Tantric Ritual Instruments

The Dorje, a Dzogchen Perspective

By Kunzang Shenpen

The symbolic implements of Tantric Buddhism, like most
spiritual and religious symbols, are dharma gates, doorways into
the teachings, methods by which the interdependence of human
beings with the infinite can be directly apprehended. One of the
central symbols of Tantric Buddhism is the dorje, or vajra, a
symbol so important that Tantric Buddhism is known as the
Varjrayana, the third vehicle or Way of Buddhism, the Diamond
Path. Originating as Indra's thunderbolt, in Tibetan Buddhism the
dorje refers to the dianmond-like clarity of the awakened mind,
and contains the core teachings of Tantra. This system, it is
said, was given to Shakyamuni Buddha while in his dharmakaya
(or True Buddha Nature) state and later taught by the dakinis, the
female elemental forces that manifest the phenomenal universe, to
Padmasambhava, the Buddha who is generally recognized to have
converted the Tibetans to Buddhism.

The dorje is a deceptively simple, bilaterally symmetrical,
device composed of two bulbous shapes and a central sphere.  In
ritual the dorje is carried in one hand and symbolizes "yab", the
father, while the drilbu, or bell, is carried in the other and
symbolizes "yum", the mother. Tantrayana's core teaching is that
apprehension of Pure Mind, of the nature of true reality, is
possible only through the unification and transcendence of the
male and female principle, the original duality. Eventually all
the art, rituals, sexual practices, meditations, sutras, and
commentaries on the sutras, all the gorgeous panoply and
magnificence of Tantric Buddhism return to this simple argument,
that True Nature is hidden by dualistic thought. Dzogchen, the
most sophisticated flowering of Padmasambhava's teachings,
names the dualistic, "ordinary"mind "sem", Pure Mind "rigpa". The
two terms have associations with samsara (the phenomenal universe),
and nirvana, and also with form and emptiness. All these
associations are accessible through meditating on the dorje, a
magickal instrument that refers to the skillful and dynamic
process through which the enlightened mind cuts through the
mental fog of delusion. Fundamental to Dzogchen is the assertion
that purity of mind is always present, that sem is a mirror for
rigpa, that human life is an exquisitely precise environment for
realizing Pure Mind.

The dorje, like many of humanity's great symbols, can be
approached at whatever level the practitioner finds useful, and
is considered to be a "terma", a hidden teaching. It is hidden
because its  meaning is only fully available to the awakened
mind, but it is itself a tool to awaken mind. Beyond a general
idea of its symbolism it is not essential that each of its
elements be understood intellectually. Each of us can, through
observation of the dorje in meditation, in the space between
thoughts, in what Dzochen calls the View, realize its vast
significance.

The dorje is a template for the process by which the phenomenal
universe is manifested.  Dorjes vary in the number of prongs but
generally the top and the bottom bulbs of the dorje have five
prongs, one in the center and four on the outside.  The central
prong of one of the bulbs is flared. This is the top bulb of the
dorje and the five prongs refer to the Five Transcendent Buddhas,
who stand outside the phenomenal universe, in rigpa. Below the
five prongs is a lotus throne, referring to the law of causality,
here the subtle conditions that give rise to duality. The lotus
leaves terminate in a ball, signifying the masculine principle
(the face of the father is never depicted). A second lotus issues
out of the central sphere, depicting the coarse conditions that
eventuate in the phenomenal universe, created by the dakinis,
represented by the prongs on the bottom bulb of the dorje.  So
the dorje also describes a dynamic process, the Chain of
Conditioned Origination.

The dorje is a symbol for the interplay of sem and rigpa, of
sunyata and samsara, of emptiness and form. The prongs enclose
empty space as form encloses emptiness and emptiness gives rise
to form. Its three parts can also refer to the trikaya, the three
aspects of the Buddha (the Nirmanakaya, the Sambhogakaya, the
Dharmakaya), to the three Yanas (Theraveda or Hinayana, Mahayana,
Vajrayana) or to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The
dorje presents to us the way our minds create the phenomenal
universe, instant by instant, directs us to the tantric mystery
of the yab-yum, and provides us with a powerful weapon with which
to vanquish duality. It shows us the way our ordinary mind (sem)
hides rigpa, and conversely how samsara can reveal nirvana. It is
a supreme Dzogchen teaching, a direct route to the Great
Perfection,
 

Kunzang Shenpen
marik@aol.com
May 2001

Kenzang Shenpen is the dharma name of Mark Defrates, a
jeweler who specializes in magickal and spiritual symbols.
His online catalog is at

http://members.aol.com/marik/jewelry.html