nibhāneka-raśmīn sphurantī | bāhye deheṣv abhinnā viṣaya-rahitā’’bhāsa-mātrā’ambara-sthā
cittaṃ ceto-mayāliṅgayati ca jagato ’neka-rūpasya saikā || iti ||; KCT 4.198, 80.14–18.
37
It is clear from much of the KP’s discussion on 5:127 and the material he quotes that
while the great female consort (mahāmudrā) is not an actual living, breathing, physical woman,
the Tantric sexual arousal intended by the yogin is intended to activate precisely the same
physiological circuitry as in conventional sexual activity. The difference has to do with the
consciousness or awareness of the same, and particularly with learning not to ejaculate or emit
semen during arousal. The point appears to be not just physiological, but what we might term in
English psychic, or pycho-physiological: the yogin is supposed to alter or adjust the energy flow
of his passion away from ejaculative procreativity, which is intrinsically perishable as it
(re)produces a perishable physical form, and by so doing use this same passionate inclination in a
way that leads instead towards imperishable supreme happiness.
For the type of ejaculation that occurs when the yogin makes love to a real physical
woman, KP explains that there are two different types: the normal ejaculation from which
people are born and and then wander around in transmigration, or the bodhisattva ejaculation
whereby a bodhisattva is born to assist other sentient beings who have lost the path and need to
have it pointed out. Bodhisattvas arrive “via a previously purified path”—i.e., they’ve already
mastered the stages and do not need to be incarnated through the ripening of their own karma
(the discussion incidentally removes any doubt that the term cyuti refers to ejaculation of semen):
There are two sorts of ejaculating of the bodhicitta on the part of sentient beings:
one is because of the influence of good and bad karma; the second is through the
influence of the control of the thinking (citta-vaśitā-vaśāt). In that sense, the
ejaculating through the influence of karma, that has as its purpose the wandering
around in transmigration; the ejaculating under the control of the thinking has as
its intention the showing the path to those perplexed by karma in the
38
transmigration cycle. Just as for those who have lost the path and fallen by the
wayside in the Vindhya forest, there is no seeing the path without someone who
points out the path, likewise for those who have fallen by the wayside in saṃsāra,
there is no progress on the path without someone to point out the path. If there is
no seeing [of the path] by someone who points out the path … Or [if] the guide to
the path did not arrive via a previously purified path … Or [if he] does not
understand the language of those who have lost the path, then again there is no
path. Having seen the fear of those who have lost the path, there should be no
fear on the part of the one whose path has not been lost. In this way, bodhisattvas
enter into saṃsāra for the purpose of aiding sentient beings, not because of the
ripening of their karma…. The instruction about the path cannot be taught by one
who does not know the path to those who do not know the path, like the blind
leading the blind. Therefore the incarnation of bodhisattvas is for the sake of
sentient beings.89
In both cases, for the yogin practicing the KCT mahāmudrā system, not making love
with an actual woman, and for yogins who are (i.e. those in embrace with an ‘action consort or
89
iha sattvānāṃ bodhicitta-cyavanaṃ dvidhā – ekaṃ śubhāśubha-karma-vaśāt, dvitīyam citta-
vaśitā-vaśāt | tatra yat karma-vaśāc cyavanaṃ tat-saṃsāra-bhramaṇārtham, yac-citta-vaśāc
cyavanaṃ tat-saṃsāra-cakre karma-bhrāmitānāṃ mārga-darśanārtham | yathā vindhyāṭavyāṃ
prapatitānāṃ naṣṭa-mārgāṇāṃ mārga-darśakena vinā mārga-darśagamanaṃ na syāt, tathā
saṃsāre prapatitānāṃ mārga-darśakena vinā mārga-gamanaṃ na syāt | yadi mārga-darśakena
saha darśanaṃ nāsti … atha mārga-darśakaḥ prāg-viśuddha-mārgeṇa nāgatas … atha mārga-
naṣṭānāṃ bhāṣāṃ na jānāti tathāpi mārgābhāvaḥ | eṣāṃ naṣṭa-mārgāṇāṃ santrāsaṃ dṛṣṭvā
nānaṣṭa-mārgasya santrāso bhavati | evaṃ bodhisattvānāṃ sattvopakārārthaṃ saṃsāre praveśaḥ,
na karma-vipākataḥ … nājñāta-mārgeṇājñāta-mārgāṇāṃ mārgopadeśaḥ kathyate,
yathāndhenāndhasya | tasmād bodhisattvānāṃ janma-grahaṇaṃ sattvārtham |; 92.15–26.
39
karma-mudrā) and not intending to facilitate the incarnation of another bodhisattva, learning to
restrain the ejaculation of the semen is compared with the binding of mercury by fire during
alchemical transformations. The following passage from KP’s commentary on his quote of KCT
4:224 also provides a use of the term dharmodaya that suggests it may refer to the feminine
orgasm:
Just as the mercury that runs away from the touch of fire is by that very means
caught by the fire, similarly the bodhicitta that runs away from the touch of the
dharma's arisal (dharmodaya) is by that very means caught. Just as the mercury is
bound by the fire, [and] makes all the metals into gold, likewise the bodhicitta is
captured by the arisal and embrace of the dharma, [and] it causes the revealing
consisting of the aggregates, elements, sense media, etc. Hence the inexplicable
potency of the mercury and of the bodhicitta cannot be figured out by fools.
Therefore even in the embrace of the action consort the meditation on the deity is
said to be for the sake of stabilizing the bodhicitta, just as the steaming, oxidizing,
and so forth [is said to be for the sake of stabilizing] the mercury.90
The Results of Practicing Non-Ejaculation
90
yathāgni-sparśāt sūtakaḥ prapalāyati, sopāyena tenaivāgninā badhyate, tathā dharmodaya-
sparśād bodhicittaṃ prapalāyati, sopāyena tenaiva badhyate | yathāgninā raso baddhaḥ sarva-
lohāni hemaṃ karoti, evaṃ dharmodaya-saṅgena bodhicittaṃ baddhaṃ skandha-
dhātvāyatanādikaṃ nirāvaraṇaṃ karoti | ato rasa-bodhicittayor atarkyaḥ prabhāvo mūrkhair
vicārayituṃ na śakyate | tasmāt karma-mudrā-prasaṅge ’pi devatālambanaṃ proktaṃ
bodhicittasya sthirī-karaṇārtham, rasasya svedana-jāraṇādikam iva |; 81.22–27.
40
Indian culture in the eleventh century held virginity in high esteem; and in the Tantric
yoga system KP gives a technical explanation for this esteem (in the context of explaining that
the virgin’s divinatory ability is not dependent on the guru), i.e. that the magical power of the
virgin to see images in the divination mirror is due precisely to the power of her virginity, and
the yogin can capture the same power by restraining his ejaculation:
The experience of the pleasure of ejaculation (produced) by the friction of the two
sense (i.e. sex) organs does not take place in the (case of) the young virgin (i.e.
she remains a virgin); hence she has the authority (i.e., the power of reading the
divinatory images). Even in the world it is well known that “there is great
pleasure from a virgin girl.” For that reason (i.e., because she holds the great
sensual power in herself, without releasing it), the young virgin girl, by the power
of the authority of the mantra-deity, sees the appearance in the divinatory mirror,
(and this is) not (accomplished by) some other young lady who has experienced
the pleasure from the two sex organs (i.e. has lost her virginity)…. In this way,
the yogins, through the influence of practicing the pleasure of the supremely
imperishable and through abandoning the pleasure of external ejaculation, having
internally entered the state of the young woman, see the past, future, and present
by the power of the authority of their own thinking, not by the grace of the guru’s
command.91
91
yena kāraṇena kumārikāyāṃ dvīndriya-saṃgharṣaṇāc cyuti-sukhopalabhdir nāsti tena
kāraṇenādhiṣṭhānaṃ bhavati | loke ’pi prasiddhaṃ kumārī-surataṃ | tena kāraṇena kumārī
mantra-devatādhiṣṭhāna-balena pratisenādarśe pratibhāsaṃ paśyati, nānyā yuvatī dvīndriya-
sukhopalabdheti | … evaṃ yogino ’pi paramākṣara-sukhābhyāsa-vaśād bāhya-cyuti-sukha-
41
This passage suggests another explanation for the name of the system as kālacakra, the wheel of
time: by mastering the non-ejaculatory Tantric practice, the yogin gains the ability to see from
the present time into the past and the future—just like the divinatory virgin--that is. to master
consciously the internal experience of the flow of time.
KP details a technical understanding of how the Tantric practice of ejaculatory restraint
of the bodhicitta actually stops the yogin from being subject to the normal flow of time within
his body, with a KCT variation on the traditional idea of the bodhisattva’s twelve stages in the
Tathāgata’s twelve stages:
There is attainment of these Tathāgata stages by the moments of pleasure of the
great imperishable, arisen from passion for wisdom. The first attainment of a
stage is with the eighteen hundred [moments] attained that are characterized by
non-ejaculation. By this number, ending with the twelfth stage, (i.e. 1800 x 12 =
21,600), there is attainment of the twelve stages by the twenty-one thousand six
hundred imperishable drops, up until the end of the twelve limbs. From the
cessation of the twelve [solar astrological month] transits, there is cessation of the
twelve astrological signs; from the cessation of the twelve months, there is
cessation of the three hundred and sixty days (i.e. the idealized year of 12 x 30
days). From cessation of the three hundred and sixty days, there is cessation of the
twenty-one thousand six hundred ghaṭikās. In this way, just as it is externally,
there is [also] in the body the cessation of the breaths of the sixty ghaṭikās,
through the cessation of the breaths, there is cessation of the body, by the
parityāgāt kumārikāvasthāntargatā atītānāgatavartamānaṃ paśyanti, svacittādhiṣṭhāna-balena, na

guror ājñā-prasādeneti |; 88.23–29.
42
imperishable moments of the bodhicitta.92
In traditional Sanskrit time units, a ghaṭikā is a period of twenty-four minutes, so that
there are sixty per day (i.e. 24 x 60, instead of the 60 minutes x 24 hours used in the modern time
system). Here, however, the term ghaṭikā is used for the four-second period assumed for each
inbreath-outbreath cycle, a system originating in the Vedic recitation practices whereby the
timing of recitation was linked to the measured 4 seconds required for a normal inhalation and
exhalation. By either 24 x 60, or 60 x 24, there are 1440 minutes (x 60 seconds/minute) in a full
day-night cycle = 86,400 seconds per day. 86,400/4 = 21,600 inbreath-outbreath cycles per day.
KP explicitly links the ‘stopping’ of the full day-night’s 21,600 breaths to the retention of
the semen/bodhicitta during Tantric sex. After citing a series of relevant passages from the
Nāmasaṃgīti, and providing yet another description of the Tathāgata, he quotes in support some
verses from the “Root” KCT, from which our current text was extracted; (“placing the lightning
bolt in the lotus,” the vajra in the padma, is KCT samaya-bhāṣā code for copulation):
The meditation on this was described by the Tathāgata in the Knowledge Chapter
in the Root King of Tantras, as follows: “Having meditated into existence the
smoke and so on, and having made the thought motionless (cittaṃ kṛtvā tu
niścalam), having purified [it–the cittaṃ] in the middle [channel], one should
cause the supremely imperishable to come into being. Having placed the lightning
92
eṣāṃ tathāgata-bhūmīnāṃ lābho mahākṣara-sukha-kṣaṇaiḥ prajñā-rāgodbhavaiḥ | prathamo
bhūmi-lābho ’ṣṭādaśa-śatair acyuta-lakṣaṇair labdhaiḥ | anayā saṃkhyayā dvā-daśa-bhūmi-
paryantaṃ ṣaṭśatādhikaika-viṃśat-sahasrair akṣara-kṣaṇair dvādaśa-bhūmi-lābhaḥ, dvā-daśāṅga-
nirodhaṃ yāvat | dvādaśa-lagna-nirodhād dvādaśa-rāśi-nirodhaḥ, dvādaśa-māsa-nirodhāt ṣaṣṭy-
uttara-śata-traya-dinānāṃ nirodhaḥ, ṣaṣṭy-uttara-ṣata-traya-dina-nirodhāt ṣaṭ-śatādhikaikaviṃśat-
sahasra-ghaṭikā-nirodhaḥ | evaṃ yathā bāhye tathā śarīre ghaṭikā-saṃkhyā-śvāsānāṃ nirodhaḥ,
svāsa-nirodhāt kāya-nirodho bodhicittākṣara-kṣaṇair iti |; 94.2–8.
43
bolt in the lotus, one should make the prāṇa93 enter into the drop and [make] the
drops [enter into] the cakras. One should halt the vibration of the drops in the
lightning bolt. The yogin should always have a blocked-up liṅga94, and should
always hold back his semen. Engaged in the embrace with his great consort, and
with the penetrations of his lightning bolt, with the twenty-one thousand and six
hundred supremely imperishable moments filled, he himself should become the
great king, the lightning bolt being.95
93
Prāṇa is a word perhaps best left untranslated. It is highly polysemous, with an etymology
dating back to Vedic times, and a key term in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist tantra and yoga
literature. Common English equivalents such as ‘vital airs’, ‘winds’ etc. shear off many relevant
aspects of the term’s meaning. A rough preliminary definition might include: “subtle, internal
life energies flowing through the channels (nāḍīs) and cakras, linked externally to the three
cosmic fires (sun, lightning, earthly fire), and internally to the functions of all the bodily organs
and systems, intimately involved in (even identical with) both the inbreath and outbreath and the
external winds, controllable by the mind, and alterable through appropriate use of mantras.” For
a longer discussion of the early history of this term, see Hartzell JF (1997) Tantric Yoga, Chapter
2, and extensive references therein to Vedic texts, and works by Zysk and others.
94
The most basic meaning for liṅga is a mark, badge, token, etc., i.e. a sign or symbol, and in
this and many other contexts the term refers to the ‘sign’ of masculinity, i.e. the male genitalia.
In the more complex Tantric system physiological understanding, the liṅga is not just the
physical, visible penis, but also the channel through which the bodhicitta can flow out into the
female partner’s lotus. Blocking up this channel or closing it up refers to stopping the outflow of
the bodhicitta, which is not just the semen itself, but also the energy, awareness and feeling that
connects to the cakra and nāḍī system, and links the practitioner to the cosmic web through
which another individual can incarnate, and is a key part of the system the practitioner must
master to reach the ‘supreme imperishable.’ Given this multidimensional polysemy, it may be
better to keep the term in Sanskrit.
95
dhūmādīn bhāvayitvā tu cittaṃ kṛtvā tu niścalam | madhyamāyāṃ śodhayitvā bhāvayet
parmākṣaram || padme vajraṃ pratiṣṭhāpya prāṇaṃ bindau niveśayet | bindūṃś cakreṣu
bindūnāṃ spandaṃ vajre nirodhayet || stabdhaliṅgaḥ sadā yogī ūrdhvaretāḥ sadā bhavet |
44
The technique here is to consciously merge the 21,600 breathing moments with the conscious
arousal of the sexually engaged bodhicitta, which one can only do when one becomes capable of
mental stillness. Then the yogin will have linked his full circadian time experience to the bliss of
the procreative urge. Instead of releasing this bliss in ejaculation, he will instead retain it, thereby
altering the normal flow of internal time. He will transmute his personal saṃsāra time cycle with
its programming for reproducing perishable forms, and gain instead for himself the bliss, and
knowledge, of the supremely imperishable.
In an intriguing passage KP explains how the impulse toward procreation that
characterizes samsaric behavior, and, critically, the incidental inclination to beginningless
thinking (anādi-citta-vāsanā āgantukā) that characterizes this behavior is due to the influence of
repeated births (punar-jāti-vaśād), that is to say, it is a habit. This inclination is not intrinsically
natural (na svabhāvikī)—i.e., it is not something so intrinsic that one cannot exist without it, and
since it is not, it is possible to free oneself from it and attain buddhahood. KP argues that this
saṃsāra is merely the influence of one’s own thinking, nothing else (sva-citta-vāsanā-mātro
’yaṃ saṃsāraḥ, nānyaḥ kaścit). The example KP uses is a near-death experience: important here
is the idea that even though the breathing stops, due to the near death unconsciousness, the
thinking (in Yama’s realm) does not. The implication is that the (deeply habitual) thinking that is
the inclination that is driving the samsaric behavior continues after death and before rebirth,
consistent with the idea examined above that the thinking inclinations travel with one into the
next incarnation, when one leaves behind the ultimate particles of the perishable body:
How is there the appearance of thinking, without inhalation or exhalation—for as
mahāmudrāprasaṅgena vajrāveśair adhiṣṭhitaḥ | eka-viṃśat-sahasraiś ca ṣaṭśataiḥ paramākṣaraiḥ |

kṣaṇaiḥ pūrṇair mahārāja vajrasattvaṃ svayaṃ bhavet ||; 102.26–34.
45
long as one praharam [about 3 hours]—in the states of death or unconsciousness?
The body appears, being led by Yama’s servants, following Yama’s command, to
Yama’s city. In this city of Yama, the lord of the dead appears; he, Yama,
performs an investigation of the virtues and sins of the body that has been led
there. Having assessed them, he says, “since today is not the end of this one’s life,
you must quickly take the being [back] to the mortal world, so that his body will
not be destroyed.” [This] is the command to Yama’s servants. According to that
obligation, they, Yama’s servants, cast the body [back] into the mortal world.
Being cast [back] into that [mortal world], through the influence of the habit of
thinking, inhalation and exhalation again occur in the deceased body. Then,
through the influence of still other inclinations, the waking state occurs. Through
the awakening of the mind in that [waking] state, [one] relates the story of Yama
to one's kinsmen. Therefore, without a body, and without inhalation and
exhalation, the incidental inclination of beginningless thinking comes into being
in sentient beings through the influence of repeated birth – it is not intrinsically
natural (svabhāvikī). If this inclination towards saṃsāra were intrinsically natural,
then there would not be what's called buddhahood for sentient beings. By
whatever reason the incidental [inclination] exists, by that [same] reason its
destruction exists; through its destruction, [there is] the buddhahood described by
the Tathāgata. So, being thought about in many different ways, this saṃsāra is
nothing other than simply the habitual inclination of one’s own thinking; and the
habitual inclination [that is] saṃsāra is the moment characterized by the
downward release [i.e. ejaculation], it is not the imperishable. The inclination that
46
is nirvāṇa is the moment characterized by non-ejaculation, not the perishable.96
In support of his interpretation, KP cites two verses from the second chapter of the KCT:
KCT 2:102, and 2:97. The term grahaṇa, though it literally translates as “grasping,” and may
certainly be so translated, also indicates perceiving. In particular, it reflects the doctrine that one
is only capable of degrees of perception that match one’s psychological/spiritual evolution. As a
result, in the process of reincarnation, one is drawn to, and perceives as attractive, what one is
capable of perceiving, and therefore desires. This is the sense wherein one can he said to be
“grasping.”
O ruler of men, whoever has entered into a milieu, delighting in the vows and
restraints, tied down by the cords of karma, lives in that milieu according to one’s
individual intrinsic nature, [i.e. lives] in that clan, because of perceiving/desiring
that. As long as the individual [jīva] lives, through the influence of the three
worlds, [there is] experience [that becomes] pleasure and pain. For that long, O
king, s/he will be wandering here in the torment of saṃsāra, in heaven, in the
96
kathaṃ mṛtyu-mūrcchāvasthāyāṃ niśvāsocchvāsābhyāṃ vinā praharam ekaṃ yāvac citta-
pratibhāso bhavati, yama-dūtair nīyamānaṃ śarīraṃ yama-rājājñayā yama-puraṃ pratibhāsate |
atra yama-pure yama-rājo ’pi pratibhāsate | sa yamas tasya nīta-śarīrasya puṇya-pāpa-vicāraṃ
karoti | vicāryātra vadati – yathā’syādyā’’yuḥ-kṣayo na bhavati, tasmād imaṃ sattvaṃ śīghraṃ
martya-loke nayata yāvad asya śarīraṃ na vinaśyati | yama-dūtānāṃ niyamo bhavati | tena
niyamena te yama-dūtās tac charīraṃ martya-loke kṣipanti | tatra kṣipre sati citta-vāsanā-vaśena
punas tasya mṛta-śarīrasya niśvāsocchvāsau bhavataḥ | tadā’para-vāsanā-vaśena jāgrad-avasthā
bhavati | tasyām avasthāyāṃ citta-prabodhād bandu-vargasya yama-rājākhyānaṃ kathayati |
tasmāt śarīraṃ vinā niḥśvāsocchvāsābhyāṃ nivā ’py anādi-citta-vāsanā ’gantukā punar jāti-vaśād
bhavati sattvānāṃ, na svābhāvikī | yadīyaṃ saṃsara-vāsanā svābhāvikī bhavati, tadā sattvānāṃ
buddhatvaṃ nāma na syāt | yena kāreṇa āgantukā tena kāreṇāsyāḥ kṣayo bhavati, tat kṣayād
buddhatvaṃ tathāgatenoktam | evam aneka-prakārair vicāryamāṇaḥ sva-citta-vāsanā-mātro ’yaṃ
saṃsāraḥ, nānyaḥ kaścit | saṃṣara-vāsanāpi cyuti-lakṣaṇaḥ kṣaṇo nākṣaraḥ | nirvāṇa-vāsanā
’cyuti-lakṣaṇaḥ kṣaṇo na kṣara iti |; 83.4–17.
47
mortal world, and also below.” (KCT 2:102)
The yogīndra, who has not mastered yoga, with a wandering mind, may go at any
time to death. The glorious one, disciplined by yoga, is born in the world of men
into the clan of the best sages. By that prior practice, he undertakes once again the
extensive knowledge-yoga. When the knowledge is attained, he gains the ultimate
place of the imperishable, where [he becomes] one who is no longer born.” (KCT
2:97)97
I will close this essay with notice of Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s self-description in KCT/VP
Chapter 5. Though he does not dwell on the point much, he states fairly explicitly that he himself
is the prophesied Kalkin, Mañjughoṣa, and that the destruction he wields for the sake of the
Dharma is the destruction of barbarian ideas, not the destruction of enemy warriors.
In this regard, at the time of the primal buddha’s teaching, it was stated by the
Tathāgata in the World-Realm [Lokadhātu] Chapter [KCT 1:26] that when, at the
proper astrological time, the barbarian dharma is produced, the destruction of the
established doctrines will take place; the laghu-karaṇāni (unreliable astronomical
calculation manuals) will come into existence on earth, and Manjughoṣa, after I
97
yo yan-madhye praviṣṭo vrata-niyama-rataḥ karma-pāśair nibaddhas tan-madhye sva-sva-
bhāvād bhavati narapate tat-kule tad-grahaṇe | yāvaj jīvasya bhāvas-tri-vidha-bhava-vaśād
vedanā saukhya-duḥkhaṃ tāvat saṃsāra-ghore bhramaṇam iha nṛpa svarga-martye tv-adhaś ca |;
KCT 2.102, 83.19–23.
yogīndro ’prāpta-yogaḥ pracalita-manasā yāti mṛtyuṃ kadācit, śrīmān mānuṣya-loke

pravara-muni-kule jāyate yoga-yuktaḥ | pūrvābhyāsena tenāharati punar api jñāna-yogaṃ
viśālaṃ, labdhe jñāne prayāty akṣaya-parama-padaṃ yatra janmī na bhūyaḥ ||; KCT 2.97, 83.25–
29.
48
have been held back for six hundred years, will be [born] in the realm of
Sambhala, in the Śākya clan, as the son of the lord of the gods, in the womb of
Vijayadevī, Yaśas by name, Kalkin, as follows:
“After six hundred years from the first year, the manifest king Yaśas will
be born in [the land] called Sambhala. After eight hundred years more [there will
be] the beginning of the barbarian dharma in the land of Makha98. At that time,
‘corrected’ laghu-karaṇa should be recognized by men on earth. There will be
destruction of the doctrines on the whole surface of the earth, because of the
connection with time.”
Mañjughoṣa was predicted by the Tathāgata. And he, according to the aim
of the Vajrayāna, will create a single clan out of the thirty-five million brahmarṣis
honoring [king] Sūryaratha. Because of that, Mañjughoṣa will gain the name
Kalkin, not because of supporting the Brahman caste [as in the Hindu
mythological explanation]. If Kalkin is the son of the brahman Yaśas, then by
whom in this case is this one kalkin [i.e., possessed of cement]? Without wealth,
he possesses wealth. He is called kalka (an unguent paste like cement, or a
tenacious viscous sediment, or a doughy mixture) because he unites the [four]
98
Newman (Newman 333) takes ‘Makha’ as a loan-word from Arabic, with the secondary
meaning of ‘Mecca’ (as found in Monier Williams, 772), though this secondary meaning is only
attested in the Kālacakratantra. Certainly the evidence Newman cites on page 338 of his article,
with KCT 1.154 referring both to the land of Makha and the city of Vāgadādi (Bhaghdād) as the
source for the barbarian dharma (i.e. Islam) suggests Newman’s interpretation is correct. The late
Prof. David Pingree, was strongly of the opinion that Makha actually referred to India, since the
primary meaning of the word is great sacrifices or festivals, even in Vedic literature, though
there is no doubt at all that the ‘barbarian dharma’ in KCT refers to Islam.
49
castes with the outcastes, so there is the cement paste; hence the one possessed of
the cement paste, not without the cement paste, he in fact is Kalkin. Furthermore,
at the close of the yuga99, having seen the extreme evil (adharma) on the part of
the barbarians, having become rock-like and unshakable, having manifested the
endless supreme horses by the perfected meditation of the supreme horse, having
by them [by those horses] caused the thoughts of the barbarians to flow into his
own dharma, he will establish [his own dharma]. He will cause the destruction of
their dharma, not the ending of their lives.”100
99
Yuga is a term without a simple Englsh equivalent. It can refer to any one of four ‘ages’ or
‘aeons’ or long time periods in the Sanskrit time system, specifically 1. Kṛta or Satya (1,728,000
years), 2. Tretā (1,296,000 years), 3. Dvāpara (864,000 years) and 4. Kali (432,000 years).
These are said to cycle in sequence 1-2-3-4 and then repeat. At the time of KP’s commentary,
the general consensus in India was that we are in the Kali yuga.
100
iha ādibuddha-deśanā-kāle tathāgatenoktaṃ loka-dhātu-paṭale (1.26) jyotiṣa-prastāve
mleccha-dharme jāte sati siddhāntānāṃ vināśo bhaviṣyati, pṛthivyāṃ laghu-karaṇāni bhaviṣyanti,
mañjughoṣo ’pi mayi nirvṛte ṣaḍvarṣaśataiḥ saṃbhala-viṣaye śākya-kule sureśānasya putro
vijayā-devī-garbhe yaśo-nāma kalkī bhaviṣyati | tadyathā – ādyābdāt ṣaṭśatābdaiḥ prakaṭa-yaśa-
nṛpaḥ sambhālākhye bhaviṣyat tasmān nāgaiḥ śatābdaiḥ khalu makha-viṣaye mleccha-dharma-
pravṛttiḥ | tasmin kale dharaṇyāṃ sphuṭa-laghu-karaṇaṃ mānavair veditavyaṃ siddhāntānāṃ
vināśaḥ sakala-bhuvitale kāla-yogād bhaviṣyat ||(KCT 1.26) mañjughoṣo vyākṛtas tathāgatena |
sa ca sārdhaṃ trikoṭīnāṃ brahmarṣīṇāṃ sūrya-ratha-pramukhānāṃ vajra-
yānābhiprāyeṇaikavarṇaṃ kariṣyati | tena kalkī nāma mañjughoṣasya bhaviṣyati, na brahma-jāti-
sthāpanena | yadi yaśobhrāhmaṇasya putraḥ kalkī tadā kenātrāsau kalkī, dhanena vinā dhanī |
kalko nāma varṇāvarṇānām ekīkaraṇam, sa kalko ’syāstīti kalkī, na kalkena vinā, sa eva kalkī |
punar yugāvasāne mlecchānām atyantādharmaṃ dṛṣṭvā śailavan-niṣkampo bhūtvā paramāśva-
samādhinā ’nantān paramāśvān sphārayitvā tair mlecchānāṃ cittāni drāvayitvā svadharme
sthāpyiṣyati | teṣāṃ dharmotpāṭanaṃ kariṣyati, na prāṇa-tyāgam |; 96 13–29.
50
Then, almost as if to address any lingering doubt on the topic, KP closes his commentary
on KCT 5:127 with the following unsourced verse (which KP says is in the fifth chapter) and his
comment:
The lightning bolt possessed of the lotus of wisdom and means is called what is
both the support and what is to be supported. |
The pair of the two is the meeting, the lightning bolt yoga, the non-dual, the
imperishable. ||
“I praise that fourfold lightning bolt yoga, the Kālacakra. The king has emerged in Kalāpa,
Pauṇḍarīka, the lotus holder, himself.”101
Concluding Remarks
Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s commentary on KCT 5.127 was his attempt at a grand synthesis of the key
points of the KCT doctrines. His arguments seem to have been tailored for a monastic university
audience, rich as they are with referents to many subjects and texts that formed part of the
curriculum, and to ideas from the Brahmanical background training probably shared by the
majority of monks raised in the Vedic tradition. He aimed to integrate considerable material
from yogic and Tantric doctrines and practices with an understanding of the ‘supremely
imperishable’ (paramākṣara), the psychophysiological drop or drops of enlightenment-mind
(bodhicitta) infused with a retained and rechanneled energy of sensual love. Natural male
ejaculation, whether for normal procreation or for the incarnation of another bodhisattva, is
101
prajñopāyāmbujaṃ vajraṃ sādhārādheyam ucyate | tayor dvandvaṃ samāpattir vajrayogo
’dvayo ’kṣaraḥ || caturdhā vajrayogaṃ taṃ kālacakraṃ namāmy ahaṃ | kalāpe nirgato rājā
pauṇḍarīko ’bja-dhṛk svayam ||; 103.15–18.
51
linked to all that is perishable and transitory. The non-ejaculating erect penis, embraced by a real
or better yet envisioned female vagina, is cast as the divine sense organ, the diamond-hard male
jewel in the magical feminine lotus, transmitting the thunderbolt energy of life and enlightened
awareness, and receiving from the lover the paramākṣara-sukham, the happy bliss of the
supremely imperishable.
One of the perhaps most fascinating aspects of KP’s commentary is his explanation of how
learning the ejaculatory restraint of the bodhicitta allows the yogin to alter the normal cycling
flow of time. He gains thereby the same sort of trans-temporal insight as the divinatory virgin,
able to see clearly into the past and the future, stopping the 21,600 breaths of the full day-night
cycle. This is a quite specific idea of stopping the wheel of time, the name of our Tantra and the
system, the Kāla- (time) cakra (wheel). Even more intriguing perhaps is the assertion that what
is powering the time-wheel, and therefore what we have the power to change, is the deeply
engrained habitual nature of our own thinking.
While I may not have succeeded in answering Prof. Thurman’s penetrating question, ‘yes, but
what does it mean?’, I dedicate this essay to him in gratitude for his years of friendship and
guidance, perhaps allowing some of KP’s insights to loosen at least a few of our thinking habits.
52

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Author’s Copy, Corrected Proof, Hartzell, J.F.

(2015) “Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s Vimalaprabhā on

Hartzell, J.F. (2015) “Kalkin Puṇḍarīka’s Vimalaprabhā on Kālacakrtantra 5.127” in

Buddhist Studies and Columbia University Press, pp. 193–236.

Kalkin Puṇḍarīka, author of the principle commentary on the Kālacakratantra, the

Puṇḍarīka’s systematic arguments.

Supremely Imperishable” (paramākṣara-jñāna-siddhir nāma mahoddeśaḥ). This third major

5:127.6 This essay focuses on KP’s forty-three pages of commentary.

incidental to much of the commentary’s content. KP introduces it by referring to the bīja-

topic occupying considerable space in the preceding sections of KCT.7

gone to [the] perishable destruction/receptacle. [It is the mark] of the drop of

choices, based directly on KP’s use of these terms in his commentary.

“unchanging.”9 A similar term, and my preference, is “imperishable,” which means essentially

in the Śabdakalpadruma—it is broken by diseases and so forth (śīryyate rogādinā yat).

is] the eternal soul [that] stands at the top.”14

KP reiterates the dichotomy of perishable and imperishable, citing KCT 5:245 in

between the two, is a central theme of KP’s commentary.

notion cited from Bhagavadgītā 15:17 in Śabdakalpadruma of a perishable and imperishable

there be a Buddhist paramākṣara or supremely imperishable who is Time itself, the

KP introduces a distinction between the approach of yogins interested in worldly

perfections/magical powers (laukika-siddhi-sādhanārtham, 62.22–23) vs. the Buddhist

describes in detail) are engrossed in the perishable, and interested in a supporter-supported

logical relationship, an ādhāra-ādheya-sambandha (the phrase could also be translated as

container-contained relationship, included and to-be-included relationship, placed and to-be-

properties that constitute the collection of ultimate particles.”18

without being caught in it?

Acyutaḥ as ‘Unejaculated’, The Route to the Imperishable

śukra-cyuti, i.e. ejaculation or emission of semen.

the penis) is haṃ; the emission of semen is hā.21

only the ultimate atoms:

addition, like the dreaming body, the inclination-body (vāsanā-śarīram) is void,

free of the collection of ultimate particles, [and] unobstructed; by that very

unobstructed inclination body, produced by karmic inclinations, [one] again

perceives/grasps the [perishable] body (śarīraṃ) that consists of the collection of

of the collection of the ultimate particles, having completely abandoned the

(vartamāna-śarīra-vāsanā) arises in the thinking. By that cause, from the voids—

[i.e.] from the thinking, inclinations, and aggregates—the incidental aggregates

ultimate particle doesn't go into the next world.”23

As discussed below in more detail, KP links ejaculation to the perishable, transmigrating

which is the characteristic of saṃsāra] is the supremely imperishable moment of non-

ejaculation, designated as ‘time.’”24 Understanding the relationship of ejaculation and non-

ejaculation to the perishable and supremely imperishable is key to understanding KP’s

presentation of the KCT system.

Padma/Lotus as Vulva/Vagina, Vajra/Lightning Bolt/Diamond as Penis

padmaṃ, puruṣendriyaṃ vajram 69.13–15).

Vajra (masculine or neuter) is frequently, perhaps even preferentially translated as

(hard) jewel or gem that transmits the divine fire.

Sahaja and Vāsanā

KP’s Commentary on KCT 5:127

bīja-mantras to the body (specifically to the arms) is correct practice:

Why is that? Because the applied characteristic is intrinsically perishable. Here

perishable natures, and interdependently arisen—are said to be imperishable by

imperishable.” Therefore, the one possessed of bad mantras, confused, perceives

as imperishable either the collection of vowels or the collection of consonants.33

reality the collection of vowels and consonants is not imperishable.”34

the language of the gods.35

Vedadharma. One is what appears to be an eleventh-century version of a Big Bang theory,

preferred by those with eyes.

Of these two—the Vedadharma and the dharma of the omniscient one—the

ejaculation by the Vedadharmists.37

permanent, though they provide an intuition, knowledge or awareness of what is imperishable.

image seen in the divinatory mirror.43