the mandala on top of Mount Meru.
On top of Mount Meru from a letter PAM comes a sixty-four-petalled lotus, which covers the entire surface of the mountain. The petals in the east are white, in the north green, in the west red and in the south yellow. Upon the centre of this lotus is a huge crossed five-pronged vajra. The central part of the vajra is blue, square in shape, and forms the vast floor of the mandala. The five prongs in the east are white, in the north green, in the west red and in the south yellow. The centre of the vajra is completely covered by an eight-petalled lotus. The petals in the four cardinal directions are red, the petals in the south-east and north-west are yellow, the petal in the south-west is green and the petal in the north-east is black. In the centre of the lotus is a moon mandala, white with a reddish tint, which has arisen from the Sanskrit vowels and consonants. We, in the aspect of the nada in space, observe these developments below us.
The protection circle, the four elements, Mount Meru and the sixty-four-petalled lotus symbolize the place where we will take rebirth as an Emanation Body. The vajra symbolizes the mother’s body, and the eight-petalled lotus her womb. The white moon with a reddish tint symbolizes the union of the father’s sperm and the mother’s ovum. Its nature is wisdom but its substance is the white drops of Father Heruka and the red drops of Mother Vajravarahi. The white part of the moon is Heruka’s mirror-like wisdom, and the red part is his wisdom of equality.
With the motivation to benefit all living beings, we, the nada in space, develop a strong wish to be reborn inside this union of Father Heruka’s sperm and Mother Vajravarahi’s ovum. Through the power of this motivation, we descend through space to the point just above the moon. Then, gradually, a drop develops from the nada, a crescent moon from the drop, a horizontal line from the crescent moon, a letter HA from the horizontal line, and a shabkyu from the letter HA. In this way a letter HUM develops in the centre of the moon. It is white with a reddish tint, and is the size of a man.
The nada descending to the centre of the moon symbolizes conception in the mother’s womb, and the development of the HUM symbolizes the development of the baby inside the womb. The HUM is the nature of Heruka’s wisdom of individual realization. We now think that we are just about to be born.
We visualize five-coloured lights radiating from the letter HUM in all directions, filling the whole of space. At the tips of the light rays are Deities of Heruka’s mandala, who come to the crowns of all living beings and grant them empowerment, completely purifying their two obstructions. They all attain the state of Heruka, and their environments transform into Heruka’s Pure Land. Then all these beings and their environments melt into light. At the same time, all the Heroes and Heroines are invited from all the Buddha Lands throughout the ten directions. They melt into red and white bodhichittas, and mix with the beings who have melted into light. This light gathers inwards until it dissolves into the nada of the HUM. As a result our mind, in the aspect of this HUM, becomes the nature of spontaneous great bliss. All worlds and their beings, and all Buddhas in the form of Heroes and Heroines, have dissolved into this HUM. This is Heruka’s wisdom of accomplishing activities.
Now the moon, vowels, consonants and HUM transform into the supporting mandala and supported Deities of Heruka, which appear fully and simultaneously. We imagine that we can see everything – the protection circle, the mandala and all the Deities – perfectly clearly, and we think, ‘Now I have been born as Emanation Body Heruka’, and meditate on this feeling for a while. The protection circle, mandala and Deities, appearing fully and simultaneously, are Heruka’s wisdom of the Dharmadhatu. Although they appear as forms, in reality they are the nature of Heruka’s omniscient wisdom.
Through this meditation we can transform our experience of rebirth into the experience of the gross Deity body, which is the quick path to the Emanation Body of a Buddha. For this reason it is called ‘bringing rebirth into the path to the Emanation Body’. It indirectly purifies ordinary rebirth, causes the completion stage realization of the gross Deity body to ripen, and sows in our mind a powerful potential to attain the actual Emanation Body of a Buddha in the future. It is also the principal method for attaining rebirth in Keajra, Heruka’s Pure Land.
Dingkiwa
Checking Meditation on the Mandala and Basis Heruka
Checking meditation on the mandala and basis Heruka has two parts:
1 Checking meditation
2 The symbolism of Heruka’s body
CHECKING MEDITATION
To familiarize ourself with our new environment and new identity, we now do analytical meditation on the mandala and on ourself as basis Heruka. At the very edge of our new world, surrounding the protection circle, are the eight great charnel grounds. These are very similar to those described in the book The New Guide to Dakini Land except that in Vajrayogini practice they are inside the protection circle whereas in Heruka practice they are outside.
In each charnel ground there is a tree, at the foot of which there sits a directional guardian. Each directional guardian has four arms. With their first two hands they embrace their consort, and with their second two hands they hold aloft various objects and a skullcup. They each sit on a different mount and wear a silken scarf. Except for the guardians in the south and south-west, who wear a crown of three skulls, they all wear a golden five-lineage crown. At the top of each tree there is a regional guardian with the upper half of his body emerging from the branches. They each have the same face as the mounts of the directional guardians at the foot of their tree, and they hold a torma and a skullcup.
In each charnel ground there is a lake, in which there lives a naga holding a jewel. The nagas have half-human, half-serpent bodies, with a canopy of snakes behind their head. They are of different colours, wear silken garments, and are adorned with jewelled ornaments. Above each lake there is a cloud. There is a mountain, at the summit of which there is a white stupa, and at the foot of which a wisdom fire blazes.
Throughout the charnel grounds are corpses in varying states of decay. Some are lying down, some standing up, some walking and some crouching. Some are headless, some being eaten by animals, some impaled on stakes, some hanging by their hair from trees, and some half-consumed by fire. Wild birds and animals such as ravens, owls, vultures, wolves, jackals and snakes inhabit the charnel grounds. Spirits, such as yellow givers of harm in tiger skins holding clubs, zombies, and terrifying naked cannibals, wander around uttering the sound ‘Kili Kili’. Tantric practitioners such as Siddhas, Knowledge Holders, Yogis and Yoginis also abide in the charnel grounds, keeping their commitments purely and single-pointedly practising Heruka’s path. They are naked, with freely hanging hair, and are adorned with five mudras. They hold hand-drums, skullcups and khatangas, and they wear crowns adorned with skulls.
The eight directional guardians are: Indra, Vaishravana, Varuna, Yama, Agni, Kardava, Vayuni and Ishvara. In addition to these there are two other directional guardians – Brahma, who protects the upper regions, and Bhumi, who protects the lower regions. We can sometimes include another five directional guardians – Surya, Chandra, Bhadra, Ganesh and Vishnu – making fifteen in all. All fifteen directional guardians residing in the charnel grounds are emanations of Heruka appearing in mundane aspects; and whenever we offer the torma to the mundane Dakas and Dakinis we invite these guardians together with their retinues from the eight charnel grounds to receive it. All the beings abiding in the charnel grounds face the central Deity and instil the place with a sense of wonder.
The charnel grounds have great meaning. They are the nature of Heruka’s omniscient wisdom, and all their features are emanated by Heruka to teach us how to practise the stages of the path of Sutra and Tantra. The corpses symbolize impermanence and the faults of samsara, particularly
