Carmen Cochior Plescanu: 22 16 18

Course Code: 15PSRH007

Course name: Esoteric Buddhism in India and Tibet
Convenor: Dr Tadeus Skorupski
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Department of the Study of Religions

Not two, not one the resolve of the Tantric equivoque

Discuss the polarity symbolism placing emphasis on the yab yum

Tantric leitmotif

The investigation of the elaborate polarity symbolism in Tantra is not

without difficulties, as it implies an extremely detailed dialectical approach
and ability to escape the conventional absolutist clichs which gravitate
around it. The multifold esoteric symbolism, philosophy and linguistic
complexion of the contents of Tantra could not, but be investigated within
the comparative field of both Hindu and Buddhist ideology. This paper
aims to surface the views on the polarity motif, by discussing and
integrating the fundamentals of the both Indian and Tibetan doctrinarian,
aesthetic and spiritual Tantric narrative. For this reason, the themes

and symbols of Tibetan Tantra are placed in the context of earlier Indian
tradition. The inspiration of this essay arouse from the encounter with the
symbol of yab-yum, which personifies in Tibetan Buddhism the spiritual
process of surrendering the dualistic concepts and realizing the pristine
awareness. It represents a powerful and fertile symbol to be realized
personally by every Tantric practitioner. Furthermore, this essay presumes
familiarity with the basic symbolism and the ontological concepts
assigned to them by both Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism while aware
that the deepest understandings of Tantras secret language (Skt.
Sandha-bhasa, Tib. Gongpe-ke) demand to be interpreted through the
initiation and oral instruction of a qualified Tantric medium.
A philosophical doctrine common to both Hindu and Buddhist Tantra is
that of the archetypal universal-model

which describes reality as one,

but is to be grasped through a process of conceptual and intuitive

polarization.

The poles are represented as active and passive and the

universe being in motion through their interaction. When the state of

absolute oneness and quintessence is being realized through the mingling
of the two poles, the universe ceases its travail. Doctrinally, in both
traditions, the polarities are merged through the repeated declaration of
their fundamental oneness and experientially, through the Tantrics
relieving of this merger through his integrating sadhana or spiritual
discipline. 3 However the discrepancies between the two traditions reveal
themselves when one ascertains that the specific ascriptions to the two
poles are in antithesis.
The Buddhist assigned the male apparatus to the kinetic and the
dynamic principle and the female role to the passive and the knowledge
principle, whereas the Hindus proceeded conversely. It is not yet decided
among the scholars whether the Buddhists selection of the ascriptions
was intentional or unconscious. However, it would seem a naive rationale
to presume the arbitrary in such a complex esoteric tradition, considering
the advanced philosophical theories, the complex and detailed rhetorical
and aesthetic tradition of Indic influence.
2

------------------------------------------1. The Tantric Tradition, Agehananda Bharati, Rider Books, 1998, p. 18

2. Ibid1 , p.19
3. Tantra Yoga, Nik Douglas, Munshiram Monoharlal, New Dehl,1971, p. 51

The cult for the sovereign feminine principle, of the Mother Goddess could
be traced in the proto-Indian cults, specifically in the Mohenjo-Daro Indus
civilisation where evidence of Yoni worship was preeminent.

The Mother

Goddess remained in its primitive form and was developed in the Sakta
and Saivite cults only after the Aryan invasion. The powerful magna mater
ritual and worship, autochthonous in pre-Aryan culture was modified and
enunciated in a different manner once the Vedic notions of male
supremacy infused the Indian tradition.
According to Eliade, in Hinduism, the cosmic force Sakti raised to the rank
of Divine Mother, formulating around her the religion of the Mother that
in ancient times reigned over the Aegeo-Afrasiatic territory.

The

supremacy of the mother principle embodies, as Agehananda Bharati

outlines, a speculation common to all ancient cosmosophies.

The

indigenous elements reasserted themselves in the form of Prakriti, the

repository of all actions and the worship goddess of pre-Aryan India and
its catalyzing agent, the male deity Purusha. One can also assume that
the matrifocal atmosphere in which the Indian Tantra has flourishes, such
as Bengal, Udiyanna, Orissa, was conducive to attributing the dynamics to
the female principle. The leading part played by women in religious life,
their identification with Mother Goddess, the symbolization of various
concepts and relations ascribed to women, the insistence on the cult of
sex and female organ as the sole seat of all happiness, the function of
women as priestess, the concept of the supreme being as Female
Principle,

had

been

definitely

assumed,

re-systematized

and

re-

conceptualized in the later Tantric esoteric tradition in Bhattcharyyas

opinion.

The female principle, as described by Dr. Bidyut Lata Ray, is endowed with
the ultimate creative power, and it is the very potency of the females
3

womb, the container of the ovum and of life in itself (the Rig Vedas
hiranya-garbha) that must be realized by the Tantrist.

--------------------------------------------

4. Glimpses of Tantric Studies, Edited by Dr. Bidyut Lata Ray, Prolegomenon by Dr B. L.

Roy, R.N. Bhattacharya 2006, p.3
5. Immortality and Freedom, Mircea Eliade, Princeton, 1969, p. 98
6. Ibid 1, p.19
7. Traveller in Space: gender, identity, and Tibetan Buddhism, June Campbell, Continuum
International Publishing 2002, p.47
8. Ibid4.

He further states that the Kaula vali Tantra pays maximum respect to the
female sex, to the Heart-of-the-Tantra Mother Goddess, the initiator, the
origin

of

all

transcendence,

life,
9

the

source

of

enjoyment,

the

path

towards

and furthermore, it is notable his claim that the

ferventness of female worship in Tantra, far exceeds the claims of any

womens liberation movement. The quest of the Hindu Tantrist was, as
Eliade refers to as, a religious rediscovery of the mystery of female
aspect, as for him, every woman becomes the incarnation of Sakti.
Through the recognition of what is transcendental and invulnerable in
woman, he realizes the irreducibility of the divine.

10

The gynocentrism of

ancient texts and art suggest, as Miranda Shaw emphasizes, that women
were regarded as astute and indomitable thus equal counterparts in the
path towards supreme realization.

11

You are the body of Siva with the sun and the moon as pair of breasts...O
blessed Lady, hence you reciprocally realize each other as complement
and essence, this union exists of you two experiencing supreme bliss with
equal savour (Saundaryalahari Tantra)12

Early in Buddhism two female divinities emerged, the Prajnaparamita (the

creation of metaphysics) and Tara which represented the epiphany of the
Great Goddess of aboriginal India.

13

The attributes assigned by the Indian

and Buddhist theologians are axiomatic for the investigation and

comprehending of the polarity leitmotif. They have imputed wisdom
(prajna, Tib. Shes rab) and all cognitive terms of spiritual consummation
4

to the female-static, and compassion (Karuna), method (Upaya) and the

conative terms in this universe of discourse to the Male-dynamic.
Whereas the Hindu Pandit semantically identifies the female principle as
Sakti regardless of her denominational provenance, the Tibetan Buddhist
follows a distinctive pattern when he identifies the all pervasive wisdom
with the Cosmic Mother (Tib. yum) and respectively the means (Tib.
thabs) with the Cosmic Father (Tib. yab) -or the Buddha-Sakti as the
Indologists refer to as.

14

--------------------------------------------------------

9. Ibid 4
10. Ibid 5, p. 101
11. Passionate Enlightenment: women in Tantric Buddhism, Miranda Shaw, Princeton
University Press, p. 87
12. The Tantric Way, Ajit Mookerjee and Madhu Khanna, Thames and Hudston London
1977, p.164
13. Ibid 5
14. Ibid 1. 200

Both Buddhist and Hindu visualize their respective noumena - the

nomenclature that Agehananda Bharati prefers to use in order to
discriminate from the theologically loaded term divine, which would
not be compatible to the Buddhist ontology - as non-duality (advaita in
Vedantic Hinduism and advaya in Tantric Buddhism).15 This supreme nonduality can only be expressed through engaging the diametrical polarity
terminology, as the supreme is inexpressible, non-communicable in itself
and totally transcendent.

16:

It is the dominating notion of two in one

upon which the whole complicated structure of the Tantra is reared, and
this applies to its philosophy, its theology and its practice of Yoga.

17

The

paradigm that is employed by the tantrik, which engages both the

mythological and psychological aspects to illustrate the polarity, is the
male and female in a cosmicized version as god and goddess. In the rich
sandha imagery of Buddhist Tantric texts, the dynamic part of the male
principle finds its individualized counterpart in the male lover who takes
the active part in the yogic love-act

18

in contrast with the Hindu Tantric

tradition where the role is attributed to the feminine principle.

The Tibetan fascination with the symbolized polarity is evidenced in their

yab-yum iconography, the precursors of this iconographic pattern having
been with certainty from India as erotic sculpture have been produced by
Indian artists as early as 300 AD, and one might assume even an earlier
date.

19

This idea could be supported by the historical occurrences of the

beginnings of the 6th century, when India was split into minor dynasties, as
result of the invasion of the Hephalites or the White Huns, and its borders
were courted by the rapidly expansionist Tibetans. Two Buddhist kingdoms
had been of interest for the Tibetans, as their historical recodes evidence,
respectively Harsa (Noth West India) and Pala (Bengal) which, confronted
with the imminent invasion and lacking the military power, conquered
them with the powerful and fascinating Tantric Buddhism.
---------------------------------------------15. Ibid 1, p. 201
16. Ibid 12, p. 43 citation from Hevarjratantra
17. Ibid 5, p. 97
18. Ibid 1, p. 200
19. Philosophies of India, Heinrich Robert Zimmer, Joseph Campbell, Princeton University
Press 1989, p. 217

The temple carvings prevalent in these regions, of tantric asana forms and
mithuna sculptures, the interlocking figures in sexual union representing
the antinomic

principles

must have been known to

the Tibetan

trespassers.
Beyond the influences that might have penetrated from without, the Bon
indigenous element, popular imagery and speculative mythological
dispositions blended along into the Tibetan tantric pattern.

20

It is possible,

that early Vajrayana have homogenized elements from the popular, presystemised pantheon of Indian origin (the static yum, the Cosmic Mother,
archetype cultivated with predilection in the Prajnaparamita), and the
purely Saktis from the Indian tradition, the purely dynamic female
energies ( Skt. Vajravarahi, Tib. rDo rje phag mo).

The symbols employed by the Tantric scriptural and visual representations

present a structure of signification that goes beyond the literal which is
drawn from the ordinary experiences and which are susceptible to
conventional interpretations. In Vajrayana, symbols come before the
subjective discourse the mere reflection of the objective reality- and
defies it, by revealing the subtle nature of the world

which the

psychoanalysis and arts calls it creative and unconscious. Decoding their

meanings is both an intimate experience on an inward reflective level and
an exploration of the dynamics of the world. The symbolistic of yab-yum is
meant to bridge these two worlds and awaken the personal experience
into a realm of pristine understanding.

21

The yab yum associations of a

sexual nature could not be excluded in this symbolism, as sexual Tantrism

have been practiced with predilection in both the Tibetan Tantric (rgyud)
and Indian tradition. Obviously, sexuality loses its conventional meaning,
as it represents a mental process rather than physical, which enables the
polarity once it has reached the highest level of absorption or integration
(bodhi) to be cancelled and to become sunyata (ston pa nyid;);this is the
state called mahamudra (phyag rgya chen po); the great Mudra.
--------------------------------------------------------------20. The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism: with its mystic cults, symbolism and mythology,
and in its relation to Indian Buddhism, L. A. Waddel, Asian Educational Service, 1991, p.
382
21. Dakinis warm breath: the feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism, Judith SimmerBrown, Shambhala Publications 2001, p.79
22. Ibid 19, p.213

The inseparable pair of the consorts, symbolically represented in sexual

union explicitly represent the non dual subjectivity: And not two, not one,
they represent aspects of totality that are nondual and reflective of each
23

The symbolism of the couples passionate sexual surrender denotes the

aspects of the mind which have been relinquished in their alchemical

metamorphose of the great bliss:
In Tibetan art, depictions of deities in ecstatic union refer, ultimately to
an internal alchemical process in which the bodys male and female

essences, inherited at the moment of conception, are brought into the

central channel, giving rise to the wisdom of Great Bliss 24
It is worth mentioning that tantric imagery is not an arbitrary invention
derived from artistic manipulation of symbols, but a reality which is
designed to emancipate the practitioner from the surface perceptions
during contemplation. The thangkas, quintessentially Tibetan paintings,
represent with artistic complexity in both form and composition the yabyum motif. The artists created a dramatic choreography in which the
tutelary deities are in motion and often attributed hyperbolic visual
characteristics. The nature of the composition and the tranquil mood of
situation denote the presence of religious rather than secular subjects: the
couple is often painted with unnatural complexions, embraces with
elegance and passion, the gaze expressing contentment.

25

One can notice patterns of the iconic imagery that are uniquely attributed
to the Tibetan culture (and possibly to the Nepalese tradition); the
Goddess -Tantric consort- (Tib. songyum) sitting dominantly astride in the
Gods lap seems to be a pure Tibetan conspicuous artistic feature. The
yab is depicted sitting in lotus posture (padmasana or vajrasana), where,
as Agehananda Bharati observes, no movement is possible, whereas the
posture of yum suggests intensive motion.

26

-------------------------------------------23. Ibid 21, p. 157

24. The Dalai Lamas Secret Temple, Ian A. Baker, Thames and Hudson 2000, p. 167
25. Himalayas, An Aesthetic Adventure, Pratapaditya Pal, The Art Institute of Chicago,
2003, p. 212
26. Ibid 1, p. 224

This reveals an astonishing paradox, which contrasts the doctrine itself,

that the deified wisdom (Tib. shes rab) is static and the deified method
(Tib. thabs) is dynamic. Whether it is just an artistic iconographical
convention in regards to its functional aspect, -female as active in the
yogic sexual union- , this addressed issue remains to be decided within a
broader perspective.
8

The Secret Vajrayana (Tib. Gsang war do rje thrg pa) has a long history
and social context that is worth studying before submerging in any naive
presuppositions. The philosophy underlying many of the Tantric practices
is very ambiguous with regard to women's place and role. June Campbell
argues that Tibetan Buddhism replaced much of the Mother Goddess
worship and has incorporated all the symbolism of the Lotus Goddess into
Cenrezig, as means for the tulku patrifocal system to ensure its power and
domination.

27

She further argues that although in Tibetan Tantric system

the women is transcendentalized into goddesses and dakinis with whom

the male must associate themselves in other to reach Enlightenment, the
woman either in symbolic form or real woman as tantric consort is viewed
solely as means for the practitioners to fulfil their quest. This perspective
is also shared by Herrmann-Pfandt

28

who, on the patriarchal bias in

Tibetan Buddhism states that such a convention elevates the yab to

primary status whereas his yum counterpart remains anonymous and
often diminutive. However, Vajravarahi (the wrathful form of Varjrayogini)
represents an exceptional example to the patriarchal convention of the
male deity taking precedence. She assumes a prominent place as a
central deity in yab-yum union and her male consort is neither named nor
described. The union is reversed when the ritualic circumstances demand
it, which evidence clearly that there are no prevailing fixed conventions
inherent to the yab- yum practice.
By following this rationale, it is rather evident that the already patricentric
socio-religious pattern that defined Tibet could not have been subverted
by the Indian influences.
------------------------------------------------27. Ibid 7
28. Ibid 21, p. 158

Whereas in India the Vedic male dominating sacerdotalism collided with

the native Indus matriarchal tradition and Tantric tradition emerged as a
9

doctrinal revolution of the latter in subduing the former, in Tibet, as H.

Wilhelm suggested there has existed no basis for this transference to be
incorporated in any of the socio-religious contexts. In this contextual
supposition, if the Tibetan sentiment at that time of the advent of
Buddhism was patriarchal, there was indeed no need for any such action;
the Tibetan converts to Buddhism would naturally choose those texts and
those preceptors from India which fell in line with a patriarchal trend.

29

The iconography symbolic narrative is not immune to gender subjectivity

mostly created by the cultural overlay. The Vajrayana attitude requires us
to question aspects of the intimate experience with the symbol, through
identifying its qualities rather that employing cultural presuppositions. To
a certain level, Tantrists modus operandi implies the deconstruction of
the symbol to the most personal level. From a traditional point of view, the
mother aspect yum does not employ a direct association with women or
gender, but with the power of the realization of emptiness to transform
the mundane concerns into enlightenment.

30

Issues of identity and

politics evoked from the conventional perspective are clarified once

engaged in the methodology and philosophy adopted by the Tantric path,
in which both feminine and masculine aspects are just sacred emanations
of the fundamental dynamic of phenomena. On the inner lever as Judith
Simmer-Brown asserts, the gender of the deities embodying the two
polarities are transitional, a display without any substance or weight, as
when the practitioner

arrives to a subtler level of visualization and

understanding, he trespasses the subjectifying and objectifying sexuality

or any concept of self and the other.

31

The goddess can be primarily understood within the cultures in which they
are

worshipped,

and

interestingly,

their

religious

symbolism

with

multivalent meanings they adorn, do not fall in the narrow cultural

stereotype feminine traits.
-----------------------------------------------29. Ibid 1, p. 221
30. Ibid 21, p. 88

10

31. Ibid 21, p. 79

When the yab-yum iconography is being analyzed too politically, as an

expression of male or female domination, the inner significance is lost to
cite

Kunjed

Gyalpo:In

any

possible

circumstance,

all

beings

that

transmigrate and enjoy arise solely from this state, the king of equality has
never spoken of male and female.

32

The transcendental truth is realized

by the male and the female in unio mystica as Heinrich Zimmer asserts and
the two poles represent the two aspects or functions of reality, perfectly
equal in rank. The symbol of yogic copulation reveals the dynamism of
enlightenment
incandescence.

which

returns

in

its

state

of

full

and

permanent

33

The unio oppositorum translates on the superior level of understanding the

experimental knowledge of the state of non-duality: You are not a male,
you are not a female; both female and male are visualized together

34

The

Tantric texts have produced pairs of opposites such as prajna (wisdom) and
upaya (the means to attain it ); sunyata (voidnes) and karuna (compassion)
through which the Vajracharyas attempt to unify them by applying
techniques combining subtle physiology with meditation.

35

Mircea Eliade,

in his work Yoga-Immortality and Freedom, unfolds the symbolism of

polarity as occurring in Hevajra Tantra, stating that the state of unity is
obtained by discarding the two polar contradictory notions (the samsara as
cosmic process and nvrtti, the absolute arrest of all processes) and that one
transcends the antagonism by becoming conscious that the ultimate nature
of the phenomenal world (samklesa) is identical with that of the absolute
(vyavdana). This in fact the concern of the Tantrist, is to realize the
comingling of Prajna and Upaya, which become liberation when associated
with each other,

36

like the inseparable co-existence of the lamp and the

light. Only through this direct ritualic experiencing of the yab-yum Tantric
sadhana, the practitioner acquires the subjectless subjectivity, one which is
purified from the minds dualistic tendencies.

11

37

-----------------------------------------------------

32. The Supreme Source, The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde, Chogyal
Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, Snow Lion Publications 1999, p. 119
33. Ibid 19, p. 218
34. Ibid. 21, p. 160
35. Ibid 1, p. 200
36. Ibid 5
37 Ibid 21, p. 150

The unity of the relative and absolute aspects of reality expresses the
Tantric vision which sees beyond the apparent dualism of flesh and spirit,
sacred and profane. In Tantrism, the enlightenment continuum is present
but largely unrecognized, and the practice of yab-yum represents a radical
visionary method in which the blissful union is enacted, to induce and lead
the practitioner into the present, cognizant, empty, naked and awake
awareness.

38

Seek out a qualified consort and the secret of the dakinis,

The wisdom of bliss and emptiness will arise within...
Free of dualistic grasping, reverse the flow of the descending nectar and
diffuse it through the body...
Bliss spreads through the four chakras and the three channels..
Revealing the inseparability of joy and pure potential..
Applied well, you will attain Buddhahood in this very life.
Song of Mahamudra Mahassidha Tilopa instructions to Naropa on the
bank of Ganges

39

------------------------------------------------12

38. Ibid 24, p. 55

39. The myths of freedom and the way of meditation, Chogyam Trungpa, Berkeley and
London: Shambhala 1976, p.163

13