Deities, eternal bliss and luminosity

Copper Coloured Mountain, detail HA90027

I remember someone in our retreat group (1984-1987) asking Tenga Rinpoche (1932-2012) whether deities really existed and whether they actually came from their natural dwelling place, after having been invited (t. spyan drang) and returned there after the sādhana. When Tenga Rinpoche answered they didn’t, being visualized and empty, and that it was merely a practice (sādhana), some in our group were quite surprised. For others, having read about a more pragmatic use of deities[1] or “meditation gods”, such as in e.g. Sāṃkhya and Yoga, or considering them more psychologically as “archetypes” etc., it confirmed their expectation. I have no idea how Tibetan Buddhist practitioners (East and West) see and live deities nowadays, on a more intimate level.

Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharya (An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, chapter XII The Deities p. 109), recalls that Advayavajra says “in a characteristic stanza” that “the deities are nothing but manifestations of Śūnya and are by nature non-existent; and whenever there is manifestation it must be Śūnya in essence.” Bhattacharya quotes some verses (MSP 14) from Advayavajra’s The Manifestation of Great Bliss (Mahāsukhaprakāśa). Below is Klaus-Dieter Mathes’ translation (A Fine Blend of Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka):

“Being mere dependent arising,
[Bliss] is neither existence nor emptiness (i.e., nothing at all);
And [its] manifestation in the form of deities
Naturally lacks an own-being. (MSP 14)

No matter how [bliss] appears,
It will always have the nature of emptiness;
Whether [bliss] be taken as duality or not—
Here, [in tantric practice,] it is the fruit of mental imprints. (MSP 15)”

Bhattacharya then explains “the process of evolution of deities from Śūnya”, quoting from the same text (MSP 4[2]).

“The process of evolution has four stages: the first is the right perception of Śūnyatā, or voidness; the second is the connexion with the germ syllable, the Bīja; the third is the conception of an Icon [bimbe]; and the fourth is the external representation of the deities. This statement gives a direct lie to the theory that later Buddhism was nothing but gross idolatry. It shows, on the other hand, that their conception of godhead was philosophically most profound, a parallel to which is scarcely to be found in any other Indian religion.”

“Therefore, everything arises in dependence”, so ends Advayavajra’s MSP4, including Bliss and its manifestation in the form of deities (MSP14). Also, Bliss [...] is the fruit of mental imprints (MSP15). As for the “dwelling place” of the deities, Bhattacharya adds:

“Occasionally information is obtained about the residence of the deities contained in the pantheon; and, so far as can be gathered from the stray references, it can be asserted without hesitation that the abode of the Vajrayāna deities was in the Akaniṣṭha heaven (t. 'og min), which is the topmost of the Rūpa heavens.”

Bhattacharya gives the example of the Vajravārāhī sādhana (Sādhanamāla, 11th c.). In this sādhana, “the rays draw down "a mass of buddhas and so on" from their dwelling place in the Akaniṣṭha heaven, where they reside in a body of enjoyment (saṃbhogakāya).[3]”

“Bliss” is imagination, neither existence nor “nothing at all”. It is freedom, the highest form of pleasure. Aesthetics and beauty. A mixture of sensory experiences, emotions, thoughts, feelings, aspirations. “The fruit of mental imprints”. It is “incarnated” and experienced. In dualistic terms it needs both “body” and “mind”. It is neither one nor the other, but where both “meet” in emptiness, in “the topmost of the Rūpa heavens”, “the extreme summit of [ ] reality [bhūtakoṭiṃ]”.

Where does a visualized deity come from, and where does it part? Where does a symbolic body (saṃbhogakāya) come from? Where do memories, dreams, “visions” etc., i.e. “mental imprints” (s. vāsanāphalam), come from? What is their nature? Emptiness, mere dependent arising.

Bhattacharya gives the origin of the Mahāsukhavāda doctrine. Madhyamaka originated with Nāgārjuna who stated that “Nirvāṇa is nothing but Śūnya, [ ], a condition about which neither existence nor non-existence, nor a combination of the two, nor a negation of the two, can be predicated.” This was not entirely “satisfying”, and the Yogācāras “came to their rescue”:

“They retained the term ‘Śūnya’; but formulated that it was not an empty Śūnya, as proposed by the Madhyamakas, but a positive Śūnya with a positive element of Vijñana.”

“On the attainment of Nirvāṇa, therefore, the individual neither attains complete extinction, nor does he go out like a lamp, nor pass into a condition which cannot be conceived.”

Finally a “satisfying” solution was found with the introduction of “mahāsukha”, great bliss.

“This new introduction was known as the Mahāsukhavāda, and the form of Buddhism which was based on this Mahāsukhavāda was known as Vajrayāna, or the adamant-vehicle. In Vajrayāna Nirvāṇa had three elements: ‘Śūnya, Vijñana and Mahāsukha.’ This triple combination of Śūnya was termed by them as Vajra; because, as they said, it is firm and sound, unchangeable, unpierceable, impenetrable, incombustible and indestructible. They formulated that Śūnya is Nirātmā, and a goddess in whose eternal embrace the individual mind, i.e. the Bodhicitta, or Vijñana, is locked, and there remains in eternal bliss and happiness.”

Note that Bhattacharya here explains vijñana as Bodhicitta (t. byang sems). The triple nature of “Śūnya” and “Nirvāṇa” according to Mahāsukhavāda and Vajrayāna seems to relate to the triple experience (t. nyams gsum) of the natural state (t. gnas lugs): bliss (t. bde ba s. sukha), clarity (t. gsal ba s. prakaśa/prabhāsvara) and non-conceptuality (t. mi rtog pa s. nirvikalpa).

Bhattacharya points to the definition of Mahāsukha in chapter 7 of the Jñānasiddhi (t. Ye shes grub pa) attributed to Indrabhūti. My translation:

‘Bliss produced through the two organs
Is true reality (tattva)’, say [some] bad individuals.
“This is great bliss”
The supreme victorious one didn’t teach this. (7.1)

How could anything produced by dependent arising (s. pratītyotpādasaṃbhūtaṃ)
Ever be proven as knowledge of true reality (tattva)?
In any [dependent arising]
Nothing exists as an essence (svabhāvena) (7.2)

The knowledge of all tathāgatas (sarvatāthāgataṃ jñānaṃ)
Has self-awareness as its essence (svasaṃvedyasvabhāvakam)
This being the principal bliss
It is called “great bliss” (mahāsukha). (7.3)[4]

Could that “self-awareness” be related to the triple experience mentioned above? Bliss, clarity and non-conceptuality? Or to the triple “nirvāṇa” of Mahāsukhavāda, also called “vajra”? In this combination, clarity (t. gsal ba) refers to “self-awareness” (s. svasaṃveda), “bodhicitta”, for which metaphors of (self-)illuminating, etc. can be used, but which is not luminous, luminescent, light etc. in the sens of “giving off or reflecting light”, “shining in the dark; giving out light” or of a “luminous” appearance.

In Atiśa’s Pointing out instructions (Instructions for Selected Disciples - lKog chos), this triple experience is explained as follows (translation by James B. Apple (University of Calgary). These are the instructions of a so called “Introduction” (t. ngo sprod): “In Indian and Tibetan forms of Buddhism “pointing-out instructions” (t. ngo sprod) generally signifies an introduction to the nature of mind by a spiritual teacher to a qualified disciple.”

“Directly pointing out [serenity] has three topics: nonconceptuality, clear awareness, and blissful experience. First, non-conceptuality, one resides with one-pointedness of mind (cittaikagratā) non-conceptually by bringing to cessation all subtle and gross discursive thoughts based on external objects and all subtle and gross conceptualization based on the mind within.
Clear awareness [t. rig pa gsal ba]: one resides with one-pointedness of mind in non-grasping selfluminous awareness which, at first, does not engage with conceptually grasping on to vivid sense objects, and then later is free from identifying with the luminous nature of the lucidity of one’s own mind.
Blissful: in a diminished unity of emptiness and lucidity that is free from all torments of afflictions and conceptuality that is possessed in previous experience, and having halted even-minded feelings of suffering, one resides with one-pointedness of mind in naturally occuring unconditioned bliss[5].”

Further precisions are given in the Instructions for Selected Disciples, where the “three characteristics” of Mahāsukhavādin nirvāṇa are explained: emptiness (t. rang bzhin, s. prakṛti?), clarity (t. ngo bo, svabhāva) and what corresponds to aesthetic “bliss”, the “characteristics” indivisibility of clarity [t. gsal ba] and emptiness.

“(1) First, the union of the ground which is the basis: there is not a buddha which is made manifest through realization [t. rtogs], there is not a mistaken sentient being through nonrealization [ma rtogs], remaining spontaneously perfected from the very beginning, the natural condition being in itself the general ground of all of cyclic existence and nirvāṇa has three characteristics. (a) Its own nature [t. rang bzhin] dwells in emptiness. (b) The nature [t. ngo bo] abides in clarity. (c) The characteristic [t. mtshan nyid] abides indivisibly.12 (a) Among these, first, its own nature dwells in emptiness, there is not an emptiness which is destroyed, entrusted, or purified. It abides as emptiness of inherent nature [t. rang zhin] from the very beginning, free from all phenomenal marks [t. mtshan ma] such as shape, color, and so forth. There is not a realization [t. rtog pa][6] which apprehends a non-existence within. It is the unobstructed clarity of the radiance [t. rang gi mdangs] of one’s own awareness. Abiding like the sun rising in pure space or like the wind of pure space. (c) The characteristic: the indivisibility of lucidity [t. bsal ba = gsal ba] and emptiness, inseparable like a conch shell and its whiteness, abides primordially free from conceptuality[7].”

The singular conch is the result of dependent arising (emptiness), the whiteness of the conch is a characteristic, a conceptualized abstract property. Characteristics or distinguishing marks (s. nimitta) are related to the imaginary nature (s. parikalpita) according to the Yogācāra three nature view. They can be "irreducible particulars” (s. svalakṣana) or universals (s. samanyalakṣana), correctly cognized or not, considered pure (śuddha) or impure, considered conducive to purity or to impurity. This is where moral and religious factors tag on, the triad Ground, Path and Result is introduced, and the “Pointing Out”, the Introduction to the natural state (t. gnas lugs ngo sprod), becomes more than simply pointing out the natural state. It turns into a project, a religious project.

The “Ground” covers the actual Pointing out. But recognizing and knowing is not enough. The ”Path” introduces a necessary action to be carried out. A distinction is made between “appearances” (t. snang ba): “karmic appearances”, (ii) “delusive appearances”, and (iii) “meditative appearances”. These “appearances” all are “the luminous essence of one’s own mind” (t. rang gi sems kyi ngo bo gsal ba), but not all are conducive to purity (s. śuddha). I would like to point out here that ngo bo gsal ba could also be translated as reflections (t. gsal ba) of the essence of mind (t. rang gi sems kyi ngo bo), and to remind that the essence of mind is triple.

“(iii) Meditative appearance [t. nyams snang] is the appearance of one’s own mind, at the time of abiding in non-conceptual meditative stabilization though an appearing external object ceases, the factor of clarity does not cease the appearance of the mind within, like mirage, smoke, star, drops of light [t. ’od kyi thig le] and so forth, subtle and coarse colors and shapes mostly appear, utterly empty like a cloudless sky.”

During the “Path”, impure appearances gradually disappear and make place for “luminous” pure appearances. These are the results of practice (Path), consisting in the gradual purification and transformation of impure in pure appearances. The results, apart from recognizing and knowing the natural state including the nature of the “appearances”, is that all “appearances” are henceforth merely pure appearances: Buddha bodies, pure realms, celestial mansions etc. Pure appearances, religious appearances.

“The very embodiment of the awakening mind, one’s own mind, the luminous essence of pristine wisdom [t. byang chub sems kyi rang gzugs rang gi sems ye shes kyi ngo bo gsal ba], wisdom appears like the moon reflected in water and a rainbow in the sky. (c) The unified characteristic: all the bodies, pure realms, celestial mansions and so forth, appearances of true pristine wisdom [t. yang dag pa’i ye shes kyi snang ba], like an illusion, and the actualized realm of reality [s. dharmadhātu] just-as-it-is are inseparably merged. For example, like the inseparability of the sky and a rainbow. The good qualities and activity that manifest from that inseparability mature and liberate those to be trained.”

Technically, individuals, or accomplished Buddhas, have reached their goal, and could abandon the raft on which they crossed the ocean of suffering. They could throw away the ladder they used to climb to the Akaniṣṭha heaven, and live there happily ever after, but they are bodhisattvas and will continue to help others to cross the ocean and to climb the ladder in turn. To do so, they still need the raft and the ladder as is, the Ground, the Luminous Path, and the Luminous Result, until the whole of saṃsāra will have been emptied. This is, in theory, the project of all those engaging themselves in Vajrayāna or already engaged in Vajrayāna. Deity practice and associated practices are not optional. As Ratnākaraśānti said:

“(1) If one meditates on the mind alone, then one would only obtain mundane mental concentration (ting nge ’dzin, *samādhi) like the stage of the infinity of consciousness (rnam shes mtha’ yas skye mched, *vijñānānantyāyatana).

(2) Yet if one meditates on emptiness above all, that [result] too becomes only complete cessation, because of not perfecting the actions of purifying the Buddha qualities.
(3) Or, if one meditates on [the mind] only as having the nature of the deities, in this case, one does not even become awakened at all through that alone because the perfection of actions is incomplete.

(4) Or, if one meditates only on the true nature of what the deities stand for and not the deities, then in this case too, one would attain Buddhahood in many countless aeons but not quickly.

(5) Therefore, the meditation of both [the mind as deities and the true nature of the deities at the same time], because it is extremely pleasant to the mind and because it is a special kind of empowerment, causes one to obtain the highest perfect awakening very quickly.[8]”

Buddhist deities may well not “really” exist, but what deities do? What would be the difference? The rafts and ladders that are maintained by every new generation are real enough. The ”Path” (“mechanical practice” BG12.12?) that is followed is real enough. As for the Result? The Ground basically remains an intimate mystical experience.

***

[1] E.g. Bhagavad-gītā 12.12: “Better than mechanical practice is knowledge; better than knowledge is meditation. Better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of actions, for peace immediately follows such renunciation.” (śreyān dravyamayāt jñānam jñānāt dhyānam viśiṣyate
dhyānāt karmaphala-tyāgas tyāgāt śāntir anantaram)

Yogasūtras, Patanjali, I.23, "Or by surrender to Ishvara" (īśvarapranidhānād vā).

Where a personal god, īśvara, is merely a placeholder or a means to another end (mokṣa) than īśvara.

[2] “From the awakening towards emptiness, a seed [syllable] arises. From it, an image [of a deity and so forth]. And for [such] an image there are projection and dissolution [phases]. Therefore, everything arises in dependence”. (MSP 4)
śūnyatābodhito bījaṃ bījādvimbaṃ prajāyate |
bimbe ca nyāsavinyāsau (sa)tasmāt sarvvaṃ pratītyajam ||

[3] VAJRAYOGINI, Her Visualizations, Rituals, & Forms A Study of the Cult of Vajrayogini in India" Elizabeth English, Wisdom Publications 2002

[4] Guhyadi-Astasiddhi-Sangraha, Padmavajrapada, Paperback, CIHTS, Sarnath, Varanasi, 1987

saptamaḥ paricchedaḥ
sukhaṃ dvīndriyajaṃ kecit tattvamāhurnarādhamāḥ । taccāpi mahāsukhaṃ naiva pravadanti jinottamāḥ ॥1॥
pratītyotpādasaṃbhūtaṃ na tattvaṃ jāyate kvacit । na tatsukhaṃ svabhāvena vidyate sarvadā yataḥ ॥2॥
sarvatāthāgataṃ jñānaṃ svasaṃvedyasvabhāvakam । sarvasaukhyāgrabhūtatvāt mahāsukhamiti smṛtam ।।3।।

dbang po gnyis byung bde ba ni//
de nyid yin zhes skye ngan smra//
de ni bde ba chen yin zhes//
rgyal ba mchog gis ma gsungs so//

rten cing 'brel 'byung las skyes pa//
gang du'ang de nyid shes mi 'grub//
gang phyir 'di de thams cad du//
ngo bo nyid kyis yod ma yin//

bde gshegs kun gyi ye shes ni//
rang nyid ngo bo nyid mkhyen pa'i//
bde ba kun gyi gtsor gyur pas//
bde ba chen po zhes bshad do//

[5] Instructions for Selected Disciples (Lkog chos), pp. 513-514: ngo sprad pa la gsum / rnam par mi rtog pa dang / rig pa gsal ba dang / nyams bde ba’o / / dang po ni / phyi yul la brten pa’i rnam rtog phra rags [514] dang / nang sems la brten pa’i kun rtog phra rags thams cad ’gags nas rnam par mi rtog pa la sems rtse gcig tu gnas pa’o / / rig pa gsal ba ni / dang po dbang po’i yul gsal ba la kun rtog gi ’dzin pa ma zhugs pa dang / phyi nas rang sems dang ba’i ngo bo gsal ba ngos bzung dang bral ba’i rig pa rang gsal ’dzin med la rtse gcig tu gnas pa’o / / bde ba ni snga ma’i nyams dang ldan pa’i dus na nyon mongs pa dang rtog pa’i zug rngu thams cad dang bral nas stong gsal gyi nyams pa dang ldan te / sdug bsngal dang btang snyoms kyi tshor ba ’gags nas rang byung zag pa med pa’i bde ba la rtse gcig tu gnas pa’o /.

[6] This ought to be concept (t. rtog pa) not realization (t. rtogs pa).

[7] Instructions for Selected Disciples (Lkog chos): [518.23] / ngo sprad pa la gsum / gnas pa gzhi’i zung ’jug dang / mtshon pa lam gyi [519] zung ’jug dang / grub pa ’bras bu’i zung ’jug go /.

Instructions for Selected Disciples (Lkog chos): [519.1] dang po ni / rtogs nas mngon du gyur pa’i sangs rgyas dang min / ma rtogs nas ’khrul ba’i sems can ma yin te / ’khor ’das kun gyi spyi sa gzhi dngos po’i gnas lugs ye nas lhun grub tu gnas pa’i gnas lugs la gsum / rang bzhin stong par gnas / [gegs bsal ba la gsum / bla ma’i sku la brnyas pa dang / dam pa’i chos spangs pa dang / mtshams med pa’i sdig byas pa dang gsum spang bar bya ste / ma skyes pa mi skye / skyes pa nyams par ’gyur ba’o / (“Dispelling hindrances has three, despising the body of the spiritual teacher, abandoning the holy Dharma, committing a heinous evil dead. These three should be eliminated, and that uncreated should not be created, and what has been created should degenerate.”] (The sentences in brackets seem out of place and have been removed from the translation.) / ngo bo gsal bar gnas / mtshan nyid dbyer med du gnas pa’o /.

Instructions for Selected Disciples (Lkog chos): [519.7-12] / de las dang po rang bzhin stong par gnas pa ni bshig pa dang bcol ba dang sbyangs pa’i stong pa ma yin te / ye nas rang bzhin gyis stong pa nyid du gnas te / dbyibs dang kha dog la sogs pa’i mtshan ma thams cad dang bral ba / nang na med pas ’dzin pa’i rtog pa ma yin pa / rig pa rang gi mdangs ma ’gags par gsal ba / nam mkha’ rnam par dag pa la nyi ma shar ba dang bar snang dag pa’i bser bu lta bur gnas so /.

Instructions for Selected Disciples (Lkog chos): [519.12] / mtshan nyid ni bsal ba dang stong pa dbyer med pa dung dang dung gi dkar po ltar du dbyer med rtog bral du ye nas gnas pa’o /.

[8] Daisy S. Y. Cheung, “Madhyamakanising” Tantric Yogācāra: The Reuse of Ratnākaraśānti’s Explanation of maṇḍala Visualisation in the Works of Śūnyasamādhivajra, Abhayākaragupta and Tsong Kha Pa, 2023

For comparison:

BG 12.6-7: “But those who dedicate all their actions to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme goal, worshiping Me and meditating on Me with exclusive devotion, O Parth, I swiftly deliver them from the ocean of birth and death, for their consciousness is united with Me”

.