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| Kalachakra Mandala |
“Thus have I heard: evaṃ mayā śrutam.” (a sort of Mahayana disclaimer)
When Siddhartha Gautama was born, seeing the signs of Chakravartin
(one who moves the wheels) on his baby body, soothsayers of his father’s kingdom
voiced two choices for his future. He will either be a world conquering emperor
or a world renouncing beggar monk/Sanyasi.
Raised by his maternal aunt Mahaprajapati Gautami since his mother
Mahamaya died soon after, Gautama ended up being neither; he just woke up as
all dichotomies of renouncing and conquering dissolved into the great emptiness
of the womb of Prajnaparamita, mother of all the Buddhas. He touched the earth
Mother as witness to his awakening, grounding himself to the vajra
(indestructible diamond and irresistible force of a thunderbolt) touch of
existence as mind born delusions faded away.
He was now Shakyamuni, the Buddha. He set in motion the wheel of dharma (Dharma
Chakra Pravartana) shattering all boundaries and began speaking what, like the
Tao, could not ultimately be spoken. But it can be heard in the unsung music of
the bamboo grove. After many a sermon, sutras and teachings about extinguishing
the fire and what not, one day the awakened one picked up a lotus flower from
the muddy pond and held it up for his disciples. People were waiting, and they were confused
as he did not speak. Mahakashyapa, a rather laid back and quiet disciple,
suddenly smiled and then began to laugh.
Since then this “roaring silence” has been reverberating
through the interior worlds of many aspirants who long to experience truth. However,
India’s spirituality being deeply inward moving, the mysterious fragrance
surrounding the flower could not really be spread until Bodhidharma showed up.
He was the son of a 5th/6th century C.E Pallava king and
his guru was Prajnatara; she asked him to bring the dharma to China. Wedded to the Tao, it then flowered in Japan
as Dhyan/Chan turned into Zen, a child of Indic and Sinic ways and yet utterly
distinct in its very Japanese identity. So proclaimed Osho centuries later when
he appeared amidst great confusion in the land of the Buddha.
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| Bodhidharma |
As the great wheel of time, Kalachakra, kept moving, more cultural
waters mingled and more people began to recognize their true nature. Men and
women both inhabit wisdom and compassion, but Buddhist tradition ascribes
skillful means and compassion to the masculine and wisdom to the feminine. Men must
access the feminine wisdom within. Divested of the delusions of patriarchal
power, Yang can swim in the cool waters of Yin gaining vajra strength. A Taoist beggar monk Budai knew, it is in
becoming a beggar/fakir and fully emptying your bowl of tea that you can fill
it with the profound treasure that is existence. He shape shifted with Bodhidharma and
Shakyamuni and as the Laughing Buddha began laughing his heart out in great
contentment. Delicate aromatic chai kept flowing toward all who could sip with
open hearts.
In the meantime Buddha’s teachings had uncloaked themselves
as Vajrayana (Diamond vehicle/Thunderbolt Way) in the Indic scene where
Nairatmya, the great dark mother of the Tantric way, impatient with all the
sutric delays was swiftly cutting away delusions with her wisdom sword (Vajracchedika-
Daimond Sutra). Stupa of practice was rising. Guru Rimpoche, Padmasambhava, born
of the Lotus carried the knowledge to Bhota/Tibet. The foundation stones of vipassana,
samatha, she-ne, zazen were chiseled to create the most beautiful colors of
yub/yum, dance of the dhyani Buddhas and Taras in their mandalas. Vajrayogini’s embrace delighted a Mahasiddha
like Tilopa who sang the song of Mahamudra as Tantra teaches “sahaja” a “natural
flowering of inner discipline” without splitting you into matter and spirit.
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| Guru Rimpoche |
It is the ancient way of the fierce Mother whose dance showed
Tilopa how to be “choicelessly aware” and bathe in the crystal clear pool of
one’s own mind. Shiva Nataraj’s damaru sounds that same truth and in great
delight Mahakali dances her crazy dance. But the nature of life is such that we
forget that inner truth; some men have to work harder to experience this
sublime joy paradoxically because patriarchal power structures exploit their
strength veiling the root of this origin. Once he hears the ecstatic sound, and
returns to the womb of emptiness, he can awaken to his indestructible vajra
being.
This knowledge also makes one effortlessly float in the
conventional world since it uncovers the non-duality of Samsara and
Nirvana. A contemporary Vajra master, Kulavadhuta
Satpurananda, my guru, explains: “Nirvana being the origin of Samsara or the
material world and at the same time Samsara being the origin to strive for the
state of Nirvana, both are perceptual standards of concepts arising from or
dissolving into each other.” Paradox abounds in life and must be recognized so
that limitations of conventional logic can give way to liberating inner reason.
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| Shiva plays his damaru, Kali dances |
All this may appear esoteric, but such liberating knowledge
would attract the most worldly of people- kings. After all most humans have to
manage their interior lives no matter what their station in life. Since the days of the Shakyamuni historic India
produced many kings who wanted to be “knowers” not just rulers. But Yang is one-sided; power over others has
led to great delusory trips for many a man. Ashoka had to kill one too many in battle
before his eyes would open to the truth of power within. Such knowing power requires giving up one’s
identity and dominating ego-self. Only a
fakir can truly savor the beauty of the world because he owns nothing,
especially his own identity.
Legend has it that a 7th century C.E. King of North
India would give away all he owned every few years during the Kumbha festival. Some think he was a Buddhist but rigid
religious identity was never a part of ancient Indic ways. Harsha Vardhan (606-647 C.E.) was the last
emperor who had united a large part of India/Bharata. Banabhatta, his court
poet, describes him as “calm in mind like Buddha himself.” In the usual
Sanskrit panegyric style, Bana invokes all the gods and portrays his king thus:
“He displayed an avatara of all the gods united in one, as he had the lost
delicate feet of Aruna, the slow-moving thighs of Buddha, the brawny forearm of
the Thunderer (Indra), the shoulder of Justice, the round lip of the sun, the
mild look of Avalokita, the face of the moon and the hair of Krishna” (Harshacharita trans by Cowell and Thomas)!
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| Harsha Vardhan |
A Chinese pilgrim Huen Tsang or Xuanzang who made a journey
to the “West” and came to India during Harsha’s reign left more details about
this king. His patronage of Buddhism and generous donations to the University
of Nalanda are well known. Harsha was a great patron of the arts and himself a
playwright with three plays attributed to him. He also wrote poetry on Buddhist
themes. Apparently he established
diplomatic relationship with Tang dynasty China. Huen Tsang attended along with
the King himself a great Buddhist council in Kanyakubja, the capital of
Harsha’s kingdom.
Kingdoms fade, wheels move, other empires and civilizations rise
as waves on the ocean of existence. Once in the land of the ancient spirits, a
new empire arose and people from India with the tides of history showed up on
its shores. On the eve of one Independence Day, July 4th, 1990,
one woman was ready to give birth. But the baby waited till the next day so that
his birth day is not blown up with all of the fireworks. The blessed couple called
the child Harsha Vardhan. When friends asked his father why not an American name,
he quipped should we have called him Tonto!
This child is closer to the nature spirit of this land
although born under the power over style of the great American empire. Coming
into the world on the heels of July 4th, this baby imbibes the spirit of freedom.
As the first born son of a first born
father whose birth was an auspicious occasion for the entire family, Harsha bears
both a blessing and a burden. It is not easy for immigrant families to own their
ancestry as they come under the spell of power structures that undermine their cultural
ways of life. But strange are the ways
of the Mother. China forced the Dalai Lama out of Tibet and another magic began.
As he was given sanctuary in India, the Buddha returned to his homeland and the
flower of Mahakshyapa began spreading its fragrance in the wider world.
In the 21st century, both Hindu and Buddhist understanding
of the human mind-body-spirit continuum have come to be valued by the imperial
west in ways that was unimaginable when this child was born. Harsha Vardhan
means ‘one who increases joy’, and his mother likes etymology; father likes his
royal historical namesake. Born in the land of limitless but often delusory
choices, this child is now coming of age. As he dances his Harsha dance into
the future, may he recognize his birthright of “choiceless awareness” and fearlessly
join the mandala of vajra masculinities.
