Kalachakra - Knowledge

2231: 2560:) into the central channel where they are dissolved. This is done by focusing the mind on the aperture of the central channel in the top of the forehead with eyes open and an upward gaze (the "gaze of Ushnishacakri"). When the vital winds cease to flow in the side channels, the connection between the five sense faculties and their objects is severed and craving for material things diminishes. When this happens, extraordinary signs which are also called empty forms arise (the sign of smoke, a mirage, fire-flies, a lamp, a flame, the moon, the sun, the supreme form, and a drop/bindu) and become more vivid the more stabilized the mind becomes. The first four signs appear when practicing at night or in a dark enclosed space and the others appear while practicing in the daytime and while meditating on open space. A drop/bindu with a Buddha at the center will appear as the tenth sign. 1563: 3203:

initiations, four of which, the Bulug, Jonang, Maitri-gyatsha, and Domjung, are contained within the Gyude Kuntu, the Collection of Tantras compiled by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and his disciple Loter Wangpo. Rinpoche has offered all six of these empowerments to Sakya Trizin, the head of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism. Rinpoche has given the Kālacakra initiation in Tibet, Mustang, Kathmandu, Malaysia, the United States, Taiwan, and Spain, and is widely regarded as a definitive authority on Kālacakra. In 1988 he traveled to the United States, giving the initiation and complete instructions in the practice of the six-branch Vajrayoga of Kālacakra according to the Jonangpa tradition in Boston.

2360: 22: 2093:." This adoption of non-buddhist content extends to various areas of the tantra's system, including its theory, language, medicine and cosmology. Wallace argues that this is "inextricably related to Buddhist tantric conversionary efforts" and is justified by the tantra "as a skillful means for leading individuals of diverse mental dispositions to spiritual maturation." The tantra also warns that one should not grasp at one's own view in a dogmatic way, but it also states that one should be careful not to fall under the influence of other teachings "by familiarizing one-self with those teachings in order to refute them." 1840:

cosmos, and enlightened awareness...Just as the transformation and unification of the various components of one's own mind and body on this tantric path transform one's experience of one's natural environment, so it transforms one's experience of one's social environment. Likewise, in this tantric tradition, the unification of all the phenomenal and ultimate aspects of the vajra-family, which abolishes all dualities, is nothing other than the state of self-knowing: the state of knowing oneself as the cosmos, society, individual, and enlightened awareness; and that self-knowledge is what is meant by omniscience (

2464: 1438:), and pervades the bodies of sentient beings and the entire world. For beings who are in samsara, this blissful Buddha-mind also manifests as sexual bliss, during which the mind becomes free of concepts and non-dual for a brief moment. Thus, the Kālacakra tradition stresses the importance of not avoiding sexual bliss, but using it on the path, since it is a kind of facsimile of the realization of emptiness and it produces mental joy. It also stresses the importance of retaining one's semen during sexual union, as well as the importance of proper motivation and not-grasping at blissful states. 2005:(the illusory world) is mentioned in this context, it is possible to imagine that what happens in the outer world indeed is an illusion, but it still has a certain value of reality. The explanation written in these verses is normally not given in the Kalacakra initiations where much stress is laid on the point that everybody who participates in the initiation is going to take part in the eschatological battle by the side of the twenty-fifth king of Shambhala, the Raudra Kalkin in the year 2325. Here it seems rather to be a method of meditation. 1060: 1156:). Those who are free of the afflictive and cognitive obscurations nondually perceive the world as the form of emptiness in a nondual manner; that is, they perceive the world as an inseparable unity of form and emptiness. On the other hand, ordinary sentient beings, whose perception is influenced by the afflictive and cognitive obscurations, see the world in a dual fashion, as something other than themselves. They see the world as an ordinary place inhabited by ordinary sentient beings. But in reality, the entire cosmos, with 1653: 3186: 2656:). This entails the unification of the vital winds or pranas in the navel chakra accompanied by the manifestation of Kālacakra and consort, followed by the sequential concentration on the chakras of the heart, throat, forehead and ushnisha which cause the pranas to dissolve the four elements of water, fire, wind and space associated with these chakras. This leads to the experience of the four blisses. Afterwards, the pranas cease and the mind becomes unified. One then apprehends the form of emptiness ( 2994:(1575–1634). In fact, the Jonang tradition specializes in Kālacakra, its practice (especially that of the six vajra yogas), its philosophy and its rituals. This began with the work of Kunpang Thukje Tsöndru (1243–1313) who synthesized seventeen different transmission lineages of the Kālacakra sixfold vajrayoga into the Jonang Kālacakra tradition. Jonang is particularly important in that it has preserved this complete Kālacakra system (which has now entered other schools like Kagyu and Nyingma). 1857: 1345:(i.e. essence) and is not an independent phenomenon, but one which is dependent on conditions (a classic Madhyamaka position). As Wallace notes, the cosmic body and the body of the individual is made up of various cycles of dependent origination. Furthermore, "each cycle of dependent origination, which comprises progressively smaller cycles of dependent origination, arises in dependence upon other cycles of dependent origination and is therefore itself empty of inherent existence." 3242: 3030: 254: 9407: 6619: 3229:

the ultimate root of evil, the self-cherishing conceptual identity that gives rise to the five poisons of ignorance, desire, hatred, pride, and jealousy. In the hands of siddhas, dakinis, wrathful and semi-wrathful yidam deities, protective deities or dharmapalas these implements became pure symbols, weapons of transformation, and an expression of the deities' wrathful compassion which mercilessly destroys the manifold illusions of the inflated human ego.

1135:). This correspondence comes about because both the cosmos and the bodies of sentient beings come into existence due to the efficacy of the habitual propensities of the minds of beings. In this sense, the cosmos is like a cosmic replica of a sentient being's body. Thus, one can say that the cosmos and the individual are nondual and mutually pervasive, even in terms of their conventional existence. They are interconnected and they influence each other. 9418: 3018: 6816: 6803: 1729: 2338:), is contrived and based on one's faith in the innately pure nature of one's own mind, and it uses primarily one's powers of imagination. Even though it is characterized by freedom from grasping onto one's own ordinary psycho-physical aggregates, or one's self-identity as an ordinary being, it is still characterized by holding onto the imagined self-identity. The second method, which is characteristic of the stage of completion ( 6793: 2720: 6629: 2874: 5158: 3065:) Dalai Lamas. The present Dalai Lama has given over thirty Kālacakra initiations all over the world, and is the most prominent Kālacakra lineage holder alive today. Billed as the "Kālacakra for World Peace," they draw tens of thousands of people. Generally, it is unusual for tantric initiations to be given to large public assemblages, but the Kālacakra has always been an exception. 2979: 2455:), which incinerates the pranas in the channels and allows the seminal essence or bodhicitta to flow into the chakras, generating the four blisses. During the practice of the subtle yoga, a drop of purified bodhicitta enters the secret chakra and ascends up the central channel generating the four blisses and transforming the four drops into the four bodies of the Buddha. 2188:'s adoption of specific non-Buddhist ideas implies that its teachings pertaining to the Kalacakra worldview were not kept secret from the public; that is, they were not guarded as secret teachings intended for an initiated elite. Moreover, the Kālacakra tradition's preference for explicitly presenting its specific tantric views is a result of its openly professed 2602:). The ten signs also may spontaneously reappear. Daytime practice of this yoga is achieved by gazing at the cloudless sky with one's back turned to the sun until a shining black line appears in the center of the sign of the sign of the drop. The body of the Buddha will appear in the central channel, looking like the sun's image in water with all colors. 2282:). Without these foundational Buddhist elements (which are shared with common Mahayana), tantric practice will not bear fruit. Gen Lamrimpa similarly notes that without Mahayana great compassion, one will not attain Buddhahood through tantra. Lamrimpa also notes that one must have some understanding of emptiness before receiving initiation. 2201:

that the Kālacakra Buddha is the source and teacher of all religious systems, and thus affirms their value while also subsuming them into Buddhist tantra and providing a justification for the tantra's adoption of non-buddhist ideas. These religious systems are of course, reinterpreted in new ways. For example, the

2626:). Then one apprehends and moves the arisen form of Kālacakra's sambhogakaya into the navel where it merges with the drop. The deities remain in the navel chakra, and then ascend and descend the central channel during the process of inhalation and exhalation. The external breath ceases and the meditator practices 3083:, and others have stated that the public exposition of this tantra is necessary in the current degenerate age. The initiation may be received simply as a blessing for the majority of those attending, however, many of the more qualified attendees do take the commitments and subsequently engage in the practice. 2690:). The red and white drops are stacked along the central channel causing immutable blisses, the cessation of all pranas and the transformation of the material body into a body that is not material, the empty form body, which is also the four bodies of the Buddha. According to Wallace: "the object of gnosis ( 2382:

on empty form. Then follows the meditation on the mandala and of oneself as the deities. The various features and symbols of the mandala (including the deities) correspond to various Buddhist doctrines and to aspects of the bodies of the Buddha. For example, the four sides of the mandala correspond to the

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Many of these weapons and implements have their origins in the wrathful arena of the battlefield and the funereal realm of the charnel grounds. As primal images of destruction, slaughter, sacrifice, and necromancy these weapons were wrested from the hands of the evil and turned – as symbols – against

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According to Tāranātha, seventeen distinct lineages of Kālacakra that came from India to Tibet were recorded and compiled by the Jonang master, Kunpang Chenpo. The main two lineages of these that are practised today are the Dro lineage and the Ra lineage, both lineages were founded by disciples of an

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and adapted the concept. They combined their idea of Shambhala with Kalki to reflect the theo-political situation they faced after the arrival of Islam in Central Asia and western Tibet. The text prophesies a war fought by a massive army of Buddhists and Hindus, led by King Raudra Kalkin, against the

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The Kālacakra tradition saw attachment to caste and family as spiritual blocks and Kālacakra texts warn against social discrimination, which is based on this attachment and has negative effects on one's practice of the path. Indeed, Kālacakra texts often see the absence of attachment to social status

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This is generally preceded by classic Mahayana practices such as taking refuge, arousing bodhicitta and so on. Then the meditator "imaginatively dissolves the atomic structure of his own body and the body of the universe," in a process which is supposed to mimic the dying process. Then they meditate

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states that "one will obtain purity and all virtues by receiving the initiation" whether one is Buddhist, Saiva, Brahmana, Jaina, etc. It also says that initiation into the Kālacakra mandala is also initiation into the mandalas of all deities, including those of non-Buddhists. The tantra also states

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According to Gen Lamrimpa: "The Kālacakra Tantra emphasizes the attainment of a buddha body by means of the empty form body, which is used to attain immutable bliss, the mind of a buddha. This differs from other highest yoga tantras, in which the buddha body is attained by transforming the extremely

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The four families corresponds to uterine blood, semen, mind, and gnosis; to body, speech, mind, and gnosis; to the four drops (bindu); to the four states of the mind—namely, waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and the fourth state; to the sun, moon, Rahu, and Agni (Ketu), and in terms of society, they are

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To the one embraced by the Bhagavati Prajña, the one who is aspectless although possessing aspect; to the one who has the bliss of the unchanging and who has abandoned the pleasures of laughter and so forth; to the progenitor of the Buddhas, without origination and annihilation, possessing the three

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time and everything is the flow of time, Kālacakra knows all. Kālacakri, his spiritual consort and complement, is aware of everything that is timeless, not time-bound or out of the realm of time. The two deities are thus temporality and atemporality conjoined. Similarly, the wheel or circle (chakra)

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made by Somanātha and 'Bro lotsawa as revised by Shong ston is found in the Lithang, Narthang, Der-ge, Co-ne, Urga, and Lhasa blockprint recensions of the Kangyur, and also in a recension with annotations by Bu ston. This Shong revision was then further revised by the two Jonang translators Blo gros

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Due to these concerns, the tantric pledges found in the Kālacakra system involve transgressions of Indian social conventions, such as associating with and being in physical contact with all the various social classes without distinction, and seeing them as equal. This was often acted out in tantric

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had considerable influence on the later development of the Gelug and Sakya traditions of Kālacakra while Dölpopa and Tāranātha were the main figures who developed the Jonang tradition on which the Kagyu, Nyingma, and the Tsarpa branch of the Sakya draw. The Jonang tradition mainly use the texts of

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There are two main sets of initiations in Kālacakra: the “Entering as a child” set and the “Supreme” set of initiations. The first of these two sets concerns preparation for the generation stage meditations of Kālacakra. The second concerns preparation for the completion stage meditations known as

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A radical conclusion is given in this verse. The fight is really in the body and is a way of liberation in the Buddhist sense. In the texts, it is obvious that the inner fight has a higher value of truth than the outer. Reading what is actually written in the text, it is said that the fight in the

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describes the holy war against the barbarians from a microcosmic perspective as taking place within the body and mind of the Buddhist practitioner. These verses equate the barbarians with mental defilements and bad mental states such as ignorance. They equate victory in battle to the attainment of

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However, even though all beings have this enlightened awareness, it is not actualized if one does not ascertain it and this entails the absence of mental afflictions or impurities which block recognition of enlightened awareness. These mental afflictions are also closely connected to the pranas or

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aspects, mainly the channels, winds, drops and so forth. Human experience is described by four mind states: waking, dream, deep sleep, and a fourth state which is available through the energies of sexual orgasm. The potentials (drops, bindus) which give rise to these states are described, together

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According to Geshe Lharampa, the main objective of the generation stage is to dispel ordinary appearances and ordinary conceptions. Everything in one's experience (what one sees, ones thoughts, etc.) is to be seen as being the mandala and deities. There are two elements of this, divine pride (the

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the transformation of one's own gross physical body into a luminous form devoid of both gross matter and the subtle body of pranas. The transformation of one's own mind into the enlightened mind of immutable bliss occurs in direct dependence upon that material transformation. The actualization of

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are contemplative models which "serve as devices for furthering one's understanding of the interconnectedness of all phenomena and for training the mind to perceive the world in a nondual fashion" and thus by using them one can "diminish the habitual propensities of an ordinary, dualistic mind."

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the mutual relations and influences of the individual, the cosmos, and time parallel those in the society. Thus, the organization and functions of the different members of the social body are non-dual from the structure and functions of the different members of the bodies of the individual, the

1222:). Conventionally speaking, this refers to the cycles of the planets, to the cycles of human breathing and subtle energies in the body. Regarding the outer or external aspect of conventional reality, the wheel of time refers to the passage of days, month, and years (as well as the cycles of the 2300:

states that disciples must carefully investigate one's tantric master beforehand, so as not to end up practicing a distorted teaching. The tantra also lists various qualities of a proper tantric master, such as being free of greed, having tantric pledges, and being devoid of mental afflictions

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religion. According to Wallace, the text "frequently refers to the Brahmanic teachings, especially those of the Puranas, as false teachings, devoid of reasoning, creating confusion among foolish people, and composed by corrupt Brahmanic sages for the sake of promoting their own social class."

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The Kālacakra system also explains how all of society is in a way also included within the microcosm of the individual's body, which is a manifestation of the socio-religious body. Thus, the different types of persons and castes are mapped into the physical features of a person's body and the

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Similarly, there is an ambiguity in the way the deity Kālacakra is explained in the tantra. According to Hammar, sometimes Kālacakra refers to the Adibuddha (which is uncreated, beyond time, eternal, the origin of the world, omniscient, non-dual and beyond causality), while sometimes the name

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The Sakya master H.E. Chogye Trichen Rinpoche is one of the main holders of the Kālacakra teachings. Chogye Rinpoche is the head of the Tsharpa School, one of the three main schools of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Chogye Trichen Rinpoche is the holder of six different Kālacakra

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as a prerequisite for receiving tantric teachings. Because of this, Kālacakra texts attempts to show the insubstantiality of social class and caste and thus to refute the basis for attachment to caste. According to Wallace, "to demonstrate the untenability of social discrimination, the

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Vesna Wallace notes that in this tantra, the Adibuddha is spoken of in two distinct ways. The first one is the idea that there is a being who was "the first to obtain Buddhahood by means of the imperishable bliss characterized by perfect awakening in a single moment." The

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literature also refers to an Adibuddha who has been awakened since beginningless time, "without beginning or end". According to Wallace, this refers to "the innate gnosis that pervades the minds of all sentient beings and stands as the basis of both samsara and nirvana."

2480:). The Completion Stage yogas however are seen as free of ideation, uncontrived and non-conceptual (since their focus is the form of emptiness, not the deity's bodily form). They are thus the most important yogas for the direct attainment of the mahamudra-siddhi (i.e. 1760:

adopts these views and also interprets them through a tantric lens. In the Kālacakra system, all people are equal since they are all empty of inherent existence, are all part of the same non-dual reality, i.e. Kālacakra and thus all have the potential for Buddhahood.

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that is non-differentiated from emptiness and compassion. It is the supreme bliss. It has transcended the reality of atoms. It is devoid of empty dharmas. It is free of eternity and annihilation. It is the vajra yoga that is without causal relations. Wallace 2001, p.

1796:), create a false sense of identity based on caste, and thus create social divisions, the Kālacakra tradition admonishes Buddhist practitioners not to admire or follow these Dharmas. The tradition also sees caste theory as being related to false theories of a self ( 1755:

views of the hierarchy and status of the castes as being divinely ordained and as having inherent moral qualities. Indian Buddhists replaced this model with the idea that all humans are roughly equal and that caste divisions are mere conventional designations. The

3110:, who wrote the text that is now used for empowerment. The 2nd and 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul (1954–1992) were also prominent Kālacakra lineage holders, with the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul giving the initiation publicly in North America on at least one occasion (Toronto 1990). 1718:

The six families are the five psycho-physical aggregates and their emptiness; and in terms of society, they are the four castes and the classes of Dombas and Candalas. With regard to ultimate reality, the six families are the five aforementioned Buddhas and the

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outer world is not going to take place. The famous eschatological battle between the king of Shambhala, the Kalkin, will not take place and instead it is a method of meditation. The inner way with liberation and illumination is superior. But in the end, because

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states that "one should look at the triple world as similar to space and as unitary." The tantra also states that "all six states of transmigratory existence are already present within every individual," and this is related to the doctrine of the three gunas.

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Muslim persecutors. Then after the victory of good over evil and attainment of religious freedoms, Kalki ushers in a new era of peace and Sambhala will become a place of perfection. Further battles with the barbarians are described as well in later eras.

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Tantric iconography including sharp weapons, shields, and corpses similarly appears in conflict with those tenets of non-violence but instead represent the transmutation of aggression into a method for overcoming illusion and ego. Both Kālacakra and his

2858:. In the Ra tradition this figure is known as Chilupa, and in the Dro tradition as Kālacakrapada the Greater. Chilupa is said to have set out to receive the Kālacakra teachings in Shambhala, along the journey to which he encountered a manifestation of 2374:) practices generally consist of meditative visualizations, mainly of oneself as the Kālacakra deity in union with his consort Visvamata, and of the Kālacakra mandala and attendant deities. The first part of this stage is also known as deity-yoga ( 1408:

a form that is empty of both inherent existence and physical particles. It is a form that is endowed with all the signs and symbols of the Buddha. That form of emptiness, also known as the "empty form," is also regarded as the "animate emptiness"

1828:, sense faculties, etc.). According to Wallace, the interrelatedness and mutual pervasiveness of the various components of the individual's mind and body represent the social and ethnic integration of a socially and ethnically mixed society." 2427:

generation stage practice is based on one's understanding of emptiness, and thus should only be done once one has had some realization into emptiness. Furthermore, it is also based on the understanding that the entire mandala is an illusion

2401:(texts outlining the practice) of different complexities, the most complex of which can include up to 634 deities while one of the simplest ones includes nine deities. Generation stage practice is said to continue to purify the four drops. 2933:

Today, Kālacakra is practiced by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, although it is most prominent in Gelug and Jonang. It is the main tantric practice for the Jonangpa, whose school persists to this day with a small number of monasteries in

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The five families are the five psycho-physical aggregates (skandha), and in terms of society, they are the four castes and the outcastes. With regard to ultimate reality, they are the five types of the Buddha's gnosis manifesting as the

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Wallace also adds that this cosmological system based on the three Kālacakras is mainly seen by the Kālacakra literature "as a heuristic model for meditative purposes". According to Wallace, all the different paradigms outlined in the

3121:(1940–2004), who in turn passed it on to Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche. Bokar Monastery, of which Donyo Rinpoche is now the head, features a Kālacakra stupa and is a prominent retreat center for Kālacakra practice in the Kagyu lineage. 2313:). The initiations include a series of ritual acts, meditations and visualizations. The supreme initiations include visualizing oneself as the deity, engaging in sexual union with the deity's consort and experiencing sexual bliss. 2969:

There were many other influences and much cross-fertilization between the different traditions, and indeed the 14th Dalai Lama asserted that it is acceptable for those initiated in one Kālacakra tradition to practice in others.

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barbarians with heretical beliefs in Nimai sinta (sun). He expelled all these heretics from his dominions but they accepted Buddhism and pleaded that they be allowed to return. He accepted their petitions and taught them the

1322:, Sahajakaya, Jñanakaya, Sahajananda and Vajrayoga). When this reality manifests itself as numerous phenomena, it is called samsara. Vesna Wallace notes how the idea of time as a universal creative reality has precursors in 1991:

The fight takes place in the body because the battle with the mleccha king is tied to the body, in the middle of the body and because the outer is the form of illusion and the mleccha-battle in the Makha-kingdom is not the

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This view of interconnectedness is also applied among all human beings and all sentient beings and contains methods to train the mind so as to perceive all sentient beings as nondual from oneself. According to Wallace, the

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the Six Yogas of Kālacakra. Attendees who don't intend to carry out the practice are often only given the lower seven initiations. The tantric initiations are also said to facilitate the purification of the four drops (

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A Tibetan illustration depicting the central channel and the two side channels as well as five chakras where the channels loop around each other. The Kālacakra system adds one more chakra at the crown of the head, the

147:. It depicts a mythic reality whereby cosmic and socio-historical events correspond to processes in the bodies of individuals. These teachings are meant to lead to a transformation of one's body and mind into perfect 4431:"(...) the Shambala-bodhisattva-king and his army will defeat and destroy the enemy army, the barbarian Muslim army and their religion, in a kind of Buddhist Armadgeddon. Thereafter Buddhism will prevail."; 1591:, who has as his content emptiness and compassion, without origination or annihilation of the three existences, who is regarding a consistent embodiment of knowledge and objects of knowledge as non-existence. 2673:). This is the non-conceptual union of the mind with empty form. One perceives innumerable rays of light consisting of five colors in the navel chakra. This results in the realization of the form of gnosis ( 1526:) of all phenomena. Jñana is also beyond all classifications and transcends samsara and nirvana (though it appears/manifests as both). Since it is non-dual with emptiness, it is empty of inherent existence. 2334:. The other method is a non conceptual method of spontaneous and direct recognition of gnosis as the ultimate nature of one's own mind. The first method, which is characteristic of the stage of generation ( 1268:, in turn, refers to the universe and all things in it (i.e. the five aggregates, constituents and bases of the world), which exist as cyclical patterns powered by time. Kāla is also said to be knowledge ( 2346:

Unlike other anuttara-yoga tantras, the goal of Kālacakra practice is not the transformation of the vital winds (pranas) into an illusory body, rather, the Kālacakra system's goal is the "windless state"

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One is a conceptual method of familiarizing oneself with the ultimate nature of one's own mind by means of autosuggestion, specifically by means of generating oneself in the form of the deities of the

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rgyal mtshan and Blo gros dpal bzang po. The Jonang revision is found in the Yunglo and Peking blockprint recensions of the Kangyur, and also in a recension with annotations by Phyogs las rnam rgyal."

3145:, while not a noted Kālacakra master, became increasingly involved later in his life with what he termed Shambhala teachings, derived in part from the Kālacakra tradition, in particular, the mind 2966:, both of whom took a strong interest in the Jonang Kālacakra tradition. The Tsarpa branch of the Sakya maintain the practice lineage for the six branch yoga of Kālacakra in the Jonang tradition. 1138:

The basic reason for this exposition is that a proper understanding of conventional reality provides a basis for understanding ultimate reality. Regarding ultimate reality, Wallace further notes,

2351:), which is "the complete eradication of all present and future pranas." This is said to lead to the arising of the body of empty form ("the form of emptiness"), and the mind of immutable bliss. 1944:(403 AH, 1012–1013 CE). This supports the dating of this Kālacakra tradition text to the 11th century by Tibetan and Western scholars, as well as the link to the Indian history of that era which 1015:. The Kālacakra calendar, the birth and death of universes, our solar system and the workings of the elements are expounded. The myth and prophecy of the kingdom of Shambhala is also discussed. 1554:

vital winds (which are said to cause and sustain the afflictions) and thus to an individual's psycho-physical constitution. Thus, awakening comes about through the purification of the pranas.

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of the Buddha. Therefore, according to this tantric system, one should attend to this cosmic image of the Buddha, as one attends to the statue of the Buddha, created for the sake of worship.

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commentary were published on the basis of newly discovered manuscripts from Nepal (5) and India (1) by Jagannatha Upadhyaya (with Vrajavallabh Dwivedi and S. S. Bahulkar, 3 vols., 1986–1994).

2698:) itself become unified and give rise to supreme, imperishable bliss. For that reason, the samadhi that is practiced here is defined as 'a meditative concentration on the form of gnosis ( 1633:

Kālacakra refers specifically to the male figure in union with Visvamata. Regarding the difficult and complex term Adibuddha, Hammar concludes that one can see it as one way of describing

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Geshe Lharampa Ngawang Dhargyey notes that bodhicitta is particularly essential, along with having renunciation and right view (these three common practices are also seen as necessary by

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Just as space does not disappear when water is poured into the jar, in the same way, the sky-vajri, who is the pervader of the universe and devoid of sense-objects, is within the body.

1816:, wherein everyone was considered part of one vajra-family. This practice of social equality was also not meant to be limited to ritual contexts, as seems to have been the case within 2410:('clear stillness') separately, as the culmination of the generation stage leads to the attainment of samatha. Furthermore, this practice also facilitates the attainment of insight ( 1637:, "which means that there is a Buddha-seed in human beings which is always there." It can also be another way of describing sunyata (emptiness), which is also present everywhere. 1683:

Three families representing body, speech, and mind; the left, right, and central channels; to the realms of desire, form, and formlessness and to the three bodies of the Buddha.

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writes that "during the Kalachakra empowerment, visualizations of different syllables and colored discs at these spots purify both the chakras and their associated elements."

3117:(1905–1990), who gave the initiation several times in Tibet, India, Europe and North America (e.g., New York 1982). Upon his death, this mantle was assumed by his heart son, 2423:

The development of "divine pride" is based on some understanding of the emptiness of inherent existence of the deities that one is identifying with. Indeed, according to the

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is all-inclusive and refers to the unity of the basis of reality and reality itself. According to Wallace, from the point of view of ultimate reality, "Kālacakra" refers to,

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contains various ideas about society, the individual's place in society and how they are interrelated. These provide a sociological theory which forms the framework for the

2582:), which is also practiced with the gaze of Ushnishacakri. It is defined as a mind that has become unified with empty form as an object and has the five factors of wisdom ( 2326:

After the preparatory steps have been taken, one can embark on the actual practice of Kālacakra, which relies on two main methods. Vesna Wallace outlines these as follows:

2342:), draws upon the experience of imperishable bliss and the direct perception of the innately pure nature of one's own mind, which is devoid of grasping onto any identity. 1104:

maps the various features and developmental processes of the world system to various features of the human body. The phrase "as it is outside, so it is within the body" (

1744:

ideas on history, prophecy and soteriology. The Kālacakra system is unique in that it is the only Buddhist tantra that explores these social and caste issues at length.

2620:). By concentrating on the navel chakra, one draws in and stabilizes the pranas in that chakra, which is the seat of the drop associated with the fourth state of mind ( 4614: