Chapter - 08 Bon Po Religion - Jain Library

Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth - II
sde), consisting of eighteen Tantras headed by the Guhyagarbha Tantra (rgyud gsang-ba
snying-po), and the Sadhana Section (grub-sde) consisting of the texts for the practices
of these eight Herukas.
36. See the translation of the Man-ngag Ita-ba'i phreng-ba in Samten Karmay, The Great
Perfection, op. cit., pp. 137-174.
37. The state of even contemplation (rnnyam-bzhag, Skt. samahita) represents the culmination of
the Tantric process of transformation known as sadhana (grub-thabs). Just as the visualization
process begins from the state of emptiness or Shunyata, generating the pure forms of
the deity and the mandala out of this primordial condition of pure potentiality, so at the
conclusion of the practice of the transformation, the visualization of the deity and its sacred
space is dissolved once more back into its source, the state of Shunyata. The dissolving of
all the pure forms generated in the creation process (bskyed-rim) of the sadhana back into
emptiness does not, however, represent a true destruction or annihilation in any absolute
sense. To assert that this is the case would represent the erroneous philosophical position
of nihilism (chad-Ita). Rather, it represents are-enfolding of manifest forms back into their
source, where they remain in their full potentiality. Having dissolved the visualization
once more, the meditator rests for a period of time in Shunyata or pure unmanifest
potentiality, in what is called a condition of even contemplation (mnyam-bzhag), out
of which, subsequently, the sights and sounds of normal everyday life re-emerge as the
post-meditation condition (rjes-thob). The Sanskrit term samahita is cognate with the more
familiar term samadhi, both of which I translate into English as "contemplation," in order
to distinguish them from "meditation" (sgom-pa, Skt. bhavana). In terms of Dzogchen,
this remaining in the state of contemplation is equated with being in the Natural State
(gnaslugs). However, within the practice of Tantra, it is necessary to first go through
this elaborate process of visualization and transformation in order to find oneself in the
condition of contemplation once the visualization is dissolved back again into Shunyata.
This visualization process recapitulates the creation, the evolution, and the dissolution of
the entire manifest universe. But in the context of Dzogchen practice, it is not necessary
to first transform something into something else in order to find oneself in the condition
of contemplation. Rather, one simply relaxes and just finds oneself in contemplation at the
very beginning of practice and remains thereafter in it, by whatever means. This represents
the principal practice of Dzogchen, in relation to which all Tantric transformation practices
are considered secondary. On this question, also see David Jackson, Enlightenment by a
Single Means: The Tibetan Controversies on the "Self-Sufficient White Remedy" (dkar po
chig thub), Der Ostereichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1994.
38. There has been much discussion among scholars about the location ofUddiyana (Orgyan).
Tucci located it in the Swat valley in Pakistan on the basis of two medieval Tibetan texts.
See Giuseppe Tucci, Travels of Tibetan Pilgrimes in the Swat valley, The Greater India
Society, Calcutta 1940. However, there is much evidence to indicate that Uddiyana was
a far larger region embracing much of Eastern Afghanistan. See C.S. Upasak, History of
Buddhism in Afghanistan, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi 1990.
39. On Gyer-spungs sNang-bzher Lod-po and his disciples, see Chapters Three and Four below.
The Bon Po Traditions of Dzogchen
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