Intro to Vajrayana (3 Buddhist traditions)

Introduction to Vajrayana: Its place in Buddhist teachings (04-29-11)

A Cosmic Buddha, Maha Vairocana

(Sravasti Abbey) May 5, 2011: Venerable Thubten Chodron gives a basic explanation of Tantra, clearing up some common misconceptions about it. For more Vajrayana Buddhist teachings visit sravasti.org and thubtenchodron.org.

What are the three Buddhist traditions?

Wisdom Quarterly

Siddhartha, born in northwest, traveled east, awakened, and taught in this area for 45 years.

1. Vipassana ("insight meditation")
2. Zen (jhana or "meditative absorption")
3. Vajrayana ("Thunderbolt Vehicle"), a branch of Mahayana

Vipassana (insight) is a meditation technique, which utilizes systematic mindfulness and the peculiar teaching of the Buddha called Dependent Origination (pratītyasamutpāda). Zen is Chan as it evolved from China to Japan and Korea.

1. Vipassana
2. Zen
3. Tibetan Buddhism

This is wrong as well since Vajrayana is not synonymous with Tibetan culture. There are various Himalayan countries that practice Vajrayana, namely, Kalmykia, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Siberia, Russia, Buryatia, and Northern India (Ladakh, Sikkim, Himalchal Pradesh).

1. Theravada
2. Mahayana
3. Vajrayana

These are the three general traditions or schools, each a little different as it is practiced in different countries.

The real three Buddhist traditions

THERAVADA (the "Teaching of the Elders," a reference to the theras and theris who were the male and female enlightened monastics, the name designating someone in robes for at least ten rains retreats, who memorized and passed down the Teaching) is the back-to-basics, original, or orthodox school of the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama also called Shakyamuni (the "Sage of the Scythian or Shakyian" clan). This tradition (along with 17 or 18 now defunct schools that get labeled Hinayana or "Lesser Vehicle" schools like the Sarvastivada) was preserved in the language of the Buddha, who spoke Magadhi (the language of the Kingdom of Magadha), which is Pali. Prakrit seems to refer to a synthesis or blending of Pali and Sanskrit. The Buddha was a polymath conversant in many languages and dialects with an expert knack for not only understanding living beings in any language but also capable of addressing them in the language, expressions, and vocabulary they best understood. (This is one of the Ten Powers of a Buddha).

MAHAYANA is a further development or reform tradition conflated with Vedic Brahmanism (later referred to as Hinduism), very much influenced and degraded or brought into alignment with the old views of Brahmin priests instead of what the historical Buddha sought to teach which rejected the Vedas, promoting instead the shramanic ("wandering ascetic") custom of various teachers of antiquity, most notably the Buddha and his Doctrine-and-Discipline (the Buddha Dharma and Vinaya) and Mahavira and his Doctrine (Jainism), both of which the Brahmins tried to subsume as schools within Hinduism. This tradition was preserved in the exclusive language of the Vedic priests, the Brahmins, which was middle and late Sanskrit, Buddhist Sanskrit, and ancillary languages like Gandhara, an Indo-Aryan Prakrit. The oldest surviving texts, amazingly, may not be in Pali, which was a spoken language without its own script, but rather Gandharan. The historical Buddha was from Gandhara (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, the ancient northwest frontier of Buddhist Emperor Ashoka's empire, Bharat/Bharata (from ancient Mahabharata, which reduced in size is called "India" today, although "India" did not exist at the time of the Buddha, the land being divided into many loosely affiliated and feuding kingdoms and republics or mahajanapadas, "footholds of the family clan"). All Mahayana schools and sects are strongly influenced by the country they came to or evolved in because of missionary Buddhism's custom of blending with the local religion and practices. Mahayana as the "Greater Vehicle" and accounts for 90% of Buddhism, even if differs greatly from country to country.

VAJRAYANA is an esoteric branch of Mahayana mixed with Bon and Himalayan shamanism from northern countries in and around the Himalayas, which colored it with many esoteric, yogic, tantric, and other Indian influences that attached to the popularity of Buddhism for export. It is distinctive, and many may think of it as the speedy path, as if the others promoted a slow, hard slog when, in fact, the historical Buddha often brought hearers to realization in a single Dharma talk (gradual instruction), one sutra (suture, string, theme running through a presentation suited specially for them). This is why reading the discourse is no substitute for hear the Buddha or an enlightened thera/disciple teach. It is not about a "transmission" of (shaktipat, yogic, psychic, or blessed energy) as such, though one may argue that is exactly what it is, but rather a teacher is reading the situation to present what is appropriate and most helpful right at this moment. That may involve an intuitive sense or psychic ability, an extraordinary load of compassion, and is almost certainly accompanied by strong faith (saddha, confidence and conviction in the teacher) such that the message penetrates. The historical Buddha had a pattern of first prepping the mind/heart of the hearer before presenting that transcendental knowledge peculiar to buddhas -- the teaching of the wisdom that has gone beyond. Before wisdom the gradual discourse proceeded on establishing a peaceful, joyful, and receptive mind then presenting the information. This was possible because the Buddha was more than an arhat (fully enlightened being). He was a Supremely Enlightened One (samma-sam-buddha), which is a specific designation full of meaning. Anyone might become an arhat now that a buddha has arrived and taught, but that a buddha should ever arise (fitted with all the capacities of a supremely wise teach, deft in knowledge, vision, and language) or that one has the karma to come across such a being, this is very rare. Such "teachers of gods (devas) and men (humans)" are rare because it takes so long to cultivate the ancillary skills to be an effective teacher. Not all buddhas are alike, and the historical Buddha learned from the mistakes and shortcomings of previous buddhas. In one case, a buddha of the past did not much emphasize vinaya (monastic rules and regulations) and therefore his dispensation (the existence of the Dharma in the world under him) was shortened. The historical Buddha always tried to strike a balance between what the world as he found it needed and what needed to be done to ensure the preservation of the Teachings for at least 1,000 years. We are now 2,600 or so years out (possibly 500 more than that) and can expect that the Buddha Dharma has become corrupted in this Dark Age (Kali Yuga), with its many schisms and schools, interpretations and translations. The Dharma survives, but there are fewer and fewer humans and devas with the karma to meet with it or readily grasp its profundity. The historical Buddha even in his day wondered whether it was worth teaching to a world so obsessed with sensual pursuits and pleasure. Imagine, that was then. How have we as humans become? More golden and truthful (closer to the Satya Yoga the Vedas speak of, that past and future Golden Age) or darker and more depraved, needing more foundational information and more vivid (less implied) examples? Don't take Wisdom Quarterly's word for it. Do the research, as Ani says the Dalai Lama suggests.

• Ven. Thubten Chodron, Sravasti Abbey (video, May 5, 2011); TEXT by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly