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--- In urinetantrasalvation@yahoogroups.com, "geneticrejuvenation"
<geneticrejuvenation@y...> wrote:
>
>
>
> When Gods Drank Urine
> A Tibetan myth may help solve the riddle of soma, sacred drug of
> ancient India
>
> by
>
> Mike Crowley
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> The Aryans
> About 3,500 years ago, a migratory, cattle-herding people crossed
> over the high passes from what is now Afghanistan and discovered
the
> rich plains of the Indian subcontinent. They came from the same
stock
> as most of the present-day Europeans and originated, it is thought,
> on the steppes between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea.
> Their name for themselves was Arya, which means "noble"
> or "hospitable". We know little of them before this point in their
> history but when they reached India they began to write. They wrote
> down their sacred songs, about the Gods and about soma: the
celestial
> drink which conferred immortality upon the Gods and by means of
which
> mere mortals become Gods.
>
> They were not alone in India, however. An advanced indigenous
> culture, possibly related to that of Sumeria in Mesopotamia,
> flourished in the Indus Valley, producing the magnificent cities of
> Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (c. 2,800 BCE to c. 1,500 BCE). It has
been
> remarked that these cities not only resemble Sumer's Ur and Babylon
> but that they seem to have taken the Sumerian cities as models and
> improved upon them. The people who inhabited these cities are
thought
> to have been Dravidian. That is, members of an ethnic group now
found
> mostly in the southern parts of the Indian sub-continent and Sri
> Lanka, the members of which have very dark complexions and speak
one
> of a number of related languages including Tamil, Telugu and
> Malayalam.
>
> The most ancient texts of the Hindu religion are the four books
known
> as the Vedas and among these the collection of hymns known as the
Rig
> Veda is said to be the earliest. This could make it the world's
> oldest religious text still in regular use. It is believed to have
> existed for many centuries as an unwritten oral tradition and thus
it
> is difficult to date precisely but estimates of its age range from
> 2,500 to 1,500 B.C.E. It was during this period that the Aryan,
> cattle-herding invaders conquered and settled Northern India
bringing
> with them their religion, their mythology and their culture.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> The drug
> Much of the Rig Veda (and all of the Sama Veda) is concerned with
the
> ritual consumption of a psychoactive drug called soma. Despite its
> extensive hymns of praise to this drug (all of the 114 verses of
the
> 9th chapter and several verses elsewhere), the Rigveda alludes to
it
> only obliquely with much use of word-play and elaborate poetic
> tropes. Though the texts provide no explicit descriptions, certain
> elements of the methods of preparation and use of soma may be
> inferred. Unfortunately, the most vital detail - the identity of
the
> drug - is the most obscure.
>
> What is apparent is that soma was a plant and that its consumption
> produced an ecstatic mental state but this information hardly
narrows
> the field of candidates as there are thousands of psychoactive
plants
> with psychedelic, intoxicant, narcotic or deliriant effects. The
> Vedas also indicate that the plant was found on mountain-sides and
> gathered by moonlight and that it was consumed in the form of a
> liquid which was expressed from the plant and then mixed with milk
> and/or butter. It seems to have been used only as part of a fire-
> ritual. A golden liquid was expressed from the plant material
> with "soma-stones", filtered through wool and collected in a large
> bowl or "vat". In the course of this ritual a portion of the soma
> potion was used as a libation and was "sacrificed" to the flames.
The
> remainder of the soma-liquid was apportioned among the celebrants
who
> received it in individual bowls.
>
> Occasionally in the Vedas, and frequently in post-Vedic literature
> such as the story of the "churning of the ocean", the soma-liquid
is
> known as amrita. This is especially so in the literature of
Buddhism
> where the name soma is almost unknown. Soma is also the name of a
> god, considered by Hindus to be the divine personification both of
> the soma-drug and of the moon. The moon was thought to be the
> receptacle of soma from which it is consumed (presumably over a
> monthly period) by the gods and ancestors.
>
> Compared to the Brahmanic rituals of later eras this fire-ritual
was
> a very simple affair which has more in common with shamanic
practices
> than the elaborate structures of organized religion. There are
three
> main gods invoked in the Rigveda: Agni (god of fire), Soma (moon-
god
> and personification of the soma drug), and Indra (sky-god and king
of
> the gods). As the Rigveda states that (a) Indra enjoys the effects
of
> soma and that (b) he who consumes the soma potion becomes god-like,
> perhaps it would not be straining the symbolism too far to say that
> in these three gods we have the three basic elements of the ritual,
> Agni (the sacrificial flames), Soma (the sacrificial offering) and
> Indra (the celebrant, rendered "divine" by the consumption of
soma).
>
> That the ritual is of Aryan origin rather than an indigenous Indian
> one is attested to by the existence of the similar haoma fire
ritual
> in ancient Persia and in the Zoroastrian (Parsi) religion. The
Indian
> fire-ritual was, in later times, taken up by Tantric Buddhists and,
> as a part of Vajrayana Buddhism, was carried into Tibet, Mongolia,
> China and even as far as Japan where it is known as goma.
>
> Readers familiar with Hindu mythology will know the popular legend
> of "the churning of the ocean". This tale explains how soma came
into
> being and versions of it are to be found in the Vishnu Purana, the
> Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The three sources differ in their
> details but, briefly, the story is as follows: The gods had been
> defeated by the asuras and appealed to Vishnu for advice. He
> counselled them that they should unite with their enemies and
> together they should churn the ocean which, at that time, was
> composed of milk. First they scattered various herbs in the ocean,
> then, taking Mt. Mandara as a churning-stick they wound the naga-
king
> Vasuki around it as a churning-rope. The gods and asuras took
> opposite ends of the great serpent and heaved back and forth. Many
> wonderful treasures then came forth from the ocean, the first of
> which being amrita (in Hindu texts this is often used as a synonym
> for soma). All versions of the story also feature a virulent poison
> (variously called kalakuta, khalakuta or visha), in some it is said
> that it is another product of churning the ocean, others say that
the
> strain on Vasuki caused him to vomit it up. However, Shiva saves
the
> day by drinking the poison and retaining it in his throat, which
> turns blue as a result. Thus Shiva acquires the epithet Nilakanta
> ("blue-throat"). [Dowson, p. 167]
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
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> ----------
>
>
>
> The Problem
> Somehow, no one knows quite why, the soma-drug mysteriously fell
into
> disuse subsequent to the Vedic period. Instead, the brahmin priests
> concentrated on the punctilious observation of ritual performance
of
> the fire-ritual. Punctilious, that is, in every respect except the
> magical ingredient alluded to repeatedly in the Vedas. For some
> reason, soma became merely a philosophical concept rather than a
> living reality. The word was often used to mean any burnt offering -

> that which was fed to the flames of the ritual fire and, by
> extension, soma also meant the contents of the material world,
which
> are all eventually consumed, as if by fire. Yet again, the word
soma
> was used to mean a "life-force" which was thought to sustain all
> plant-life.
>
> For centuries the actual identity of the physical soma plant sung
of
> in the Vedas held little interest for Sanskrit scholars. Even the
> Brahmin pandits who sang these Vedic texts showed scant interest in
> the topic. Those who did feel inclined to comment on the subject
> suggested non-psychoactive plants (such as rhubarb) or averred that
> soma was simply alcohol. In recent years, as western scholars have
> realized the widespread (one might almost say ubiquitous) use of
> psychoactive drugs in the spiritual practices of traditional
> cultures, the identity of soma has become the subject of lively
> debate. Among others plants, it has been suggested that it was the
> mushroom Amanita muscaria (sometimes called the Fly Agaric
mushroom)
> [Wasson et al.], or Peganum harmala (Syrian Rue) [Flattery and
> Schwartz] or a species of Stropharia mushroom [McKenna, p. 166].
>
> So why did the original soma disappear from the fire ritual? Wasson
> suggests that as the Aryans migrated south into the Indus Valley,
> they left behind the prime habitats for Amanita muscaria. This
> mushroom grows in woodland, forming a symbiotic or "mycorrhizal"
> relationship with a tree such as birch or pine and birch trees are
> seldom, if ever, seen on the hot Indian plains. Those birch groves
> which are to be found in India are at fairly high elevations. This
> high country was, at least in the initial period of Aryan
occupation,
> controlled predominantly by Dravidian hill-tribes.
>
> This raises an intriguing possibility regarding the legend of
> the "Churning of the Ocean". Does it, then, represent a
mythologised
> treatment of a political reality? Was war between Aryan and
Dravidian
> resolved by cooperation in the trade of the Amanita muscaria
mushroom?
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> A suggested solution
> In 1957, an article in Life magazine featured a lengthy article on
a
> New York banker and amateur mycologist called R. Gordon Wasson.
This
> article revealed that Wasson and his wife Valentina had been
> introduced to a cult using psychedelic mushrooms in Oaxaca, Mexico
by
> a Mazatec curandera called Maria Sabina. Although the use of
> psychoactive mushrooms was reported by Father Sahagun in the 16th
> century, the existence of such a cult was previously unsuspected.
> Sahagun's account had been disregarded by modern scholars until the
> Wassons' account.
>
> Their discovery spurred the Wassons to inquire into the possibility
> of other mushroom-based religious cults in other parts of the
world,
> culminating in his seminal work "SOMA: The Divine Mushroom of
> Immortality" in 1966. This work was the first to identify soma with
> the Amanita muscaria mushroom.
>
> Wasson presented several arguments [Wasson et al.] for Amanita
> muscaria being the soma-plant, the chief of which are:
>
> 1. Soma is clearly a plant yet no leaves, roots or branches are
> mentioned in the Vedas.
> 2. Vedic synonyms for soma include terms which suggest a mushroom.
> 3. The Rig Veda describes the soma-plant as "tawny"
> 4. The Rig Veda mentions urine in connection with soma.
>
> Addressing each of these points in turn:
>
> 1. Soma is clearly a plant yet no leaves, roots or branches are
> mentioned in the Vedas.
> This is, on the face of it, a fairly weak argument. Yet, given the
> Vedas' extensive use of poetic trope, if soma were a vascular plant
> one would expect it to be addressed as "many-leaved", "slender-
> branched", "stout-stemmed" or something of that nature.
>
>
> 2. Vedic synonyms for soma include terms which suggest a mushroom.
> The term aja ekapad ("not-born, one-foot") suggests a mushroom
which,
> springing up mysteriously without visible seed, could be said to
> be "not-born". Likewise, if thought of anthropomorphically, its
stipe
> (stem) could be conceived of as "one-foot".
>
> Conversely, as the word aja ("not-born") is the same as aja
> meaning "goat", the term aja ekapad could be translated as "one-
> legged goat". Surprising as it may seem, this is the conventional
> translation even though it makes far less sense than Wasson's
> suggestion.
>
>
> 3. The Rig Veda describes the soma-plant as "tawny"
> The Sanskrit color-word in question is hari. This rather vague term
> is asserted by Wasson to encompass a range of colors from bright
red
> to tawny-brown. While these are not colors normally associated with
> vascular plants they quite accurately describe the colors of A.
> muscaria both when fresh (bright red) and dried (tawny-brown).
>
> Wasson's critics have suggested that hari might have indicated a
much
> wider range of colors, however, including green.
>
>
> 4. The Rig Veda mentions urine in connection with soma.
> The significance of this last point is obscure and relies on a
> peculiar property of Amanita muscaria: the urine of someone who has
> eaten this mushroom is itself intoxicating. Wasson saw this as a
> crucial and specific indicator of this mushroom. His assertions
> regarding Vedic references to urine and soma were considered
> unconvincing by many of his critics who said that simply soma +
urine
> is not enough to suggest A. muscaria. What they required was soma +
> urine + drinking, and it is to this subject of urine-drinking in
> connection with soma that we now turn.
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Urine drinking
> Among the various Siberian peoples who use Amanita muscaria as a
> cultural norm, there exists a curious practice whereby the urine of
> one who has consumed the mushroom is drunk by another who
> consequently becomes inebriated. The urine of this person may then
be
> drunk by another and so on, the procedure being repeated up to five
> or six times. The reason for this practice is that A. muscaria
> contains ibotenic acid which, when the carboxyl radical is removed
> from the molecule, yields the psychoactive molecule muscimole [Ott,
> p. 327]. The metabolic process of decarboxylation which effects
this
> transformation within the user's liver is very inefficient. In
fact,
> it is so inefficient that approximately 85% of the ibotenic acid
> ingested (more than enough to inebriate further users) passes
through
> the body unchanged and is excreted in the urine [Ott, p. 328]. To
put
> it another way, the urine contains more than five times as much of
> the drug as the body can assimilate.
>
> This unsavory yet economical practice is well-documented among
> certain Siberian tribes where A. muscaria is widely used in both
> shamanic and ludibund contexts [von Bibra, p. 75]. Of all known
> traditions of drug use this practice of recycling the urine is
unique
> to A. muscaria consumption and should be considered a highly
> significant indicator of this mushroom.
>
> The Rig Veda contains one passage in which urine and soma are
> mentioned together. Wasson seized upon this to support his
hypothesis:
>
> Acting in concert, those charged with the office, richly gifted, do
> full homage to Soma. The swollen men piss the flowing (soma).
> [O'Flaherty, p. 123]
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Vedic urine, Buddhist soma
> While many of Wasson's arguments seemed persuasive, some scholars
> expressed reservations, particularly in regard to urine-drinking.
In
> particular, though the phrase "the swollen men piss the flowing"
may
> refer to soma, it is not mentioned explicitly. Furthermore, it
merely
> refers to urination, not urine-drinking. If we were to consider
> modern, literary accounts of beer-drinking we would undoubtedly
find
> many references to urination. We might even, in the British
> literature, find many references to embarking on a drinking bout
> as "going on the piss". The connection between beer and urination,
is
> therefore valid and incontrovertible yet who would be so foolish as
> to infer that this represents a tradition of urine-quaffing among
> British beer-drinkers?
>
> If, therefore, we could find references to actual urine-drinking in
> the context of soma-use then Wasson's hypothesis would gain
> considerably in credibility. It is just such evidence which I will
> present below, although the word soma is not used explicitly,
rather
> the Tibetan translation of its synonym, amrita.
>
> The vajrayana ("thunderbolt-" or "diamond-vehicle") movement of
> Buddhism developed as an outgrowth of Mahayana Buddhism. While
> accepting the mahayana's radical philosophy of voidness the
vajrayana
> rejected its timescale. According to the mahayana, one attains
> enlightenment by accumulating good karma, especially in regard to
> the "two wings of enlightenment" - compassion and wisdom. This
> process of accumulation is not easily achieved as it is believed to
> take many thousands, even millions, of lifetimes. By contrast, the
> vajrayana's claim that it offered enlightenment in this very
lifetime
> was an attractive alternative. It took a pragmatic approach to
> practice, adopting anything that worked, especially delighting in
> shock tactics and the deliberate shattering of cultural taboos. Its
> teachers were often charismatic yogins who lived in cemeteries and
> smeared their near-naked bodies with ashes from funeral pyres,
though
> we also read of gurus who were craftsmen, housewives, scholars,
> courtesans and kings.
>
> A large number of tantras (arcane and obscurely symbolic
scriptures,
> all of which are completely unknown to other Buddhist sects) are
> revered by the Vajrayana yet the essential points of its teachings
> were transmitted, in conditions of great secrecy, in an oral
lineage
> from teacher to student.
>
> The tantras use scandalous images and terminology as symbols to
> convey the most sublime philosophy. Even their name is an
impertinent
> pun on the word sutra, the name given to the Buddha's lectures.
> Whereas the word sutra literally means "thread", tantra
means "weave"
> thus implying a further dimension to its teachings.
>
> It has recently become apparent that Amanita muscaria was in use
> among at least some of the siddhas (adepts) of Vajrayana Buddhism
in
> mediaeval India [Hajicek-Dobberstein]. During this period
> (approximately 500 - 1000 CE), Buddhism was introduced to Tibet,
> becoming its state religion, with Vajrayana as the prevalent form.
> During the subsequent decline of Buddhism in India, most of
Sanskrit
> originals of the Buddhist literature were lost. But as countless
> texts were brought from India and translated from Sanskrit into
> Tibetan, Tibet has preserved much of the Indian Buddhist tradition,
> even those parts which no longer have any use or meaning. It is not
> surprising, therefore, that we should find evidence of lost Indian
> traditions in Tibetan sources.
>
> Despite Buddhism's numerous exhortations to sobriety and its
general
> repudiation of the use of drugs, one occasionally finds references
to
> psychoactive substances as a means to enlightenment:
>
> You can obtain Buddhahood: by taking a medicine pill which will
make
> you immortal like the sun and moon.... [Stewart, p. 53]
>
> This is a rare reference to the little-known Vajrayana tradition of
> rasayana (Skt: "alchemy"). Perhaps one of the most closely-guarded
> secrets of the Tibetan lamas, very little on this subject has been
> made available to Western scholars.
>
> It is worth note that the enlightenment resulting from medicines is
> here equated to immortality. This accords both with the literal
> meaning of amrita ("deathlessness") and with the legendary
properties
> of soma. This appears to be either a symbol for, or equivalent to,
> enlightenment as it has also been stated that the intention of this
> tradition was
>
> ...the ingestion of drugs to strengthen the yogin and procure the
> siddhi for him, as well as bringing him to the final goal. [Walter,
> p. 319]
>
> There are two separate lineages of rasayana preserved in Tibet, one
> being founded by Guru Rinpoche (also known as Padmasambhava) and
the
> other by his contemporary, Vimalamitra. A few works on the subject,
> purportedly by Guru Rinpoche and Vimalamitra themselves, survive.
If
> these attributions are correct then these writings would date from
> the 8th century CE. Neither of these two masters was Tibetan but
they
> had a profound effect on Tibetan Buddhism. So much so, in fact,
that
> Guru Rinpoche is still revered there as a second Buddha.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Vajrapani drinks urine
> A curious legend which tells of the origins of both amrita and of
the
> wrathful aspect of the Bodhisattva Vajrapani is told in "Buddhism
in
> Tibet" [Schlagintweit, pp. 114-117]. The legend is drawn from the
Dri
> Med Zhel Phreng (Tibetan: "The Immaculate Crystal Garland") a
Tibetan
> work which, presumably, is itself a translation of a Sanskrit
> original. Here is Schlagintweit's translation:
>
> The legend about Chakdor
>
> Once upon a time the Buddhas all met together on the top of Mount
> Meru, to deliberate upon the means of procuring the water of life,
> Dutsi, which lies concealed at the bottom of the deep ocean. In
their
> benevolence, they intended, as soon as they obtained the water of
> life, to distribute it amongst the human race as a powerful
antidote
> against the strong poison Hala, which the evil demons, at this
> period, had been using with such mischievous effect against mankind.
>
> In order to procure the antidote they determined to churn the ocean
> with the mountain Meru, and so cause the water of life to rise to
the
> surface of the sea. This they did, and delivered the water of life
to
> Vajrapani, with orders to secure it safely until a future meeting,
> when they would impart it to living beings. But the monster Rahu, a
> Lhamayin, happened to hear of this precious discovery, and having
> carefully watched Vajrapani's movements, seized an opportunity, in
> the absence of the latter, to drink the water of life; not
satisfied
> with this act, he even voided his water deliberately into the
vessel.
> He then hurried away as fast as possible, and had already proceeded
a
> great distance, when Vajrapani came home, and having perceived the
> theft, instantly set out in pursuit of the culprit.
>
> In the course of his flight Rahu had passed the sun and moon, whom
he
> menaced with vengeance, should they venture to betray him to
> Vajrapani. His searches proving fruitless, Vajrapani betook himself
> to the sun, and asked him about Rahu. But the sun replied
evasively,
> saying that he had certainly seen somebody passing a long time ago,
> but had paid no particular attention as to who it was. The moon, on
> the other hand, returned a candid answer, only requesting that
> Vajrapani would not repeat it before Rahu. Upon this information
Rahu
> was shortly afterwards overtaken, when he got such a terrible blow
> from Vajrapani's scepter [i.e. vajra] that, besides receiving many
> wounds, his body was split in two parts, the lower part of the body
> with the legs being entirely blown off.
>
> The Buddhas once more held a meeting, in which they deliberated
upon
> the best means of disposing of Rahu's urine. To pour it out would
> have been most dangerous to human beings, as it contained a large
> quantity of the poison Hala hala; they therefore determined that
> Vajrapani should drink it, in just punishment for the carelessness
> through which the water of life was lost. Accordingly he was forced
> to do so, when his fair, yellow complexion was changed by the
effects
> of this potion into a dark one. Vajrapani conceived, from his
> transfiguration, a most violent rage against all evil demons, and
in
> particular against Rahu, who, notwithstanding his deadly wounds,
was
> prevented from dying by the water of life. This powerful water,
> however, dropped from his wounds and fell all over the world,
> numerous medicinal herbs springing up on the spots where it touched
> the soil.
>
> A severe punishment was also inflicted upon Rahu by the Buddhas
> themselves; they made a horrible monster of him, replaced his legs
by
> the tail of a dragon, formed nine different heads from his broken
> one, the principal wounds were made into an enormous throat, and
the
> lesser ones into so many eyes. Rahu, who had ever distinguished
> himself from his fellow-beings by his wickedness - in their
earliest
> youth even the other gods had to suffer from his malignity -
became,
> after this transformation, more dreadful than he was before.
>
> His rage was turned especially towards the sun and the moon, who
had
> betrayed him. He is constantly trying to devour them, particularly
> the moon, who displayed the most hostile disposition towards him.
He
> overshadows them whilst trying to devour them, and thus causes
> eclipses; but owing to Vajrapani's unceasing vigilance, he cannot
> succeed in destroying them.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> The water of life
> The "water of life, Dutsi" of Schlagintweit's translation is
> obviously the Tibetan bDud.rTsi phonetically rendered. This is the
> standard term used in Tibetan to translate the Sanskrit amrita.
Thus,
>
> bDud.rTsi (piyusha, amrita, sudha) 1. the food of the gods, nectar,
> the potion that confers immortality... [Das]
>
> Also, the equivalence of amrita and soma is well understood:
>
> AMRITA... The water of life. The term was known to the Vedas, and
> seems to have been applied to various things offered in sacrifice,
> but more especially to the Soma juice. [Dowson, p. 12]
>
> An objection may be made that amrita (or, more precisely,
bDud.rTsi)
> as understood by Tibetan Buddhism is not the same as the amrita of
> the Hindus, that it means simply medicine and is used purely as a
> symbol for enlightenment. This was certainly the case during the
> earliest phase of Buddhism. For instance, the celebrated
> conversation between the Hellenistic king "Milinda" and the monk
> Nagasena relates a parable in which the Buddha is alleged to have
> established shops of various kinds including a flower shop, a
perfume
> shop, a fruit shop, a medicine shop, a herb shop, an "ambrosia"
(i.e.
> amrita) shop, a jewellery shop and a general store. Each of these
in
> turn is then described and interpreted symbolically. Here is the
> description of "The Ambrosia-shop of the Buddha":
>
> "Reverend Nagasena, what is the Ambrosia-shop of the Exalted One,
the
> Buddha?"
>
> An Ambrosia, great king, has been proclaimed by the Exalted One,
and
> with this Ambrosia that Exalted One sprinkles the world of men and
> the World of the Gods; and sprinkled with this Ambrosia, both gods
> and men have obtained deliverance from Birth, Old Age, Disease,
> Death, and from sorrow, lamentation, suffering, dejection, and
> despair. What is this Ambrosia? It is Meditation on the Body.
>
> Moreover, great king, this has been said by the Exalted One, god
over
> gods: "Ambrosia, O monks, do they enjoy who enjoy Meditation on the
> Body."
>
> This, great king, is what is meant by the Ambrosia-shop of the
> Buddha. Afflicted with disease he saw mankind, and opened an
Ambrosia-
> shop. "With Kamma, monks, come, buy and eat Ambrosia.
> [Burlingame, p. 237]
>
> Thus we clearly see that, at least for Nagasena, the only
connection
> between ambrosia (amrita) and Buddhism was a symbolic one. The
> Buddhism of his period had no use for the actual substance, there
> were no initiation rituals and no yogic circles in which a
substance
> called amrita was imbibed. This came much later, in the Vajrayana,
> Buddhism's tantric phase. On the other hand, it seems, from
> Nagasena's parable, that there actually were "ambrosia shops",
places
> where something called "ambrosia" could be bought and, perhaps
also,
> consumed.
>
> Undoubtedly, the striking parallels between "The legend about
> Chakdor" and the Hindu legend of the origin of soma show that the
> Buddhist amrita and the Hindu soma were at one time understood to
be
> identical. Moreover, the principal property of amrita is, to this
> day, perceived by Buddhists as being a species of inebriation,
> however symbolically this inebriation may be interpreted. Why else
> would beer (Tibetan chhang, "barley beer") be used by yogins as a
> symbolic substitute for amrita [Ardussi]? Conversely, why else
would
> the term bDud.rTsi be used as a poetic synonym for beer?
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Initiations
> The late Chogyam Trungpa, a celebrated apologist for Tibetan
> Buddhism, explained the function which amrita plays in the
initiation
> process:
>
> amrita... is used in conferring the second abhisheka, the secret
> abhisheka. This transmission dissolves the student's mind into the
> mind of the teacher of the lineage. In general, amrita is the
> principle of intoxicating extreme beliefs, belief in ego, and
> dissolving the boundary between confusion and sanity so that
> coemergence can be realized. [Trungpa, p. 236]
>
> This passage underscores the fact that amrita, despite the
innocuous
> composition of the modern formulation which goes by this name, is
> understood primarily as an inebriant. Moreover, the allusions to
ego-
> loss and the "dissolving the boundary between confusion and sanity"
> imply that amrita was originally a powerfully psychedelic substance
> and was used as such in the context of Buddhist initiations.
>
> The potion which is called amrita in modern Tibetan Buddhist
> initiations is a weak infusion of various medicinal and marginally
> psychoactive herbs. Curiously, it is usually colored with saffron.
> Considering the high price of saffron, one wonders why it is used.
> Could it be that it is there merely to give the amrita the
appearance
> of urine?
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Yakshas, nagas and asuras
> "The Legend About Chakdor" assumes that we are familiar with the
> rivalry between the gods (devas) and the asuras. The Sanskrit word
> asura has several degrees of meaning ranging from an autochthonous
> demon to a semi-divine, god-like being. It is this latter meaning
> which is most frequently implied in Buddhist texts. They are
believed
> to be jealous enemies of the devas (Hindu gods which are recognized
> in the Buddhist cosmology) and may be considered as functionally
> equivalent to the Titans who, in Greek myth, oppose the Olympian
> gods. The asuras may well be remnants of a pre-Aryan class of
> deities. In this instance, as the status of Rahu seems to be
demonic
> rather than semi-divine one might suppose that this legend
preserves
> elements from an early period when the local, non-Aryan deities
posed
> more of a threat. One (Hindu) account of the origin of the word
asura
> is that the first wine (sura) was one of the products of churning
the
> ocean. The gods (sura) partook of it but the anti-gods refused it,
> thus they are a-sura (literally, "no-wine").[Danielou, p. 140] If
we
> assume that the asuras indeed represent the indigenous gods of
India,
> then this myth may reflect the differing drug-preferences of the
> invading Aryans and the indigenous (Dravidian) peoples.
>
> The definitive exposition of the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, the
> sutra called the "Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses", contains
the
> earliest reference to Vajrapani. He is described as a yaksha who
> protects those pious householders who follow the bodhisattva path.
> The yakshas are classed along with the asuras in Hindu legends as
> malign spirits and, like the asuras, are thought to represent a
> vestige of the earlier, Dravidian, religion. Incidentally, nagas
are
> often considered to be another of the classes of asura. Thus, "The
> Legend About Chakdor" contains references to three classes of
> autochthonous entities: Vajrapani is a yaksha (albeit one who has
> converted to Buddhism), Rahu is an asura and his legs are replaced
> with the tail of a naga. All three are considered to be enemies of
> the gods and, curiously, all three are associated with soma.
>
> The connection of asuras, yakshas and nagas to soma/amrita is not
> immediately obvious but it is of considerable antiquity. For
> instance, although the Rig Veda refers to soma as a god, it/he is
> also said to be an asura:
>
> Soma, the generous asura, knows the world. [O'Flaherty, p. 123]
>
> Furthermore, asuras are frequently associated with amrita in
folklore
> and legend. Take, for example, this passage from the Yoga Sutras of
> Patanjali:
>
> Perfections proceed from birth or from drugs or from spells or from
> self-castigation or from concentration. [Woods, p. 347]
>
> This passage is fascinating in itself but, in the context of the
> asura/amrita connection, the traditional commentary by Vyasa is
even
> more so:
>
> He describes the perfection which proceeds from drugs. A human
being,
> when for some cause or other he reaches the mansions of the demons
> (asura), and when he makes use of elixirs of life brought to him by
> the lovely damsels of the demons, attains to agelessness and to
> deathlessness and to other perfections. Or (this perfection may be
> had) by the use of an elixir-of-life in this very world. So for
> instance the sage Mandavya, who dwelt on the Vindhyas and who made
> use of potions. [Woods, p. 347]
>
> This ancient connection between amrita and the world of the asuras
> was so widely understood that even in 17th-century Tibet it could
be
> taken for granted:
>
> Also, there was a farmer who took Tara as his meditation deity.
When
> he dug in the earth and cried "Phu! Phu!" the gate of Patala itself
> opened. Entering the place of the Nagas, he drank the amrita he
found
> there. Thus, he became like a rainbow body. [Taranatha, p. 37]
>
> An similar example of the stereotypical correlation of yakshas to
> amrita occurs in the following. This is especially relevant to
> Vajrapani, given his yaksha origins.
>
> Again, there was a sadhaka who practiced the sadhana of Tara. He
sat
> beside the roots of a bimba tree and repeated mantras. On one
> occasion, in the early morning, he saw a narrow lane in front of
him
> which had not been there previously. He entered this and followed
> along the way. By nightfall, he found himself in the midst of a
> delightful forest and here he saw a golden house. When he entered
it,
> he encountered the Yakshini Kali, who was the servant of the Yaksha
> Natakubera. She was adorned with every kind of ornament and her
body
> was of an indefinite color. She addressed him, "O sadhaka, since
you
> have come here, you must eat of the elixir," and she placed in his
> hands a vessel filled with nectar. He remained for one month,
> drinking the elixir, and thereafter his body became free of death
and
> rebirth. [Taranatha, p. 38]
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Rahu's Urine
> At last we turn to the oddest, and yet most crucial, element of the
> Vajrapani myth: he drinks Rahu's urine and, as a result becomes
> terrifying, blue and adorned with snakes. Here we have our sought-
for
> connection between soma (albeit under the synonym bDud.rTsi) and
> urine-drinking.
>
> Despite the fact that urine-drinking is an integral part of
Siberian
> Amanita muscaria consumption we should not take this practice, in
> itself, to indicate the use of A. muscaria without further
> substantiating factors. After all, many people in modern India
drink
> their own urine purely for health reasons. However, it should be
> clearly understood that, of all known drugs in use worldwide, only
A.
> muscaria has the practice of urine-drinking associated with it as a
> cultural norm. This practice has its basis in the fact that, due to
> the highly inefficient conversion of ibotenic acid into muscimole
> within the body, the urine of one who has ingested A. muscaria is
> almost as potent a drug as the mushroom itself. Moreover, ibotenic
> acid is found only in the A. muscaria mushroom and in a very
similar
> species called A. pantherina. Among psychoactive mushrooms, this
> property is unique to A. muscaria. Thus, if one were to drink the
> urine of someone who has just ingested, say, a mushroom which
> contains psilocybin, its drug effect would not be passed on to the
> urine-drinker.
>
> It should be borne in mind that, while psychoactive plants which
> share this property of passing useable amounts of its drug into the
> user's urine are relatively rare, they do exist. Amanita muscaria
is
> not unique in this regard. There are, for instance, several species
> of cactus which contain mescaline. However, despite the fact that
> about 80% of ingested mescaline is excreted with the urine, there
> have been no reports of urine-drinking associated with the peyote
> (Anhalonium lewinii) cults of North America nor with the San Pedro
> (Trichocereus pachanoi) cult of Peru. This is somewhat surprising
as
> urine, even someone else's, is probably a lot more palatable than
the
> intensely bitter peyote cactus. There are, of course, no Old World
> plants which contain mescaline.
>
> So, given the context in which Vajrapani drinks the urine of one
has
> just drunk a powerfully inebriating potion, we should strongly
> suspect that Amanita muscaria is implicated. In the light of
Wasson's
> contention that soma was A. muscaria, the urine-drinking element
> of "The Legend About Chakdor" assumes considerable significance.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Vajrayana and Tibet
> Until recently all research into the sacramental use of Amanita
> muscaria in India focused on Hinduism, in particular Vedic
Hinduism.
> A recent paper [Hajicek-Dobberstein] argued persuasively that a
> tradition of its use also existed among the siddhas (yogic adepts)
of
> Vajrayana Buddhism.
>
> As we have already noted, a potion called amrita is, even to this
> day, an essential part of Vajrayana initiations and in the
> Vajrayana's central ritual, the ganachakra. In both contexts, its
> function is to remove the belief in the personal ego and to
dissolve
> the boundary between the guru and the student undergoing the
> initiation. It would seem obvious from this description that a
> profoundly psychedelic substance is implied here. The modern
> concoction is mainly symbolic, however, and consists of a few
herbal
> pills dissolved in water or alcohol. This may be because the
> initiation-lineages of the present day are exclusively monastic;
even
> though the initiations may be given to lay-practitioners they were
> originally intended for monks and nuns. Very few texts have
survived
> which relate to the tantric initiation of lay-practitioners and it
is
> quite likely that these would have differed profoundly from the
> restrained rituals of monastic communities.
>
> Thanks to the Tibetans' exaggerated respect for Buddhism's Indian
> origins, that which has been preserved has been preserved very
> faithfully. The arguments put forward in monastic debate, for
> instance, are those which were propounded in India, as long ago as
> the 1st century C.E. The hollowness of the stalk of the banana
plant
> is a common simile used by Tibetan lamas to explain the concept
> of "emptiness". Most Tibetans before the recent diaspora had never
> seen a banana plant, nevertheless the example was used because it
was
> the one which had worked for the great teachers of the distant past
> in the holy land of India. It is this tendency to preserve even
that
> which is incomprehensible which makes Tibetan Buddhism something of
a
> museum. Thus in the Tibetan Buddhist traditions we may
> view, "through a glass, darkly", some of the practices of ancient
> India. Let us see if we cannot piece together some clues from the
> surviving histories.
>
> Tibet's most illustrious yogin was Milarepa (Tib.
Mi.La.Ras.Pa: "Mila
> the cotton-clad"). A hermit of the 11th century C.E., he lived in
> remote caves in the Himalayas and was renowned for his mastery of
> the "inner heat" (Tib: gTum.Mo; Skt: Chandali). His guru was Marpa,
a
> famous translator and patriarch of the Tibetan Kagyud lineage.
Marpa
> had traveled to India and had studied with many of the great yogins
> of his day including Maitripa and Kukkuripa who was said to have
> lived on an island in a lake of poison. His main teacher, however,
> was the great Indian scholar and yogin Naropa who conferred upon
him
> the initiation of Hevajra and taught him the celebrated "Six Yogas".
>
> Here is a passage from Milarepa's biography:
>
> Then Gambopa brewed the tea and brought it to the Jetsun [i.e.
> Milarepa], saying, "Please accept this offering, this symbol of my
> veneration for you".
>
> Milarepa accepted it with delight. He said to Rechungpa, "We should
> offer this monk some tea in return. Now go and collect a little
from
> every Repa here." Accordingly, Rechungpa [did so and] prepared the
> tea. Milarepa continued, "Now we need some seasoning." Saying this,
> he made water in the pot, making the tea extraordinarily delicious.
> [Chang, p. 475]
>
> Having thus consumed Milarepa's urine Rechungpa was then given an
> initiation by him into the practice of the (red) goddess
Vajravarahi
> ("Thunderbolt sow") in the "mandala painted in cinnabar" (a red
> mineral). Although he had received other initiations from other
> gurus, Rechungpa considered this one the most profound and
meaningful
> of all. Although there is no explicit mention of Amanita muscaria
in
> this passage, it would provide a rationale for an otherwise
> inexplicable action. I find it difficult to believe that a guru's
> urine, no matter how enlightened the guru, would render
> tea "extraordinarily delicious". Could it be that the tea was used
as
> a form of amrita, the drink which is an essential part of all
> Vajrayana initiations. This possibility seems more likely when we
> consider other initiations in which urine was explicitly
substituted
> for amrita.
>
> Let us consider the case of Kyungpo Naljor (Tib. K'yung.Po
> rNal.'Byor, "Garuda yogin"), another yogin of pivotal importance in
> the dissemination of the tantric siddha schools in Tibet. He was a
> Tibetan master roughly contemporaneous with Milarepa, who brought
> teachings back from India and founded the Shangpa Kagyud lineage.
His
> guru was Niguma, the sister (and also, some say, the consort) of
> Naropa, thus his lineage is related to, but not identical with,
that
> of Marpa and Milarepa. Like Rechungpa, his initiation was conferred
> after drinking urine:
>
> The siddha Kyungpo Naljor realized the nature of empowerment when
the
> dakini Niguma poured a skull cup of secret water and pointed a
finger
> at his heart.
>
> The siddha Orgyenpa realized the nature of empowerment when a
yogini
> in the form of a courtesan gave him a bowl of soup.
>
> There is also the story that the terton Guru Chowang placed a piece
> of excrement on the top of the head of the Nepalese man, Baro
> Vihardhara, and poured urine into his mouth. Through this, Baro
> remained in undefiled coemergent wisdom for seven days and was
> liberated...
>
> Dampa Gom-mon, who transmitted the Pacifying Practice, gave Chupa
> Dartson a cup of tea and a large bag of tsampa [roast barley
flour],
> saying "This is a substitute for the empowerment ritual," whereby
> Chupa Dartson received the blessings and attained realization equal
> to that of his master.
>
> Countless such stories abound... [Rangdrol, p. 38]
>
> Each of these initiations entails drinking some kind of liquid.
This
> is only to be expected, as the use of a potion called amrita is
> central to most Vajrayana initiations. Indeed, many lamas insist
that
> without the ingestion of some kind of substance an initiation is
not
> complete, the three essential components of an initiation being
>
> 1) the substance to be eaten or, more usually, drunk,
> 2) the visualization of the deity, and
> 3) the mantra of that deity.
>
> Given the powerful effects which amrita is expected to elicit
within
> the context of these initiations (see Initiations above), it is
only
> reasonable to assume that, originally, these liquids contained a
> psychedelic substance. It is especially worthy of note that
> the "secret water" referred to by Rangdrol is glossed by his
> commentator as "urine" and, in the case of Baro Vihardhara it is
> explicitly stated that the initiatory liquid is urine. Guru Chowang
> may have placed "a piece of excrement on his head" (presumably
> substituting it for the vajra used in the normal version of the
> ritual) but it was urine (representing amrita) which he poured
into
> his mouth.
>
> Again, as in the case of Milarepa, Amanita muscaria is not
explicitly
> mentioned in any of these descriptions but the conferral of
> initiation after drinking the guru's urine is so suggestive of its
> use that this theme demands further investigation.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Etymology
> As we have seen, the "Dutsi" of "The legend about Chakdor" is a
> phonetic rendition of the Tibetan bDud.rTsi, the term which
> translates the Sanskrit amrita, an alternative term for soma. The
> Tibetan vocabulary which was used to translate Buddhist texts from
> Sanskrit was highly standardized. So much so, in fact, that the
> Tibetan translators even went as far as to invent linguistic
devices
> for features of Sanskrit grammar (such as the "dual number") which
> were not present in Tibetan. Thus we can be certain that wherever
we
> encounter bDud.rTsi in a Tibetan translation the original Sanskrit
> would have been amrita.
>
> If we were to select a Tibetan word which would most accurately
> translate the Sanskrit amrita ("no death", "immortality") into
> Tibetan we should probably choose the word 'Chi.Med ("death-less").
> This word is frequently found as a personal name for both men and
> women but it is seldom used in Buddhist texts as the translation of
> amrita, and then only as a component of proper names. Instead, the
> word which is invariably used to translate the Sanskrit amrita into
> Tibetan is bDud.rTsi. This breaks down into two syllables, the
second
> of which (rTsi) is simply the common word for "juice". The first
> syllable (bDud) is more problematic. If taken literally, this
> means "demon" and it is the word which normally translates the
> Sanskrit word mara ("evil").
>
> As a personal name, Mara is the name of the demon who tempted
> Shakyamuni Buddha immediately prior to his enlightenment. Thus, the
> words mara and bDud are frequently used to mean an obstacle to
> enlightenment. As names for a drink which confers eternal
> life, "demon juice" and "obstacle juice" are hardly, on the face of
> it, obvious choices. How may we account for its etymology?
>
> It is possible that the early Tibetan translators attempted to
> preserve the linguistic connection between the words mara and
amrita
> as these words share a common root: Ömi, meaning "die", "death".
> These translators, however, tended to follow the contemporary
Indian
> Buddhist usage and attempted rather more hermeneutic
interpretations
> of Sanskrit technical terms. So, while it is possible that the
early
> Tibetan translators used the term bDud.rTsi for etymological
reasons,
> I think it most unlikely as it would be an exception to their
> standard practices.
>
> Then again, one might consider bDud to be a corruption of 'Dud
> (meaning "to press" or "to collect"), both words having an
identical
> pronunciation. Thus bDud.rTsi would mean "expressed juice"
> or "collected juice". This etymology, although not borne out by the
> use of 'Dud in other word formations, would seem rather apposite as
> the Sanskrit word soma itself derives from the root Ösu
> meaning "press" or "extract", reflecting the Vedic practices of
> expressing the juice of the soma plant.
>
> In the light of The Legend About Chakdor, however, we cannot ignore
> the serious possibility that the term "demon juice" may allude to
the
> episode when Vajrapani drank second-hand bDud.rTsi. In other words,
> it may be a polite way of saying "asura's urine".
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Some Reservations
> Despite the evidence presented above that the soma which is spoken
of
> in the Rig Veda and the amrita of the Vajrayana Buddhists was a
> decoction of the Amanita muscaria mushroom there is evidence that,
in
> other contexts, other psychoactive plants may also have qualified
for
> the title of soma. Many Vajrayana rituals call for the "five
> amritas". Could these have been five separate constituents of a
> psychoactive concoction?
>
> In passing it may be worth mentioning that the Tibetan word for
> Cannabis and its drug products is So.Ma.Ra.Dza. This appears to be
a
> direct borrowing from the Sanskrit soma-raja (Eng.: "King
> soma", "Royal soma"). The term soma-raja is glossed as "king soma,
> the moon" in Monier-Williams' Sanskrit dictionary although the Rig
> Veda, in its hymns of praise to the drug, refers to it frequently
> as "King soma" (8.48.8, 8.79.8 etc.) [O'Flaherty, pp. 121, 135, et
> passim.]. It would thus appear that either Cannabis was used as a
> soma-substitute or that the identification of soma with
psychoactive
> plants in general was once recognized in India and that this
> tradition is preserved in Tibet.
>
> One plant-derived drug which has not yet been suggested as a
> candidate for soma is camphor. Admittedly, camphor is a mild
> stimulant rather than an psychedelic but its consumption as a drug
is
> explicitly mentioned several times in the Hevajra Tantra. This
> complex and arcane Buddhist work, like most tantras, concerns
itself
> with the ecstatic, yogic and magical means to enlightenment. Thus:
>
> These (i.e. the female participants in the rite) the yogin should
> honor with deep embraces and kisses. Then he should drink camphor
and
> sprinkle the mandala with it. He should cause them to drink it and
he
> should quickly gain siddhi. [Snellgrove, p. 113]
>
> We must beware of making too much of any of the statements
concerning
> camphor in the tantras for it was standard practice in these texts
to
> employ an elaborate system of word-substitutions which could be
> interpreted only by the initiated. Thus, when the text appears to
be
> speaking of a debauched sexual practice it is probably describing
> some rarified philosophical matter. Conversely, what might appear
on
> the surface to be a purely philosophical discourse may well be
> instructions for achieving enlightenment through advanced sexual
> yoga. As a case in point, "camphor", in the secret tantric
language,
> means semen while "semen" itself corresponds to bodhicitta ("the
> thought of enlightenment"). Yet again, camphor, semen and
bodhicitta
> all correspond to the moon- (or male-) energy which is psychically
> manipulated in tantric yoga. This may be noteworthy in light of the
> mythological identification of soma with the moon. The very fact
that
> camphor-consumption is mentioned at all should be considered
> sufficient cause for further investigation of drug use in the
> Vajrayana.
>
> We have seen that Amanita muscaria is not the only plant-derived
> inebriant which is imperfectly metabolized by the liver and could
> thus be recycled by urine-drinking. It is conceivable that some
> plants present in the Indian subcontinent and which would have been
> available to the Aryan invaders could contain such intoxicants.
> However, only one plant is known to have a tradition of urine-
> drinking associated with it and that plant is A. muscaria.
>
> David Flattery [Flattery and Schwartz] makes an interesting and
> original point when he argues that both the Vedic culture (in
India)
> and the related Avestan culture (in Iran) made use of substitutes
for
> a sacred potion. Flattery interprets this as indicating that the
> knowledge of original plant which was symbolically represented by
> soma (and, in Iran, haoma) had been lost long before the Aryans
> entered India. This very intriguing possibility has been largely
> ignored by other researchers.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> Conclusion
> We have seen that amrita is a synonym for soma and that a Buddhist
> legend, "The Legend About Chakdor", tells of the origin of amrita.
> That this legend is from a Tibetan source, and uses the Tibetan
> translation of amrita: Dutsi, need not detain us. The story is
> sufficiently similar to the Puranic legend of the origin of soma to
> assure us that both legends concern the same substance. The
> importance of the Buddhist version is that it provides the sought-
for
> link between soma (in this case called Dutsi) use and urine-
drinking,
> thus lending weight to the contention that the soma plant was the
> Amanita muscaria mushroom.
>
> It is also possible that "The legend about Chakdor" is the source
of
> the word bDud.rTsi, theTibetan translation of amrita as the literal
> meaning of bDud.rTsi ("demon juice") may be a euphemism
for "asura's
> (i.e. Rahu's) urine".
>
> The consumption of a potion called amrita is central to Vajrayana
> Buddhist rituals, even today. This modern amrita is mostly colored
> water but, within the context of an initiation, it is imagined to
be
> a potent psychoactive drug. This suggests that the modern version
is
> merely a nominal acknowledgement of an original, truly potent,
> potion. There are several instances in the Tibetan tradition of
> initiations where urine was used in place of amrita and, while no
> explicit mention is made of A. muscaria in connection with these
> initiations, urine-drinking is highly suggestive of its use,
> particularly in light of the accumulating evidence of A. muscaria
use
> by the Vajrayana siddhas.
>
> Wasson and other authors have suggested that original religion of
the
> Indo-European people was a cult centered on the Amanita muscaria
> mushroom. This is a highly contentious area and I do not believe
that
> the arguments which I present here lend weight to either side of
that
> debate. I do, however, consider it now beyond doubt that A.
muscaria
> was used sacramentally in India and also that this mushroom was
known
> as soma. Whether it was the only drug to be used thus in Indian
> religions or whether other drugs were also called soma are matters
> for further research.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
>
>
> Notes
>
> abhisheka Literally "sprinkling" (cf. the above passage on "The
> Ambrosia shop of the Buddha"), it is the Sanskrit word used for a
> tantric initiation. The Tibetan word is "dBang"
(pronounced "wang").
> ambrosia Skt. amrita.
> amrita Sanskrit for " elixir of immortality", it literally
> means "deathlessness". This has obvious parallels in "ambrosia" the
> name of the classical Greek "food of the gods" which means "no
> death".
> asuras A race of anti-gods, comparable to the Titans in classical
> Greek mythology.
> beer Tibetan chhang ("barley beer").
> bimba tree Probably Momordica monadelpha
> dutsi A phonetic rendering of the Tibetan bDud.rTsi, equivalent to
> Skt., amrita, soma, Eng. "ambrosia".
> eating ambrosia Considering that this ambrosia has been described
as
> something which may be "sprinkled" we must suspect the accuracy of
> this translation.
> empowerment A more literal translation of the Tibetan word dBang
> meaning "initiation".
> goma This appears to be Japanese pronunciation of "homa".
> hala hala (Sanskrit) Presumably a corrupt form of kalakuta or
> khalakuta, the equivalent terms in the Hindu myth. Like these terms
> neither its precise meaning nor its etymology is understood.
> haoma The Iranian equivalent of soma. The word is cognate with Skt.
> homa, "fire ritual", "sacrifice".
> herbal pills T. J. Tsarong gives the composition only of
> bDud.rTsi.Ril.dKar ("the white nectar pill"), which is used
> medicinally, but not of bDud.rTsi.Ril.dMar ("the red nectar pill")
> which is used by yogins and for initiations. The "white nectar
pill"
> contains "Ash of a fossilized stone (Bya.rDo), Hedychium spicatum,
> black salt, Hippophae rhamnoides, Piper longum".
> hevajra Tantra The "Hevajra Tantra" is a complex and arcane
Buddhist
> work which concerns itself with the ecstatic, yogic and magical
means
> to enlightenment.
> homa Skt., "fire ritual", "sacrifice".
> Jetsun A Tibetan honorific, in this case referring to Milarepa
> Kyungpo Naljor Tib. K'yung.Po rNal.'Byor ("Garuda yogin")
> lhamayin The Tibetan word Lha.Ma.Yin (literally "Not a god") is a
> translation of the Sanskrit asura.
> Mandavya I have, as yet, been unable to find any other reference
> to "the sage Mandavya, who dwelt on the Vindhyas". The Vindhyas are
a
> range of mountains in the South of India inhabited by Dravidian
> people. In the Indian tradition mountains are considered to be
> repositories of medicinal herbs.
> Milarepa Tib. Mi.La.Ras.Pa ("Mila the cotton-clad")
> naga-king Nagas are snake-spirits. They have the power to change
> their shape, their females (nagini) often assuming the guise of
> beautiful women. Although they inhabit the subterranean land
> of "Patala", they are connected with the water element and have the
> power to bring rain.
> Natakubera The wealth deity Kubera (also written Kuvera, Sanskrit
> for "deformed") is considered the lord of the yakshas and is thus
> called yaksharaja. The name Natakubera literally means "the bent
and
> misshapen one".
> pacifying practice Tib. gCod
> Patala The underworld realm of the asuras. Due to their
common "anti-
> god" alignment, it is also said to house the yakshas and the nagas.
> Patala should not be confused with either:
> (a) Potala, the "pure land" of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, or
> (b) the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. This palace was the seat of
> the Dalai Lamas from the 16th to the 20th centuries. It was built
by
> the "Great Fifth" Dalai Lama who named it after the realm of
> Avalokiteshvara.
> piyusha The words piyusha, amrita, sudha are modern Hindi synonyms
> for soma. Das gives them in the Devanagari alphabet
> Perfection of Wisdom Ashtasahasrika Prajñaparamita Sutra
(Skt., "The
> Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses"), a seminal Mahayana text,
> probably composed in the 1st century C.E.
> sadhaka One who practices a sadhana.
> sadhana A tantric system of meditation, often involving the
> visualization of a deity while reciting a mantra appropriate to
that
> deity.
> secret water A note on "secret water" explains "Probably she poured
> urine in the skull cup for him to drink."
> siddha (Skt) "accomplished", "adept". One who has achieved
> enlightenment by following the Vajrayana path. See siddhi.
> siddhi (Skt) "accomplishment". In the Vayrayana tradition there is
> only one accomplishment worth considering and that is
enlightenment.
> See siddha.
> soma-raja M. Monier-Williams, ("A Sanskrit-English Dictionary",
> Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi 1993) interprets the closely-related
> words soma-rajika and soma-raji as being the plant Vernonia
> anthelminthica.
> tail of a dragon Actually the tail of a naga or giant, supernatural
> snake.
> three essentials The three essentials components of an initiation
> are (1) the substance to be eaten or drunk, (2) the visualization
of
> the deity and (3) the mantra of that deity.
> Vajrapani Skt. Vajrapani, "Thunderbolt-holder", becomes, in
Tibetan,
> P'yag.Na.rDo.rJe, "Thunderbolt-in-hand". This is frequently
> abbreviated to P'yag.rDor (pronounced Chak-dor).
> vajrayana Skt., "diamond/thunderbolt vehicle", also known as the
> Guhyamantrayana, "secret mantra vehicle".
> Vyasa Skt., "author"
> world of the asuras see Patala
> yaksha Originally a class of gigantic, goblin-like, chthonic demons
> in Indian popular culture, sometimes said to bring disease. In
> Buddhist literature, converted Yakshas are frequently cited as
> protectors of Buddhism.
> yakshini Kali Yakshini is the feminine form of yaksha. I think we
may
> confidently assume that the yakshini in question is the Hindu
goddess
> Kali in Buddhist guise. That she is said to be a mere yakshini and
a
> servant of Kuvera (Kubera) is an example of the mutual denigration
of
> deities which typified the inter-religious rivalry between Hindus
and
> Buddhists.
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----------
>
>
>
> References
>
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Milarepa,
> Shambhala, Boulder 1977
> Danielou, A. The Myths and Gods of India, Healing Arts Press,
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> Das, S. Chandra Tibetan-English Dictionary, Rinsen Book Company,
> Kyoto 1983
> Dowson, J. A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, Routledge and
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its
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University
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