Question asked by Paulo Sérgio
Hello, dear pastors!
My question today is about the families of the Five Buddhas: Vairochana, Amitabha, Akshobya, Ratnasambhava and Amighasiddhi.
I read that all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, deities, etc., which we know of, belong to a particular family, among the five mentioned above. However, sometimes I can not know for sure which family a particular deity belongs to. I ask:
1 – Which family does the female Prajnaparamita Buddha belong to?
2 – Why do they say that Yamantaka is a deity of the Vajra family (of Akshobya Buddha) if he is an emanation of Buddha Manjushri (who is of the family of Vairochana)?
3- I would like you to send me the following mantras written in Tibetan: a) Tadyata Om Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Soha! , b) Om Ah Prajnaparamita Hung Hung Phat!
4 – Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in his book "Tantric Grounds and Paths" states that a person who has initiation into the Kriya Tantra of any deity in the Tathagatha family is automatically entitled to practice any other deity in the Padma or Vajra family. Does this mean that this person does not need empowerment to practice Vajrapani (who is from the Vajra family) or Avalokiteshvara (who is from the Padma family)?
Gratitude for the precious help of you who always clarify me.
Hands in prayer … Tashi Delek!
Hello Paulo Sérgio!
1. Prajnaparamita is not said to belong to any of the Buddha Families. This is because she is the embodiment of the Perfection of Wisdom herself, and is therefore known as the Mother of All Buddhas.
2. This will be explained below.
3. You can search online for these mantras, unfortunately I do not have a copy of these in Tibetan, as our prayer books use the transliterated versions, like you included in your questions.
4. You are correct. However, in practice one would still get the empowerment of the particular deity before engaging in the practice, and the empowerment plants within your mindstream the seed of gaining attainments using that particular deity as your path of practice.
Explanation:
Due to the limitless amount of Buddhas there are, they are said to be grouped into “families”. There are actually many ways to classify them, however the three main classifications are according to:
1. 1,000 Buddha Families
2. 5 Buddha Families (As in the Dhyani Buddhas)
3. 3 Buddha Families (Tathagatha, Padma and Vajra)
More than anything, on our level, we should understand that they are classified as such because of the benefits of their practice. For example, Chenrezig belongs to the Padma family because, his practice is said to help us primarily develop compassion on the path to enlightenment. Similarly, those Buddhas who belong to the Padma family will in some way or form primarily develop compassion in our mindstream first, before other enlightened qualities.
Therefore, one Buddha may belong to one family, even though their emanation or different form can belong to another. The Buddhas can all grant us the same benefits, but according to the form they take for us to practice the path, we either develop a certain quality first or tackle a certain delusion first while engaged in their practice. That is before we move on develop other qualities and tackle other negative delusions. I hope this explanation helps.