Toh 386The Glorious King of Tantras “Equal to the Sky”

Summary

Equal to the Sky belongs to a series of texts known as the rali tantras, which are primarily associated with the Cakrasaṃvara system but incorporate themes that are also
prominent in the Hevajra and Kālacakra systems. The tantra presents a discourse in which the Buddha addresses three types of
ḍākinī, explains their true natures, and correlates them with the practitioner’s physical and subtle body. A primary concern of
this text is to explain advanced yogic practices performed during the completion stage (Skt. utpannakrama/niṣpannakrama; Tib. rdzogs rim) in the
Yoginī Tantras, but it also treats a wide range of topics including astrology, sacred geography, and tantric hermeneutics. The
result is a text which, while very dense and quite difficult to engage with, rewards the reader by bringing together an
astonishingly vast range of topics concerning both the theory and practice of Buddhist tantra.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Daniel
McNamara translated the text from Tibetan into English and wrote the introduction. Andreas Doctor compared the draft translation
with the original Tibetan and edited the text. Daniel McNamara would like to thank Ven. Prof. Lobsang Norbu Shastri for reading
through the entire text with him, and he also thanks Dr. Harunaga Isaacson and Tenzin Bhuchung for assistance in clarifying
difficult points.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

Equal to the Sky is a commentarial tantra on the Cakrasaṃvara cycle of Yoginī Tantras, as evidenced by both its content and its location in the Kangyur.
In the Kangyur the tantra is part of a cluster of texts known as the rali tantras (Tib.
ra li; Toh 383–414) and, within that set, it is part of the class of
“awakened mind tantras” (Tib. thugs kyi rgyud). According to its colophon, this text was
translated by Drokmi Lotsāwa Śākya Yeshé and the Indian paṇḍita
Gayādhara. These two were both active in the late eleventh century. Since the tantra seems to be informed by Kālacakra
literature—which was in wide circulation in India by the early eleventh century —it is reasonable to
posit that this text also circulated in India by the mid-eleventh century and was translated into Tibetan soon after.

The text’s title, Equal to the Sky, likely derives from the mythic source text of the
Cakrasaṃvara cycle. The Cakrasaṃvara Tantra is alternatively called the Laghusaṃvara, meaning “the light version of the Saṃvara,”
because it is held to be a condensation of a much longer tantra that was not transmitted in full to the human realm. This
mythic source text, which is said to be one hundred thousand verses in length, is only known by its title, the Khasama Tantra, the same title of the present work. By invoking this larger textual corpus, Equal to the Sky asserts
itself as an authority for understanding the Cakrasaṃvara system as a whole, making it a very short text with very broad
implications.

The central concern of Equal to the Sky is to explain the nature of three types of
ḍākinī: the sky dweller (Skt. khecarī), earth dweller (Skt. bhūcarī), and subterranean dweller (Skt. pātālacāriṇī). These three ḍākinīs are also the main audience for the tantra and are introduced after
a preamble common to the Yoginī Tantras in which the discourse is located in the bhaga of the vajra queen.
Equal to the Sky first introduces the three types of ḍākinī together (verses 2–3) and then
proceeds to elaborate on their individual attributes in terms of physiology and yogic practice.

Verses 3–17 describe the sky-dwelling ḍākinī, who corresponds to the division of winds in the subtle body (totaling
twenty-one thousand six hundred),
and their movements are discussed in terms derived from the first and second chapters of the Kālacakra Tantra. It is significant that this tantra references the Kālacakra system, suggesting an
association—or, at the least, a theoretical alignment—between the rali tantras and the “three bodhisattva commentaries,” which interpret the Kālacakra, Hevajra, and
Cakrasaṃvara tantras. These “bodhisattva commentaries” integrate the cycles of Hevajra and Cakrasaṃvara into the larger rubric
of the Kālacakra system.

The second section of Equal to the Sky (verses 18–27) discusses the earth-dwelling
ḍākinī, primarily in association with the practice of inner heat (Skt. caṇḍālī; Tib. gtum mo). Where the first section discussed
winds, here the main focus is the seventy-two thousand channels of the subtle body. The third section (verses 27–37) discusses the attributes of the subterranean ḍākinī,
focusing primarily on the white and red drops that are found at the crown and navel, respectively. Throughout these
discussions, the text emphasizes the distinction between ordinary, karmic conditioned experience, on the one hand, and the
pure unconditioned experience that comes about as a result of yogic practice.

The next section of the text (verses 38–43) treats the sixfold system for interpreting tantric texts. Sönam Tsemo
(bsod nams rtse mo, 1142–82) draws on this set for its unique method of interpreting
tantric literature. He glosses the six as “(1) symbolic syllable (implicit), (2) characteristic (explicit), (3) special
contextual means of expression, (4) general purpose, (5) hidden purpose, and (6) ultimate intent.” This text
introduces these six as a set before treating them individually. The gloss of ultimate intent seamlessly
transforms into a brief discussion of the divisions of tantra, with the Yoginī Tantras at the apex (verses 44–46) of what is a
unique classification scheme: Action Tantra, Actionless Yoga, Inner Yoga, and Yoginī Tantra. It proceeds to offer a somewhat
cryptic discussion of yogic practice (verses 47–49) before opening up to a discussion of twenty-four “jewels” (Tib. rin chen), which connect with the twenty-four sacred sites.

The last major section of the tantra (verses 50–63) concerns the twenty-four sacred sites as presented in Cakrasaṃvara
literature, describing them as places where the twenty-four ḍākinīs were entrusted with tantras associated with inner heat
practice. Verses 63–65 conclude by admonishing the listener to serve the guru, and the final three lines of verse 65 admonish
the audience (somewhat elliptically) to rely on the rali tantras together with the guru’s instructions. The text closes with a
standard expression of the rejoicing of all who are present and concludes with a straightforward colophon.

There is no available Sanskrit witness of this text, nor are there extant commentaries. The text’s relationships with the Kālacakra
and Cakrasaṃvara literature have assisted in interpreting some difficult verses in this terse and enigmatic tantra. The lack
of commentarial literature presents a further difficulty in parsing precisely thematic sections and individual verses. While
the Tibetan translation is consistent in using quatrains, these are often forced. It is likely that the Sanskrit text used
more than one meter, probably involving different numbers of lines per stanza.

This English translation was based primarily on the Tibetan Degé edition in consultation with the Stok Palace Kangyur
and the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) of the Degé Kangyur. This translation
preserves the quatrain structure of the Tibetan text, but the reader should note that each stanza does not necessarily
represent a single coherent idea. For example, major sections of the text describing the three ḍākinīs begin at the third,
first, and fourth lines of their respective verses. The reader is therefore advised to attend to punctuation, as an attempt
has been made to break themes and statements into discrete sentences.

The Translation

The Glorious King of Tantras

Equal to the Sky

Homage to the Glorious Great Well-Gone One!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the bhaga of the vajra queen—the awakened body, speech,
and mind of all thus-gone ones. At that time, present among the assembly were the sky-dwelling, earth-dwelling, and
subterranean ḍākinīs. Smiling at these three, the Blessed One gave this teaching on the secret topic:

With faith, compassion, and a one-pointed mind,

Fix your body and your speech; set your mind toward others’ benefit.

Endeavoring toward fearless yogic discipline,

With zeal for the profound path—listen well!

Ḍākinīs, to you I will explain

Your distinctive characteristics.

Sky dweller is the winds of the upper gate.

Earth dweller is the drops of the middle gate.

Subterranean dweller is the lower gate of śukra.

These three gates are awakened body, speech, and mind.

First, the distinctive characteristics of the sky-dwelling ḍākinī

Should be known as being of three types:

The physical wind, the cognitive wind,

And the wisdom wind, which has the quality of all.

To elaborate on this brief explanation in sequence:

The nondual wind is neither male nor female.

When in union, it is the wind of method and wisdom.

When it flows upward and enters, it is awakened body, speech, and mind.

It then spreads throughout the body: the heart, sacrum,

Mouth, throat, and navel.

The five families’ winds then abide all-pervasively.

The physical wind has four circulatory movements.

Divided into pure or defiled, there are a total of eight.

Each of these corresponds to one of eight three-hour
periods.

Each three-hour period can be divided into two
circulations.

The circulations of wind are sixteen in number.

Each circulation takes two hours.

In each hour, there are two daṇḍas.

In terms of the winds, the daṇḍas number sixty-four.

Similarly, there are thirty-two hours,

Which can be divided into twenty-one thousand six hundred and so forth.

These winds are a mix of mental and nonmental.

In its coarse and subtle aspects,

The wise should take hold of the mount of the mind,

The steed of the mind—concepts of grasper and grasped.

When these two—grasper and grasped—have ceased, the winds come to rest at the center.

By itself, this is the wind of vajra wisdom.

When divided it has two aspects, method and wisdom.

It is the nature of the sky-dwelling ḍākinī.

This should be studied by those who know the pith instructions.

By means of their qualities, faults, and indications,

One must know the distinctive characteristics of the winds,

Along with all their supports.

There is the “curved one” along with the one on the left.

These have the shape of a bow.

They are the paths of the physical wind.

Through the paths of direct sensory perceptions,

One should strive diligently to understand

The various geographical features—Mount Sumeru and the four continents;

The sun and moon in the north and west, orbiting to the south;

The cycling of method and wisdom, and so forth—

These are stabilized by the physical wind.

Due to the cataracts of ignorance,

The jewel of the mind has become stained.

This is the conceptual wind;

This wind is itself the path.

There are the right channel and left channel,

Their forms similar to a coiled snake.

For one who focuses on yoga,

The conceptual winds cease in their place.

Self-awareness, which is primordially unarisen,

Is itself the wind of vajra wisdom.

Supported by the channel in the center,

Caṇḍālī is like its chariot.

The domain of its activity is the wisdom of self-awareness.

One who strives to remain there will apprehend self-awareness.

Because the sky-dwelling ḍākinī has the nature of these winds,

They are themselves the vajra path.

Next, I will explain the earth-dwelling ḍākinī.

One who desires the wisdom of self-awareness

Should investigate the divisions of caṇḍālī.

First is the natural caṇḍālī.

Second is the inner heat caṇḍālī.

Third is the caṇḍālī of union.

Likewise, there is the naked caṇḍālī.

These categories are also subdivided as follows:

There are naked inner heat, extreme inner heat,

And the perfect inner heat of union with another.

These should be applied to all the above categories.

There are naked, very naked, very nakedly naked, and so
forth;

All of these should be applied to each.

Divided, there are twelve aspects

And branches, forty-eight in number.

This is the nature of earth-dwelling ḍākinī,

Seventy-two thousand, and so forth.

Mere fierce fire produced from elsewhere

Is the antithesis of this subtle inner heat.

The tips of one hundred twenty hairs

And the tips of thirty-two hairs,

The five pairs and the three main ones:

The place where these three unite is the size of a mustard seed.

The relative widths of the central, right, and left,

And the twofold distinctions should all be known.

There are places where they naturally reside

As channels that are clear, and those that are impure.

Also, the channel knots, similar to letters:

These are known as the primordial sound.

They are the nature of the earth-dwelling ḍākinī.

Learn their locations and so forth from other sources.

These instructions are a precious jewel;

Everything arises in dependence on them.

There are mistaken lineages, mistaken placements, and mistaken measurements,

Shapes, colors, numbers, and so forth.

There is no attainment from mistakes.

The nature, which is free from those mistakes,

Is the attainment of the earth-dwelling ḍākinī.

She is the support for them all.

Next, the nature of the subterranean ḍākinī

Will be correctly and excellently explained.

There are three types of awakening mind.

The first is the suchness mind.

This is beyond the scope of expressible knowledge.

The second is the self-aware awakening mind.

Like a crystal, its appearance is conditioned.

The third is the physical awakening mind;

Sandalwood and camphor.

These are described in two ways: ultimate and conventional.

What moves by way of karmic winds and karmic fires

Is conventional awakening mind.

What moves by way of wisdom winds and wisdom fires

Is the ultimate awakening mind.

They have these stages, pure and impure.

They should be distinguished

Through shapes and through colors.

Not moving through the karmic winds,

Not burning through the karmic fires,

Its attributes are similar to snow;

The indestructible drop has the form of haṁ.

Like a jasmine-colored gem,

Glossy-white and resplendent,

It arises as the body of great bliss.

This is the ultimate awakening mind.

As for the red one, naturally clear,

There are four common distinctions.

These are wisdom, awakening mind,

And the two inferior ones, which are their opposites.

The latter two abide at the lower door; they give rise to cyclic existence

When they are spurred to movement through negative conditions.

Therefore, the attributes of the drops

Must be known in their ultimate and their conventional aspects.

There is no attainment from mistaken causes,

Nor, likewise, from mistaken conditions.

These can be known from the teacher’s words.

The ultimate is not an object engaged by the mind.

The conventional has the feeling of bliss as its object.

Its nature is the subterranean ḍākinī.

She is the unshakable meditation on the three vajras.

She, herself, is Vajrasattva.

The meaning of the letters, the branches,

The condensed meanings, the general meaning,

The hidden meaning, and the ultimate meaning;

The varieties of conventional phenomena

Arise from the mind. Like a jewel and like a cymbal,

The varieties of ultimate phenomena

Arise on the basis of nonconceptual awareness.

The āli and kāli, along
with the neuter phonemes,

Should be analyzed through these six modes.

The letter marking the final sound is inconceivable.

There are three types of branch:

Cause and result, signifier and signified,

And expression and expressed.

To briefly explain their opposites:

There are three vehicles; the rest is the mundane.

These should be understood as common.

These divisions should be known for oneself.

The hidden comprises the classifications of initiations and mantras.

There are four types of mantra and two kinds of initiation.

Dharmas are of two types, general and particular.

All these attributes

Should be known from the mouth of the guru.

The types of fit and unfit vessels

Should also be well analyzed by the guru.

When suchness is correctly realized,

There is no teacher, and nothing is taught.

Concentration and so forth become unceasing,

And buddhas arise in various forms.

They turn the various wheels of the Dharma,

Performing the twelve deeds and so forth.

For the lesser disciples, there is Action Tantra.

For the rest, there is Actionless Yoga.

After that, Yoga is also taught.

Inner yoga is for the rest.

After that there is Yoginī Tantra.

Using the churning stick of method and insight,

With the essence of wisdom at its tip,

The nondual awakened mind is churned;

From it comes nectar of twenty-four tastes.

This is known as the flow of precious jewels.

From this, all mundane and supramundane

Attainments will arise.

Just as unchurned milk

Will not give rise to what is desired,

Likewise, neither from many years of effort,

Nor suddenly, will attainments arise.

Therefore, there are twenty-four jewels,

Which taste like nectar and have the form of a lion.

Their sacred sites are also twenty-four,

Blessed by awakened body, speech, and mind.

Entrusted to twenty-four ḍākinīs,

They were sealed with four seals,

Carefully concealed and carefully disseminated.

If the seals are broken, the sacred vows are corrupted.

The natures of the mantras, visualized forms, and realizations

Are the natures of awakened body, speech, and mind.

These are constantly misconstrued as having an essence.

There are two kinds of mantra, two kinds of realization.

Visualized forms should be similarly understood in two ways.

The classifications and the divisions

Of each should be learned from the guru.

Outer, inner, hidden, and final—

These are the four seals of all tantras.

This classification should be analyzed by the wise.

When these are understood,

The yogi possesses tantra,

And hindrances are transcended.

This is natural caṇḍālī.

There are twenty-four sacred sites,

Blessed by the three channels.

In these twenty-four sacred sites,

To twenty-four ḍākinīs, twenty-four tantras were entrusted:

Puru—very fierce secret vajra.

Jaru—fierce eye, the secret is severed.

Oru—the bright one not pervaded by thought.

Āru—the tip of the nose is equal to space.

Goru—teaching the great space of the intellect.

Raru—the body, speech, and mind of a dwarf.

Deru—Laṅka, jewel garland.

Maru—dark woods, great vow.

Karueru—great power.

Oru—terrifying secret wisdom.

Triru—powerful winds, wisdom garland.

Koru—beer is consumed, wisdom blazes.

Karuśyāma—garland of the moon.

Laru—blazing with wealth and appeal.

Karu—horse-ear, the wheel of the sun.

Herukhakha—victorious wisdom.

Preru—secret place of ḍākinīs’ strength.

Grīrukhaṇḍa—secret, blazing with fire.

Saurushoṇḍi—secret nectar.

Suru—the wheel ornamented with a cemetery.

Naru—very heroic victorious vajra.

Siru—great power and victorious wisdom.

Maru—this area confers victory over attachment.

Kuru—enthusiastic ḍākinīs assemble.

These are the places of entrustment; they should be sought out well.

Regarding inner caṇḍālī, twenty-four were entrusted.

The first is secret, as is the second.

These are the nature. Next comes empowerment.

Last is conditions. So it was said.

These are the specific natures of the ḍākinīs.

Any desired attainments will be bestowed.

One who wants the supreme attainments

Should receive initiation and sacred vows.

With horses, elephants and so forth,

One’s children and wife,

One’s wealth and jewels,

One should honor and serve the guru.

From ra and li, which are
the taste of nectar,

One attains realization from the instructions of the guru;

Remember to hold them in mind!

Following this discourse, all the gathered assemblies that were present rejoiced.

This completes the glorious king of tantras “Equal to the Sky,” which has the
nature of awakened body, speech, and mind.

Colophon

This was translated and edited by the paṇḍita Gayādhara and the monk Śākya Yeshé.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

English Sources

This most commonly refers to a meditation session but derives from the division of a twenty-four-hour day
into eight three-hour periods. This also refers to the period in which a person takes two thousand seven hundred breaths.

The subtle wind which, when dividing between physical and mental, refers to the former and is
connected with material experience.

ḍākinī
mkha’ ’gro
མཁའ་འགྲོ།
ḍākinī
A class of powerful non-human female beings who play a variety of roles in Indic literature in
general and Buddhist literature specifically. Essentially synonymous with yoginīs, ḍākinīs are liminal and often
dangerous beings who can be propitiated to acquire both mundane and transcendent spiritual accomplishments. In the
higher Buddhist tantras, ḍākinīs are often considered embodiments of awakening and feature prominently in tantric
maṇḍalas. In this text, they are divided according to three types: sky dweller (Skt. khecarī), earth dweller (Skt. bhūcarī), and subterranean dweller
(Skt. pātālacāriṇī).

Lit. “bent, crooked.” In this tantra, this refers to the primary side channel that runs to the
right side of the central channel.

Action Tantra
bya ba’i rgyud
བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད།
kriyātantra
A class of tantric scripture that generally features elaborate rites directed toward both mundane
goals—such as health, prosperity, and protection—and to the ultimate goal of liberation. In this class of tantra, the
practitioners do not identify themselves with the deity as in other classes of tantra, but rather seek their power,
assistance, and intervention in pursuit of their goals. The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa and
Amoghapāśakalparāja exemplify this class of tantra.

Gayādhara
ga ya dha ra
ག་ཡ་དྷ་ར།
Gayādhara
Indian (possibly Bengali) paṇḍita (994–1043) who visited Tibet three times; teacher of Drokmi
Śākya Yeshé; a complex personality and a key figure in the transmission to Tibet of the Hevajra materials later
incorporated in the Lamdré (Tib. lam ’bras) tradition.

Śākya Yeshé, commonly known by the title Drokmi Lotsāwa, was a Tibetan translator and important
figure in the Lamdré (Tib. lam ’bras) lineage. Drokmi’s dates are
uncertain, but Tibetan literature offers a range of possible dates beginning in 990 and ending in 1074.
For a hagiography of Drokmi, see Stearns 2010, pp. 83–101. For an academic appraisal of his life
and works, see Davidson 2005, pp. 161–209.
Śākya Yeshé

Vajrasattva
rdo rje sems dpa’
རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ།
Vajrasattva
Used as a proper name, Vajrasattva is one of the principle deities of the esoteric Buddhist
pantheon, regarded as both a source of the Buddhist tantras and the exemplar of the awakened state. As an adjective,
the term vajrasattva, literally “vajra being,” can also be applied to other
esoteric Buddhist deities, particularly Vajrapāṇi.