Interior Fire Rituals

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Interiorized Fire Rituals in India and in Tibet

Yael Bentor

Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 120, No. 4. (Oct. - Dec., 2000), pp. 594-613.

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INTERIORIZED FIRE RITUALS IN INDIA AN D IN TIBET

The term "interiorization of ritual" bears a multitude of meanings. It may pertain to a mental perfor-mance of the ritual; to the replacement of the ritual with a continuous process of life, such as breath-ing or eating; to a particular way of life, such as renunciation; to an actual performance with an innerinterpretation; to the replacement of the external ritual with an internal one, and so forth (followingBodew itz). This paper analyzes different forms of the interiorized ritual pa r excellence-the fire rit-ual-as it has existed in Tibeta n culture, against the backgr ound of Indian precedents. Among thepractices discussed here are inner heat (tap as and gtum-ma), breathing ( pr dn a) and the subtle body(rtsa-lung ), sexual yoga, food yoga, m ental fire offerings and the fire offering of enlightened wisdom.The paper concludes with an examination of the interrelationships of the various interiorized fireofferings as they are seen in Tibetan writings. Since most major Tibetan practices are presented inthis context in terms of the fire ritual, this examination elucidates the relative status of these practicesfrom a theoretical point of view. It also sheds light on how diverse and autonomous practices come tobe synthesized into a unified path to enlightenment.

FIRE O F F E R I N G S forms of older ones is, however, more commonly not aninter- but rather an intra-religious phenomenon. In spiteIN D~GHANIKXYA.5THE BU DD HAs said to have declared of the profound alternations affecting vedic religion as itthat the optimal form of fire sacrifice is the Buddhist evolved into Brahm anism and what falls generally underpath to the attainment of nirvcina.' In a typical heuristic the rubric of "Hinduism," the post-vedic traditions oftenstrategy frequently encountered in Indian Buddhist texts, continued to commun icate the new by employing the oldthe Buddhist path is contrasted to non-Buddhist br8h- vedic terms. The Vedas and their rituals lent an ortho-manical practices in order to emph asize the superiority of dox an d canonical justification to a wide num ber of in-

the former. This is yet another facet of an ongoing inter- novations (B. Smith 1989: 202-16). The special status ofreligious dialogue, however one-sided it may at times vedic rituals in India is well demonstrated by the factappear to be, between Buddhism and Brahm anism in In - that even the heterodox traditions3 at times found it ad-dia.2 The presen tation of new practices as hig her or truer vantageous to claim some sort of relationship with vedicpractices, as oc curs, for example, in o ur passage from theDighanikciya. Fire rituals, in particular, seem to haveThis research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation, been so popular in ancient India that the heterodox tradi-founded by The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. I tions could hardly afford to ignore them. T his would ex-would like also to thank the American In stitute of Indian Studie s plain how, over the course of time, and despite thefor providing the means for spending four months in India dur- positions taken in early Buddhist scriptures such as theing 19 93, during which time I studied Indian Buddhist fire rituals. Dighanikciya, the fire rituals of vedic origin were never-' The Kiitadanra Sutra. For English translations of the pas- theless eventually appropriated by Buddhism as one ofsage, which ought to be read in its larger context, see T. W. many different means that might be employed on the path

Rhys Davids 1899, I: 173-85; Walshe 1987: 133-41. For ad-ditional Plli scriptures which refer to the performance ofsacrifice, see, in particula r, Krishan 1993 . For the emplo ymen t of this strategy in Jainism, see Heester-

Another well-known example of a Buddhist reinterpreta- man 1985: 42; B. Smith 1989: 211-12; L ang 1994. The "het-tion of a brHhmanic notion is the Budd hist represen tation of one erodo x traditions" are genera lly defined by their rejection of theof the vedic myths of creation as a mistak en percep tion on the Vedas as author ities, which makes it all the more interesting topart of both Bra hm l, the supposed creator, and those purport- find cases in which the Vedas do, in some degree, supply themedly created by him (Brahrnajdla Sutta, Dighanikdya 1.1). with justifications for their practices.


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59 5ENTOR:nteriorized Fire Rituals in India and in Tibet

to nirvdna-a phenomenon n ot uniqu e to fire rituals. Inan attempt to underline superiority of a certain prac-tice, it was contrasted with another popular ritual, whichin some way resembled it. Thanks to this resemblancethe contrasted practices eventually m erged together. Thisis common within the Buddhist religion, and even moreso in Tibetan B uddhism, with its strong tendencies towards y n th e s i ~ . ~ords of the Buddha that strongly criticized orrejected brahmanical practices were subsequently takenas charters for buddhicized forms of those very practices.

At the time Buddh ism ada pted them,5 Hindu fire ritu-als already included not only external rituals in whichlibations were poured into a fire, but also internalizedforms of these rituals. In presenting their new practicesin terms of the vedic sacrifice, the renunciation move-ments characterized the classical vedic ritualists by theword devayajin, 'sacrificer[s] to the gods', while callingtheir own practitioners dtmaydjin, 'sacrificer[s] to one'sself ' .6 Later Hindu schools developed the inner fireritual still further, calling their own practices 'innersacrifice', while occasionally condemning the outwardlyperformed rituals outright, as in this example from theLiriga Purdna:

The aspirant who seeks salvation shall perform the non-violent sacrifice. One shall meditate on the fire stationedin the heart and perform the sacrifice DhyHnayajiia (med -i ta tion) . After rea liz ing ~ i v atationed in the body of allliving beings, the lord of universe, he shall devoutlyperform the sacrifice by PrinHyHma perpetually. He w hoperforms the external Homa becomes a frog in the rock.(1973, 11: 713)

Fire rituals by their very nature are particularly sus-ceptible to a diversity of interpretation s. External firemay be explicitly or implicitly related to external phe-nomena such as light, heat, cooking, home, incubation,

See Bentor 1995, where it is shown that certain Buddhistpractices which would have been performed individually andwere even competing with each other at various points in theirhistories, eventually were synthesized into a single comprehen-sive practice.According to Strickmann, "we can confidently state that bythe mid-sixth century at the latest, a Buddhist Homa rite existedin India" (1983 , 11: 433 , see also Matsunaga 1977: 172; de Jong1984; 96; Payne 1991: 44-46).

Heesterman 1993: 216. At the same time it should be em-phasized that vedic sacrificers had much broader concerns thanmerely that of propitiating the gods (B . Smith 1989; Heester-man 1993; etc.). On dtmayajfia, see Coomaraswamy 1942;Bodewitz 1973: 304-5.

ripening, growth, fertility, purification, and so forth. Wheninternalized, fire is akin to the heat of the living body,life, vitality, energy, digestion, anger (and related strongemotions-hatred, jealousy, etc.), sexual desire and ex-citation, procreation, purification, ecstatic insights, yogicor ascetic practices, etc.' As Northrop Frye says in hisintroduction to Bachelard's The Psych oanalysis of F ire:

To the imagination, fire is not a separable datum of ex-perience: it is already linked by analogy and identitywith a dozen other aspects of experience. Its heat is anal-ogous to the internal heat we feel as warm-blooded ani-mals; its sparks are analogous to seeds, the units of life;its flickering movement is analogous to vitality; itsflames are phallic symbols, providing a further analogyto the sexual act, as the ambiguity of the word "consum-mation" indicates; its transforming power is analogousto purgation. These links of analogy are so adhesive thatthey spread all over the universe. (Bachelard 1964: ii)

A common thread that runs through most of these prop-erties, whether external or internal, is the fire's trans-formative power, and this power would seem to lie atthe very foundation of its ritual usages. Our concernhere is mostly with the interiorization of fire, a subjectof great fascination throughout human history, one thatcrosscuts many cultural boundaries. As Bachelard stateswith a degree of poetic fervor necessary to do the sub-ject justice:

Light plays upon and laughs over the surface of things,but only heat penetrates. . . . This need to penetrate, togo to the interior of things, to the interior of beings, isone attraction of the intuition of inner heat. (1964: 40)

Or, as Knipe explains:It is precisely the fact that fire can be reduced to heat,and that heat can be seen as the final property of life(like breath), that allows for the pervasiveness of suchschema as the interiorization of fire. (1975: 37)

The vedic fire ritual with its hearth, funnel, ladle, ob-lations, deities, and so forth has received diverse inter-pretations in different historical epochs and contexts toaccord with then -prevailing th eories,* but it is very fre-quently instrumental in accomplishing the highest goalspostulated by those theories. While Hinduism may dress

' See also Miller 1971; Knipe 1975; Levy 1982; Kaelber1989; D. Smith 1990.

See Deussen 1906: 63.


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59 6 Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.4 (2000)

later practices in the terms of vedic rituals, thereby ren-dering them canonical and orthodox, Tibetan Buddhismstands in no need of v edic authority. The continuous em -ployment of internalized fire rituals in Tibet appears tobe part of a general process of interiorization that tookplace in both Hinduism and Buddhism, especially in theirsystems of Yoga and Tantra. The transformative powerof the fire is especially significant in tantric ritual, w here-the attainment of an inner transformation is the primeobjective.Even though the interiorization of vedic rituals hasbeen extensively discussed by such scholars as Eliade,Varenne, Biardeau and Malamoud, and Heesterman, it isessential to bear in mind that at times these writers referto different forms of interiorized r i t ~ a l s . ~he term "in-teriorization" may pertain to a mental performance ofthe ritual, to the replacement of the ritual with a contin-uous process of life such as breathing or eating, to a par-ticular way of life such as renunciation, to an actualperformance with an inner interpretation, to the replace-ment of the external ritual with an internal one, and soforth. In the following discussion the various processesof interiorization will be analyzed in accordance withTibetan categories. While it may seem to be a suspectprocedure to employ a schema based on later Tibetannotions, we hope to show that doing so provides us withimportant analytical tools in our search for ritual-histori-cal insights in this important area. The following is myown summary of classifications of inner fire rituals asfound in various Tibetan writings.I0

1. Fire offerings based on the inn er he at ( g t u m - m o )and the subtle body (composed of ncidi, cakra , an dprcina) as part of the Perfection Process.2. Fire offerings of great bliss performed togetherwith a consort (visualized or real), as in the thirdinitiation.3. Food ritual (bhojanavidhi ) ,in which food is offeredto the deities residing at one's heart.

See Bodew itz 1973: 337, n. 84.l o No single Tibetan work I have consulted recounts all five of

these categories in a straightforward manner. Most writers usea threefold classification of outer, inner, and unexcelled fire ritu-als. The inner and unexcelled categories are often further sub-divided. Still, at least four of these five categories are mentionedby several authors. For example, Abhay&aragupta, followed byTsong-kha-pa, lists my nos. 1, 3, 4, and 5. The Sa-skya-pas-Kun-dga'-snying-po, 'Phags-pa, and Nor-chen Kun-dga'-bzang-po-list my nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5. See also Kong-sprul Blo-grosmtha'-yas (accor ding to the translation in Skom pski 1995: 7).

4 . Men tal fire offerings.5. Fire offerings of the G reat Enlightened Wisdomwhich destroy ignorance, bum the kleias and con-sume dichotomies.

Each of these categories will be discussed separately,first by presenting some well-known vedic and upani-sadic examples, and then, the Tibetan forms.1 . Fire Offerings of Breathing, Inner Heat, and the

Subtle Body"In the upanisads one of the most widespread forms of

interiorization of the vedic sacrifice considers life it-self-together with the physiological functions that main-tain it-as an unceasing sacrifice. Both breathing andthe consumption of daily meals are regarded as perma-nent fire sacrifices. The origins of such interiorizationmay be found, in the classical vedic world, among thetraveling brahmins who temporarily find themselves farfrom their sacred fires. The brahmins transform the sa-cred fire into their breath, and when the sacred fire isneeded their breath may then be used to sacralize anyfire for the ritual.12 The briihmana texts expa nded th eidea of the traveling brahmin, teaching that the agnihotrais, in fact, breathing or life. As long as one breathes, theagnihotra is being performed.I3 According to Baudhciya-n a ~ r a u t a iitr a 29.5, a brahmin who is physically un-able to perform the external agnihotra, after transferringthe fire into himself, consumes the two agnihotra obla-tions himself, with the usual ritual.lJ Such methods ofexpiation, of only incidental importance to the classicalvedic ritual, became central in upanisadic thought, wherethey were interpreted as a continuous and uninterruptedinner agnihotra in accordance w ith the theories then cur-rent, which emphasized internal processes.I5 Other br8h-

This section is included in Bentor 1997.l 2 Olivelle, unpublished, MS 4; see also the Baudhayana

Dharrnaidstra 2.10. 17; Biihler 1882: 273-79; Biardeau andMalamoud 1976: 57-80; Olivelle 1992: 89.

l 3 Jaiminiya Brdhmapa, Bodewitz 1973: 64, see also pp.237-38. A similar passage is found in ~ a t a ~ a t h ara hm ap a11.3.1, Eggeling 1882-1900, V: 46-48.

l 4 ~ r a u t a k o i a1.1: 185-86; see also Bodewitz 1973: 231-34,321.

l 5 See Bodewitz 1973: 221ff. Other fashions in which thevedic texts explain the inner agnihotra as a continuous, uninter-rupted sacrifice are found in the Aitareya Aranyaka (Keith1909: 257) and K a u ~ i t a k iU p a n i ~ a d .5 (Hume 1921: 310); seealso the Prcincignihotra Upani~adVarenne 1960).


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59 7ENTO R: nteriorized F ire Rituals in India an d in Tibet

manical texts explicitly identify the sacred fires of theSrauta rituals with the three or five breaths.I6Such an interiorization of fire is related as well to thenotion of tapas," inner heat, which, like breath, meanslife. The practice of tapa s, attested already in the Rgveda,ideally accompanied every vedic sacrifice, and contrib-uted to its accomplishm ent. Tapas is accumulated throughdifferent practices, and these practices on their part serveto increase the practitioner's inner heat. This fruitful no-tion of tapas was adapted by various religious systemsin India (see Knipe 1975; Kaelber 1989: 85). Also, theyogin was assimilated t o the tapasvin of the vedic sacrifice(Eliade 1969: 108-9). Though the upanisadic passagesthat considered breathing a form of internal offering didnot refer to controlled breathing (pr~nciycima) , '~ut wereconcerned with the unconscious and continuous form ofbreathing, already the Vedas had mentioned breath con-trol as one means of accum ulating tapas.19 Som e of themajor upanisads, including the Maitri Upanisad (6.18-26), also prescribed the yoga of breath control. This con-ceptualization of human physiology in sacrificial termsreceived a special interpretative twist in the systems ofYoga and Tantra. All these concepts of breathing (prcina )as an interiorized fire ritual, of inner heat (tapas) and ofcontrolling the breath (prcinciycima) were combined to-geth er in the yoga of the subtle body, the first among theinner fire rituals which concern us here.20

The yoga of the subtle body2' especially emphasizesinner experiences of nonduality as the basis for libera-

l6 One example is found in Vaikhdnasa Srndrta Satra 11.18(Caland 1929: 65-66).

l7 Eliade 1969: 106-11; Knipe 197 5; Kaelber 1989: 84. Seealso Kloppenborg 1990 on the Buddhist redefinition of tapas .For heat in contemporary Indian rituals, see Beck 1969; Babb1973.

l a Bodewitz' objection to Eliade 1969: 112, who makes thispoint, can be found in Bodewitz 1973 : 239. On prcinciydma asa step in the present-day Hindu fire offerings, see Shingo1993: 201.

l 9 Eliade 1969: 112, 337; Kaelber 1989: 18, 58; Zysk 1993:202-3.

20 In the syncretistic Bhagavad Gi ld (4.25-30) also, yoga wasinterpreted in terms of sacrifice.

2 1 For the subtle body according to Indo-Tibetan Buddhism,see, for example, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso 1982: 17-32; GesheSopa 1985. The Hindu P r d nd g n ih o fr a U p a n i ~ a d 7-32, whichspeaks about the location of four-plus-one sacrificial fireswithin the human body, locates these fires in the head, mouth,heart, and navel, while the fifth one is related to procreation.

tion. It is precisely because the human body is such animportant source of suffering, according to general Bud-dhist theories, that it serves in the Tantra as an instrumentand a location for overcoming suffering. It is intriguingto note the strong resemblance between the Indian con-cept of the subtle body and the system of internal con-duits splitting into right and left channels as describedby Plato, in Timaeus 77c-e (see McEvilley 1993). It isalso of significanc e that even though described in termssimilar to those of the yoga of Patafijali, the Tibetanyoga of the subtle body, like the yoga of the Mai tri U pa-nisad (see Zigmund-Cerbu 1963; Wayman 1977: 164),consists of six limbs (sadarigayoga), in distinction tothe eight-limbed yoga of Patafijali. While the namesof the yogic limbs in both the eight-limbed and six-limbed systems are similar, the interpretations theyreceive, particularly in the context of the yoga of thesubtle body, set the six-limbed system apart from theyoga of Patafijali.

During this six-limbed practice (of which various de-scriptions are availablez2) inner heat (gtum-mo) is gen -erated in the navel (or in the junction of the centralchannel with the ro-ma and rkyang-ma below the navel)and blazes up through the central chann el. As a result thebodhicitta, the white drop located at the head's center,melts and meets with the red drop, the gtum-mo fire.The practice culminates in the realization of supremenondual enlightened w isdom. Tapas, which in pre-tantricpractices was regarded as a potency, becomes here theinner heat of gtum-mo, which is again a potency enablingthe goal of this particular practice. The sim ple notion of"breath" (prcina) had by this time evolved into a com-plex system of channels of which the subtle body ismade.How does the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition presentthe yoga of the subtle body in terms of the fire ritual?T he ~ r i - ~ a j r a d c i k aantra (Dpa l Rdo-rje-mkhal-'gro, Toh.370, Tog Palace 336), an important scriptural sourceoften cited in subsequent presentations, explains:(Varenne 1960 , 11: 106-9). In Tibetan Bud dhism fire is morecommonly related to the navel alone. This is also a part of asystem which associates the five elements (earth, water, fire, air,and space) with five layers of the body (knee and below, pel-vis, heart, eyebrows, and top of the head, respectively) found inthe Yoga ta tf va U p an i jad (Eliade 1969: 130-31).

22 For the KHlacakra system, see Dhargyey 1985: 128-53;Sopa 1985: 149-50; Cozort 1986: 124-28; Mullin 1991: 237-56; Orofino 1996, and references there. For the GuhyasamEjasystem, see Wayman 1977: 163; Cozort 1986: 129-31; Orofino1996, and references there.


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Jo urn al of the American O rienta l Society 120.4 (2000)

The fire wood of the skandha and so forth should beburnt in the fire of Enlightened Wisdom which blazesfrom the navel mandala and is blown by the wind ofkarm a. Th e BrahmB-fire abides at the waist; the rkyang-ma is the ladle; the ro-ma is the head of the funnel; thehandle, below the precious vajra, is up until the end ofone's vajra; the skull is the vessel for the oblations. Allthe substances should be burnt. These are successivelythe implements of the unexcelled fire offerings. So it isexplained to you, 0 Devi. (Tog Palace, vol. 92, p. 730)

Here the sticks to be burned are the skandhas, dhdtus,dyatanas, etc., the psycho-physical constituents accord-ing to Buddhism. The fire that burns them is the fire ofEnlighten ed Wisdom fanned by the winds of karm a.Its hearth is the navel mandala. The fire, here calledBrahm2-fire, is located at the waist. The ladle (dgang-gzar , pdt ri) is the rkyang-ma (laland); the ro-ma (rasa nd)is the spout of the funnel (blugs -gzar, sruva), wh ile thehandle of the funnel starting from the vajra located atthe center of the funnel up until the tip of the handle isone's o wn va jra, that is to say, the male sex org an. Theskull is the vessel for the oblation, which is the bodhi-citta (by ang-chu b sems), the seed, the white element.A similar interpretation is found in the Vasantatilakd(Dpyid-Xyi-thig-le) [8.23-241 of Q sn 2c 2ry a (Nag-po -

The head [or] the skull is explained as the vessel foroblations. The funnel is explained as the rasand. Thatwhich consists of the laland [at] the heart wheel iscalled the ladle. The hearth is the navel mandala. TheBrahmB-fire which is blown by the wind of karma is sit-uated at the threefold junction (sum-mdo, trika!a).24

The actual practice of the yoga of the subtle body is fur-ther explained by Ku n-dga'-snying -po (1092-1 158 ), theforemost among the five early masters of the Sa-skya-pa(sa-skya gong-ma lnga):Having kindled the gtum-mo fire at the navel center, thebodhicitta (w hite element) whose nature becom es moistand warm descends from the Ham at the head center tothe throat center. Then it descends further into the heartcenter.25From there again it descends into the om at the

23 Samdhong Rinpo che and Dwivedi 1990; Toh. no. 1448.24 Here the fire is explained only as the BrahmB-fire and it is

situated not at the navel but below it at the junction of the threesubtle channels.

25 Literally: "into that which is like the chu-shing flower ofthe heart" (see Samvarodaya Tantra 7.17).

navel. Thereby the feeling of bliss is born, while theconceptual thoughts of the skand ha, etc., are overcome.Finally the realization of the pure-by-nature mind isborn. (p. 229, cols. 3-4)26

'Phags-pa Blo-gros-rgy al-mtshan (1235-80), the lastamong the five early masters of the Sa-skya school, pro-vides a succinct definition for this fire ritual of the sub tlebody. It is:

The pouring of the completely pure oblation of theseed (khams) with the funnel and ladle of the ro-ma andrkyang-ma into the hearth of the nirmdna wheel (thenavel center), and so forth, in which blazes the im-maculate and clear fire of Enlightened Wisdom . (p. 18 8,col. 2)

At approximately the same t ime the 'Brug-pa Bka'-brgyud-pa teacher Yang-dgon-pa Rgyal-mtshan-dpal(1213-58) also wrote?'

One's own requisites for fire offerings are as follows: thehearth is the junction of the three channels (sum-mdo),the fire deity is the short A , the ladle and funnel are thero-ma and rkyang-ma, the oblations are the winds anddrops. (p. 96)

While in certain texts, such as the hi - ~ a jr a d d k a antracited above, the oblations are the gross body composedof skandhas, dhdtus, dyatanas, etc., here the oblationsare the subtle body of winds (rlung) and drops (thig-le).The fire deity here is the short A. This is one of thedescriptions of the gtum-mo fire, referring to the vowel-length mark in Indic alphabets that resembles an uprightfilament (which is made to brighten and blaze in thispractice).Rje Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419), the founder of the Dge-lugs-pa school, supplements these explanations for the fireritual in his work entitled Dngos-grub rgya-mtsho. Thero-ma is the funnel and the rkyang-ma is the ladle,

26 Because this passage is written as a commentary, parts ofit are paraphrased to avoid the repetition of words from thesource-text. The words padma, rdo-rje, sa-bon, bla-med gnas,and ye-shes me ni skyes gyur-bas that appear in Kun-dga'-snying-po's text refer to Nag-po-pa, Bde-mchog 'Khor-lo'iSbyin-sreg (Toh. 1447 = Toh. 1537, Derge, vol. 21, p. 585 andvol. 23, p. 223). These verses of Nag-po-pa are translated in thesection on the fire ritual of great bliss below.

27 In the table of contents of the book in which this workappears the author is given as Sa-skya-pa Rgyal-mtshan-dpal-bzang. Based on the colophon of this work itself, however, DanMartin (personal communication) identifies him as the 'Brug-paYang-dgon-pa Rgyal-mtshan-dpal.


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the navel wheel is the hearth, and the head wheel is thevessel for the oblations; the head and also the skull. Theoblations are like the liquid of bodhicitta. The flame ofthe fire offerings is the inner heat (gtum -mo) whose natureis the fire of the red bodhicitta, the elemental essence.This elemental fire, the constituent of blood, disso lves theoblation of semen which abides at the head. Since, forthe most part, it [the fire, red bodhicitta] ascends throughthe ro-ma, the channel in which it abides is called thefunnel, because it is the channel which oblates the elixir(bcud). Since the melted semen descends, for the mostpart, through the rkyang-ma, that channel is called theladle which is to be filled; it is because the ro-ma fillsit with oblated elixir. The Brahm2-fire, the elementalessence, abides below the navel at the secret lotus. Butbecause it is considered for the most part always to abideat the navel, it was also explained to abide at the navel.The equivalent of the fan which enkindles the fire isaction (karm a). Both object of meditation and the sensesshould be united. Through meditating on the coemergentglum-mo, when the mind is stable, having united the w indsof the ro-m a and rkyang-m a in the central channel, the fireof yogic gtum-mo becomes "one taste" with the BrahmH-fire. Thereby the blazing gtum-mo melts the oblation.Hence coemergent bliss is bestowed. (pp. 195-96)28

Here Tsong-kha-pa identifies the implements of the fireritual with the four centers (wheels, cakra, 'khor-lo) ofthe subtle body. The head of the funnel is the ro-ma atthe throat center and the head of the ladle is the rkyang-ma at the heart center. The navel center in which thegtum-mo fire or red bodhicitta burns is the hearth, whilethe head center containing the oblations of semen orwhite bodhicitta is the vessel for the oblations. The firedissolves the oblation of sem en. On the whole, the fireor red bodhicitta ascends through the ro-ma, which istherefore considered to be the funnel. The w hite bodhi-citta, the melted semen, descends through the rkyang-ma, which is therefore called the ladle. The purpose ofthis yoga is the merging of the winds of right and leftsubtle channels in the central one, as well as the merg-ing of th e oblater with the oblated, the sacrificer with thesacrificed, or the gtum-mo fire with the melted semen.Thereby the realization of nonduality is attained and themost supreme bliss bestowed.As the Rnying-ma-pa Sog-bzlog-pa (b . 1552) pointsout, "this is the yoga of the Perfection Process" (p. 10).The practice itself is no different from the yoga of the

28 I would like to thank Geshe Tshul-khrims-chos-'phel ofSera Monastery and David M olk for their help with som e diffi-cult points in this work of Tsong-kha-pa, cited here and below.

subtle body that is a major component of the PerfectionProcess (rdzogs-rim).Its interpretation here, however, isin terms of the fire ritual. The vedic fire is lit by rubbingtogether two fire sticks (arani,du.), while the inner fire ofgtum-mo is considered to ignite by means of the frictionof the winds in the ro-ma and rkyang-ma and their pen-etration into the central channel.29 n the vedic agnihotrathe fire consumes the oblations for the purpose, amongothers, of conveying them to the gods. In certain amongthe principal upanisads the offering to the prcincitman isperformed in order to realize the union of the citman-brahman. The present tantric practice is centered on theinner fire of gtum-mo which consum es dualities.30As thevedic Agni, a messenger who conveys the offered obla-tions to the gods, links the poles of heaven and earth, thepractice of inner heat unites the oppo site poles of the redand white bodhicitta.2. Fire Offerings of Gre at Bliss Performed Togetherwith a Consort3'

Internal fire rituals are related not only to the yoga ofthe subtle body, but also to the yoga of great bliss per-formed with a consort, in which sexual desire is trans-formed into a spiritual bliss (see also Eliade 1969: 248).This would also seem to bear certain parallels withancient Greek thought, where the sperm is consideredto come from the brain and the spinal marrow (Plato'sTimaeus, Diocles, the Sicilian school of medicine; seeMcEvilley 1993). While the sperm is related to the lowerEros and the begetting of offspring, affording us immor-tality through progeny, the brain from which the spermoriginates pertains to the passion for wisdom and truei m m ~ r t a l i t y . ~ ~

29 Compare Abhinavagupta, Tantraloka V.22, in Silburn1988: 41-42 ; Bachelard 1964: 23-31.30 For a similar interpretation in Hindu Tantrism, see Silburn

1988: 88.31 Although this category has much in comm on with the pre-

ceding category, certain Tibetan authors do d istinguish betweenfire offerings of the subtle body which are self-blessing (bdagbyin-gyis brlab-p a, N or-chen Kun-dga'-bzang-po, p. 392, cols. 1-2) or based on one's own body alone (rang-[us thabs-ld an, Kun-dga'-snying-po, p. 229, cols. 3-4) and fire offerings performedwith a consort, called in this context fire offerings of great bliss(bde-b a chen-po'i sbyin-sreg, 'Phags-pa, p. 188, col. 2; Nor-chen Kun-dga'-bzang-po, p. 393, col. 1.).

32 Also according to nondualistic Kashmir ~a iv is m :two kindsof sexual union are to be distinguished: a worldly one, leading tothe inferior domain (adhodhaman), and a mystical one, leadingto the superior domain (iirdhvadhdman)" (Silburn 1988: 186).


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The creative asp ects of the fire have long been relatedto sexual desire and procreation, as well as to spiritualbirth.33 The brfihmanas and upanisads contain variouspassages linking the fire offerin g to sexu al intercourseand c o n ~ e p t i o n . ~ ~he m ilk offered into the fire has beenrelated to semen and the boiling of the milk to orgasm(Kaelber 1989: 145). Also the kindling of the fire fromthe friction of the two fire sticks (arani) is correlatedto sexual intercourse (see also Bachelard 1964: 23-31).While in the vedic rituals the two poles are the Agni fireand the Soma liquid (fire and water) (Heesterman 1993:86), in the Buddhist tantric ritual the opposition is be-tween the red gtum-mo fire and the white oblated seed.In the dominant imagery of Tibetan inner-fire practicesthe blazing fire, blood, sun, and the red color are asso-ciated with the female, while the male is related to theseed, milk, moon, and the white color (for other similarimageries see O'Flaherty 19 80: 33-61; 1973: 278). Onthe whole, however, Tibetan sou rces contain notions verysimilar to those of the brLhmanas and upanisads (seealso Shaw 19 94: 151-52, 163-66 ). 'Phags-pa defines thefire ritual of great bliss as:

Pouring the oblation of bodhicitta with the funnel of thevajra in the completely purified hearth of the mandalaof the vulva in which blazes all around the EnlightenedWisdom fire of great passion. (p . 188, col. 2)

A notable scriptural source for the fire ritual of greatbliss is the Mahdmudrcit ilaka T a r ~ t r a . ~ ~By joining the wood (the fire sticks) of the two organs,the fire is enkindled by the wind. [Because] the upperwheel contains butter, it is thought of as the butter ves-sel. The Ha was explained as the funnel. The ladle was

33 See also Eliade 1969: 254-67; Knipe 1975: 102-5; Kaelber1989: 29-44.

34 In Satapatha B rnhmapa 6.6.2.8: "the fire pan is a female,and the fire is a male: hence when the male heats the female,he infuses seed into her" (Egge ling 1882-1900, 111: 254; seealso ~ a t a ~ a t h ardhmapa 1.7.2.1 4 [Eggeling, I: 1941). TheBrhadaranyaka and Chnndogya upanisads also describe sexualintercourse as a fire sacrifice (Brhadaranyaka Upani~ad .4.6,6.2.12-13, 6.4.3 [Hum e 1921: 1681 and ChBndogya Upanisad5.7-5.8 [Hume 1921: 2321). These conceptions were furtherdeveloped in the Hindu Tantra as well (see, for example, Sil-burn 1988: 184).

35 Phyag -rgya chen-po Thig-le'i Rgyud, in its chapter 11, en-titled "The Fire Offerings of Ultimate Meaning" (Don dam-pa'isbyin-sreg-gi cho-ga), Toh., 420, Tog-Palace 381, vol. 94, pp.429-30.

taught as the ~ a j r a . ~ ~he hearth of the homa was ex-plained as the vulva. The grain is thought of as the fivesenses. The fire wood was taught as the skandhas. Thebodhicirta burns as the butter.

Nag-po-pa, one of the important authorities on inner-fireofferings, provides a similar (but not identical) explana-tion in his work The Fir e Offerings of C ak r~ sa m v ar a. ~ 'The lotus was explained as the hearth, the vajra is knownas the funnel. B y always making fire offerings of seed,the highest stage will be obtained.

Wh ile the fire ritual of the subtle body-discussed inthe prev ious section-is related to practic es of the Per-fection Process, as Sog-bzlo g-pa (pp. 8-9) explains it,the fire ritual of great bliss, perform ed with a consort, isassociated with practices such as the third initiation, theinitiation of Enlightened Wisdom [performed with] theshes-rab-ma [praj iid] (shes-rub ye-shes-kyi d ba r~ g ) . ~ *nthe practices related to the subtle body the fusion intononduality (gnyis-su med-pa) is accomplished by m erg-ing the right and left winds into the central channel, aswell as by the meeting of the red and white drops withinone's own body. In the practices of great bliss the fu-sion into nonduality is achieved by the union of Father-Mother (yab-yum), the vajra of the Father with the lotusof the Mother, the white drop of the Father with the reddrop of the Mother. Still, the levels of realization at-tained through any of these method s are said to be equal(see below).According to Indo-Tibetan medical ideas, conceptionresults from the union of the white drop-the seed, andthe red drop-the essence of the female. Wh ile in itsconventional aspect the white drop is sperm, in its sub-lime transformed nature (parallel to the brain in ancientGreece) it is the bodhicitta in the sense of the aspirationto achieve enlightenment. While the conventional whitedrop of seed leads to [relbirth in samsdra, the ultimatewhite drop is the seed of enlightenment and liberationfrom rebirth. The red drop, or red bodhicitta, is the in-ner fire of great passion which has been transformedfrom an affliction into a spiritual passion for enlighten-ment. It also is a seed of enlightenment, as the red dropis related to inner heat and tapas, which are potencies

36 Note that here, unlike the preceding and following cita-tions, the ladle is the vajra.

37 Bde-mchog 'Khor-lo'i Sbyin-sreg, Toh. 1447 = Toh. 1537,Derge, vol. 21, p. 585 and vo l. 23, p. 223.

38 For the third initiation, see Jackson 1985: 132-33; Snell-grove 19 87: 258-59; Bentor 19 96: 258-61.


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thereto pertinent. This fire melts the white bodhicitta sothat both intermingle into nonduality. Rather than a bio-logical birth, this union yields a spiritual one. The cre-ative aspects of the fire are employed here fo r attainingspiritual consumma tion and fecundity-the achieving ofenlightenment.Kun-dga'-snying-po further explains the relationshipbetween the fire offerings of the subtle body and those ofgreat bliss in his word-for-word com mentary o n the verseby Nag-po-pa cited above. The practice that leads to therealization of nonduality, or enlightenment, can be per-formed on three different levels.39The first, for those en-dowed with the highest faculties, is based on one's ownbody alone. This is the practice of fire offerings of thesubtle body (this section from Kun-dga'-snying-po com-mentary was paraphrased in the previous section). Thesecond and third levels, which are for those en dowed withmiddling and low est faculties, respectively, are based ona union with a consort and are related to the fire offeringsof great bliss. The following is again a paraphrase ofKun-dga'-snying-po's explanation.

The practice for those endowed with middling facultiesis based on meditation on a visualized consort of En-lightened Wisdom (ye-shes-kyi phyag -rgya, jiidnamudrd ).Visualize the consort of Enlightened Wisdom as Vajra-vHrtihi. From the A at her lotus generate an eight-petaledlotus, with the seed syllable om arrayed on its antlers. Vi-sualize the Father (yab) as Heruka. From the ham at hissecret place generate a vajra . . . Then visualize that thered drop of the om at the Mother's lotus and the whitedrop of the ham of the Father['s secret place] meet. Thinkthat the vajra and lotus churn. Then bliss arises . . . Firstthe feeling bliss arises; then arises bliss of nonconcep-tual thought which is the highest stage. The culminationof this practice is the same as that of the fire offering s ofthe subtle body. The realization of the pure-by-nature mindis born. (p. 229, col. 4)

Those endowed wi th the lowes t facu l t i es should en-gage in a practice based on an "action" consort (las-kyiphyag-rgya, k armamudrd ). The act ion consort is gener-ated as Vajravarahi as well. The practitioner reverses thedescent of the seed.

then the drop descends and returns as one wishes. Thenalso the feeling of bliss and the bliss of nonconceptualthought arise. Now one attains the highest s tage [asabove ]. (p. 230, col. 1)

39 For a differing view, see Geshe Kelsang Gyatso 1982: 90,126.

Having conquered desire and the wish for progeny, theyogis attain ultimate release. By achieving control overthe internal breath a nd winds, the male practitioners arenot to emit seed for the sake of a biological procreation,but rather to reverse the normal flow of the seed, totransmute it , to unite it with the red element of the fe-male, and to direct the flow through the central channelfor the purpose of begetting enlightenment.3. F ire Offerings of F oo d

The consumption of daily meals was regarded, likebreathing, in the upanisads as a form of interiorized fireritual.40 The brahmana literature is particularly fond ofhomologies linking cosmos, person, and ritual. Whil e onthe macrocosmic level the twice-daily fire sacrifice (agn i-hotra) corresponds to sunrise and sunset, on the micro-cosmic level the agnihotra correlates to inhalation andexhalation, and also to the morning and evening meals.We have encountered already the brahmin who is tooold to perform the external agnihotra and therefore afterdepositing the sacred fire within himself, consumes thetwo ritual oblations. This literature expounds, as wasnoted above, a hom ology of the five Srauta fires with thefive breaths (pr dna ) located within the human body.41 nthis form of the interiorized fire ritual, offerings aremade to the five breaths. Such offerings constitute theprdndgnihotra ritual in its strict meaning. As Bodewitzpoints out, in this case, "[tlhe fires are abandoned, butthe ritual remains" (1973: 230). This prdn dgnih otra isnot synonymous with l i fe or breathing a s a cont inuoussacrifice: " the prdnd gniho tra as i t i s described in thesetexts (which have at least in part the function of ritualhandbooks) forms a bhojanavidhi , a ceremony of din-ing, to be regarded as one of the usual daily ceremonies"(1973: 256).42The internal agnihotra is coupled with the

40 On the relations between eating and sexual activity seeO'Flaherty 1973: 279-82. On Agni as an eater of foo d, and asthe collective mouth of all the gods, see Satapatha Brcihmana7.1.2.4 (Eggeling 1882- 1900, 111: 3 12) an d Paiicavim.fa Brcih-mana 14.3.1 9 (Caland 1931: 355).

4' In i t s chapter on in ternal agnihotra, ~ d t i k hd ~ an aranyaka10 states: "His expiration is the Ahavaniya (fire), his inspirationthe GBrhapatya, his VyHna the AnvHhHryapacana. . ." (Keith1908: 60). Similarly, Baudhdyana Dharma Scistra 2.10.18.8relates the five prcinas to the five sacrificial fires (Biihler 1 882:280).42 Texts describing this type of prdncignihotra include Bau-

dhdyana Srauta Siitra 2.7.12; Vaikhdnasa Smdrta Satra 2.18;the Prc indgnihotra Upan i~ad, nd Mai t r i U pa ni ~a d .9.


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ritual which accompanies the daily meals, bhojanavi-dhi.43 In place of performing the agnih otra, the sacri-ficers make offerings to their five breaths in a short ritualthat opens their daily meals. The "first fruits" of the foodare consumed in a sacrificial manner, while the meal itselfis transformed into the remains of a sacrifice (Biardeauand Malamoud 1976: 69). Even though the ritual remains,the transformation of the meticulous vedic prescriptioninto a simple act done at mealtime renders it especiallysuitable to world renouncers.

The sacrificial fire is homologized not only with thefive breaths, but also with the inner digestive fire. "Thisis the universal fire which is here within a person, bymeans of which the food that is eaten is cooked. I t isthe noise thereof that one hears on covering the ears

The upanisads identify the inner fire of diges-tion of the five prd na s with the dtman, as well as with theuniversal fire (Agni VaiSvBnara) or the universal dtman(Atman VaiSvBnara). Offerings made to such a fire areregarded as means for realizing the dtman-brahmanident i ty . Here w e have yet ano ther method em ployedin the upanisads for presenting current practices in termsof vedic fire rituals. The renunciation upanisads makeuse of sacrificial terms as well. According to Aruni U pa-n i ~ a d2, the renouncer "should deposit his external firesin the fire of the stomach" (tr. Olive lle 1992: 1 16). Oli-velle further explains: "Wh atever a renouncer eats, there-fore, becomes a sacrifice offered in the internal fire"(199 2: 68).45 Th e renunciate's fires are internalized, andare permanently carried within the body. "His body andbodily functions are transformed into a long sacrificialsession" (Olivelle 1992: 68-69). The internal fires arenot only equivalent to the vedic sacred fi res , they aresuperior to them.

While in the external agnihotra the fire of Agni isoften considere d to convey the offerings to its recipients,the macrocosmic deities, in upanisadic developments ofthe ritual the oblations are considered to be offered to

43 On this ritual, see Kane 1930-62, 11: 757- 806.44 Brhadaranyaka upanisad 5.9 (Hume 192l: 152-53).

Maitri Upanisad 2.6 repeats this passage; see also ChdndogyaU pa ni ~a d .13.7-8 (Hume 1921: 209) and Mai t r i Up an i~ ad6.34 (Hume 1921: 446).45 Cf. KafhaSruti (Kafharudra) Upa ni ~a d :

What he eats in the evening becomes his eveningsacrifice. What he eats in the morning becomes hismorning sacrifice. What he eats on the new moon be-comes his new moon sacrifice. What he eats on the fullmoon becomes his full moon sacrifice" (tr. Olivelle1992: 134).

the microcosmic self or to the universal dtman (AtmanV a i S ~ B n a r a ) . ~ ~ ahe fire changes its role from that oftransmitter into that of a recipient. Not only is it thedtrnan that is a recipient of fire offerings, but in someof the vedic texts such offerings are made to the internaldeities, in which case it is not the fire (the conveyer ofofferings according to the outer r i tual) but the recipi-ents of the offerings that are i n t e r i ~ r i z e d . ~ 'urthermore,the pr dn a is not only interiorized but also divinized. AsJaiminiya Brdhmana 1.1 explains, because they receivethe offerings, theprcinas are deities (Bodewitz 1973: 20).With the developm ent of the devapujd-offerings mad eto deities-within Hind uism , a simila r process of interi-orizing external deities occurs. The deity to whom thepujd is offered is considered to abide within one's heart(Rangachari 1931: 137; Gonda 1970: 80). Offerings arethen made to this deity as an interior fire (Gonda 1970:83). Hence, w hile the inner fire ritual of breathing is re-lated to yoga, the inner fire ritual of food is more closelyrelated to offerings made to deities, in other words, to theritual of piijd and its internalized forms.

In the Tibetan literature one encounters various kindsof inner fire offerings of fo od in which the two hands arethe ladle and funnel, the mouth is the homa pit, whilethe fire is the gtum-mo. 'Phags-pa Blo-gros-rgya l-mtshanprovides a brief definition of the fire offerings of food:

[It is the] pouring of the oblations of food and drinkwith the ladle and funnel of the two han ds into the homapit of the mouth which is the hearth of the body inwhich blazes the fire of gtum-mo. (p. 18 8, cols. 2-3)

The inner fire of gtum -mo carries the meanings of tapa s,inner sacrifice, inner deity, great passion, and so forth,as well as of the fire of dige stion found in earlier Indianworks. Sog-bzlog -pa concludes his own discussion aboutfire offerings of food by saying:

In fact, this is indeed the yoga of food which is ex-plained in the sddhanas of the various deities. (p . 10 )

Yoga of food (kha-zas-kyi rnal-'byor) is, among otherthings, the yoga of eating as a p ~ s t - ~ ~ d i t a t i o ~bser-vance (an ancillary to the sddhana practice). ~~~i~~arisen from meditation on himself as his chosen enlight-

46 Maitri Up anisad 6.9 (Hume 1921: 429-30) and Chrindo-gya U pa ni ~a d .24.2 (Hume 1921: 239). See also VaikhdnasaSmdrta Siitra 2.18; Sdfikhdyana iiranyaka 10; and BaudhdyanaDharma Sristra 2.7.12.

47 Sdfikhdyana iira nya ka 10 (Keith 1908: 58-59); see alsoBodewitz 1973: 328.


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ened being (y i -dam, i~tadevatc i ) ,he practit ioner shouldregard every aspect of his ordinary life as pertaining tothat tantric Buddha. This serves to enhance his realiza-tion of himself as his chosen enlightened being as wellas to create a transfo rmation, an altered reality, not o nlyin the context of h is meditation session, but in his every-day l i fe , as wel l . Hence, when he fal ls as leep the prac-tit ioner should visualize himself dissolving into empti-ness (stong-pa-nyid)or clear l ight ( 'od-gsal) .His bathingshould be regarded as the vase initiation (bum-dbang)and his daily meal as offerings to his chosen Buddha.

In his Sngags-rim-chen-mo, toward the end of thechapter on the Generat ion Process , Tsong-kha-pa ex-plains the yoga of post-meditation, including food yoga:

As for food yoga: also at the time of partaking food , in-cluding drinks and so forth, having recollected oneselfas an enlightened being, having blessed the food as nec-tar, with the thought of making offering to the enlight-ened being [i.e., oneself as an enlightened being], oneshould eat. (Peking, p. 204, col. 3)

Blo-bzang-rta-mgrin (1867-1937) provides a more de-tailed exp lanation of such a ritual, which is sti l l not toolong to be ci ted here:

Here we set down the procedure for eating food as amethod of inner fire offerings in a ritual way suitablefor any48yi-dam: In [a ritual o f] G uhyasa mija, visualizeyourself as the yi-dam. Visualize your mouth as the hearthand your two hand s as the ladle and funnel. Think that thefood has turned into an ocean of nectar of EnlightenedWisdom and the inner fire (gtum-mo) at the navel is a heapof blazing fire of Enlightened Wisdom. Visualize that atyour heart abides the assemblage of thirty-two enlight-ened beings [of the Guh yasam ija mandala49] in the vajrabody of ~ k s o b h ~ a ' ' ho is the lama, surrounded by theprecept lamas who have explained the initiation. Thinkthat the subtle channels and elements turn into an assem-blage of DHkinis and Dharma protectors.

Ho h! I myself am actual GuhyasamHja." Without wavering from the thought of enlightenment,

48 Blo-bzang-rta-mgrin refers here primarily to the mainyi-dams of the Dge-lugs-pa school (see below).49 In the ritual for Bde-mchog, there are here sixty-two en-

lightened beings; for Rdo-rje-'jigs-byed, five enlighte ned beings,and so forth.

50 In the ritual for Bde-mchog, Aksobhya is replaced withHeruka; for Rdo-rje-'jigs-byed, with 'Jigs-rje, and so forth .j1 See the previous note.

I eat this imm aculate nectar of Enlightened Wisdomfor the sake of satis fying the enlighte ned beings whoabide in [my] body.

After saying this, taste alittle f rom the food. After saying:Aho! mahiisukhah (great bliss),

e at to ~a t i s f y . '~Having blessed his food as nectar of Enlightened Wis-d ~ m ? ~he practit ione r offers i t in his intern al fire for theenlightened beings of the mandala with whom h e iden-tifies. Similar explanations are provided by authors be-longing to various periods and schools . Sog-bzlog-paprovides the following explanation for the fire offeringsof food:

The mouth is the hearth, the hands are the funnel andladle. The foods blessed as nectar are the offerings forsatisfying the enlightened beings of the inner body inthe manner of oblations. (p. 5)54

Sna-tshogs-rang-grol(1608-after 1678),who belongs tothe Bka'-brgyud-pa school , explains :

Inner fire offerings are offerings, without holding attach-ment, of oblations of nectar of food and drink into theself-arising fire hearth of glum-mo for the mandala ofskandhas, dharus, and Buddhas by joining the funneland ladle of one's hands which are wisdom and means.(fol. 6a)

Indian Buddhist works as well contain similar exposi-t ions . Abhayakaragupta (1064?-1 125?)," in his work onfire ritual Jyotirmarijarihomavidhi(o r -pciyika),s6explainsthe fire offering of food as follows.j2 This ritual is repeated with the appropriate emendations

for Bde-mchog (Cakrasamvara), Rdo-rje-'jigs-rje (Vajrabhai-rava) and Rta-mgrin (Hayagriva). A note at the end states thatthis ritual can be adjusted also for other yi-dams such as Mkha'-spyod-ma. For similar rituals, see, for example, C hos-rje Ngag-dbang-dpal-ldan of Urga (p . 461, cols. 2-3) and Go-ram-pa(p. 77, col. 4-p. 78, col. 1).53 The blessing of one's food as nectar is part of the pan-Indian ritual of din ing (see Kane 1930-62, 11: 763 ).

54 Sog-bzlog-pa calls this ritual "inner fire offerings in de-pendence on food and drinks" in order to differentiate it fromother inner fire rituals.

5 5 For Abhayakaragupta, see Biihnemann 1992.56 Tib: Sby in-sgreg -gi cho-g a 'Od-kyi Snye-ma, Toh. 3142,

P. 3963. For an English translation of this work, see Skorupski1994.


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At the time of eating, having turned one's food into all-equ al pure nectar," perfectly satisfy the whee l of one'sown enlightened beings w ho hav e arrived ats8 one's heartand are embraced by the fire of the hearth at the navel withthe ladle and funnel of one's hands and so forth, as inthe [oute r] ritual. (D erg e, vol. 75, p. 322 ; P. fol. 1 87bIS9

Even though Nag-po-pa in his Fire O fferings of Cakra-samvara (Bde-mchog 'Khor-lo'i Sby in-sreg, Toh. 1447 =Toh. 1537) does not refer to food yoga, Kun-dga'-snying-po in his commentary on this work explains theverses on mental action (sems-kyis bya, vv. 7.3-4 ) as fireofferings of food:

With regard to experiencing the nectar of the purifiedfoo d, visualize yourself o utward ly as Heruk a with hisconsort . Then clearly visualize the enlightened beingsof the mandala where the fire which ignites from theom at the navel blazes up toward the heart . Having madethe two hands into the ladle and funnel, make offeringsto the mandala at the heart . (p. 230, col . 1)

Throughout history and in various cultures, eating thedaily meal has involved certain rituals. In ancient India

57 This phrase is not clear. The Kriydsamuccaya, which drawsupon the Jyotir-mafijari , contains a similar passage (see alsoBuhneman n 1992-93 on the text of the Ni~pann ayog rivali oundin Jagaddarpana's Kriyrisamuccaya). In the Kriyrisamuccaya,thams-cad mnyams-pa nyid-du rnam-par dag-pa ' i bdud-r t s i rbyas-n as (P. 5012, p. 305.3) sarvasamatoviSuddham amrtikrrya(Lokesh Chandra 1977: 394) is the equivalent of thams- cadmnyams-pa nyid-kyis rn am-p ar dag-pa s bdud-r t s i r byas-nas inthe 'Od-kyi Snye-ma (Toh. 3142, Derge, vol. 75, p. 322 ).

5 8 Kriyrisamuccaya: gnas 'abide'.59 Abhayakaragupta calls this ritual "inner fire offerings with

outer substances" in order to distinguish it further from stillother types of inner fire offerings which are likewise not depen-dent on outer substances, such as the fire offering of the subtlebody. Since the Sanskrit edition of the Jyotirmafijarihomavidhiby Okuy ama Naoji (1983 and 1986) is based on the manuscriptfrom the University Library, Cambridge, it does not include thispassage, which is missing in that manuscript . The passage isfound in a manuscript preserved at the National Archives, Kath-man du, no. 111697 (Biihenmann 1992: 124). Okuyam a Naoji haskindly inform ed me that he is working o n an edition that will in-clude the manuscript from Nepal. My translations of this, andother passages of this text below, which are based only on theoften ambiguous Tibetan translation, might require modifica-tion after the publication of the Sanskrit text. For an alternativeEnglish translation of these passages, see Skorupski 1 994: 213.The version of the Peking edition of the Tenjur kept at theYenching Institute at Harvard University was used for this text.

the bhojanavidhi was conjoined with the internalizedfire offerings. In Tibetan Buddhism the consumption ofthe meal is often accompanied by a ritual of offering firstthe food to the Buddha. Only then is the meal eaten ashis blessed leavings (prasdda); the merit accumulatedthrough such offerings to the Buddha is conveyed to allsentient beings for the enjoyment of the food of dharma(Ben tor 1996: 291-93). Or else, food is offered to hungryghosts (yi-dwags, preta) tormented by hunger and thirst.Our main concern here, however, is with the consump-tion of daily meals as the yoga of food after formalmeditation. Here the deity, who is the recipient of theoffered food, is oneself-as the Buddha one will ulti-mately become. Such a Buddha is conceived either asoneself generated as a yi-dam or as oneself as a bodymandala.60As in the upanisadic period, in which the con-sumption of one's daily meals is regarded as a sacrifice,all aspects of life of a Tibetan practitioner, including eat-ing one's daily food, are means for attaining the ultimategoal, in this case becoming a Buddha.The upanisads distinguish between sacrifice to theexternal deities (devayajfia) and sacrifice to oneself (dt-mayajfia): "the dtmaydjin is the superior sacrificer, thedevayajin b eing no more than an inferior offering tributeto his superior" (Heesterman 1993: 216). The notion ofdeities interiorized within the human body was commonin the Vedas, in piijd, as well as in tantric rituals. Dur-ing the upanisadic period that "internal deity" is thedtman. In the Tibetan food yoga as well, it is not onlythe sacrificial fire that is interiorized but also the devaswho are the recipients of the oblations.4. Mental Fire O fferings

A m ental fire ritual is a performance of the actual fireritual in thought alone using the powers of imaginationand visualization. As in the case of the fire ritual ofbreathing, within the classical vedic frame such a mentalritual is prescribed for journeying brahmins who do nothave access to their usual ritual fires and implements(Kane 1930-62,II: 1008). Since world renouncers (sam-nydsin) have embarked on a permanent journey, themental ritual is especially suited to them (Bodewitz1973: 258, n. 8). Indeed, m ental fire offerings character-ized Indian world renouncers, who turned their backs onthe world to find transcendence within themselves. Theinteriorization of the fire ritual renders them self suffi-cient and complete (paraphrasing Heesterman 1985: 4,39). The mental ritual occupies an important place in the

60 Even though according to Tibetan Buddhism these twoconcepts are differentiated, for present purposes the distinctionis not of any crucial importance.


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Hindu Tantra (Gupta 1979 : 127 -46; 1992: 195-207),where i t i s not the vedic sacri fice but the pUjd that isinteriorized.

Mental worship is a service of contemplation, in whichthe worshipper follows in imagination the entire ritualprocedure from the evocation of the deity to the finalleave-taking. . . A Tantric at the highest stage of spiri-tual development may depend almost entirely on thismental piij2. (Gupta 1979: 196, 145)

This mental ritual contains not only offerings to the de-ity, but the entire pzijd that includes the fire offeringswithin it . The practitioner visualizes a fire hearth at hisnavel lit with the wood of meditation. In this fire hementally offers the various fire offerings6' or himself.62

In his work devoted to fire rituals Jyotir-mafijari-homa-vidhi, Abhayakaragupta describes the mental fireofferings as follows:

Having performed all these [rituals of outer fire offer-ings] with one's mind alone without any excess or defi-ciency, one's wishes will certainly be accomplished. Thisis the characteristic of mind fire offerings. (Derge, vol.75, p. 321; P.fol. 187a)63

T s O n g -k h a -~a A b h a ~ a k a r a g u ~ t an this mat-ter, explains in his own work on the fire ritual Dngos-grub rgya-mtsho:

When the oblations for the fire offerings have not beenprepared, even if one has them , without any instance ofperforming [the outward ritual], having just meditatedon everything that we have explained before [in the sec-tion on outer fire offerings], one's wishes will certainlybe accomplished. (p. 194)

The view that the outer ritual is nothing but mechani-cal action, while the performance in the mind alone is

" See Rangachari 1931: 142-43, for a Vaisnava, and LirigaPurdna 1973, 11: 694-95 (ch. 23) , for a ~ a i v a ractice.

62 Their ahapt d (Gupta 1979: 146).63 For the Sanskrit, see note above. Following the passage

translated here, Abhayakaragupta describes another type of men-tal fire offering that involves also the visualization of the chiefenlightened being of the mandala and the offerings of honey andbutter. The Kriydsamuccaya similarly explains: "When one med-itates on all these [external actions of the fire offerings] withone's mind without any excess or deficiency, one's wishes willcertainly be accomplished. T hese are mind fire offerings that areindependent of outer substances" (Tib.: P.5012, p. 305.3, Skt.,p. 394).

the real essence of the ritual is not one held by theTantra. Visualizations in one's mind form an integra l partof tantric outer rituals. Tantric rituals, external ritualsincluded, are in fact ritualized meditations. A mere me-chanical performance of the external actions would notbe regarded as const i tut ing an outer r i tual. The externalactions and implements are considered to be supports( r ten) for the actual ones. For example, while, in agurupzijd, one offers a plate of rice, the actual offeringsare conceived of as the entire world (see, for example,Tharchin 1981). Without the visualizations of this plateof rice as the entire world these offerings bear no mea n-ing. Mind rituals are not seen as in any way antitheticalto the so-called outer rituals. Tsong-kha-pa explains thiswith regard to the fire ritual:

Also [while performing the fire offerings] with the outersubstances, one must accom plish [the ritual] through themeditation of the mind indeed. Therefore, this is a causefor the full realization of the unexcelled m ind. (p. 194)

These words are based on the exposi t ion of Abhayakara-gupta in his Jyotirmafijari (Derge, p. 321; P. fol. 187b).Tsong-kha-pa is emphasizing that mental ritual, whichon various occasions is considered to replace the actualouter ritual, is often part and parc el of the external ritualas well. This notion is not unique to the Buddhist Ta ntra,but is found in vedic rituals as well, at least since thetime of the ~ a t a ~ a t h ar dh ma na (F. Smith 1987: 37-38). The role of the brahman priest in vedic rituals alsopoints to the importance of the mental aspect in outervedic sacrifices. While the other priests, such as the adh-varyu and hotr , perform the ritual actions and recite, thebrahman follows the ritual mentally. Whenever an errorin the performance occurs he corrects it not by ritualactions, but through his mental powers (Silburn 1995:

5 . Fire Offerings of Enlightened W isdo mIn the discussion of fire ritual of great bliss, the cre-

ative aspects of the fire related to fertility, incubation,birth, and growth have been emphasized. Here, the de-structive aspects of the fire become predominant. Thevedic oblations are, after all, destroyed in the sacrificialfire (Heesterman 1993: 7-44 ). The fire reduces every-thing to ashes. But, l ike the creative aspec ts of the fire,its destructiveness is ultimately a transformative process.The vedic oblations are transformed b y the sacrificial fireinto gifts suitable for the gods. The fire that consumesthe person at death readies him for his next rebirth. Thefire of wisdom transforms ignorance, which ties humanbeings to samsdra, into enlightening knowledge.


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The upanisads hold that rel igious knowledge i tself isa kind of sacrifice (B. Smith 1989 : 203 -16 ) . BhagavadGitd 4 . 2 7 adumbrates this not ion when i t speaks aboutthe fire of the yoga of self-restraint which is kindled bywisdom.64 In Bu ddhism as w el l , the fi re is a comm onsymbol for the meditative state and for enlightenment(Stache-Weiske 1990) . The fire of wisdom destroys igno-rance, bum s the defilements (nyon-mongs,kleSa), devourskarmic propensities (bag-cha gs, vdsand) and consumesduality. Kdiyapaparivarta 69 is often cited to illustratethe fire of nondual wisdom that consumes conceptualthinking:

For example, by rubbing two [pieces] of wood withforce,65 fire arises. Th at very [fire] consumes [thosepieces]. Just so, also the faculty of wisdom, havingarisen, consumes the inquiry [which has created it].66

While the inner fire of gtum-mo annihilates dualitythrough the merging of the right and left subt le chan-nels or the red and wh ite drops, the fi re of Enl ightenedWisdom destroys duali ty through the union (zung-'jug,yuganaddha) of the object and subject (gzung-'dzin),wis-d o m an d m ean s (shes-rab,prajfid and thabs , updya) ,tranquil abiding (zhi-gnas, Samatha) and penetrativeinsight (lhag-mthong, vipaiyand), emptiness (stong-pa-nyid , SUnyatd) and compassion (snying-rje, karund), an dso forth. In the yogas of the subtle body and great bliss,tantric terms, especial ly those related to the subt lebody, are emp loye d, while the terms use d in the fi re r i t-ual of Enl ightened W isdom are, for the most part , gen-erally Mahiiyana terms. Let us see how tantric authorsunderstand the fire offerings of Enlightened Wisdom.Samvarodaya Tantra 23.59-61,67 an important scripturalsource for this type of fire offerings, expounds:

64 See also Bhagavad Gitd 4.37 on the fire of wisdom thatreduces all actions to ashes.

65 Or, by the wind.66 The text is found in Sta& l-Holstein 1926: 102 . English

translat ions may be found in Bhikkhu PBsBdika 1977-79, pt. 5;1978: 33; Chang 1983; Silk (in preparation); as well asWaym an 195 5: 154; 1962: 76-77. KamalaSila refers to sucha passage in his Third Bhdvandkrama (p. 248). The Sanskrittext may be found in Tucci 1971 : 20. For other citations of thispassage, see G6mez 1987: 144, n. 43. See also Ratnaguna29.13: "Fire which has arisen from grass and sticks, [then]burns them up" (Conze 1973-75: 64). In vedic mythologyAgni is considered to be the son of the two fire sticks who the n,as soon as he is born, devours his parents (Bloomfield 1908:158-59).67 See Tsuda 1974.

The ladle is wisdom; the funnel means; their unionis meditation on nonduality.

The clarified butter issued from that is consideredas nectar of the great Enlightened Wisdom.

Therefore one should satisfy6' with [such anoblation] the fire which embodies the movableand immovable.

Whoever performs fire offering in this manner willbe granted accomplishments (siddh i) and goodfortune.

In his commentary on the Mahdvairocancibhisambodhi,Buddhaguhya says:

Inner fire offerings mean dissolving the subjective fiveskandha into emptiness, and also dissolving the objectiveouter forms, such as the o uter fire hearth, into emptiness,and likewise dissolving each of the issuing conscious-nesses of the six doors [connecting the subjective andobjective]. Having blocked [them so that they] do notissue, having dissolved like that, one abides in a medita-tive concentration which is devoid of conceptual thoughtsin which even the b odhicitta, which [i tself] blocks, isblocked by the non-issuing wisdom. (Toh. 2663)69

'Phags-pa's definition for this ritual is:The thorough burning of the oblations of all the con-ceptual thoughts of the mind and that which arises fromthe mind in the three realms with the ladle and funnelof tranquil abiding (zhi-g nas, Samatha) and penetrativeinsight (lhag-mthong, vipaiyand) in the hearth of d har -madhdtu, in which the fire of Enlightened Wisdomwhich is free of conceptual thoughts blazes all around,is the inconceivable fire offering. (p. 188, cols.1-2)

Sna-tshogs-rang-grol says:The fire offering of the utmost mean ing of suchn ess is theburning of the karmic propensities of mistaken concep-tual thoughts and grasping at signs by the blazing greatfire of E nlightened Wisdom and direct awareness in thehearth of the all-encompassing empty realm . (fol. 6a)

68 The samp arpay ed of Tsuda 1974: 144 probably shouldread samtarpayed. This would then correspond to Tsuda's transla-tion "satisfy" as well as to the readin g of the only man uscript ofthis Tantra I have access to, a copy of which was sent to me (bymistake) by the Bibliothkque nationale de France.

69 The text i s found in Wayman 1959 : 121, n . 1 90. Forthe chapter on homa in the Mahdvairocandbhisambodhi Sntra,see also Strickmann 1983: 436-42; Yamam oto 1990: 167-69;Wayman and Tajima 1992: 189-208.


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Sog-bzlog-pa provides several explanations for the fireritual of Enlightened Wisdom based on v arious systems:According to the new Tantras: "Having kindled the fireof Enlightened Wisdom which is free of conceptualthoughts in the hearth of the emptiness of the dhar-madhdru with the ladle and funnel of means and wis-dom, burning all the skandhas, dhdrus, and dyaranas ofthe three realms is the inconceivable fire offering whichis free from mental elaboration." (p. 8)According to the old Tantras: "The fire of the letterram70 of the bright E nlighten ed Wisdo m burns the firewood of dark conceptual thoughts. With the fire wood,the oblation of the emptiness of things satisfies [with]great bliss the fire deity of emptiness." (p. 5)According to the KBlacakra system: "The fire of Enlight-ened Wisdom, which pairs off the unchangeable greatbliss and emptiness endowed with all the supreme as-pects, burns all the defiled skandhas, dhdtus and dyata-nus. The transformed skandhas and dyatanas satisfy thedeities. . . ." (p . 6)In the Great Perfection: "Fire offerings for any purposeburn grasping at things and the karmic propen sities. Fireofferings for the sake of overcoming conceptual thoughtsare different from burning wood and so forth." (pp. 6-7)

Sog-bz log-pa conclud es this discussion with the follow-ing statement:Practicing the Great Perfection and the six-branchedpractice [of the completion process] is the supreme un-excelled fire offering. (p. 7)

The upanisads introduced new practices and ways oflife, such as renunciation, which often viewed even lifeitself as a sacrifice. In a some what sim ilar mann er, afterclassifying and ranking the diverse fire offerings, Sog-bzlog-pa presents the two practices he esteems aboveall as the paramount form of fire offering. In this work,the frame of reference is, obviously, fire ritual. Still,these practices that he holds in most esteem do notinvolve any formal outward fire rituals. Sog-bzlog-pacontinues here a long tradition of referring to one ritualin terms of the others, such as the Buddha's proclama-tion in th e Dighanikiiya of the Buddhist path to nir-vana as the supreme form of the fire ritual. This bringsus to the question of the ranking and interrelationshipsof these manifold fire rituals.

THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF FIRE RITUALS A N D THEIRINTERRELATIONSHIPS

Not only do the Buddhist authors cited in this studyexplain and define the various types of fire offerings,they also classify them. This is characteristic of compil-ers and systematizers who attempt to create a coherentsystem out of separate and often autonomous rituals.Most often the diverse forms of fire rituals are classi-fied according to the three following categories: unex-celled ( b la -na m e d- pa) , inner ( n a n g ) , and outer ( p h y i ) .Almost all Tibetan autho rs consulted agree that the fireritual of E nlightened Wisd om is an unex celled fire offer-ing, the fire offering of food is an inner ritual, and theexternal ritual involving fire wood and so forth is anouter offering. Variations exist with regard to the posi-tion of fire offerings of the sub tle body, great bliss, andmental fire offerings. While the early Sa-skya-pas Kun-dga'-snying-po and 'Phags-pa include the fire rituals ofthe subtle body and great bliss within the unexcelled cate-gory, the later Sa-skya scholar Ngor-chen Ku n-dga'-bzang-po (1382-1456) and Tsong-kha-pa and Sog-bzlog-paagree in classifying these two practices as inner rituals.This points to differing opinions about the relative sta-tus of two types of practices: on the one hand, thoseleading to the annihilation of conceptu al thoughts andall dualities, as reflected in the fire offerings of Enlight-ened Wisdom, and, on the other hand, tantric practicesaimed at the realization of nonduality by means of thesubtle body and great bliss. While the early Sa-skya-paauthors rank the latter types of practice as equal to thefirst, the others regard the practices of the subtle bodyand great bliss as inferior. This method of classificationis related to the place of tantric practices of the subtlebody and great bliss within the complete Buddhist sys-tem of enlightenment, as conceived by different thinkers.It should be noted that these classifications do not solelydepend on the T ibetan writers presenting them . The earlySa-skya-pas seem to fol low Nag-~o-pa ,~ 'hile Tsong-kha-pa relies here on Abhayskaragupta's Jyotirmarijari.Sna-tshogs-tang-grol, alternatively, provides a fourth cate-gory for practices of the subtle body, between the utmostfire offerings of Enlightened Wisdom and the inner ritualof food yoga. He calls this category "secret fire offerings,"adhering to the common classification of outer, inner, andsecret (phy i , nang, gsang) . In this case, practices of subtlebody take an intermediary position between fire offeringsof food and fire offerings of Enlightened Wisdom.72

" Toh. 1447 = Toh. 1537.72 Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha3-yas (1813-99) also followsThe seed syllable of fire. this classification (Skorupski 1995: 7).


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Some Tibetan authors, not satisfied with merely clas-sifying the various practices related to fire rituals in atheoretical way, also delineate the actual sequence oftheir practice. Ngor-chen Kun-dga'-bzang-po maintains:

The beginner should first cultivate the outer fire offer-ings. By practicing this ritual of fire offerings accordingto the tradition of books written by the learned and thecommentaries on tantras, all the fire wood of the con-ceptual thoughts of the mind and that which arises fromthe mind of all sentient beings in the three realms willbe burnt with the ladle and funnel of tranquil abidingand penetrative insight in the hearth of dharmadhdtu, inwhich blazes [fire] of nonconceptual thoughts. (p. 391)73

Here, the pract ice of the outer offerings according todetailed ritual methods will ultimately result in the fireofferings of Enlightened Wisdom, in which conceptualthoughts are consumed through the meditat ion of t ranqui labiding and penetrative insight. This explanation conc ernsonly the ex ternal fire ritual and fire offerings of E nlight-ened Wisdom . Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha'-yas presents, inbrief, a greater integration of the various fire rituals.

A beginner in ritual practices first performs the externaland inner burnt oblations. By acting in this manner, he be-comes able to perform the secret burnt oblation throughthe power of the blessing bestowed by the gratified dei-ties, and through this he becomes proficient in performingwith ease the essential burnt oblations [i.e., the suprem efire offerings].74

Tsong-kha-pa, in emphasizing the gradual and multifac-eted path to enlightenment, integrates most of the di-verse internalized fire offerings encountered above intoa single continuous practice.

Having pleased one's own enlightened being with outerfire offerings and with inner fire offerings in dependenceon outer substances [i.e ., food yoga], the enlightenedbeing blesses an inner fire offering in which thebodhicitta [located] at the head is burnt in the gtum-mofire of the navel [i.e., fire offerings of the subtle body],because the continuum which generates the realizationof the completion process has been ripened. Therefore,constructed mandalas, recitations, and fire offerings

73 See also the MahdvairocannbhisarpbodhiSiitra, in Strick-mann 1983: 439-42.

74 Translated by Skorupski (1995: 7).

were taught for the sake of realizing the union of the trueessence. When one has the special ability of [performing]inner fire offerings [of the subtle body], by the power ofthe bliss of melting the two elements, the coarse concep-tual thoughts of the app earanc e of du ality are pacified. Atthe time the ascent and descent of the bodhicitta [alongthe central channel] appear simultaneously, when onerecollects the view of arriving at the real essence of emp-tiness, of the intrinsic emptiness of all dharmas, this cul-tivation is that of the unexcelled fire offerin gs. After that,when o ne arises [from meditation], having arisen as theillusory body of one's own chosen enlightened being, oneshould once more traverse the path with the se quenc e ofperforming fire offerings as before. (p. 197)

In other words, one begins with the performance ofouter fire offerings and with fire offerings of food, whichpleases one's enlightened being. As a result, this enlight-ened being bestows blessings on the performer. Theseblessings enable o ne to practice the fire offerings of thesubtle body. Hence, the ultimate purpose of all externalrituals, including those based on the construction ofsand man dala s and fire altars, is similar-the realizationof nonduality. The melting of the white and red dropsthrough the performance of the inner fire ritual of thesubtle body pacifies the coarse conceptual thoughtsregarding the appearance of duality. The simultaneousascent and descent of the bodhicitta along the centralchannel at the completion of this yoga leads to the fireofferings of Enlightened Wisdom, in which one arrivesat the real understanding of the intrinsic emptiness ofall phenomena. After arising from this meditation, thepract i tioner re tu rns to th i s wor ld of fo rms and dual i tyas an appearance of his yi-dam. Back in the relativeworld he should commence again with the outer fireofferings and gradually proceed towards the fire offer-ings of En lightened W isdom, and so on, repeatedly. It isjust such a process that forms the foundation of tantricpract ice. Having achieved the cl imax of the yoga thepractitioner reiterates his steps along a more and moreprofound course.

In what follow s, Tsong-kha-pa e xplains that it is nec-essary to perform ea ch of the fire offerings with the aimof reaching the subsequent one. He stresses that:

When there is no cause for cultivating the view of thedefinite meaning of the absence of intrinsic nature, eventhough through the fire offering of blazing and drippingwhich causes the wind of the right and left channels toenter the central channel, the coarse conceptual thoughtsare pacified for a short while, still having considered thatthere is no inclination for the meaning of suchness, the


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' ~ d - S n ~ e ~ ~aught that the unexcelled fire offering [i.e.,the fire offering of Enlightened Wisdom] is distinct fromthe inner fire offerings which do not depend on sub-stances [i.e ., fire offerings of the subtle body]. T his is cor-rect (p. 197)

According to this, the ultimate purpose of performingthe diverse rituals is the understanding of the true natureof all things by means of the fire ritual of EnlightenedWisdom. Without an aspiration to achieve the realiza-tion that all pheno mena are empty of own natu re, the fireritual of the subtle body cannot ac hieve its highest aim.This accords with the common tantric view which callsfor the union of bliss, born out of the practices of thesubtle body, and emptiness. Such an integration of var-ious practices is related to the question of gradual vs.sudden enlightenment-or, more specifically, to the de-bate whether the different practices comprising the Bud-dhist path can lead to enlightenment separately or onlywhen practiced together (G 6mez 1983, 1 987; Griffiths1983; Jackson 1994). This integration also relates to theposition of the meditation on emptiness, which is basedon general Mahayana notions, within the tantric path toenlightenment, as discussed abo ve. In a typical system-atizing fashion, Tsong-kha-pa's opinion here is that thevarious fire rituals should be combined into a singleconsecutive practice culminating in the realization ofthe empty and nondual nature of all phenomena.76

CONCL USI ONSTibetan Buddhism presents some of its main prac-tices in terms of fire rituals of vedic origin. In doing so

it furthers a prominent theme of the upanisads, whichcontinued in later Hinduism as well. When Buddhismadopted the fire ritual, it is clear that factors differentfrom those operating at that early period were in ~ o lv e d .~ '

75 This is the S byin-sgreg-gi cho-ga 'Od-kyi Snye-ma, Jyotir-matijarihomavidhi, or -pdyika (Toh. 3 142, P. 3963), the work byAbhayakaragupta on fire ritual cited above.

7 6 According to Shaw 1994: 165 and 254, n. 123, Tsong-kha-pa, in his commentary on the Cakrasamvara Tantra, entitledSbas-don Kun-gsal, also discusses what it is that constitutes thereal fire offering, amving at the conclusion that it is the burningof conceptual th oughts, which results in the entry into clear light.

77 Eliade 1969: 11 1-13 explains the interior ization of th evedic sacrifice, including the replacement of the oblations intothe fire with physiological functions, as m eans for incorporatingyogic movements within orthodox Brahmanism. Heesterman1985: 38-41, on the other hand, emphasizes the orthogeneticcharacter of this process. Others, including B. Smith (1989: 194-

Furthermore, Tibetan Buddhism does not require a strat-egy of presenting non-vedic practices in vedic garb.When Buddhism adapted fire rituals, their internalizedforms were already firmly established. While Indic Bud-dhist texts were aware of the popularity of fire ritualsamong non-Buddhists, and therefore designate such non-Buddhist homa as false (Strickrnann 1983: 425), TibetanBuddhism gradually lost contact with "heretic" fire ritu-als. Their vedic origin was forgotten and the ritual wasattributed to the Buddh a.78Most Tibetan sources do not,therefore, find it necessary to provide ex planations fo r anexternal origin of their practice of homa. Tibetan Bud-dhism usually m akes use of the rich associations of fire tosuit its own system of ideas and practices. The fire usu-ally is associated with the highest religious goa l; whilein the Veda Agni is the messenger who integrates thethree worlds (Knipe 1975: 94), in Tibetan Buddhism, notunlike some of the upanisads, the inner fire brings aboutthe realization of nonduality that does not require anyouter journey, but can be found within. In all these casesthe fire transmits, transposes, transforms.The external fire offering (in which various oblationsare poured into an actu al fire) did not los e its popular-ity in India with the declin e of vedic ritual (yajfia)and theevolution of the piijn. The extent to which the externalfire has been preserved within Hinduism has surprisedeven great Indologists like Gonda: "the homa (offeringinto the fire) which, being of vedic origin, has curiouslyenough, been retained in nearly all extended piijd cere-monies (even in Tantric and hktist rites) . . ." (1970:79-80; emph asis add ed). In Tibet as well, the external fireritual is considered one of the three most important ritualsthat every tantric master is obliged to perform.79 Theprevalent form of the external fire ritual supplied a con-tinuing frame of reference for the internal ritual.80

95) and Olivelle (1992: 20-21), take the middle stance betweenthese extremes. See also Strickmann 1983: 418, on the antithet-ical position of Tantra towards the Vedas.

78 The "return" of Bud dhists to India as Tibetan refug ees,however, has renewed the encounter. A Tibetan who now worksin an institute of higher education in India once explained to methat the fire ritual was, in fact, originally taught by the Buddha.Only later on was it borrowed by the other religions in India.

79 Rje-brsun G rags-pa-rgyal-mtshan (1 147-1216) lists theseas follows: "Further, among the actions of a vajrdcdrya (rdo-rje slob- dpon), the most important are these three: initiations,consecrations, and fire rituals" (in his commentary on the Hevaj-ra T antra, p. 136, col. 2).

The vedic ritual itself cannot be viewed as a purelyexternal process. On this point, see F. Smith 1987: 37-38;B. Smith 1989.


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Not only was the external fire ritual accepted by therel igious systems of ancient India, but also the conceptof inne r heat was shared by both Brahman ism and ascet-icism, yoga and shamanism, as well as Buddhist medi-tation (Eliade 1969: 337).81 It was used by the varioussystems for accomplishing their respect ive goals , thegoals of the vedic sacrifice, the upanisadic liberatingknowledg e, the healing magic of the sham an, or the psy-cho-physical transformation of the yogin. It would seemto be precisely these common elements in the varioussystems that permitted adaptation from one system intoanother. All these practices are concerned with innertransformation, for which the rich associations of interi-orized fire are extremely valuable.

As Knipe says, "Fire is the very embodiment ofchan ge and transformation" (1975: 47) and Bachelardadmirably delineates the manifold roles and associationsof the fire:

Fire is thus a privileged phenomenon which can explainanything. If all that changes slowly m ay be explained bylife, all that changes quickly is explained by fire. Fire is theultra-living element. It is intimate and it is universal. Itlives in our heart. It lives in the sky. It rises from the depthsof the substance and offers itself with the warmth of love.Or it can go back down into the substance and hide there,latent and pent-up, like hate and vengeance. Among all

81 For inner heat in Buddhist meditation, see also King 19 61;Strickmann 1983: 427-29; Stache-Weiske 1990, etc.

phenomena, it is really the only one to which there canbe so definitely attributed the opposing values of goodand evil. It shines in P aradise, it burns in H ell. It is gen-tleness and torture. It is cookery and it is apocalypse. Itis a pleasure of the good child sitting prudently by thehearth; yet it punishes any disobedience when the childwishes to play too close to its flames. It is well-beingand it is respect. It is a tutelary and a terrible divinity,both good and bad. It can contradict itself; thus it is oneof the principles of u niversal explanation. (1964: 7)

This rich symbolism of the fire found clear and potentapplications in the interiorized practices of the upa-nisads, as well as of the Buddhist and non-Buddhistschools of Yoga an d Tantra. Most important for its utili-zation in yogic and tantric rituals are its ambivalentnature, its manifestation as interna l heat and its transfor-mative power. The fire's ambivalent nature is of greatsignificance in processes of transmutation, as well as inthe realization of the nonduality of seemingly opposingqualities. Th e internal aspe cts of the fire-including vi-tality, sexual desire, fecundity, inner knowledge, and soforth-are crucial to the interiorized practices of the Yogaand Tantra. Of u tmost significance is the transformativecharacter of the fire which both creates and annihilates,often simultaneously. This kind of transformation ma ybring about a spiritual birth into enlightening wisdom,enable a transmutation of sexual desire into passion forwisdom and into spiritual bliss, while by consuming du-ality, it may empower the transformation of ignoranceinto libe rating realization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

T IB E T AN AND CL ASSICAL SOURCE S

(SSKB-The Com plete Works of the Great Maste rs of the SaSect of th e Buddhism. Th eBunko, 1968-69.)

Abhayakaragup

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Interior Fire Rituals

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