TANTRIC BUDDHISM, which arose in about the seventh century,
added its own
distinctive valuation of birth. As a tradition that treasures the
human
body as the abode of bliss and vehicle of enlightenment, it is
natural that
Tantra proclaims that women, the givers of birth, are to be
honored. The
Candamaharoshana Tantra has harsh words for those who disparage the
source
of life, pleasure, and kindness:
Woman alone is the birth giver, the
giver of true pleasure to the Three
Worlds, the kind one. Those chattering fools engaged in evil
action, who
now disparage her out of hostility, will, by their action,
remain
constantly tortured for three eons in the fathomless Raudra Hell,
wailing
as their bodies burn in many fires.(n4)
The text pronounces that those who fail to honor women can not
attain
liberation, but those who render to women their due homage will be
rewarded
with supreme enlightenment. Toward this end, a man should seek a
woman upon
whom he can focus his devotion. When he finds a spiritual consort,
he
should approach sexual union with her as a sacred act. Envisioning
her as a
living goddess, or female Buddha, he should bow at her feet, beg
her to
grace him with a loving glance, and worship at the altar of her
thighs. He
should lovingly kiss her stomach, thinking, "This is where I
formerly
dwelt; from here I was born," and grant her any form of pleasure
that she
desires.
Although the honor accorded to women in Tantric Buddhism goes
beyond their
role as mothers, the high value placed upon the human body and upon
birth
is the cornerstone of this--and any--female-affirming
philosophy.
The theme of rebirth, like that of birth, was elaborated and
assumed grand
proportions in the Buddhist imagination. Early Buddhism envisioned
six
forms in which one could be reborn: that is, as a denizen of hell,
animal,
human being, hungry ghost, demigod, or god. The six realms of
rebirth
correspond to mental drives and psychological temperaments. For
example, a
preponderance of hatred and aggression will lead to rebirth in hell
among
violent beings. Greed and perpetual dissatisfaction lead to rebirth
as a
hungry ghost, while excessive envy results in birth among the
demigods. A
person's thoughts, motivations, and behavior plant the seeds of
karma that
will ripen in future lives. Enlightenment offers the hope of escape
from
the round of rebirth.
As Buddhism evolved, rebirth came to be seen a process that can be
mastered
and engaged in consciously. In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva
aspires to
become free from karmic impurities and to renounce the selfish
desire for
personal existence. Once freed from this desire, however, the
bodhisattva
does not simply dissolve into the blissful expanse of ultimate
reality. The
paradox inherent in this process is that, having transcended the
thirst for
personal selfhood, one attains the Buddhist equivalent of
immortality. No
longer subject to the laws of karma and rebirth, bodhisattvas are
free to
recreate themselves eternally, in innumerable times, places, and
bodily
forms, to lead others to the same state of liberation. Such beings
will
fearlessly descend to the hell-realms to bestow cooling water and
the
nectar of compassion upon their tortured inhabitants, or visit
places
frequented by alcoholics, derelicts, and compulsive
pleasure-seekers of
every description, for it is necessary to appear among those who
will most
benefit from even the slightest glimmer of wisdom.
These bodhisattvas, too, fashion divine bodies of unspeakable
beauty and
infinite glory to enchant the senses and awaken spiritual
aspiration.
Bodhisattvas do not even necessarily take rebirth in human form.
They may
choose to be reborn as crops to feed the hungry, rain to end
drought,
medicine to cure the sick, roads and bridges to aid travelers,
trees to
provide shade, and houses to provide shelter. They can manifest in
many
forms and places at one time and travel into the past, present, and
future.
Having mastered illusion, illusion becomes their plaything, reality
their
playground, and conscious rebirth their entertaining and
liberating
pastime.
TANTRIC BUDDHISM adds yet another dimension to the concept of
rebirth. In
Tantra, death and rebirth are regarded as experiences that one may
undergo
in one's present lifetime through yogic practices that
simultaneously
purify the mind and body. The subtle psychic energies that carry a
person's
thought and emotions are normally dispersed throughout the body.
A
practitioner of Tantric yoga learns to draw these energies into
the
central, spinal channel, where they no longer support dualistic
thought.
Egoic selfhood, which is predicated upon dualistic thought, is
thereby
deprived of its foundation and spontaneously dissolves.
Further
concentrating the energies into a single point, or drop, at the
heart, the
seat of consciousness, brings about a psychic death. The illusory
self, the
false ego, dies, and the clear light of universal awareness dawns
in its
wake.
This process of psychic death and rebirth is depicted in
Tantric
iconography in various ways. One is the motif of a Buddha trampling
upon a
corpse. The corpse does not represent external beings or forces
that must
be defeated but rather the unenlightened self that is left behind
on the
journey to liberation. The Buddha pins down its chest, the seat of
the mind
and emotions, showing that egoic tendencies have been conquered.
Above the
gray, prostrate corpse, the lifeless shell of the former self, the
Buddha
dances in a magnificent, divine body. Tantric Buddhas are
customarily
adorned with skull-crowns, necklaces of skulls, and ornaments made
of human
bone, demonstrating that they have overcome the dualism of life and
death
and know the secrets of the art of rebirth.
The Flame-Dancing Dakini epitomizes the Tantric understanding of
spiritual
rebirth. Her golden body shines with the radiance of perfect wisdom
and the
life-force in its purest essence. Flames burst from her body, for
the fire
of spiritual transformation blazes within her. She wears none of
the usual
adornments of deity, for only the barest naked awareness, stripped
of all
conceptual overlay, can accomplish this transition. Her face is
drawn into
an expression of supernatural intensity, for she experiences all
the
passions as pure energy-waves that she may ride, enjoy, and use at
will.
The flame-dancer emerges from a cloak of human skin with a bloody
lining.
She leaps free of her former self, leaving it behind like an
afterbirth;
she sheds it just as a snake sheds its skin, glowing with the
ecstasy of
rebirth. She waves aloft a ball of string, a Tantric symbol of
continuity,
expressing that death, or what the unenlightened regard as death,
has
become child's play to her--an illusory threshold that she has
crossed many
times.
This Tantric goddess occupies the vantage point from which life,
death, and
rebirth are one grand process, a never-ending process of
transformation.
She knows that, in the face of death, there is no cause for sorrow,
for
there is no permanent loss or separation. Thus, she dances
exultantly,
victoriously, rejoicing, filling the universe with her cosmic
laughter.
Sarwa manggalam,
Om mani padme hum
