Kriya tantra

Kriya tantra (Skt. kriyātantra; T. bya rgyud བྱ་རྒྱུད་), or "action tantra", is a class of tantras within Tibetan Buddhism. It is the first of the three outer tantras according to the Nyingma school and the first of the four classes of tantra according to the Sarma schools.

Cortland Dahl states:

The view of this approach concerns the ultimate and relative truths. In terms of the ultimate, Kriya stresses the inseparability of appearance and emptiness, and that all phenomena are essentially beyond arising and cessation. In terms of the relative, these same phenomena are viewed as divine forms.

Kriya stresses the vital role of meditation in spiritual practice, as do all Buddhist traditions. What sets this approach apart is its use of purification rituals, ablutions, and specific requirements concerning diet and clothing. Such activities are linked with tantric meditations, such as the visualization of deities and mantra recitation. In Kriya meditation, the deity is regarded as superior to oneself, whereas in later approaches the deity is considered an expression of the nature of one’s own mind.

Explanation of kriya tantra according to the Nyingma tradition

Explanation from Vimilamitra

Vimalamitra writes:

There are seven principles in the Kriya Vehicle: First, the gateways to this approach are ablutions and acts of ritual purity. Ablutions include using water to cleanse externally, as well as the cultivation of nonconceptual states to cleanse internally. Ritual purity involves acts like partaking of the three white foods and the three sweets. Second, the view of this approach involves realizing ultimate reality, free of the four limitations of the genuine. In terms of the relative, by virtue of realizing the ultimate, [all phenomena] are viewed as the deities of the three buddha families and asserted to appear as such. Third, meditation in this approach consists of viewing oneself (as the samaya being) and the deity (as the wisdom being) as master and servant. Fourth, its conduct entails working for the welfare of both oneself and others by following the five root and two subsidiary principles laid out in the treatises of this tradition. Fifth, the result of this approach is the attainment of the level of a vajra holder of the three families. Sixth, the duration it takes to reach this level is either sixteen or seven lifetimes. Seventh, in terms of benefit, one carries out the four forms of enlightened activity for the welfare of both oneself and others.

Explanation from Alak Zenkar Rinpoche

Alak Zenkar Rinpoche explains the vehicle (yana) of kriya tantra according to the Nyingma system of nine yanas as follows:

The kriyā tantras, or ‘action’ tantras, are so-called because they are concerned mainly with external conduct, the practices of ritual purification and cleanliness and so on.

The entry point, view, meditation, conduct and results of this vehicle are as follows:

i. Entry Point

The initial point of entry to the path of secret mantra vajrayana is ripening empowerment, so here one receives the water empowerment, which establishes the potential for ripening into the dharmakaya, and the crown empowerment, which establishes the potential for ripening into the rūpakāya. Then one keeps the general samayas of the kriyā yoga as they are explained in the particular texts themselves.

ii. View

In terms of determining the view, the basis of the path, one realizes that the ground of purification, the nature of mind itself, is the wisdom of empty clarity, and is ultimately beyond all extremes of elaboration, such as existing, not existing, appearing or being empty. Then one views the aspects of relative appearance, which are what must be purified, as the characteristics of the completely pure deity.

iii. Meditation

As for the path and the way of practising meditation, it centres around the four realities: 1) the reality of oneself, and 2) the reality of the deity, which is practised by means of the six aspects of the deity,[8] by visualizing oneself as the samaya form and then invoking the wisdom being into the space in front, considering oneself as a servant and the deity as one’s master. One then focuses upon 3) the reality of the mantra recitation which is the sound, and on the mind and the ground, and meditates upon 4) the reality of concentration, which consists of remaining in the ‘flame,’ continuation of sound and culmination of sound.

iv. Conduct

One performs the three kinds of ritual purification,[9] changes the three types of clothing,[10] adopts a diet of the three white foods[11] and practices ritual fasting and mantra recitation.

v. Results

In the short term, one becomes a desire realm vidyādhara, and ultimately one attains awakening as Vajradhara of one of the three buddha families: of the family of enlightened body, Vairocana, of the family of enlightened speech, Amitābha, or of the family of enlightened mind, Akṣobhya.

Within East Asian Buddhism

The tantras within this category are also signficant within the East Asian traditions of Shingon and Tendai. However these traditions follow a different classificaton system.

Texts

According to Ringu Tulku, the three general kinds of Kriya tantra include:

• Two Stainless Ones,
• the Establishment of the Three Samayas,
• the Forty-Seven Medicine Buddhas,
• Numerous Deities of the Ultimate Lasso,
• the Nine Deities of Akshobya,
• the Eleven-Faced One (see below), and
• Vajrapani.

Other texts classified as Kriya tantra include:

• Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra ("Golden Light Sutra")
• Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa ("Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī")
• Dhāraṇī of the Eleven Faced Avalokiteśvara
• Heart Sutra, typically classified as a Kriya tantra in versions of the Tibetan Kangyur; sometimes classified as both sutra and tantra.

For a complete list of Kriya tantras included in the Tibetan Kangyur, see:

• Action tantras, 84000 Collection

See also

• Outer Tantras
• Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism

Sources

• Dahl, Cortland (2009), Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices, Shambhala 
• Ringu Tulku (2006), The Ri-Me Philosophy of Jamgon Kungtrul the Great, Shambhala