Carmen Cochior Plescanu: 22 16 18
Course Code: 15PSRH007
Course name: Esoteric Buddhism in India and Tibet
Convenor: Dr Tadeus Skorupski
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Department of the Study of Religions
‘Not two, not one’ – the resolve of the Tantric equivoque
Discuss the polarity symbolism placing emphasis on the yab yum Tantric leitmotif
The investigation of the elaborate polarity symbolism in Tantra is not without difficulties, as
it implies an extremely detailed dialectical approach and ability to escape the conventional
absolutist clichés which gravitate around it. The multifold esoteric symbolism, philosophy
and linguistic complexion of the contents of Tantra could not, but be investigated within the
comparative field of both Hindu and Buddhist ideology. This paper aims to surface the views
on the polarity motif, by discussing and integrating the fundamentals of the both Indian and
Tibetan doctrinarian, aesthetic and spiritual Tantric narrative. For this reason, the themes
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and symbols of Tibetan Tantra are placed in the context of earlier Indian tradition. The
inspiration of this essay arouse from the encounter with the symbol of yab-yum, which
personifies in Tibetan Buddhism the spiritual process of surrendering the dualistic concepts
and realizing the pristine awareness. It represents a powerful and fertile symbol to be
realized personally by every Tantric practitioner. Furthermore, this essay presumes
familiarity with the basic symbolism and the ontological concepts assigned to them by both
Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism while aware that the deepest understandings of Tantra’s
’secret language’ (Skt. Sandha-bhasa, Tib. Gongpe-ke) demand to be interpreted through
the initiation and oral instruction of a qualified Tantric medium.
A philosophical doctrine common to both Hindu and Buddhist Tantra is that of the
archetypal universal-model 1 which describes reality as one, “but is to be grasped through a
process of conceptual and intuitive polarization.” 2 The poles are represented as active and
passive and the universe being in motion through their interaction. When the state of
absolute oneness and quintessence is being realized through the mingling of the two poles,
the universe ceases its travail. Doctrinally, in both traditions, the polarities are merged
through the “repeated declaration of their fundamental oneness” and experientially,
through “the Tantric’s relieving of this merger through his integrating sadhana or spiritual
discipline.” 3 However the discrepancies between the two traditions reveal themselves when
one ascertains that the specific ascriptions to the two poles are in antithesis.
The Buddhist assigned the ‘male apparatus’ to the kinetic and the dynamic principle and the
female role to the passive and the knowledge principle, whereas the Hindus proceeded
conversely. It is not yet decided among the scholars whether the Buddhist’s selection of the
ascriptions was intentional or unconscious. However, it would seem a naive rationale to
presume the arbitrary in such a complex esoteric tradition, considering the advanced
philosophical theories, the complex and detailed rhetorical and aesthetic tradition of Indic
influence.
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1. The Tantric Tradition, Agehananda Bharati, Rider Books, 1998, p. 182. Ibid1 , p.193. Tantra Yoga, Nik Douglas, Munshiram Monoharlal, New Dehl,1971, p. 51
2
The cult for the sovereign feminine principle, of the Mother Goddess could be traced in the
proto-Indian cults, specifically in the Mohenjo-Daro Indus civilisation where evidence of Yoni
worship was preeminent. 4 The Mother Goddess remained in its primitive form and was
developed in the Sakta and Saivite cults only after the Aryan invasion. The powerful magna
mater ritual and worship, autochthonous in pre-Aryan culture was modified and enunciated
in a different manner once the Vedic notions of male supremacy infused the Indian
tradition.
According to Eliade, in Hinduism, the cosmic force Sakti raised to the rank of Divine Mother,
formulating around her the ‘religion of the Mother’ that in ancient times reigned over the
Aegeo-Afrasiatic territory. 5 The supremacy of the mother principle embodies, as
Agehananda Bharati outlines, a speculation “common to all ancient cosmosophies”. 6 The
indigenous elements reasserted themselves in the form of Prakriti, the repository of all
actions and the worship goddess of pre-Aryan India and its catalyzing agent, the male deity
Purusha. One can also assume that the matrifocal atmosphere in which the Indian Tantra
has flourishes, such as Bengal, Udiyanna, Orissa, was conducive to attributing the dynamics
to the female principle. “The leading part played by women in religious life, their
identification with Mother Goddess, the symbolization of various concepts and relations
ascribed to women, the insistence on the cult of sex and female organ as the sole seat of all
happiness, the function of women as priestess, the concept of the supreme being as Female
Principle”, had been definitely assumed, re-systematized and re-conceptualized in the later
Tantric esoteric tradition in Bhattcharyya’s opinion. 7
The female principle, as described by Dr. Bidyut Lata Ray, is endowed with the ultimate
creative power, and it is the very potency of the female’s womb, the container of the ovum
and of life in itself (the Rig Veda’s hiranya-garbha) that must be realized by the Tantrist. 8
--------------------------------------------4. Glimpses of Tantric Studies, Edited by Dr. Bidyut Lata Ray, Prolegomenon by Dr B. L. Roy, R.N. Bhattacharya 2006, p.35. Immortality and Freedom, Mircea Eliade, Princeton, 1969, p. 986. Ibid 1, p.197. Traveller in Space: gender, identity, and Tibetan Buddhism, June Campbell, Continuum International Publishing 2002, p.478. Ibid4.
3
He further states that the Kaula vali Tantra pays maximum respect to the female sex, to the
Heart-of-the-Tantra Mother Goddess, “the initiator, the origin of all life, the source of
enjoyment, the path towards transcendence”, 9 and furthermore, it is notable his claim that
the ferventness of female worship in Tantra, far exceeds the claims of any women’s
liberation movement. The quest of the Hindu Tantrist was, as Eliade refers to as, a religious
rediscovery of the mystery of female aspect, as for him, every woman becomes the
incarnation of Sakti. Through the recognition of what is transcendental and invulnerable in
woman, he realizes the irreducibility of the divine. 10 The gynocentrism of ancient texts and
art suggest, as Miranda Shaw emphasizes, that women were regarded as ‘astute and
indomitable’ thus equal counterparts in the path towards supreme realization. 11
“You are the body of Siva with the sun and the moon as pair of breasts...O blessed Lady,
hence you reciprocally realize each other as complement and essence, this union exists of
you two experiencing supreme bliss with equal savour” (Saundaryalahari Tantra)12
Early in Buddhism two female divinities emerged, the Prajnaparamita (the creation of
metaphysics) and Tara which represented the epiphany of the Great Goddess of aboriginal
India. 13 The attributes assigned by the Indian and Buddhist theologians are axiomatic for the
investigation and comprehending of the polarity leitmotif. They have imputed wisdom
(prajna, Tib. Shes rab) and ‘all cognitive terms of spiritual consummation’ to the female-
static, and compassion (Karuna), method (Upaya) and ‘the conative terms in this universe of
discourse’ to the Male-dynamic. Whereas the Hindu Pandit semantically identifies the
female principle as Sakti regardless of her denominational provenance, the Tibetan Buddhist
follows a distinctive pattern when he identifies the all pervasive wisdom with the Cosmic
Mother (Tib. yum) and respectively the means (Tib. thabs) with the Cosmic Father (Tib. yab)
-or the Buddha-Sakti as the Indologists refer to as. 14
-------------------------------------------------------- 9. Ibid 410. Ibid 5, p. 10111. Passionate Enlightenment: women in Tantric Buddhism, Miranda Shaw, Princeton University Press, p. 87 12. The Tantric Way, Ajit Mookerjee and Madhu Khanna, Thames and Hudston London 1977, p.16413. Ibid 514. Ibid 1. 200
4
Both Buddhist and Hindu visualize their respective ‘noumena’ - the nomenclature that
Agehananda Bharati prefers to use in order to discriminate from “the theologically loaded
term” ‘divine’, which would not be compatible to the Buddhist ontology - as non-duality
(advaita in Vedantic Hinduism and advaya in Tantric Buddhism).15 This supreme non-duality
can only be expressed through engaging the diametrical polarity terminology, as “the
supreme is inexpressible, non-communicable in itself and totally transcendent.” 16: “It is the
dominating notion of two in one upon which the whole complicated structure of the Tantra
is reared, and this applies to its philosophy, its theology and its practice of Yoga.” 17 The
paradigm that is employed by the tantrik, which engages both the mythological and
psychological aspects to illustrate the polarity, is the male and female in a cosmicized
version as god and goddess. In the rich sandha imagery of Buddhist Tantric texts, “the
dynamic part of the male principle finds its individualized counterpart in the male lover who
takes the active part in the yogic love-act ” 18 in contrast with the Hindu Tantric tradition
where the role is attributed to the feminine principle.
The Tibetan fascination with the symbolized polarity is evidenced in their yab-yum
iconography, the precursors of this iconographic pattern having been with certainty from
India as “erotic sculpture have been produced by Indian artists as early as 300 AD, and one
might assume even an earlier date.” 19 This idea could be supported by the historical
occurrences of the beginnings of the 6th century, when India was split into minor dynasties,
as result of the invasion of the Hephalites or the White Huns, and its borders were courted
by the rapidly expansionist Tibetans. Two Buddhist kingdoms had been of interest for the
Tibetans, as their historical recodes evidence, respectively Harsa (Noth West India) and Pala
(Bengal) which, confronted with the imminent invasion and lacking the military power,
conquered them with the powerful and fascinating Tantric Buddhism.
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15. Ibid 1, p. 20116. Ibid 12, p. 43 citation from Hevarjratantra17. Ibid 5, p. 9718. Ibid 1, p. 20019. Philosophies of India, Heinrich Robert Zimmer, Joseph Campbell, Princeton University Press 1989, p. 217
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The temple carvings prevalent in these regions, of tantric asana forms and mithuna
sculptures, the interlocking figures in sexual union representing the antinomic principles
must have been known to the Tibetan trespassers.
Beyond the influences that might have penetrated from without, the Bon indigenous
element, popular imagery and speculative mythological dispositions blended along into the
Tibetan tantric pattern. 20 It is possible, that early Vajrayana have homogenized elements
from the popular, pre-systemised pantheon of Indian origin (the static yum, the Cosmic
Mother, archetype cultivated with predilection in the Prajnaparamita), and the purely Saktis
from the Indian tradition, the purely dynamic female energies ( Skt. Vajravarahi, Tib. rDo rje
phag mo).
The symbols employed by the Tantric scriptural and visual representations present a
structure of signification that goes beyond the literal which is drawn from the ordinary
experiences and which are susceptible to conventional interpretations. In Vajrayana,
symbols come before the subjective discourse – the mere reflection of the objective reality-
and defies it, by revealing the subtle nature of the world which the psychoanalysis and arts
calls it creative and unconscious. Decoding their meanings is both an intimate experience on
an inward reflective level and an exploration of the dynamics of the world. The symbolistic
of yab-yum is meant to bridge these two worlds and awaken the personal experience into a
realm of pristine understanding. 21 The yab yum associations of a sexual nature could not be
excluded in this symbolism, as sexual Tantrism have been practiced with predilection in both
the Tibetan Tantric (rgyud) and Indian tradition. Obviously, sexuality loses its conventional
meaning, as it represents a mental process rather than physical, which enables the polarity
“once it has reached the highest level of absorption or integration (bodhi) to be cancelled
and to become sunyata (ston pa nyid;);this is the state called mahamudra (phyag rgya chen
po); the great Mudra”.
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20. The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism: with its mystic cults, symbolism and mythology, and in its relation to Indian Buddhism, L. A. Waddel, Asian Educational Service, 1991, p. 38221. Dakini’s warm breath: the feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism, Judith Simmer-Brown, Shambhala Publications 2001, p.7922. Ibid 19, p.213
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The inseparable pair of the consorts, symbolically represented in sexual union explicitly
represent the non dual subjectivity: “And not two, not one, they represent aspects of
totality that are nondual and reflective of each” 23 The symbolism of the couple’s passionate
sexual surrender denotes the aspects of the mind which have been relinquished in their
alchemical metamorphose of the great bliss:
“In Tibetan art, depictions of deities in ecstatic union refer, ultimately to an internal
alchemical process in which the body’s male and female essences, inherited at the moment
of conception, are brought into the central channel, giving rise to the wisdom of Great Bliss
”24
It is worth mentioning that tantric imagery is not an arbitrary invention derived from artistic
manipulation of symbols, but a reality which is designed to emancipate the practitioner
from the surface perceptions during contemplation. The thangkas, quintessentially Tibetan
paintings, represent with artistic complexity in both form and composition the yab-yum
motif. The artists created a dramatic choreography in which the tutelary deities are in
motion and often attributed hyperbolic visual characteristics. The nature of the composition
and the tranquil mood of situation denote the presence of religious rather than secular
subjects: the couple is often painted with unnatural complexions, embraces with elegance
and passion, the gaze expressing contentment. 25
One can notice patterns of the iconic imagery that are uniquely attributed to the Tibetan
culture (and possibly to the Nepalese tradition); the Goddess -Tantric consort- (Tib.
songyum) sitting dominantly astride in the God’s lap seems to be a pure Tibetan
conspicuous artistic feature. The yab is depicted sitting in lotus posture (padmasana or
vajrasana), where, as Agehananda Bharati observes, no movement is possible, “whereas the
posture of yum suggests intensive motion”. 26
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23. Ibid 21, p. 15724. The Dalai Lama’s Secret Temple, Ian A. Baker, Thames and Hudson 2000, p. 16725. Himalayas, An Aesthetic Adventure, Pratapaditya Pal, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2003, p. 21226. Ibid 1, p. 224
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This reveals an astonishing paradox, which contrasts the doctrine itself, that the deified
wisdom (Tib. shes rab) is static and the deified method (Tib. thabs) is dynamic. Whether it is
just an artistic iconographical convention in regards to its functional aspect, -female as
active in the yogic sexual union- , this addressed issue remains to be decided within a
broader perspective.
‘The Secret Vajrayana’ (Tib. Gsang war do rje thrg pa) has a long history and social context
that is worth studying before submerging in any naive presuppositions. The philosophy
underlying many of the Tantric practices is very ambiguous with regard to women's place
and role. June Campbell argues that Tibetan Buddhism replaced much of the Mother
Goddess worship and has incorporated all the symbolism of the Lotus Goddess into
Cenrezig, as means for the tulku patrifocal system to ensure its power and domination. 27
She further argues that although in Tibetan Tantric system the women is transcendentalized
into goddesses and dakinis with whom the male must associate themselves in other to
reach Enlightenment, the woman either in symbolic form or real woman as tantric consort is
viewed solely as means for the practitioners to fulfil their quest. This perspective is also
shared by Herrmann-Pfandt 28 who, on the patriarchal bias in Tibetan Buddhism states that
such a convention elevates the yab to primary status whereas his yum counterpart remains
anonymous and often diminutive. However, Vajravarahi (the wrathful form of Varjrayogini)
represents an exceptional example to the patriarchal convention of the male deity taking
precedence. She assumes a prominent place as a central deity in yab-yum union and her
male consort is neither named nor described. The union is reversed when the ritualic
circumstances demand it, which evidence clearly that there are no prevailing fixed
conventions inherent to the yab- yum practice.
By following this rationale, it is rather evident that the already patricentric socio-religious
pattern that defined Tibet could not have been subverted by the Indian influences.
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27. Ibid 728. Ibid 21, p. 158
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Whereas in India the Vedic male dominating sacerdotalism collided with the native Indus
matriarchal tradition and Tantric tradition emerged as a doctrinal revolution of the latter in
subduing the former, in Tibet, as H. Wilhelm suggested there has existed no basis for this
transference to be incorporated in any of the socio-religious contexts. In this contextual
supposition, “if the Tibetan sentiment at that time of the advent of Buddhism was
patriarchal, there was indeed no need for any such action; the Tibetan converts to
Buddhism would naturally choose those texts and those preceptors from India which fell in
line with a patriarchal trend”. 29
The iconography symbolic narrative is not immune to gender subjectivity mostly created by
the cultural overlay. The Vajrayana attitude requires us to question aspects of the intimate
experience with the symbol, through identifying its qualities rather that employing cultural
presuppositions. To a certain level, Tantrist’s modus operandi implies the deconstruction of
the symbol to the most personal level. From a traditional point of view, the mother aspect
yum does not employ a direct association with women or gender, but with the power of the
realization of emptiness to transform the mundane concerns into enlightenment. 30 Issues
of identity and politics evoked from the conventional perspective are clarified once engaged
in the methodology and philosophy adopted by the Tantric path, in which both feminine and
masculine aspects are just sacred emanations of the fundamental dynamic of phenomena.
On the inner lever as Judith Simmer-Brown asserts, the gender of the deities embodying the
two polarities are transitional, a display without any substance or weight, as when the
practitioner arrives to a subtler level of visualization and understanding, he trespasses the
subjectifying and objectifying sexuality or any concept of self and the other. 31
The goddess can be primarily understood within the cultures in which they are worshipped,
and interestingly, their religious symbolism with multivalent meanings they adorn, do not
fall in the narrow cultural stereotype “feminine” traits.
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29. Ibid 1, p. 22130. Ibid 21, p. 8831. Ibid 21, p. 79
9
When the yab-yum iconography is being analyzed too politically, as an expression of male or
female domination, the inner significance is lost to cite Kunjed Gyalpo:”In any possible
circumstance, all beings that transmigrate and enjoy arise solely from this state, the king of
equality has never spoken of male and female.” 32 The transcendental truth is realized by the
male and the female in unio mystica as Heinrich Zimmer asserts and the two poles represent
the two aspects or functions of reality, perfectly equal in rank. The symbol of yogic copulation
reveals the dynamism of enlightenment which returns in its state of full and permanent
incandescence. 33
The unio oppositorum translates on the superior level of understanding the experimental
knowledge of the state of non-duality: “You are not a male, you are not a female; both female
and male are visualized together” 34 The Tantric texts have produced pairs of opposites such
as prajna (wisdom) and upaya (the means to attain it ); sunyata (voidnes) and karuna
(compassion) through which the Vajracharyas attempt to unify them by applying “techniques
combining subtle physiology with meditation”. 35 Mircea Eliade, in his work Yoga-Immortality
and Freedom, unfolds the symbolism of polarity as occurring in Hevajra Tantra, stating that
the state of unity is obtained by discarding the two polar contradictory notions (the samsara
as cosmic process and nvrtti, the absolute arrest of all processes) and that one transcends the
antagonism by becoming conscious that the ultimate nature of the phenomenal world
(samklesa) is identical with that of the absolute (vyavdana). This in fact the concern of the
Tantrist, is to realize the comingling of Prajna and Upaya, which become liberation when
associated with each other, 36 like the inseparable co-existence of the lamp and the light. Only
through this direct ritualic experiencing of the yab-yum Tantric sadhana, the practitioner
acquires the subjectless subjectivity, one which is purified from the mind’s dualistic
tendencies. 37
-----------------------------------------------------32. The Supreme Source, The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, Snow Lion Publications 1999, p. 11933. Ibid 19, p. 21834. Ibid. 21, p. 16035. Ibid 1, p. 20036. Ibid 537 Ibid 21, p. 150
10
The unity of the relative and absolute aspects of reality expresses the Tantric vision which
sees beyond the apparent dualism of flesh and spirit, sacred and profane. In Tantrism, the
enlightenment continuum is present but largely unrecognized, and the practice of yab-yum
represents a radical visionary method in which the blissful union is enacted, to induce and
lead the practitioner into the “present, cognizant, empty, naked and awake awareness”. 38
“Seek out a qualified consort and the secret of the dakinis,
The wisdom of bliss and emptiness will arise within...
Free of dualistic grasping, reverse the flow of the descending nectar and diffuse it through
the body...
Bliss spreads through the four chakras and the three channels..
Revealing the inseparability of joy and pure potential..
Applied well, you will attain Buddhahood in this very life.”
‘Song of Mahamudra’ Mahassidha Tilopa instructions to Naropa on the bank of Ganges 39
-------------------------------------------------
38. Ibid 24, p. 5539. The myths of freedom and the way of meditation, Chogyam Trungpa, Berkeley and London: Shambhala 1976, p.163
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