The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness

by Chogyam Trungpa

  In the vajrayana, something similar takes place. Once again, a quality of appreciation and faith enters in, but in this case it is much more delicate and less crude. Very curiously, at the same time some kind of crudeness or samsaric mind begins to enter. But in this case, samsaric mind is disguised as absolute bodhichitta, the conviction and trust in the purity of being cleaned and stripped and perfectly well-dressed.

  The Union of Relative and Absolute Bodhichitta

  With the union of the absolute and relative principles, you begin to see the purity of the phenomenal world overall. You see that whether it is pure or impure, it is all the same. How this idea of purity develops in this particular yana is very different from what happens at the bodhisattva level. In kriyayoga, things become much more clear and precise. At the highest level of kriyayoga, there is a hint that purity and impurity are one. But there is just a hint of that, rather than the full experience. A minute seed of crazy wisdom is beginning to develop, which is extraordinary and encouraging. If somebody moves very slowly from hinayana to mahayana, and finally embarks on the vajrayana, they begin to see a seed of craziness. That is a very powerful experience.

  INHERENT PURITY

  The great Nyingma teacher Longchen Rabjam said that kündzop is unborn and unoriginated. That is the attitude toward reality in kriyayoga. But it is hard to believe that; it is a very radical thing to say. Usually we believe that kündzop is born and originated. We think that things such as vases and tables and chairs are born and originated. But in this case, they are seen as unborn and unoriginated. Why? Because of their inherent purity.

  As an example, however much we might like to romanticize the nature of childbirth, giving birth is a very messy job. You have blood coming out of you, you have pain, you have contractions. You are attacked by this sudden sickness called childbirth. You may like to sugarcoat the experience and say, “It was fine, fantastic, a real experience. My child was born by natural childbirth, and it was great!” But let us be very honest at this point. Although you may try to think of reality as some great natural wonder, although you may romanticize it, reality has its messy qualities always.

  In kriyayoga, it is not that there are no messy qualities; the messiness is obvious. Reality is very messy! Nevertheless, that messiness is in itself inherently pure because it is a pure messy quality! It is truly messy, and that’s fine. The mess is one-hundred-percent mess, so it is pure. That makes it unborn. Shit is one hundred-percent shit; therefore, it is inherently pure.

  I would like to emphasize that this particular yana has a lot of wisdom. Good things come from developing that sense of purity completely. In the kriyayoga concept of purity, everything is sacred and everything is profane. And as long as there are no exceptions, it appears that it does not matter whether we call something “sacred” or “profane.” The idea is that since everything is profane, therefore everything is very sacred.

  The kriyayoga approach is realistic, rather than insight based. That is the difference between kündzop and töndam: in töndam, you take a superficial view at first, then you try to see inside it; but with kündzop, everything is taken at face value. Water is water; therefore, water is sacred. In kriyayoga, purity is seen to be an absolute, inherent quality of kündzop. That is where the very powerful vision of kriyayoga comes from.

  1. The first three tantric yanas are also referred to as “outer tantra,” and the last three as “inner tantra.”

  2. The Old Translation school refers to Buddhist teaching introduced to Tibet in the eighth century by masters such as Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita. The Nyingma tradition is based on this early translation period.

  3. The New Translation schools base their traditions on teachings brought to Tibet in the eleventh century by translators such as Marpa. Of these schools, the Kagyü, Sakya, and Geluk traditions are the best known.

  4. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche taught from the perspective of mahamudra and his Kagyü heritage, from the perspective of maha ati and his Nyingma heritage, and from the perspective of the inseparable union of the two.

  5. Trungpa Rinpoche clearly thought it was valuable to study the full progression of tantric yanas, even though the earlier tantric yanas are often overlooked.

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  Kriyayoga: Purification

  In terms of [kriyayoga] purity, you are not just washing out dirt. You are cleaning your skin and flesh and muscles and bones and marrow and everything in your body so that it becomes transparent. . . . Because you have cleaned everything out completely, including having surrendered your ego, you have nothing left but pure transparency, which is a tantric version of the bodhisattva path.

  ROOTS IN HINDUISM

  The tantric approach in Buddhism is based in part on Hinduism. In order for Buddhist tantra to establish its own ground, it had to make use of the existing tantric culture of Hinduism; and since kriyayoga is the first stage of tantra, Hinduism and Buddhism could work together in kriyayoga. So in kriyayoga, Buddhist and Hindu tantra share a cultural similarity, which is unavoidable. If we look at kriyayoga from an anuttarayoga point of view, we see a preoccupation with form, ritual, and other highly symbolic activities. And at the level of anuttarayoga and the three higher yanas, Hindu and Buddhist tantras are entirely different. But kriyayoga is the starting point of all tantra, and at that level there are similarities and meeting points.

  The path of Hinduism is purely a tantric path; in Hinduism, there are no such things as hinayana and mahayana. The Hindu ideal of total human development in terms of the social setup—from one’s upbringing, professional pursuits, and relationship with the world, until one’s final retirement as a sannyasin, or monk—might be the equivalent of the stages of hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana. However, there is no definite or direct teaching of the three yanas within Hinduism.

  The approach of Buddhist tantra is very closely related to Hinduism, but from the Buddhist perspective, worshipping Hindu deities is a form of ignorance. In particular, kriyayoga is considered to be a way of transcending the worship of Brahma, which is connected with ignorance; upayoga is considered to be a way of transcending the worship of Shiva, which is connected with aggression; and anuttarayoga is considered to be a way of freeing those who believe in the doctrine of passion, which is associated with Vishnu. The idea is that the basic qualities of those three Hindu deities seem to have developed into expressions of cosmic or national emotions and confusion. So kriyayoga, upayoga, and anuttarayoga can almost be seen as being dedicated to working with or overcoming the basic Hindu conflicting emotions, or kleshas.

  PHYSICAL PURITY AND HINDU TANTRA

  Kriyayoga could be interpreted as being a pragmatic approach to life. What is the first thing to do when you are giving a tea party? You wash the teacups. That is precisely analogous to what happens in kriyayoga. Kriyayoga has a quality of practicality. It puts great emphasis on external actions and on physical and verbal discipline. It has to do with taking care of your body and your voice, and having an understanding of sound.

  The idea of action in kriyayoga is very close to the Hindu approach of physical purity. In Hindu tantra, much of the discipline has to do with acts of physical purification. The means of purifying yourself include bathing, eating vegetarian food, and doing the agni puja, or the fire-offering ceremony. We should be very careful not to think of such Hindu physical purification practices as merely superstitious. There is a lot of wisdom in them, although the wisdom is somewhat one-sided from our point of view.

  The Buddhist approach to physical purity differs from Hindu kriyayoga practice, although externally they appear to be almost the same. One reason they are not quite the same is that in the nontheistic Buddhist tradition, there is no belief in an external power, so there is no fear from that angle. However, neurotic eruptions could still develop within you and cause chaos, so you keep yourself pure in order to prevent such chaos. Whether in a group or alone, the mentality of purity is strongly present, so there is very little room for ignorance—but there is
still room for a sudden attack, skirmish, or border fight of ignorance. A sudden attack of confusion and chaos, an attack of samsaric mind, almost at the blackout level, is still possible. Therefore, there is a feeling of vulnerability, which brings out the need for purity. You feel that you cannot be attacked if you keep yourself clean and pure.

  In the previous yanas, the hinayana and mahayana, there is the same approach. You sit and meditate in order to attain enlightenment, in order to avoid being vulnerable to klesha attacks. The purity of kriyayoga is another way of retreating from such problems.

  In Buddhist kriyayoga, the response to living in an impure world is not so much that you conquer it. There is a lot of paranoia involved in the principle of victory. So in Buddhism, there is less emphasis on conquering or victory as compared to the Hindus, who talk about victory a great deal. In Buddhist kriyayoga, it is just that if you are dirty, you wash. You have acquired a vajra soap, and you have it available to you, so you do not have to make a big deal about it. Purity is in itself the practice, rather than focusing on impurity as something that you should dispel. There is actually a problem with our language, in that when we talk about purity, there is automatically the idea that impurity has to be dispelled, that we are attacking impurity or dirt. But that is not the case here. In Buddhist kriyayoga, we are indulging ourselves in purity without reference point. The purity itself becomes a way of life.

  In Buddhist kriyayoga, even baby shit could be seen as an object of purity. It is washable, so there is no fear of permanent damage. The world is inherently pure. If you put a few little ingredients of purity into the world and apply water, the world will speak for itself in its own purity. The purity will begin to relate with you. It is as if you shine a flashlight on the sun when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, and then the sun dispels the cloud because you shone your flashlight on it. The sun begins to communicate with your light, and the sun is very happy. But this has nothing to do with victory.

  You might think that although the sun is pure and the flashlight is pure, there is still the cloud, which is impure. But in the view of Buddhist kriyayoga, clouds are temporary phenomena. They are not something you have to struggle with or destroy. Such obstacles do exist, but they are not particularly a big problem. You experience impurities, but you know they are temporary and could be dissolved. That is the hope, the enlightenment. According to Buddhist tantra, from the beginning of the path we are already enlightened. We just have to realize it, and it is realizable.

  In kriyayoga, trust and faith are developed in how you handle yourself, within the notion that everything is transcendent. But such a transcendental approach can still only take place in kriyayoga at the level of physical gestures. And the basic physical gesture of the transcendental approach of kriyayoga is physically keeping clean, which includes maintaining a vegetarian diet, taking three baths a day, and eating pure food.

  KRIYAYOGA IN JAPAN, TIBET, AND THE WEST

  In Tibet, in order to perform the kriyayoga sadhana of Vairochana, we have to be trained in the five hundred mudras of that particular deity, as well as learning the forms and ideas associated with that sadhana, and memorizing the text. When you are receiving the abhisheka and practice this sadhana, you get up very early, you do not eat any meat, and you do not even put peacock feathers on the abhisheka vase. You just put kusha grass on it. You do not wear leather or fur products, but just simple wool.

  The sadhana is very severe, and memorizing the mudras is very confusing. In fact, in my monastery one of the examinations that the monks had to go through, including myself, was to sit in the middle of the assembly and perform the mudras that relate to a particular five-page section of the text. In the verse in that sadhana where the visualization occurs, it talks about how Vairochana holds a vajra and a three-bladed ritual knife, or phurba, in his hands, and he is churning out little wrathful protectors, or mahakalas. You have to do all the mudras that go along with that, which each have their own form.

  Kriyayoga seems to be taught differently in Japan than in Tibet. In the Japanese tantra of Shingon Buddhism, which is largely based on kriyayoga, there are two main mandalas: those of Garbhadhatu and Vajradhatu. In Japan, there is less emphasis on purification and more emphasis on mudras and forms of all kinds. I think it is necessary to have forms of that nature, but for Tibetans, mantra practice is the main form. However, in doing the practice, the hand gestures, visualizations, and mantras are universal. It has nothing to do with culture.

  In terms of introducing kriyayoga in the West, there are very few cultural reference points to such purity practices. Although certain diets and forms such as yoga could be seen as purification practices, they tend to be heavy-handed, and any practice involving aggression does not quite work. However, as long as we are not obsessed with such disciplines, they could be useful in kriyayoga. Beyond that, we could introduce kriyayoga forms of mudras, mantras, and music, which are absolutely necessary.

  THE SYMBOLISM OF WATER

  In kriyayoga, you are beginning to understand vajrayana symbolism. In particular, you are beginning to relate with water. Water plays an important part in kriyayoga. It is not so much that you are disgusted with your dirt, but rather that you are relating with the feeling of cleanliness. There is a respect for the cleansing power of water. There is respect for the magic of water and the magic of cleanliness. This is reflected in the practice of symbolic cleansing at the start of a ceremony, which begins in kriyayoga and continues throughout tantra.

  Kriyayoga is a very interesting yana, because it has the sophistication of all the previous yanas, but at the same time it has also collected the paranoias of the previous yanas. Everything is based on action, on physical evidence of your commitment. You are involved with particular physical practices, and you understand the symbolism. It is good symbolism to take three baths a day and keep a vegetarian diet so that you do not associate yourself with the animal realm. In particular, kriyayogins avoid eating such things as the tongues, hearts, and brains of animals. If you must be a nonvegetarian, it is better to just eat an ordinary steak.1

  In kriyayoga, purity is an act of cleanliness, and at the same time purity is self-existing. You are already pure and clean, but if you have doubts about that, you might take a shower or two. In the hinayana, purity is loneliness and simplicity. In the mahayana, purity is benevolence. So the purity of kriyayoga is a natural progression.

  We should not look down upon hinayana or kriyayoga as being a limited or fixed view. That is absolutely not true. If you do kriyayoga practice, it might actually turn your head around, in contrast to the tameness of just discussing it. You would be surprised how much power it has. Purifying yourself in this way is great. It is a fantastic and worthwhile experience. You actually do feel that you are changing your system completely, that you are becoming clean and pure.

  In kriyayoga, we could even go so far as to say that that you worship water as the mark of purification. One problem with Buddhism is that if we just stop at the level of madhyamaka, we end up sounding so dry and impersonal that we do not even have a path anymore. That is precisely why Naropa and others left their monasteries and decided to take a different approach altogether.2

  In our practice community, Karmê Chöling, we try to meditate at least three times a day. But this does not mean that we are paranoid about going insane, and so we are trying to regroup ourselves constantly. We just regard meditation as our way of life. We just do it. And the same thing is true with kriyayoga. Taking a bath is regarded as holy activity, sacred activity. You just do it. That is your lifestyle, your discipline. It is not because you are afraid of getting dirty. The fear of being dirty seems to be a more Hindu approach, but such paranoia can be a form of intelligence. As our discussion of tantra continues, you will find that we are going to use the word paranoia more and more. But we do not mean just any good old paranoia. We are talking about intelligence that is so sharp that it begins to cut through itself.

  A kriyayoga person has an understand
ing of the nature of water. You understand not just that water cleans physically, but you have a sense of psychological waterness. You realize that the purity of water does not just wash away your dirt. But this idea is not like the theistic belief that if you bathe in the river Ganges, your sins will be washed away. Buddhist practitioners of kriyayoga are not fooled by that kind of thinking.

  It may seem to be a bit ironic that a person who has reached the level of the highest form of mahayana Buddhism and the sophistication of the middle way, or madhyamaka, could still be involved with such trivialities. That may be, but it still makes enormous sense. You begin to get a great deal of benefit out of this kind of symbolism. Water means water; fire means fire. Symbols make sense to basic being. They can be the manifestation of the awakened state of mind or of confusion; therefore, it is much better to be on the safe side.

  According to kriyayoga, impurities are not regarded as lethal or poisonous, but they are regarded as a way of delaying final perfection. Therefore, people have to watch themselves: what they do, what they eat, and so forth. In terms of purity, you are not just washing out dirt. You are cleaning your skin and flesh and muscles and bones and marrow and everything in your body so that it becomes transparent. That is one of the most powerful points about kriyayoga. Once you have put your thoughts through the washing machine, you might still have thoughts, but they are transparent thoughts, pure thoughts. Because you have cleaned everything out completely, including surrendering your ego, you have nothing left but pure transparency, which is a tantric version of the bodhisattva path.