chakrasamvara-tantra%20its%20history.pdf

Religion Compass 1/6 (2007): 695–710, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00046.x

The Cakrasamvara Tantra : Its History,

Interpretation, and Practice in India and Tibet

David B. Gray*

Santa Clara University

Abstract

This essay explores the history of the Cakrasamvara Tantra and its related practice

traditions. Beginning with the traditional Cakrasamvara origin myths, it

introduces evidence concerning social context in which it was likely composed,

and explores the debate concerning the degree to which it was influenced by

Hindu Shaiva tantric traditions. It argues that the development of this tradition

cannot be fully understood without taking into consideration the political

ramifications of the tradition’s mythology and iconography. The essay also

overviews both the major practices associated with this tradition, and provides a

short history of its transmission to Nepal and Tibet.

1. The Yogin i tantras

The form of Buddhism that came to be known as the ‘adamantine vehicle’

( vajray a na ), and which is also known in Western literature as ‘tantric’ or

‘esoteric’ Buddhism, has received increasing academic attention over the

past generation, partly as a result of the Tibetan diaspora. Tantric

Buddhism developed within the larger Mah a y a na tradition, and it developed

gradually, over the course of several centuries beginning no later than the

sixth century. By approximately the seventh century, its advocates began

to conceive of esoteric Buddhism as a distinct methodology, the ‘method

of mantra’ ( mantranaya ), distinct from the ‘method of the perfections’

( p a ramit a naya ) of the early Mah a y a na (Kapstein 2001, p. 245).

Early Buddhist tantras generally followed the scriptural model of

Mah a y a na s u tras. By the late eighth century, Indian Buddhist authors

began composing a genre of tantric Buddhist scripture that departed

radically from earlier Buddhist textual models (Gray 2005a). These texts

were known as Yogin i tantras, largely on account of their focus on a class

of female deities known as yogin i s and da kin i s. They were an ambiguous

group of entities and were generally seen as horrific quasi-human or

non-human beings, notorious for their love of human flesh, and associated

with black magic. However, in this literature they gained a more positive

association as enlightening goddesses, at least for the initiated men brave

696 David B. Gray

enough to interact with them (Herrmann-Pfandt 1992, 1996). The

Yo g i n i tantras were also infamous for their descriptions of transgressive

ritual practices, involving violence and sexuality. They tended to be less

obviously ‘Buddhist’, in part because of their departure from earlier

Buddhist textual models. For these reasons, the Yogin i tantras gave rise to

considerable controversy within Buddhist communities (Gray 2005b).

The earliest known Yogin i tantra, the Sarvabuddhasamayoga- da kin i j a lasam-

vara-tantra , was likely composed by the late seventh or early eighth century,

as evidenced by its inclusion in Amoghavajra’s Index of the Vajra s ekharas u tra-yoga

in Eighteen Sections , which he composed shortly after his return to China

from South Asia in 746 CE (Giebel 1995). It was followed by two

influential tantras, the Cakrasamvara and Hevajra Tantra s, both of which

were composed ca . the late eighth or early ninth century, 1 and were

influenced by this text. The composition of the Yogin i tantras continued

for centuries, ending with the demise of Buddhism in India ca . the

thirteenth century.

2. The Cakrasamvara Tantra and Its Contents

The Cakrasamvara Tantra , as it now stands, is a relatively short work of

approximately 700 stanzas in 51 chapters. 2 It is a text that is known by

several different titles. It refers to itself, at the end of each chapter, as the

Discourse of S r i Heruka ( s r i heruk a bhidh a na ). The colophon at the end of

the text refers to it as the ‘Binding of the Wheels’, Cakrasamvara ; this is

the name by which it is most commonly known in the Tibetan tradition.

In India, it was commonly called ‘ Samvara Light ’, Laghusamvara. As it

currently stands, the text lives up to its ‘light’ designation. It is a rather

cryptic text, focusing on elements of practice, but generally failing to give

sufficient information to enable one to successfully undertake these

practices. This is typical of esoteric Buddhist literature, and was almost

certainly intentional. Scriptures such as the Cakrasamvara Tantra were not

meant to provide a full accounting of the tradition’s practices, but merely

hint at these, as the ‘secret’ to be attained by those who are properly

initiated by a master. Only then would the master disclose the full details

of practice to the initiated adept (Gray 2005a).

Like most tantras, the Cakrasamvara Tantra is not a doctrinal, but a

practice-oriented text. There are references to important Buddhist

doctrinal teachings, such as the threefold embodiment ( trik a ya ) of a buddha,

which is briefly discussed in Chapter 10. However, these brief references

in no way contributed to the development of Buddhist philosophy and

theology. We might take, for example, in the following verse in Chapter

13: ‘One should experience everything, whatever comes naturally within

the path of the sense powers, as being composed of buddhas, through the

yoga of ultimate equipoise.’ 3 This verse occurs, rather anomalously, in the

middle of descriptions of magical rituals that can be performed with

The Cakrasamvara Tantra in India and Tibet 697

the protective ‘armor’ ( kavaca ) mantras of the chief deity, Heruka. It evokes

the advanced yogic practices in which one imagines the constituents of

one’s body, as well as the elements of one’s experience, as composed of

buddhas. This is a practice that is designed to radically transform the way

in which conceives of oneself and experiences the world.

Some commentators chose to interpret verses such as these in doctrinal

terms. For example, the early tenth century commentator Bhavyak i rti interprets

it in terms of the Pram an a and Yog a c a ra schools of Buddhist philosophy,

which constituted the dominant schools of Indian Buddhist thought at this

time (Davidson 1999; Lindtner 1994, 1997). He commented as follows:

Regarding [the verse quoted above] – whatever is explained as referring to all

of the realms of the world without exception. That which is of the path of

the sense powers is analyzed with wisdom by means of both direct perception

( pratyak s a ) and inference ( anum a na ). Whatever is realized comes naturally .

Through the yoga of ultimate equipoise in this sort of reality or nature,

that is, through the application of expedience and wisdom, everything

should be experienced as being composed of buddhas , meaning that all

things should be regarded as the reality of the buddhas. This is because, as was

said by the scions of the Victor, ‘These three worlds are mind only.’ That is,

everything exists as mind only. 4

Commentary such as this is fascinating, and it served an important

purpose, namely, providing a doctrinal contextualization, for a text that

was almost entirely bereft of doctrinal exposition.

The Cakrasamvara Tantra is largely dedicated to describing ritual,

magical, and meditative practices. These practices can be categorized with

respect to the type of ‘achievement’ ( siddhi ) that their successful application

is thought to yield. These are the supramundane achievement ( lokottarasiddhi )

of complete awakening, and the mundane powers ( laukikasiddhi ) of flight,

invisibility, pacifying enemies, and so forth.

The former, awakening, is achieved by the advanced meditative

practices that are usually grouped under the rubrics of ‘creation stage’

( utpattikrama ) and ‘perfecting stage’ ( ni s pannakrama ) practice. 5 The Cakrasamvara

Ta n t r a , however, is extremely secretive concerning advanced meditative

practices, about which it only provides vague hints. For example, a central

element of ‘creation stage’ meditation is the practice of visualizing oneself

as a deity, and visualizing the mandala with its complete array of deities.

The text does not provide a full, detailed description of the mandala itself.

The central deities, Heruka and his consort Vajrav a r a h i , are described, but

their descriptions are scattered throughout several chapters. The other 60

deities of the mandala are not described at all, but only mentioned by

name. There is no coherent description of the meditation practices in

which you visualize yourself as the deity, or of the mandala itself. The

advanced perfection stage meditation practices, which focus on the subtle

body, are not mentioned all, except perhaps in vague hints that are

unpacked by the commentators.

698 David B. Gray

The text primarily focuses on the mundane powers, and the ritual

practices that can achieve them. The key element to these practices is

the recitation of mantras. The Cakrasamvara Tantra dedicates many chapters

to the esoteric coding of mantras and the description of their ritual

applications. Mantras are ‘repeated’ ( j a pa ), recited either silently or audibly.

During the consecration ceremony, the master teaches the adept the

mantras of the tradition’s deities. The Cakrasamvara Tantra relates, directly

or indirectly, many dozens of mantras. The central deity, H e r u k a , h a s a

set of three mantras, a long ‘root mantra’ ( m u lamantra ), a shorter ‘essence

mantra’ ( h r dayamantra ), and an even shorter ‘quintessence mantra’

( upah r dayamantra ). The text also presents the essence and quintessence

mantras of Vajrav a r a h i , his consort. Both also have a set of very short

mantras known as ‘armor mantras’ ( kavaca ). The remaining 60 deities in

the mandala each have their own mantra. The text also relates several

other mantras, such as the ‘laughter mantra’ and ‘victory of the triple

world’ ( trailokyavijaya ) mantras.

Mantras are recited in the context of the creation stage practices, in

which the meditator identifies with one or more of the deities and recites

the mantra in conjunction with visualization practices. The mantras

are also recited to invoke the deities in various ritual practices. The

Cakrasamvara Tantra also describes numerous ritual applications of the

mantras, in which they are used to enchant objects or individuals in order

to perform various magical operations. 6 Overall, 23 of the Cakrasamvara

Ta n t r a ’s 51 chapters are directly concerned with the selection of the

mantras and/or their magical applications. The use of mantras is indirectly

implied by many of the other chapters. Judging by the large number of

chapters devoted to the description of these magical rites, they appear to

have been an important element of the practice tradition in India.

Most of the rites described in the text are magical operations involving

the mantras. For example, Chapter 12 relates the following procedure for

becoming invisible employing Heruka’s quintessence mantra:

Take the skin of the sole of the foot of the corpse of a hero, pulverize it with

human blood, and insert antimony in the middle of the ball. Saturate it with

realgar, bovine concretion, saffron, and blood. Dry it in the shade and encase

it in the three metals, and also make it habitable. It is, moreover, prepared

during the Pu s ya lunar mansion; ensure it is made during Pu s ya. Putting it in

S r i Heruka’s mouth, cover his mouth with one’s left hand. Furthermore, one

should repeat [the mantra] one hundred and eight times. From that moment

one is rendered invisible without any shadow. As one cannot even be seen by

gods, how much less [is the chance of being seen] by humans? Taking it out

of one’s mouth, one will be visible. 7

As one can see, this description, while somewhat detailed, is deliberately

ambiguous, and does not provide sufficient information for its practice.

The expression ‘make it habitable’ is an oblique reference to the rite of

consecration ( adhiv a sana ), which involves the invocation of deities to

The Cakrasamvara Tantra in India and Tibet 699

inhabit the object being consecrated. Moreover, the expression ‘ S r i

Heruka’s mouth’ is deliberately ambiguous. According to the late ninth-

century commentator Bhavabha tt a, it is the yog i who, visualizing himself

as Heruka, puts the pill in his own mouth to achieve invisibility (Pandey

2002, p. 88). However, the fifteenth-century Tibetan commentator,

Tsongkhapa, understands this rite as involving a ‘zombie’ ( vet a la ), a corpse

in a charnel ground that is reanimated via the insertion of the pill in its

mouth. 8 There is considerable uncertainty regarding the practice of most

of the rituals described in this text. Contemporary Tibetan traditions

appear to pay little heed to these rites, and instead focus on the ‘secret’

practices that are thought to rapidly lead to the attainment of awakening.

These will be discussed in more depth in Section 5 below.

3. Mythic History of the Cakrasamvara Tantra

According to the tradition, the Cakrasamvara Tantra is a revealed text,

originating in the teaching activity of the cosmic Buddha Mah a vajradhara.

It was revealed in the distant past, at a time when the Hindu deity

Bhairava and his followers were allegedly causing problems in the world

through their immoral behavior, namely, violence and wanton sexuality.

According to the myth, Bhairava and his consort K a lar a tri seized control

of Mount Sumeru, and their retinue seized 24 other power places located

throughout South Asia and the Himalayan region. In response to this,

Mah a vajradhara and his retinue manifested in the world in the S aiva guise.

They then subdued the Hindu deities, and took control of these power

places. They thus established the Cakrasamvara mandala on earth, and

they continue to reside there, in occult forms, accessible to the faithful

(Davidson 1991; Gray 2007, pp. 44 –54).

At this time, Heruka taught the Discourse of Heruka . Originally, it was

taught as a massive text of 100,000 or more stanzas in length. Out of

compassion for the sentient beings of the future, who would have short

life spans and even shorter attention spans, he also taught it in an

abbreviated form, as the Laghusamvara , ‘ Samvara Light ’. This is the form

that has survived to the present day. One should note that there is no

evidence that the longer text ever existed and that many tantric Buddhist

traditions claim that their root texts originated as texts of 100,000 or more

stanzas.

According to the tradition, the Cakrasamvara Tantra is a teaching that is

preserved by the deities, who abide in the power places as well as in

Buddhist pure lands (Gray 2005a). When the karmic circumstances are

right, they periodically reveal it to humans. According to the Tibetan

historian gZhon-nu-dpal, the scripture and its associated practice tradition

has been revealed not once, but twice, in the current historical era. The

tradition was revealed by Heruka to his consort Vajrav a r a h i , who taught

it to the siddha or ‘tantric saint’ L u ipa. It was revealed again by Vajradhara

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