The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness

by Chogyam Trungpa

  The ayatanas were the six basic sense faculties and objects. With the dhatus, the six sense consciousnesses are added in because they are the final perception of your surroundings.1 With the dhatus, you have the consciousness to make judgments about what you see. You see good things, bad things, and mediocre things; you see things that you couldn’t care less about, and at the same time you see things that you care for so much. Through the ayatanas and dhatus, you become complete and perfect, capable of experiencing the reality that goes on around you in the form of sights, sounds, feelings, tastes, and smells. When you have good ayatanas, then you should also have good dhatus at the same time.

  Cognition

  Once we have the sense perceptions, we then make use of cognizing faculties of all kinds. As human beings, we perceive pain, pleasure, and indifferent sensations by using any one of those sense perceptions to cognize or re-cognize. We develop our mode of behavior patterns, including such things as the feeling that we want to cry, we want to complain, we want to absorb, we want to take advantage of things—the simple, ordinary level of experience. We conduct ourselves in that way.

  Deeper Perception

  Then we go beyond that a little bit, if we can. Along with those perceptions that happen to us, and the cognizing faculties that we possess, we cannot reject that there is deeper perception taking place. That deeper perception is full perception; it is the fresh experience of all of those perceptions. We begin to use smelling, seeing, hearing, and every perception not only as one of our sense faculties, but to experience some clarity. Ordinarily, hearing is often conflicting with tasting, smelling is conflicting with feeling, and thinking is conflicting with smelling. But we begin to experience the clarity and precision beyond those senses—beyond smelling, beyond hearing, beyond tasting. We begin to experience a kind of clarity that can govern all of those situations.

  Ordinary experiences could be regarded as sometimes having a clouding effect. Hearing too much or tasting too much might have a numbing effect. But here, we are talking about going beyond that. Beyond ordinary perception, there is supersound, supersmell, and superfeeling existing in our state of being. This kind of perception can only be experienced by training ourselves in the depths of the hinayana. It can only be developed through shamatha practice, which clears out that cloudiness and brings about the precision and sharpness of the perceptions of hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, and all the rest.

  In shamatha practice, we develop the precision of experiencing our breath going in and out; and in walking meditation, we experience the movement of our heel-sole-toe. That begins to bring out precision that goes beyond the cloudiness of seeing, smelling, and tasting. Meditation practice brings out the supernatural, if I might use that word. By supernatural, I do not mean that you are going to see ghosts or become telepathic or anything like that, but simply that your perceptions become super natural. You feel your breath; it is so good. You breathe out and dissolve your breath; it is so sharp and so good. It is so extraordinary that your ordinary techniques become superfluous. Usually we think of how to become smarter than somebody else, but with shamatha, we simply see better, hear better, and smell better.

  Through shamatha, the best cognition begins to arise in your system and elevate your sense of existence. This happens purely through the means of being with your body, mind, and breath, through simply surviving on your meditation cushion. This process starts in the hinayana, so even at that point, your path is tantra already. Like tantra, the hinayana is continuity; it is dharana, or binding together. The continuity is already there, and the clarity and precision begin to come out of that continuity.

  By experiencing the clarity and the precision of the hinayana, we begin to find ourselves in the realm of utter, complete, and thorough reality. You might ask, “What is reality?” Reality, in this case, means seeing absolutely clearly and thoroughly. You can clearly see how you conduct yourself, how you manifest yourself, how you perceive, how you see, how you hear, how you smell, how you taste, how you feel, how you think, and so on and so on. You might say this is nothing particularly extraordinary; it is how you operate anyway. You might even say that you could get the same result out of any form of training. But that is not quite so. You do not begin to experience the mandala principle automatically, without this kind of training.

  SEEING THE OUTER WORLD AS A MANDALA

  The mandala approach could apply to many situations in life. It is not particularly alien to us, but it is natural and automatic in a sense. We will work with the mandala principle after our death, in how we experience our bardo,2 and we will work with it before we die, in how we experience sickness and turmoil. We are constantly working with those four styles of entering into reality.

  However, the ordinary world that we project out to is usually divided into friends, enemies, and neutrals, so we see the phenomenal world as either desirable, undesirable, or else we couldn’t care less. But at this point, having received transmission and developed at least a basic understanding of flashing sanity out to the world, we begin to realize that the distinction between friends, enemies, and neutrals is not that solid.3 So in relating to the outer mandala, you could refrain from such projections. Moreover, beyond simply refraining from solidifying those projections, you could transform them. That world of friends, enemies, and neutrals could be transformed, and the entire phenomenal world could be regarded as the heavenly realm of the mandala.

  Projecting sacred outlook in this way does not mean that your friends become enemies, your enemies become friends, and the ones you are indifferent to become either friends or enemies. You do not have to switch everything around completely. However, you become more accepting of how your friends are, in their own right, because they are sacred already; and that also applies your enemies, and to those to whom you are indifferent. Because of your sacred outlook, you do not have to stress either good or evil attitudes.

  When you experience total sacred outlook, there is no grudge against any situation and no overindulgence in possessiveness and wanting. Physical existence and the forms you see in the outer world are seen as the heavenly realm of the deities; speech is experienced as mantra; and the psychology of the world is experienced as awakened clarity. In that way, the outer world is completely transformed by means of a greater understanding of sacred outlook.

  FIRST THOUGHT AS THE CENTER OF THE MANDALA

  The mandala principle is based on the idea of having a first glimpse of something, and then having the rest of your impressions revolve around that. For example, somebody might say, “Hey, who are you?” That statement is the first proclamation. Then, when that information has come to you, you try to answer the question, and your answer revolves or circulates around that person who was saying, “Hey, who are you?”

  So you have a first thought, a flash, and then you have that which confirms it. That which confirms the first thought is the set of thoughts that revolves around that first thought, or the conclusion that follows from the first proclamation. In other words, this is a more enlightened version of the discussion of “I am,” or twofold egolessness, which is found in hinayana teachings.4 Here when we say, “I am,” the “I” is our starting point, and the “am” is what confirms our I-ness. So there is a basic situation, and there is also a secondary situation revolving around it, which confirms the initial situation. This is how the mandala principle operates in our everyday perception and interaction with others.

  From this point of view, “first thought” could be regarded as the center of the mandala. However, the term first thought does not literally mean the first thought you have when you get up in the morning. It refers to any first fresh thought that comes at the end of some babbling. At the end of a string of little babblings, you have a fresh beginning, a new first thought happening. You have the conceptuality of blobbidy bla, and then you have first thought—tshoo!—coming out of that. So first thought could happen at any time. And once it happens, there is the realization of that first thought, whi
ch is connected with the fringe principle. It is like saying “kingdom.” You have a “king” first, and the “dom” comes later, which makes a whole world; so altogether, it is a mandala.

  To describe this pattern of perception, Allen Ginsberg and I developed the phrase “First thought, best thought.”5 The center of the mandala, or kyil, is first thought, the first perception of reality; the surroundings, or khor, are what make first thought best. That first thought of awareness, which brings you into sanity altogether, could be either your own vajra state of being and awareness or that of your vajra master. In a mandala, there is no dichotomy between your own state of existence and the vajra master’s. You are in the vajra master’s world, in the sanity of the vajra master altogether. When sun is sun, there is always sunshine.

  You have a first perception of reality. For instance, you might look at an open Japanese fan, or suehiro, which is silver on one side and gold on the other. The first thought is seeing either a silver fan or a gold fan. Then you might see the fan upside down, but it is still first thought. You might then see the silver side down and the handle up; then you might see a gold fan with the handle up. At the same time, it is still just first thought.

  Photo 13. Trungpa Rinpoche brandishing a gold and silver fan.

  BEST THOUGHT AS THE FRINGE OF THE MANDALA

  Out of first thought (kyil) arises best thought (khor), the fringe or surroundings of the mandala. Usually what happens with those of us who are not realized is that we are possessed by what we project out. So ordinarily speaking, out of that first thought come passion, aggression, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess, and all sorts of other kleshas. But in this case, we do not regard those things as particularly wicked or terrible. The idea is that reality is always there. The texture of the phenomenal world always plays with you and rubs against you, and whether you feel up or down does not really matter. That is the meaning of khor.

  In speaking about the Buddha, The Sutra of the Recollection of the Noble Three Jewels says, “The dhatus have no hold on him. His ayatanas are controlled.” So the idea is not to be possessed by the dhatus, not to be possessed by your surroundings. “Not being possessed by projections” means that you do not go along gullibly with your idea that your perceptions are wicked. When you begin to see things as they are, you just accept them as they are, on the spot, and you do not try to edit your world. You have a sense of humor; you realize that things are not all that serious and not all that consequential, but they are simply the display of your khor, your perception. In The Sadhana of Mahamudra, there are lines that say: “Now pain and pleasure alike have become ornaments which it is pleasant to wear.” That is the same notion as not being possessed by dhatus.

  In relating to the sense perceptions, to the ayatanas and dhatus, instead of trying to understand all this intellectually, the best approach would be to try to investigate and see how the dhatus relate with you personally. This lineage is called the practice lineage, not the intellectual lineage. We always try things. We just go out and look and find out for ourselves.

  SHUTTING DOWN THE FACTORY OF SAMSARA

  Altogether, this discussion of the meaning of kyilkhor is reminiscent of our discussion of sang-gye in the hinayana teachings.6 Here, we said that kyil means “centering,” “precision,” and “clarity,” and khor means “surroundings”; and in discussing sang-gye, we said that sang means “clarified” or “purified,” and gye means “expansion” or “blossoming.” So there is a correlation between sang and kyil, and between khor and gye.

  Generally, the kleshas are connected with all kinds of mental contraptions, but with khor or gye, such contraptions are undermined and made unworkable. The whole factory of samsara is shut down. There is a sense of completely stopping the world, while at the same time still functioning in the world. If the factory of samsara is shut down, the kleshas can no longer operate. The kleshas occur because of your state of mind, because of the way the factory is operated. But in this case, metaphysics and logistics are no longer obstacles, so you can start a better factory.

  This is connected with the idea of creating an enlightened society. If we are creating an enlightened society, we do not shut down the lights, or stop serving meals, or vacuuming our floors. But an enlightened version of lightheartedness, as opposed to heavy-handedness, can take place.

  Presently, a lot of people feel aggression; they feel that they have been put in a situation in which they cannot celebrate anymore. But such a situation could be lifted up. There could be a change in the psychology of the factory administration, and the workers could begin to take joy in working at the factory, which would be wonderful. When the mechanisms and machinery of the factory are no longer problematic, they are like the sunrise and sunset.

  MANTRAS AS EXPRESSIONS OF MANDALA PRINCIPLES

  The structure of mantras also reflects the mandala principle. In a mantra, traditionally we put OM () first, we put the name of the deity in the middle, and we put SVAHA () at the end. For example, we could have OM Joe Schmidt SVAHA or OM Ginsberg SVAHA. So a mantra begins with OM and ends with SVAHA, and you are in the middle.

  In mantras such as OM MANI PADME HUM, OM is first thought. That first thought of OM is made up of three steps: The first is A, the feminine principle; the second is O, the masculine principle; and the third is M, the union of the masculine and feminine. So masculine and feminine are joined together in OM, in first thought. That is kyil, the center of the mandala.

  Ending with SVAHA is like saying “amen” or “let it be so.” However, SVAHA does not just mean “let it be that way” alone. It is slightly more than that. The idea is that having begun something, how you end it is also very important. So in a mantra, as in the mandala principle, the center or first thought is kyil (OM), and the surroundings or what we then perceive are khor (SVAHA).

  ENTERING THE MANDALA

  Iconographically, the mandala structure is shown with four gates, surrounded by a wall of flames, beyond which there is the charnel ground. The flames keep away those who would like to enter purely on the basis of being possessed with dhatus. They force the practitioner to enter properly.

  When you enter the mandala, you enter through one of the four gates. The Eastern gate represents entering peacefully, the Southern gate represents entering with richness, the Western gate represents entering with passion, and the Northern gate represents entering the mandala with aggression. But all of those ordinarily samsaric styles are transformed by the time a person actually enters into the mandala.

  We could apply this same principle to how you personally enter the vajrayana path altogether. If you want to study the dharma, you have to go to a center somewhere to do that. For instance, you might go to a monastery or to a practice center, where there is already a mandala setup. You will not actually see a wall of flames and a palace with four gates, but psychologically you have to prepare yourself to enter such a situation. And as soon as you register for a program, you begin to manifest your own style. You might use a yielding or peaceful mentality, entering by the Eastern gate. You might use a quality of richness, entering by the Southern gate. You might enter with politeness and courtesy in the style of the Western gate. Or you might enter from the North, saying, “I have the right to be here.” Entering a particular mandala of the teachings, no matter what its outer apparent form, presents the same issues as how you enter into the visualized mandalas of the divinities in vajrayana meditation practice.

  1. Simply having a sense organ and a sense object does not mean that a perception will necessarily register. The addition of a corresponding sense consciousness is necessary for a sense perception to arise as a conscious experience.

  2. Bardo, or “intermediate state,” refers to the period between death and rebirth, traditionally described as a journey lasting forty-nine days.

  3. This idea is discussed quite extensively in volume 2 of the Profound Treasury, part 7, “Mind Training and Slogan Practice.”

  4. See volume 1 of the Profound Treasury, ch
apter 68, “Cutting Through the Numbness of Ego.”

  5. Chögyam Trungpa had a long and close connection with Allen Ginsberg, and he was Mr. Ginsberg’s principal vajrayana teacher. At Naropa University, Trungpa Rinpoche worked closely with Anne Waldman and Mr. Ginsberg in the development of Naropa’s school of writing and poetics, called The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

  6. See volume 1 of the Profound Treasury, chapter 13, “The Buddha.”

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  The Inner Mandala

  The inner mandala is based on working with or overcoming the kleshas. But when we talk about overcoming the kleshas, we do not mean throwing them out the window or getting rid of them. Particularly in the vajrayana tradition, we do not get rid of anything, but we work with whatever arises and whatever we have. We use such material as the kleshas; we work with them. The kleshas are regarded as the fuel for attaining enlightenment.

  HAVING DISCUSSED the external or outer aspect of mandala, now we can discuss the internal or inner mandala principle. In the inner mandala, the five kleshas are transformed into five wisdoms.1 So in the inner mandala, we add our emotional life and the kleshas to the world of perception that developed in the outer mandala. The inner mandala includes the practice of transmuting the kleshas: consuming the neurotic aspect of them, and transforming the rest into energy and wisdom. This mandala is called the inner mandala, because it deals with our emotional life as opposed to our perceptions, which are part of the outer mandala.