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ProQuest Information and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0660 ® UMIThe Emptiness that is Form: Developing the Body of Buddhahood in indo-Tibetan Buddhist Tantra by Thomas Freeman Yarnall Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2003UMI Number: 3088455 Copyright 2003 by Yamal, Thomas Freeman All rights reserved. ° UMI UMI Microform 3088455 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 ‘Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346© 2003 ‘Thomas Freeman Yarnall All Rights ReservedABSTRACT The Emptiness that is Form: Developing the Body of Buddhahood in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Tantra Thomas Freeman Yarnall This thesis engages the two realities (conventional and ultimate) in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist thought, as addressed in the Mahayana Buddhist formulation “Form is empty, emptiness is form.” The Tibetan master Je Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) elaborated both sides of this nondual formulation ~ the “empty side” and the “perception side” ~ but concerned to address the over-negating climate of his day he chose particularly to emphasize the Perception side in his own writings. I propose that this decision led him in his Tantric exegesis to emphasize deity yoga (devatdyoga, tha'i ral yor) in general and the “Creation Stage” (utpactitrama, bskyed rim) of Unexcelled Yoga Tantra in particular. In this thesis I seek to demonstrate how Tsong Khapa’s master work on tantra, The Great Stages of Mantra (sngags rim chen mo or NRO), addresses this concern, elaborating deity yoga as an esoteric correlate to his exoteric emphasis on “conventional validating cognition,” locating the domain of radical personal- and world-transformation squarely within the conventional sphere. In the earlier chapters I define the broader context for this study hy sketching an ‘overview of the “empty side” in Buddhist history and developing a critical methodology whereby Buddhist and modern deconstructive methodologies in philosophy and the social sciences can be meaningfully compared. In the later chapters I then examine how itis specifically only “intrinsic realty” (svabhava, rang bzhin) that is negated in an exoteric context in ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological spheres, and I then trace how ‘Tsong Khapa carries his exoteric findings regarding such negations into the esoteric sphere in his NRC. We see that just as in exoteric contexts emptiness does not negate relativity, so in‘soreric contexts choroughgoing emptiness yoga need not eliminate the development of the extraordinary, pure perceptions of deity yoga. I then conclude by elaborating the practice of the Creation Stage itself, showing that itis indeed not only compatible with but in fact necessary to the full embodiment of emptiness that is buddhahood. Appendices then include a critical edition and translation of chapters 11-12 of the Great Stages of Mantra upon which this dissertation is based.Table of Contents Table of Contents, List of Tables. Acknowledgements VOLUME I CHAPTER I: Introduction. Emptiness and Perception: The Two Realities in the History of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism Tsong Khapa's Mision: Safeguarding the Relative, Perceived World againse Nibilistic Deconseruction Sources, Approaches, Themes, and Plan of This Study CHAPTER II: Problems, Methods, and Goals of the Comparative Enterprise. Overview Essentialisms, Perennialisms, and the Hermeneutic Circle Translation Continuity or Discontinuity? The Use of “Source-Alien Terminology’; Emic and Etic Approaches to Translation and Comparison Comparison: Family Resemblances, Topoi, and Typological Generalizations A Call 10 the Table CHAPTER III: Deconstruction in Western Disciplines. What is Deconstruction? Naive Realists and Alienated Individuals Western Philosophical Deconstructionism (Wiagenstein) Western Sacia-Historical Deconstructionism Western Religio-Mystical Constructivism and Neo-Perennialism General Buddhist Assessment of the Constructivist Debate Reframing the Question CHAPTER IV: Tsong Khapa’s Sources, Life, and Views ‘Tsong Khapa’s Sources: Indo-Tibetan Canonical Development, Transmission, Reception, and Interpretation.. Introduction The Genesis and Interpretation of Exoteric Indian Buddhist Texts The Genesis and Interpretation of Esoteric Indian Buddhist TextsTable of Contents Tibetan Reception, Organization, and Interpretation of Buddhist Texts Je Tsong Khapa. +119 Life and Times Tiong Khapa's Views CHAPTER V: Buddhist Dialecticist Deconstruction and Negation: A Qualified Enterprise, A Surgical Strike. Overview: Ontological, Epistemological, and Conceptual/Perceptual Spheres. 140 +140 Ontological Deconstruction/Negation Delimiting the scope of negational deconstruction through careful qualification + 162 Epistemological Deconstruction/Negation Overview Centrist Qualifications of Validating Cognitions and Syllogistic Arguments Conventional Validating Cognition Conceptual Deconstruction/Negatio: 173 Overview Broad Level Context: Related Themes; Weak and Strong Applications Mid-Level Context: Mind, Mental Functions, (No) Mental Activity [AJmanasikara), and Other General Terms Specific Context: (Non)concepeuality per se — ram par [mi] rTag pa ({A]Vikalpa) and 1Tog pa [med pa] ({A/Kalpana) CHAPTER VI: Emptiness and Nonconceptuality in Esoteric Buddhist Discourse ... 212 Overview of Main Antagonists’ Positions. 212 Introduction Main anti-conceptual objection regarding why conceptual yoga is not needed Emptiness Meditation in Tantric Practice. . 230 The Problem: Widespread Misunderstanding Regarding Emptiness Yoga, Deity Voga, and the Two Stages of Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Answering the Objection that Deity Yoga Does Not Involve Emptiness Yoga Nonconceptuality in Tantric Practice. Overview of Objections: "Nonconceptuality” is All You Need Nonconceptuality in Tantra as Compatible with Critical Analysis of Reality iiTable of Contents Nonconceptwality and Stability in Tantra as Compatible with PercepruallConceptual Content Nonconcepeuality in Tantra Nondually Integrated with the Conceptual as a Cause of Buddhahood CHAPTER VIL: The Creation Stage Transformation of the Body-Mind. Vivid Perception & Buddha Pride... Bases and Means of Transformation of the Two Stages Tantra as a Continuum of Base, Path, and Resule Bases of Transformation: The three levels of body-mind, and the three betweens Basis As Three Path Conversions... Unexcelled Yoga Sadhana Practice as the Conversion of Three Betweens How Vivid Pure Perception is Made Real Conclusion... VOLUME II Appendices I. Tibetan Topical Outline (sa bead) of chs. 11-12 of Tsong Khapa’s Great Stages of Mantra .. IL. Critical Edition of chs. 11-12 of Tsong Khapa’s Great Stages of Mantra. IIL. English Topical Outline (sa bead) of chs, 11-12 of Tsong Khapa’s Great Stages of Mantra... IV. Translation of chs. 11-12 of Tsong Khapa’s Great Stages of Mantra V. Tibetan ‘lext of LRC Secitons on “Existence” and “Non-Existence” (383b-385a; 385b-386b; 390b-391b) .... VI. Analysis of the Tantric Section of the Kanjur Correlated to Tanjur Exegesis VIL. The Nonduality of Perception and Emptiness: Two Sides of One Klein. 439 445 649 657 List of Abbreviations Bibliographies. itiList of Tables Table 1: The Two Realities/Truths ‘Table 2: Ultimate Validating Cognitions.. Table 3: Conventional Validating Cognitions.. 173 “Table 4: Nature and Nurcure Themes 176 Table 5: Contrasting or Opposed Topies Within Nature and Nurcure Themes 17 Table 6: Weak and Strong Positions Regarding (Non)conceptuality... 181 Table 7: Weak and Strong Pro-conceptual Positions in Exoreric and Esoteric Contexts.... 182 ‘Table 8: Citca-viprayukta-sarhskira that produce false nonconceptuali:y (Concept- sesseeee 192 196 e172) free or unconscious states) Table 9: Development from correct analytical examination to insight Table 10: Development from nonobjectification to realization of ness. 197 Table I 1: Conceptual and Nonconceptual Yogas. os 216 Table 12: Contrasting or Opposed Topics Within Nacure and Nurture Themes (incl. Esoteric). i je 217, Table 13: Definitions and Assessments of "Nonconceptuality” 219 Table 14: Macerial Causes and Supporting Conditions of the Two Bodies in Exoteric Mahayana and in Unexcelled Yoga Tancea. 274 “Table 15: Four Yogas as Causes and Conditions of the Two Bodies in the Lower ‘Tantras ... .: 275 ‘Table 16: Degrees a deity yoga gs (divine pride and vivid perception). 282 Table 17: The threefold continuum (Tantra) of base, path, and result 298 Table 18: How a person's 3 ordinary BASES are transformed by the PATHS of the 2 Stages into the 3 RESULTANT buddha Bodies on gross, subtle, and extremely subrle levels. 303 Table 19: The subtle mind's experiences and instincts 307 ‘Table 20: The gros, subtle, and extremely subtle body-mind complex 309 Table 21: The stages of death; dissolutions and experiences . 316 ‘Table 22: Comparison of the Phases and Divisions of Creation and Perfection Stages 322 ivAcknowledgements This project has truly been a collaborative one and could never have been complered without the generous assistance of more individuals and institutions than [ can possibly mention here; I express my deepest, heart‘ele chanks to all of them. While they all share in the credit for the production of this work, any and all remaining errors are solely my own. First and foremost, I must make a special mention of my mentor, Prof. Robert ‘Thurman. Ic was he who twenty-five years ago at Amherst College first introduced me to the wonders of Buddhist chought and culture and to the Tibetan language. Inspiring, wise, and patient, he has been my primary guide in these studies ever since. I would like also to give a special acknowledgement to all the other superb professors | have been fortunate to study with while in che graduate program in Religion at Columbia University, including Prof. Ryuichi Abe, Losang Jamspal, Matthew Kapstein, Wayne Proudfoot, Thomas Tanselle, Gary Tubb, Angela Zito, and many others. Also important were my first year Sanskrit teachers at the University of Washington, Prof. Collet Cox and Richard Salomon. Gene Smith of the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, Bob Chilton and Robert ‘Taylor of the Asian Classics Input Project, and Paul Hackett of Columbia University provided me with invaluable bibliographical and technical assistance toward the end of this project. Thave also benefited immensely fiom conversations and debates with many friends over the years. Special mention goes to my life-long friend Steffan Soule who always helps to “keep it real,” centering all conversation and action in the moment and always moving from the heart. I have also been fortunate to engage with many gifted graduate student colleagues in recent years, including Christian Wedemeyer, David Gray, Laura Harrington, Albion Moonlight Butters, John Campbell, Paul Hackect and many others. I would especially like to acknowledge the inspiration and assistance of Ven. Pema Losang Chgyen, the Namgyal monk in our graduate program who tragically passed away in 1996. It was he whoencouraged me to work with chapters eleven and twelve of Tsong Khapa's sngags rim chen ‘mo, and he offered invaluable assistance with this work in its earlier stages. Hee was a dear fiend and is sorely missed. This dissertation is dedicated to his fond memory. Special mention must also be made of the many Tibetan scholars and lamas with whom [ have had the great fortune to study over these years, including H.H Dalai Lama, Dagchen Rinpoche, Trinley Rinpoche, Dechung Rinpoche, and many others. Trey have all been inspirational living examples of the buddhas’ penerrating wisdom and deep compassion. A special thanks is due to my mother, Barbara Rona, and her husband and my long- time friend, Tom Rona, for their invaluable, heart-felt, and freely given spiritual, emotional, incellectual, and financial support over countless years. Likewise, { thank my father, Stephen Yarnall, and his wife Lynn Yarnall, for cheir generous love, support, and encouragement in as many ways over as many years. And finally, I owe perhaps my greatest debt of thanks to my wife Mary Yarnall, my “goddess of appreciation” from Nepal, my loving companion who has selflessly and patiently supported me in this project and in all aspects of my life in innumer- able ways for over a decade, and co our beautiful five-year old son Mati, who has patiently endured the many years of his dad's graduate school ordeal, inspiring me with his open- hearted love, beaming intelligence, and enthusiasm for life, and with his mere presence which serves as a constant reminder of the importance and joy of living for others. viThis study is dedicated to HLH, the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet and to the fond and inspirational memory of Ven. Pema Losang Chigyen (1957-1996)VOLUME IYou should never allow yourself to cling to preference for either the perception side or the empry side. But you must rake special consideration of the percep- tion side. ~ Maiijughosa to Tsong Khapa' CHAPTER I: introduction Emptiness and Perception: The Two Realities in the History of indo-Tibetan Buddhism India In his “First Turning” ceachings, as recorded in the Pali Nikayas, Sakyamuni Buddha diagnosed that che addictive reification ofa substantially existent, independent, personal “Self” (Pali azed, Skt. dema) was the root cause of all suffering, and thus he prescribed the in- sight inco “selflessness” (anatta, andtma) as the final cure to this universal condition. As he himself had artived a¢ this insight through the use of critical, analytical reasoning empowered by one-pointed concentration, so his prescription to others entailed che pursuit of this same deconstructive path. He found such critical analysis to be capable of revealing that any such Self could be no more than an incoherent, reified “whole” superimposed on a collection of objective parts (dhammas, dharmus), and he identified the absence of such a reified Self to be “ulsimace reality” (paramattha-racca, paramartha-satya). However, he also found such critical analysis to be capable of affirming the simultaneous presence of a valid, conventionally constructed self which he identified as existing atthe level of “superficial reality” (camusti- acca, sarivvrti-satya). "mang phyogs dang stong phyogs la nye ring gtan nas byed mi nyan, kbyad par snang ba la grigs 1 lyed dgos. From Kaydrup's Secret Biography (gsang ba'i mam thar) of Tsong Khapa (Tsong Khapa’s gsung bum, vol. KA, texe 3 (5261]: 2b). Cp. EE: 79L: Introduction This then constituted the innovative teaching of the “wo realities” or “two truths” (Ske. sanyadvaya, Tib. bden pa gnyii), the “superficial realty” (canivrti-satya, kun rdzob bden ‘Pa and the “ultimate reality” (paramartha-satya, don dam pa'i bden pa), fundamental to all Buddhist thought. The former refers to “apparent” reality, co what may be perceived to be the case in any given relative, conventional context, and the later refers to what is “really” the case from an ultimate point of view, when subjected co critical analysis. Many synony- ‘mous pairs of terms for these two realities then emerged in the history of Indo-Tibetan Bud- dhise discourse, including the following partial lis: superficial reality (savivrt-satya, hun rdzob den pa) ultimate reality (paramartha-satya, don dam pa'i bden pa) conventional reality (eyavahdrika-sanya, tha smyad pa't bden pa) relativity (pratitysamutpada, rten cing ‘brel bar “byung ba) the perception side (“abhara-paksa, snang ultimate reality (paramartha-sarya, don dam pa‘ bden pa) emptiness (finyata, stong pa nyid) the empty side (ddaya-paksa, stong phyogs)? Phyogs) Table 1: The Tivo Realitied Truths ‘While a times the Buddha's “First Turning” teachings also applied the same decon- structive analysis to the constituent objective parts (the dhammas) which formed the basis for the mistaken reification of an independent Self, the Buddha did not emphasize such “objec- * For those who may not be familiar with the less common terminology of “the perception side and the empty side” as synonyms for the two realities, I offer the following representative sample passage ftom the LRC in which Tsong Khapa uses these two terms and in which he ‘makes it clear by his use of apposition that he equates “the perception side” and superficial reality: "... this fa passage cited by Candrakirti] completely refutes the proposition that these people, while mistaken about the perception side, superficial realty, have nevertheless found an unerring view of the empry side.” (ds mi... snang phyogs kun rdzob pa la log par zhugs pa shin kang, song phyogs kyi ta ba ma nor ba rnyed par rmra ba'ang legs par bkag pa yin no, .) LRC ACIP: 390b. Cp. NE89: 214; CMDR: 213; Snow III: 152.I: Introduction : tive selflessness” as much during this First modality of teaching,” Over the next few centu- ties, this lack of emphasis left the door open for Realist Buddhist thinkers (such as the Abhidhammikas who developed the Vaibhasika tenet system) co swing the philosophical Pendulum back toward a reificatory extreme, developing a realist/substantialist hermeneutic in which the constituent parts or elements of reality (analyzed to be 75 dhammas) were not themselves presented as selfless or empty. Thus, some five hundred years after the Buddha, a somewhat more sophisticated and resistant strain of the disease of reification had developed. This occasioned the appearance of the “second Buddha,” the bodhisattva/philosopher/physician Nagirjuna who emerged to dispense a more potent version of the Buddha's cure, the insight of selflessness, swinging the Philosophical pendulum further back in the radically deconstructive direction with the redis- covery of the Buddha's more penetrating “Second Turning” teachings. Nagarjuna’s own exe- getical and original texts were directed toward refuting not only ordinary, naive realists and non-Buddhist (mainly brahmanical) philosophical Realists, but also ~ indeed especially ~ what he considered to be the Buddhist Realists (bhdvavddin, dngos po smra ba, viz. the Abhidhammikas) of his time. Accordingly, his own treatises, just like the “Second Turning” Transcendent Wisdom Scriptures (Prajnaparamita Siitras) he revealed, emphasized the ultimate, selfless nacure of all chings (their “empty side”) much more than the superficial, relative na- ture of those things (cheir “perception side"). All of these texts implemented a much more sophisticated deconscructive analysis nor only of any reified Self or objective elements but also of selflessness itself. By not absolutizing the absolute, and by thus affirming the conven- ° Contrary to the contentions of some within the Buddhist tradition, there is clear evidence that the Buddha did teach objective selflessness during the First Turning, even though it may ‘not have been emphasized in that context. See VKN: 114, n9; Etienne Lamotce, L Eneigne- ment de Vimalakirei (Louvain: Publications Universitaires, 1962), 132, n23; and Ruegg, 1981: 7, n16 where he cites and discusses Candrakirti's Prasannapada on MMK XVIIL5, Madhyamakavatara 1.8, Majjhimanikaya I, Samyuttanikaya W1-IV, and Axigutraranitaya 1,I: Introduction 4 tional validity and the relative realty of perceived, causal experience, the two realities were presented not as mutually contradictory but rather as mutually compatible and indeed nondual; as the Transcendent Wisdom Scriptures state, “Form is empty, emptiness is form.” In this way, che analyses at the core of these texts were able to swing the pendulum furcher in the negative, deconstructive ditection while avoiding swinging it coo far to the extreme of ni- hilism. However, as the most prevalent views of the day tended toward over-reification by the various Realists, the therapeutic philosophical remedy favored by Nagarjuna did contain a much stronger dose of radical deconstructivism and anti-realism. Some centuries later Candrakirti (sixth c. Ce) continued and further refined this radical therapy at a time when philosophical acumen had become even more sophisticated. Developing and defending the Dialecticist Centrist (Prasaigika-Madhyamita) interpretation of Nagarjuna first clarified by Buddhapalita (470-550),* Candrakirti also considered his main philosophical opponents to be “Realists,"* but now not only the naive ordinary, non- Buddhist, and Buddhist Realists (including now the Sauerdntikas), but also — in fact, primar- ily ~ the more sophisticated Universal Vehicle (Mahayana) philosophers upholding a Mind Only (Cittamdtrin) or a Dogmaticist Centrist (Suatantrika-Madhyamaka) position. To counter these much subtler, more sophisticated views, Candrakirt's therapeutic methodology increased the emptiness dosage even more, resulting now in a potent “maximum strength” remedy comprising of a relentless emphasis on ultimate reality, the empty side, Functioning as a kind of “shock therapy” intended to thoroughly rout out even the subtlest substantialis- tic reifications. * EE: 39, » “Realise” here again translates bhdvavadin (dngos po smra ba), though as Napper discusses at NE89: 49 (and note 70), in Candrakirt’s time this same position was described also as vastusatpadarzhavadin (still later translated as dngos po sma ba in Tibetan)I: Introduction 5 Tiber In the first centuries of the spread of Buddhism in Tiber (seventh century onwards) the Tibetans learned, developed, and defended a variety of such views, but by the fourteenth century the philosophical climate had become quite different. To be sure, ordinary, naive re- alism was (as it perpetually seems to be) a preliminary stance to be refuted. But within more scholastic contexts almost all Tibetans were (1) Buddhist ~ so, ostensibly at least, chere were ‘no non-Buddhise philosophical positions to be refuted; and (2) within that “Buddhist” self definition almost all were of the Universal Vehicle — so there were no Abhidhammika or {n- dividual Vehicle (Hinaydna) positions to be refuted; and (3) within chac “Universalist” self definition almost all were (thetorically, at least) “Centrists” (Madhyamitas) ~ so there were few “mind Only” (Cistamatrin) positions to be refuted; and (4) within chat “Centrist” self- definition a growing majority called themselves “Dialecticists” (Prasarigikas) ~ so there were fewer and fewer “Dogmaticist” (Svdtantrika) positions to be refuted. None of this is o say that these non-Dialecticist positions were not learned, debated, and at times pethaps seri- ously and incentionally held; for they were. But these other Buddhist philosophical views were generally learned as philosophical “stepping stones” in an overall hermeneutical ladder that an increasing majority agreed (at least rhetorically) had the Dialecticist position as its top rung, By the fourteenth century in Tiber itis fair and pertinent to say that the philosophical pendulum had swung completely to the empty side. Seven centuries of exposure to the maxi mum-strength emptiness remedy had ensured that the many possible strains of “realism” no longer manifested as the main philosophical affliction among educated Tibetan Buddhists However, the overzealous and indiscriminate application of critical negation, like the over- application of a wide-spectrum antibiotic, had wiped out many Tibetan’s immunity to an- other, potentially more dangerous, disease, the scourge of nihilism, which would threaten to undermine any possible basis for relative reality, causality, conventional ethics, and so forth.1: Introduction 6 In her important book entitled Dependent-Arising and Emptines, Elizabeth Napper describes this situation as follows: {The problem now was not that there were antagonists]... who felt chat within the Madhyamika assertions on emptiness, conventional presentations would not be feasible and hence rejected Madhyamika, but rather (that there were many]... who... found conventional presentations to be negated by the Madhyamika emptiness and, accepting this, called themselves Madhyamikas and propounded a system in which chere is no valid establishment of conventional phenomena and activities. This is verbalized in different ways, some saying that conventional phenomena ate posited only by ignorance, others saying that the Madhyamikas have no system of their own for the Presentations of conventionalities but merely rely on the systems of others, and still others saying that conventionalities exist conventionally but that this does not function as existing, ete. (NE89: 51-52) Or in cerms of che language of the Transcendent Wisdom Scriptures, we could say simply that the Tibetans had succeeded all too well at demonstrating that “form is empry” at the expense of the reconciling and counterbalancing half of the equation, “emptiness is form.” The entire relative world of perceptions, conventions, causality, and so on was in peril of being thor- oughly undermined and repudiated. Tsong Khapa's Mission: ‘Safeguarding the Relative, Perceived World against Nihilistic Deconstruction This was the philosophical context when, in 1357, Tibet saw the birth of Je Tong Khapa, the great Tibetan philosopher-yogi who would later found the Gelukpa Order of Tibetan Buddhism which would come to claim the vast majority of Tibetan Buddhists for centuries to come. And it was in this context that early in his career, after many years of studying exoteric philosophy with Tibet's finest scholars and practicing esoteric Tantric yogas with the most realized masters (ef chapter III below), Téong Khapa had the vision of Mafju- ghosa, the bodhisateva of wisdom, in which he received the advice recorded in the epigraph above. In this visionary encounter Tsong Khapa was advised that Candrakirti was unerring in his presentation of the empty side, and that he should fully rely on Candrakirti's uncompro- misingly critical writings for his own understanding of ultimate truth, bue chat in his ownI: Introduction 7 ings, while always being careful to present emptiness and perceptions as teachings and ws ‘nondually interrelated, he should make a new emphasis through elaborating especially the perception side. Ics relatively well-known that Tsong Khapa is said to have accomplished this in his exot philosophical writings through his ingenious harmonizing of the Centrist’ decon- structive drive with Dharmakirt’s logical and epistemological methodologies, explicating the later's “validating cognition” (pramana, shad ma) as “transactional” ot “conventional vali- dating cognition” (*wydvahdrika-pramana, tha snyad pa‘ tshad ma), that is, as a conventional cognition capable of producing valid knowledge about things on the relative, transactional, practical, conventional level (gf chapter II below). However, to date there has been scant exploration of how it is chat Tsong Khapa emphasized the “perception side” in his eroteric writings, and how itis that he integrated his exoreric and esoteric presentations of the rela- tionship between emptiness and perceptions in general and of perceptions in particular. iis this exploration that constitutes the cencral enterprise of this thesis Defining the context of the esoteric To begin our project of determining how Tsong Khapa emphasizes the perception side in the context of Tantra (or “Mantra,” or the “Vajra Vehicle”), itis necessary first to clarify what he defines this context to be. Early in his master overview work on the esoteric Bud- dhise path entitled The Greut Stuges of Mantra (sngags rim chen mo, hereafter NRO) Tsong Khapa addresses this issue through the process of exploring what it is within the Universal Vehicle that distinguishes the esoteric and exoteric sub-vehicles, viz. the esoteric Vajra Vehicle and the exoteric Transcendence Vehicle. After exploring and rejecting various theses as im- plausible,* and after arguing that no two vehicles to liberation can have a difference in the ° See TT: 110-113.E: Introduction 8 wisdom pertaining to the ultimate view of emptiness,” he concludes that it must be the art aspect (upadya, thabs) that can provide the only possible basis for differentiating berween the esoteric and exoteric Universal Vehicles. Having then narrowed down the scope of possible distinctions to some special aspect of the practical arts, he continues his analysis by examining the causal relationship between wisdom/art and the fruitional Bodies of s buddha. He notes that while both Universal sub- vehicles employ meditative techniques involving equipoise on emptiness (the sixth transcen- dence) co directly simulate a buddha’s Truth Body, none of the practices of the six transcen- dences directly simulate a buddha’s Form Bodies; and, he argues, only a practice which does s0 simulate a buddha’s Form Bodies could serve as the direct cause for those Bodies." While such a practice is lacking in the exoteric Transcendence Vehicle, i is not lacking in the «esoteric Vajra Vehicle, and thus he finally concludes that it isthe presence of such a unique "This is an enormous and complex topic in itself; there is not sufficient space to go into these arguments here. In the NRC (see, ¢g., TT: 93-99) Tsong Khapa briefly recapitulaces arguments which he makes at length elsewhere (EE, LC, etc.) to the effect that while the sreatises and philotophical ystems (siddhante) associated with the Individual and the Universal Vehicles differ in che subtlery of their articulation of the view of emptiness, successful practi~ siners of these ewo vehicles (arhars and bedhisattvas, respectively) can not differ with respect to the wisdom cognizing emptiness which they each must develop. This is because liberation from sanisara is not possible without direc, intuitive, and complete realization of the selfless- ness of both persons and things (Tsong Khapa maintains that this isa uniquely Dialecticist Centrist (Prasangika Madhyamaka] argument, and he supports this argument with numerous passages from the Transcendent Wisdom scriptures, Nagarjuna, Candrakirti, and so on.) Rather, practitioners of these vehicles must differ only with respect to the arts (upaya, chabs) they practice, and thus with respect to cheit physical development (the Individual Vehicle practitioners do not develop a buddha's Ferm Bodies whereas the Universal Vehicle practi- tioners do). Likewise, between the two Universal sub-vehicles, Tsong Khapa argues that the profound view of emptiness was fully articalated in the reasoned arguments and presenta- tions of the exoteric Transcendence Vehicle, and that there can be no higher view somehow articulated in or attainable through the esoceric Vajra Vehicle (this directly countering the position of certain contemporary and previous lamas such as Dol-po-pa) ‘This is treated extensively in the section below on “Conceptual yoga as the corresponding ‘material cause of a buddha's Form Body” (p. 269 ff).I: Introduction 9 practice in the Vajra Vehicle that distinguishes ic as a separate vehicle within the Universal Vehicle. Thus, after this series of considerations, he concludes” --» Therefore, it must be said that the primary feature distinguishing the paths of the Universal Vehicle is the art which causes one to appear as a Form Body to fortunate students, ro become a Savior and a refuge for sentient beings 3s long as sarhsica lasts.... Thus, the [Universal] Vehicle is divided into two [sub- vehicles] due to the great distinction involving a dissimilarity in the body of the paths regarding che art for achieving a Form Body for the sake of others «++ Moreover, the primary feature of this art is {described] from the perspective of achieving a Form Body, because the art which is the means for achieving the Form Body ~ which [art] is precisely deity yoga, which is a meditation which simulates the form of that [Form Body] ~ is superior to che arts of other Vehicles. Thus, Tsong Khapa isolates the practice of “deity yoga” (devatayoga, tha'i rnal yor), also known as “buddha yoga,” as the unique, defining characteristic of Tantra in general Deity yoga in the four classes of Tantra In the briefest terms, deity yoga can be defined as an esoteric Buddhist medication practice involving a yoga in which the (subjective) mind cognizing emptiness visualizes itself ing nondually in the (objective, perceived) Form Body of a buddha. Tsong Khapa argues that only such a conformative art ~ a yoga involving the direct simulation of a bbuddha's Form Body ~ could serve as the direct cause of a buddha's Form Body, citing an important canonical passage from the first chapter of The Vajna Tent Tantra to support this contention,” * de'iphyir cheg chen gyi lam gi Kbyad par gyi geo bo ni gauge hy sku skal ba dang Iden pa’t ‘dul bya la snang nas ‘khor ba jisrid gnas Kyi bar du sems can rams kyi mgon skyabs mdzad pa’ ragter gyur pa'i thabs la bya dgos 50, , ... des na gehan don geugs kyi sku sgrub pa’ thabs la lam 7 lus mi ‘dra ba'i khyad par chen po yod pas theg pa gnyis su mdzad pa yin te, ... chabs kyi guo do yang geugs sku sgrub pa'i cha nas yin la, geugs sku’ sgrub byed kyi thabs ni de dang mam pa ‘dra bar sgom pai tha'i mal byor nyid theg pa gehan gyi thabs las mchog yin pa'tphyir ro, (NRC: 16a.3-16b.2) The following is my translation. Cp. TF: 115-16. Gf also the Dalai Lama's comments on and summary of these same points at 77: 42-43, 55-57. "° Gf p. 270 ff below for my translation and derailed discussion of this passage, for notes concerning the translation itself, and for references to alternate translations. The Vajra Tent (Cont'd...)E: Introduction 10 Moreover, and of equal importance, he shows tha this identification of deity yoga as the defining characteristic of Tantra is general enough to serve to characterize all ofthe major types and levels of practice coming under the broad heading of Buddhist “Tantra.” While there were many classifications of Tantra evident in the multitude of esoteric Indian Buddhist treatises and commencarial traditions, a great number of Indians came to adopt the fourfold schema of Action (érija), Performance (caryé), Yoga (yoga), and Unexcelled Yoga (anuttana .)9ga) Tantra, as presented, for example, in the Vajra Tent Tantra" within the Flevajra Tantra licerature. Many Tibetans from the early Sakyas (eleventh century) through to the great Bu- ston (carly fourteenth century) also adopted this fourfold schema, and in his NRC Tsong Khapa likewise follows this mainstream schema." Having determined deity yoga to be the common defining characteristic forall four of these classes of Tantra, Tsong Khapa then surveys in his NRCa wide range of Indian and Tibetan opinions regarding whac itis that distinguishes and defines each of the four classes of Tantra. After again using reasoned arguments and scriptural citation to reject various Indian and Tibetan positions regarding this,” he sides wich Abhayékaragupta, Viryavajra, and others Tantra is Toh. 419: Vajrapajara-tantra (rdo je gur), within the Hevajra Tantra literature. For «easy reference to the clasification of Tancras in the Derge Kanjur and their commentaries in the Tibetan Derge Tanjur, se the Tanjur chart in the Appendix herein, "' For NRC citations from this Tantra and from Sraddhakaravarma regarding the fourfold schema, see TF 151 "The only difference being that Tsong Khapa rejected his Tibetan predecessors’ notion that Unexcelled Yoga Tantras should be given a threefold subdivision into “Father,” “Mother,” and "Nondual” Tantras, arguing instead that all such Tantras had to be nondual, and thus advocating a ewofold subdivision into only Father and Mother Tantras (the former emphasiz- ing illusion body, the latter emphasizing the Clear Light, but both nondually integrating both). " See TE 153-56.I: Introduction u who cite such Tantras as The Kiss Tantra to argue that che four Tantra classes were taught for four differenc types of practitioners who would be able to use and transform four different types and levels of desire on the path. By then citing various passages from Tantras of each of the three lower classes as well, Tsong Khapa suggests that this basis for classifying the four Tancras is common to all Tantras and not just imposed upon the lowsr three from an Unex- celled Tantra perspective."* The basic Tantric principle here is that different psycho-physical responses triggered by the arousal of different types and levels of desire give tise to successively more refined ot sub- dler types of “(bliss-]consciousnesses” or subjectivities, and that while these would normally bind one more strongly to sarhsira, if these subtler subjectivites are utilized to meditate on ‘emptiness then there can be effected a liberative realization and a transformation at a subeler and more profound level than would otherwise be possible." Thus, with respect to our basic definition of deity yoga given above, the successive classes of Tantra evoke increasingly subtler states of “mind” (and body) co engage in “cognizing emptiness,” and ic is these subtler sub- jectivities which then nondually “arise in the form of a deity.” Finally, ic will be helpful here to briefly note the basic divisions of yogas that exist in the three lower Tantras (Action, Performance, and Yoga) as distinct from Unexcelled Yoga Tantra. In short, the three lower Tantras are all divided into “yogas with signs” (sanimitea- yoga, mishan beas kyi mal yor) and “yoga without signs” (animitta-yoga, meshan med kyi ‘al ‘byor), whereas Unexcelled Yoga Tantras are divided into yogas of the “Creation Stage” (wapactikrama, bskyed rim) and those of the “Perfection Stage” (nispannakrama, rdzogs rim). “Toh. 381: Saniputaenma-mahatantra (yang dag par sbyor ba shes bya ba’irgyud chen po), known by the abbreviated title The Kiss (Saniputa, kha sbyor), See my note on 356b of the translation in the Appendix. Gf TE: 156-61 for Tsong Khapa’s discussion of the above points. “© Gf our final chapter herein.I: Introduction 12 While any yogic aspect of deity yoga at any level in any class of Tantra must always nondually integrate both the cognition of emptiness as well as the vivid perception of oneself asa deity, in general we can say thar within each Tantric clas the former yogas (yogas with signs and Creation Stage yoga), also called “conceptual yogas” (breags pa’ mal ‘byor), ate preliminary yogas which tend to emphasize more the development of concentration and vivid perception, ‘whereas the latter yogas (yogas without signs and Perfection Stage yogas), also called “non- conceptual yogas” (ma breags pai mal yor), are more advanced yogas which build upon che earlier yogas to more directly integrate awareness of emptiness and vivid perception and to more directly manifest the actual empty Bodies of a buddha. For the purposes of this brief introduction iti sufficient to have merely distinguished these categories.” Deity yoga and the Creation Stage: The perception side in Tantra My thesis herein, then, seeks co link Tsong Khapa's commitment to emphasizing the perception side with his highlighting of deity yoga as the defining practice of Tantra. I will show that Tsong Khapa’s commitment to emphasizing the perception side meant that in his Tantric exegesis he would emphasize deity yoga in general and the Creation Stage of Unex- celled Yoga Tantra in particular."* While “deity yoga” necessarily entails meditation on emp- ‘iness and thus a nondual ineegration of both the “conceptual” and “nonconceptual” yogas, ‘we must be careful to note that when the term “deity yoga” is used in conjunction with the ‘erm “emptiness yoga” (whether or not che latce: ceri is explicitly stated) it is often being used to indicate the perception side of this nondual practice as heuristically separate from the "The precise definitions and characteristics which distinguish these different yogas get quite ‘echnical and will be discussed further in chapters VI and VII. To clarify and keep track of these many terms, of Table 11: Conceptual and Nonconceptual Yogas (p. 216) and the sur- rounding discussion in chapter VI. “* While he also wrote magnificent, specialized ereatises on the advanced yogas of the Perfec- tion Stage of Unexcelled Yoga Tantra, it can be noted that in the NRC, his master theoretical overview work on Tanera, he spends the great bulk of his efforts on the elaboration of deity yoga in general and of the Creation Stage in particu!I: Introduction 3 ‘empty side of this same practice. With this sense of the term “deity yoga” we can begin to see ‘more clearly and directly how concerns about the perception side in general will link to con cerns about deity yoga in particular. ‘Thus, ifin general Tsong Khapa was concerned to show that the perceived world (or at least a perceivable world) could have some arguably non-reified reality status in order to safe- guard at least some interpretation of this reality from the deconstructive, sharp sword of crti- cal analysis, chen in an esoteric context this entailed demonstrating at a minimum that con- structive “conceptual yogas” ~ deity yoga, yogas with signs, and Creation Stage yogas ~ are at lease “compatible” with or non-contradictory with the deconstructive and “aonconceptual” Yyogas — yogas without signs, Perfection Stage yogas, and emptiness yogas. Beyond that, as we shall see, for Tsong Khapa this entailed demonstrating that “conceptual yogas” are not merely acceptable but are in fact necessary for the “nonconceptual” state of buddhahood. The proof of this necessity was to be found (both exegetically as well as logically) in tracing the causes and conditions of a buddha’s relative, engaged, perceivable Form Body. Cast in this light, Creation Stage practice in particular will be seen to involve an eso- ‘eric correlate to the type of conventional validating cognition (tha snyad pat tchad ma) which Tsong Khapa uniquely elaborated in an exoreric context in large part to emphasize the validity of the perception side (cf chapter V). This esoreric correlate will be something like a “conventional visualization” or “contemplation” (cha snyad pai dmigs pa, *bsam pa), a “con ventional art” (sha snyad pai thabs) entailing a creative yet non-tefied re-envisioning of self, environment, and society in a perfected state (cf chapter VI). Theoretical issues and rational arguments regarding this will be covered in chapters V-V1, and pragmatic (yogic) arguments regarding the role and necessity of the Creation Stage in the development of a buddha's Form Body will be covered in chapter VILI: Introduction 4 Vivid perception and divine pride: The defining characteristics of deity yoga The great Indian Buddhist scholar-adept Buddhaésijfana (aka JAanapada, late eighth century)” and many other Indian scholar-adepts elaborated our basic definition of deity yoga a “the yoga of the nonduality of the profound and the vivid in which one develops certitude (nger pa) about emptiness and (has that certitude] arse asthe objective aspect (geung rnam), the deity” (as cited by Tsong Khapa at NRC: 402b)." With this we see a strong clarification of the fact that the definition of the very practice which characterizes Buddhist esotericism includes the provision that deconstructive emptiness (the profound) and (re)constructive Perception (the vivid) be nondually integrated from the outset. Beyond this basic definition, ewo essential goals or aspects of the practice of deity yoga are elaborated: (1) the development of the vivid perception (gsa! snang) of one’s environment and of oneself and others (“the habitat and the inhabitants") as extraordinary, pure, and divine, and (2) the development of the conception (zhen) entailing the divine pride (lha’ nga ‘mpal) of being a buddha-deity which possesses that purified perception. These owo essential aspects are still broad enough ro encompass all of the yogas of all four classes of Tantra. Thus, if deity yoga is the defining characteristic of Tantra, vivid perception and divine pride are the defining characteristics of deity yoga. Tsong Khapa explains these two aspects (here in the context of discussing the Creation Stage) in the following passages from our translation of the NRCin the Appendix: @376a ... The extraordinary things to be abandoned on the Creation Stage are the perception of the ordinariness of the habitat and inhabitants, and the pride involving che conception of the habitat and inhabitants as ordinary. He chen claborates: @37Sb ... The meditation on the creation of a distinctive perception of habi- tac and inhabitants in order co get rid of (belag pa) this kind of perception and "Of. 4 ® nges pa stong nyid la drangsshing geung ream lbar shar ba'tzab goal gnyis med kyi ral yor