“ADunhuangManuscriptonVajrakīlaya,"byRobertMayerandCathyCantwellTheTibetJournal19:1(1994)

Reprint: A Dunhuang M"anuscript on Vajrakflaya:*

[IOL MSS TIB J 754, 81-82]

Robert Mayer and Cathy Cantwell*'"

The manuscript presented here was recently identified among the Stein Collection of the India Office Library, London, by Dr Kimiaki Tanaka of Tokyo. This manuscript dealing with Vajrakilaya, like several other Dunhuang Mss., is written on the back of some apparently quite unrelated Chinese documents. Although the handwriting is clear and confident, there are several corrections, crossings out, and probable spelling errors in the text, which perhaps indicate, as the brevity of the contents and the informal page layout would further suggest, that the materials we have here constitute a rough or hastily made aide-memoire intended for personal use, rather than a complete text. The topics dealt with include:

(1) the dimensions of the material ki1a, i.e. the ritual object, and the visualisations and hlantras to be employed in consecrat­ing it;

(2) the practice of sgrol-ba, or liberating killing, in which obstacles are simultaneously destroyed and spiritually liberated;

(3) the practice of the Four Mudras according to Yogatantra;

(4) the practice of sbyor-ba, or sexual yoga, in which sexuality is taken up as a part of the spiritual path.

* The Tibet Journal is reprinting this particular article due to errors made in the first printing.

** It is thanks to the kindness of Mr. Tanaka that we were [("Ide aware of the existence of this text, as well as being furnished with its precise catalogue details. Dr. Michael 0' Keefe and Mr. Stuart May of the India Office Library generously supplied us with inexpensive yet superbly clear photocopies, without which this work would have been impossible.

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Apart from the first of these, the material insofar as it is

presented here, differs little from that of modern Vajrakilaya liter­

ature, or from that preserved in such older collections as the

rNying-ma rgyud-'bum. However, as we point out in our comments below, even the differences in the first topic might not really be differences at all, if a simple scribal error can be admitted.

The second, third and fourth topics seem to be substantially similar

to the later tradition. Similar visualisations and meditations continue to be used in the practice of sgrol-ba in the contemporary Vajrakilaya tradition, while Yogatantra's Four Mudras of sku

phyag-chen, chos phyag-rgya, thugs-dam or dam-tshig phyags-rgya, and las phyag rgya, are described in modern rNying-ma-pa works, such as Dudjom Rinpoche's bsTan-pa'i rnam-gzllag.1 However, it is interesting to

note that the later tradition assigns Vajrakilaya predominantly to Mahayoga, rather than Yogatantra; while another Dunhuang text, Pelliot 44, is understood by several distinguished scholars as indicating that Vajraldlaya was at that time taught according to several different yanas.2

Finally, the terse description of the practice of sbyor-ba given here does not, as far as it goes, demonstrate any noticeable departures from later tradition. It is equally noteworthy that the mantras found in this manu­script are not very different from those of the later tradition. As we point out below, several of them occur but little changed, to perform similar or identical functions, in texts from the rNying-ma rgyud-'bum, or by later authors.

An interesting feature of this Ms is that while we have found that at least some of the materials it contains are also found among the voluminous Vajraldlaya scriptures of the rNying-ma rgyud-'bum, they are not found in the short rDo-rje phur-pa rtsa-ba'i dum-bu, the sole VajrakIlaya text contained in the Kanjur, and the most important text for the Sa-skya-pa Kilaya tradition3 (although, of course, it must be pointed out that the materials contained in the Sa-skya text itself are also all contained within several of the longer rNying-ma-pa texts, from which they appear to have been taken out as excerpts or key passages). In addition, this Ms makes a reference to an un-named Vajrakllaya Tantra, which apparently gives detailed instructions on how to make a kila, in its familiar form with knots and a triangular blade. While such detailed instructions are not found, as far as we know, in any Kanjur texts at all, they are found among the scriptures from the rNying-ma rgyud-'bum. As we describe below, the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis, for example, teaches how to make such a kila in Chapter 10, and how to project visualisations upon it and consecrate it, in Chapter 11, in terms remarkably close to those of the

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manuscript, including the use of similar mantras. This might suggest that at least some of the scripture of the rNying-ma rgyud-'bum was already in existence before this manuscript was written.

The manuscript bears many of the distinctive features of other early Tibetan materials, be they Dunhuang Mss or inscriptions: the gi-gu is often reversed, or used where we would nowadays expect a 'greng-bu, and the ya-btags is added to words where we would no longer apply it An interesting feature of the orthogmphy is the haphazard approach to the transliteration of Sanskrit mantras, suggesting that this text was written before the standardisation of Sanskrit transliteration that took place under Ralpachen had taken full effect. Hence, the name of the consort of Vajrakilaya, Diptacav.r3, is transliterated, in one of the consecration mantras, as "tib ta cag kra" - kilaya is sometimes, but nor always, rendered as "kyilaya," and seed syllables like hum, oIp and ph at are represented in a number of different ways in different places " (although we have not always been able to convey this latter feature in the transliteration).

Attached to this text is a reproduction of the manuscript, generously provided by the kind permission of the British Library Board. We have done what we can in the transliteration, preserving all the punctuation and including words that have been crossed through or inserted marginally by the author. Our attempts at translation are interspersed within the transliteration, and our comments appear beneath each section. Where the handwriting or vocabulary proved too difficult to read with certainty, we have underlined the parts that remain doubtful.

TEXT AND TRANSLATION:

Idkon mchog gsum4 phyag 'tshal lol Homage (to) the Three Jewels!

/ki la ya'i las5 bya ba nil (In order to) practice the rites of Kjlaya:

bdag phyag rgya chen por gsal bar bsgoms del dearly meditating upon oneself as the mahamudra,

/ki la ya'i rgyud brdags la mgo rgya mdud ma gdogs par bar/ Isor brgyad par bgyi/ keeping in mind6 (the instructions of) the KHaya Tantra, one makes (a kila with a shaft) eight inches long up to and not including7 the head (and) the knotted cords.

Izur bzhi rtse lOo zur gsum/

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It (should have) four sides, the point (shouid have) three sides,

gzhan dum pol

or otherwise be circular.

COMMENT It is not impossible that the scribe here has mistakenly written sor-brgyad

for zur-brgyad. If zur-brgyad was indeed intended, this would give us the more immediately recognisable reading that the y.jla's shaft has eight facets for its length in bebveen but not including the knotted cords and the head. The zur-bzhi mentioned next would apply to the four-square area around which the cords are knotted; rtse-mo zur-gsum would refer to the triangular blade; and gzhan-zlum-po would mean that the re­mainder of the lOla, i.e. the head, is circular. This reading would bring the description of the klla exactly in line with the descriptions found in the surviving Kilaya tantras of the rNying-ma rgyud-'bum (for example, Chapter 10 of the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis),8 or with the standard modem Tibetan and Nepalese kllas, as well as bringing it closely in line with the descriptions of kIlas given in the majority of Indk sources such as the �ilpaSastras. More importantly, it would also bring the Ms in line with another Kilaya text from Dunhuang, Pelliot 44, which seems to give the kila's shaft eight spokes (rtsibs),9 However, one does not want to jump to conclusions too quickly.: eight inches is one of the few permitted lengths for a kila, according to the Phurpa bcu-gnyis Ch. 10 (p.l06, line 7), and kilas with round points are sometimes found in the Sino-Japanese tantric traditions, although they are not usual in other Tibetan sources. This Ms might simply mean exactly what it says!

/rgya mdud kyi steng du bdag gi Iha gang bsgom pa'i snying pol One should individually establish the essence (syllable) for meditating on the Lord's divine palace10 above the knotted cords;

/ngos bzhir rigs bzhi snying pol the essence (syllables of) the four families (on) the four faces;

/zur bzhir yum b:c.hi snying pol

the essence (syllables of) the four femde consorts (at) the four sides;

ma zur bzhi la lha mo bzhi snying pol Iso sor dgod/ and the essence (syllables of) the four goddesses (at) the four lower sides.

COMMENT If this ManUSCript agrees with the later tradition, then the four families mentioned here would refer to those of Buddha, Ratna, Padma and Karma, whose lords take up the four directions. The central family of

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Vajra occupies the hollow centre of the kHa, represented by the central deity Vajrakllaya himself, in union with his consort. The four female consorts mentioned next are perhaps those of the lords of the four families. The four goddesses might be the well-known four female gatekeepers or messengers who wield the iron hook, the noose, the chain, and the bell (see below); however, there are also other sets of goddesses in the later tradition, including those who are emanated to take the lives of the enemies of the Dharma.

ki la ya byin kyis rlabs pa'i phyir/ In order to consecrate the klla,

skus by in kyis rlab pa'i snying pa'if (one employs) the essence (mantra) of consecrating with (Buddha)

Body:

om tshin dha tshin dha da ha da ha ha na ha nal tib ta cag kra hum phad/ 01)1 chindha chindha daha daha hana hana diptacakra hulP phat; gsung gis byin kyis rlabi sngags dhri 5m bhur bu bal the mantra to consecrate with (Buddha) Speech: dhri orp. bhur bhuva;

thugs kyis byin kyis rlab pa'i sngags;U

and the mantra to consecrate with (Buddha) Mind:

�m badzra ra tsa hung! om vajra raja hul1'.

snying po 'di mam Ian nyi shu tsa re re bzlaI These essence (mantras) should each be recited twenty times.

COMMENT Chapter 11 of the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis is devoted to methods of conse- -crating the klIa, the manufacture of which was described in Chapter 10. Here, the mantra for bestowing the consecration of Buddha Body, "with the bodhicitta of the yab and yum in union," is quite similar to that of the Ms, as follows: 011' cindha cindha hana hana tiptacakra hurp..12 To bestow the consecration of Buddha Speech, however, the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis . gives the more variant reading, badzra phur bu; 13 but this might well be a corruption of the bhur bhu ba of the Ms, since the latter resembles a"± well-known Sanskrit mantra (the vy�hriti mantra, alP bhur bhuva), while ...

the Tibetan word phur-bu, meaning a kilaka or small kTla, should not

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normally occur .in a Sanskrit mantra. To bestow the consecration of

Buddha Mind, the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis gives the approximately parallel mantra, OIJl badzra sata radza hUI}'I.14

/lag pa g-yas ni thabs/ g-yon ni shes bar gnyis gyi bar du bcug15 ste/

The right hand is means, and the left hand is wisdom; (the k!la) is inserted in between the two of them,

/g@& la bya ba lal

(from) where the (following) activities (take place):

lcags skyu'i pho nyas bgyigs kyi snying po nas dran�s tel

the messenger with the iron hook drags the obstacles 6 by their hearts;

'gugs thag gcad par bsaml think (of them) as definitely summoned,

/mngon gsum dang ' dra bar dmyigs sti/

and then, concentrating17 (on them) as though they were actually present,

/zhags pas �cinw meditate that (they) are bound with the noose,

leag sgrog tu bcugl put in iron chains,

dril bus mnan18 par bsam! and subdued by the bell.

COMMENT This set of four messenger goddesses wielding iron hook (VajrMlku§I), noose (Vajrapasi), iron chain (Vajrasrnkhala) and bell (Vajraghat:\ta), continues to occur in exactly the same context in modem Vajrakilaya smad-las rituals. For example, in the bDud-'joms gnam-lcags spu-gri, in the section on sending forth the messengers (pho-nya btang-ba), which is part of the "Generation and summoning of that which is to become the object (of liberation)", (dmigs-bya bskyed 'gugs), preceding the actual liberating killing (sgroI chog dngos), the four occur with the same implements and functions.19 The one exception is that, as in many other contexts where the four are described, the activity of the fourth messenger is described as myos-byed, to intoxicate or madden the hostile forces and obstacles, rather than mnan, subdue, given in the Ms.

Ide nas kyi la ya dril ba'i tshel Then comes the time to roll the kila:

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thabs dang shes rab zung du 'breI ba'i bar nasi from in between the wisdom and means joining together,

thugs rje chen po'i dbang las! by the power of great compassion,

lye shes kyi 'ad zer byung ste! rays of pdmordial awareness light arise;

!�rul pa'l :e,hro'u sna !shogs !iU b5am! t:..�ink of them as the various projections of emanations.

/sngags ia om ga ga ga ta yaJ With the mantra OIT! gha gha gM ta ya/

sa rba du stha na phad/ sarva du�tan phat

/kyi la ya kyi la yaJ kHaya kilaya

sa rba pa pam na phad hulp hull' badzra ki la yaJ sarva papm phat hurp. harp vajrakilaya

ba dzra da ro ad nya pa ya Ii bug d ta20 ba dzra ki la ya hurp. hulp phat phat cis brjod zlas sti/ vajradhara ajnapayati P..Y.g dUa vajrakHaya hfull hurp. phat phat: reciting this,

gdab! Strike!

/khro bo'i spml pas21 bgig kyi Ius drul phran bzhin bshigs! The Wrathful One's emanations will smash up the bodies of the obstacles into dust,

/sems mam par thar pa'i rochog gi snying po Ia bgodl while their minds will be established22 in the supreme essence of complete liberation.

rang bzhin mgos po 1as23 ci yang24 ma yin ba'i ngang du gyur par bsam/ Think of them as being transformed into the basic state which has no own-being whatsoever.

COMMENT The rolling (dril-ba) of the kIla between the left hand (visualised as wisdom) and the right hand (visualised as means), followed by the visualised emanation of KIlaya deities and the final climactic strike

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(gdab-pa) into the obstacles summoned into the lioga, remains to this day

the central feature of the rite of sgrol-ba as practi sed within the jI"-.1laya

tradition. [nterestingly, the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis prescribes the following

mantra, paralie! to the one in the manuscript, for the moment of striking:

ot!l gha gIla ghataya sarbadll;;tana maraya phatl kilikflaya sarba papam phatl Tta1J'l hal!,! hu1J'l badzra kflaya /1adzn�dhara ajfiiipayatil kayavakcitta hadzra

kflaya ltil1!l phatP . According to the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis, this mantra is that of the emanated

!<Ilaya goddess rDo··rye sDer-mo, whose function is to destroy enemies and

ob stacle s. Hence, Chapter 20 of the Phur-pa bcu-gnyis tells us that th is mantra must be recited fiercely either seven or twenty-one times, precisely at the moment of striking the kila into the effigy to kill the enemy.26 The later tradition retains the same theme as the rite of sgroI described in the Ms: while the bodies of the obstacles are "smashed into dust" by the "Wrathful One's emanations," their minds are simultaneously tran sferred to the state of complete liberation and highest bliss. Similar sentences occur in innum erable later Kllaya rituals.

Ide nas phyogs mtshams rdo rje ra bas bead dol Then, seal the boundaries with a vajra-enclosure.

/lus bsrung! The body is (thus) protected.

/bgegs tshad gnan pa'i sngags shi ri he ru kha rna ha badzra sa rba du stha pra ban ca ka ha na ha na hUIll phat ces zlasl The mantra for punishing27 and suppressing the obstacles: sri heruka mahavajra sarva du�tan prabhailjaka hana hana hlu}1 phat; recite this.

/di 'dra ba'i las la/ bdag yid �hes par bgyi/28 One shoul d accomplish such activities with confidence.

COMMENT In later VaJrakilaya literature, the sealing of the boundaries with a vajra-enclosure is normally done before beginning a ritual; however, after certain smad-Ias rituals; the protecti . e enclosure is recreated again at the end of the ritual, to protect the practitioner against hannful counter­responses to his prac tke. It is possible that this is what is being alluded to here. We cannot at this stage locate the mantra in other sources. The indistinct element pra ban 0 ka might refer to some word generated from

62 1HE TIBET JOURNAL

the Sanskrit root bhaflj, meaning to crush, rout or defeat. A similar mantra, for" all the Mothers," occurs in Chapter 6 of the Tattvasarn graha. It

/phyag rgya chen po bzhi lal Regarding the four mahamudras: (they are)

/sku phyag rgya dang! the (Buddha) Body mudra,

chos gyi phyag rgya dang! the dhannamudra,

dam tshig gi phyag rgya dang! the samayamudra,

las kyi phyag rgya'o/ and the karmamudra.

sku'i phyag rgya nil As for the (Buddha) Body mudra,

bdag nyid yi dam gi lhar gsal bar bsgom ba la bya' 0/ it is to clearly meditate on oneself as the yidam-deity.

/chos kyi phyag rgya ni thugs kar zla ba'i steng du sngags gyi 'bru bgod pa 1a bya'o/ As for the dharmamudra, it is to establish29 the mantric seed (syllables) above the moon in one's heart.

/dam tshig phyag rgya ni pad rna la rdo rje gnas pa la30 bya'o/ As for the samayamudra, it is to make the vajra remain in the lotus.

/las kyi phyag rgya ni spa ra na pat dang sang ha ra na hum la bya'of1

As for the karmamudra, this is doing (the emanating and reabsorbing of light rays) with "spharaQa phat" and "sarpharal)a hurn".

COMMENT This section corresponds very closely to the practice of the Four Mudras according to Yogatantra, as described by modem authors such as Dudjom Rinpoche and Mipham Gyamtso.32 This is interesting, since the later tradition classifies'Vajrakilaya as Mahayoga, rather than Yogatantra. It should be noted that the better known four mudra system of the

Anuttarayogatantras, such as the Hevajra, is different. The Sanskrit

.. 01'[1 heruka vajrasamnya sarvadu$tasamnyamudraprabhafijaka hUm pilat· Thanks to Professor Alexis Sanderson for this information.

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mantras of the karmamudra given in the manuscript are still used

in nlodern Vajrakilaya rituals while emanating and re-absorbing

light rays, for example to generate the deity from the seed syllable,

or to invite the jnanasattva and merge it with the samayasattva.

See, for instance, the short Sa-skya-pa liturgy Nges-don thig-le.33

On Yogatantra's karmamudra as the emanation and re-absorption of light rays, see H.V. Guenther, op.cit., pp.l84 and 190.

/dag pa roam gsum34 nes bdag pa dang! gzhan dag pa36 dang sprul pa dag pa'ol As for the Three Purities: these are the purities of oneself, of the other, and of the emanations.

/bdag dag pa ni sku'i phyag rgya ched par bsgom ba la bya'o As for the Rurity of oneself, this is to do the meditation on the mahamudra37 of the (Buddha) Body.

gzhan dag pa ni sgeg rna dmyig gi yul tel mchod pa'i Iha mo la bya'ol As for the purity of the other, this is to make a seductive girl the object of one's concentration, (seeing her) as an offering goddess.

/sprul pa dag pa nil de gnyis kyi bar nas 'phro zhing 'du ba la bya'oll As for the pure emanations, they are produced by the emanations and re-absorptions from between these two.

COMMENT The description of the practice of sbyor-ba, or sexual yoga, given here, is too terse to permit detailed comparisons with later sources. However, the basic three-fold structure described in this manuscript is highly evocative of the basic structure of later rNying-ma-pa accounts of sexual yoga: in Anuyoga, for example, there is a triad of the male partner (Samantabhadra), the female partner (Saman­tabhadrt), and their son or emanation.38

Notes 1. See Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, trans.

Dorje and Kapstein, Boston, 1991, p.356. See also H.Y. Guenther,

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BlIddlzist Philosophy in Tlleory and Practice, Pelican Books, London, 1972, pages 184 and 190.

2. See "Padmasambhava's Invention of the Phur-bu Ms PeHiot Tibetaine 44" by F.A. Bischoff and Charles Hartman, Etudes Tibetaines dediees � Marcelle Lalou, Paris, 1971, pp.11-28; and R.A. Stein's further analysis of this text, "A propos des documents anciens relatifs au phur-bu (kHa)," Csoma de Karos Symposium, Bibliotheca Orientalis Hung., Vol XXII, Budapest, 1978, pp. 427-444.

3. Peking Kanjur, Vol. 3, No. 78; sDe-dge, Toh.439. 4. The particle "\a" which one would usually expect here has been

omitted. 5. There is a "pa" or "sa" here, which appears to have been crossed

out. 6. brdags = brtags? 7. gdogs = gtogs? 8. "Phur-pa bcu-gnyis," pp.1-199, Vol. 19 (DZA) of t.he Khyentse Edition

of the rNying-ma rgylld- '1111 In, Thimphu, 1973. All citations are from this editon, unle�s otherwise stated.

9. See Bischoff and Hartman, op.cit., p.20, verse 21a. 10. lha-gang = lha-khang? 11. The head letter "sa" here has been written badly, almost appearing

like a "ma". 12. "Phur-pa bcu-gnyis," p.lll line 7 to p.112 line l. 13. Ibid., p.lll lines 5-6. 14. Ibid., p.l11 line 6. 15. The particle "la" has been written here, but crossed out. 16. bgyigs == bgegs? 17. dmyigs-sti = dmigs-te? 18. There is a crossed though letter "na" immediately precedi.ng the "m". 19. See The Collected Wcrks of H.H. I1Dud- 'joms Rin-po-che, n.d., n.p., Vol.

10, pp.457-458. 20. There is a crossed out gi-gu above the "ta". 21. The word Iflus" is written and crossed out here. 22. It seems that here, as below, bgod = dgod. 23. The particle "las" is written just below the line, with a mark to show

where it shouL! be inserted, as though it were initially omitted and added later.

24. A letter 'nga" has been written and crossed through, immediat�ly before the "ya".

25. "Phur-pa bcu-gnyis,1f Chapter 13, p.222 A, tine 3, sDe-dge N.G.B. Vol · PA. This mantra is, of course, well-known in the Guhyasamaja literature.

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26. "Phur-pa bcu-gnyis," Chapter 20, p.172. 27. tshad = chad?

28. There is a punctuation mark here of three circles resembling the roman "a," placed vertically one above the other.

29. bgod = dgod?

30. Or gnas !a pap la bya' a /. But it seems that the oIla pa" are crossed through.

31. There is a punctuation mark here of two circles resembling the letter "a", placed one above the other.

32. See note 2 above. 33. sGrub-thabs kun-btus, Vol. PA, pp.165-169.

34. A letter "rna" has been written and crossed through, between the "ga" and the "sa" of "gsum".

35. The particle "ni" is written below the line, with a mark to show where it should be inserted.

36. A single letter has been written here and crossed out, possibly another "pa".

37. ched = chen? 38. See H.V. Guenther, op. cit., pp.207-208.

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Reproduced by kind permission of the British Library Board.