Hevajra (; Tibetan: ཀྱེའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ kye'i rdo rje / kye rdo rje; Chinese: 喜金剛 Xǐ jīngāng / 呼金剛 Hū jīngāng;) is one of the main yidams (enlightened beings) in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā (Tibetan: བདག་མེད་མ་ bdag med ma).
History
India The Hevajra Tantra, a yoginītantra of the anuttarayogatantra class, is believed to have originated between the late 8th (Snellgrove),Snellgrove, 1959, Vol. 1, p. 14 and the late 9th or early 10th (Davidson),Davidson, 2005, p. 41 centuries in eastern India, possibly Kamarupa. Tāranātha lists Saroruha and Kampala (also known as Lva-va-pā, Kambhalī, and Śrī-prabhada") as its "bringers": . . . the foremost yogi Virupa meditated on the path of Yamāri and attained siddhi under the blessings of Vajravārāhi, . . . His disciple Dombi Heruka..understood the essence of the Hevajra Tantra, and composed many śāstras like the Nairātmā-devi-sādhana and the Sahaja-siddhi. He also conferred abhiṣeka on his own disciples. After this, two ācāryas Lva-va-pā and Saroruha brought the Hevajra Tantra. . . . Siddha Saroruha was the first to bring the Hevajra-pitṛ-sādhanaChattopadhyana, 1970 pg 245-246
Another lineage, mentioned by Jamgon Kongtrul, goes from Vilāśyavajra to Anangavajra to Saroruha, and thence to Indrabhuti.
Jamgon Amyeshab, the 28th throne-holder of Sakya, considers the Hevajra Tantra to have been revealed to Virupa by the Nirmanakaya Vajranairatma; it is considered by him also to have been revealed by Nirmanakaya Vajranairatma to Dombhi Heruka, Virupa's senior disciple, from whom the main Sakya exegetical lineage of the Hevajra Tantra descends.folio 49/a gsung nag rin po che byon tshul khog phub, vol Zha, gsung 'bum, Kathmandhu, 2000
The Yogaratnamālā, arguably the most important of the commentaries on the Hevajra Tantra, was written by one Kṛṣṇa or Kāṇha, who taught Bhadrapada, another commentator, who in turn taught Tilopa, the teacher of Nāropa, who himself wrote a commentary; he, in turn, passed on his knowledge of this tantra to Marpa (1012–1097 AD), who also taught in his native Tibet. Marpa also received instruction in the Hevajra Tantra from Maitrīpa, alias Advayavajra, who was banished from Vikramashila for practicing with a yoginī during the time of Atīśa's abbacy.
Kanha was one of the authors of Charyapada.
Tibet Some time in the early 11th century, Drogmi Lotsawa Shākya Yeshe ('brog mi lo ts'a ba sh'akya ye shes) (993–1077 AD) journeyed from Drompa-gyang in Lhatsé to Nepal and India, including Vikramashila, where he received instruction in the Hevajra Tantra from Śānti-pa (Ratnākaraśānti), and later to Bengal, where he encountered Prajñedraruci (Vīravajra) who instructed him in the "rootless Margapala" (Tib. Lamdré) that is particularly concerned with the Hevajra Tantra and its commentaries. Drakpa Gyeltsen writes in his Chronicle of the Indic Masters: Now Lachen [Drokmi] first went to Nepal and entered into the door of mantra through [the teacher] Bhāro Ham-thung. Then he went to India itself and, realizing that the Āchārya Ratnākaraśānti was both greatly renowned and learned, he heard extensively the Vinaya, Prajñapāramitā, and mantra. Then having gone to the eastern part of India, he encountered Bhikṣu Vīravajra, who was the greatest direct disciple of Durjayachandra, who himself had held the lineage of Āchārya Virūpa's own disciple, Ḍombiheruka. From Bhikṣu Vīravajra he heard extensively the mantra material of the three tantras of Hevajra, complete in all their branches. He also requested the many instruction manuals of Acintyakrama and so forth, so that he heard the "Lamdré without the fundamental text" (rtsa med lam 'bras) as well. In this way, Drokmi lived in India for twelve years and became a great translator.quoted in Davidson, 2004, p. 166
After twelve years—probably by 1030—he returned to central Tibet, translated the Hevajra Tantra into Tibetan, and taught, among others, Dkon mchog ryal po (1034–1102 AD), who founded the Sa-skya Monastery in 1073 AD.Roerich, Blue Annals, pp. 205–211 This was the beginning of the close relationship between the Sakya Order and the Hevajra Tantra.
In the Blue Annals, Gos lotsawa suggests that both the Hevajra and the Kalachakra Tantras are commentaries on, or introductions to, the Guhyasamāja.Roerich, 1949, vol. 1, p. 358
Elsewhere
China The Chinese version of the Hevajra Tantra (Taishō XVIII 892, p. 587–601) was translated by Fa-hu (Dharmapāla) at the Institute for Canonical Translations (Yi jing yuan) in the capital of the Northern Sung (960-1128 AD), Bian liang, present day Kaifeng in Henan province. The five-volume translation was presented to Emperor Renzong at the end of Zhi he 1 (11 February 1054–30 January 1055 AD) .Willemen, 1983, pp. 23–28 However, the Hevajra Tantra did not become popular in China. The title of the Chinese version reads "The Scriptural Text of the Ritual of The Great King of the Teaching The Adamantine One with Great Compassion and Knowledge of the Void explained by the Buddha." The preface reads: From among the 32 sections of the general tantra of Mahāmāyā one has taken 2 rituals with Nairātmyā. Dharmapāla, Great Master who transmits Sanskrit (texts), thoroughly illuminated and enlightened with Compassion, Probationary Senior Lord of Imperial Banquets, Grandee of Imperial Banquets with the Honour of Silver and Blue, Tripiṭaka from India in the West during the Sung, received the honour of translating it by Imperial Mandate.Willemen, 1983, p. 33
Cambodia Surviving images indicate that the Hevajra Tantra was present in Cambodia during the Khmer Empire and its practice thrived in Cambodia from the 10th to 13th centuries.
Mongolia In 1244 the grandson of Genghis Khan, Prince Godan, invited Sakya Pandita to Mongolia and was initiated by him into the Hevajra teachings. In 1253 Kublai Khan invited Sakya Pandita's nephew Chogyal Phagpa to court. As a result, Buddhism was declared the state religion and Phagpa was given authority over three of Tibet's provinces.
The West The Hevajra Tantra became the first major Buddhist Tantra to be translated in its entirety into a Western language when David Snellgrove published his The Hevajra Tantra: A Critical Study in 1959. This work is in two volumes, the first volume containing his introduction including an "apology" explaining why such a text is worthy of study (apparently because of the unsavory reputation the tantras had acquired in the West early in the 20th century). Writing in 1959 he was able to say, "There is still a tendency to regard them as something corrupt, as belonging to the twilight of Buddhism."Snellgrove, 1959, vol. I, p. 6 The second volume contains his editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts (the Tibetan text being taken from the snar thang Kengyur) as well as a Sanskrit text of the Yogaratnamālā. Another translation appeared in 1992 as The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra-tantra. by G.W. Farrow and I. Menon. This version contains the Sanskrit text and English translation of the tantra as well as a complete English translation of the Yogaratnamālā. An English translation from Fa-hu's Chinese version was made by Charles Willemen in 1983 and published as "The Chinese Hevajratantra". In 2008 the German scholar Jan-Ulrich Sobisch published a detailed literary history of Indian and Tibetan writings on Hevajra as it was seen through the eyes of A-mes-zhabs, a 17th-century master of the Sa-skya-pa tradition (Sobisch 2008).
Text Originally written in mixed-quality Sanskrit (with some verses in Apabhraṃśa), the present 750-verse text is reported to be but an excerpt or summary of a much larger, original text of up to 500,000 ślokas (verses) in 32 sections. Many Buddhist texts claim to be condensations of much larger missing originals, with most of the alleged originals either never having been found, or perhaps conceived of as "virtual" texts that exist permanently in some disembodied way. However, the existence of the 100,000 verse Prajnaparamita Sutra shows that works of such proportions were actually produced.
The Hevajra Tantra has some material in common with other sources: II iii 29 of the Hevajra Tantra is the same as XVI 59c-60b of the Guhyasamaja Tantra, and an Apabhraṃśa couplet at II v 67 of the Hevajra Tantra appears in one of Saraha's songs. In the case of the Guhyasamaja, it is safe to assume that the Hevajra version is later, but the case is not as clear cut with the Saraha quote, since the relative dates are harder to establish with any certainty.
Root Tantra
Dvātriṃśatkalpoddhṛtaḥ kalpadvayātmako śrīhevajraḍākinījālasamvaramahātantrarājā Manuscripts in the National Archives, Kathmandu, Nepal No. 3-303. No. 3-238. No. 4-6. No. 4-71. Manuscript in the Cambridge University Library, Add. 1340 Manuscript belonging to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, no. 11317 Manuscripts in the Tōkyō University Library: Nos 509-512Matsunami, Catalogue Editions: SnellgroveSnellgrove, 1959 Farrow and MenonFarrow & Menon, 1992 Tibetan:
- Narthang Kangyur, snar thang 369, vol. 80, rgyud (ka) 306b-351b colophon: Edition: Snellgrove (Hevajratantrarājanāma) Tōh. 417, sDe-dge Kangyur rgyud 'bum vol. nga, 1b-13b colophon: Urga Kangyur, urga 418, vol.79, rgyud (nga), 1r-30r colophon: Stog Palace Kangyur, stog 379, Volume 94, rgyud bum (ga), 107r-148v colophon: Lhasa Kangyur, lhasa 380, volume 79, rgyud (ka), 672-761 colophon:
Commentaries Yogaratnamālā by Kāṇha Śrīhevajravyākhyākhyāvivaraṇa by Bhadrapāda Netravibhanga by Dharmakīrtī Smṛtiniṣpatti (?) by Kāṇha Vajrapādasārasaṃgraha by Nāro Muktāvalī by Ratnākaraśānti Sanskrit edition from five manuscripts by Ram Shankar Tripathi and Thakur Sain Negi in the series Bibliotheca Indo-Tibetica Series XLVIII, Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, 2001. Padminī by Saroruha Suviśuddhasaṃpuṭa by Ṭankadāsa Ṣaṭsāhasrikā-Hevajra-Ṭīkā by Daśabhūmīśvara Vajragharba Sanskrit edition from two incomplete mss, Tibetan edition, with English translation of Sanskrit portion and summary of remaining part, in Shendge, Malati J., 2004. Ṣaṭsāhasrikā-Hevajra-Ṭīkā: A Critical Edition. Pratibha Prakashan, Delhi. "On this shorter tantra of 750 verses containing many vajrapadas which is selected from another big tantra of five lakhs (500,000) of verses, is revealed this commentary, which owes its inspiration to Hevajra and which is known to contain 6000 verses and following mulatantra, by the illustrious Vajragarbha." (1.4-6)
Explanatory Tantras Ḍākinīvajrapañjaratantra Saṃpuṭatantra
Iconography
Hevajra has four forms described in the Hevajra Tantra and four forms described the Samputa Tantra:
Hevajra Tantra
Kaya Hevajra The two armed Body (Kaya) Hevajra described in the Hevajra Tantra stands in an advancing posture on a multi-coloured lotus, corpse, and sun disk. He is dark blue in colour. His right hand holds a vajra club, and his left hand holds a vajra-marked skull cup. He embraces his consort Vajranairatma (rDo-rje bDag-med-ma). A khatvanga staff rests on his left shoulder and he is adorned with the six symbolic ornaments.
In the Sadhanamala this form of Hevajra is single (ekavira) - without a consort.Shashibala, 2008. p. 371
Vak Hevajra The four armed Speech (Vak) Hevajra described in the Hevajra Tantra stands in an advancing posture on a multi-coloured lotus, corpse, and sun disk. He is dark blue in colour. One right hand holds a vajra and one left hand a skull full of blood, the other pair of arms embrace his consort Vajravarahi (rDo-rje phag-mo).
Citta Hevajra