Highest Yoga Tantra and Mahamudra By Master
Sheng-yen Lu This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 51st book, 無上密與大手印. CHAPTER 12 - The Spiritual State of Supreme Bliss This article shall disclose the secret of the Yab Yum (union of father and mother) buddha statues. Among the practices of Tantric Buddhism is the consort practice. There are indeed numerous buddha statues in Tantric Buddhism which are seen in the Yab Yum posture, where the father and mother buddhas are locked in embrace. The common folk call them `the buddhas of pleasures`. What is happening here? Outsiders are unable to understand it, and neither can those who practice Tantrayana. The statues of the buddhas of pleasures have passed through the years and have always caused people doubt. I have discussed the subject of consort practice in my previous books, and since I am touching on the spiritual state of the supreme bliss of Mahamudra, I have no choice but to reveal the secrets of these Yab Yum buddha statues. I truly know there is a heavenly being who appears in the Yab Yum posture. This deva, whose Sanskrit name is Ganapati, is known as the Lord of Pleasure (Maharya-nandikesvara). He is a Brahmin god who was once a scheming evil being. Later, Kuan Yin Bodhisattva intended to deliver him and, in her great compassion, manifested as a most beautiful woman to look him up. Upon seeing this beauty, the Lord of Pleasure was sexually aroused and wanted to touch the woman and experience sexual union with her. However, at first Kuan Yin Bodhisattva refused and told the Lord of Pleasure that if he had wanted to marry her, he must take refuge in Buddhism, receive the Buddhist teaching and protect it. As the Lord of Pleasure wanted to make the beauty his wife, he agreed to protect the buddhadharma. The beauty then smiled and embraced the lord. Thus, the image of the Lord of Pleasure is always presented as a Yab Yum buddha statue. The Chapter of The Deva Form of the Lord of Pleasure, the Yab Yum Vinayaka states, `The Yab Yum image of the lord has a white flesh tone and is dressed in a red coloured robe. The couple, in standing position, is locked in embrace. The statue may either be seven or five inches high, with both figures appearing with the head of an elephant and a human body. The male form looks over the right shoulder of the female consort and looks at her back, while the female consort leans over the right shoulder of the male figure and looks at his back. The female consorts leg is exposed; her arms and legs are tender, like a plump proper lady. The male figures head is adorned with flowers, and he wears a red coloured robe. The head of the female consort is decorated with flowers, and she wears a robe. Her arms and legs are adorned with pearls and jade bracelets, and her feet step onto the toes of the male. They embrace each other, with their arms wrapped around their waists over to the backs of their right upper arms.` This statue of union is recorded in the Buddhist Canon. As to the reasons why many buddhas, bodhisattvas, and vajrarajas in Tantrayana are also seen in Yab Yum images, I shall elucidate on this as follows: When the drops and inner fire from the Yoga of Psychic Heat (Tummo) pass through the seven nerve plexuses, or chakras, a wonderful bliss is produced. This bliss cannot be expressed in words, and it makes one feel very comfortable, as if one is afloat, just like ascending on a cloud as an immortal. The simplest descriptions would be Becoming a Buddha and an Immortal, The Great Calm and Joyous Absorption, or A Spiritual State of Supreme Bliss. However, this unexcelled state of bliss is absolutely beyond description. Therefore some may think such bliss to be similar to the comfort and ease experienced at the climax reached by a couple in sexual union. To maintain and perpetuate this joy and illustrate the pinnacle state of supreme bliss, Buddha of Pleasure statues have been developed. These statues symbolize the meditative absorption of great bliss. Therefore, Buddha of Pleasure statues are just symbolizing the spiritual state of supreme bliss, for such bliss is beyond description and cannot be appropriately expressed by any imagery. Eventually, the state of bliss came to be symbolized by the union of man and woman. Among the buddha statues in Tantric Buddhism, the Yab Yum buddha statues are meant to express the contentment of realization upon entering the state of supreme bliss. Yet many people, including some Tantric practitioners, have assumed that there is a meditative practice for gaining realization by means of sexual union. Some lamas in fact found some beautiful women and embraced them in meditation. Nothing would have gone wrong if they had not performed the consort practice. But if the consort practice is carried to completion, the lamas eventually end up in hell for indulging in licentiousness. Everyone is affected by lust and craves the joy of physical pleasure. However, when a cultivator falls to this level of evil in his practice, it is a straight road to hell to meet the great celestial mara (devil). Is there consort practice in Tantric Buddhism? My answer is yes. However, this does not refer to a couple meditating while in sexual embrace. If you practise in the fashion of the Buddhas of Pleasure, you commit a grave error. I am an enlightened adept, and I know that consort practice does not refer to a method of practice that requires the union of man and woman. Within us lies yin and yang, and it is evident that my being is endowed with both masculine and feminine qualities, as well as the properties of water and fire. Therefore, the Buddha Statue of Pleasure symbolizes the union of yin and yang within ourselves. Attaining the spiritual state of supreme bliss through the embrace of the male and female and the merging of water and fire does not refer to the actual physical union of a couple, but points to the formless embrace of the male and female principles within. I hope this explanation helps the readers to gain a clear picture of this matter. I want to share with you that when a diligently practising cultivator ignites the psychic heat in the Root Chakra, this heat will rise through the Sacred Chakra, the Navel Chakra, the Heart Chakra, the Throat Chakra, and the Brow Chakra, and will eventually reach the Crown Chakra. In contemplation, the psychic heat represents fire, symbolizing the masculine principle or yang nature. The Crown Chakra holds the bodhicitta moon nectar or white bodhicitta, which represents water, the yin principle. The rising of the psychic heat is called the holy cognition of the yang polarity. The white bodhicitta is the supreme wisdom of the yin polarity. When the white bodhicitta trickles downwards and the psychic heat travels upwards, they merge within each respective chakra. As a result, this produces a great bliss experienced within the spiritual state of supreme bliss. However, this state can be tainted with the great physical pleasure experienced in the sexual union of male and female. The true consort practice is the harmonizing of the yin and yang principles within, the embrace of the masculine and feminine nature, and the blending of water and fire. One can gain attainment within ones own body without having to resort to finding an actual female partner. Similarly, the Taoist practice involving the Male Kan and Female Li is not an occurrence involving a physical couple, but points to the masculine and feminine principles within oneself. However, many people in this world are led astray by the consort practice. The Taoist approach of harvesting and supplementing energy [from the opposite sex] is evil and absurd, and is an absolute abuse of Taoist practice. Some Tantric practitioners were unaware that the consort practice was about ones own masculine and feminine principles, and engaged in sexual acts according to the Buddha Statues of Pleasure. They were unaware that the Buddha Statues of Pleasure merely symbolize the merging of the psychic heat and white bodhicitta. Good heavens! Those who are aware of this fact are indeed few and far between. The bliss as attained in the spiritual state of supreme bliss is a far cry from the bliss of physical pleasure, for supreme spiritual bliss is a joy unmatched by any other pleasure. Hence its name, the spiritual state of supreme bliss. Human beings long for happiness. Some obtain it through the gathering of wealth, whereas others seek power. There are individuals who desire to rule the world, while others pursue the joy gained through their physical organs. However, the joys gained from wealth, power, and physical enjoyment are but short lived. Take the joy of physical pleasure for example. This is a reflection of our animal instinct, and such a form of joy, derived from wining and dining and the desire for physical touch, is very limited. This limited joy of man is thus controlled by the animal instinct. However, the spiritual state of supreme bliss attained through the practice of Mahamudra derives from the merging of the psychic heat and white bodhicitta drip. This is the bliss obtained through entering into samadhi, in which the self nature is completely merged with the eternal bliss of the great universe. This of itself is the true and genuine infinite joy. Let me say that all worldly things are finite and limited. Our lives are never eternal, and neither is the earth. The pursuit of physical pleasure, wealth, and power brings only temporal joy. Those practitioners who have experienced the spiritual state of supreme bliss can testify to this, for they realize that only the supreme consciousness of the universe is eternal and infinite, and only those who partake in this journey of cultivation are true masters, true gurus, and are always spiritually supreme. Once the psychic heat has risen, how does one make the white bodhicitta drip downwards? The practitioner must first practise the Yoga of Inner Fire or Psychic Heat (Tummo) and skillfully perform full breathing along with the Mahamudra techniques. At this stage, one visualizes the psychic heat that arises from the seed syllable AH reaching the Crown Chakra and melting the white bodhicitta with the HAM syllable so that it liquefies and drips downwards. As the white bodhicitta drippings meet the psychic heat at each of the chakras, they merge and fill the chakras, producing the spiritual state of supreme bliss. No worldly pleasure is able to express the bliss experienced in this state, which can be described as the greatest and most wonderful joy. The spirit and mind thus abide in the spontaneous state of Voidness, which is pure divine radiance and joy. In principal, such bliss can be described by these four words, great, uplifting, wonderful, and divine. Worldly pleasure is a contaminated form of worldly accomplishment. The spiritual state of supreme bliss, however, is a transcendental accomplishment free from defilement. When the practitioner of Mahamudra arrives at the spiritual state of supreme bliss in his cultivation, he is almost completely cleansed of any worldly expression of sadness or happiness. He naturally comes to realize that all things are illusory, and completely realizes the indivisibility of form and emptiness. The entanglements that hold most people are released upon reaching this spiritual state. All is open and clear, and one knows the great joy that stems from good and pure karma. The symbolism of the buddha statue of pleasure and the secrets of consort practice are all being revealed in this article. |
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