Newsgroups: alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!btnet!news.compulink.co.uk!cix.compulink.co.uk!usenet From: johnc@cix.compulink.co.uk ("John Cleaver") Subject: Re: Tantric? Message-ID: Organization: Compulink Information eXchange References: <4dpeho$oio@lace.colorado.edu> Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 17:23:33 GMT X-News-Software: Ameol32 Lines: 43 freedn says: >They also constitute what is known as 'kama,' or the 'long transmission >lineage' within Tibetan Buddhism--i.e. that which is passed mouth to >mouth, teacher to student. Other types of transmission lineage are >'terma,' in which teachings are discovered or revealed to enlightened >teachers, then buried, then rediscovered again when the time is ripe. Tantric teachings are not all kama, and terma texts are usually tantric. It is not correct to say that the tantras constitute kama. >but can 'write' terma--if your >mind is as spacious as the sky and completely free of any internal (or >external) obstruction or thought of self. Again, I beg to differ - you can't 'write' terma texts. Termas are of two sorts:- earth treasure and mind treasure. Earth treasure comprises texts or objects hidden in the sky, in the earth, in lakes or in natural objects. Mind treasure is a realisation hidden in the heart bindu. In fact in both cases there is a realisation hidden in the heart bindu, nearly always by Guru Rimpoche or Yeshe Tsogyal. The earth treasures are distinguished by the need for the physical object to be discovered before the realisation can be triggered. The rediscovered realisation enables the discoverer to recall, over a period of time, the detail of the teaching with which the realisation is associated. He must then practice the teaching until it is completely clear in his mind, at which time he can write it down and diseminate it. Where there is a physical text, it is frequently written in one of several 'magical' scripts. While contemplating it, it is said that 'sometimes the script changes, and the meaning remains the same; sometimes the meaning changes, while the script stays the same; and sometimes both the meaning and the script change.' The discoverer must wait until the discovery has stabilised. Therefore terma writing is a process of transcription. No matter how vast or spacious your mind, you cannot either write or discover a terma unless that terma has been previously implanted in your heart bindu by a teacher with full dzogchen realisation, such as Guru Rimpoche or Longchenpa. It is also said that the discoverer must have dzog-rim realisation at the time of implantation. This is reawakened by the discovery. Jack.