Datura, a tantric temple in Tibet, looks like a complex geometric pattern full of mystery.
From the origin, the Tancheng of Tibetan tantra is the development of Yangtra revered by Brahmins.
The development of philosophical schools initially relied on mutual consultation. When the Buddha founded Buddhism, he absorbed the thought of karma (the behavior of all beings) and reincarnation in the Upanishads of India. When Sankara established a complete Brahmin philosophy system, he also absorbed the "middle view" theory of Mahayana Buddhism. Therefore, the tantric absorption of Brahman's notes and the expression of Buddhist thoughts through these notes should not be regarded as assimilation, but as an adaptation to luck at that time.
Understanding this historical origin is very important for understanding Tancheng. Because if Tancheng is regarded as the product of the assimilation of the philosopher's altar, it will lead to the biggest misunderstanding-this is also the misunderstanding of most eastern philosophy researchers in Europe and America: equating the dharma circle in Buddhism with the Brahman's Brahman. Today, this misunderstanding is regarded as a final conclusion by Buddhist scholars in Hong Kong and Taiwan, so it is unfair to take a negative attitude towards Tantric Buddhism.
The structure of altar city
Tancheng structure in Tibetan tantra can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense.
In a narrow sense, the altar city is a world of "God"-it includes the palaces, families and envoys of God.
Tantric believers, everyone has a Buddha or bodhisattva to follow. The so-called obedience is not blind worship, but taking the Buddha or bodhisattva on which it is based as the representation of the dharma world, and believers use this representation to gradually guide themselves to grasp the truth of the dharma world. This self-reliant guide is his own deity.
Therefore, it is natural to know this altar city. The guided person should be familiar with the world of his own guide, so the person who gets the secret enlightenment enters the altar, first covers his eyes with a cloth to show his confusion about the altar city, and then the blindfolded cloth is picked up by Chuanfa Yalong pear with a diamond pestle, which is a sign of "wisdom eyes". Only those who have opened the eyes of wisdom can understand the world of this deity, because the paintings seen by the naked eye are nothing more than facts, and the truth of this deity world (that is, the truth of the vast legal circles) originally needs to be understood through the eyes of wisdom.
However, posture is just posture after all. Although Aunt Li can open her eyes by picking up the blindfold cloth, in reality, people who open their eyes can only observe the painting with the naked eye, because all the meanings in the painting have become the stepping stone for ordinary people to enter the legal world. In other words, with all kinds of things, Tibetan practitioners can only know their own world, and later, because of practice, they can abandon things and perceive the truth of Buddhism.
For this reason, although the truth of the dharma world does not need the decoration of the world, for ordinary people, the religious atmosphere is often infected by various solemn decorations, so a mandala has to be presented as an unusually gorgeous painting. Because the altar city was born out of the philosophical altar with geometric patterns, the painted altar city is basically a combination of several geometric patterns.
Broadly speaking, a mandala is only a self-centered development of the legal world, and any meaning and color are redundant in this concept.
Or, someone will ask:
The world's obsession with "I" leads to all kinds of pain, so Buddhism begins with "no me". However, why does Tibetan tantra only allow Tancheng to be self-centered?
As everyone knows, there is already a level difference.
The egoism of the legal profession is no longer the so-called secular self, because if I can be in harmony with the legal profession, the truth of the legal profession is my own truth. It's like dropping water into the sea. Water drops are no different from the sea. Therefore, people who are still called water drops are already a complete one-the birth of a baby from the mother is one of the complete cases.
For this reason, as far as the advanced realm is concerned, everything in the legal world is self-centered, developing infinitely in the universe, and mutual development is no longer hindered. The so-called "Hua Yan World" is such a world. Therefore, the legal profession will not die, and this kind of egoism will not die, so the true meaning of "eternity" can be discussed here.
Therefore, in a broad sense, observing the structure of Tancheng, God is a self-centered ideograph. Radiated from this center, it spread all over the dharma circle, and everything in the dharma circle was taken away by this deity. The voice is the voice of the deity, the color is the color of the deity, and even the universe is the universe of the deity.
In this way, it is not appropriate to observe a mandala from the outside to the inside with convergent eyes. Because the philosophical structure of the altar city can not be limited to a painting, it should start from the core deity and radiate to endless remote areas around the world.
Tancheng and Xiu Mi
One of the characteristics of Tibetan tantric practice is that people who practice tantric practice must always regard themselves as their gods.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this is really incredible. Because they regard Buddha as the supreme existence, they are relatively humble; Buddha is a pure saint with virtue, and he himself is an inferior mortal stained with dirt. If he regards himself as a Buddha, it will be a terrible blasphemy against the Buddha. That is to say, in the eyes of people who cultivate the pure land, they just want to occupy a lotus seat in the "western paradise" and wait for "flowers to see the Buddha", but there is still a huge distance between themselves and the Buddha.
But the great virtue of Zen will of course agree to hide the thoughts of pedestrians, because people who participate in Zen must first break the prejudice that Buddha is different from me. They say, "Say Buddha once and rinse your mouth for three days". Is the Buddha really so filthy that even the name will stain people's lips and teeth? No, the founder of Zen just wants to break people's obsession with the name Buddha. Although the Buddha is clean, how can I pollute it? If so, Buddha doesn't respect me, and I'm not humble. Therefore, self-righteousness is not a sin, but a merit of practice.
From the perspective of Buddhism, Tibetans only cultivate positive reports, but also visualize the surrounding material world as an altar city they respect, which is the correct and complete report.
In this way, it is necessary for pedestrians to observe the painting Tancheng. Because for ordinary people, you have to draw an impression in your mind before you can meditate and get the feeling of putting yourself in the other's shoes.
Some people may ask: what is the practical significance of treating yourself as a god and the material world around you as an altar market just out of personal fantasy?
It really makes no sense. As far as "what's the point" is concerned, the scriptures of Tibetan tantric schools all tell us that the views of this deity and Tancheng are nothing more than absurd arguments-"drama theory", so it is only a ladder for believers to practice.
Some people may ask: We recognize the psychotherapy effect of Exploring the City Meditation, but is it necessary for people with sound minds?
In fact, from the standpoint of Buddhism, the psychology of all beings is not sound. The soundness and imperfection of modern psychologists' judgment is only a relative comparison of human minds. For example, for Hong Kong people, desperately exploring the road to wealth is a fairly sound psychology and does not require psychotherapy. However, if we are willing to stand on a higher level to reflect, do we really think that this passion for money is a sound psychology? Therefore, to put it another way, from the standpoint of Buddhism, all beings will be patients who need psychotherapy. -hence the saying: Buddha is the king of great doctors, and all living beings know his illness.
In this way, we can understand that from the religious point of view, it is a ladder that can lead our hearts to a higher level, and even from the psychological point of view, it is a means to liberate from the spiritual field.
This shows the importance of the altar city to the secret practitioners.
Become an altar city
Although there are differences between the positive newspaper and the positive newspaper, although there are differences between the deity and the altar city, they actually belong to the same dharma circle. As a whole, the legal circles should be separated from each other and not unified. Therefore, at the higher level of supreme yoga, gods and their altar cities should be further integrated into the self of pedestrians-this view about gods, altar cities and families is called. In other words, from this body, the diversity of Vientiane can be ignored, and truth is like dharma. I have photographed it in the human body, and my whole body is full of Buddhism, which is Vientiane.
In fact, this concept is also in line with Zen thought.
The monk asked Zhigong, "Where is the Dojo?"
Naoko replied, "I burn incense every day, and I didn't know I was a Dojo!" "
Broadly speaking, the Dojo is originally a dharma circle. The incense burner worships in the Dojo every day. If the object of worship is the idol of clay sculpture and wood plastic, then the incense burner really doesn't know the true meaning of Buddhism and Dharma. Therefore, Zhigong expressed it with true meaning: "As a Dojo." It means as follows: Buddhism and Dharma don't need to look outside.
Therefore, Tibetan tantra has another kind of altar city that can be expressed in non-drawing form. Here is a simple example:
Imagine that the body is Mount Sumi-Mount Sumi in Buddhism is the center of our world.
Imagine four continents-Dongsheng Shenzhou, Nanshan Wuzhou, Xiniu Huozhou and Luzhou in the north. Buddhists believe that these four continents are the continents around Xumi Mountain.
Imagine fingers and toes, etc. As eight continents-Buddhists are surrounded by four continents, which are like satellites.
Imagine that the head is the brake soil where the deity lives.
Imagine that two eyes are the sun and the moon.
Think of your internal organs as offerings and all kinds of wonderful music to support this "altar city".
It is not difficult to find that this kind of Vipassana is simply a prototype of the universe, so it is actually the prototype of the dharma world.
Of course, there are also some extremely complicated altar cities for pedestrians to visualize, such as visualizing color, acceptance, thinking, behavior, and knowing that "five aggregates" are the father of Five Dhyani Buddhas; Water, fire, wind and gas are the mother of Five Dhyani Buddhas in the "Big Five" land. Think of eight kinds of knowledge as eight great bodhisattvas; Think of the gripping of the eight senses (such as climbing the color with eyes and climbing the sound with ears) as the female spouse of the Eight Bodhisattvas ... but its central idea is still similar to the simple Dharma City mentioned above, and they are only different in the degree of development of the Dharma world. However, mustard seed is acceptable, so how big is the dharma circle? Therefore, no matter what the legal world is, it is still a table of the legal world system.
Tancheng and the universe
If we go a little higher, the painted altar city and the inner altar city mentioned above will still fall behind, and they will still be completed by various objects. However, the image is limited and the dharma world is infinite, so it is beyond the limitation of time and orientation to restrain the idea of "what is emptiness". Therefore, we should not bring Tancheng into the whole legal circle, but GAI into the whole legal circle.
As we have said, mandala is actually a self-centered development in the legal world. It is of course important for practitioners to regard themselves as gods and be self-centered. However, if we only know that the gods are the center of the legal world, but we don't know that everything in the legal world can actually be the center, then we will be bound by the law and become "law enforcers" in a precise sense.
In the Zen case mentioned earlier, Naoko said, "I don't know if I am a Dojo every day!" In fact, this sentence is still unclear, so Master Xuansha prepared another sentence for it: "Burning incense every day, I don't know the real Dojo!" This language is higher than that of Zhigong in level. So high that it is equal to the realm of Tibetan tantric pedestrians abandoning the altar city after being clear and mature.
Having said that, we are still only wandering in concept, but when the Tibetan traveler abandons his inner view of Tancheng, how should he view Tancheng?
At this time, his heart is his altar city.
The heart is an altar city
Only in this way can the altar city absorb Vientiane, so it can also show Vientiane. At this time, there is no need for any self-centeredness. Because Vientiane is colorful, Vientiane can make its own decisions. In the eyes of practitioners, this situation is a natural opportunity for all things to negotiate with each other. At this time, the altar city he pursues (if he is still pursuing it) should be a realm of joy, light and putting aside all other thoughts.
However, from the standpoint of a pedestrian, he might as well take his own heart as the master of all things in the legal world. Because this heart is Vientiane, there is no need to give up his right to dominate because Vientiane is the master.
How to describe the image of the heart altar city?
It's hard to describe. Because it is irrelevant and not specific; Only when this heart is used, the image of Vientiane is its image. So for it, the description of language has lost its function.
Therefore, only one heart is everything.
How to measure the life and death of the heart altar city?
This is immeasurable. Because what changes in an instant is only the role played by this heart. -When the heart is in use, everything is born; when the heart is still, everything is destroyed, but the self still exists. This existence depends on the existence of Vientiane, so its essence does not exist.
Therefore, only this heart is eternal.
Only by knowing this realm can we understand the true meaning of Tancheng Tancheng in tantric Tibet.
Tantric hundred questions (Tan Xiyong)
Centered on Yi Zun, surrounded by his family, disciples, empty line and dharma protector, it is an altar city. So someone translated it as "central defender".
Tantric hundred questions (Tan Xiyong)
Datura, formerly transliterated as Datura. That is, the meaning of Buddha, Bodhisattva and their residence.
A altar city has "can live" and "live".
The only people who can live in Tancheng are Tancheng owners and his family. For example, Amitabha Tancheng, Amitabha is the Lord and Guanyin Bodhisattva is the family. The family here is not understood as husband and wife children in the secular sense, but refers to the followers of the Lord.
The altar city where Buddha and Bodhisattva live has palaces, inner and outer courtyards, city gates and city walls, all of which have various meanings. The palace where the Lord lives is called "Moon Palace", which is immeasurable. The secular measure, how splendid a palace should be, and the beautiful measure, the Buddhist temple is beyond these considerations. That is to say, beyond knowing the situation, it is meaningful to know the situation. The inner court is occupied by the Lord, the outer court is occupied by family members, and the gate is guarded by the Ming king. As for the external wall, it is divided into four layers: ground, water, fire and wind. The surface of King Kong wall is not bad, the surface of skeleton wall is impermanent, and the surface of lotus wall is clean. , depends on the meaning of the altar city.
The establishment of the altar city is to arrange some events, so that people who practice the secret method can easily concentrate on observation. Visualization is "the secret of meaning". Because it is the most difficult for beginners to practice the secret method, they are often in a trance and unable to concentrate. If he is given an altar city, he can concentrate on observing the living Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, even the guards of the Ming king, and the palaces and cities where he lives, then his mind will have room for transfer, and his transfer will be limited to a certain extent, which is the basis of preliminary observation and restoration.
No matter initiation or practicing Buddhism, we must follow Tancheng, which is the reason.
If we go deeper, Tancheng can also be regarded as a self-centered development. It is difficult for people to get rid of the persistence of "self", but they can expand the scope of "self". For example, a national hero, a loyal martyr, his "self" has been expanded to take the nation as his "self". When the altar city is self-centered, "self" can gradually expand to the legal world, so "self" is no longer "self".
Tantric Name (Tan Xiyong)