The Aura of Wisdom 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by True Buddha Foundation Translation Team (Cheng Yew Chung, Victor Hazen, Dance Smith)

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 154th book, 智慧的光環.

CHAPTER 39 - The Fundamental Rationale of Tantric Buddhism

I personally find that the fundamental rationales of the Tantric tradition and the Sutric tradition are completely different. I can tell that the approach employed by the Sutric tradition to salvage sentient beings is the method once used by an ancient Chinese man called Gun, who tried to control a flood by blocking it. However, the approach of Tantric Buddhism liberates sentient beings through the method employed by Gun`s son, Yu, who controlled the flood by channeling the water.

These approaches of blocking and channeling are meant to deal with the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. Both the Sutric and Tantric Buddhist traditions acknowledge the presence of these three poisons in the hearts of humans, existing as the accumulated karmic residue from ages. While the Sutric system aims on removing these poisons, Tantric Buddhism cultivates by coexisting with greed, anger and ignorance.

I have highlighted: Greed - The Jambhala Practice. Anger - The Wrathful Guardian Practice. Ignorance - The Consort Practice.

This is the fundamental rationale of Tantric Buddhism, of which the divine deities can be addressed directly as `greedy Buddha`, `angry Guardian`, `ignorant Bodhisattva` or `desirous Bodhisattva`. The rationale of Tantric Buddhism is that coexisting with greed, anger and ignorant, thereby satisfying the wishes of sentient beings through the methods of cultivation, proves to be the most effective approach. Once a practitioner attains the Dharma taste, he or she will naturally understand that greed is emptiness, anger is compassion, and ignorance is wisdom. Eventually, by means of transformation, one realizes there is no gain and loss, and therefore achieves the subjugation of the ego self. The practitioner sees through the illusion of lust, and arises to spirituality, attaining the Primal Wisdom of the Buddha.

Tantric Buddhism regards lust, anger and ignorance as aspects of Buddhadharma, thus it liberates sentient beings accordingly, based on their respective basic instincts and natures. Furthermore, the Tantric mantras are able to bind all evils, prevent them from arising, arrest any evil actions, and help in the increase of wisdom. This is the foundation of the rationale. Tantric mantras can transform all impurities into purity.

Many people today have little understanding of the fundamental rationale of Tantric Buddhism, and they barely scratch the surface of its teachings. They commonly associate Tantric Buddhism with things related to strange, mystical, cult-like activities, which engage in the use of spells, wine and meat. But seriously speaking, the rationale of Tantric Buddhism ultimately aims to transform all defilements into purity, purify one`s mind, and attain supreme purity.

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01 - Spiritual Conviction
02 - Vanity
03 - Adopting a Monistic Life
04 - Manifestations
05 - Spiritual Response
06 - Purification of One's Mind
07 - Right View
08 - The True Acharya
09 - Self Importance
10 - The Four Levels of Empowerment
11 - Making Offerings
12 - Making Offerings (2)
13 - Spiritual Authentication
14 - Keeping the Codes and Precepts
15 - The Spirit of Upholding the Precepts
16 - The True Buddha School
17 - True Practice
18 - Respect the Guru
19 - The Most Comprehensive System of Buddhist Practice
20 - Do Not Slander the Tantric Teachings
21 - Ignorance
22 - Liberal Authentication
23 - The Sutra and Tantra Traditions
24 - Dharma Epithet
25 - The Secret Referred to in the Secret Teachings
26 - Mahabodhicitta, the Mind of Perfect Enlightenment
27 - Perfect Penetration of the Sutra and Tantra Teachings
28 - The Mandala
29 - Attaining Budddhahood in this Very Body
30 - Refrain from Killing
31 - Taking Meat or Vegetarian Meals
32 - Offering Wine and Meat to the Buddha
33 - Why Practice Buddhism and Do Cultivation?
34 - The Guru's Power of Blessing
35 - The Precious Teachings of Tantric Buddhism
36 - The Jambhala or Wealth Deity Practice
37 - The Wrathful Guardian Deities
38 - Yab-Yum, the Consort Practice
39 - Fundamental Rationale of Tantric Buddhism
40 - The Heart Essence and the Orally Transmitted Secrets
41 - Cultivating with Contemplation and Visualization
42 - Aijikan, the Visualization of the Seed Syllable AH
43 - Choosing One`s Principal Deity (Yidam)
44 - The Fourfold and Sixfold Refuge
45 - Radiating Light Blessing
46 - Radiating Light Invocation
47 - The Importance of the Four Preliminaries
48 - The Secret of Contemplating on Emptiness
49 - Elucidation on the Three Powers
50 - Reverence for the High King Sutra
51 - A Buddha Manifestation of Great Authority
52 - Merging as One
53 - The Key Instructions of Entering, Abiding and Absorbing
54 - Seen in the Context of Heresy
55 - The Importance of Cultivating Chi