Kulayarāja Tantra


The Kulayarāja Tantra is a Buddhist Tantra in the Tibetan language and the principal Mind Series text of the Dzogchen tradition of the Nyingma school. The Kunjed Gyalpo contains within it smaller Dzogchen texts such as the Cuckoo of Rigpa which appears in the thirty first chapter, as such it appears to be a sort of compilation of earlier Dzogchen literature .
The Kunjed Gyalpo is the main tantra of the early Great Perfection tradition during the "Era of Fragmentation" period. As such, it is a key source for the early teachings of Dzogchen, before the developments of the Tibetan renaissance period transformed Dzogchen into its later forms, mainly the Menngagde systems.
The Kunjed Gyalpo is framed as a teaching by the first Buddha, Samantabhadra to Vajrasattva. Samantabhadra is presented as the personification of bodhicitta, the Awakened Mind, the "mind of perfect purity" or "pure perfect presence". The colophon of the text mentions that it was explained by the Indian Śrī Siṃha and translated by Vairotsana.

Name and structure

The full title of the original work in Sanskrit is the Sarvadharma Mahasandhi Bodhichitta Kulayarāja Tantra or alternately Sarvadharma Mahāshānti Bodhicitta Kulayarāja Tantra, where mahāsandhi" is replaced with "mahāshānti". In Tibetan it is Chö Tamched Dzogpa Chenpo Changchub Kyi Sem Kunjed Gyalpo. This can be translated "The All-Creating King of Awakened Mind, the Great Perfection of all Things."
According to Namkhai Norbu, Sarvadharma "indicates the totality of phenomena of existence" while Mahasandhi "means that everything is perfect or complete, nothing is lacking." He further states:
Regarding Kulayaraja or Kunjed Gyalpo, Norbu comments:
According to Norbu and Clemente, the text contains 84 chapters divided into three main sections, Longchenpa divided these into the sections shown below:The Root Tantra, associated with the wisdom derived from listening. It is meant for practitioners of the highest capacity who attain self-liberation immediately on listening and perceiving the true nature of mind.
  • * Ten Chapters on Primordial Manifestation which according to Longchenpa "demonstrate the true condition of the totality of existence in the same way that sight is restored to a blind man."
  • * Ten Chapters that Disclose the True Nature which according to Longchenpa "demonstrate the perfect condition of the nature of mind as it is, using logical reasoning, examples, and meanings in the same way that a truthful person relates the contents of a letter."
  • * Ten Chapters Beyond Cause and Effect which according to Longchenpa "demonstrate that the nature of mind cannot be altered, achieved, or eliminated; it is just like celestial space."
  • * Ten Chapters on Perfection Beyond Action which according to Longchenpa "demonstrate that the qualities of self-arising wisdom, that is, of the nature of mind, are already naturally present and self-perfected and that there is no need to seek them. Simply abiding in the state of total relaxation, effortlessly, and without correction or alteration, one achieves realization. Thus, can be compared to the wish-fulfilling jewel."
  • * Ten Chapters that Establish Knowledge which according to Longchenpa "smash the huge rocks of erroneous views of the lower vehicles, and at the same time they illuminate the true meaning of the natural state, thus they can be compared to a diamond or to the splendor of the sun."
  • * Three Chapters that Summarize the Essence
  • * The four chapters that concisely explain the meaning of the wordsThe Further Tantra, associated with the wisdom derived from reflection. It is meant for practitioners of average capacity who need to reflect. It contains various chapters on understanding the true meaning of the ten natures.The Final Tantra, associated with the wisdom derived from meditation. It is meant for practitioners of lower capacity who need to meditate. It contains the teachings on meditation on the true meaning of the ten natures.

Main themes

According to the Tibetologist David Germano, the Kunjed Gyalpo "is the main canonical work of the Great Perfection as it emerges from the "dark period" into the light of the economic and religious transformations of the eleventh century. While the dark period was marked by economic depression, political decentralization, and a paucity of historical records, it was thus also apparently the site of these non-institutionalized developments of early Vajrayana movements that resulted in the gradual articulation of a self-conscious Great Perfection movement in Tibet, as well as the more graphically tantric Mahayoga systems."

Atiyoga and the nine vehicles

This text also states that there are ultimately nine vehicles to liberation, all of which arise from the same primordial state or supreme source. Liberation is when a being recognizes their own bodhicitta or mind of perfect purity. The nine vehicles are "the three sutric vehicles of the sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas; the three outer tantric vehicles, kriya, ubhaya, and yoga ; and the three inner tantric vehicles, mahayoga, anuyoga, and atiyoga." The highest and supreme vehicle to liberation is Atiyoga, which is an "effortless path of the recognition of pure non-dual presence" that is unencumbered by the elements of the other lower vehicles.
The core of the Dzogchen view is based on the definitive view of self-perfection, which holds that "the fruit of enlightenment is already perfected and is not something to construct through effort because it has existed from the very beginning." All the other vehicles are said to work with the provisional teaching related to cause and effect and thus they do not understand the true meaning.
Nevertheless, it is stated in chapter 10 that a Dzogchen practitioner must be aware of all the teachings of the lower vehicles and know how to use them. This is because, as Norbu states, "any method can prove useful as long as it is practiced in the spirit of Dzogchen." Also, according to Norbu, even though the meditations of the lower vehicles remain at the dualistic level, "by means of these methods we can gradually attain the state beyond dualism."
Furthermore, according to the Kunjed Gyalpo, the Atiyoga/Dzogchen vehicle is different than tantric vehicles because while tantric practice is based on ten fundamental points, called the "ten natures of Tantra", Dzogchen instead is based "ten absences" :
  1. There is no view on which one has to meditate.
  2. There is no commitment, or samaya, one has to keep.
  3. There is no capacity for spiritual action one has to seek.
  4. There is no mandala one has to create.
  5. There is no initiation one has to receive.
  6. There is no path one has to tread.
  7. There are no levels of realization one has to achieve through purification.
  8. There is no conduct one has to adopt, or abandon.
  9. From the beginning, self-arising wisdom has been free of obstacles.
  10. Self-perfection is beyond hope and fear.
These ten points are a key topic of this tantra, and are "repeated and explained from various angles in different parts of the book and constitute the fundamental feature that distinguishes Dzogchen from the other paths of realization, which are all, to a greater or lesser degree, bound to the notion of cause and effect." According to Namkhai Norbu, these ten classic points of tantra are absent in Dzogchen because "they are ways of correcting or altering the true nature of the individual, but in reality there is nothing to change or to improve, all that is necessary is to discover the real condition and to remain relaxed in that state."
When the topics of tantra are taken up, they are re-interpreted from the perspective of Dzogchen. For example, the teacher or guru in Dzogchen ultimately refers to what manifests from within our real condition and not to someone outside of oneself. Likewise, samaya in Dzogchen does not refer to any particular rules one has to observe, rather it is "when, in daily life, one remains in the natural state, abiding in awareness and presence."

Meditation

As noted by Sam van Schaik, in the Kunjed Gyalpo "one finds a rejection of the elaborate imagery and practices" of the Mahayoga tantras. Namkhai Norbu explains how Dzogchen, being its own vehicle, does not rely on the means of the path of transformation :
Chapter 29 of the Kunjed Gyalpo contains an important series of verses on the practice of tregchod: "Do not correct your body, Do not meditate on the deity, Do not correct your voice, Do not concentrate or visualize, Do not correct the mind." This refers to not adopting any specific posture, not to visualize a deity, recite mantras or practice breath exercises, and not to focus the mind on anything in particular. Instead, the Kunjed Gyalpo states: "You need only discover what is, without correcting or seeking to construct something new. Unless you attain knowledge of the authentic condition you will never liberate yourself."
Chapter 31 contains the six vajra verses of the Cuckoo of Rigpa, which encapsulates the Dzogchen perspective on meditation as follows:

Commentaries

Longchenpa wrote a commentary on this tantra entitled: The Jewel Ship: A Guide to the Meaning of the Supreme Ordering Principle in the Universe, the State of Pure and Total Presence ''. This was translated into English by Lipman & Peterson in "You Are the Eyes of the World".
According to David Germano, Longchenpa outlines the following contemplative system in his commentary on the Kunjed Gyalpo:
Khenpo Thubten Pema Rabgye wrote a longer commentary, the Ornament of the State of Samantabhadra: Commentary on The All-Creating King, Pure Perfect Presence, Great Perfection of All Phenomena. It has been translated by Jim Valby in six volumes.
The modern Dzogchen teacher Chogyal Namkhai Norbu has given an oral commentary, which can be found in The Supreme Source, The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde, Kunjed Gyalpo.