Essence of Vajrayana. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

      Generating the Mandala and Deities of the Body Mandala

      Generating the mandala and Deities of the body mandala has two parts:

      1 A preliminary explanation

      2 The explanation of the actual practice

      A PRELIMINARY EXPLANATION

      In general, ‘mandala’ means ‘celestial mansion’, but it sometimes also refers to the assembly of Deities, who are known as the ‘supported mandala’. When we visualize and meditate on a mandala and Deities in front of us we are accomplishing the in-front-generation; and when we generate and meditate on ourself as the Deity and our environment as the Deity’s environment we are accomplishing the self-generation.

      In general, a ritual that is a method for accomplishing either the in-front-generation or the self-generation is called a ‘sadhana’ (Tib. drub thab), which literally means ‘method for attainment’. There are many different Tantric sadhanas. Those that contain body mandala practices are more profound than those that do not, and among those that contain body mandala practices it is said that the body mandala practice of Heruka Father and Mother is the most profound. As Je Tsongkhapa says in his commentary to the Heruka sadhana (Tib. Dö jo), the profound realizations of completion stage depend upon the channels and drops being blessed by the Heroes and Heroines. Whereas in other body mandala practices it is the gross parts of our body that are generated as Deities, in the practice of Heruka body mandala the channels and drops are generated as Deities. In this way our channels and drops directly receive the blessings of the Heroes and Heroines. Therefore, the practice of Heruka body mandala is most important. The way of meditating on this practice and reciting the mantras is also very special.

      Accomplishing the supporting mandala and the supported Deities of Heruka body mandala is the main practice of the instructions in this book. In general, there are four different ways of accomplishing a mandala:

      (1) Simply through concentration

      (2) In dependence upon a line drawing or painting as its basis of accomplishment

      (3) In dependence upon a sand drawing as its basis of accomplishment

      (4) In dependence upon the parts of a person’s body as its basis of accomplishment

      The Heruka body mandala is accomplished using the fourth method. We first need to generate the basis for accomplishing the body mandala, which we do by generating ourself as Heruka as described above. This Heruka is called ‘basis Heruka’ because the gross and subtle parts of his body are the basis for accomplishing the mandala and Deities of the body mandala. However, because basis Heruka is generated simply through the concentration of bringing the three bodies into the path it does not have a specific visual basis for accomplishing it.

      What is a body mandala? A body mandala is an actual or imagined celestial mansion or assembly of Deities that is accomplished on the basis of the parts of a person’s body. The parts of the body are generated as the celestial mansion or assembly of Deities. An actual body mandala is a celestial mansion or assembly of Deities that is the nature of the parts of the purified body of a Deity, or Tantric enlightened being.