I just
received a letter from my brother in dharma concerning the teaching of Manjusri
Great Perfection yoga method. So I dig into my old notes about Manjusri and
Yamantaka practices to update my notes. It was quite a while I have gathered
dust on such teachings and this new information indeed intrigued me so I read
all my notes all over again. In doing so, I have discovered many interesting
things; one of them is the Magical Net.
The
practice of magical net or Mayajala is an important element in Tibetan
Buddhism. There are two classic works related to Mayajala:
·
The
Guyagrabha Tantra (大幻化網續)
o
This is the
practice of Vajrasattva with 42 peaceful, 58 wrathful deities, 9 Vidyaharas,
Vajrayoginis and Vajrakilaya.
o
The above deities
will appear during one’s dying process as depicted in the famous Tibetan Book
Of The Dead. If a person can recognize the characteristics of these deities;
then he or she can be saved.
o
In the practice of
Great Perfection, a yogin is trained in meditation techniques until he can see
the emanation of these deities or chain of lights by staring at the sky. If one
is successful, it is said that his physical body will transform into rainbow
body and only some finger nails and hair will be left behind.
·
Arya-Manjusri-Nama-Samgiti
(圣妙吉祥真實名義經)
o
This
is the practice of Manjusri, the 5 Buddha and Yamantaka.
o
The
Manjusri with his retinues represents the peaceful state and he is called the “cause”;
while the Yamantaka with his retinues is the wrathful state and he is called
the “effect”.
o
A
practitioner normally practices the Yamantaka Tantra generation and completion
stage. Followed with the Manjusri-Nama and also the Great Perfection techniques
as above.
As far as I
can see, both of the Guyagrabha Tantra and Manjusri-Nama complements each other.
Personally I would take Manjusri-Nama as a subset of Guyagrabha Tantra as many
deities appear in both works. Still, there is much work to do to make a
conclusion.
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