Sutra and Tantra Mahayana

Pema Dragpa March 9, 2021

“The Vajrayana is also known as Tantra. Tantric teachings are based on the Sutra Mahayana, but offer a more subtle understanding of our experience and additional methods to realize enlightenment. Vajrayana practice encourages us to take a deeper look at our perceptions, recognize our primordial nature, and maintain our mind in its natural state. In this way, the sutras are more general teachings that clarify the nature of conditioned mind and its perceptions, while the tantras reveal the secret, subtle structure of our body, mind, and all phenomena. Therefore, the Vajrayana teachings were given for more advanced practitioners. Although the sutras and tantras both share the same foundation, the Vajrayana goes further towards understanding transcendental reality as it is without being distorted by our habitual, conditioned mind. Practicing the sutras and tantras in union can bring enlightenment within this very life, even within a very short period of time. Accelerating our path to enlightenment is a principle distinction between the practices of the sutras and tantras.”

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches

Liberating Duality with Wisdom Display: The Eight Emanations of Guru Padmasambhava (pg 9)

www.padmasambhava.org/chiso/books-by-khenpo-rinpoches/liberating-duality-with-wisdom-display-eight-emanations-of-guru-padmasambhava