augmented illusions

(Yeshe Tsogyel gives initation to the rapists abusing her)

NAMO GURU PEMA SIDDHI HRI!
My sons you have met a sublime consort, the Great Mother,
And by virtue of your resources of accumulated merit,
Fortuitously, you have received the four empowerments.
Concentrate upon the evolution of the four levels of joy.

Immediately you set eyes upon my body-mandala,
Your mind was possessed by a lustful disposition,
And your confidence won you the Vase Initiation.
Apprehend the very essence of lust,
Identify it as your creative vision of the deity,
And that is nothing but the Yidam deity himself.
Meditate upon lustful mind as Divine Being.

Uniting with space, your consort’s secret mandala,
Pure pleasure exciting your nerve centres,
Your aggression was assuaged and loving kindness was born,
And its power won you the Mystic Initiation.
Apprehend the very essence of joy,
Mix it with your vital energy and maintain it awhile,
And if that is not mahamudra, nothing is.
Experience pleasure as mahamudra.

Joined to your consort’s sphere of pure pleasure,
Inspired to involuntary exertion,
Your mind merged with my mind,
And that blessing won you the Wisdom Initiation.
Undistracted, guard the very essence of pleasure,
Identify pure pleasure with Emptiness,
And that is what is known as immaculate empty pleasure.
Experience pure pleasure as supreme joy.

United at your consort’s blissful nerve,
Our two nectars fused into one elixir.
The phenomena of self and others extinguished,
Awareness won you the Initiation of Creative Expression.
Guard the natural purity in the world of appearances,
Identify your love and attachment with Emptiness,
And that is nothing other than Dzogchen itself.
Experience innate joy as no-joy.

This is extraordinary, exalted secret instruction;
To consciously practise this method brings a fall,
But discovered by chance it gives miraculous release.
You attained the four empowerments at once,
And your success was matured by the four stages of joy.

The first yana is known as the sravakayana. Now each yana comprises view, meditation and activity. In the sravaka view, the individual is seen as void, however all other phenomena are seen as substantial entities. The essential voidness of all phenomena is therefore not realized. Here, the main object of meditation is the Four Noble Truths, which are:

1. That we experience suffering.
2. That selfishness is the cause of suffering.
3. That the cessation of suffering is attained through the renunciation of selfishness.
4. That the Path provides the means to achieve this goal.

The activity of the sravaka is to take vows as an upasaka, sramanera or bhiksu (lay, novice, monk) and to maintain the disciplines which accompany these vows throughout one’s life.

The second yana is known as the pratyekabuddhayana. The view is the same as that contained in the first yana. However, here, the view of the insubstantiality of self is fully realized through meditation on the pratityasamutpada (‘dependent origination’). The pratyekabuddha meditates both clockwise and anti-clockwise on the 12 interdependent links: from unawareness to death and back again in reverse order. Through this practice, he develops a certain degree of samatha (calm) and vipasyana (insight). A teacher must be found who will give the initial teachings; however, subsequent to this, the pratyekabuddha level is attained through one’s own experience. The activity of the pratyekabuddha is the same as that of the sravaka.

The third yana is known as the bodhisattva way. The motivation of the bodhisattva is different from that in the previous two yanas. Whereas there one was concerned with oneself, and with escaping from the suffering of this world, here, in the bodhisattvayana, the concern is directed towards the suffering of others as well. During meditation, or before meditation, one thinks of others. One tries to attain the removal of the suffering of all sentient beings, and one never thinks only of oneself. In the view of the previous two ways, only the individual self is seen as void, and thus the sunyata nature of all phenomena is only partially realized. However, the aim of the bodhisattvayana is the realization of the sunyata nature of both subject and object, through meditation upon compassion and sunyata. The activity of the bodhisattva is the practice of the six perfections.

There are two basic differences in the teaching of the Buddha: sutra and tantra. Tantra is divided into different levels. There are two main divisions: external and internal tantra. External tantra comprises three different categories of tantra and tantric practices.

The first tantric practice, or the fourth yana, is known as the kriyayana. Prior to beginning this practice, one must have received the empowerments (abhisekas). Great importance is placed on the guru here, and everything must be received through one’s own guru. The empowerments one receives before commencing kriyayana meditation are twofold: the vase and the crown empowerments. Whereas in the meditation of the lower ways, there are not many visualizations involved, here there are many. One meditates on certain forms of the Buddha and on three different deities: Avalokitesvara (compassionate nature of the Buddha), Manjusri, and Vajrapani, The view here is, again, the realization of the sunyata nature of all phenomena. The manner in which we meditate upon the deity differs from that of the higher tantric yanas. In the kriyayana, the deity is seen as superior to oneself. The deity can be seen as a king and oneself as subject, since one has to receive orders and blessings from the deity. Through this practice, one can accomplish realization in 16 lifetimes. In the kriya tantra much importance is placed on habits such as diet. For instance, one may eat vegetarian food, avoiding meat. Emphasis is also placed on cleanliness, bathing, and changing one’s clothes frequently. This is the activity of kriya tantra.

The second tantric practice, or the fifth yana, is known as the upayana. In order to undertake this, one has to receive five different empowerments, and the attitude with which one views the deity differs from that of the previous kriya tantra. Here, the deity is seen as a brother, not as a king. Less emphasis is placed upon habits of cleanliness and diet, although these can be used as aids to develop practice. The upayana can bring realization in six lifetimes.

The third tantric practice, or the sixth yana, is known as the yogayana. In order to undertake this, one has to receive the above five empowerments as well as the vajracarya empowerment. Here the deity is seen to be identical with oneself. The yogayana view is the unity of sunyata and compassion. Realization can be attained within three lifetimes.

The first internal tantric practice, or the seventh yana, is known as the mahayoga meditation. One must have received four empowerments: the vase, the secret, the prajna-jnana and the absolute empowerments. Through this practice, realization can be attained within one lifetime.

The second internal tantric practice, or the eighth yana, is known as the anuyogayana. As in the mahayogayana, many visualizations are involved. Here we have the two basic categories of vajrayana practice: the developing stage and the perfecting stage. Whereas in the mahayogayana the developing stage was emphasised, here, in the anuyogayana, more emphasis is placed on the perfecting stage. Now, in anuyoga meditation, one concentrates on the second and third empowerments and their related practices, such as the six yogas of Naropa. Through this practice, realization can be attained in this very lifetime.

The ninth yana is known as the atiyana, the most supreme yana. In order to begin this meditation, one has to receive the ultimate empowerment, known as the awareness empowerment, which is the direct transmission of the power of awareness. One has to develop the two different practices known as trecho and togal. In togal, the lama introduces one to one’s own nature and one immediately accomplishes realization. The togal method is for those who have reached a very high level of understanding either through past lives of practice, or through having practised trecho for a long time. If one has not reached this level, one can practise trecho, and realization can be attained within three to twelve years. This yana is far superior to the lower yanas and is therefore known as the primordial and highest teaching of the Buddha.

How do we make the transition from ordinary to sacred perception? Through the ritual of empowerment, the vajra master shows the qualified student a glimpse of this pure realm beyond the habitual patterns of the mind. Based on their experience during empowerment, students will learn to sustain and expand that initial experience through the subsequent practice of meditation.

All the rituals in an empowerment serve one function: to temporarily transform our normal way of perceiving reality. For instance, when incense is burned, it transforms our normal perception of smell. When music is played, it transforms our normal perception of sound, etc. In vajrayana, the various meditations are associated with a particular meditational deity, which symbolizes an aspect of enlightened mind. Through the Wang, we are empowered to practice the various stages of meditation associated with that deity. For each different deity practice, empowerment is necessary.

The empowerment ceremony itself has many stages, which, though they may vary from empowerment to empowerment, are generally the same. First is the purification of the body: we wash and put on clean clothes. Then, we rinse our mouths with saffron water to purify our speech. To purify our minds, we recite the Vajrasattva mantra of purification (also known as the 100-syllable mantra). Our environment is purified by burning incense and through offering to obstructing forces a small red dough sculpture called a gektor. Then, the vajra master may give a short talk on the history of the empowerment and its associated practices. Lineage being very important in vajrayana, the lama will tell when the practice was first taught, how it spread, the renowned practitioners who have attested to its efficacy, and the number liberated through it. This discourse engenders trust and clears doubts.

Preliminaries follow. The vajra master recites the traditional verses of that particular empowerment and the students repeat them, usually three times: we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma (teachings), and Sangha (fellow practitioners). We give rise to the bodhicitta, the mind of compassion. We resolve to take the empowerment and later do the practice in order to benefit all beings. We request empowerment from the vajra master and offer him the entire universe symbolically in the form of a mandala, which is accompanied by a ritual gesture, or mudra. Water from a conch shell will be given to seal the commitment. Commitments in vajrayana are called samaya, words of honor. At the conclusion, the vajra master will give a short talk on the commitments associated with this empowerment and the results of keeping them.

During the main part of the ceremony, we imagine both ourselves and the vajra master in the form of the particular meditational deity for that empowerment, and the environment is seen as a celestial palace or mandala. Sometimes we wear a blindfold, symbolizing our ignorance, which will later be removed. We visualize the “descent of the blessings”, imagining countless deities being absorbed into us. At this time, the vajra master usually plays a bell and a hand drum. As far as possible, you should be sitting very still and with a straight back.

There are usually four main empowerments within the ceremony. Each involves blessing the student with different symbolic objects such as a vase, a mirror, and so on, each of which purifies a particular obscuration, empowers one to do a particular kind of meditation, and leads to the actualization of a particular aspect of enlightenment. The vajra master will describe the visualization accompanying each empowerment. The full explanation of all this is extremely detailed: usually, it is briefly explained during the ceremony itself.

The vase empowerment purifies our obscurations of body. We are empowered to practice the development stage, visualizing the mandala of the Yidam. The result is the attainment of the manifestation body of the Buddha; The Nirmanakaya. This stage of the initiation sometimes has many additional sections.

The second empowerment is the secret empowerment. It purifies our speech. We are empowered to practice the mantra recitation, and meditations on the energy channels of the body (Tib. tsa), subtle energy currents (Tib. lung), and essential energy (Tib. thigle). We will attain the Enjoyment, or Radiant Bliss Body of a Buddha; The Sambhogakaya.

The third empowerment or knowledge-wisdom empowerment purifies our mind. We receive permission to do practices of union (extensive further instructions are required). We will attain the Truth Body of the Buddha; The Dharmakaya.

The fourth or word empowerment purifies the subtle habitual tendencies which give rise to dualistic perception. We are empowered to practice the Dzogchen, the ultimate teachings of The Great Perfection. We will attain the Svabhavakaya, the union of the previous three kayas; The Vajra Body.

Sometimes, at this point, there’s also an empowerment for activity, or a Vajra Master empowerment.

Finally, there will be another mandala offering, this time of one’s body, speech, mind, wealth, and existence to the vajra master, and a dedication of merit, to stabilize the wish that all benefit derived from the empowerment and its subsequent practice may fully benefit all sentient beings, bringing an end to their suffering and establishing them in a state of perfect enlightenment.

Several Buddha-figure systems of both father and mother anuttarayoga tantra have body mandalas (lus-dkyil). A body mandala comprises a network of Buddha-figures arranged inside the body of ourselves as a Buddha-figure and for which various parts of our impure samsaric bodies have served as their obtaining causes (nyer-len-gyu rgyu). The obtaining cause of something is that from which one obtains the item as its successor and thus it ceases to exist when its successor arises. In the Guhyasamaja system, for example, our impure aggregate of form serves as the obtaining cause for the pure form of a Vairochana to arise instead of it.

In the Buddha-figure systems of mother anuttarayoga tantra that have body mandalas, such as Chakrasamvara, Vajrayogini, and Chittamani Tara, the figures arise from parts of the subtle energy-body, namely the energy-channels, as their obtaining causes. In the father anuttarayoga tantra systems that have body mandalas, such as Guhyasamaja, the figures arise from parts of the gross body, such as the aggregates, elements, cognitive sensors, and limbs, as their obtaining causes. In the systems of anuttarayoga tantra, designated as nondual in the Sakya tradition, that have body mandalas, such as Hevajra, parts of both the gross and subtle bodies serve as the obtaining causes for the Buddha-figures.

The above are examples of supported body mandalas of Buddha-figures. Some anuttarayoga systems, such as Guhyasamaja, also have a supporting body mandala comprising a palace for which parts of the gross body have served as its obtaining causes.

Only the body mandalas in mother anuttarayoga systems serve as bases from which a vase empowerment may be conferred.

Together with the Uncommon Inconceivable Yoga the Body Mandala is one of the most esoteric - and difficult to obtain - teachings/initiations - at least in the Sakya tradition. There, both uncommon teachings are usually given by the teacher on a one-on-one basis and come with additional samayas.

There is neither much talk about these uncommon practices nor are there many commentary references. When you receive the Body Mandala initiation in the Sakya tradition you are especially requested not to talk about it - especially not to someone who has not received this particular initiation.

Maybe the following quote from Akhu Sherab Gyatso’s Guhyasamaja commentary about the nature of the Body Mandala helps a bit:

As for meditation on the resident deities, in order for a meditation to be a body mandala practice, it is not adequate simply to place deities on the body; nor is it adequate simply to perceive your body parts as being indivisible from the deities. It is therefore not like a red ritual cake that is then decorated with a white butter ornament! The body parts have to be taken as the basis of generation, and that they should serve as the ‘material cause’ for the actualisation of the deities. When this happens, your body and the deities become indivisible in the manner of a red, hot iron becoming one with fire. Gungthang Jampelyang states that in the least you should perceive them [the parts of your body and related parts of the mandala] to be inseparable as a mirror and the reflections inside it. If you know the essential point [of this meditation] in one context you will be able to extend it to other areas.

Samantabhadra is regarded as Adi-Buddha and as first Dhyani - Bodhisattva

Among the ancient Northern Buddhist sects and the old translation schools, Samantabhadra is looked upon as Highest Intelligence, a primordial Buddha, or Adi-Buddha. He is figured seated with the legs locked; but unlike the other representations of Adi-Buddha, he has neither crown nor ornaments, and in his esoteric form is represented nude in blue color embracing his Shakti [consort] in white color.

An Adi-Buddha infinite, omniscient, self-existing, without beginning and without end, the source and originator of all things, who by virtue of five sorts of wisdom [jnana] and by the exercise of five meditations [dhyana] evolved five Dhyani Buddhas. When this Adi-Buddha is represented with his female energy, he is called Yogambara and the sakti Digambara [Jnanesvari].

Yogambara is one of the most popular Yidam deities of Nepalese Buddhists. Yogambara sits in Ardhaparyanka on the moon on a double lotus placed on a lion. Yogambara is blue in colour and is three faced. His principal face is blue, the right white and the left red. He is six armed, and carries the vajra and bell with his two principal hands. He embraces his prajna Jnandakini who is also blue in colour and is bedecked with snake ornaments. In the remaining two hands he holds the breast and the arrow and in the two hands in the left he holds the lotus bowl and bow. Called Agam Dyo in popular Nepali usage, Yogambara is closely associated with snake-worship and naga - practice.

According to the legend, it is said that the deity Yogambara and consort Jnanadakini manifested themselves in the form of Yaksha and Yakshani in Kamarupa in Assam and gave birth to their son Lord Karunamaya whose chariot festival is continuing even today in Patan city. It is said that during the bathing ceremony of Karunamaya, Jnanadakini his mother in Yaksha form, used to come to Lagankhel in Patan and observe the ceremony residing on a tree.

In certain plates of the secret visions of the fifth Dalai-Lama (the “great fifth”), a skull is used to contain the burnt parts of the lingam, the modelled or paper figure accused of evil, which is ritually burnt, and the skull hidden in the ground.

Soma itself is a sacred drink, which sometimes becomes the god Soma. Its composition has given rise to many interpretations. It is sometimes sarcostemma viminale or asclepias acida, and can lead to divine exhilaration, perhaps with added hallucinogenic substances such as hemp. The composition varies according to the type and place of the ritual. Some rituals require plants to be ground up during the ceremony, indicating that they were collected locally.

Certain Siva traditions consider sperm as soma. A fair number of hymn texts describe Siva or Indra ejaculating into the mouth of Agni, the god of fire. Representations of this episode are to be found, notably, on bas relief of the 8th century at the temple of Bhubanesvar in Orissa. In hymn no. VI of the Rig Veda, section eight, are the lines:

“O Agni, the burnt offering has been hurled into your mouth, as the ghrita is poured into the spoon and the soma into the sacred vase. Give us great and glorious opulence, to assure us of abundance, renown and power.”

More explicit still, in the Siva-Svarupa: “In the sacrifice of Soma, the liquid soma is drunk by the priests.” This is just the exoteric rite corresponding to the interior rite in which the chalice of divine liqueur is itself the body of the man, and the elixir of life is absorbed to become the potion of immortality. The senses are the cups in which the divine potion can be drunk. The essence of the procreative energy is produced in the nether regions, in the south, where the ancestors live. The purified seed rises gradually to the head and is received in a centre called (in the Tantra-s) the mujavan. From there, it flows to the nerve centres. And so the Soma becomes the god of the north (of the head).

The head is like an inverted cup. The re-absorption of the semen is presented as the absorption of the potion of immortality. This process demands absolute mental control and can only be accomplished by the perfect practice of yoga techniques. Only the yogi drinks the ambrosia that the ordinary man dissipates. Siva is represented as being constantly intoxicated by this potion, of which the cup, shaped like a crescent moon, shines by his forehead. In the symbolism of the physical body, the vital energy (prana) is represented as a snake (naga) and the king of the birds, Garuda, eater of snakes, is the sperm. Only the gods, divinities of the senses, are capable of appropriating it. The soma makes them impotent, this elixir of life, shining around Indra, the celestial king, who is the essential self, the atman.

Sperm is the substance of desire, on it depends man’s energy, his power to know and to act. By using this substance he destroys himself or becomes immortal. So, the seed, which is a poison for the proud, brings peace and light to the man who knows how to control his passions. Misused by those who are anti-gods, the potion becomes toxic, making them uncoordinated, and shortening their lives. Siva drinks the poisoned part of this energy and calms its flames so that the gods can drink the ambrosia. Siva is the yogi who penetrated the five vital energy centres which bar the path to reintegration. Only after passing through the five centres can the yogi master his desire and acquire the power to drink the poison and to purify the ambrosia.

Despite the recurring sexual aspect, these rituals are diverse, and linked. Copulation is referred to in obscure and symbolic terms. The passages concerning ejaculation are the most obscure of all. What is clear is that the face of the shakti is the most important of the shakras and that man ejaculates in the mouth of woman. The many quotations produced by Jayaratha prove that a very complex and serious literature existed on this subject, and is unfortunately lost today. In a commentary on the difficult stanza on page 91, verse 128, Jayaratha explains that the sperm should pass first into the woman’s mouth and then into the man’s, to be finally collected in a sacred recipient. Several stanzas from agamas are quoted to support this idea. Abhinavagupta himself discusses several different forms of ejaculation, all corroborated by the authority of the ancients.

Tucci analyses the text of Tantraloka of Abhinavagupta, the 11th-century Hindu author who discusses Kundagolaka, an offering consisting of sperm and shonita - the feminine secretion - collected in a sacred vessel and consumed by the officiant. “Certain practices of advanced initiation of the rNin ma pa of Tibet also confirm that such a substance could have been consumed. These practices indicate the great influence of Sivaistic Tantric literature. The reason is that kundagolaka is the counterpart to cit or citta, the ab initio conscience present in all people, though imprisoned in time and space. The ceremonial (…) reproduces the process of creation (visarga) and re-absorption, of reintegration of the only reality: primordial conscience, Siva, as a pure and unshakeable potential.”

Other texts relate the consumption by a disciple of concoctions containing the sperm of their guru or the sperm of elders being consumed by novices. Tucci refers to an object originating in Gandhara that he studied and which would seem to be connected to this tradition. It is a three-faced pedestal representing three sculpted images, one of which is a person masturbating. On the top was a rectangular hollow, apparently used to receive the kundagolaka. Mircea Eliade took Tucci’s discovery as an indication of the connection between this object and the metaphysical concept of the rites of the Akula Tantric school. Tucci’s translations of the terms connected to the school (Kula means Shakti, akula is Siva; akulavira is a solitary hero; he is all things, “he is neither Siva nor Shakti, he is beyond them, one”) brings us back to the very old Sivaistic traditions of secret sexual practices dating back to the first century CE which already took place in rituals of which references can be found in later texts. Hiung-tsang had noticed this during his journey in India in the first half of the 7th century, as well as a considerable decline in Buddhism, particularly in Uddiyana, and an increase in Tantric practices.

Eliade notes that the region of Gandhara was an important centre of Sivaism, a philosophy belonging to the Siva cult, and that a certain number of currents resulting from it developed in Swat, the home area of Padmasambhava, who introduced Tantric forms to Tibet. At this period Matsyendranatha and Goraksanatha appeared in Uddiyana. They were apostles of Sivaistic Tantrism, creators of the Goraksanathi sect, itself derived from Kapalika. Adepts of Kapalika (” carriers of a human skull (as ornament)”) are described offering sacrifices of human flesh to the fire, becoming drunk, drinking from skulls, “dealers in base pleasures ” and magicians.

In the Rasaratnasamuccaya treatise, which is attributed to Nagarjuna, it is said: “Only those who love the truth, have vanquished temptation, worshipped the gods, are in complete self-control and are used to fasting and following a proper diet - they alone can take part in alchemy.” P.C. Ray explains that the “laboratory” had to be set up in the forest, far from any impure presence, that the disciple had to respect his master and venerate Siva, for alchemy was revealed by the god Siva himself; he also had to erect a mercurial phallus to Siva and participate in certain erotic rituals. Ray concludes by saying that this illustrates quite clearly the symbiosis between alchemy and Tantrism.

Padmasambhava may well have been a disciple of Goraksanatha and practised initiation, or at the very least spent time in a region and a culture where these rituals were current, and could not have been unaware of them, probably actually being involved in them himself. He is thought to be the founder of the Nyingmapa from whom the secret visions of the fifth Dalai-Lama were derived. It is logical that the Tantric rites should have influenced Buddhism and have been present in this Buddhist school and in its rites.

The magical-religious aspects of iron have been noted in many cultures, particularly in Asia. Already in 1907, J. Goldziher had a thick file on the qualities of iron in combating demons. This function of iron pertains to a very archaic shamanist tradition. In Siberia, shamans have costumes decorated with figurines made of iron in the shape or with the function of bones, so that the shaman appeared like, or was seen to represent, a skeleton. Some of these observations are considerably beyond our geographical area, the Himalayas, but the connections between these shamanist rituals and certain Tibetan rituals and traditions are so numerous that they must be taken into consideration.

In some cases, during his initiation the shaman sees himself torn apart by demons armed with iron hooks who, after cleaning the bones and scraping the flesh, put the skeleton together again with pieces of iron. This dismemberment can also be carried out by a bird of prey with beak, claws, and feathers of iron. Finally, accounts recount the entry of the future shaman into a cave-matrix where he meets a blacksmith who tears up and boils the skeleton, then puts it back together with iron while re-forging the head and ornaments of his future costume.

These accounts are fairly similar to those in which Tibetan novices make their way in the night to charnel-houses, with horns made of human femurs, to call up and confront terrible divinities in the chöd ritual tradition founded by Machig Labdron These rituals could also finish with a ritual dismemberment of the officiant by the dakinis or other terrifying beings.

All these Shamanist traditions can be compared to Vedic traditions concerning the vajra, or diamond-lightning, a weapon of Indra. When the sage Dadhici died, all the Asuras (demonic beings in whom he inspired panic) recovered their power and invaded the earth, holding Indra in check. The god Indra started looking for the Rshi Dadhici, unaware of the latter’s death. He received the news at the same time as the information according to which his bones had the power of thunder against the Asuras. His skull was found in Lake Saryavar and forged by Tvashtri, the artisan of the sky, in the shape of vajra, or diamond-lightning, which is found in Tantric rituals, to dominate the demoniac forces. This vajra also allowed Indra to free the water that the ophidian monster Vtra had dammed up. It was in smashing Vrtra’s skull that this water was freed. In the myth of Indra’s dismemberment, the chronicles tell that the body of the god, intoxicated by an excess of soma, began to flow away, “giving birth to all kinds of creatures, plants and metals.” With Indra being the master of thunder, the vajra are often said to be made of the iron from meteorites, which is certainly not always the case, but tradition often takes precedence over reality.

There seem to be more tantric texts and traces of Indian, rather than Tibetan, origin. In the Tibetan context, this ritual is limited to the Nyingmapa who, despite having had a definite influence at the highest religious levels, did not occupy the most important positions. What is more, this ritual was heretical enough for its existence not to be divulged. It was perhaps transmitted directly from master to disciple, and the existing texts are probably impenetrable to the non-initiated. The names of the monks in these lineages are quoted and their personality invoked to give the ceremony a radiance and to benefit the ritual. Certain of these lineages go back to Indian adepts, from whom the tradition linked to the offertory cover would seem to originate.

It does not seem that all the rituals connected to sex and to the ingestion of human flesh (also found in certain Tantric traditions) were exposed to public view. Even Western Tibetologists have, particularly in the past, been embarrassed by certain aspects of these practices. The Gelugpa certainly softened the texts thought to be too heretical and contrary to the rules of original Buddhism. The deviant forms of Buddhism were rejected, the old rules of monastic discipline re-established and texts thought to be too compromising were often attributed to the Bon-po.

For all these reasons, the rituals and the currents of thought which could have been attached to this Tantric movement of Indian Sivaistic origin have remained secret. We know very little about the survival of these practices even though some of them continue.