A General Explanation of Kalachakra called: The White Lotus
Namo Guru Shri Kalachakraye
Homage to Guru Kalachakra
The uncontrived, space-pervading space vajra
Wholly arisen as the constant consort of form,
The deity whose truth is undivided outer, inner, and other,
May glorious Kalachakra give constant protection.
Here Shri Kalachakra’s history according to both the kama and the terma tradition is described. First the kama, the tradition which comes from the preceptor, our incomparable teacher Shakyamuni which itself is the primordial, absolute truth perfectly manifested when he reached buddhahood. As it appeared in general to the several who were his disciples, at first he developed the mind of highest enlightenment, in the middle, the third of the countless great aeons, he brought together an assembly, and finally, at the time of the the five degenerations, the quarrelsome, corrupt age, when great compassion for the living beings of the worldly realms of suffering, for those difficult to discipline, was about to disappear, it did not because, at the Vajra Seat in the Middle Land near the Bodhi Tree, perfect buddhahood was manifested. The dharma wheels of the tripitaka and the countless outer and inner cycles of mantra teachings were turned and disciples were put on the path of liberation.
Then for the purpose of teaching the final fruit of all the Vajrayana tantras, there was:
1.a perfect place: the great glorious Dhanyakataka Stupa, the Vajradhatu Mandala;
2 the perfect time: the full moon of the third month called Caitra when the astrological aspects portended victory over the three realms of worldly existence;
3. the perfect teacher the great helmsman of gods and human beings, the very one who resides on the vajra lion throne facing east;
4. the perfect retinue the peaceful and wrathful kings and their royal children, deities, nagas, humans, countless hosts of them, in the midst of which was an emanation of Shri Vajrapani prayed to by Suchandra the king of Shambala;
5.the perfect teaching the Adi Buddha’s tantra, eight syllables followed by 12,000 verses.
To that root tantra the dharma king Suchandra added a book of commentary of 1,060 verses written in the languages of Shambhala, Oddiyana, etc teaching it to the dwellers of 960 million cities as a path for ripening liberation. The activities of oral explanation, meditation, realization etc continued from that dharma king up to the sixth so that the teaching was held, protected, increased, and spread widely. Then six hundred years from the time of the teaching of the root tantra, according to the prophecy of the tathagata, appeared an emanation of Manjughosha named Kulika Manjushri Yashas. In the southern direction of Kalapa City, in the Malaya grove, where Suchandra resided on the precious throne in the great region of precious jewels near the great eastern door of the palace in the inner circle of the Kalachakra mandala, in the midst of the great kings of the ninety-six great lands along with countless hosts of the embodied, there the rishi Suryayana making his request prayed to the great lord himself Manjushri Yashas for a version in five chapters which would condense the whole meaning of the root tantra. The words were joined together in a tantric garland and the thought stream of that and its commentaries came to India and Tibet like garlands of the heavenly constellations, with particulary noble, elegance of speech of two kinds, as is said in the Manjushri Namasamgiti: the Vajra Sun’s great brilliance and the Vajra Moon’s stainless light.
So it occurred just as the prophecy said and the son of the own body of Manjushriyashas, an emanation of Avalokiteshvara named Pundarika, wrote the great commentary called Stainless Light. Here in the country of Tibet, the son of the conqueror, according to the thought of the young Manjushri, taught in the form of a spiritual friend, the omniscient Mipham Gyamtso, who wrote the commentary called Vajra Sunlight, which brings us to the second, the Terma or Revealed tradition.
According to the omniscient Mipham Rinpoche: at the head of the three times is the glorious great Urgyenpa (Padmasambhava) himself, spontaneously and from the start dharmakaya, always free, and non-dual with Samantabhadra. From the expanse of that dharmakaya, the fivefold perfect sambhogakaya effortlessly takes form. From its own complexion, a play of emanations arises which is unencompassed by thought and that play is the place of practice of the singular Buddha, and there is no other, just as it is said in the immeasurable vajra teachings. When that very field is controlled, then in the three thousand and eighty thousand fields of human suffering, their top, bottom, and four directions, the thirty-six worlds and the special places assigned to the six forms of living beings etc, they appear as the various forms of play of their distinct situations, bodily forms, and characteristic marks. Here in our own residence, Jambudvipa, there is also the situation of one bodily form with eight and twenty illusory characteristics etc and further emanations unencompassed by thought. All that is made to amplify the teachings of the Buddha. And now in Nga yab Ling, in its middle, in the lotus light of the glorious copper-colored mountain, at top, bottom, and middle are situated three emanations and in the twenty-one great lands of the Sinpos dwell individual emanations which variously transform their bodies and characteristics. And so on. In brief, the dharmadhatu has copious manifestations beyond measure. Buddha forms also appear in the past and future.
Now there are the Buddha teachings of India, China, Shambhala, Tamradvipa, etc. In various lands, they emanate as a great blessing which benefits living beings. In the country of Tibet and even making tracks in lands of all directions, and being blessed thereby, many revealed treasure sources have been concealed. The time to remove them is prophesied. The gods and demons have the vajra vow to protect their secrecy. In the future, when the teachings of the Buddha are in-between homes, they will emanate, and be accepted and protected by the people of Tibet. The twelve earth goddesses of the country of Tibet, directed to do so, will not allow heretics to come in.
Hearing of the future barbarians, according to the secret prophecy of Tagsham, I myself, Padmasambhava will appear as Rudra Chakrin along with twenty-five royal subjects together with the Kulika army.
So it is known according to the explanation of Pundarika
From the distillation of the essence of the mind stream lineage, for the purpose of teaching the fruit, the high point of the ultimate king of all the Vajrayana tantras, there is: 1. the perfect place: Chimphu’s Vajradhatu mandala;
2. the perfect time: the full moon of the third month called Caitra when the astrological aspects portended victory over the three realms of worldly existence;
3. the perfect teacher, the second Buddha Padmakara, the great helmsman of gods and human beings, the very one who resides on the vajra lion throne facing east;
4. the perfect retinue: the lord and his subjects, the nine heart children, the peaceful and wrathful kings and their royal children, deities, nagas, humans, countless hosts of them, in the midst of which an emanation in the own form of the vajra mind of all the Buddhas, prayed to by Nubchen Sangye Yeshe.
5. The perfect teaching: the Adi Buddha’s root tantra and for that an indispensable secret sadhana which is a wish-granting jewel etc, fully communicated.
To the root tantra, the full meaning of the mind stream of the madhyamaka, the mahamudra, and the extremely secret dzogchen rushan is connected. This secret sadhana mind stream terma revelation is communicated from the class of teachings called the Space Treasury.
The dharma lord, the wish-granting jewel Jikme Phuntsok Jungne Palzangpo says of the outer Kalachakra:
Nowadays the Maras occupy too many directions with their powerful army
And when speaking according to the dharma, life becomes contentious.
So because of that, even though it is right to depend on the vow of not speaking,
The mode of states of practice which benefit the mind cannot be blocked.
Unoppressed by the burden of painful analytic exertion,
The excellent juice of the mind stream transmission directly reaches the middle of the heart.
The functions of the gurus of the three lineages who obtain the eye
Which best obtains access to that widespread communication are acquired by me.
And so on, then:
All the levels which connect in this mode of dharma,
Arranged in a series which gathers the Kulika kings in not long a time,
Transforming the strength of their best royal means jointly,
May the power to conquer the army of the barbarians be obtained.
And so, from the class of teachings known as highest pure vision: In Sanskrit: Kalachakra Tantrasya Garbha; in Tibetan: dus ‘khor rgyud kyi yang snying; in English: The Essence of the Kalachakra Tantra. Homage to the Adi Buddha, etc.
Like that the mind stream tantra commentary is communicated. The outer Kalachakra, the mountains, countries, planets, stars taking form are not, but arise from the expansion and contraction of the inner channels, winds, and drops in their own shapes as the union of appearance and emptiness. The inner Kalachakra then is all the inner phenomena which are pure by nature. The other Kalachakra is residing in the being of the deity. That then is the great unchanging bliss and emptiness indivisible as Mahamudra, taking its place of rest as the Heruka who pervades all of samsara-nirvana, the natural mode of spontaneous rigpa, the rigpa of indivisible primordial purity and effortless presence, which gives the final teaching: the very being of the dharmakaya, the body of vajra gnosis.
The essence of Shri Kalachakra, the mantric sentence made of ten seed syllables known as the Tenfold Powerful One: the ten are like this: the outer is the vessel of the realms of the world; the inner is the liquid, the vajra body; the other is the mandala of the mind. That is what they signify.
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The outer connects the regions of the world: the Ya syllable which resides at the bottom of the stack of ten syllables is the basis and signifies the wind mandala. Above that is the Ra syllable which signifies the fire mandala. Above that is the Va syllable which signifies the water mandala. Above that is the La syllable which signifies the earth mandala. Above that is the Ma syllable which signifies the realm of desire. Above that is the Ksha syllable which signifies the realm of form. Above that is the Ha syllable which signifies the formless realm. Above that is the lunar crescent which signifies the moon mandala. Above that is the dot which signifies the sun mandala. Above that is the nada (silence) which signifies emptiness, the realm of Rahu the eclipser.
2. The inner connects the vajra body: the Ya syllable at the bottom signifies the region of wind where all the conceptualizations of both the father and mother come forth as a cause of the body. Above that is the Ra syllable which signifies the region of fire where the heat of lust of both the father and mother comes forth as a cause of the body. Above that is the syllable Va which signifies the region of the water element where a seed comes forth from the blazing up of the heat of lust of both the father and mother and becomes a cause of the body. Above that is a La syllable which signifies the earth element’s realm which becomes the rough body region where the seeds of both father and mother are brought together. Above that is the Ma syllable which signifies consciousness and the six senses. Above that is the Ksha syllable which signifies all the psycho-physical components, their organs, and fields of activity. Above that is a Ha syllable which signifies the region of space which provides openings for movement: inlets for joining life force and outlets for bodily waste. Above that is the lunar crescent which signifies the right channel, the roma. Above that is the dot which signifies the left channel, the kyangma. Above that is the nada which signifies the central channel, the uma.
3. The other connects the (body) mandala: the Ya syllable at the bottom signifies the activity of purifying winds by holding the breath in the kumbhaka, the pot shape, etc. Above that is the Ra syllable which signifies raising up blissful heat by means of the regions of the tumo practice. Above that is the Va syllable which signifies the activity of the drop which traverses the bodily regions blazing up to and streaming down from the crown of the head. Above that is the La syllable which signifies realizing the vajra body of the pristine regions. Above that is the Ma syllable which signifies purification of passions born in the realm of desire. Above that is the Ksha syllable which signifies purification of passions born in the realm of form. Above that is the syllable Ha which purifies passions born in the formless realm. Above that is the lunar crescent which signifies means. Above that is the dot which signifies wisdom. Above that is the nada which signifies their union, the meaning of emptiness.
Put together from (Jamgon Kongtrul’s) Treasury of Knowledge.
Also OM AH HUM HO and/or OM AH HUM HRIH are to be recited in the manner of an objectification of what is to be purified and what is the purifier and connected to rushan practice according to the explanations in the Tersar (Fresh Revelations) which need to be known.
So this excellent adornment was composed on the first day of the first month of the earth ox year, at the request of Lotsawa Palden Phuntsok and Palden Rinchen, by the Vidyadhara Paljeapa Dorje.
SHRI JNANA KALACHAKRA VIJAYANTU!
MAY SHRI JNANA KALACHAKRA BE VICTORIOUS!
Translated on the third day of the first month of the earth ox year by Lotsawa Palden Phuntsok (James Rutke). http://kalachakranet.org/