Тибет буддизміндегі Кālacakra дәстүрі

Nondualistic tantra tradition in Tibetan Buddhism

Kālacakra is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism as well as Hinduism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "Kālacakra" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The tantra is considered to belong to the unexcelled yoga (anuttara yoga) class. Kālacakra also refers both to a patron tantric deity or yidam in Vajrayana and to the philosophies and yogas of the Kālacakra tradition. The tradition's origins are in India and its most active later history and presence has been in Tibet. The Kālacakra tradition is based on Mahayana Buddhist non dualism, which is strongly influenced by Madhyamaka philosophy, but also draws on a wide range of Buddhist and non Buddhist (mainly Hindu) traditions (such as Vaibhāṣika, Kashmir Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Samkhya). The Kālacakra tradition holds that Kālacakra teachings were taught in India by Gautama Buddha himself. According to modern Buddhist studies, the original Sanskrit texts of the Kālacakra tradition "originated during the early decades of the 11th century CE, and we know with certainty that the Śrī Kālacakra and the Vimalaprabhā commentary were completed between 1025 and 1040 CE." Kālacakra remains an active tradition of Buddhist tantra in Tibetan Buddhism, particularly within the Jonang tradition, and its teachings and initiations have been offered to large public audiences, most famously by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

The Tibetan translation of the commentary Vimalaprabhā is usually studied from the 1733 Derge Kangyur edition of the Tibetan canon, vol. 40, text no. 1347. This was published by Dharma Publishing, Berkeley, US, in 1981. David Reigle noted, in a discussion in the INDOLOGY forum of 11 April 2020, that, "the Tibetan translation of the Kālacakra tantra made by Somanātha and 'Bro lotsawa as revised by Shong ston is found in the Lithang, Narthang, Der ge, Co ne, Urga, and Lhasa blockprint recensions of the Kangyur, and also in a recension with annotations by Bu ston. This Shong revision was then further revised by the two Jonang translators Blo gros rgyal mtshan and Blo gros dpal bzang po. The Jonang revision is found in the Yunglo and Peking blockprint recensions of the Kangyur, and also in a recension with annotations by Phyogs las rnam rgyal."

The Kālacakratantra is divided into five chapters. The content of the five chapters is as follows:
The first chapter deals with what is called the "outer Kālacakra" (the world system, loka dhatu), which provides a cosmology based on Vaibhasika Abhidharma, Samkhya, the Puranas and Jain cosmology. The Kālacakra calendar, the birth and death of universes, our solar system and the workings of the elements are expounded. The myth and prophecy of the kingdom of Shambhala is also discussed. The second chapter deals with "inner Kālacakra," which concerns human gestation and birth, the functions within the human body, and the subtle body aspects, mainly the channels, winds, drops and so forth. Human experience is described by four mind states: waking, dream, deep sleep, and a fourth state which is available through the energies of sexual orgasm. The potentials (drops, bindus) which give rise to these states are described, together with the processes that flow from them. The third chapter deals with the requirements and preparation for meditation, mainly, the initiations (abhiseka) of Kālacakra. The fourth chapter explains the sadhana and yoga (spiritual practices), both the meditation on the mandala and its deities in the generation stage, and the perfection stage practices of the "six yogas". The fifth chapter describes the state of gnosis (jñāna), which is the result or fruit of the practice.

In the Kālacakratantra's cosmology, samsara (cyclic existence) is made up of innumerable Buddha fields and of the five elements or properties (characterized by origination, duration and destruction). The whole cosmos arises due to the collective karma of sentient beings, which produces vital winds (vayu) that mold and dissolve the atomic particles that make up the various inanimate things of the world and the bodies of sentient beings. A key element of the Kālacakratantra is the correspondence between macrocosmic processes and microcosmic processes. The Kālacakratantra maps the various features and developmental processes of the world system to various features of the human body. The phrase "as it is outside, so it is within the body" (yatha bahye tatha dehe) is often found in the Kālacakratantra to emphasize the similarities and correspondence between human beings (inner Kālacakra) and the cosmos (outer Kālacakra), as well as with the enlightened Kālacakra mandala of deities (alternative Kālacakra). This correspondence comes about because both the cosmos and the bodies of sentient beings come into existence due to the efficacy of the habitual propensities of the minds of beings. In this sense, the cosmos is like a cosmic replica of a sentient being's body. Thus, one can say that the cosmos and the individual are nondual and mutually pervasive, even in terms of their conventional existence. They are interconnected and they influence each other.</blockquote>The tantra's section on cosmology also includes an exposition of Indian astrology. In Tibet, the Kālacakra text is also the basis of Tibetan astrological calendars. Wallace also adds that this cosmological system based on the three Kālacakras is mainly seen by the Kālacakra literature "as a heuristic model for meditative purposes". According to Wallace, all the different paradigms outlined in the Kālacakratantra are contemplative models which "serve as devices for furthering one's understanding of the interconnectedness of all phenomena and for training the mind to perceive the world in a nondual fashion" and thus by using them one can "diminish the habitual propensities of an ordinary, dualistic mind." This view of interconnectedness is also applied among all human beings and all sentient beings and contains methods to train the mind so as to perceive all sentient beings as nondual from oneself. According to Wallace, the Kālacakratantra states that "one should look at the triple world as similar to space and as unitary." The tantra also states that "all six states of transmigratory existence are already present within every individual," and this is related to the doctrine of the three gunas.

The Kālacakratantra revolves around the concept of time (kāla) and cycles or wheels (chakra). Conventionally speaking, this refers to the cycles of the planets, to the cycles of human breathing and subtle energies in the body. Regarding the outer or external aspect of conventional reality, the wheel of time refers to the passage of days, month, and years (as well as the cycles of the zodiac) while with regard to the individual or inner aspect, it refers to "the circulation of pranas [vital airs] within the wheel of the nadis [subtle channels] in the body," which is linked with the 12 aspects of dependent origination and the 12 signs of the zodiac. These different cycles are interconnected and correspond to each other. In the first chapter, it is stated that the world emerges from emptiness and the force of time, which is a kind of power that originates the universe:Because of time (kalat), from the voids (sunyesu), originate wind, fire, water, the earth; the continents, mountains, and oceans; the constellations, the sun, the moon, the host of star planets, and the sages; gods, bhutas, and nagas; animals that have four types of birthplace; humans and hell beings also, on the manifold earth and below originate in the middle of void (sunyamadhye), like salt in water, and the egg born in the middle of an egg. Chakra, in turn, refers to the universe and all things in it (i. e. the five aggregates, constituents and bases of the world), which exist as cyclical patterns powered by time. Kāla is also said to be knowledge (jñana) and chakra is the knowable (jneya). In the universal sense then, the term Kālacakra is all inclusive and refers to the unity of the basis of reality and reality itself. According to Wallace, from the point of view of ultimate reality, "Kālacakra" refers to, the nonduality of two facets of a single reality—namely, wisdom (prajña), or emptiness (sunyata), and method (upaya), or compassion (karuna). The word "time" refers to the gnosis of imperishable bliss (aksara sukha jñana), which is a method consisting of compassion; and the word "wheel" designates wisdom consisting of emptiness. Their unity is the Buddha Kālacakra. Thus, Kālacakra refers to the manifestations of cyclic existence and nirvana, as well as its causes. Kālacakra therefore represents a single unified reality (also called Adibuddha, Sahajakaya, Jñanakaya, Sahajananda and Vajrayoga). When this reality manifests itself as numerous phenomena, it is called samsara. Vesna Wallace notes how the idea of time as a universal creative reality has precursors in Vedic literature and in the Upanishads and that it is likely that they inspired the Kālacakratantra's theory of the wheel of time.

The philosophical view of the Kālacakratantra is undoubtedly that of the Mahayana Buddhist Madhyamaka school, and the text attempts to refute all other Buddhist and non Buddhist systems. As noted by Wallace, the Kālacakratantra holds that "only Madhyamikas who assert the nonduality of compassion and emptiness avoid philosophical failure." The Kālacakratantra summarizes its fundamental doctrines in the following passage:Identitylessness, the maturation of karma, the three realms, the six states of existence, the origination due to the twelve limbed dependence, the Four Truths, the eighteen unique qualities of the Buddha, the five psycho physical aggregates, the three bodies and the Sahajakaya, and animate emptiness. The system in which these are taught is the clear and definite instruction of the Vajri. According to Vesna Wallace, the Kālacakra tradition has a unique interpretation of emptiness which is not just a mere negation of inherent existence (svabhava), but also refers to "the absence of material constituents of the individual's body and mind." This "aspect of emptiness" (sunyatakara), or "form of emptiness" (sunyata bimba), is, according to Wallace: a form that is empty of both inherent existence and physical particles. It is a form that is endowed with all the signs and symbols of the Buddha. That form of emptiness, also known as the "empty form," is also regarded as the "animate emptiness" (ajada sunyata). Due to being animate, this emptiness is the cause of supreme and immutable bliss (paramacala sukha). The non duality of the cause and effect is the essential teaching of this tantra. The supreme imperishable bliss is also defined as peace (santa), and pervades the bodies of sentient beings and the entire world. For beings who are in samsara, this blissful Buddha mind also manifests as sexual bliss, during which the mind becomes free of concepts and non dual for a brief moment. Thus, the Kālacakra tradition stresses the importance of not avoiding sexual bliss, but using it on the path, since it is a kind of facsimile of the realization of emptiness and it produces mental joy. It also stresses the importance of retaining one's semen during sexual union, as well as the importance of proper motivation and not grasping at blissful states. The goal of Kālacakra is also described as access to gnosis or knowledge (jñana, also called vajra yoga, prajñaparamita, vidya "spiritual knowledge" and Mahamudra) which is defined as "the mind of immutable bliss," and the union of wisdom and method, or emptiness and compassion. Jñana is also the mind free of causal relations (niranvaya) and empty of inherent existence. The Adibuddhatantra (i. e. the root Kālacakratantra) describes jñana as follows:
It has passed beyond [the designations:] "It exists" and "It does not exist." It is the cessation of existence and non existence. It is nondual. It is the vajra yoga that is non differentiated from emptiness and compassion. It is the supreme bliss. It has transcended the reality of atoms. It is devoid of empty dharmas. It is free of eternity and annihilation. It is the vajra yoga that is without causal relations. Wallace 2001, p. 150. Jñana is a pure radiant mind, devoid of any impurities of habitual tendencies (vasana). It has no form and is devoid of atomic particles and is beyond subject and object. It is free of conceptualizations, and is a self aware (svasamvedana) natural luminosity which is partless and all pervasive. Jñana is Buddhahood, the ultimate reality or thusness (tathata). It is the Dharmadhatu, which is the primordially unoriginated beginning (adi) or atemporal source (yoni) of all phenomena. Jñana is also beyond all classifications and transcends samsara and nirvana (though it appears/manifests as both). Since it is non dual with emptiness, it is empty of inherent existence. Jñana also manifests as bodies, including the four bodies of the Buddha (the Sahajakaya, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya) and the bodies of sentient beings (each one of which are said to contain the four Buddha bodies in unmanifest forms). According to the Kālacakratantra, enlightened awareness is innately present in an ordinary individual's body:
Just as space does not disappear [from a jar] when water is poured into the jar, in the same way, the sky vajri, who is the pervader of the universe and devoid of sense objects, is within the body. However, even though all beings have this enlightened awareness, it is not actualized if one does not ascertain it and this entails the absence of mental afflictions or impurities which block recognition of enlightened awareness.

Kālacakra also refers to a specific deity who appears as a fierce multi armed blue deity in sexual union (yab yum) with a consort called Visvamata (or Kālacakri). The Kālacakratantra's first chapter introduces the deity as follows:Homage to Kālacakra, who has as his content emptiness and compassion, without origination or annihilation of the three existences, who is regarding a consistent embodiment of knowledge and objects of knowledge as non existence. The Kālacakra deities represent the aspects of Buddhahood: the non dual (advaya) union of compassion and emptiness, the union of prajña and upaya, as well as the mahasukha (great bliss) of enlightenment. Since Kālacakra is time and everything is the flow of time, Kālacakra knows all. Kālacakri, his spiritual consort and complement, is aware of everything that is timeless, not time bound or out of the realm of time. The two deities are thus temporality and atemporality conjoined. Similarly, the wheel or circle (chakra) is without beginning or end (representing timelessness), thus the term Kāla cakra includes what is timeless and time itself. One of the key topics of the Kālacakratantra is the Adibuddha (Primordial Buddha or First Buddha). Regarding the Adibuddha, the tantra states:To the one embraced by the Bhagavati Prajña, the one who is aspectless although possessing aspect; to the one who has the bliss of the unchanging and who has abandoned the pleasures of laughter and so forth; to the progenitor of the Buddhas, without origination and annihilation, possessing the three bodies, rightly knowing the three times – the omniscient Bhagavan Paramadhibuddha, I worship that very non duality. Vesna Wallace notes that in this tantra, the Adibuddha is spoken of in two distinct ways. The first one is the idea that there is a being who was "the first to obtain Buddhahood by means of the imperishable bliss characterized by perfect awakening in a single moment." The Kālacakra literature also refers to an Adibuddha who has been awakened since beginningless time, "without beginning or end". According to Wallace, this refers to "the innate gnosis that pervades the minds of all sentient beings and stands as the basis of both samsara and nirvana." Similarly, there is an ambiguity in the way the deity Kālacakra is explained in the tantra. According to Hammar, sometimes Kālacakra refers to the Adibuddha (which is uncreated, beyond time, eternal, the origin of the world, omniscient, non dual and beyond causality), while sometimes the name Kālacakra refers specifically to the male figure in union with Visvamata. Some passages of the tantra also mention Sakyamuni Buddha. They note how he transformed himself into Kālacakra when he taught the tantra to Sucandra, the king of Shambala. Some passages from the tantra also equate Sakyamuni with Adibuddha.