Vajrayana exam

Question 1

1. If the Arhat was the ideal of Sutrayana and the Bodhisattva of Mahayana, what was the ideal of Vajrayana?

Answer 1

The Siddha: literally “one who is accomplished.” This term refers to advanced practitioners who might live a normal life
with family and work but meditated intensely during their work or at night. Alternately, they lived in wild places and
cremation grounds. They were known for their unconventional behavior, critique of religious establishment, and
unpredictable and sometimes fearsome demeanor.

Question 2

2. What does “Vajrayana” mean? Why is it also called the “resultant vehicle” or vehicle of “skillful means”?

Answer 2

“Vajrayana” means the diamond-like / adamantine or indestructible vehicle. It is called the resultant vehicle (phala yana)
because rather than leading the practitioner on a linear path of developing causes for awakening, it leads directly to the
result, direct contact with the awakened state. It is called the vehicle of skillful means because it offers the practitioner the
methods for doing so

Question 3

3. If Sutrayana is the path of renunciation, Vajrayana is the path of…? Explain.

Answer 3

Transformation

Question 4

4. What were the influences that contributed to the development of Vajrayana and when did it occur?

Answer 4

Vajrayana Buddhism or Tantric Buddhism arose in India during the Pala period between the 8th
and 12th
centuries CE.
It arose out of ancient pre-Aryan, pre-patriarchal roots and joined with Mahayana Buddhism. Tantric Buddhism shares its
roots with Saktism, worship of the goddess and women as embodiments of the goddess, and Saivism with its phallic
worship.
Tantric Buddhism built on Mahayana, but arose in a spirit of critique as a protest movement of the laity. It took place
within the context of Buddhist monasticism having become overly intellectual, political, associated with the wealthy, and
isolated from the lay communities. It was led by practitioners leading ordinary lives, doing mundane work; monks who
left their monastic communities; and many women practitioners and teachers. Tantric practice took place outside of the
walls of the monastery, in cremation grounds and the wilderness.
There were many enlightened women in the early Indian tantric tradition who re-introduced spirituality connected to
sexuality, the senses as a path to liberation, and an integration of mundane work onto the spiritual path. As in the Sakta
tradition, female energy is the primary, driving, creative force of the cosmos - the universal womb - and is thus deeply
honored.
The Tantric revolution eventually made its way into universities and wandering lay practitioners spread it to border
regions and it expanded into the Himalayas, East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Question 5

5. What new aspects of Buddhism developed in Vajrayana?

Answer 5

Like Mahayana, Vajrayana was based on a class of scriptures attributed to the Buddha called tantras which included
rituals, initiations, mantras, yoga, sacramental feasting, and ecstatic sexual practices. (There is, however, no historical
evidence that these tantras did, in fact, originate with Shakymuni Buddha.) The Tantras emphasize liturgical methods
called Sadhanas in which the practitioner imagines a mandala (the palace of the deity) and identifies with a deity who
symbolizes various aspects of awakened mind.
The ideal in this tradition was the siddha (in place of the arhat or bodhisattva), people who lived and worked in ordinary
situations and through applying the Buddhist teachings in their work and daily life became enlightened.
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The Tantric teachings were also socially inclusive and diverse. We see all levels of Indian society participating,
particularly the lower castes. Some princesses, like Laksminkara, left positions of privilege and comfort to pursue yogic
practice. Tilopa was a sesame seed pounder, and other practitioners were cobblers, weavers, innkeepers, winemakers, pig
herders, and housewives.

Question 6

6. What form of Buddhism went to Tibet and when?

Answer 6

Sarvastivadin vinaya, Madyamika, Yogacara and Vajrayana all went to Tibet in the 8th century AD.

Question 7

7. What are the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism? What is the order of their historical development?

Answer 7

1. The Nyingma or ancient school developed during the early spreading of Buddhism to Tibet, between the 7th and
   9
   th centuries CE.
   During the later spreading, from the 10th-12th centuries CE, the new translation schools were formed:
2. Sakya
3. Kagyü
4. Geluk

Question 8

8. What are the tantras as literature? What does the word Tantra mean?

Answer 8

Tantra means continuity, and it implies continuity of luminosity. Tantras include rituals, initiations, mantras, yoga,
sacramental feasting, and ecstatic sexual practices. The Tantras emphasize liturgical methods called Sadhanas in which
the practitioner imagines a mandala and identifies with a deity symbolizing various aspects of awakened mind.

Question 9

9. What story/ies reflect the social changes caused by the Vajrayana movement?

Answer 9

These are the stories of Naropa and Kumari.
The Story of Naropa (Transcript from one of Lama Tsultrim’s teachings)
Naropa was a great scholar, a great intellect, and the head of Nalanda University, which was a huge Buddhist University in
northern India. He is sitting outside one day studying a book on epistemology and logic and when a shadow falls across
his book. I love that image of the shadow, because this is what it was, it was his feminine shadow side. He turns around
and there is an ugly hag. She had all kinds of ugly features, but rather than taking in her whole being and listening to what
she’s there to tell him, because he’s such an intellectual, he actually analyzes her 37 ugly features!
He finally asks her what she’s doing there casting a shadow on his book. She nods toward what he is reading and says “Do
you understand the words or the meaning?” Naropa responds, “I understand the words.” She drops her cane and does a
little jig because she is so happy that he’s told the truth. Naropa thinks, “Oh well, that made her so happy, I think I’ll tell
her that I understand the meaning as well.” So he says to her, “And I understand the meaning.” Then she throws down
her stick and she goes into a rage. Naropa says to her “What is wrong?”
The hag replies, “You do not understand the meaning! You only understand the words.” And suddenly a shadow of doubt
falls across Naropa’s whole being and he realizes that this is true, he doesn’t understand the meaning, he only understands
the words. Then he says to her, “Well who does understand the meaning?” and she turns to him and replies,” My brother
Tilopa.”
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This experience completely rocks his world and somehow he is unable to go back into being this Nalanda scholar that he
was. Naropa can’t get the hag out of his mind. He knows she’s right. Even though he’s this great Buddhist scholar, he
doesn’t really understand the depth of the true meaning of what he is studying. He realizes that he can’t be at Nalanda
anymore. Of course that is a huge decision for him to make, but he makes it. And then he tells people he’s leaving to
search for his guru, Tilopa.
A lot of people try to convince him not to go, but he leaves anyway. And so there he is, walking out of the monastery
where everything has been provided for him and suddenly, he has no idea where he is going, where, or even who, Tilopa
is, and all he has is this memory of this experience with the hag.
Naropa sets forth on this amazing, difficult journey, in which he’s constantly being taken apart; all of his pre-conceptions
are dismantled. For example, he comes across a woman frying a live fish in a frying pan. He’s a vegetarian and he’s also,
of course, trained in compassion, and so he’s horrified but when he tries to stop her she disappears into a rainbow and this
voice comes out of the sky saying, “Until you’ve eliminated all conceptual thought, you will never meet the guru; look
into the mirror of the mind, the mysterious home of the dakini.”
Naropa sets forth on a journey of twelve years looking for his guru Tilopa and has all kinds of experiences during this
time in which he essentially has to break down the rigid mind structure that he’s built up during his academic career as
leader of a major Buddhist university as a monk and scholar.
Naropa’s story exemplifies the entrance of the Tantric teachings into the Buddhist monastic world. The shadow of the hag
could also be seen as a metaphor for the denigrated feminine, intuitive and experiential way of knowing entering the
Buddhist world. There are many other similar stories that emerged at this time, each one of a scholarly monk’s encounter
with an undomesticated wise woman who triggers his journey into tantric initiation. Sometimes she accompanies him as
his guide and sometimes she just appears and then disappears like the hag in Naropa’s story. Through their contact with
these women, the man becomes enlightened or directed onto his path to enlightenment. These women are called dakinis,
or sky goers, and they are a new and essential element that enters with the onset the Vajrayana.

Question 10

10. What is Mahasukha and how does it relate to Vajrayana as opposed to Hinayana and Mahayana?

Answer 10

The goal of the Dharma is to return to our true nature, the ground of being, mahasukha: a state of well-being that suffuses
all states, “great bliss.” In the other yanas, bliss was not associated with sexual pleasure but in the Vajrayana it is.

Question 11

11. What is the purpose of deity yoga?

Answer 11

The purpose of deity yoga is to activate divine qualities within through identification and transformation. The palace of
the deity is the mandala which is a blueprint for enlightened vision. The ordinary world is conditioned by our cultural
background, personal neurosis, and karma. The mandala replaces that with pure, luminous vision.

Question 12

12. What are Samayasattva and Jnanasattva?

Answer 12

The Samayasattva is the pledge being and the jnanasattva is the wisdom being.

Question 13

13. What are the two phases of a tantric sadhana?

Answer 13

The two phases are the kye rim (creation) and the dzog rim (completion).

Question 14

14. Name and explain the 3 samadhis.

Answer 14

1. The Samadhi of Suchness: emptiness
2. The Samadhi of All Appearance: compassion
3. The Samadhi of Cause: the seed syllable

Question 15

15. What does it mean that you go through a complete life cycle in a tantric sadhana?

Answer 15

The emptiness at the beginning of the sadhana is equal to pre-birth. The seed syllable is equal to conception. The
meditation and mantra recitation are equal to a life time and the dissolution and resting in emptiness are equal to death.

Question 16

16. What is vajra pride and why is it important in practice?

Answer 16

Vajra pride is the pride of the deity. It counteracts our limited notions. As the deity we maintain and generate boundless
compassion and wisdom, reflections of our true nature.

Question 17

17. How is Buddha Nature understood in terms of ground, path and fruition in the Vajrayana?

Answer 17

The ground is the Buddha Nature that is always already present, without conditions. The path is the Tantric journey to
uncover Buddha Nature. The fruition is recognizing Buddha Nature.

Question 18

18. What is the meaning of the word “mandala” in Tibetan and why was it important in Vajrayana development?

Answer 18

“Mandala” is a Sanskrit word meaning circle, society, group or association. In Tibetan, it is “kyil khor.” Kyil or
“center” denotes the true essence; khor or “circumference” means that this essence possesses the bliss of samsara and
nirvana in its entirety. The mandala connotes the place that holds or contains the ultimate essence.
The mandala represents pure vision and outlook and is a pathway to enlightenment

Question 19

19. What is the mandala from a Jungian point of view?

Answer 19

Carl Jung writes:
“When I began to draw mandalas, I saw that everything, all the paths I had been following, all the steps I had taken, were
leading back to a single point—namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly clear to me that the mandala is the center,
the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation…During those years, between 1918 and 1920, I
began to understand that the goal of psychic development is the self. There is no linear evolution; there is only a
circumambulation of the self…This insight gave me stability, and gradually my inner peace returned. I knew that in
finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attain what, for me, was the ultimate.”
“Mandala usually appear in situations of psychic confusion and perplexity. The archetype thereby constellated represents
the pattern of order which, like a psychological ‘view-finder’ marked with a cross or a circle divided in four, is superimposed on psychic chaos so that each content falls into place and the weltering confusion is held together by the
protective circle.” Jung Coll. Works Vol. 10, par 803

Question 20

25. Who is the dakini?

Answer 20

In Tibetan, dakini is khandro, the “sky dancer.” The dakini is the most important manifestation of the feminine in Tibetan
Buddhist teachings. She can take form as a deity, within dreams, or as a human woman. Fierce yet compassionate, she is a
messenger of emptiness and spaciousness and a protectress, revealing what we try to hide and cutting through what we
cling to.

Question 21

26. What are the key implements of the dakini and what do they represent?

Answer 21

The trigug is a hooked knife of the charnel ground which cuts through dualistic fixation. The handle may have the
symbol of the dakini’s family; the hook is the hook of compassion, pulling beings out of the ocean of suffering.
* The kapala is a skull cup of blood, a reminder of impermanence and our karmic inheritance. It is the cauldron of
transformation of poisons into the nectar of wisdom.
* The khatvanga staff is the inner consort, skillful means and compassion. At the top is a vajra, representing the
masculine, and three heads: a dried skull (dharmakaya), a decaying skull (samboghakaya), and a freshly severed head
(nirmanakaya.)

Question 22

27. What is the significance of the charnel ground in Vajrayana?

Answer 22

The charnel ground is a haunting reminder of impermanence and emptiness, calling on the practitioner to cut through
discursive thought, self-cherishing, and dualistic attachment. The charnel ground is the traditional abode of the dakinis
and a place of practice for Vajrayana practitioners. Symbolically, the charnel ground is the liminal space where we meet
our deepest fears or “shadows,” and where transformation becomes possible.

Question 23

28. What are the five male and female Buddhas and what do they mean?

Answer 23

The five male buddhas are Vairocana (Buddha), Akshobhya (Vajra), Ratnasambhava (Ratna), Amitabha (Padma), and
Amogasiddhi (Karma). They symbolize the transformation of the 5 skandhas: consciousness, form, feeling, perception,
and volition.
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The five female Buddhas are Aksasa Dhatvisvari (Buddha), Mamaki (Vajra), Buddha Locana (Ratna), Pandaravasini
(Padma), and Samaya Tara (Karma). They symbolize the transformation of the five elements: space, water, earth, fire, and
air.

Question 24

29. ‘When the 5 elements and 5 skandhas arise as a display of the five wisdoms, there are no impure perceptions.’
    What does this mean?

Answer 24

This refers to pure vision and taking all phenomena and experiences on the path.

Question 25

30. What are the nine yanas of the Nyingma tradition and what is the progression expressed by them?

Answer 25

The Causal Yanas
1. Sravaka
2. Pratyeka
3. Bodhisattva
The Outer Tantras
4.Kriya
5. Ubaya or Charya
6.Yoga
The Inner Tantras
7. Maha
8. Anu
9. Ati

Question 26

31. How do the new translation schools (Kagyu and Gelug) divide the tantras?

Answer 26

Three outer classes
 Kriya Tantra,
 Charya Tantra and
 Yoga Tantra;
And one inner class of tantra, which is called
 Anuttarayoga Tantra, or Highest Yoga Tantra.
The latter is divided into three:
1. Father Tantras, such as the Guhyasamaja Tantra, the King of Tantras;
2. Mother Tantras, such as the Chakrasamvara Tantra; and
3. Non-dual Tantras, such as Kalachakra.

Question 27

32. What are the key elements of the three Outer Tantras? What is the relationship with the deity in each?

Answer 27

1. Kriyatantra (literally “action tantra”) places a special emphasis on ritual actions, such as ritual bathing, and
   ritual ‘magic’ to perform rites of pacification, increase and wrath. The emphasis of this level of tantra is on obtaining the
   siddhis, which are then used for the benefit of all beings, causing the accumulation of merit. The deity is seen as a king or
   queen to a subject.
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2. Ubaya (meaning “both”) or Charyatantra (performance or conduct tantra) includes Kriya and Yoga tantra
   aspects. It includes external ritual actions and ablutions of body, speech and mind like Kriyatantra and the inner
   cultivation of intentionality and mindfulness, similar to Yogatantra. Hence, outer and inner conduct. Charyatantra
   emphasizes obtaining liberation through meditation. In this tantra, the deity is like a sibling of the practitioner.
3. Yoga tantra is so named because it emphasizes the inner yoga meditation of method and wisdom; or
   alternatively, because it is based on knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the profound ultimate truth and the vast
   relative truth. It emphasizes contemplation that inseparably unites these two truths. The deity is understood to be internal.

Question 28

33. What is Maha Yoga and what is the relationship with the deity here?

Answer 28

Mahāyoga (Skt. “great yoga”) is the designation of the first of the three Inner Tantras according to the nine-fold division
of practice used by the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Mahāyoga is held to emphasize the generation stage (or “development stage”) of Tantra, where the succeeding two yanas,
anuyoga and atiyoga, emphasize the completion stage.
In Mahāyoga, one visualizes oneself as the deity with consort. All manifestation, thoughts and appearances are considered
to be the sacred aspects of the deities within relative truth.

Question 29

34. What is Anu Yoga and what is the relationship with the deity?

Answer 29

Anuyoga is said to emphasize the completion (perfection or dzog rim) stage of Tantra, where the preceding yana,
Mahayoga, emphasizes the generation stage, kye rim. The deity in Anu Yoga is within the practitioner.

Question 30

35. What is Ati Yoga and what is the relationship with the deity here?

Answer 30

In the 10th and 11th century, Dzogchen emerged as a separate tantric vehicle in the Nyingma tradition and was used
synonymously with the Sanskrit term ati yoga (primordial yoga). Atiyoga is associated with a realization of the nature of
reality via great bliss. This ties in with the three stages of deity yoga described in a work attributed to Padmasambhava:
development (kye), perfection (dzog) and great perfection (dzogchen).

Question 31

21. Explain your understanding of the Vajra family, including its obstructed energy pattern and its wisdom.

Answer 31

Personal answer,

Question 32

22. Explain your understanding of the Ratna family, including its obstructed energy pattern and its wisdom.

Answer 32

Personal answer.

Question 33

23. Explain your understanding of the Padma family, including its obstructed energy pattern and its wisdom.

Answer 33

Personal answer.

Question 34

24. Explain your understanding of the Karma family, including its obstructed energy pattern and its wisdom.

Answer 34

Personal answer.

Question 35

20. Explain your understanding of the Buddha family, including its obstructed energy pattern and its wisdom.

Answer 35

Personal answer.