ON THE CONCEPT OF SAHAJAary adds the following explanation: "At the moment of the ansmg of the
Simultaneously-arisen, everything assumes its nature, and there is none of the
conflict of a twofold nature"^151.
Yet the authors of HVT must have felt that this experience could by no
means be reduced to an identification with the universe, and felt compelled to
caution that
(7) it transcends the universe.
"Great knowledge abides in the body, but although it pervades all things and
exists in the body, it is not in the body that it arises" (l.i.l2). It is "the essence of
all things and yet free of all things" (l.x.l8). And as we have already noted, "the
Simultaneously-arisen (Joy) exists not in these three (preceding Joys)" (l.x.l5).
Finally - and to the significance of this one can hardly attach too much
importance -
(8) it is sacred.
This is powerfully expressed in the awesome figure of Hevajra, who is, as
Snellgrove has rightly pointed out^152 , regarded by the Buddhists "as real in the
beginning, more real that flesh and blood ... In fact, the very power of these
gods as means of purification ( visuddhi) resides in the initial belief that they
instilled ... as pure symbol they would be powerless." The apparition ofHevajra
is indeed a mysterium tremendum, and his figure is vividly described in HVT
(l.iii.l3-15; Il.v.7-12). As Means, Hevajra is nothing but existence in its "puri-
fied" form, i.e. existence as it is when its essential Buddha-nature has been dis-
closed-"Of Buddha-nature is this world" (I.ix.4 ). And this Buddha-nature is, as
we have seen, identical with Simultaneously-arisen Joy (I.x.l7). Thus Hevajra
says of himself that "The Simultaneously-arisen Joy I am in essence" (II.v.3) as
well as "the essence of all forms" (II.v.2).
To acquire Buddhahood is, indeed, the goal of all Buddhism, and the
Buddha-nature forms the basis of all Buddhist conceptions of sacrality. Thus
when "the yogin wanders... in possession of a nature that is common to all
beings" (I.vi.23), it must be realized that "All beings are buddhas" (II.iv.69), and
that "There is no being that is not enlightened, if it but knows its own true
nature. The denizens of hell, the pretas and the animals, gods and men and
titans, even the worms upon the dung-heap, are eternally blissful in their true
nature" (II.iv.73-74). - To render this blissful Buddha-nature manifest is the
purpose oftantric sadhana, whether externalised in rites or internalised in yoga.
There is one aspect of the ultimate experience, so vividly described in HVT,
which is hardly touched on in this text. We have seen that it is described as in
some way embracing the entire cosmos; but, as is made very clear in other texts,
it is also, and perhaps essentially, the shining forth of that unlimited "luminos-
ity" (prabhasvara) which is nothing but one's own true consciousness or mind
(citta). Thus
(9) it is the luminosity of one's own mind.
HVT states that "the mind (citta) itself is the perfect buddha" (II.iv.75), but
says nothing of luminosity. However, according to PK (I.43), the consciousness