|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Pundarika |
...the Kalachakra system, like any highest yoga tantra, is meant for practitioners of the highest faculty. |
| |
|
|
| |||
|
|
From the point of view of the personage at whose request the Kalachakra doctrine was expounded, unlike any other tantra, Kalachakra was taught at the request of Suchandra, spiritual chieftain of the fabulous land of Shambala. It is said that in order to benefit the subjects of the ninety-six regions of his country Suchandra traveled to India and requested just such a teaching from the Buddha. Kalachakra therefore has a special relationship with Shambala. From Suchandra the lineage has been passed down through a line of seven spiritual leaders, beginning with Suchandra himself, and twenty-one kalkin masters, beginning with Manjushri Yashas. (We are presently in the era of the twenty-first kalkin.) In the coming of the twenty-fifth kalkin, the special connection that the people of this earth share with Kalachakra will manifest strongly in world events. In general the Kalachakra system, like any highest yoga tantra, is meant for practitioners of the highest faculty. Nonetheless, because of the above considerations it was the tradition in Tibet to give the initiation openly to very large gatherings.
Although Shambala is a place located somewhere on this planet, it is a place that can be seen only by those whose minds and karmic propensities are pure, This is how it remains hidden from the everyday world. The Buddha taught in accordance with the predispositions of mental focus and the qualities existing within the practitioners. It is said that for general trainees he taught the paths of the Shravakayana and Pratyekabuddhayana, that is, the ways of a more vast karmic predisposition he taught the Bodhisattvayana, or the general Mahayana. Finally, for the few of highest potential and faculty he taught the Tantrayana, which is also known as the Vajrayana. Here he manifested in various forms, sometimes as a monk and sometimes as a tantric deity, to teach the three lower of the four classes of tantras. Then in the forms of various mandala deities embodying the inseparable union of method and wisdom he taught the highest yoga tantras. Because these teachings were given in mystical manifestations of the Buddha to those in transcendental states of purified karma and perception, it does not matter much whether or not any specific tantra was expounded during the lifetime of the historical Buddha himself. However, in fact The Kalachakra Root Tantra was set forth by Buddha Shakyamuni himself during his very lifetime. The principal recipient of Buddha's original Kalachakra discourse, Suchandra of Shambala, transcribed the teaching (into The Kalachakra Root Tantra) and also composed a clarification of it, entitled A Commentary to the Root Tantra. Later Manju titled The Abbreviated Kalachakra Tantra. Manjushri Yashas' son and spiritual successor, Kalkin Pundarika, then composed an extensive elucidation of (The Abbreviated Kalachakra Tantra), entitled The Great Commentary: A Stainless Light. Consequently knowledge of the yogic and philosophical systems of the Kalachakra tradition became widespread throughout Shambala. Eventually Chilupa, a master from eastern India, traveled to Shambala in search of the Kalachakra tantric doctrines. On the way he met an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, and received from him the initiation, scriptures, commentaries and oral transmissions of the Kalachakra system. Chilupa eventually passed the lineage to the Bengali-born master famed as Pindo Acharya. In this way in India it was propagated by such illustrious masters as Kalachakrapada the Elder; Kalachakrapada the Younger; the Nalanda sage Manjukirti; the Tibetan monk Sangyey Yeshey, who had come from Kham Province of Tibet, worked his way up the hierarchy of Bodh Gaya Monastery, and became its abbot; and the Nepali pandit Samanta Shribhadra. In this way the lineage gradually spread throughout India and Nepal. The Kalachakra tradition came to Tibet in a number of lines of transmission. One of the most important of these was that of the Tibetan yogi Rva Chorab, who traveled to Nepal to study the Kalachakra doctrines under Samanta Shribhadra. He later invited this teacher to Tibet, where they translated many of the major scriptures related to Kalachakra. Rva Chorab passed the lineage to his principal disciple, Rva Yeshey Sangyey, and eventually it came to Buton Rinchen Druppa. Another important lineage is that of Dro Lotsawa, that also came to Buton. Buton united and transmitted these two lines of transmission, as well as systemizing and elucidating the tradition as a whole. Thus the lineage has been passed from generation to generation until the present day.
by The 14th Dalai Lama - Tenzin
Gyatso | ||
|
|
|
| ||
|
| ||
|
| ||
|
| ||
|
|
18 Poole Road. Singapore 437505. Fax: (65) 63450912 |
|
|
| ||
