Hevajra in Gelug?

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Pema Tingdron
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Hevajra in Gelug?

Post by Pema Tingdron »

I have wondered for a long time, what happened to the Hevajra lineage in Gelug? Does it still exist and continue to be practiced? Or did the Gelug lineage expire -- and if so, when?

I've read that Je Tsongkhapa instructed his students on the Hevajra Tantra, and to this day Hevajra is included on the highest level for yidams of the Gelug Refuge Tree (Lama Choepa Tsokshing) along with Vajrabhairava, Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara. But the other three yidams are considered central to Gelug, while Hevajra is not.
jmlee369
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Re: Hevajra in Gelug?

Post by jmlee369 »

Pema Tingdron wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 5:27 am I have wondered for a long time, what happened to the Hevajra lineage in Gelug? Does it still exist and continue to be practiced? Or did the Gelug lineage expire -- and if so, when?

I've read that Je Tsongkhapa instructed his students on the Hevajra Tantra, and to this day Hevajra is included on the highest level for yidams of the Gelug Refuge Tree (Lama Choepa Tsokshing) along with Vajrabhairava, Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara. But the other three yidams are considered central to Gelug, while Hevajra is not.
Hevajra is still transmitted and practiced in Gelug, but since the combined practice of the three yidams relies on Chakrasamvara as the principal mother tantra, Hevajra which is the other major mother tantra is not so emphasised.

In terms of the merit field, Hevajra can be substituted with the mandala of the 16 drops of Kadam for practitioners who have received it, perhaps another indication of Hevajra's relative position in the lineage.
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Pema Tingdron
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Re: Hevajra in Gelug?

Post by Pema Tingdron »

Thank you very much for the kind explanation!
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conebeckham
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Re: Hevajra in Gelug?

Post by conebeckham »

It's also helpful to understand the difference between a Tantra and the mode or lineage of Explication (Shay Gyu) vs, the mode of practice (Drup Gyu).

Hevajra is central to the Sarma lineages, in all schools, as a a Tantra, and the topics covered in the Two Chapter Tantra, especially, apply to practice in general, and especially for practices stressing "Mother Tantra" methods.

Much of what is found in Hevajra Tantras is applied to Chakrsamvara practice in most lineages. And vice versa.

As a "development stage" practice it's the Sakyapas who are experts. some Kagyupas practice Hevajra as a yidam, but the lineage coming down from Marpa to Mila stressed Samvara-related development stages.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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Pema Tingdron
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Re: Hevajra in Gelug?

Post by Pema Tingdron »

conebeckham wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 5:30 pm It's also helpful to understand the difference between a Tantra and the mode or lineage of Explication (Shay Gyu) vs, the mode of practice (Drup Gyu).

Hevajra is central to the Sarma lineages, in all schools, as a a Tantra, and the topics covered in the Two Chapter Tantra, especially, apply to practice in general, and especially for practices stressing "Mother Tantra" methods.

Much of what is found in Hevajra Tantras is applied to Chakrsamvara practice in most lineages. And vice versa.

As a "development stage" practice it's the Sakyapas who are experts. some Kagyupas practice Hevajra as a yidam, but the lineage coming down from Marpa to Mila stressed Samvara-related development stages.
conebeckham, I'm sorry I didn't respond to this earlier! I really appreciate your making this threefold distinction and explaining it so well. It's most helpful. Thank you.
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