For Mahāmāyā the mother of Buddha see: Maya (mother of Buddha)

The Mahamaya-tantra, (Sanskrit:Mahāmāyā-tantra, Tibetan: sgyu 'phrul chen po'i rgyud) is a tantra associated with Dream Yoga

Dream yoga

Dream Yoga or Milam — the Yoga of the Dream State are a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen...

. It is considered by the Shangpa Kagyu

Shangpa Kagyu

The Shangpa Kagyu is known as the "secret" lineage and differs in origin from the better known Dagpo Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dagpo Kagyud come from the lineage of Tilopa whereas the Shangpa lineage descends from Naropa's consort Niguma as well as Sukhasiddhi...

 school of Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

 to be a seminal work and is one of their five principal tantras

Tantras

Tantras refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Although Buddhist and Hindu Tantra have many similarities from the outside, they do have some clear distinctions. The rest of this article deals with Hindu...

. Mahāmāyā-tantra is a tantric

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

 text concerning Mahāmāyā

Maya

-Peoples, languages, numerical systems:* The Maya peoples, peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America** Maya civilization, their historical civilization** Mayan languages, the family of languages spoken by the Maya...

. Mahāmāyā (Mahā holds the semantic field

Semantic field

A semantic field is a technical term in the discipline of linguistics to describe a set of words grouped by meaning in a certain way. The term is also used in other academic disciplines, such as anthropology and computational semiotics.-Definition and usage:...

: "total", "great"; Māyā holds the semantic field: "magic", "phantasmagoria", "illusion", "dream") is a deva

Deva (Buddhism)

A deva in Buddhism is one of many different types of non-human beings who share the characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, living more contentedly than the average human being....

 or deity

Deity

A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....

 in Indian religions. Mahāmāyā, Māyā or Maya, is also a force and/or the principal deity who creates, perpetuates and governs the phantasmagoria, illusion and dream of duality

Dualism

Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...

 in the phenomenal Universe. Stated simply, Maya is the goddess of dreams

Dream

Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...

. Mahāmāyā is also the name of Shakyamuni Buddha's mother.

The point of origin of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage was the Mahasiddha Khyungpo Naljor of Shang, in west-central Tibet. The Shangpa Kagyu lineage propagates five tantras of the Anuttara yoga class, each tantra is considered the seminal expression of a principal sadhana:

• the Hévajra tantra is the zenith of candali (heat) yoga
• the Chakrasamvara tantra is the zenith of consort yoga (karma mudra)
• the Guhyasamaja tantra is the zenith of illusory body and clear light yogas
• Mahamaya tantra is the zenith of dream yoga
• Dorje Jigdzé is the zenith of enlightened action.

These tantras are communicated through the teachings of five early Indian masters: Niguma, Sukhasiddhi, Dorjé Denpa, Maitripa and Rahula. The Shangpa Kagyu tradition almost died out this century. It was preserved and restored through the vigorous activity of Kalu Rinpoché towards the end of his life.

Sinha (2007) outlines that the author of the Brhad-vimansastra quotes the Mahamaya-tantra:

Their magic spells sometimes had unexpected uses, as we read in the Brhad-vimansastra, a hitherto untranslated text on flying machines which is said to date ill from the medieval period:



"Only those who have had the knowledge of Mantra, Tantra (and twenty other skills here omitted for brevity) taught to them personally by a guru are fit and proper persons to pilot a flying machine."



The author quotes the Mahamaya-tantra and other Tantric texts as sources from which the secret doctrines may be learned. The Mahamaya-tantra does indeed contain spells for flying, taking a bird's shape and travelling to any place on Earth. It also promises the ability to espy holes in the ground, perhaps marking spots where other, less talented sky-striders came to grief.

Sacred Himalayan Traditional Tibetan medicine

Traditional Tibetan medicine

Traditional Tibetan medicine is a centuries-old traditional medical system that employs a complex approach to diagnosis, incorporating techniques such as pulse analysis and urinalysis, and utilizes behavior and dietary modification, medicines composed of natural materials and physical therapies...

 employs mystic pills. Nyingma

Nyingma

The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...

 sources report pills made according to sadhana

Sadhana

Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...

 associated with the Mahamaya tantra

Tibetan translation

The following quotation mentions Vairochana

Vairotsana

This article is about the Tibetan translator. For the primordial Buddha Vairocana, please see VairocanaVairotsana of 'Pagor' was a Tibetan translator living during the reign of King Trisong Detsen...

, Kun-byed rgyal-po and Nubchen Sangye Yeshe:

Even the work of translating such esoteric texts as Kun-byed rgyal-po, mDo-dgongs-'dus and the Mahamaya cycle of teachings by Vairochana, Nyag Jnana Kumara, Nubchen Sangye Yeshe and others, was carried out in great secrecy.

Mahamaya Tantra (Tib. gyu ma chen mo) The mother tantra of the annutarayoga tantra which is one of the four main tantras in Tibet. The Mahamaya Tantra was transmitted in the second transmission of the bka babs bzhi of the Kagyu

Kagyu

The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...

.

Further reading

• Rinpoche, S. (1992). Mahamaya Tantra (With Gunavati Commentary by Ratnakara Santi). The Rare Buddhist Texts Series No. 10. New Delhi, India: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. NB: Critically edited Sanskrit text with Tibetan; in English. "The original Sanskrit text on Mahamayatantra is restored with the help of its Tibetan version and the Sanskrit commentary Gunawati. This small text having three chapters deal with very important subjects such as S[i]ddhis[sic], Classification of Hetu, Phala and Upayatantras, and manifestations of the deity."

External links

• Shangpa (Kagyud)