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Return to Buddhism, Vajrakilaya, Vajrakilaya - A Complete Guide by Garchen Rinpoche Table of Contents, Kyabje Garchen Rinpoche

“ (VkGarR)

CHAPTER 9

Feast Offering, Restoration, and Repelling Instructions

For the purpose of the secret accomplishment retreat, restoration and repelling texts have been inserted into the Gaṇacakra. Although the meaning of the texts is mostly self-explanatory, there are a few points that merit clarification.

Meaning and Purpose of the Gaṇacakra

The Sanskrit word Gaṇa (tsog) means ”accumulation“ or ”gathering.“ Thus, the Gaṇacakra is a cause of accumulating merit. This happens primarily through the altruistic mind.

In this regard, there is one important point about which all practitioners should be heedful. It is taught that whenever sādhakas give rise to afflictions like aversion and jealousy during accomplishment retreats, it ruins the virtuous accumulation of the entire assembly. Guru Rinpoche taught that this is similar to how one drop of rotten milk can spoil a whole container. Thus, the Tantras explain,

Just as a [[single]] drop of rotten [[milk]] will spoil an entire [[vessel]] of fresh [[milk]], if even [[one]] [[person]] with impaired [[samaya]] is seated in a row of the [[feast]] [[assembly]], though a [[hundred]] or even a [[thousand]] others who [[hold]] the [[samaya]] may be [[present]], not as much as the [[slight]]est [[fruit]] of [[accomplishment]] will come forth due to the [[samaya]] taint of that [[one]].[1]

That is to say, because of interdependence, even the slightest taint of one can ruin the accomplishment of the whole. If one disciple gives rise to an instant of affliction, the samaya is broken in an instant. Thus, when one practitioner has a moment of aversion or jealousy, everyone loses out. Such afflictions and disharmony among practitioners make everyone else feel ill at ease. Not only that, but these afflictions have an adverse effect on the entire surrounding region.

Understanding the importance of samaya, sādhakas must be strict with their discipline from the start. When we speak about how the merit of an entire retreat can be wasted by an instant of affliction, it offers an insight into how careful practitioners must be to guard the mind against negativity. This point, which accords with the individual Liberation precepts, must be understood correctly. Seeking to avoid harming others, meditators will again and again make effort to block afflictions. When such afflictions do arise, a sādhaka will think, “I have gotten angry and broken the samaya! As a result, the whole retreat will be ruined!” By recalling this as soon as affliction has arisen, one will immediately feel remorse and think, “What can I do now? How can I make it right?” Otherwise, if this point were not emphasized, practitioners would find themselves unable to suppress their negative emotions in retreats.

On the other hand, once one has received this instruction, if one believes that a single affliction has ruined everything and that there is no way to correct the problem, this is also a mistake that will lead to discouragement. To avoid this error, one must understand that the method of laying aside faults and misdeeds was taught by Lord Buddha as a way to purify negativities whenever one's discipline falls short. In fact, the only good thing about misdeeds is that they can be confessed. In particular, vajra siblings must lay aside their afflictions daily through means of the Gaṇacakra. Each afternoon of the secret accomplishment, the confession of the fourteen Mantric downfalls is recited during the Gaṇapūja. Such confession is a method of repairing samayas. Through it, sādhakas can immediately restore harmony within the mandala. Thus, it is taught that like a chain of pure gold, the samaya of Bodhicitta is easily broken, yet easily restored. This is a distinctive feature of the Bodhisattva's Vow.

From a Mantric perspective, whenever aversion arises, if it is recognized in the moment of arising, it becomes mirrorlike wisdom. Similarly, every affliction can be transformed into wisdom. When this occurs, the samaya cannot be broken and the affliction itself becomes beneficial. Finally, since Secret Mantra practice is rooted in the mind of all-encompassing purity, meditators are taught to perceive phenomena as being dreamlike. When all phenomena are perceived as illusory, one will be able to maintain the samaya regardless of what happens.

In brief, samayas can degenerate both on the conventional fictional level and on the ultimate factual level. For those who hold aversion and other afflictions within, there really can be no Secret Mantra samaya, since every samaya comes down to loving kindness and nonduality. The samaya of the Bodhisattva is to maintain love and affection. That commitment is damaged whenever loving kindness and affection are lost to the enemy of anger. The Secret Mantra samaya is to be free of dualistic grasping. That commitment is damaged each time one gives rise to the notion of a self. So, on the fictional level, one's commitment is to protect the mind from aversion. On the factual level, it is to guard against dualistic grasping. The Gaṇacakra restores both of these commitments as sādhakas cultivate love and affection conjoined with nondual awareness.

Making Offerings

By Making Offerings to the Deities by means of the Gaṇapūja, one practices generosity. In the context of Secret Mantra, the entire mandala is complete within one's own body-mind continuum. For one who knows this, the outer Vajraku[[māra is this worldly realm of Jambudvīpa. The inner Vajraku[[māra is fully complete within one's own body. The other, the secret, Vajraku[[māra manifests when Bodhicitta ripens into the pure field realm. Through partaking of enjoyments while maintaining this view, one makes great offerings. In this regard, a common prayer for offering food states,

In one's body, the mandala of gurus and yidams,

the channels and constituents, the retinue of heroes and heroines, have circled.

Through the virtue of having turned the wheel of gathering with this food and drink,

may all wayfaring beings attain the state of herukas![2]

By remaining aware of this, continually recalling the Deity while enjoying sense pleasures, the mind is free of grasping at the “I” who is enjoying. Being free of self-grasping, one will not experience the complete karmic ripening of such enjoyment. Another common offering prayer reads as follows:

The teacher unsurpassed, the precious Buddha;

protector unsurpassed, precious true Dharma;

and the guides unsurpassed, the precious Sangha —

to Three Jewels, source of Refuge, I make offering.[3]

When a meal is accompanied by these prayers, it becomes a small Gaṇapūja. Such offering prayers cut through the habitual thought “This food is mine. It is for me to eat.” In this way, the offering to the Three Jewels and Three Roots scatters the thought of “I,” diminishing self-grasping. This is how the Gaṇacakra has the power to purify karmic imprints.

Of principal importance is the HŪ syllable. When visualized, it causes the mind to abide in a state free of thoughts. Thus, the extensive Vajrakīla Practice manual says, “The HŪ is clearly visualized by the vajra eye. May unsurpassed Enlightenment be attained as we consume the offerings!”[4]

This vajra eye is the nondual view; it is actual truth. Through meditation on the HŪ syllable whose nature is clarity-emptiness, the mind becomes free of dualistic grasping; thus, the five desirables are spontaneously transformed into a Gaṇacakra. In the best case, this manifests as the purity of the Deity's clear appearances. Regardless of which of the five desirables one enjoys, one remains inseparable from the view. In this way, one brings onto the path whatever Secret Mantra activities are engaged.

Likewise, when practitioners become selfless through recalling the yidam Deity or the HŪ syllable, the ones who offered the food accomplish the merit accumulation, while practitioner-recipients diminish desire and self-grasping. Through this means, the wisdom Deities can partake of the enjoyments. From the ultimate factual perspective, the offering, the ones who offer, and those to whom offerings are made are indistinguishable. The basic meaning of the Gaṇacakra can be understood in this way.

Ritual Practice of the Gaṇacakra

At the beginning of the ritual, the gathered offerings are cleansed by fire, wind, and water with the syllables RĀṀ YĀṀ KHĀṀ, respectively. Then, the divine guests are invited with the following verse:

HŪ. To take up Empowerments and siddhis

to accomplish existence-kīla,

you great wisdom-wrathfuls, please come here!

Having come, you beings of wisdom wrath,

please reveal your marks and signs and grant

the accomplishments of Kīlaya!

Thus, sādhakas' aspiration in offering the Gaṇapūja is that the Deities will reveal themselves, bestowing accomplishments on the assembly and causing existence to be realized as the mandala of the Deity. The Gaṇapūja accomplishes this by restoring the bond of samaya among human practitioners and the divine beings in the mandala. This is expressed in the following lines:

OṀ ĀḤ HŪ. Outer vessel, inner contents, and

secret offerings — enjoyments displayed —

have been consecrated for the feast.

As they're offered to you, Glorious, Great

Father, mother, your courts, Kīla guards

with ten wrathful couples, take them, please,

to restore our bond in the expanse!

GAṆACAKRA MAHĀJÑĀNA PUJĀ HŌḤ.

The Restoration

This theme of restoring the samaya is further clarified by the supplemental text The Māra-Subduing Secret Mantra Sanctuary, the restoration ritual composed by Jamgön Kongtrül. It is inserted at this point in the Gaṇacakra. With this ritual, sādhakas make outer, inner, and secret offerings, which include restoring substances. They are described with these words:

…outer offerings, massed enjoyment clouds;

inner offerings, strewn desirables;

secret offerings, dance of the rigma.

Since one cannot know all the different sorts of material substances desired by the diverse types of beings in the Vajrakīla mandala, one should imagine that the Gaṇacakra offerings spontaneously transform into whatever will delight the minds of the assembled guests. As mentioned before, the main point of the secret offerings is the physical pleasure of the sādhaka who has trained in the yogas of the channels, winds, and seed essences. Since such bliss is simultaneously experienced by all the Deities inside one's body and in the mandala, it is the actual offering. Thus, through making pleasing offerings of Bodhicitta, the connections among human practitioners and the divine beings in the mandala are fully restored.

The causes from which the Vajrakīla Deities have arisen and the conditions on which they depend are clarified in the following verses, which describe some of the mandala beings' activities:

Actual ten perfections, ten virtues,

you wrath kings tame demons on ten sides.

With your emanated servant hosts —

twenty falcon types — our bond's restored!

You rise from mind, speech, and body as

mudrās penetrating noxious ones.

Through the families' boundless projection

and gathering — princes — our bond's restored!

The explicit Four Immeasurables,

four beast-faced ones who perform four acts —

four gates' blazing guards — our bond's restored!

Friends who guard the word of Kīla and

nurture yogins with samaya, you're

hindrances' and foes' great antidote!

You four canine maids — our bond's restored!

The first of these verses refers to the ten wrathful couples, who are embodiments of all the Buddhas' ten strengths. They appear through sentient ones' accomplishment of the ten virtues — fruitions that depend on their practice of the six or ten transcendent perfections. Causes and conditions such as these are the origins of all the pure Deities. Similarly, the subsequent verses point to the divine manifestations arisen from the nail of the activities of emanating and gathering and from the cultivation of the Four Immeasurables. One should contemplate well the meaning of these words.

Having made offerings, sādhakas then request the Deities to reciprocate by restoring the bond through bestowing siddhis and Empowerments:

To restore our grave commitment from

root and branch samayas' breakages,

faults' downfalls, confusion, and the like,

grant the eight great siddhis, four actions,

and great jewels of body, speech, and mind —

siddhis and Empowerments, barring none!

The restoration concludes with the following supplication:

Wisdom-wrathfuls, grant resplendence to

yogins with our courts who practice you!

Marks and signs of the accomplishment

of existence as vajra soon show!

Consummating penetrating mind,

tame four māras and slay the three foes!

In the unborn sphere, Enlightened, make

the two aims spontaneously achieved!

The term ”existence“ (sipa) signifies all the possibilities in cyclic existence — everything that could come to be within samsara. When the ”vajra“ nature of the three planes is laid bare, whatever could appear manifests as the yidam's mandala. Thus, one supplicates the Deities of wisdom-wrath to bestow accomplishment of this union of samsara and Nirvana.

Although the four māras have already been clarified, the ”three foes“ should be understood as (1) impeding outer embodied and formless demons, harmdoers, and enemies; (2) unimpeded inner enemies that are the six afflictions; and (3) the secret enemy that is dualistic grasping. In other words, dualistic grasping is the essence, afflictions are the nature, and obstructing harmdoers are the capability aspect.

Since all of these afflictions and sufferings are subsumed within dualistic grasping, they are nothing other than the māra of the lord of death, which is ultimately slain when one gives rise to nondual wisdom. Once enemies' bodies have been destroyed, the HŪ syllable arises in place of self-grasping consciousness — the ordinary life force. In this way, the kīla of unfurled and pervasive wisdom liberates the māra of the lord of death by seizing the ordinary life force of sentient ones. This is the meaning of the words “Tame four māras and slay the three foes!” The final fruition of this will be Enlightenment, the accomplishment of one's own purpose. From within that state, the Four Activities that spontaneously accomplish others' purpose will also be complete.

The restoration is then followed by a verse of disclosure and the hundred syllables, which are part of the original Gaṇacakra text.

Drawing In

Then, before the Liberation, the sādhakas call upon the authority of the Three Jewels' and Three Roots' truth to draw enemies and obstructors into the torma effigy. Specifically, that which is being drawn in are the three poisons — the afflictions in the mindstreams of all sentient ones of the Three Realms — delusion, the nature of flesh; lust, in the aspect of blood; and aversion, in the aspect of bones.

As symbols of the authority of the Three Jewels' and Three Roots' truth, the ritual master dons a fringed brocade and a hat. There are a couple of different hats that may be worn for this ritual. The Kagyüpas adopted the Mohawk-like style of the Gelug tradition's yellow hat (tsezha), changing the color to red. Since this hat has a connection with vinaya holders of the past, it is not appropriate to be worn by the laity. Instead, lay mantrins may wear the poison hat of Zhangtrom (zhang trom dug zhu) for the drawing in and for lower activities. It was designed by the treasure revealer Gya Zhangtrom, a holder of the Yamāntaka lineage. Resembling the enchanted projectile torma, it consists of a large red triangle, which is shaped like a poisonous flower. It symbolizes the activities of the Three Kāyas. On its left and right sides, it has smaller black triangles that rise to about one-third of the height of the red peak. They represent the blades of an iron throwing star.

As black frankincense is burned, the assembly recite,

NAMO! By the truth of the Three Jewels, Three Roots, and yidam Vajra Youth's divine assembly of s[[eventy]]-eight, every harmdoer, oath transgressor, and opportunistic spirit — into this liṅga of the final Gaṇacakra be drawn!

To accomplish the drawing in, one must understand that when others do harm, it is a result of their afflictions; at the very ground, they have the Buddha nature. Thus, the sādhakas are supplicating the Deity to separate beings' afflictions from the Buddha nature. In this way, all the afflictions, sufferings, and three poisons of all sentient beings — oneself and others — are gathered together as one and drawn into the torma effigy. Just as the kīla consecration makes use of the syllables A NRI SU TRI PRE DUḤ, so too one can imagine that all the afflictions of the six realms' beings, in the aspects of these six syllables, are being gathered up and drawn into the feast Liberation.

Imagining the afflictions to be like oil and all the Deities' forms to be like heaps of flames, one should think that the Deities have consumed the sufferings and three poisons of all the three spheres' sentient ones, just as a great fire consumes oil that has been poured into it. One should cultivate this visualization not only in the context of Vajrakīla Practice, but in every Secret Mantra Gaṇacakra Liberation.

Liberation

The Liberation and proffering, which come next, are part of the original Gaṇacakra text. Because the practice of Liberation is easily misunderstood, it is important to clarify its outer, inner, and secret meanings. As it says in The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, “What worldly god, himself also bound in samsara's prison, is able to give protection?”[5] Thus, one who wishes to accomplish liberating activities must first free oneself from the fetters of samsara. This is accomplished through the kīla of Bodhicitta, which involves control over the channels and winds. Mastery of Bodhicitta is necessary for the fourth kīla, the material kīla of signs, which is associated with Liberation. In order to liberate beings, one must have the ability to lead their consciousnesses to the pure realms. Otherwise, liberating activity is indistinguishable from killing. Ultimately, it is only through the sādhaka's view that sentient ones can be guided to the pure Buddha Fields.

When one sees the mind that is Buddha nature, one gives rise to the view of inseparable samsara and Nirvana. Then, one understands the single underlying basis that is described in The Aspiration of Samantabhadra. By developing certainty in that view, one recognizes all sentient beings to be endowed with Buddha nature. It is only through conditional delusion that self and other appear as two. In actuality, self and other cannot exist as two. This understanding frees one from the fetters of dualistic ego-grasping.

First, this point should be understood. Then, it must be experienced. Finally, it must be stabilized through meditation. The person who does this comes to liberate afflictions in their own place — to liberate the five poisons into the five wisdoms. In this way, everyone, self and others, is freed from samsara. As it says in a famous praise, ”Freed, you then show freedom's path.“[6] Thus, having become free oneself, one shows others the methods and practices to liberate themselves.

So, on the secret level, one first liberates oneself from dualistic concepts and self-grasping. Then, on the inner level, one becomes able to free all others from the bonds of afflictions. Finally, on the outer level, one can engage the direct, destructive actions that liberate — through immeasurable great loving kindness and compassion — outer enemies, harmful elementals, and those in whom the ten grounds are complete. In this way, the entirety of appearance-existence becomes evident as the mandala of Vajrakīla. This is the sort of potency that can be developed through practice of the Deity's approach and accomplishment.

If one contemplates the different sorts of beings in this worldly realm, there are some who have great pride. Others have great ignorance. Still others have great hatred. Considering only the phenomena of this life in this world, they think, “Whatever happens when I die doesn't matter.” Completely self-absorbed, they have no knowledge of anything beyond the present lifetime. When they hear that all phenomena are emptiness, they understand it nihilistically, thinking, “When I die, my consciousness will dissolve into nothing.” Having no concept of karmic imprints, they are angrily opposed to spiritual practitioners and to religious systems, labeling religious people as feeble-minded losers, misfits, and weirdos. Their view is that all religions are useless.

What is a practitioner's view? Someone who is practicing Kīla could give rise to mistaken views about such people, thinking, “Since he has such perverted attitudes about the Dharma, he is really a suitable object of Liberation!” However, there is no reason whatsoever to become angry at these types. In fact, there is no need to have anything but compassion. Due to gross ignorance, such beings cannot control their extreme arrogance.

For example, one can consider spiders. I met a tarantula on the road the other day. Among all insects, they are the most arrogant, killing and eating whatever other bugs they can. They stay in their places, thinking, “There is really no one more terrifying than me!” Their arrogance is such that they can hardly bear to meet a human being walking on their path. Because they seem threatening, others avoid them.

To protect the spider, I tried to move him away from the road with a spoon. In reaction, the poor guy started biting the spoon, trying to take on such an enormous human! Being totally confused by great arrogance, he had no idea that all it would take is a single stamp of the foot to wipe him out. Bless his heart; he was just like that! That prideful bug was like that. I really felt sorry for him!

So it is with prideful, arrogant ones. I mean, in this world, one would not find anyone with greater reason to be prideful than Lord Buddha, right? But what did he teach? The Bhagavan Buddha taught that there is a direct correspondence between the greatness of one's attributes and being peaceful, restrained, and harmonious with all. Those endowed with good qualities are meek, showing humility to all. For this reason, it is said that the sign of spirituality is to be peaceful and restrained.

Conversely, arrogance is a mark of being devoid of attributes. Thus, Sakya Paṇḍita said, ”Inferior qualities equal great pride.“[7] Such are the faults that come from ignorance. When encountering such beings, one must cultivate affection.

The Buddhas have taught all sorts of different activities that are appropriate for different types of beings. The mindstreams of most will be freed through peaceful methods. Other demonic types who do harm to countless sentient ones are not subdued through peaceful means. The beings to be liberated, known as “those in whom the ten grounds are complete,” are those with gross afflictions like great hatred, those who are difficult to tame, and those who do grave harm to others. The mode of activity that is suitable for such beings is destructive in nature. It is a reflection of the coarseness of their own mental outlook.

There is not the slightest difference between the Buddhas who have taught the Dharma of cause and effect and the yidam Vajrakīla who subdues māras. The minds of all sentient ones and the minds of all māras are also the same in regard to their Buddha nature. However, one who has befriended his or her own afflictions is like a person with an incurable disease. Having become habituated to creating unvirtuous causes lifetime after lifetime, he or she becomes trapped, unable to escape those imprints. Destructive activities are for the purpose of liberating such beings from entanglement in their afflictions.

For example, someone who intends to harm a hundred others must be stopped, both for the sake of the hundred potential victims and because of the karmic weight of such negative deeds, which would cast the perpetrator into the lower realms. Those who bomb public places and harm the inhabitants of a country, inflicting injury on the general populace, are examples of such types. Though one may explain to them the Dharma of cause and effect, they do not listen. Having contempt for the teachings, lacking respect for humanity, such beings cut off their own life force through great ignorance. Under the influence of afflictions, they accumulate grave misdeeds. The only way to change the karmic trajectory of those who have extremely heavy afflictions is for them to change bodies and to take another birth. Even though the unripe aggregates, elements, and sense fields are pure at the basis, inferior bodies must be ripened. Thus, the compassionate ones have established actual practices to liberate those beings who are suitable fields for Liberation.

The lower activities cause such beings' brutal code of conduct to be applied to themselves. Causing obstructors' ill will to fall back on their own heads, the lower activities speed up the ripening of misdeeds. If such ripening is not expedited, in the future, harmdoers will endure extreme suffering. Thus, the duration is shortened, and the weight of their karmic burden is lightened. It is not as though one is making them suffer; they have already created the causes of suffering for themselves. By considering this, one can give rise to a mind of immeasurable compassion for those ten grounds of Liberation. When one truly has compassion, then beings will be tamed by whatever means are appropriate to them.

Some may ask, if afflictions abide in the mind and not in the body, how can killing obstructors separate them from their afflictions? The body has been created on the basis of karmic habits. As long as one is embodied, one will not become free of the circumstances of happiness and suffering conditioned by these latent imprints. Such habits have been accumulated through karma, which has been accumulated through positive and negative emotions. Thus, the compassionate Buddhas have taught the skillful means of development and completion, through which practitioners can purify latencies and the obscurations of body, speech, and mind. However, since those with great delusion do not have the good fortune of faith in the Dharma, they are bereft of such methods. Because of this, they have no other recourse but to change bodies.

Among the destructive actions of the divine hosts who carry out Enlightened activities, the Liberation is principal. Within the Vajrakīla Texts, there are various methods of Liberation, such as suppression, burning, and casting of malign repelling tormas. There are also mantras for the lower activities of siccing, killing, and sorcery. These are employed during the great accomplishment retreat that is done at my monastery. In such rituals, it is essential that the vajra master and the various lamas maintain their focus. This focus requires not even the slightest wavering from loving kindness and compassion. It is nothing but the mind of the Four Immeasurables.

Therefore, it is not at all appropriate to engage Liberation with a mind of aggression. These methods do not involve killing with attachment- and aversion-based views about those one likes and dislikes. That would be an exceptionally grave misdeed and a fault more severe than shooting someone dead.

Since the Buddhas' Teachings are entirely unadulterated by self-interest, during the practices of drawing in and Liberation, one should not hold on to any such notions as “This should be liberated. That should be liberated. This one is no good. That one is no good.” Rather, since the Deities are endowed with the eye of wisdom, one can leave everything to the three times' Buddhas to adjudicate, asking them to bear witness. One should think, “May you draw in and deal with all the beings in this worldly realm who are suitable for Liberation — all those in whom the ten grounds are complete.”

Then, after the Enlightened Ones have drawn in beings according to their karma, one should recite the mantras and perform the Liberation from within a state free of reference point. Otherwise, if one tries to engage destructive actions based on one's own judgment, it is said that there is great danger of going astray and taking the form of a destructive, demonic force (rūdra) in the future. This is an extremely grave point.

From the perspective of one's grasping at things as real, it is easy to think, “This person is doing harm to others. He is really engaged in bad actions.” But whether or not someone is truly a bad actor can only be known by the Three Jewels. With their omniscient wisdom, they can adjudicate that. Thus, one should supplicate, “May you Three Jewels judge it. May you divine assemblies adjudicate. May you Dharma protectors and guards see to it.” In this way, one can leave everything to them to determine appropriately. One should consider this point well.

Just as there are special substances known as Liberations through taste, seeing, contact, and the like, malign tormas are said to be Liberations through being struck. When malign tormas are cast, they make contact with enemies and obstructors, delivering them from samsaric sufferings. First, throughout the retreat, sādhakas should regard the torma as the Immeasurable Palace of the Deities. Over a week of continuous practice, they should make offerings to the torma, using it as a meditation support. At the end of the retreat, after the Deities have departed into space, one imagines the torma as a mass of poison, weapons, and armed troops. Then, having previously calculated the year, month, day, period, time, life-spirit weekday, direction, and so forth of the object at whom the weapon is aimed, the torma should be cast. When such astrological calculations have been made and the practice has been properly accomplished, the weapon will effectively reach its intended target, no matter the physical distance.

Even though the method of Liberation appears to be the same as killing, the sentient ones to be liberated are led to the pure Buddha Fields. In this way, the phowa transference for the deceased and the Liberation of those in whom the ten grounds are complete are fundamentally the same. The only difference is that one is a peaceful method and the other is a destructive one. But, in fact, the destination to which they are guided is the same. Such obstructors have Buddha nature. When that nature is forcibly separated from afflictions, they are established on the ground of the Buddhas. Thus, one should understand that this activity is not beating and killing. Even though the sadhanas for the liberating activities of suppression, burning, and casting use extremely terrifying language that can make one's hairs stand on end, finally, they all come down to the Enlightened activity of the Buddhas. Liberation takes place through the force of great love alone. Thus, it is said in the Vajrakīla Tantras, “The commitment to liberate through compassion is neither slaughter nor suppression.”[8]

Through these means, the māra of the aggregates is conquered by Bodhicitta. The Liberation rite is not so much a killing as it is the destruction of obstructors' afflictions. Through the use of mantra, charmed substances, and the like, the sādhaka causes obstructors to become free of suffering and fear. The transformation of thoughts and afflictions into primordial awareness-wisdom is the inner Liberation. Stabbing the torma effigy with the material kīla, one forcibly separates the mindstreams of those to be liberated from their karma and afflictions. In this way, consciousness is transformed through the interdependent arising that is the outer Liberation. Finally, emerging as divine children of Vajrakīla and consort, they are established on the ground of the Buddhas, the Buddha nature having become fully ripened in them.

One who understands the liberating activity of Vajrakīla will know that it occurs only through compassion. Hatred cannot liberate. Only a practitioner who has become free of his or her own inner afflictions will be capable of conquering the outer afflictions of others through loving kindness. For example, when one returns another's hostility and anger with love, that person's anger will spontaneously be exhausted. Liberating activity should be understood in this way.

Giving [[rise to a mind of Great Compassion for those who must be tamed, one should recite the following words of the Liberation:

Having suitably released them through

manifest behavior and reduced

their bodies and speech to particles,

cause them to experience suffering!

Although obstructors must experience suffering during the Liberation, that suffering is exceedingly brief and serves to exhaust their negative karma. Once that karma has been experienced, it is expended. For example, one endures some pain as a result of a surgery, but it is minor compared to the greater illness that is cured. Similarly, when demonic beings are liberated through illusory destructive activities, they experience an instant of suffering due to their grasping and then, in the very next instant, are delivered into the awareness of the Buddhas — the pure realm of Sukhāvatī. In that brief moment of relatively small suffering, their vast accumulation of negative karma is completely exhausted.

Hearing this, some may wonder why accomplished practitioners of Vajrakīla don't just liberate all sentient beings, establishing everyone in the state of Buddhahood. However, if one wants to grind grain that is mixed with stones, one must first remove the stones from the grain. It is unsuitable to grind the stones and the grain together. Similarly, one must apply antidotes appropriate to the conditions. The vast majority of sentient ones will definitely be freed through peaceful, enriching, and magnetizing activities. For example, those who are greatly afflicted but do not do great harm to others or to the Buddhas' Teachings can be tamed by means of magnetization. One should use the least invasive means necessary, reserving destructive methods only for those unfortunate ones who cannot be tamed any other way.

For example, the heap of dharmas — the Tantras and sadhanas taught by the three times' Buddhas — are literally inexhaustible and without limit. This is because the different sorts of individuals of high, middling, and lesser faculties are inexhaustible and limitless. The methods of establishing sentient ones in the status of the Buddhas are equally diverse. Whichever methods are used, they should suit the faculties, dispositions, and karmic fortunes of each kind of individual. This idea is reflected in a common prayer to request Dharma teachings:

Please turn the Dharma wheel of yānas —

the great, the smaller, and the common —

according to specific ways of

sentient ones' reasoning and intentions.[9]

All the progressive stages of different vehicles are like different sizes of clothing. One should consider that one would not dress an adult man in an infant's onesie! Similarly, if one clothed an infant in a grown man's suit, it would die of suffocation! In this way, it is good to reflect on the vastness of the Buddhas' knowledge. Otherwise, one may be mystified and feel doubtful about the Enlightened Ones' actions. Unless one has great intelligence, the Buddhas' Enlightened activities are incomprehensible. This is the explanation of liberating activity.

After the Liberation is the proffering, which occurs with the following verse:

HŪ. Open wide, Great Glorious One and courts!

These five skandhas of delivered foes

and obstructors we serve to your mouths —

glorious couple, you ten wrathful ones,

and your emanated retinues.

Please partake of harmdoers, hostile foes,

and their hosts, with not an atom left!

VAJRA YAKṢA KRODHA KHA KHA KHĀHI KHĀHI.

Here, one should imagine that all the divine servants in the mandala of Vajrakīla consume the flesh, blood, and bones of the enemies and obstructors who have been liberated. Since these are the nature of the five afflictive poisons, that which is consumed is ultimately the afflictions of sentient ones.

Repelling

Next, the assembly recites another supplemental text, that of repelling. The demons, māras, furies, kinglies, and so forth who are mentioned in the repelling text should not be thought of as external entities. Rather, they are manifestations of one's own inner afflictions. As such, these harmful forces can arise anywhere. It is not so much that these beings should be repelled by sādhakas; rather, it is their negative actions that must be turned back.

These various spirits and demons are not entirely bad. One should understand that they are extremely diverse. For example, in a vast country, there are many different nationalities and various sorts of groups. So it is with the different kinds of beings in the repelling practice. Through their self-grasping, they do harm to sentient ones. As a result, they create the causes of their own suffering. Through the interaction of their negative karma with one's own conditions, they appear as beings to whom one owes karmic debts. So, that which is really being turned back are self-grasping and afflictions. When one's own self-grasping and afflictions are repelled, all negative conditions are repelled. Thus, there is no outer demon to be subdued. Those who have discerning intelligence understand that the cause of the so-called demon is the karma they themselves have accumulated through afflictions. That negative karma is turned back by the power of compassion. All repelling activity should be understood in this way.

Gaṇacakra Offerings

Once the repelling is complete, it is time to enjoy the offerings. When one offers food to the wisdom Deities, they do not actually consume it. However, since oneself and the Deity become indistinguishable when one's actions are virtuous, offering food to the assembly of sādhakas is no different from Making Offerings to the actual divine mandala. Through this means, the wisdom Deities can partake of enjoyments. Because offering in this way will become a cause for one to experience perfect enjoyments for many lifetimes, it is one way that merit is accumulated in the context of the Gaṇapūja.

Particularly when partaking of the enjoyments, one should perceive all men as the father Deity and as heroes. Likewise, one should think of all women as the mother Deity and ḍākiṇīs. Seeing self and others as divine in this way, one's perceptions should be conjoined with the vivid appearances of the Deity. Everyone has been transformed into the yidam abiding at the center of the mandala, and all the offerings have become divine enjoyments. Thus, there is no difference between the mandala Deities partaking of the offerings and the gathered sādhakas doing so.

In the context of Gaṇacakra offerings, we speak of the five fleshes and five nectars. The fleshes — (1) human, (2) cow, (3) dog, (4) elephant, and (5) horse — are the nature of the Buddhas of the five families. The nectars, naturally present in one's own body, are (1) excrement, (2) urine, (3) red Bodhicitta, (4) white Bodhicitta, and (5) brains. They are the nature of the five Buddhas' consorts. From the perspective of the Vajra Vehicle, these are all considered to be precious medicines. Since this notion would be shocking for ordinary people who do not understand Secret Mantra, this view is kept hidden and should not be disclosed. Because ordinary beings give rise to afflictions by perceiving such substances as impure, the point for meditators is to realize their fundamental purity.

Thus, when presented with the five fleshes and five nectars, one must purify the dualistic concepts “this is clean; that is unclean.” Such notions only do harm. The idea that something is unclean is merely subtle aversion. The idea that something is tasty is subtle desire. These dualistic concepts of attachment and aversion follow one after the next like a continuous snowfall. Of course, dualistic grasping arises in the mind. Even if something is filthy, people will eat it as long as it tastes good! But when it's filthy and tastes nasty, then what? The yoga is to partake impartially, without regard for clean and unclean. This is a special feature of the Gaṇapūja. Everything must be received in the state of great equanimity. For this reason, the following words are recited when offering to the vajra master: ”Look! To have doubt in this beautiful true Dharma would not be right! Partake, regarding Brahmins, dogs, outcastes, and pigs as singular in nature!“[10] Then, the master responds, “AH LA LA HOḤ! Priceless is the sugatas' Dharma! Free of taint by desire, I fully reject grasped at and grasping! To thusness I bow with respect!”[11]

The principal point of this yoga is that the imprints of grasping at desirables not be reinforced in the mind. Even though one enjoys desirable objects, one should practice in ways that do not cause imprints to be laid down. In the context of the two accumulations, the accumulation of wisdom means not allowing imprints to be established. Thus, it is said, ”One should neither take up clinging to passion nor abstain from the downfall of desirables.“[12] This means that one must partake of the enjoyments. Even so, one must be free of clinging to the Gaṇacakra. Experiences of pleasure must be liberated on arising. In this context, everything dawns as the pure appearance of the Deity. When partaking of the five desirables, it all comes down to the essential point of not losing oneself in the enjoyment. One should only lose oneself halfway. The final benefit of the Gaṇacakra is just that.

As the ritual master gathers the residual of the Gaṇacakra, it is important that the sādhakas take great care with it, perceiving the divine ḍākiṇīs to whom one makes the offering as being like loving mothers, sisters, and companions. Because sādhakas share a singular samaya with them, one should offer the remainder with a mind of great affection. For example, if someone is very dear to you, you will take a bite of food before feeding that person the rest. This is also the reason the vajra master must offer saliva with the remainder: it is a sign of extremely great love for the heroes and ḍākiṇīs. Because of this, it is unacceptable to offer carelessly the discarded peels from fruits or throw the foods one dislikes into the offering vessel.

After the residual has been gathered, it is consecrated with the words OṀ VAJRA AMṚITA UCCHIṢṬĀYA HŪ PHAṬ, and then music is played. At the start of the music, the sādhakas should whistle softly — not harshly — to gather nonhuman guests to come and partake of the offering. The recipients require this self-arisen sound, which is like a gentle wind. Because demons and other nonhumans respond to such sounds, they are often regarded as scary by Tibetans. But there is no need to hold superstitious views about empty echoes.

Then, the residual is offered with the following verse:

HŪ. First, we offer gods' hosts the choice part.

Next, the feast restores the siblings' bond.

Finally, through this torma of remains,

may deserving ones be satisfied!

OṀ UCCHIṢṬĀ BHAKṢA KHĀHI.

Taking in hand the vessel containing the residual, the ritual master dances out of the assembly while music is played. It is taught that the residual should be set outdoors in a clean place. Since animals and insects will eventually eat the coarse food that has been set out, these offerings become the practice of generosity.

The Gaṇacakra concludes with verses to invoke the samaya and rouse the Deities, oath-bound guardians, and earth-keeping maidens each to fulfill their respective promises. Finally, after another drawing in, the following lines are recited:

HŪ. Imprints born through ignorance and the

mass of four conditions, six causes,

and afflictions are suppressed beneath

Meru — self-born knowing-emptiness —

seamlessly upon completion's ground!

OṀ ĀḤ HŪ LAṀ STAMBHAYA NAN.

Even though no dance is performed at this stage, this verse is called “the horse dance.” It refers to Hayagrīva, whose wrathful movements suppress harmdoing spirits as though they were being trampled by the striking hooves of a horse. In actuality, these harmdoers are the bases of dualistic consciousness, the afflictions, and karmic imprints. Collectively, they give rise to all the samsaric phenomena of the six realms. As the empty torma vessel is forcefully turned upside down, one imagines that all such obstructive forces have been suppressed by the Mount Meru that is the view.

The Gaṇacakra in Daily Activities

Once one has understood the meaning of the Gaṇacakra, one can call it to mind at all times during daily activities. Whatever delight or pleasure among the five desirables one experiences, one should never part from the vivid appearance of the Deity. It is said that food or any other pleasurable phenomenon becomes a Gaṇacakra offering when it is enjoyed while recalling the Deity. So it is with the sexual pleasures that are experienced with the Mantra recitation: by vividly imagining the Deity, one makes the supreme secret offering. This essential point is called the instruction on perceiving pleasures as the Gaṇacakra. Even if one has no time for formal practice, one must not forget the Deity when partaking of desirables.

” (VkGarR)

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• Vajrakilaya - A Complete Guide by Garchen Rinpoche