Differences between the Sutras and Tantras...
You know, all the sutras begin “Does have I heard” (Tibetan phrase). There's a reason for this. It's a, it’s an amazing setting for the beginning of speech, I should say - really. Also it is one of the greatest and most skilful disclaimers (laughter). Ananda is saying “Thus, I have heard”. We don't know whether the Buddha said this. “I have heard this”; it goes on (Tibetan phrase) “at one time”, meaning Buddha may have said something else, in a different time. And that the disclaimer is again swiftly strengthened by bringing some richness - when the Buddha was on the Vultures Peak, places mentioned, surrounded by maha-bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas, arhats, so on and so forth.
I want to tell you this because it also indicates that when Buddha taught, there are many different listeners – listeners of all different capacities. In the Tantra, it’s believed, it is said, when Buddha taught the first Four NobleTruths, ('bden pa bzhi) - when Buddha said “Samsara is suffering and the cause of the suffering is emotion”, you know - the four, the five arhats (Tibetan phrase), they heard it, you know, in the context of Four Noble Truths. But the vidhyadharas, (Tibetan phrase), we call it vidhyadharas - they heard it totally opposite. They heard Buddha said “Samsara is bliss, emotion is the wisdom”. Ah, this is how the tantra departs from this kind of statement, you understand.
So, this is just sort of backdrop on how the tantra differs from the sutras. Also in the sutra, problem, problem and the solution looks quite different, like the pencil and eraser. They look different, you understand? So they are different in the sutras. But in the tantras, problem and solution look very, very similar. In fact in the Mahamudra and Mahasandhi tradition, problem is the solution – you understand? And this is stated in the tantra again and again, like the Heruka Galpo, Hevajra Tantra, Chakrasamvara Tantra like so many, many ways. In the Chakrasamvara Tantra, Buddha said, the Vajradhara, I should call him – by then, he has, he was the head, Vajradhara, no more Shakyamuni - he said, “One that binds the idiot, the things that bind the idiots liberates the wise”. Things like that.
Parting from the Four Attachments, (Seattle, 2011)
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche