Welcome to the website of Mark Dyczkowski, one of the world's foremost authorities on Tantra. On this site, you will find his teachings on Abhinavagupta's Tantrasara, lectures on Trika Kashmiri Shaivism and more.
For the schedule of lectures and workshops, or, if you wish to make an engagement with him for your school or center, please contact him: markvns@satyam.net.in or +91 542 2450169.
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Varanasi Lecture Schedule: Tantraloka
Resumes in September
Narad Ghat, Kashi, UP, India
The Tantraloka Project
The last great Sanskrit classic not yet been fully translated into English, the Tantraloka is a most profoundly unique work. Written in eleventh century Kashmir by the great Abhinavagupta, it is his construction and exposition of Anuttara Trika, the ‘most excellent’ form of Trika Shaivism. Along with the commentary by Jayaratha, the Sanskrit extends for over three thousand pages. Despite its length, every word is saturated with meaning. Every concept illumines a profound aspect of the Trika Shaivism it teaches. Drawing from more than 150 sources, Abhinavagupta reveals an amazingly rich Trika Tantric vision of the oneness of the Great Light of Shiva consciousness overflowing with the astonishingly beautiful effulgence of its radiant manifestation. Here we penetrate and are penetrated into the Heart of Kashmiri Shaivism, taught by the greatest of all Kashmiri masters. Himself free of the fetters of the world, Abhinava works to enlighten others. One with Bhairava, Lord Shiva’s supreme form, it is but natural to do so, as he himself says:
The people of this world intent as they are in some way on their own affairs do not exert themselves to act for the benefit of others while he in whom all the impurity of phenomenal existence has been destroyed and is identified with Bhairava, by virtue of which he is full (and perfect), has clearly (only) this (left) to do, namely, attend to the well-being of th world. TA 1/39
The Tantraloka Project is an ambitious and most humbling attempt to present the Tantraloka to the English speaking world. From here we draw the divine life-giving nectar of the teachings of Kashmiri Shaivism directly from their source. Mark Dyczkowski is translating both the text and its commentary which he presents with extensive explanatory notes. Planned to come out in six large volumes, it will be accompanied by an oral exposition. Twice a year he offers full immersions of about ten days and two lessons a week in between which are given in Benares, India. One immersion is in November in Benares and the other is in various places in Europe and the States. Everything is recorded in both audio and video and put up on the web.
In this past year the first chapter has been covered in over 120 hours of oral teaching and some two hundred pages of translation and notes. Chapter one is a general introduction and overview of all the Tantraloka.
The next immersion is planned between the 17th and 26th August 2013 in Boulder Colorado
In this immersion we move on to cover chapter two which teaches the Way of Immediate Realisation of Anupaaya – ‘No Means’ - of Anuttara, the Absolute. After this short chapter, we will continue on to chapter three which expounds the lofty way of the Divine Means – “Saambhavopaaya.
The Tantraaloka teaches a full program of spiritual practice. Hidden deep in the core of our consciousness is our fundamental Shiva nature, infinite, eternal and perfect in all respects. Although shrouded by the darkness of craving for individual existence, Maayaa – the delusion of duality, and Karma, it abides profoundly at rest within its true nature. There is much work to be done to release the Light of our Shiva consciousness and yet the foundation and goal of all practice is the recognition of its ever pure, eternal nature which is untouched by the darkness. And so this is where we begin – the recognition that accompanies us on the journey of our inner spiritual life, that travels through all the levels of our being. Chapter two expounds the Great Light of the pure consciousness of No Means, the following three chapters trace the unfolding of the power of its unconditioned freedom in the three domains of the perceiver, perception and the objective world, respectively. In chapter three we learn how to participate in the inscrutable dynamism of “Siva’s inner life, the flow of self-awareness that generates, sustains and withdraws all manifestation by its inherent power in the mirror of the Great Light. Flowing in fifty aspects represented by the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet ranging from A to H, they mark the perpetual recurrence of the processless process of the dynamism of AHAM – the great ‘I am’ of Shiva’s self-awareness.
Participants will be given video copies of the immersion and have the option of acquiring at cut rates all the previous lessons in audio, video or both. Thereafter they can continue to download the following lessons from the web.
For further information concerning the immersion please contact Reid Bruggmann at reid525@gmail.com
Hopefully within a month or two at the most all thje lessons and immersions we have had so far will be available from this site.
Thank you for your support.
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
To contact Mark-ji, please email: markvns@satyam.net.in
Mark has completed a 14 volume, 5,600 page work on the Manthanabhairava Tantra of the Kubjika school of Kaula Tantra. It has been published by the IGNCA (http://www.ignca.nic.in/) in association with DK Printworld, New Delhi .