The Elephant Headed God : Ganesh / Ganapati in pre Vedic India, Vedic India, and Buddhist tantra.

From tribe Buddhism:
zenbuddhism.tribe.net/thread/...4744c6af

Re Qatana:
"Um, Ganesh is a HINDU deity, far pre-dating the Buddha, and has absolutely nothing to do with Buddhist philosphy or practices. Ganapati is a HINDU puja."

Qatana, you are quite wrong.

I have a Hindu empowerment of the Thousand Names of Ganapati / Ganesh. I also have two empowerments of Ganapati in the Indo-Tibetan tradition of the Sakya School, which is one of the major schools of Buddhist tantra.

The "Buddhist Ganapati" is significant in both the Sakya and Gelugpa schools of "Tibetan Buddhism". It is one of several significant Hindu-derived or Hindu-like deity yogas in Buddhist tantra, which on a practical functioning level is largely polytheistic.

You can see a short ( restricted to initiates ) Ganapati practice available for sale on the Gelugpa web site
www.fpmt.org

The Buddhist Ganapati is also known in classical Indo-Chinese-Japanese tantra of the Shingon school. This means Buddhist Ganapati travelled to Japan SEPARATELY from the central Asian Nepalese Tibetan connection. Thus it is guaranteed to have been practiced by Buddhists in ancient India before the development of "Tibetan Buddhism", and independently of "Tibetan Buddhism".

Similarly, I have a Saraswati ( Hindu Goddess of Learning ) empowerment in the Sakya tradition. But the Buddhist tantric Saraswati is distinctly Buddhist in terms of the practice, and does not conform to the classical Hindu mode of practice.

For example, the Hindu Saraswati has the basis seed syllable AYIM. The Buddhist Saraswati has the syllable HRI. So they look and function very similarly, but they are definitely not identical.

Note also the Hindu Ganapati has the basis seed syllable GAM. The Buddhist Ganapati has the syllable GAH. So they look and function very similarly as well. But all Buddhist tantric practices, such as Buddhist Saraswati and Buddhist Ganapati, are given always and only in the context of Buddhist Mahayana refuge vows.

It is incorrect to say that Ganapati was originally a Vedic Hindu deity. Ganapati far precedes the rise of Vedic culture in ancient India. Ganapati is a pre-Vedic indigenous archetype and deity, later incorporated into Vedic practice, like many diverse local village forms of "the Great Goddess".

Thus, Ganapati is pre-Hindu, Hindu, and Buddhist all at the same time.

Tantric Buddhist Ganapati in the Sakya School is, according to the rite of initiation, a sub-manifestation of Amitabha Buddha as Avalokitesvara ( "Chenresig" ). He is Twelve Armed and crowned by Amitabha Buddha. This may not be true of the Japanese Shingon school of tantra.

Current Hindu scholarship admits that the tantric Buddhists claim Twelve Armed Red Ganapati - the form I have received repeatedly from the Sakya school - may well be Buddhist in origin. The Ganapati Hrdaya Mantra follows a more Buddhist structure and clearly relies on the seed syllable GAH, rather than the seed syllable GAM characteristic of Hindu Ganapati practice. The Hindu scholars admit that Buddhists claim the Ganapati Hrdaya mantra as being Buddhist in origin, not Hindu in origin. They do not necessarily accept the claim, but it is quite reasonable.

Several Buddhist deities have become part of the Hindu pantheon, including Avalokitesvara and the Goddess Vasudhara. This is accepted in modern independent university scholarship.

Sometimes the Hindu Ganapati is seen as opposing Buddhist teaching and practice. There is a form of Six Armed Mahakala, a primary Buddhist protector deity, which tramples on a two armed Hindu Ganesh. I have that empowerment twice from the great Kagyu master Kalu Rinbochay.

Thus, Ganapati is found in three of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Kagyu, the Gelugpa, and the Sakya, as well as in the independently derived Japanese Buddhist school of Shingon. Buddhist Red Twelve Armed Ganapati is also known in Nepal. Thus the Buddhist lineages of Ganapati spread across all of northern Asia.

Buddhist Twelve Armed Red Ganapati has been repeatedly given in San Francisco ( 2x ), Vancouver BC ( 3x ), and in Seattle Washington ( 3x ), foe eight times total. I am directly connected with all three of the relevant local fellowships, which are all Sakya / Tibetan lineage.

I have written on Buddhist and Hindu Ganapati, here and elsewhere, to demonstrate one of the key links between Hindu tantra and Buddhist tantra. This is straightforward, but obviously has been questioned and/ or attacked by some ignorant people, some very ignorant and even aggressive people.

There are quite a few people here and there who have either the Buddhist or Hindu transmission of Ganapati. Almost no one except myself has both.

I understand your confusion on this point. The difference is that I am a published Buddhist liturgical scholar and tantric Buddhist guru. You have been answered.

There are quite a few "yoga teachers" on tribe.net, but few know or use Ganapati practice. Ganapati is key to the Hindu systems of practice, and it is typical for any Hindu rite to begin with a Ganapati practice.

The point here is that Buddhists also have a distinct and well-developed Ganapati transmission and practice. It is an effective practice, I have a connection with Ganapati, through my original Buddhist Sakya transmission, not through the later Hindu Thousand Names of Ganapati ( received from Vedacarya Ashley-Farrand ).

Buddhists and Hindus share a tremendous amount of spiritual culture, not just Ganapati and Saraswati and Tara and so forth. This is in direct contrast to the complete gap between Hindu-Buddhist culture and monotheistic culture, Islam in particular. That is the real point.

All the Hindu and Buddhist practices of Tara are completely unacceptable in Islamic totalitarian culture. That means all of Tibetan culture, all tantric culture, and all Goddess practice is illegal under the arbitrary law known as Islamic Sharia.

In contrast to this, I support a broad range of non Buddhist as well as Buddhist practices, including some Hindu, some Taoist, some Shinto, some native American, and some shamanic practices. I have strong connections with all of these.

I am an individually licensed tantric Buddhist guru and a Pipe Carrier of the Lakota Sioux. I practice for All Our Relations. I know my stuff, and I'm here to help people make valid and worthwhi;e connections, both outer and inner. That's my job.

Some practices, like Ganapati and Tara Devi, and also Ayurveda, are demonstrably major bridges between Buddhist and Hindu lineages of classical tantric and yogic culture. Thus, I emphasize these to show the commonality in a world where "religion" is too often employed to divide and disempower people, to oppress and hurt, and to destroy classical culture, and spiritual culture in particular.

As Sting has pointed out:
There is no religon in the path of hatred.

Now you know. And since I make detailed responses to challenges to these my teaching posts, this communication is clearly not spam. Instead, it is help and an effective means of building bridges among different tribes and cultures.

For more details on Ganapati practice, both Hindu and Buddhist, see
ganesh.tribe.net/thread/1b...5d29bb211e

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu!

KT