emptybill: > It's a mental midget's attempt to define > the "real" nature of mantra, Mahayana, > meditation, transcending, and "reality > itself"... > So, where does the tradition of meditation on 'bija' mantras come from?
We know that 'mantras' are used in the Vedas, but there are no bija mantras in the Rig Veda or in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras or in the writings of Shankaracharya. So, the tradition of meditating on bija mantras must have come later, perhaps during the Gupta age of Indian tantrism, and the period of the Nath siddhas. Apparently the practice of 'mantrayana' was introduced into Tibet by Shenrab, who came over from the Swat Valley almost 100 years before the arrival of Guru Padmasambhava in Tibet. In a strange 'reverse Tibet' effect, the Mantrayana Buddhism that Shenrab established in Shang Shung came to be called 'Bon', while the same practice established by Guru Rinpoche came to called 'Chos'. Go figure. According to Snellgrove, the siddha Naropa journeyed to Kashmir in order to obtain the bija mantras from Tilopa. So, from the Swat Valley and Kashmir we get the bija mantras via the Nath Siddhas, to the Indian and Buddhist Tantric Tradition, and thus, according to White and Brooks, to the Sri Vidya sect down in Karnataka, of which SBS was an initiate member. So, now it has been established where the 'TM' bija mantras came from, since these same bijas are enumerated in Shankara's Shakti work, the Saundarylahari. Not for nothing do we find the TM bijas inscribed on the Sri Yantra which was placed on the mandir at Sringeri by the Adi Shankaracharya himself. Correct me if I am mistaken about this, Bill. Works cited: 'Indo-Tibetan Buddhism' Indian Buddhists & Their Tibetan Successors By David Snellgrove Shambhala, 2003 'The Secret of the Three Cities' An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism by Douglas Renfrew Brooks University Of Chicago Press, 1998 'The Alchemical Body' Siddha Traditions in Medieval India David Gordon White University Of Chicago Press, 1998 Read more: Subject: Its Not What You Think! Author: Willytex Newsgroups: alt.meditation.transcendental, alt.yoga, alt.meditation Date: August 26, 2003 http://tinyurl.com/n4xa63
