complex of the numerous VAJRAYANABuddhist sys-
tems of mysticism. Although it presupposes and draws
on all of the preceeding developments of Indian Bud-
dhism, it is innovative in both its soteriological doc-
trines and in its mythic prophetic vision. Based on the
ancient idea of the homology of the macrocosm and
the microcosm, the Kalacakra presents a tantric yogic
method for transforming an individual from a suffer-
ing, samsaric state into the transcendent state of per-
fect awakening. Drawing on Hindu mythology and
historical events, it predicts a conflict between the
forces of good and evil out of which a new golden age
will be born.
Doctrine
The subject matter of the Kalacakra system has a tri-
partite structure: the external world (bahya), the self
(adhyatman), and the transcendent (para). The last
topic can be subdivided into three: INITIATION(abhi-
seka), practice (sadhana), and gnosis (jñana). The
yoga of the Kalacakra is founded on the idea that the
world (the macrocosm) and the self (the microcosm)
share essential properties and that a person contains
all of the elements of the cosmos. Correspondences
between world and self allow the universe to be treated
as a unified field for the development of salvific
knowledge—gnosis.
In the Kalacakra initiation rites—the entryway to
the tantric path—the guru introduces the disciple to
the MANDALA, a palace inhabited by deities that repre-
sents the disciple’s world/self in a purified, awakened
state. The mandala provides a new self-image for the
disciple: Whereas previously the disciple was en-
meshed in the impure, limited, and confused projec-
tions of ordinary samsaric mind, the mysteries of the
mandala revealed in the initiation rites furnish a
glimpse of the disciple’s potential for the realization of
awakening.
During the initial phase of tantric practice—the
generation stage (utpattikrama)—the practitioner first
dissolves ordinary perceptions of self and environment
into a perception of emptiness, and then imaginatively
generates a vision of self in the form of the buddha
deities S ́rKalacakra (Splendid Wheel of Time) and
Vis ́vamata(Mother of the Universe), together with
their progeny, the rest of the mandala. This stage—
explicitly correlated with the process of human con-
ception, birth, and maturation—transforms and
divinizes the power of imagination, loosens attach-
ment to mundane concerns, and produces a great store
of merit.
The second phase of practice—the completion
stage (utpannakrama)—uses controlled sensory de-
privation, mental fixation, and manipulation of res-
piration and other energies in the body to induce a
physiological and psychic condition similar to death.
In this state all forms of ideation cease, and the prac-
titioner obtains a vision of the emptiness image (s ́un-
yatabimbam). The emptiness image is a gnosis that
nonconceptually cognizes the totality of the universe
in terms of both conventional truth (the appearances
of ordinary phenomena) and ultimate truth (the uni-
versal emptiness that is everything’s lack of absolute,
autonomous existence). Vision of the emptiness im-
age gives rise to imperishable bliss (aksarasukha), so
that gnosis and bliss are inseparably fused. Repeated
cultivation of this experience purifies the mind of ob-
scurations, finally culminating in the practitioner’s
achievement of the transcendent, perfect awakening
of a buddha.Myth
According to the Kalacakra tradition, the Buddha
taught this tantra at the Dhanyakataka stupa in South
India to King Sucandra, ruler of Shambhala, a vast
empire located in Central Asia. The Kalacakra wasKALACAKRAThe deity S ́rlKalacakra, a vision of self generated by the practi-
tioner of tantra. © Lokesh Chandra. Reproduced by permission.