Feed your Head Tantra 13 Manic Monday 3 course Meal
Grab your Skull cups, your bone aprons and lick your lips cus here comes the Yum Yum! Teachings passed on with a White tigress Nahual kick!
Appetizer 🍴
The contemplation of human bones should make the practitioner aware of the universal concept of impermanence and thus increase his fervour for enlightenment. Human bones, bare as they are, remind the practitioner to remain in the natural state of mind and keep his attention focused on the absolute.
"Tibetan Mahayoga Tantra", p.167
Let’s not beat around the bush. If I say ‘Tantric’, I know what you’ll all think. Something about very gymnastic and prolonged sexy times. Perhaps involving the singer Sting and some incense but that's made to sell mainstream....something or other. Not what we dive into here.
So, Tantric Buddhism, also known as Vajrayana, is not in fact just a type of kinky and more or less spiritual sex – it is a philosophy, which often has nothing to do with sex at all. Like ‘normal’ Buddhism, followers of Tantric Buddhism seeks to become enlightened, to reach beyond the relative truths of our earthly lives and gain insight into a universal, ultimate truth. This enlightenment is sought through the worship of deities, which represent archetypes to be imitated, as well as through the practice of pleasurable experiences. These experiences, sexual or otherwise, are seen as path to enlightenment.
Being that our Chaman series is running (am posting it back to back with this one), the tantra series, I wanted to add a little fusion starter Salad.
Salad
In Buddhist tantric rituals and imagery, cups made of skulls are sometimes used as ritual objects. These cups are known as "kapalas" in Sanskrit, which translates to "skull cup" in English. The use of kapalas in tantric practices has symbolic significance and is not meant to be taken literally.
The use of kapalas in Buddhist tantric rituals is rooted in the tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, where practitioners seek to transform ordinary experiences into the path to enlightenment. The kapala symbolizes the impermanence of life and the transient nature of existence. By using a skull cup in rituals, practitioners are reminded of the impermanence of life and the importance of cultivating wisdom and compassion.
Additionally, the skull cup is often associated with the concept of "chod" or "cutting through the ego." In chod practice, practitioners visualize offering their own body as a feast to demons as a way to conquer fear and attachment to the self. The skull cup represents the ultimate offering of the self, symbolizing the practitioner's willingness to let go of ego and self-attachment.
It's important to note that the use of kapalas in tantric rituals is highly symbolic and is not meant to promote violence or harm. Instead, it serves as a powerful visual aid to help practitioners contemplate the nature of reality and deepen their understanding of Buddhist teachings.
Overall, the use of cups made of skulls in Buddhist tantric rituals and imagery is a complex and symbolic practice that is deeply rooted in Buddhist philosophy and aims to help practitioners on their path to enlightenment. Alan Chui
Main Entrée
General Use of Skulls and Bones in Tantrik Rituals
Tantrik Buddhism in Tibet has actually assimilated and integrated many aspects of regional popular beliefs, with multiple origins, in connection with Central Asia Shamanism or hunting rituals, as seen from the following examples:
Bones of humans and animals were considered the ultimate source of life for hunters like the Jakutes, Buriats and other Siberian tribes.
Human skulls have been used for shamanistic rites in Siberia.
Shamanistic costumes of Central and North Asian Shamans are similar to that of the skeleton costumes and masks in Tibet.
There are several purposes with the use of bone objects, the most common one is apotropaic/exorcise purpose, for example, utilising the sound of thighbone trumpet. It can also be used for healing purpose. Human and animal skulls are used for exorcism and protection against evil, while prayer beads have destructive purposes.
The word “destructive” (wrathful) here means killing, driving off and immobilizing harmful demons and spirits, which is one of the four kinds of enlightened activity, the other three being peaceful, expanding and controlling.
Bone ornaments are used to subdue demonic influences, in annual ritual dances (khyams), they are part of the garments of wrathful deities, representing the trophies taken from slain enemies. This description matches with my previous understanding of the bone apron used in dancing rituals.
Bone objects can also be used for black magic, entering into contact with the ghost of the dead, evocation of deities, divination and prophetic purpose, and even direct worship.
Human bones are the leftover after one dies, when contemplating human bones, we are actually forced to conform death itself, thus realise the essence of impermanence (and inherent nature of void) of the world. However, death is not the end of everything, death offers us a glimpse of the absolute light of the world, and is a beginning of a new life with opportunities, and it encourages and helps us on the path for Enlightenment. As the Buddhist aim is to transgress birth and death, towards the realisation of Buddhahood eventually.
Tibetans believe that if death occurs by accident, murder or suicide, special methods have to be applied for appeasing the bewildered spirit of the dead to prevent him from roaming as a harmful ghost...The most suitable ritual for such circumstance is the Chod, essentially a method for 'cutting off' the root of ignorance and attachment, the very causes of the victim's restlessness. It is generally performed as an ascetic practice of the living but it also has an apotropaic and even exorcistic function that was applied in this particular situation
"Tibetan Mahayoga Tantra", p.52.
This little session is not really related to the bone apron, instead, it is about "The Chod ritual for subduing demons", a ritual that mainly uses the thighbone trumpet. However, I think it gives me a little insight regarding Tibetan Buddhist beliefs and rituals, and their attitudes towards the dead, which is worth noting down.
This concept of restless ghost due to attachment to the world is quite similar to a Chinese concept "孤魂野鬼", which means after people die they keep wandering in the world as restless ghosts, not being able to rest. Sometimes they are described to have some unfulfilled wish (which can be viewed as attachment), and we need to find ways to solve their problems so as to let them rest in real peace.
The Chod ritual is actually quite interesting, it is a ritual in which the old master keeps blowing the human thighbone trumpet (with special rhythm and melodies) to summon the spirit of the dead, and one needs to visualise oneself in the form of the deities (which is similar to the dancing rituals in which bone aprons are used). The whole ritual performance is an integration of singing, playing and dancing without any self-regard, and is an important ascetic practice of both Bon and the Buddhist tradition.
For the rationale and beliefs behind, the practice is a reflection of personal failings due to attachment. “The clinging to and the illusion of an “I” as separate from others has to be cut off in order to enter into the direct experience of mind as such. The ritual is the path towards the goal of absolute reality, an ascetic way of accumulating merit by mentally offering one’s own body or a sacrificial feast.”
The removal of the illusion of an "I" is like the concept of "Anatta" (無我) when I read the Heart Sutra before. And this “sacrifice”, or “mentally offering one’s own body” I think, is the complete submission of oneself when he is performing the rituals with a completion of actions, and as stated in the book, “any mistakes could easily lead to insanity”.
Tantrik vidya means utilization of tantrik rituals or tantra mantra for finishing some work. Tantrik vidya use many tantra mantras to resolve our problems of peoples within their way.
Transformations of use of bones
In the chapter “Reflections on the use of skulls and bones in Tibet”, the author explores much on the original philosophical ground and symbolic significance of the use of bones, and how did the meaning and use transform over time.
This chapter is actually quite tough to read, as there are a lot of specific Tantra terms and doctrines.
Basically, the use of bone objects underwent a three stage change: Spontaneous insight as skilful means for enlightenment --> functional instruments on the path of meditative rituals --> mere curiosity artefacts deprived of function and meaning.
Originally, as this practice first emerged in the Indian Siddha-tradition, the usage of bone objects was strictly limited to higher Tantrik practices. The ascetic practice of the Mahayoga Tantriks is "to remain unsoiled like a lotus, although one is indulging in the five Klesas"
Every inner and outer phenomenon regardless of whether it is good or bad is to be used as a driving factor to Enlightenment, and bone was one of them. Bone is a material left over of a physical existence, “is at the same time beyond the dichotomy of life and death”, it signifies life and death at the same time: death is not just the end of life, but also the beginning of another reality, an ultimate revelation. Bone is naked, unpretentious, and corresponds to the indefinable absolute. The very use of bone is the visualisation and metaphorical extension of the doctrine with an aim to reunite relative and absolute realities, and as a vital ritualistic support for ripening individual realisations.
The use of bone (due to its naked nature) helps one realise Enlightenment, removing any aversion and attachment.
However, according to the author, as the Indian tradition use of bones was spread to Tibet and mixed with the local religion, and the great monastic institutions in Tibet established at the end of the 11th century, bones started to become objects of magical power, breaking tradition by using substitute material which were more marketable, and even became a type of tourist art. Rituals became more elaborated and fancy, losing the original spontaneity and highly meditative and metaphorical intent.
Even under the influence of material culture, however, the author argued that the human bone material, the carving techniques and iconographical details still give these objects a surpassing value, as the artists are engaged in a continuous meditative process. As long as practitioners are not merely attaining magic powers or mystical skills using bone objects, bones can still retain their original significance.
After Meal Tea
It is also interesting to reflect on how much of tibetan tantric imagery was inspired by the Shivaite sects of india:
The form of the Buddhist khaṭvāṅga derived from the emblematic staff of the early Indian Shaivite yogins, known as kapalikas or 'skull-bearers'. The kapalikas were originally miscreants who had been sentenced to a twelve-year term of penance for the crime of inadvertently killing a Brahmin. The penitent was prescribed to dwell in a forest hut, at a desolate crossroads, in a charnel ground, or under a tree; to live by begging; to practice austerities; and to wear a loin-cloth of hemp, dog, or donkey-skin. They also had to carry the emblems of a human skull as an alms-bowl, and the skull of the Brahmin they had slain mounted upon a wooden staff as a banner.These Hindu kapalika ascetics soon evolved into an extreme outcaste sect of the 'left-hand' tantric path (Skt. vamamarg) of shakti or goddess worship. The early Buddhist tantric yogins and yoginis adopted the same goddess or dakini attributes of the kapalikas. These attributes consisted of; bone ornaments, an animal skin loincloth, marks of human ash, a skull-cup, damaru, flaying knife, thighbone trumpet, and the skull-topped Tantric staff or khaṭvāṅga. Abadías DeMarin
Still Hungry? Mmmmmm well here's a Little Fusion Nectar Pie
Can't send you off without a little nibble
To enter the world of Tantra is to enter a world beyond the ordinary. Through a series of catalytic processes, the spiritual seeker is drawn along a path that promises nothing less than the revelation of the nature of reality. This is a promise that also lies at the heart of shamanic practice. Yet the ‘reality’ that reveals itself when the shamanic initiate steps beyond the threshold of ordinary awareness is conceived of differently than that of Tantra.
The reality that is the focus of Tantra lies in the understanding of the human mind. The reality that is understood through shamanic practice emerges through an intimate interface with the unseen powers of the natural world. These two realities are not exclusive from one another, but the thrust and focus of these two practices are at least initially different.
The practice of Tantra is based on the foundational teachings of Buddhism, but focuses on practices which employ mental and physical energies to develop spiritual understanding in a way that reaches beyond the fundamentals of Buddhist thought. Tantric practices focus on working with sound, movement, ceremony, and elemental and subtle energies.
Shamanism is a system of knowledge based on an intimate relationship with the natural world, including the unseen powers that are understood to reside within the physical forms of nature. Unlike the more localized practice of Tantra in the Himalaya, the practice of earth-based wisdom is found around the world. There are many forms and foci of shamanic practice, but we find essential elements shared in settings separated by time and space. Here, we are focusing on compassionate forms of shamanic practice.
The practice of earth-based wisdom focuses on the use of sound, movement, ceremony, and subtle energies. Shamans work with practices related to these elements to heal, to divine, and to use subtle processes to affect change on the material level as they serve their communities. The goals of shamanic practice do not, however, necessarily lie in the attainment of enlightenment. Rather, the evolution of the shamanic initiate is focused on an ever-deepening relationship with the powers of the earth and the natural world.
Most Tantric and shamanic processes take place in non-ordinary states of awareness that lie beyond the usual conscious mind awareness, which is primarily focused on problem-solving. These non-ordinary states allow the seeker to move beyond ordinary ways of knowing, opening doors to the broader mind lying beyond the narrower focus of the conscious mind. In Tantra, the altered state of awareness is attained through an ever-deepening meditative focus that begins with the stabilization of attention and awareness through samatha meditation, and further evolves through the processes of inner inquiry in Vipassana meditation techniques. This inner focus further deepens through deity meditation, in which the meditator merges with the field of deities that embody aspects of higher awareness: compassion (Avaloketishvara); healing (Medicine Buddha); and wisdom (Manjushri). There are many deities within the Tantric system, and each of them provide important education about the nature of reality to the initiate who steps into their stream of intelligence.
In shamanism, non-ordinary states of consciousness are also a fundamental part of practice. These states are attained in a variety of ways, including through sound, dance, movement, and the ingestion of psychotropic plants. The focus on repetitive sound, most commonly a drum, is one of the most widespread methods of altering awareness, particularly through the practice of the shamanic journey. The inner cosmography of the shamanic initiate is not unlike that of the Tantric initiate. It, too, is characterized by the presence of fields of compassionate intelligence transcendent in nature, and provides progressive teachings that help develop the initiate’s capacities. In shamanic practice, these fields of intelligence take the forms of nature (such as the spirit of a star, a plant or animal), who guide the student’s path toward deeper understanding of the processes of nature. The ability of the shaman to fill with the power of these guides directly correlates to their capacity to perform tasks such as ministering and doctoring. The process of power filling is not unlike that of merging with the deity in deity meditation. Further, in both systems, the altered states of dreaming, visionary experience, and mediumship are important sources and channels of information in the deepening of the initiate’s understanding of the nature of reality. These practices are also guided and mediated by these same compassionate fields of intelligence.
In both Tantric and shamanic practice, teachings regarding transformation are key to understanding the nature of reality. The initiate comes to know themselves and the nature of worlds around them and within them more intimately through understanding the processes of transformation. Most of the teaching the deities in Tantra or the guides in shamanism convey is through the process of transformation. The initiate is put through different processes of change to broaden their understanding.
In both sets of processes, the work taking place on the inner planes is mediated by compassionate forms of guidance. They mediate transformation and changes in state by generating catalytic processes in and around the initiate. This can include the direction and focus of light, sound, elements, and other subtle energies into both mental and physical forms to catalyze change.
There are many aspects of experience these two wisdom systems embrace and many methods of transformation and transmutation they include. The perception and comprehension of the way transmutation functions is the course of study both systems offer. Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Sacred stream
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