The 5th Seal : The Forgotten Seal of the Tantrika
Abstract: Have you ever wondered why tantric practitioners live with their partners ? If the ultimate goal of Buddhism is renunciation, why do certain Maha-(Tantra)-yana traditions allow practising with a consort ? How can we justify Guru Padma's decision of being with his consort Mandāravā/Yeshe ? Is it why some people call this a distorted version of Buddhism or is there a deep esoteric reason behind this ? Does being with a partner accelerate the enlightenment process like it worked out well for early mahasiddhas ? Do Theravada and Maha-(Tantra)-yana traditions finally converge ? We try to find answers to these questions in this article......... Fig. 1: Guru Padma and Marpa with their partners. In both Guru Saraha 's Mahamudra and Guru Padma 's Tantric traditions, we find many practitioners as non-monastic or domestic yogis who diligently engaged in their practices with consorts, partners and families as ordinary people. However their realization was ...