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Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

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were absorbed into the light of his body. Biographies<br />

giving facts are very reliable; they are not, you know,<br />

novels. All these facts were well kept in memory by the<br />

disciples of the various Tantric gurus in India, China,<br />

<strong>and</strong> Tibet, <strong>and</strong> soon written down. They are not matters<br />

we may seriously doubt.<br />

4. What is meant by saying that the lower tantras are<br />

"derived from the two great sutras"? (See Ch. XIII,<br />

Part One, C.)<br />

As we have already said, Nagarjuna opened the Iron<br />

Tower <strong>and</strong> took out these two sutras. Some say that the<br />

Iron Tower is a symbol of his Dharmakaya. Usually we<br />

speak of two main sutras, the Mahavairocana Sutra<br />

(from which comes the garbhadhatu m<strong>and</strong>ala) <strong>and</strong> the<br />

Vajrasekhara Sutra (which is the basis of the vajradhatu<br />

m<strong>and</strong>ala). The rituals <strong>and</strong> practice associated with these<br />

two m<strong>and</strong>alas may be thought of as developments of the<br />

sutras themselves. However, the latter are the<br />

philosophical foundations for the yoga we have<br />

described as belonging to the Eastern Vajrayana School.<br />

Some sutras are connected with other Tantras but none<br />

contain doctrines higher than these two.<br />

The listener mentioned that there were<br />

Prajnaparamita Tantric sutras in which she is<br />

described as the mother of all the Buddhas.<br />

There are other Vajrayana sutras which basically<br />

695

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