Three Vajras


The Three Vajras, namely "body, speech and mind", are a formulation within Vajrayana Buddhism and Bon that hold the full experience of the śūnyatā "emptiness" of Buddha-nature, void of all qualities and marks and establish a sound experiential key upon the continuum of the path to enlightenment. The Three Vajras correspond to the trikaya and therefore also have correspondences to the Three Roots and other refuge formulas of Tibetan Buddhism. The Three Vajras are viewed in twilight language as a form of the Three Jewels, which imply purity of action, speech and thought.
The Three Vajras are often mentioned in Vajrayana discourse, particularly in relation to samaya, the vows undertaken between a practitioner and their guru during empowerment. The term is also used during Anuttarayoga Tantra practice.
In Tendai and Shingon Buddhism of Japan, they are known as the Three Mysteries.

Nomenclature, orthography and etymology

The Three Vajras is an English rendering of gsang ba gsum ; which has variously been rendered as: Three Secrets, Three Mysteries, Three Seats, Three Doors and Three Gateways. Another Tibetan orthography that explicitly mentions Vajra is: rdo rje gsang ba gsum. The full Tibetan title may be rendered into English as 'the three secrets of the noble ones' which are: body ; voice/speech and mind. Another full title: sku gsung thugs mi zad pa rgyan gyi 'khor lo may be rendered as "Inexhaustible adornment wheel of Body, Speech and Mind" where the term 'khor lo is the Tibetan term for chakra.

Vajra Body

The Vajra Body. In explicating the term rdo rje'i lus, the states that it denotes: "The human body, the subtle channels of which resemble the structure of a vajra."

Vajra Voice

The Vajra Speech/Voice. In elucidating the term, the Dharma Dictionary states that it denotes: 'vajra speech', 'vajra words'.

Vajra Mind

The Vajra Mind is defined by the Dharma Dictionary as: mind vajra, vajra mind.

Exegesis

The Three Vajras are often employed in tantric sādhanā at various stages during the visualization of the generation stage, refuge tree, guru yoga and iṣṭadevatā processes. The concept of the Three Vajras serves in the twilight language to convey polysemic meanings, aiding the practitioner to conflate and unify the mindstream of the iṣṭadevatā, the guru and the sādhaka in order for the practitioner to experience their own Buddha-nature.
Speaking for the Nyingma tradition, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche perceives an identity and relationship between Buddha-nature, dharmadhatu, dharmakāya, rigpa and the Three Vajras:
Robert Beer states:
The bīja corresponding to the Three Vajras are: a white om, a red ah and a blue hum.
Simmer-Brown asserts that:
This explicates the semiotic rationale for the nomenclature of the somatic discipline called trul khor.
The triple continua of body-voice-mind are intimately related to the Dzogchen doctrine of "sound, light and rays" as a passage of the rgyud bu chung bcu gnyis kyi don bstan pa rendered into English by Rossi states :
Barron et al., renders from Tibetan into English, a terma "pure vision" of Sri Singha by Dudjom Lingpa that describes the Dzogchen state of 'formal meditative equipoise' which is the indivisible fulfillment of vipaśyanā and śamatha, Sri Singha states:

Kukkuraja's instruction to Garab Dorje

's instruction to Garab Dorje entailed a teaching of the Three Vajras in relation to Vajrasattva, Atiyoga and Kulayaraja Tantra:

"Everything without exception is the Divine Body-Speech-Mind," he had said. "The Divine Body-Speech-Mind is all-encompassing. Thus know your ultimate identity to be Vajrasattva, the Divine Body-Speech-Mind." As the Tibetan text of the Kulaya-raja Sutra states: "When everything is seen as the Great Self-identity, it is known as Atiyoga."

Five fundamental aspects of an enlightened being

The Three Vajras are subsumed within the 'Five fundamental aspects of an enlightened being'. Namkhai Norbu et al. lists the English rendering with the associated Tibetan language term:

The body, voice, mind, qualities and activities represent the five fundamental aspects of an enlightened being.

Emanation theory and the five fundamental aspects of an enlightened being

Mindstream emanation theory is fundamentally related to the five fundamental aspects of an enlightened being: