Toh 385The Tantra of the Inconceivable Secrets of Cakrasaṃvara

Exposition of the Sutra of the Inconceivable Secrets of Cakrasaṃvara

Background

The Cakrasaṃvaraguhyācintyatantra Sutra (The Sutra of the Inconceivable Secrets of Cakrasaṃvara) is one of the principal works of Vajrayana, the highest tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is part of the Kangyur, the canon translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, recording the secret methods taught by Buddha Shakyamuni in higher realms.

Cakrasaṃvara (Wheel of Union) is regarded as a Buddha of Mind, an expression of the entire Buddha-reality in the figure of the great master, the Mahāsiddha Naropa, in the Kagyu tradition. This sutra was transmitted through the lineage from India into Tibet, and from there became a precious heritage of the Gelug, Kagyu, Sakya, and Nyingma schools.

The title of the sutra suggests its key point: secrets that cannot be conceived by the conceptual mind. This is precisely the nature of this Dharma method: it goes beyond logical reasoning and directly approaches ultimate truth through the practice of the body, speech, and mind of the noble ones.

Main content

The Cakrasaṃvara Sutra presents the wondrous meditative system of Tantra, with two principal stages of practice: the generation stage (utpatti-krama) and the completion stage (sampanna-krama).

In the generation stage, the practitioner imagines and transforms the universe into the mandala palace of Cakrasaṃvara, an infinite circular palace where Cakrasaṃvara is united with the goddess Vajravārāhī (Vajra Sow) in the supreme state in which nirvana and samsara are no longer distinct. Around the presiding deity are twelve great bodhisattvas and twenty-four sow goddesses, each symbolizing a quality of Buddha-wisdom and the transformation of impurities.

The completion stage, the most inconceivably secret part, concerns the control of subtle energies within the energy channels (nāḍi) and energy centers (cakra) of the unified body.