Hevajra


Hevajra is one of the main yidams in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā.

History

India

The Hevajra Tantra, a yoginītantra of the anuttarayogatantra class, is believed to have originated between the late 8th, and the late 9th or early 10th, centuries in eastern India, possibly Kamarupa. Tāranātha lists Saroruha and Kampala as its "bringers":
... the foremost yogi Virupa meditated on the path of Yamāri and attained siddhi under the blessings of Vajravārāhi,... His disciple Dombi Heruka..understood the essence of the Hevajra Tantra, and composed many śāstras like the Nairātmā-devi-sādhana and the Sahaja-siddhi. He also conferred abhiṣeka on his own disciples. After this, two ācāryas Lva-va-pā and Saroruha brought the Hevajra Tantra.... Siddha Saroruha was the first to bring the Hevajra-pitṛ-sādhana

Another lineage, mentioned by Jamgon Kongtrul, goes from Vilāśyavajra to Anangavajra to Saroruha, and thence to Indrabhuti.
Jamgon Amyeshab, the 28th throne-holder of Sakya, considers the Hevajra Tantra to have been revealed to Virupa by the Nirmanakaya Vajranairatma; it is considered by him also to have been revealed by Nirmanakaya Vajranairatma to Dombhi Heruka, Virupa's senior disciple, from whom the main Sakya exegetical lineage of the Hevajra Tantra descends.
The Yogaratnamālā, arguably the most important of the commentaries on the Hevajra Tantra, was written by one Kṛṣṇa or Kāṇha, who taught Bhadrapada, another commentator, who in turn taught Tilopa, the teacher of Nāropa, who himself wrote a commentary; he, in turn, passed on his knowledge of this tantra to Marpa, who also taught in his native Tibet. Marpa also received instruction in the Hevajra Tantra from Maitrīpa, alias Advayavajra, who was banished from Vikramashila for practicing with a yoginī during the time of Atīśa's abbacy.
Kanha was one of the authors of Charyapada.

Tibet

Some time in the early 11th century, Drogmi Lotsawa Shākya Yeshe journeyed from Drompa-gyang in Lhatsé to Nepal and India, including Vikramashila, where he received instruction in the Hevajra Tantra from Śānti-pa, and later to Bengal, where he encountered Prajñedraruci who instructed him in the "rootless Margapala" that is particularly concerned with the Hevajra Tantra and its commentaries. Drakpa Gyeltsen writes in his Chronicle of the Indic Masters:
Now Lachen first went to Nepal and entered into the door of mantra through Bhāro Ham-thung. Then he went to India itself and, realizing that the Āchārya Ratnākaraśānti was both greatly renowned and learned, he heard extensively the Vinaya, Prajñapāramitā, and mantra. Then having gone to the eastern part of India, he encountered Bhikṣu Vīravajra, who was the greatest direct disciple of Durjayachandra, who himself had held the lineage of Āchārya Virūpa's own disciple, Ḍombiheruka. From Bhikṣu Vīravajra he heard extensively the mantra material of the three tantras of Hevajra, complete in all their branches. He also requested the many instruction manuals of Acintyakrama and so forth, so that he heard the "Lamdré without the fundamental text" as well. In this way, Drokmi lived in India for twelve years and became a great translator.

After twelve years—probably by 1030—he returned to central Tibet, translated the Hevajra Tantra into Tibetan, and taught, among others, Dkon mchog ryal po, who founded the Sa-skya Monastery in 1073 AD. This was the beginning of the close relationship between the Sakya Order and the Hevajra Tantra.
In the Blue Annals, Gos lotsawa suggests that both the Hevajra and the Kalachakra Tantras are commentaries on, or introductions to, the Guhyasamāja.

Elsewhere

China

The Chinese version of the Hevajra Tantra was translated by Fa-hu at the Institute for Canonical Translations in the capital of the Northern Sung, Bian liang, present day Kaifeng in Henan province. The five-volume translation was presented to Emperor Renzong at the end of Zhi he 1 . However, the Hevajra Tantra did not become popular in China. The title of the Chinese version reads "The Scriptural Text of the Ritual of The Great King of the Teaching The Adamantine One with Great Compassion and Knowledge of the Void explained by the Buddha." The preface reads:
From among the 32 sections of the general tantra of Mahāmāyā one has taken 2 rituals with Nairātmyā. Dharmapāla, Great Master who transmits Sanskrit, thoroughly illuminated and enlightened with Compassion, Probationary Senior Lord of Imperial Banquets, Grandee of Imperial Banquets with the Honour of Silver and Blue, Tripiṭaka from India in the West during the Sung, received the honour of translating it by Imperial Mandate.

Cambodia

Surviving images indicate that the Hevajra Tantra was present in Cambodia during the Khmer Empire and its practice thrived in Cambodia from the 10th to 13th centuries.

Mongolia

In 1244 the grandson of Genghis Khan, Prince Godan, invited Sakya Pandita to Mongolia and was initiated by him into the Hevajra teachings. In 1253 Kublai Khan invited Sakya Pandita's nephew Chogyal Phagpa to court. As a result, Buddhism was declared the state religion and Phagpa was given authority over three of Tibet's provinces.

The West

The Hevajra Tantra became the first major Buddhist Tantra to be translated in its entirety into a Western language when David Snellgrove published his The Hevajra Tantra: A Critical Study in 1959. This work is in two volumes, the first volume containing his introduction including an "apology" explaining why such a text is worthy of study. Writing in 1959 he was able to say, "There is still a tendency to regard them as something corrupt, as belonging to the twilight of Buddhism." The second volume contains his editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts as well as a Sanskrit text of the Yogaratnamālā. Another translation appeared in 1992 as The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra-tantra. by G.W. Farrow and I. Menon. This version contains the Sanskrit text and English translation of the tantra as well as a complete English translation of the Yogaratnamālā. An English translation from Fa-hu's Chinese version was made by Charles Willemen in 1983 and published as "The Chinese Hevajratantra". In 2008 the German scholar Jan-Ulrich Sobisch published a detailed literary history of Indian and Tibetan writings on Hevajra as it was seen through the eyes of A-mes-zhabs, a 17th-century master of the Sa-skya-pa tradition.

Text

Originally written in mixed-quality Sanskrit, the present 750-verse text is reported to be but an excerpt or summary of a much larger, original text of up to 500,000 ślokas in 32 sections. Many Buddhist texts claim to be condensations of much larger missing originals, with most of the alleged originals either never having been found, or perhaps conceived of as "virtual" texts that exist permanently in some disembodied way. However, the existence of the 100,000 verse Prajnaparamita Sutra shows that works of such proportions were actually produced.
The Hevajra Tantra has some material in common with other sources: II iii 29 of the Hevajra Tantra is the same as XVI 59c-60b of the Guhyasamaja Tantra, and an Apabhraṃśa couplet at II v 67 of the Hevajra Tantra appears in one of Saraha's songs. In the case of the Guhyasamaja, it is safe to assume that the Hevajra version is later, but the case is not as clear cut with the Saraha quote, since the relative dates are harder to establish with any certainty.

Root Tantra

Dvātriṃśatkalpoddhṛtaḥ kalpadvayātmako śrīhevajraḍākinījālasamvaramahātantrarājā
Tibetan:
  • kye'i rdo rje zhes bya ba rgyud kyi rgyal po - Narthang Kangyur, snar thang 369, vol. 80, rgyud 306b-351b
  • *colophon: rgyud kyi rgyal po sgyu ma'i brtag pa zhes bya ba brtag pa sum cu rtsa gnyis las phyung ba brtag pa gnyis kyi bdag nyid kye'i rdo rje mkha' 'gro ma dra ba'i sdom pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po rdzogs so/ /rgya gar gyi mkhan po ga ya d+ha ra'i zhal snga nas dang/ bod kyi lo ts+tsha ba dge slong shAkya ye shes kyis bsgyur cing zhus te gtan la phab pa/
  • *Edition: Snellgrove
  • kye'i rdo rje zhes bya ba rgyud kyi rgyal po Tōh. 417, sDe-dge Kangyur rgyud 'bum vol. nga, 1b-13b
  • *colophon: kye'i rdo rje mkha' 'gro ma dra ba'i sdom pa las rdo rje snying po mngon par byang chub zhes bya ba brtag pa'i rgyal po rdzogs so
  • kye'i rdo rje zhes bya ba rgyud kyi rgyal po Urga Kangyur, urga 418, vol.79, rgyud, 1r-30r
  • *colophon: rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po sgyu ma'i brtag pa zhes bya ba brtag pa sum cu rtsa gnyis las phyung pa brtag pa gnyis kyi bdag nyid kye'i rdo rje mkha' 'gro ma dra ba'i sdom pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po rdzogs so/ /rgya gar gyi mkhan po ga ya d+ha ra'i zhal snga nas bod kyi lo ts+tsha ba dge slong shAkya ye shes kyis bsgyur cing zhus te gtan la phab pa/slar yang lo ts+tsha ba gzhon nu dpal gyis 'gyur chad bsabs shing dag par bgyis pa'o/
  • kye'i rdo rje zhes bya ba rgyud kyi rgyal po Stog Palace Kangyur, stog 379, Volume 94, rgyud bum, 107r-148v
  • *colophon: rgyud kyi rgyal po sgyu ma'i brtag pa zhes bya ba brtag pa sum cu rtsa gnyis las phyung ba brtag pa gnyis kyi bdag nyid kye'i rdo rje mkha' 'gro ma dra ba'i sdom pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po rdzogs so/ /rgya gar gyi mkhan po ga ya d+ha ra'i zhal snga nas dang/ bod kyi lo tsa ba dge slong shAkya ye shes kyis bsgyur cing zhus te gtan la phab pa
  • kye'i rdo rje zhes bya ba rgyud kyi rgyal po Lhasa Kangyur, lhasa 380, volume 79, rgyud, 672-761
  • *colophon: rgyud kyi rgyal po sgyu ma'i brtag pa zhes bya ba brtag pa sum cu rtsa gnyis las phyung ba brtag pa gnyis kyi bdag nyid kye'i rdo rje mkha' 'gro ma dra ba'i sdom pa'i rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po rdzogs so/ /rgya gar gyi mkhan po ga ya d+ha ra'i zhal snga nas bod kyi lo ts+tsha ba dge slong shAkya ye shes kyis bsgyur cing zhus te gtan la phab pa