Vajra, in relation to paramartha (nirvana), is prajna; and in relation to samvrti (samsara), is karuna. Both nirvana and samsara are vajra. That is why in Vajrayana everything is vajra. Bhagavan himself is called Vajri. The Tathagatas are called Abhedyavajra (the indivisible vajras), which again shows that vajra stands for the Absolute. The Guru is called 'Vajradhari', the one who bears the non-dual knowledge. Elsewhere, the Guru is identified with vajradhara himself. Thus, vajra is used to indicate the ultimate Reality and all its manifestations. Vajra is not synonymous with the sunyata of Madhyamika, though they share much in common, and the terms sunyata and prajna are frequently used in Vajrayana. While in Mahayana Buddhism the Ultimate Reality (sunyata) is primarily referred to as only prajna, and karuna seems to be secondary and extraneous to it, in Vajrayana both seem to have equal status; in fact the Real (vajra) is a fusion of the two. In Vajrayana, the Ultimate Reality is the inseparability of sunyata and karuna (sunyata karunabhinnam). Again, while in Madhyamika the Real (tattva) is an epistemic entity, in Vajrayana the Real (vajra) bears ontological overtones. Madhyamikakdrika defines tattva as, that which is independently realised, peaceful, unobsessed by obsessions, without discriminations and a variety of meanings. For Vajrayana, the Ultimate Reality (vajra) is first and foremost the void which is the firm essence (saram). Bhagavan defines vajra in Vajrasekhara as, "the Void which is firm essence, indestructible, indepletable, indivisible and not capable of being consumed is called Vajra". The attributes of vajra, as we can see, are ontological while those of tattva in Madhyamika karika are epistemological. |