tantric texts

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Johnny Dangerous
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tantric texts

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

Hi, can someone name some tantric texts which are considered most important, and possibly places where they might be available for reading? My google fu is turning up nothing very useful.
Meditate upon Bodhicitta when afflicted by disease

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when sad

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when suffering occurs

Meditate upon Bodhicitta when you are scared

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conebeckham
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Re: tantric texts

Post by conebeckham »

Guhyagarbha Tantra, for Nyingma Mahayoga. The Supreme Source, for Atiyoga. Hevajra Tantra, for Sarma -esp. Sakya and Kagyu. Guhyasamaja Tantra. Chakrasamvara Tantra.

All these are available in English translations--some better, some worse. But be aware that without good "explication," many of these are liable to be just....confounding. Or even distressing!
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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kirtu
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Re: tantric texts

Post by kirtu »

conebeckham wrote:Guhyagarbha Tantra, for Nyingma Mahayoga. The Supreme Source, for Atiyoga. Hevajra Tantra, for Sarma -esp. Sakya and Kagyu. Guhyasamaja Tantra. Chakrasamvara Tantra.

All these are available in English translations--some better, some worse. But be aware that without good "explication," many of these are liable to be just....confounding. Or even distressing!
Hevajra: Sakya - that's true doctrinally (and Kagyu too of course) - I'm not sure that I'd agree that the Hevajra Tantra has much value to a person beginning to read tantra though as it looks like a set of magic spells for the most part.

Cone, do you know there progression of tantra study in Kagyu?

Kirt
Last edited by kirtu on Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
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conebeckham
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Re: tantric texts

Post by conebeckham »

In Kagyu, actually, retreat and practice is primary, and it's often the case that study of the Tantras themselves comes after retreat. Or, in Shedra. Some Shedra students go on to do retreat afterwards.

In general, Kagyu Tantra study subjects are the "Two Chapters" (Hevajra-Tantra) and Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's "Zabmo Nangdon" (Profound Inner Meaning). Those are the main texts studied that could be classified as "tantra material." Kalachakra Tantra is especially valued, and is the source of a great deal of Rangjung Dorje's treatise, as well.

Also, in general, reading any Tantra--Samvara, Hevajra, etc., would appear "like magic spells" or other strange ritualistic things without explanation, I agree.
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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kirtu
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Re: tantric texts

Post by kirtu »

conebeckham wrote: In general, Kagyu Tantra study subjects are the "Two Chapters" (Hevajra-Tantra) and Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's "Zabmo Nangdon" (Profound Inner Meaning). Those are the main texts studied that could be classified as "tantra material." Kalachakra Tantra is especially valued, and is the source of a great deal of Rangjung Dorje's treatise, as well.
But these are all commentaries aren't they ("Two Chapters" and the Vimalaphrabha (technically) - unless the "Two Chapters" is actually from a version of the Hevajra Tantra)?
Also, in general, reading any Tantra--Samvara, Hevajra, etc., would appear "like magic spells" or other strange ritualistic things without explanation, I agree.
There was an attempt to put chapters of a version of the Hevajra Tantra online - they ended up with a couple of chapters - in the first chapter they spoke about womb birth of a deity, etc. and I found that very helpful as an exposure but esp. after HHST pretty much outlined that as well during a teaching.

I'm thinking of some easier to approach tantra that technically anyone with a HYT empowerment can read. It seems the Practice Manual of Kurukule at 84000.co probably fits this.

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
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conebeckham
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Re: tantric texts

Post by conebeckham »

I believe it's the "Hevajra Tantra in Two Chapters" that is the main Hevajra Tantra Kagyupas study, along with Kongtrul's commentary. Zabmo Nangdon is not the Vimalaprabha, though it refers to that text...but also to the extant Kalachakratantra...itself.
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")
plwk
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Re: tantric texts

Post by plwk »

1 2 3
Greg
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Re: tantric texts

Post by Greg »

plwk wrote:1 2 3
Your link #2 is just wikipedia content some scumbag is trying to sell for $51.
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