Verse 69: Two non-meditations

Perceive the pleasure arising

by giving expression to sexual behavior

as subjective,

rather than objective . . .

Bliss overflows.

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The lines above are those of Swami Lakshmanjoo and Pandit Dina Nath Muju. In his comments on this verse in his Manual of Self-Realization, Lakshmanjoo does not consider Verse 69 as offering a way or means (dhāraṇā).

Lakshmanjoo does not consider Verse 26 to be a (dhāraṇā) either. Readers may recall that Verse 26 describes the state when the awareness is in its shoreless, self-referral state and the vital Sun and Moon breaths have entered the Central Channel.

An encouraging perspective touching on the subject of both verses is that of a Tibetan writer, Zhangzhunpa Chöwang Dragpa, who in the 15th century rewrote (in verse form) a prose biography of the Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo (958 – 1055 CE), who translated Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan.

Rinchen Zangpo's original appeared in the same period as the Vijñāna Bbhairava.

At one point in the journey Rinchen Zangpo describes, he was in Kashmir. In the following lines of verse, it sounds as if the translator is elegantly describing love as experienced by local couples. In fact, he depicts lovers as established in the depths of breathless self-referral awareness as expressed in Meditation 3 (Verse 26) of the VBT, which reads as follows:

When mind

is silent . . .

and breath

ceases

flowing . . .

in

and out . . .

of its own accord

it abides

in the center . . .

Abide

in the moment

Divinity dawns . . .

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Swami Lakshmanjoo and Pandit Dina Nath Muju's original reads as follows:

Verse 46

When the mind is silent and breath ceases to flow in and out, it stays of its own accord in the centre.

Zhangzhunpa Chöwang Dragpa's translation of the pertinent Rinchen Zangpo passage on breathlessness reads as follows:

The boys of bliss

are skilled in embracing

their girlfriends of emptiness.

. . .

Sun and moon, robbed of their wind-steeds,

what have they to ride on

but the Central Channel?

And what they enter is the palace of union,

a combination path traversed in an instant.

Some couples who have lived lives devoted to transcendence often describe their union as subjective rather than objective, as Lakshmanjoo teaches. Lakshmanjoo has also said that the fullness of such union is possible only for the enlightened.

Dan Martin, who translated Zhangzhunpa into English, informs us that "the context here, being yogic, surely refers to the Central Channel of the subtle body. Successful yoga practitioners, whether Buddhist or Nath, dissolve the solar and lunar currents into the Central Channel."

Mr. Martin asks the following:

First and foremost, ‘Who was Rinchen Zangpo, and what might have led Zhangzhungpa to write a kāvya version of his life?’ There are two areas in which we may say with much confidence that the Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo had a great and lasting impact on Tibet. Firstly and above all, he was a prolific translator of Indian Buddhist scriptures and commentarial works, well over 150 titles, and a very active reviser or editor of translations done by others. His translations effectively set the standard. The Great Commentary on the Kālacakra, left incomplete by Mkhas-grub-rje when he died in 1438 CE, was completed by Zhangzhungpa. Woodblock prints of these lengthy Kālacakra works are preserved in the Oriental Institute, St. Petersburg (nos. B7639/4, B7641/1, B9032/1, B8526/1, B5678/1, B5681/1). Composed at Nag-shod Chos-gling, it is dated in the final colophon to a year 2327 years after the Buddha’s Enlightenment, which ought to mean the year 1447 CE. In about this time in his life he also became abbot of a monastery called Gu-ru Dpal-’khor, although he died at Spus-mda’ Rnam-rgyal-dpal-’bar Monastery (Donrdor 1993: 509). Sde-srid (1960: 26). The source is Bod kyi bstan bcos (1985:183). Tibetan Studies in honour of Samten Karmay dard for the New Translation schools, the Kadam, Kagyü and Sakya, and starting in the 15th century the Gelug. His translation work, for traditional Tibetan historians, marks the beginning of the ‘New Translations’ (gsar ’gyur), even though the translation work of Smṛti, which took place at the same time, is classified as the last of the ‘Old Translations’ (snga ’gyur). Secondly, he was a founder of numerous important monasteries in the western Himalayan region, and a great promoter of other religious arts, not only architecture, including especially the reproduction of Buddha-images and volumes of Buddhist scriptures inscribed with devotion and fine calligraphy. All these literary and artistic activities were carried out under the patronage of the king of Western Tibet who, according to Butön’s Yoga Tantra history, donated one third of the fields he possessed to Rinchen Zangpo, and an equal amount to his ministers. Just how extensive this translation project was may be indicated in sources that say 75 Indian paṇḍitas were at work on it at the royal temple of Toling. It is more difficult to read the sources for what they do not specifically say, for their silences about other potential areas of greatness. For example, we might wonder about Rinchen Zangpo’s greatness as an author. As far as we know, only a very few small texts are said to have been composed by him, and next to nothing of this small corpus of writing is available today. Thus we can say with some confidence that his greatness was not due to texts he personally composed. Furthermore, he did not demonstrate greatness as a communicator to Tibetans at large. We have no record of his teaching before enthusiastic audiences, or of ordinary people gathering from all around to see him and hear his words. Some may prefer to find in this silence of the sources just another sign of his greatness as a scholar, as one who sat for endless weeks and months in his temples working on the Indian texts together with Indian paṇḍitas, and training junior translators. That is probably exactly how it was. His translations bear in themselves testimony that he was not a ‘popularizer.’ The Tibetan translations he made are often admired for their close adherence to the Indian texts, but they reproduce the original grammar and syntax to a degree that makes their comprehension very difficult — difficult that is without resorting to oral explanations and/or written commentaries — for Tibetans who might be unable to read through the Tibetan words to the words of the Indian original. This style of translation was in fact criticized by some followers of the Old Translations (snga ’gyur) school, starting with the famous Nyingmapa intellectual Rongzompa Chökyi Zangpo (Rong-zom-pa Chos-) In Bu-ston (1968: 157-158) is an independent passage, not found in other sources, which might be translated: “It is said that of all the fields that belonged to the Mnga’-ris King, one third went to the ministers, and an equal part went to the Great Translator. Later on the fields of the Great Translator would be requisitioned as dry goods tax.” For historical details about Toling, see Vitali (1999). Veil of Kashmir 17 kyi-bzang-po) whose lifespan overlapped with that of the Great Translator. For his words we have to rely on later Nyingmapa writers, since the original historical work by Rongzompa that they cite has not come down to us. In this work he argued for the ‘Six Superiorities of the Old Translations School,’ one of these being the superiority of their translation work. Zhe-chen Rgyal-tshab says, Since the translators of the past were Emanation Bodies, they set down [their translations] according to the meaning. Hence [their translations] are easy to understand and achieve great power in their use of the etymological roots. Later translators were incapable of translating according to the meaning, so they translated word for word in [the original] order of the Indian text, making them literal and difficult to understand. In their use of the etymological roots there is little power. This sort of criticism would suggest that not everyone would have ‘read’ Rinchen Zangpo’s accomplishments as a translator in the same light.

See: VEIL OF KASHMIR: Poetry of Travel and Travail in Zhangzhungpa’s 15th-Century Kāvya Reworking of the Biography of the Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo (958 – 1055 CE), by Dan Martin

Swami Lakshmanjoo considers neither Verse 69 nor Verse 70 to be a way (dhāraṇā).

In the lines above, he sums up his personal relationship to these two verses, which he advises is not shared universally among commentators.

To find out why, please refer to Swami Lakshmanjoo's comments on this subject in his Manual for Self Realization (John Hughes, ed.).

Also please refer to Jaideva Singh's Yoga of Delight, Wonder, and Astonishment.