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Simple analogies of "sutra and tantra?"
Sile
Veteran
I'm interested in exploring the general concepts of "sutra" and "tantra," and am personally drawn to simple analogies as a way of attempting to understand things better.
Here's one idea:
Sutra: All beings have been your mother.
Tantra: See all beings as your mother.
In this case I think of sutra as the textbook, and tantra as the workbook, lol.
Does anyone have other examples or thoughts on this--chiefly, simple analogies on what sutra and tantra are?
Here's one idea:
Sutra: All beings have been your mother.
Tantra: See all beings as your mother.
In this case I think of sutra as the textbook, and tantra as the workbook, lol.
Does anyone have other examples or thoughts on this--chiefly, simple analogies on what sutra and tantra are?
0
Comments
Nobody lives on Ketchup.
Tantra - I practice.
Tantra, anti-gravity potions reveal the mind's limits.
Tantra: now gravity had better know its limits
Tanta: transformation
Tantra: Do this stretching exercise. P.S. It will cause back pain at first.
Sutra: All beings have been your mother.
Tantra: See all beings as your mother.
Me: Beliving the validity of the sutra, and having drilled in the practice of the tantra, I now (attempt to increasingly) treat all beings as kindly as my own mother.
Tantra: Initiations and empowerments from guru.
Sutra: Path towards fruit.
Tantra: Taking the fruit as path.
I think it's interesting that sūtra can mean, specifically, a "thread that holds things together," as related to sew and suture.
An interesting alternate possibility:
Some scholars consider that the Buddhist use of sūtra is a mis-Sanskritization of Prakrit or Pali sutta, and that the latter represented Sanskrit sūkta, "well spoken", "good news" (as the Buddha himself refers to his speech in his first sermon; compare the original meaning of Gospel), which would also resolve as sutta in Pali.[4] The early Buddhist sutras do not present the aphoristic, nearly cryptic nature of the Hindu sutras,[5] even though they also have been designed for mnemonic purposes in an oral tradition. On the contrary, they are most often lengthy, with many repetitions which serve the mnemonic purpose of the audience. They share the character of sermons of "good news" with the Jaina sūtras, whose original name of sūya (in Ardhamagadhi language) can derive from Sanskrit sūkta, but hardly from sūtra. [K. R. Norman: A philological approach to Buddhism: the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai Lectures 1994. (Buddhist Forum, Vol. v.) xx, 193 pp. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1997. p. 104]
Defined primarily as a technique-rich style of spiritual practice, Tantra has no single coherent doctrine; rather, it developed different teachings in connection with the different religions that adopted the Tantric method. These teachings tended to support and validate the practices of Tantra, which in their classical form are more oriented to the married householder than the monastic or solitary renunciant, and thus exhibited what may be called a world-embracing rather than a world-denying character.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra
Tantra: Picture and practice.
Tantra - I don't give an eff, I eat an egg salad sandwich every day and a giant bean burrito.
The highest of all possible human goals is the attainment of complete enlightenment, an ultimate state of peace in which all obstacles obscuring the mind have been removed and all good qualities such as wisdom, compassion, and skillful means have been fully developed.
However, we cannot reach this ultimate goal merely by waiting for it; we need to use the appropriate methods to take us there.
What are the methods for attaining the peace of full enlightenment? They are the paths of Sutra and Secret Mantra; there is no third method. Of these two, the techniques revealed in Secret Mantra are superior to those revealed in the Sutras.
Not only is Secret Mantra the supreme path to full enlightenment, it is also extremely rare. As Je Tsongkhapa said, the teachings of Secret Mantra are even rarer than the Buddhas because, although a thousand founding Buddhas will appear during this Fortunate Eon, only the fourth (Buddha Shakyamuni), the eleventh, and the last will teach the paths of Secret Mantra.
At the moment, we have a great opportunity to practice these rare and beneficial teachings, so it is important that we develop a strong intention to practice them purely.
If the Mahayana teachings were to vanish from this world, we would have no opportunity to become a Buddha. Therefore, while we still have access to these precious teachings, we should apply ourself to them assiduously and try to gain some experience of them.
The etymology of Secret Mantra is as follows. ‘Secret’ indicates that these methods should be practiced discreetly. If we make a display of our practices, we will attract many hindrances and negative forces. This would be like someone talking openly and carelessly about a precious jewel they possessed and, as a result, attracting the attention of thieves.
‘Mantra’ means ‘protection for the mind’. The function of Secret Mantra is to enable us to progress swiftly through the stages of the spiritual path by protecting our mind against ordinary appearances and ordinary conceptions.
For more information on this subject, see Tantric Grounds and Paths.
Why Practice Tantra?
It is often said that the path of Tantra is superior to the path of Sutra, but to understand why this is so we need to engage in a precise study of both Sutra and Tantra; otherwise our statements about the superiority of Tantra will be mere words.
Moreover, if we do not study both Sutra and Tantra well, we shall find it difficult to understand how to practice the union of Sutra and Tantra, and then there will be a great danger of our either rejecting the practice of Tantra or ignoring the practice of Sutra.
The teachings of Tantra, or Secret Mantra as it is sometimes called, are the rarest and most precious of Buddha’s teachings. It is only by following the path of Secret Mantra that we can attain enlightenment, or Buddhahood.
Why can we not attain full enlightenment just by practicing the paths of Sutra? There are two main reasons. First, to attain Buddhahood we need to accomplish both the Truth Body and the Form Body of a Buddha.
Although Sutra teachings present a general explanation of how these two bodies are accomplished in dependence upon the stages of the path of wisdom and method, they do not give precise explanations of the actual direct, substantial causes of these two bodies. The direct, substantial cause of the Truth Body is meaning clear light, and the direct, substantial cause of the Form Body is the illusory body. These are explained only in Secret Mantra.
The second reason why Sutra paths cannot lead us to full enlightenment is that Sutra teachings do not present methods for overcoming the very subtle obstructions to omniscience – the subtle dualistic appearances associated with the minds of white appearance, red increase, and black near-attainment.
These three minds become manifest when our inner winds dissolve within the central channel during sleep, during the death process, or during completion stage meditation.
Although these minds are subtle minds they are nevertheless contaminated minds because their objects – the appearance of space pervaded by white light, the appearance of space pervaded by red light, and the appearance of space pervaded by darkness – appear as inherently existent.
These appearances of inherent existence are subtle dualistic appearances, and very subtle obstructions to omniscience. Because Sutra teachings do not explain how to recognize the subtle minds of white appearance, red increase, and black near-attainment, Sutra Bodhisattvas are unable even to recognize the subtle dualistic appearances associated with them, let alone abandon them.
In general, dualistic appearance is the appearance to a mind of both its object and inherent existence. All the minds of living beings, with the exception of the exalted awareness of meditative equipoise of Superior beings, have this appearance.
A direct realization of emptiness with a gross mind does not have the power to overcome the subtle dualistic appearances associated with the minds of white appearance, red increase, and black near-attainment.
The only way to abandon these subtle dualistic appearances is to realize emptiness directly with a very subtle mind of clear light. Since the methods for manifesting and using the very subtle mind of clear light are explained only in Secret Mantra, anyone who wishes to attain Buddhahood definitely needs to enter this path.
For more information, see Tantric Grounds and Paths and Clear Light of Bliss.
http://kadampa.org/en/reference/what-is-tantra/
When emptiness is realized there are Buddha qualities left over. These are nirvana dharma seal.-----------------------= If these qualities don't appear then the mahayana emptiness has not been realized.
Tantra is part of Tibetan Buddhism and is the diamond indestructible vehicle because there is nothing left out and nothing to add. As @taiyaki said in another thread 'the fruit is the path.'
Take this all with HUGE grain of salt because I do not practice this just my lama is approved to teach. Did I mention that tantra ONLY can legitimitely, 'authentically', definitively, and safely be taught as a pointing out instruction. Otherwise it would be like trying to learn to speak english from a dictionary.
In particular, again, without wanting to dispute this myself, because I've seen a lot of these arguments go nowhere, I suggest that the characterisation of all other traditions as limited 'sutra' traditions as opposed to complete 'tantric' methods, should be considered and investigated in an unbiased way before being accepted.
I see tantra as a patchwork of non-sectarian methods.
Whether that is true or not is something I would encourage others to keep an open mind about; I don't know everything, am by no means an expert, but I have noticed in this world a historic tendency for religious supercessionalism and the mischaracterisation of other traditions, and am therefore suggesting people bear this in mind and investigate for themselves.
For example, a teacher may introduce the Vajrasattva mantra, and at some point in the lesson will say something like "this mantra is supreme for purification." Often this gets translated as "this is the supreme mantra for [x]" when it may be better to say "a supreme mantra for [x]."
If that same teacher teaches on the Maitreya Mantra the next day, he/she may refer to it as a/the supreme mantra for purification; both mantras are indeed seen as powerful purification mantras, but the traditional way of presenting a teaching involves a lot of positive praise for whatever the subject that day is, and it can seem like one day the teacher is saying "this is the best of all," and then saying something entirely different is "the best of all," the next day.
It would be similar to hearing the Christian phrase, "most loving Father" one day and then "most loving Savior" the next; a non-native English speaker, or someone unfamiliar with Christian dialect, might be confused and think there is some kind of competition going on, and that it's not clear who is the most loving.
At the beginning of sutras themselves you will often hear them introduced as being the "best" in some way, but this is really a figure of speech praising that particular sutra.
In older English we used to have more of this "praise" speech ourselves, but it's gone out of fashion for the most part.
This is not to say there are no differences between practices; tantra is definitely taught as being a practical path for a householder (i.e. non-monk, non-nun) who doesn't have the time to contemplate for long periods of time. Tantra tries to make use of everyday life as a means of practice, instead. However, tantra is not in opposition to sutra, and the basics of Buddhism (ethics, wisdom, compassion, etc.) are the same.
I think it's very valuable to discuss this issue, because it can sound very complicated, and is very often misunderstood. People get unnecessarily fearful and spooked over tantra, in my opinion, mostly due to misunderstanding and disinformation.
Some also seem fearful that the West is not suitable for tantra, but I actualy feel we are somewhat uniquely ready for it, because we have a pretty extensive familiarity now with sports psychology, and other therapies/training traditions that make use of visualization. We generally accept, for example, that visualizing success on the sports field (visualizing making a basket, or hitting a ball farther, etc.) can genuinely improve our game. This is a reasoned belief for many now, because scientific studies show that visualization does have an effect. This familiarity with visualiation is not something every culture has yet.
We do have lots of distractions, though, and short attention spans, and love to scandalize things; it could be that these tendencies are unfortunately more powerful in the end and will sabotage not only tantra but all forms of Buddhism in the West.
I've yet to find a living Buddhist tradition which does not make use of everyday life as a means of practice.
I don't feel that everyone must make use of tantra, but neither should people criticize those who do; most of the negativity towards tantra (or any other Buddhist practice) is the result of misunderstanding.
Again, many sutras start out by saying they are the "best," etc., but this isn't taken to mean there is no other sutra worth reading, even though it could be easily misinterpreted that way.
I really believe we students (maybe Western-influenced students in particular?) get really hung up on differences, maybe because there are so many choices, and we want to weed some out ahead of time by saying "this is the only right way," or "that way is bad." we long for simplification, understandably, and tend towards rigidity and obsession (at least I do).
Yet when a Theravadin teacher and Vajrayana teacher meet, for example, in my experience, the last thing they would do is argue over whose system is better. There's nothing wrong with debate and analysis of course, but I hope we students can eventually adopt this more laid-back tolerance of the rich and healthy variety within Buddhism.
Think of a very passionate sports coach introducing a new strength exercise...I've heard it myself, thing like "Okay people, now this is going to be THE BEST workout for your heart and lungs." Last year it might have been a completely different exercise but introduced in the same, overstated way.
Read the opening statements of four or five sutras...the same "hyperbole" is there. This passion for the topic at hand is so characteristic of Asian literature in general.
I expect a lot of teachers got tired of being told 'I have heard of a higher path than yours, so I am going to wait until I can journey to x place, and not practice until then', so they just said 'ok, my teaching is the highest, nothing to see anywhere else and you don't live there anyway, now get on with it'.
At the same time, it is expected that a teacher will not just say "tantra is swift take it or leave it," but instead present a series of logical points which support the theory that tantra is swift. How many times have we heard at the end of class, "Now examine these concepts" or something to that effect? There is always the reminder to examine, examine, examine, not take it on blind faith.
And I think it's good that we have that variety to suit different temperaments.
Tantra: Remember what the sutra says: it's possible to learn French, and to use this skill to help others. Pay close attention to the French teacher in front of you. Ask her for advice on how she overcame obstacles when she was beginning to learn French. Listen to the nuances of her pronunciation. Try to say the words yourself. New things are unsettling, so to help you over your hesitation and embarrassment, imagine yourself saying the words beautifully, confidently and expertly. This is absolutely possible. Now imagine yourself using this expert skill to help others--feel the relief and comfort you provide to a Haitian family struggling to communicate with customs officers. Use this feeling to inspire you to keep going, even when it's difficult. You're doing this for a wonderful purpose. Now, with this new confidence and inspiration, try saying the words again.
Do this over and over until, as the sutra says, you can speak French, and then, as the sutra advises, use this skill to help others.
I am not familiar with the words so danke.
As far as I can tell tantra in the broadest sense means embracing everyday experience as part of our practice - maintaining mindfulness throughout the day would be an example.
I notice in going back to some of the definitions that the word itself, tantra, is actually often given as "loom" (earlier we'd mentioned "to weave.")
It made me wonder whether everyday life, daily experiences, could be considered the loom on which we weave. So our regular life is the framework on which we create our spirituality, as opposed maybe to keeping our secular life and spiritual life separate?
For Tantric Buddhism, see Vajrayana. For the texts classified as Tantras, see Tantras.
From that Tantras link, here's the bit on the texts:
The Vajrayana tradition has developed an extended body of texts:
Though we do not know precisely at present just how many Indian tantric Buddhist texts survive today in the language in which they were written, their number is certainly over one thousand five hundred; I suspect indeed over two thousand. A large part of this body of texts has also been translated into Tibetan, and a smaller part into Chinese. Aside from these, there are perhaps another two thousand or more works that are known today only from such translations. We can be certain as well that many others are lost to us forever, in whatever form. Of the texts that survive a very small proportion has been published; an almost insignificant percentage has been edited or translated reliably." [48]
[48] ^ Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. 800 to c. 1200). In: Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Band II. Hamburg. pp.23–49. (Internal publication of Hamburg University.) pg 3 [4]
“One must rouse all the energies one can discover in his body, emotions and mind, and combine them into a vehicle which will carry him towards enlightenment. Enlightenment being that state of knowing the truth about the origin of things and men, and their meaning, as clearly as experiencing a street.” (Philip Rawson, 1973, "Tantra")