PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

Wallis: Advayavajra’s Instructions 205The nondual yogic-attainment perspective in India, with its increasingemphasis upon Buddha-nature (and cognate doctrinessuch as innate pure mind), was the primary organizing perspectiveof tantric practice traditions of late Indian and Tibetan Buddhism.First, resonant with the nondual yogic-attainment perspective…and unlike the analytic-inferential perspective, tantric praxistakes the nondual perspective of Buddhahood (or at least a symbolicfacsimile of it) at the point of view from which it is to beapproached: nonduality of samsåra and nirvå√a, appearance andemptiness, etc. Secondly, tantric praxis has involved, at its core, animmediacy of identification with Buddhahood made possible bythe increasing centrality of the doctrine of Buddha-nature: One canidentify with [Buddha-nature] only insofar as one understands itto be one’s actual nature in the here and now. The legendaryquickness of the tantric path (full enlightenment available even inone lifetime) has assumed this very understanding, permitting arapid progression on the path by revealing the intrinsic purity ofdeity and ma√∂ala as the actual, primordial nature of oneself andone’s world.… The differing perspectives have some sociologicalimplications as well. If ultimate awareness is believed to be accessedexclusively through analytic-inferential proceduresaccomplishable only after long periods of study, monastic studyinstitutions become the sole mediators of enlightenment. If otherpossibilities of access to ultimate awareness are also permitted(e.g., immediate entry triggered by vivid encounter betweenmaster and student, by practices of guru yoga, or by forms ofmeditation that do not necessarily rest upon years of scholasticstudy), then nonmonastic social institutions, such as lay communitiesof disciples gathering around a tantric master in avillage or mountain dwelling, may be viewed as equally significantor more central. 9Although the Buddhist vision of Advayavajra falls easily into this descriptionof the “nondual yogic-attainment perspective,” and while it can beshown, on the basis of his biography, that Advayavajra promoted methodsand teachings that were at odds with the institutional norms of the day, thecourse of ådikarma that he advocates is in itself non-controversial. This is,in fact, an aspect of his larger rhetorical strategy of placing controversialpractices on traditional foundations, thereby bridging the two dichotomousoptions identified by Makransky. 10Versions of Advayavajra’s biography have been preserved in severalNepalese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan sources. These have been treated in somedetail by Mark Tatz, 11 and so will not be repeated here. I will just brieflymention the following aspects of his life story, however, since they provide