Jan 01 2008
mandala of the dhyani buddhas
The Tibetan mandala of the Dhyani Buddhas consists of four stages around a central stage, the central stage being the local expression of the bindu-seed in its Dhyani-Buddha form. The four surrounding stages, the remaining Dhyani-Buddhas, can be seen in many ways, the four phases of the day (dawn, noon, dusk and midnight); the four directions; four stages of life (birth, mid-life, old age and death), the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter), the four ancient elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire). This fundamental structure pervades our earth plane existence. However, these Dhyanis are not external entities who have reached the Buddha state of enlightenment, but rather projections of the highest potentials of that which exists as our inherent base emotions and psychological structures in normal day-to-day consciousness (termed the “skandhas”, generally translated as “aggregates of consciousness” or “psycho-constituents of reality”, being Form, Feeling, Perception, Intention and Consciousness together comprising an individual’s total life experience).
The Buddha nature lies within! We are already there, but this inherent state of our being is hidden from us through misunderstanding and by not being able to control our sensory input (due to ignorance).
The Dorje is a Tibetan spiritual-magickal implement of great beauty and utility. It encompasses both art (as an artistic-archetypal representation of the ultimate spiritual dynamic) and function (as a form-energy transceiver, an active meditative-ritualistic component). While “dorje” and its corresponding Sanskrit term “vajra” are generally translated as “thunderbolt” — a useful symbol for this device as it was archaically the thunderbolt of Indra, the Hindu Jupiter — the true meaning is actually far more comprehensive. The dorje represents the highest spiritual power, that which is irresistible, invincible, indestructible and inexhaustible — free from conflicting emotions.
In Tibetan “do” means “stone” and “rje” means “master”, and the “master stone” is considered to be the diamond: for its nobility, purity, clarity and ultimate hardness. The Master Stone is of course the Philosopher’s Stone or prima materia of the Alchemists, and this symbolism is apropos for the dorje. The secret of the Philosopher’s Stone is that anyone who attains it can no longer use it for base purposes such as riches and immorality as it will leave them spiritually dead. In its symbolic-artistic form the dorje is a sceptre, the emblem of supreme, sovereign power, hence the “Diamond Sceptre”. Its form corresponds directly to its function. There are three stages of the dorje, the seed, the lotuses and the mandalas. With many meanings that will appear to the astute meditator, a good place to start is to think of them as speech, mind and body, respectively. Concomitant with the three stages, the dorje can also be seen as an instrument describing universal polarities, as two mirror-image sides emanate from the central point.
The central sphere is the seed or “bindu” of the universe, corresponding in Western spiritual tradition to Kether at the apex of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It is sometimes represented as an outward moving spiral of energy, just as the Tree of Life can be represented as spiraling out from Kether.
From the undifferentiated unity of the central seed spring two opposing lotus blossoms, representing the dual nature of manifest reality as perceived consciously. Each has eight leaves, and these can be understood as the fundamental binary code of our interactions with the universe.
From each lotus blossom emerge five ‘rays of power’ which converge at a higher point. This is the three dimensional world we inhabit as incarnate humans, again with its dynamic polarities represented by the two sides of the dorje. From end on these five rays can be seen as the fundamental mandala of the Dhyani Buddhas (or Tathagatas — “liberated ones”). However, these Dhyanis are not external entities who have reached the Buddha state of enlightenment, but rather projections of the highest potentials of that which exists as our inherent base emotions and psychological structures in normal day-to-day consciousness (termed the “skandhas”, generally translated as “aggregates of consciousness” or “psycho-constituents of reality”, being Form, Feeling, Perception, Intention and Consciousness together comprising an individual’s total life experience).
Form/Corporeality = Aksobhya - Wisdom of the Great Mirror (Non-Attachment to Manifestation)
Feeling = Ratnasambava - Wisdom of Equality
Perception = Amitabha - Distinguishing Inner Vision
Intention/Volition = Amoghasiddhi - All-Accomplishing Karma-Free Action
Consciousness = Vairocana - Wisdom of the Universal Law
The two sides of the dorje can be seen not only in the polarities of male and female, night and day, hot and cold, but also as the most dynamic of our localised, perceived polarities: Matter and Spirit. And matter and spirit can be reconciled in the thunderbolt of awareness, where we become the undifferentiated singularity of enlightenment and perceive all as One, subjective and objective combined as a fundamental awareness. This is the ultimate Tantric doctrine, and the supreme path of Buddhism is termed the Vajrayana, or the Diamond Wisdom: One Taste.