Ganachakra: Difference between revisions

[[File:Tantric Feast LACMA M.77.63.1.jpg|thumb|Tantric Feast, India, Himachal Pradesh, Nurpur, circa 1790]]

A '''ganacakra''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{IAST|गणचक्र}} ''gaṇacakra'' "gathering circle"; {{bo|t=ཚོགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།|w=tshogs kyi 'khor lo}}) is  also known as '''tsog''', '''ganapuja''', '''cakrapuja''' or '''ganacakrapuja'''. It is a generic term for various [[Tantra|tantric]] assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant [[mantra]], enact [[mudra]], make [[votive offering]]s and practice various tantric [[ritual]]s  as part of a ''[[sādhanā]]'', or spiritual practice.  The ganachakra often comprises a [[sacrament]]al meal and festivities such as dancing, [[spirit possession]], and [[trance]]; the feast generally consisting of materials that were considered forbidden or [[taboo]] in medieval India like meat, fish, and wine, usually consumed by lower castes and tribes where the tantric movement arose. As a tantric practice, forms of gaṇacakra are practiced today in [[Hinduism]], [[Bon|Bön]] and [[Vajrayana|Vajrayāna Buddhism]].

In Hindu tantra, a ganachakra typically consists of five elements known as [[panchamakara]] or the "five Ms": madya ([[wine]]), mamsa ([[meat]]), [[matsya]] ([[fish]]), [[mudra]] (rice or grain), and [[maithuna]] (sex or Bhog-vilash or [[yab-yum]]) a form of [[tantra]].

===Ganachakra and the Mahasiddhas===

Vajranatha associates the Ganachakra with the "higher tantras" or mysteries , the ''[[anuttarayogatantra]]'', and associates a non-monastic origin and tributary of this Mystery Rite to the [[Mahasiddha]] tradition which has roots in a complex and coterie of esoteric traditions of numerous [[Siddha]], [[Yogi]], [[Sadhu]] and holy peoples of Buddhist, Hindu and non-sectarian practices and views:

{{quote|The Higher Tantras could not be a congregational practice of monks because Tantric sadhana, as well as celebrations of the High Tantric feast or Ganachakrapuja, required partaking of meat, wine, and sexual intercourse. At the very least the latter two would force a monk to break his vows. And so what came about in the eleventh century was a change in the external style of practice; the Anuttara Tantras, many of them freshly brought from India and newly translated into Tibetan, came to be practiced in the style of the lower Yoga Tantras. Although there is a great deal of ritual in the Yoga Tantras, there is nothing there that would require a monk to violate his monastic vows. The presence of a woman or [[Dakini]] is required at High Tantric initiation and also at the Tantric feast of the Ganachakrapuja, but in the eleventh century reform the actual Dakini physically present was replaced by a mind-consort (''yid kyi rig-ma''), a visualization of the Dakini. One did the sexual practice only in visualization, not in actuality. In this way the practices of the Higher Tantras could be taken into the monasteries and incorporated into the congregations practice and liturgy of the monks known as puja.{{sfnp|Vajranatha|2007}} }}

In [[Vajrayana]] and  [[Dzogchen]], it is traditional to offer a gaṇacakra to [[Padmasambhava]] or other deities, usually gurus, on the tenth [[lunar day]], and to a form of [[dakini]] such as [[Yeshe Tsogyal]], [[Mandarava]] or [[Vajrayogini]] on the twenty-fifth lunar day. Generally, participants are required by their [[samaya]] "vow" to partake of meat and alcohol, and the rite tends to have elements symbolic of [[coitus]].  Traditions of the Ganachakra liturgy and rite extends remains of food and other compassionate offerings to alleviate the insatiable hunger of the [[hungry ghosts]], ''[[genius loci]]'' and other entities.

 

 

 

 

{{quote|Undoubtedly, the striking parallels between "The legend about Chakdor" and the Hindu legend of the origin of ''soma'' show that the Buddhist ''amrita'' and the Hindu ''soma'' were at one time understood to be identical. Moreover, the principal property of ''amrita'' is, to this day, perceived by Buddhists as being a species of inebriation, however symbolically this inebriation may be interpreted. Why else would beer (Tibetan ''chhang'', "barley beer") be used by yogins as a symbolic substitute for ''amrita'' [Ardussi]? Conversely, why else would the term ''bDud.rTsi'' be used as a poetic synonym for beer?{{sfnp|Crowley|1996}} }}

See [[Vegetarianism in Buddhism#Vajrayana]].