Chakrasamvara
Chakrasamvara is a leading tantric deity who embodies great bliss [Skt. Mahasukha] realisable through a combination of wisdom and method. The idea of duality, the merging & union of two opposite forms or ideas originated thousands of years ago. Through a union of our self & the universe we become part of the Sambhogakaya realm within which great happiness which includes love, friendship, peace and joy. Chakra Sambhava is a tutelary deity seeking to guide people to great happiness.
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Iconography
Chakrasamvara is represented with a blue body, four faces and twelve arms in yib-yum union with his swisdom energy Vajravarahi {also known as Vajrayogini}. She holds a skullcap in her left hand behind his back and a vajra headed chopper in her right. The chakra referred to is the chakra of Supreme Bliss. Chakrasamvara is regarded as the most important meditational deity [Yidam] of Vajrayana Buddhism, & primary Yidam of the Kagyu tradition with its origin in the meditation of the eighty four Mahasiddhis of India.
He stands on a sun disc surrounded by a flaming aura of his own radiant wisdom. He wears a tiger skin loin cloth in the manner of an ascetic yogi and is adorned with both bone and jewelled ornaments and a garland of fifty freshly severed human heads. His forehead sports the third eye of wisdom and the expression on his face is a mixture of wrath and passion. Heruka embraces his red wisdom energy Vajravarahi who holds a curved knife in her right hand to cut off ego interferences and in her left behind Heruka's head she has a skull-cup symbolizing self regenerating blissful wisdom. Heruka's right leg stands on the back of the worldly deity wrathful Ishvara (also known as Bhairava), while his left leg tramples on the breast of Bhairava's consort Kalarati. this stance symbolizes the ability of Chakrasamvara to overcome the forces of ignorant hatred and desirous attachment respectively. In addition to the traditional vajra and bell, the skin of an elephant, a drum, dagger, curved knife and ant three pointed spear in his right hands, and the staff, skull-cup, noose and the head of a worldly deity in his left hands. The symbolism of these various attributes can be explained as follows (partial). The 4 faces stand for the 4 doors of liberation.
His twelve arms signify the purification of the twelve links of dependent arising explained in the Wheel of Life The vajra and bell symbolize the supreme unification of method and wisdom. The elephant skin illustrates the abandonment of ignorance. The hand drum enhances the blissful happiness experienced in the minds of all fully enlightened ones. The dagger and curved knife cut off the thre poisons as the hub of the Wheel of Becoming [Skt. Bhavachakra] and eliminate all extreme views, while the 3-pointed spear pierces through the delusions of the 3 realms of existence. The green orb around Chakrasaṃvara's head symbolizes the enlightened transformation of sensual desire through the union of bliss and emptiness.
Commentary
Chakrasamvara is sometimes called Heruka. The term Heruka is also be applied to all wrathful male deities of high-end tantra yoga. In Sanskrit Chakrasamvara means 'Born or arising from the Chakra'. The chakra refers to the wheel of life. Sometimes the deity is called 'Chakrasamvara' means "Binding the Chakra or controlling the Chakras. Chakrasamvara is a heruka which means a divine father energy & the two armed form of Chakrasamvara is often called Heruka. Hi is a principal meditational deity [Skt. Istha-devata especially of the Kagyu. The Chakrasamvara sadhana is in the mother class of the Anuttara Yoga Tantra. Their embrace symbolizes the union of wisdom and skillful means. They symbolize the sameness in the distinctions of relative truth and the non-distinctions of absolute truth. Chakrasaṃvara, the Wrathful Lord of the Wheel of Supreme Bliss, is one of the major meditational deities of the mother tantras.
Shakti : Introduction
Shakti Yab-yum is a common symbol in Nepalese and Tibetan art. It represents the primordial union of wisdom and compassion, depicted as a male deity in union with his female consort via the similar concept of interpenetration or "coalescence," as illustrated by the concept of Indra's net. The male figure represents compassion and dexterity, while the female figure represents insight. The female is seated on the male's lap in yab-yum. A rare rendition of a similar figure, but reversed, with the male sitting on the female's lap, is known as yum-yab.
Yab-yum is widely regarded as representing the primordial union of wisdom and compassion. The masculine form is active in Buddhism, representing the compassion and skillful means that must be developed in order to achieve enlightenment. The feminine form is passive and represents wisdom, both of which are required for enlightenment. The figures, when joined, represent the union required to remove the veils of Maya, the false duality of object and subject.
These figures are frequently worked into statues or reliefs, or they are painted on thangkas. Yab-yum can also be represented by the aniconic symbols yantra and mandala.
In Tibetan Buddhism
In Tibetan Buddhism, the same ideas are to be found concerning the bell and the dorje, which, like the yab-yum, symbolize the dualism that must be transcended. The sacred Tantric practice leads to rapid development of mind by using the experience of bliss, non-duality, and ecstasy while in communion with one's consort, either visualized, or in the case of advanced practitioners, in some cases physical. In one important Anuttarayoga text, where Tilopa expounds the meaning to Naropa, it is said:
When you rely on a consort, the wisdom of empty bliss will arise, so enter into union—the blessing of method and wisdom. Bring it down slowly, retain it, reverse it, and draw it back up. Bring it to the places in the body and let it spread throughout. When you remain free of desire, the wisdom of empty bliss will appear.
Indicating the advanced nature of the actual practice with consort, the verses are the last in what is already widely considered as a text for the most advanced practitioners, a fact clearly evident in the story about Naropa's receiving the teaching.
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