Kālacakra means chakra/wheel of time. Today, on the “pink full moon” (15th day of the lunar month) is the commemoration of the Kālacakra Tantra teaching by the Shakyamuni Buddha, which was transmitted to Tilopa and written down by Nāropa in the 10th Century, I re-share some prior research I did on the 8th Karmapa’s view of Kālacakra as the supreme tantra in relation to the fourth empowerment (which I first published in June 2019 in Kālacakra as the ‘ultimate pinnacle’ of all the tantras: Jetsun Tāranātha and 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje).
8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje, on Kālacakra
The 8th Karmapa received Kālacakra from 1st Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, Tashi Peljor [i] and instructions on Empty-of-Other (gzhan stong), and the six-branch vajra yogas with one of his other main teachers, Chodrub Senge (Chos grub seng ge), a practice which, in the context of Kālacakra, is strongly connected to the Empty-of-Other (zhen-tong) teachings.
In one of his own compositions, the 8th Karmapa, like Je Tāranātha, shares his view that the Kālacakra is the ultimate pinnacle of all the tantras, particularly in relation to the fourth empowerment. This is revealed in relation to the 8th Karmapa’s use of the term “superior/higher buddha” (བླ་བཅས་ཀྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་) and approximate (རྡོར་སེམས་ཉི་ཚེ་བ་) and pervading (ཁྱབ་པའི་རྡོར་སེམས་ ) Vajrasattva, in his text Answers to Lingdrungpa ( གླིང་དྲུང་པ་ལ་འདོར་བའི་དྲིས་ལན་ ).
Scholar, Jim Rheingans explains (2011: 148-149) that the 8th Karmapa:
…goes on to outline what he considers a more general view on the matter; namely that, in general (spyir), there are two kinds of empowerment in the annuttara-tantra, ‘mundane’ (’jig rten pa) and ‘supramundane’ (’jig rten las ’das pa). The Kālacakratantra would be the only tantra belonging to the supramundane category:
“Because in the father tantras, such as the cycles of Guhyasamāja and Yamantāka, and in all the mother tantras, such as Cakrasaṃvara[tantra] and Hevajra[tantra], there is taught nothing [else] than the four empowerments of the world, therefore the Vajradhara who will be accomplished through the creation- and completion-stages of these [tantras] is a surpassable (bla bcas pa) Vajradhara. “
The Karmapa explains that the karma- and jñāna-mudrā of the third empowerment used for achieving the fourth empowerment are those for obtaining the worldly siddhi. What is reached with these mundane empowerments is also called “inferior [approximate] Vajrasattva” (rdor sems nyi tshe ba). Only with the supramundane empowerments from the Kālacakra will one attain the ultimate goal: the “pervading Vajrasattva” (khyab pa’i rdor sems). In this system the third empowerment—which brings forth the ultimate wisdom of the Great Seal [Mahāmudrā], the fourth empowerment—is not mixed with the worldly siddhis.
Through this Great Seal [Māhamudrā] of the extraordinary primordial buddha (dang po’i sangs rgyas , Skt. ādibuddha ), the Great Seal itself (phyag rgya chen po nyid ) is brought to accomplishment.
He [8th Karmapa] sums up his discussion of the first part of his answer:
“Therefore, concerning the supramundane fourth empowerment which comes from the Kālacakra and the fourth empowerment which comes from [tantras] such as Cakrasaṃvara and Guhyasamāja, there is higher (the former) and lower (the latter); what the authorities on tantra mention (smra bar byed pa ) when speaking thus is that there exists a continuum [of the tantras] with respect to objects of knowledge in general.”[ii]
Jim Rheingans elaborates that at the end of the 8th Karmapa’s own ritual for Kālacakra practice, he also praises the Kālacakra as the “ultimate vehicle” (mthar thug gyi theg pa). I have not been able to check this text, but it is certainly an area of further research[iii].
Here, Rheingans translates the Tibetan term, nyi tshe wa (རྡོར་སེམས་ཉི་ཚེ་བ་) as “inferior” Vajrasattva, but this is not correct, it actually means “approximation/simulacrum”. Similarly, he translates lache-ki sangye བླ་བཅས་ཀྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་ , as surpassable Buddha, but it means superior/higher.
For more on the role of “erotic bliss” in Buddhist Tantra and Kālacakra see here.
Original research and translations on Kālacakra
For all original translations and research on Kālacakra see here. For a podcast interview with leading Kālacakra scholar-translator, Niraj Kumar, and his research on Mahasiddha Nāropa as the author of the Kālacakra Tantra, see here.
Here is my e-book (free to download) on “Kālacakra Lineages, History and Philosophy: Contemporary Research and Translations“, which Kumar called: “A bombshell book. Intense, covering esoteric aspects, philosophy, politics and with seamless flow. Many congratulations. This is going to be a must-read book in the Buddhist world and among strategists.” see here.
For an e-book on Innate Kālacakra texts(sponsored by an Ashoka Grant from the Khyentse Foundation in 2019), see here.
The second edition of my translation of The Chariot that Transport to the Four Kāyas, by Bamda Geleg Gyatso with foreword by Dr, Cyrus Stearns, is due out soon, watch this website!
For three reports and a transcript of the teachings given during my recent attendance at the magnificent Je Khenpo Kālacakra empowerment in Bhutan, 2025, see here.
Kunkhyen Dolpopa’s Auspicious Buddha Essence
I end with a short translation of a Jonang Kalacakra master, Kunkhyen Dolpopa (1292-1361) called “Auspicious Buddha Essence”. Dolpopa was one of the main founders of Jonang and a great Kālacakra master, who is said to have been one of the main proponents of the “Empty-of-Other” (Zhen-tong) view.
Dedicating the merit to Buddha Dharma, all sentient beings, so we may all attain the supreme state bliss-emptiness Kālacakra! Music? Oṃ āḥ hūṃ ho haṃ kṣa mala varaya hūṃ phaṭ svaha.
Adele Tomlin, 4th April 2025.
Texts by the 8th Karmapa on Kālacakra include the following:
- A sadhana of Kālacakra from the Marpa and Ngog lineage, ‘The Vigorously Swift Descent of Primordial Awareness’ (bcom ldan ‘das dus kyi ‘khor lo’i ye shes btsan thabs su dbab pa’i cho ga rje btsun mar rngog nas brgyud pa/). W8039. In Collected Works of the Eighth Karmapa, vol. 1, pp. 805–824, 11 fols.
- A longer ritual mandala sadhana Bestowing Happiness and Well-being (bcom ldan ‘das dpal dus kyi ‘khor lo’i sgrub dkyil phan bde kun stsol/. In Collected Works of the Eighth Karmapa, vol. 25, pp. 384–619, 118 fols.
- The Bhagavan Adibuddha: Laughter of the mind-ocean chakra that transports in the four times, worldly wanderers and non-wanderers – (a rough translation only!) (bCom ldan ‘das dang po’i sangs rgyas ‘gro ba dang mi ‘gro ba’i ‘jigs rten la dus bzhi bgrod tshul gyi ‘khor lo yid mtshor bzhad gad kyi ‘grel chen). In Collected Works of the Eighth Karmapa, vol. 16, pp. 366–806, 220 fols.
Endnotes
[i] During my extensive face-to-face discussions with the current 10th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche while he was giving me oral transmission (lung) and teaching on his Empty-of-Other Mahāmudrā commentary (in 2018 and 2019) for the purpose of translation, I was surprised to hear that he does not currently hold any Kālacakra lineage and does not practice it. I queried this with him several times but he did not say the reason why when asked. The previous HE 3rd Tenga Rinpoche performed all the Kālacakra initiations and transmissions at Benchen Monastery, Nepal.[iii]
[ii] RHEINGANS 2011: des na dus kyi ’khor lo nas ’byung ba’i ’jig rten las ’das pa’i dbang bzhi pa dang / bde gsang sogs nas ’byung ba’i dbang bzhi pa la mchog dman yod ces rgyud sde mkhan po rnams smra bar byed pa ni shes bya spyi pa la rgyud yod pa’i de yin. Rheingans further clarifies this passage in a footnote:
“The last passage is slightly ambiguous. The interpretation found in the text above assumes that just as there are tantras higher with respect to objects of knowledge in general but still part of the same continuum, there is a distinction of the tantras as ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ but still part of the same continuum.”
[iii] See RHEINGANS 2011. Mi bskyod rdo rje, Karma pa VIII, Bcom ldan ’das dpal dus kyi ’khor lo , fol. 117b. As Rheingans suggests, it would also be necessary to evaluate Mi bskyod rdo rje’s commentary on Kālacakra, Bcom ldan ’das dang po’i sangs rgyas and tantric works of the Third Karma pa, Rang byung rdo rje (see also Schaeffer 1995) as well as Bu ston.
[iv] According to sources, Tenga Rinpoche received the Kālacakra transmission from Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. The previous 9th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche got the Atisha (Jo lugs) Kālacakra[4] transmission in Drongpa from Karma Tenzin Chogyel, according to the biography, written by HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche[5]. The first Sangye Nyenpa transmitted the Tsami Lineage of Kālacakra to 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje, according to the transmission record of 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje.