METAPHYSICS

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The term metaphysics refers to the branch of philosophy that deals with “first things” or,
to be more specific, abstract ideas that are presupposed to originate from subsequent
ideas. Metaphysics, in principle, is not a central theme in exoteric Buddhist philosophy.
Although several metaphysical themes are dealt with throughout the early Buddhist
texts (the Pāli Canon1), and even more so in the texts of the canon of Mahayana
Buddhism, the main focus of Buddhism since its inception has been practice rather
than intellectual digression with respect to ontological theorization.
The focus on practice, however, makes it inevitable that, in the long run, one
has to dwell on theoretical considerations, for no practice is possible without a theory
underlying it, albeit implicitly so. To be able to perform a meditation exercise, one has
to assume that meditation is capable of producing beneficial results for the practitioner,
and this type of assumption is then derived from a specific theory, whether it is
developed from an experimental process—deductively—or from a series of past
traditions—inductively. In exoteric religions and, specifically, also in exoteric
Buddhism, fundamental theory is often relegated to a set of doctrines supplemented by
a series of symbols whose relation to the theory becomes eventually hidden.
Esotericism, on the other hand, thanks to the principle of correspondence, is ultimately
capable of reinterpreting those symbols and directly associating them with the theory.
Tantra, this being a form of esoteric Buddhist practice, is rooted, in regard to
the theory underpinning its procedures, in the non-dualist Vedic philosophy2 (advaidha
vedānta). Tantric metaphysics can therefore be interpreted as a “theory of first things”
that serves to sustain the tradition on which its practices are based. This metaphysics
draws its fundamental principles from the aforementioned non-dualist Vedic
philosophy and is complemented and reaffirmed by the system of correspondences
suggested by the different theoretical aspects of these practices.
From such a system of correspondences and from the principles expounded in
the non-dualist Vedic philosophies derive an analysis of “first things” that will lead us
to an interpretation of a tantric cosmology that serve as a conceptual ground for the
whole field of tantric symbols and practices exposed in this book.

1 The first existing collection of texts based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha—the original
propagator of Buddhism—written in the ancient language known as Pāli (a descendant of
Sanskrit). The Pāli Canon is the basis of the theoretical principles and spiritual practices accepted
by Theravāda Buddhism, which is the type of Buddhism currently practiced in Southeast Asia.
2 A philosophy developed from the interpretation of the Vedas, one of the oldest preserved texts
of humanity. The Vedas are a compilation of texts written in Sanskrit dealing with a series of
rituals performed by the Indo-European people who settled in the north of India. These texts
were compelled during a period of time spanning from around 1500 BC to 500 BC.
 From that interpretation it can be inferred that the main difference between
exoteric Buddhism and tantra—being this difference therefore an important novelty
with respect to tantra—is that the former, at least in its orthodox forms, categorically
denies the existence of the soul and categorically ignores or disregards the reason for
being or the aetiology of the world, while the latter, having has its main purpose to give
the world “light” through individual practice, must somehow justify the need to
improve or “enlighten” that world. The only way to justify such a need is to develop a
theory of first things that satisfies the different philosophical reasonings on which
Tantric practice is based. With regard to the existence of the soul denied by Buddhist
orthodoxy, the opposite conclusion adopted by tantra is reached in an inductive manner
through the mere theory of reincarnation: What is the use of helping oneself or one's
fellow-beings if reincarnation is not of the soul but of an eternal desire of a mortal
being, as postulated by Buddhist orthodoxy? The moral and logical justification of a
spiritual practice based on reincarnation resides in the perpetuity of an individual
sensitive entity or soul that ultimately responds to its acts and senses in a sequential
manner. The soul, according to Tantric metaphysics, supports the theory of
reincarnation and karma common to exoteric Buddhism. The problem with the
Buddhist theoretical framework, however, is that it is not able to explain in a logical or
inductive way the need to help others and oneself or the need to worry about future
reincarnations since, according to it, such reincarnations will not be of the self, but of
ambiguous desires that after the death of the self would no longer be of that particular
self.
In short, it can be said that tantra needs a metaphysics that is useful to justify
the need for spiritual practice and to theoretically support and reaffirm that practice
and the correspondences used in it. This metaphysics has to deal with the fundamental
subjects that entail the nature of the universe and its presumed formation or
COSMOGONY of the nature of the invisible, composed by THE ABSOLUTE and the SPIRIT,
and of the relationship that that spirit has with the human being or the PERSON. As we
have said in previous paragraphs, the metaphysics of tantra derives from the non-
dualist Vedic philosophy, whose main premise regarding the universe and the idea of
spirit is that the absolute universe, the All as a whole, and the parts of it are ultimately
equivalent, they are One, they are not two completely separate entities, hence the
meaning of “non-dualist philosophy”. This is a very important point for understanding
the purpose of tantra and its conceptual development. If the all, or as I will henceforth
call it, the Absolute, is equivalent to the part, the absolute can be conceived from the
part. This non-dualism or monism also directly concerns the nature of the spirit. The
spirit can be understood as that generating force or energy that cannot be tangibly
perceived through physical means and which, being an intrinsic part of the absolute,
creates the part. If the absolute in a given time becomes manifest in the physical, it has
done so deductionally through a generating process defined as spirit. If the absolute has
manifested itself in the physical part through a force called spirit, the physical part,
being part of the whole, is also linked to the spirit. The ultimate deduction is that the
person—the absolute manifested in the idea of the human being—is also formed of
spirit. The generative process that starts from the absolute, passing through the spirit
as the primordial entity and ends up in the manifestation of that spirit in the person is
what cosmogony is all about.
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SECTIONS OF THE CHAPTER ON METAPHYSICS

I. Cosmogony
II. The Threefold Nature
COSMOGONY
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The nature of the generation of the world and eventually of the person can be described
in tantra through a sequential manner based on the practical, symbolic and theoretical
correspondences developed from the Vedic tradition and later esoteric interpretations
and modifications of orthodox Buddhism made by several schools of esoteric
Buddhism, also known as Vajrayana Buddhism. Tantric cosmogony, then, starts from
the monistic notion of the universe and from the primordial conceptualization of that
universe as a whole or an ABSOLUTE—known in Vedic terminology as brahman or in
Platonic terminology as to hen3 —which manifests itself in parts that are part of it and
are equivalent to it.

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The Universe

The word cosmogony refers to the generation (-gony) of the cosmos (cosmo-) or
universe. Both in tantra and in Buddhism this universe is not just an analogous way of
naming the Absolute, but the universe we know can also be interpreted as a distinct
part of the whole. That is, the known universe is part of the generative process of the
Absolute. Many of the texts of Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism allude to
the idea that just as there are many people, many deities, many buddhas, and so on,
there are also many universes, an infinity, in fact, and ours is only one within that
infinity. The principle of correspondence establishes that in one way or another, the
natural processes which we can interpret on the physical plane are equivalent to those
cosmological processes which can be experienced through physics or otherwise. Just as
there are living organisms that are created and dissolved, or days that begin and end,
universes, deductibly, can be conceived as entities with a lapse of cyclic activity. Be that
as it may, the absolute, being the whole in itself, is not subject to the unfolding of the
parts. That is to say, the absolute has neither beginning nor end. However, the known
universe can be interpreted as an entity in progress—or in motion within space and
time. Tantra, for its part, does not focus on the creation of the known universe, but on
the progressive course of the spirit that starts with its emergence in the absolute and
arrives to its appearance in the person. The known universe would only be an
intermediate step in that process that tantra sees no need to address. The cosmogonic
process that tantra deals with is, as I stated before, that of the journey of the spirit from
the absolute to the person. Taking into account the specific concepts that appear in the
description of cosmogony according to tantric philosophy, which will be explained in

3 Platonic philosophy and, more specifically, the neoplatonic philosophy described by Proclus
(412-418 A.D.), bear remarkable similarities to non-dualist Vedic philosophy. After all, both
philosophies develop from an allegorical and mythological basis, derived from a common trunk,
that of the proto-Indo-European mythology.
more detail in the following sections, I will now describe, in an introductory way, such
cosmogonic process.

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The Unfolding of the Absolute

The unfolding of the All into its parts can only be conceived as a constant process
starting from the premise that the Absolute has neither beginning nor end and that the
absolute is the whole. If the absolute has neither beginning nor end, this means that its
unfolding has no sudden, spontaneous origin leading to the creation of time on its own
in an ineffable way, rather it can be deduced that what is ineffable for human reasoning
is the non-time of the absolute. If time does not apply to the Absolute, its unfolding
cannot be understood within that measure, so it must be constant. If this unfoldment
occurs in an infinite way, however, it implies that the unfoldment is in itself part of the
absolute. The process is the Absolute. The unfolding of the Absolute can be
conceptually understood as a reflection of the Absolute, but not towards the outside in
a centrifugal fashion but within itself, a finite expression within the infinite. The act of
unfolding can be described as energy expanding sequentially. That first act of unfolding
creates the first conceptual distinction beyond infinity. The infinite is inconceivable to
the human mind, whereas the finite can be understood as something delimited. In this
case of energetic creation, the finite remains quasi infinite for our earthly standards,
nevertheless it can be defined with a delimiting terminology such as SPACE—shūnyatā in
the Vedic and Buddhist sense.

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Space

Space as an idea represents the first delimitation of the Absolute. It is the first
unfolding as such. That act of unfolding that defines space consecutively defines time as
well, yet these are concepts that will be dealt with in more detail in later sections,
bearing in mind that space is a fundamental notion of the philosophical body of
exoteric and esoteric Buddhism. As I mentioned, space is the first unfolding, and as
such, the first intelligible idea—understanding idea as “mental representation”—and
the first cause tantric metaphysics deals with. Keeping always in mind the principle of
correspondence maintained by Tantric philosophy, it can be deduced that the first idea
conceivable by the human mind has an equivalence in the dimension of the Absolute,
that is, that the concept of idea, the mental representation and therefore the Mind,
makes an analogy in the absolute. The conclusion is that the Absolute is ultimately
Mind. The definition of the absolute in a more detailed way will be made in the
corresponding section
 The Absolute
delimited by Space

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Energy

If Space is the first delimitation, and if everything corresponds to everything, it is

understood that this first delimitation will be reciprocated by a counterpart. This
counterpart is the energy of the cosmological generation of the Absolute,
understanding ENERGY as the first “force of action” or “activity” of the Absolute, which
has not a primeval origin but developes in a constant manner, with no begenning nor
end, as the first intelligible action that takes place. As for the relationship of Space with
Energy we infer that Space has been delimited by and for the absolute energy. In other
words, Space exists for Energy to fill it. Space and Energy are two ideas that,
considering their existence with respect to the Absolute, are not conceived one without
the other. As it has been said earlier, space is the first cause, but if Space is inexorably
linked to Energy, this must also be a first cause. The apparent Space-Energy duality is
definitely the first major cause of the consequent generative development or progress,
but that first cause can be adjectivized in two different ways according to the two
related ideas of space or energy: Space is the first immobile cause—of course within the
ineffable idea of the Absolute—and Energy is the first mobile cause. Energy implies
action and therefore movement, in the same way that Space implies the opposite of the
movement of a subject with respect to itself, that is, immobility. This subject requiring
immobile space is the very same mobile energy. This movement is constant in the same
way that the generative process is constant. Absolute Energy is, therefore, perpetual
movement throughout the length and width of Space. This movement in Space is
fundamentally bidirectional. Being a constant movement it has no destination, nor
concrete origin, it is what could be defined as a permanent oscillation. The energetic
movement expands around space constantly, but in the same way that it expands, it
also contracts constantly. This constant expansion and contraction is therefore
simultaneous.

The Absolute
delimited by Space
Energy moving
through Space
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Spirit

The described simultaneous back-and-forth movement of the Absolute energy is the

direct origin of the consciousness or self-awareness of the Absolute. The absolute,
being the whole, is conscious of itself by being able to differentiate the infinite stillness
from the constant mobility. Mobility is the result of the delimitation of space and the
constant of time. Timeless and ineffable non-spatial infinity unravels a spatial constant
which is distinguished from the absolute. This distinction is precisely the
consciousness of the absolute. The energetic movement described above recognized or
distinguished by the Absolute, that is, the conscious movement recognized by the idea
of the Absolute, is what we will call SPIRIT. Spirit is, in short, the absolute mental
reflection of the Absolute Energy, which is why what concerns Spirit concerns the
Mind. Since Spirit is Energy reflected by the Mind, its development or emanations are a
direct product of that Absolute Mind. This concept of Spirit is referred to in the Vedas
as shakti—whose literal tradition is that of “energy”—while Greek philosophy calls it
nous—whose literal translation is that of “intellect”. Here a distinction has to be made
between the Absolute Energy described earlier and the energy reflected by the Mind of
the Asolute: the Spirit. Buddhist philosophy does not develop a clear understanding of
this Energy-Spirit idea, but the use it makes of the term buddha can be interpreted as
the aforementioned Spirit: a conscious energy.

The Limitless
Absolute

Energy beheld by the

Absolute (Spirit)

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Parts of the Spirit

The Energy mirrored by the Mind is, in short, the ESSENCE of the Spirit. The Essence of
the Spirit is known in the Vedas as sattva—a word that can be translated as “the
being”—or as logos in Platonic terminology—which can be translated as “the word”, i.e.
the mental discursive act capable of conceptualizing a fact, in this case that of the
energy's agency. The development and progression of the Essence is mobile and
constant as the primordial Energy itself. The primordial or Absolute Energy is
ultimately equivalent to the Spirit. Spirit is the formal distinction made between
Energy per se and Energy reflected in Absolute Consciousness. The spiritual Essence
moves both centrifugally—expanding—and centripely—contracting. However, the
Spirit, being conscious Energy, runs through a mental process of the Absolute that
reflects that movement. This mental process that reflects or distinguishes the
movement of the Spirit is known in Buddhist terminology as Mental Factors—chaitasika
in Sanskrit. Mental Factors are the emanations of the Absolute mind generated in
connection with the movement of the already conscious Energy or Spirit. Just as the
primordial Energy was described as being conditioned by a constant expansive and
contractive movement, so is the Energy reflected by the consciousness—once again, the
Spirit. The difference is that now the Spirit is also conditioned by the mental
emanations aroused by the Absolute Consciousness. Expansive movement conditions
expansive mental factors, known as Determining Mental Factors—vissayaniyata chaitasika in
Sanskrit—which determine or condition the generating power known as PASSION—rajas
in the Vedas, pathos in Platonic terminology. Passion, then, is the expansive Energy
reflected by the Mind of the Absolute. The counterbalance is called SOLUTION or
dissolution—tamas in Sanskrit and ethos in Platonic terminology. Solution, like Passion,
is subject to a series of Mental Factors emanated in the Absolute Consciousness, which
in this case are contractive and are called Omnipresent Mental Factors—sarvatraga
chaitasika in Sanskrit. They are called “omnipresent” because they occur in all parts of
Space simultaneously with the Determining Mental Factors. While the Determining
Mental Factors are expansive and generative, the Omnipresent Mental Factors are
contractive and dissolutive, but both mental reflections of the Spirit occur concurrently
as prescribed by the simultaneous movement of Energy.

The Essence
of the Spirit
Passion

Solution
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The Phenomenic Order

The simultaneous interplay between Passion and Solution is what can be termed as
Gender, generation or even sex—at the macrocosmic level, that is. The generative
movement reflected by the consciousness of the Absolute through several Mental
Factors creates a whole new reflection or Essence. The movement of the Spirit is
reflected by the Mind which is now aware of the nature of that movement and its
generative aspect. What movement generates through the union between Passion and
Solution, or pathos and ethos, is the awareness of that same generative power. The
consciousness of the generation of the Essence—through passion and solution—is in
fact a New Essence. The New Essence is the generative product of the spiritual Essence
interpreted by the Absolute Consciousness. This rendition of generation derives, in
turn, in a new mental emanation on the part of the Absolute, now doubly conscious of
the generative process. This “double consciousness” of the generative process produces
sensitiveness or Sensation. The generative processes are not simply a conscious
reflection but are now an active reflection, for the Absolute is now aware not only of
the existence but also of the activity of its spiritual force. The degree of consciousness
increases when the conscious reflection is intensified. The intensification of the
conscious reflection occurs sequentially in conceptual terms, although it should be
reminded that this process is always constant, for the Absolute has neither beginning
nor end and is constantly acting.

New
Essence

Different degrees of
conscious energy
Conscious concentration on the plane of the “double consciousness” of the generative
process, or the “sensory plane”, develops gradually in a process that goes from lower to
higher concentration. These degrees of concentration can be conceptually delimited
through the allusion of new mental emanations within the generative process. The
mental emanations of the Absolute with regard to the generative process in the sensory
plane—also called the subtle plane or Phenomenical Order—are called Originating Links—
nidānas in Sanskrit. The mental processes or emanations with respect to energy per se
are known as Absolute Reality, whereas this new mental process of the absolute being
aware o its generative power is called Relative Reality, for now consciousness acts in
function of the degrees of concentration of energy during the generative process and
the relationship between these degrees. The degree of conscious concentration in the
generative process is therefore referring to a degree of concentration of spiritual energy.
These degrees of energetic concentration produced through the originating links are
called Originations or skandha in the Sanskrit used in Buddhist terminology.

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Parts of the Phenomenic Order

Conscience

Formati

Cognition

Sensati

Appeara

When the degree of concentration of consciousness towards the unfolding Energy

developing throughout the Originating Links or phenomenological emanations4

4They are phenomenological because the different relative degrees of concentration trigger a
phenomenology with respect to the development of the Spirit.
increases, different degrees of sensitive conscious concentration develop in regard to
the spiritual acting Energy. These degrees, named Originations, are the different
energetic dimensions emanated in the Phenomenic Order. Originations can be related,
in turn, to the classical elements or Great Elements—mahā bhūta in Vedic terminology.
The consciousness of the New Essence aroused through the Mental Factors—also
known as noumenal emanations—has a direct equivalence with the element aether,
known in Sanskrit as ākāsha. This consciousness—called “CONSCIENCE” from now on,
to distinguish it from the Absolute consciousness—is considered thus the primordial
Origination. Thereafter, the Origination emmerging from a lower energetic
concentration following that New Essence is called FORMATION and is equivalent to the
fire element. Next comes the Origination of COGNITION which corresponds to the
element air. Then follows the Origination of SENSATION, which is equivalent to the
element water, and finally comes the Origination of APPEARANCE, which is equivalent
to the element earth. The elements are but a material interpretation of the gradual
unfolding of the Spirit made through energetic concentration. This elementary
development of the consciousness with respect to the New Essence is fundamental in
the correspondences that are made between the microcosm and the macrocosm. The
macrocosm can be understood as a reference to the spiritual plane, while the
microcosm is understood as a reference to the material plane, which has an ultimate
manifestation in the Person. The dominion of the Phenomenic Order—abbreviated as
the Dominion of the Order—, which is the subtle plane of energetic generation, is the
intermediate step between the macrocosm and the microcosm, it is the transit of the
Spirit through a sensitive consciousness that ends up manifesting itself in what is
known as matter. This transitory state has correspondences with both the macrocosm
and the microcosm.

Conscience Formation Cognition Sensation Appearance

Æther Fire Air Water Earth

Absolute Spirit Mind Soul Body

These correspondences defined before through the elements can also be defined
through different sensory planes that affect the Person: Spirit for fire or Formation,
Mind for air or Cognition, Soul for water or Sensation and Body for earth or
Appearance. From these equivalences all kinds of relationships can be established
between the macrocosm and the microcosm. Conscience—interpreted through aether—
is ultimately ineffable, it is the conscious manifestation of the Absolute Consciousness
reflected on all planes of the known and unknown universe. The Spirit is the direct
consequence of the Absolute Consciousness forming a new reality, it is the result of the
consciousness of the acting energy, while in the intermediate or subtle plane it is the
new conscious essence of its generating power, equivalent to the Dimension of
Formation, because it is the consciousness of a New Essence that allows the formation
of new generating processes. The Mind is the consciousness itself reflecting the
generative process of the Spirit. The Mind in the macrocosm is the second mental
process of the Absolute—hence why the macrocosm can also called the mental plane.
In the subtle or intermediate plane–the Phenomenic Order—the Mind is the second
gradation of the sensitive mental concentration—conscious of formation—aspect that
is also known as the Dimension of Cognition, since it is the state of recognition of the
previous formation of new ideas. The Soul is the sensation itself—sensed, not only
conceived, hence why the dimension of the phenomenical order of the subtle plane in
which the soul developes is called the Dimension of Sensation. The last of the subtle
aspects of the Spirit is the Body or matter, which is the result of the succession of the
previous gradations: Formation, Cognition and Sensation. The resultant Sensation of
spiritual Cognition creates the degree of greater energetic concentration in which the
spirit reflects a new appearance that takes on its own entity, or what is the same, that
can be felt in a new way, hence why this dimension is known as the Dimension of
Appearance.

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The Person
The Dimension of Appearance, or the Body, or the greatest gradation of energetic
concentration of the Spirit, capable of being felt in a new way, is the cause of the last
beknown plane: The material plane, which is the plane capable of being felt by the new
spiritual creations. It is, in turn, the plane that the human being is able to experience
directly through the senses that his Body—matter—makes available to him. That is the
tangible plane and is equivalent to the Person itself, to the Universal Person or mahā
pūrussa in Sanskrit. The material plane is thus a reflection of the mental plane of the
Absolute and it can be sensibly experienced through the transitory plane or subtle
plane. The Person is the ultimate manifestation of the Mind of the Absolute in its own
gradual creation of maximum energetic concentration, which is matter. The Person is
the consciousness of the Absolute reflected in its own creation, it is the consciousness
itself. The Absolute is the macrocosm and the Universal Mind, while the person is the
microcosm and the Universal Person. The macrocosm is equivalent to the microcosm,
the Mind of the Absolute is equivalent to the Mind of the Person and both interact
through the generative process that takes place on the subtle plane. The Spirit is both
the Energy of the Absolute and the Energy of the Person, the Mind of the Person is a
reflection of the Mind of the Absolute, the Soul of the Person is the consciousness
reflected in the Person of the sensitivity of the Absolute, and the Body is the
manifestation in an ultimate essence of the greater concentration of energy. The Person
is the consciousness of the Absolute experienced in Body, which is, in turn, the
reflection of the greater energetic concentration of the Spirit

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Overview of the Cosmogonic Process
The cosmogonic process described so far, once the pertinent notions are known, even
superficially, can be conceptually summarized as a numerical sequential consecution
that starts from the One, also known as the Absolute, which is the Monad and which
unfolds into two inexorably interrelated delimited aspects: The Space that encompasses
everything and the Energy that fills everything. The ambivalence Space-Energy is
therefore a Dyad wrapped by the Monad. Out of the relationship between Space and
Energy and the consciousness upon it, it emerges the Spirit, which is composed by the
Essence—a new consciousness of the Energy—, Passion—the expansive movement of
the Energy—and Solution—the contractive movement of the Energy. These three
aspects of the Spirit form the Triad. Finally, the spiritual consciousness reflected in the
new creation of the spiritual triad develops the gradation of energy generation that
forms an intermediate spiritual emanation process known as the Phenomenic Order
that can be defined in four dimensions: Formation, Cognition, Sensation and
Appearance, the latter being the origin of the material plane or physical world. The four
dimensions just defined form the Pantad. This five agrupations are the conceptual
representation of the intangible cosmogony of the spiritual world until it forms, finally,
our physical word.