Author: Kadampa Ryan

Roadmap for Becoming a Child-Like Yogi at Play:

Kadampa Ryan 4. Practicing in Daily Life, 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

If I’m honest with myself, my practice is much more sincere and robust when I am in crisis mode because frankly I have no choice other than to practice with every fibre of my being just to get through it. In many ways, my life has been in one form of crisis or another since 2008, and arguably for decades before that. It has essentially been a non-stop roller coaster ever since 2008 with some pretty heavy stuff. There is no doubt that all this adversity has forced me to really dig deep and move beyond an intellectual understanding of Dharma to actually using it to bring my mind back to inner peace every time I get knocked on my butt. I cannot help but feel extremely grateful for all this difficulty because there is no doubt it has pushed me far along the path – indeed probably much farther than I would be if everything was all rainbows, unicorns, and harmony among people.

But at the same time, if I’m honest, I’m really tired of being in crisis mode. I know this is samsara and samsara is the nature of suffering – unrelenting like the waves of the ocean crashing down – and I have to accept that. I know there will be no peace until I wake up from the nightmare of mistaken karmic appearances. But when I read Chapter 8 of Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, I cannot help but be moved by his descriptions of the supreme joy of a yogi’s life, like a child at play. I know Venerable Geshe-la taught that we need to attain the union of Kadampa Buddhism and Modern Life, but he also gave us these verses as something to aspire to.

Yes, I have grown tremendously through this adversity, but dammit, I’m tired of having to always learn and grow through adversity and tragedy. Yes, I can do it, but I would love to be able to just enjoy and improve, like a child at play or like the archetypical wise old man playfully taking delight in the butterfly that landed on his finger. When I think about me doing my future retreats, etc., this is really part of the vision I am hoping to get to. Effort can not be just be drugery, indeed, it has to be the nature of playful joy.

My challenge is I don’t know how to get there, in the short-run at least. I’m not choosing tragedy and adversity, it just keeps happening in my life. When it happens, like in the Alcoholics Anonymous prayer, I have no choice but to pray, “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Or in Kadampa terms, “well, I guess I need to grow through this one too.”

I’m so tired of constant crisis, I just want it to end, but I find when I succumb to that sort of thinking, it quickly turns into an attachment to external peace, or it is a non-acceptance of the truth of samsara, or it is a lack of faith in Dorje Shugden that he is arranging exactly what I need. It’s like I’m trying to resist how things are, not accept them; it’s like I’m trying to say I know better than Dorje Shugden, almost trying to supplant him. So I need to let go and accept that this is the karma that is ripening and that it is all for the best (I always see at the end how it was, even though it sucked to go through).

I think in the long run, though, I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to be like the contented, playful yogi. We just shouldn’t be attached to it. The question is how do we get to the point where we can just be going with the flow like a child at play? I need to do a few things from my side.

First, I need to purify the gobs of unpurified negative karma that remain on my mind. I have created the karma for everything I experience and I either need to purify it before it ripens or go through it, there is no third possibility. So if I want to stop lurching from crisis to crisis, I need to start getting serious about engaging in purification practices.

Second, I need to overcome the laziness that sets in when times are “good.” Many times I have made the request to Dorje Shugden to please arrange the outer and inner conditions necessary for my swiftest possible enlightenment. When times are shit, I’m forced to practice and make progress; but when times are good, I quickly become lazy or complacent or I stagnate. This reaction to good times creates deep incentives to keep the bad times coming because I only seem to grow with them. I need to get to the point where I grow MORE in the good times than the bad, then it won’t be as necessary for me to have to experience tragedy to fulfill the larger spiritual promise/wish of attaining enlightenment as swiftly as possible.

Third, I need to do what it takes to create the outer conditions necessary for me to not have to think much about having enough resources necessary to sustain my practice. This basically practically means I need to make enough money to be able to fund my retirement enough so I can dedicate my time to my practice. Venerable Geshe-la talks in How to Transform Your Life about the extreme of spirituality. We also need to tend to our external circumstances and there is nothing wrong with doing so. For me at least, if my spiritual life become my “job” that I need to do to sustain myself externally, it would likely taint the joy just like joining the golf team in High School killed the joy of the game because it became about winning. Or it is like the person who loves cooking for their friends and decides to become a chef only to find making it their job stole all the joy. So yes, I need to make the money necessary that I won’t have to worry about being able to have a good enough life where I can be that child at play. Through a combination of perhaps working a bit longer than I originally anticipated and learning to live with less, I think I can hopefully get there. Basically, for the next 8 years at least, I am going to try learn to live on next to nothing and to save almost everything I can to build up enough of an asset base that generates enough income to be able to be a child at play in my retirement.

Fourth, I think I’m done taking on new responsibilities for others in the sense of creating dependencies of others on me. I will always carry the great responsibility of caring in every way for the doctrine and migrators because this is my Kadampa bodhichitta responsibility. Externally, I need to fulfill all my remaining responsibilities to my family and to my country that I have assumed, but I don’t need to take on any new ones in samsara. I have basically been carrying much of the load of many people for many decades. This has exhausted me and created a degree of dependencies in them where they struggle to function on their own as strong, independent, self-sufficient, and healthy adults. It was perhaps necessary at the time, but I need to gradually get them to the point where they don’t need me anymore to function autonomously (in their own way). And I need to make a point of NOT entering into any more relationships with anybody that could once again become a dependency. I will, to the maximum extent possible, try to not enter into any new relationships that are not at a minimum reciprocal and hopefully are mutually enhancing. I need to fulfill my existing responsibilities in samsara, but I have zero intention or desire to take on any new ones.

Along the way, I am sure there will inevitably be more tragedy and adversity that arises. I will have no choice but to grow through them (since the alternative will be to let them destroy me). But this is my roadmap for getting to the yogi’s life. I may not even get there in this life, I don’t know, but it seems like a noble direction to head in.

Vows, commitments, and modern life:  Avoid holding wrong views and destroying places

Kadampa Ryan Vows, commitments and daily life

Holding wrong views. 

We incur a root downfall if we hold wrong views denying anything that we need to believe in order to achieve liberation.  Examples of this can include rejecting any of the stages of the path, such as the need to rely upon a Spiritual Guide, karma, the four noble truths, the disadvantages of self-cherishing, bodhichitta, emptiness, Tantra, etc. 

There is a difference between holding wrong views and having doubts or questions.  Doubts and questions are normal, and in fact are a good thing if we use them as fuel to deepen our understandings.  Holding wrong views also does not mean not yet believing or understanding a given instruction.  Holding wrong views means we come to a definite conclusion that something in the Dharma is wrong and we are right, without us having an open mind about the question.  If we have a valid reason why it is wrong, we don’t incur this fault.  But 99 times out of 100 (well actually 100 times out of a 100) if we have such a valid reason it will be refuting some wrong understanding of the Dharma, not a correct understanding.  All correct understandings of the Dharma seem eminently reasonable when properly understood, even if they are nonetheless quite radical notions. 

In general we can say our gaining of realizations occurs in a progression.  We start out with wrong views about pretty much everything.  The first step is conceding it is better to have an open mind and to admit that we don’t really know, but we intend to investigate the matter more carefully.  As we start to do this, our wrong views start transforming into doubts tending towards a wrong view.  We continue to investigate and ask questions, and eventually these doubts start tending towards the correct view.  We continue to probe and to test and eventually we might start getting the initial inklings of faith in a given object.  We think, “this idea in the Dharma is probably right and I am probably just understanding it wrong, so I better keep checking.”  Eventually this believing faith becomes stronger and we start to develop admiring faith thinking how much better our life would be if only we realized fully this particular idea.  This admiring faith then transforms into wishing faith, where we genuinely want to gain this particular understanding.  This wishing faith then transform into effort to actually gain the realization.  With effort comes experience, and with experience comes valid reasons which then are used to support what are called “valid cognizers” about some subject.  A valid cognizer moves beyond faith to personal wisdom on a subject, but even this is not strong enough.  We keep investigating, keep testing, keep contemplating until eventually these inferential cognizers transform into direct perceivers of the truth of the particular idea of the Dharma.  We see directly it is exactly true.  We continue to increase the power of our direct perceivers until eventually they transform into yogic direct perceivers, where we realize the truth of the given subject directly with our very subtle mind of great bliss mixed with emptiness.  These are called yogic direct perceivers.  Our goal is to eventually attain yogic direct perceivers of every single stage of the path.  Once we have done so, we will swiftly become a Buddha! 

Destroying places such as towns. 

We incur a root downfall if, with a bad motivation, we willfully destroy a place of habitation or an environment.  Unless we are a political leader, it is unlikely we could incur this downfall by physically destroying a town or somebody’s home.  But this is something that can easily happen, for example, with respect to insect colonies. 

It is also entirely likely we could incur this downfall, or at least a similitude of it, in many other ways.  For example, if we were to engage in sexual misconduct with somebody who is married, this could easily destroy that person’s home, which is even worse if kids are involved.  It does not take sexual misconduct to destroy somebody else’s home, depending on the circumstances it may only take a few words of divisive speech. Even if the communities are not completely destroyed, they can easily be sufficiently disrupted that they are never the same again.   

Likewise, in the modern world, places are not limited to the physical world, but can also include virtual environments, such as on-line communities.  Divisive or hurtful speech can easily destroy the harmony of a community, ruining it for all.  Witness virtually every social media platform ever created.

Sometimes it is also possible to destroy a community by not doing what is required to save it if it is within our power to do so.  The circumstances of living beings are vast, and it makes little karmic difference between actively destroying a community and not saving one when we otherwise could. It is, however, possible that actions such as these may become necessary depending upon the circumstances.  But we need tremendous wisdom to know whether it is appropriate to do so, and we must make sure that our mind is completely free from delusion and governed only by concern for others.  To take an easy example, if somebody is being abused by their partner and you encourage and aid them to escape from the abusive relationship, you may be destroying somebody’s home but it is an act of compassion not only for the victim but also for the abuser.   

Wherever You Imagine a Buddha, A Buddha Goes:

Kadampa Ryan 3. Tantra, 4. Practicing in Daily Life, 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

Wherever we imagine a Buddha, a Buddha goes; and wherever they go, they accomplish their function, which is to bestow blessings and guide living beings along the paths to enlightenment as swiftly as their karma allows. This is equally true for ourself and for us imagining Buddhas in the lives of those we love.

To understand this, we need to first consider both the nature and function of enlightenment and enlightened beings. The definitive Buddha is the Dharmakaya, which is an “I” imputed upon a very subtle mind of great bliss realizing the emptiness of all phenomena. This is a person whose body and mind are one entity – a mind of great bliss that realizes directly the emptiness of all phenomena (4th profundity, not just 1st profundity from Heart of Wisdom). This means a Buddha is necessarily the ultimate nature of everything. The real nature of every appearance is the Dharmakaya, or a Buddha.

The function of a Buddha is to be with each and every living being every day, bestowing blessings and guiding them towards enlightenment as swiftly as their karma will allow. It is like the sun always shining behind the clouds. The whole reason why they attained enlightenment is to be able to be with each and every living being every day, bestowing blessings and guiding living beings along the path. This means wherever a Buddha goes, they are always accomplishing their function, which is to bestow blessings.

In all the sections on guru yoga, it explains that our most important recognition is to strongly believe we are actually in the living presence of the guru deity. This is not just some fake imagination, but it is correct imagination. Correct imagination is imagining something that is actually there (not inherently, since nothing exists inherently, but conventionally, functionally), even if we don’t (yet) directly perceive it with our sense awarenesses. The more we meditate on correct imaginations, the more we start to perceive directly what we are imagining because it is what is actually there.

If you saw a snake on the hiking path, and your friend said, “no, no, that is just a stick, look carefully,” you would then start to look more closely trying to see what is there. The more you look, while checking to see if indeed your friend is right, the more vividly the stick would start to appear directly to your sense awarenesses and the appearance of the mistaken appearance of the snake would disappear. It is exactly the same with correct imaginations. The Buddhas are actually there, everywhere in everything, and the more we look at things with this correct imagination, the more they start to appear directly to our sense awarenesses until we see, “oh yeah, there is a Buddha directly in front of me. In fact, they are everywhere!”

Geshe-la explains that while the sun is always shining, if we are inside and all our blinds are closed, the sunlight does not come in. For us to see its light and feel its warmth, we need to open our blinds. We need to do something from our own side to gain direct access to these blessings. So what do we need to do to open our blinds? We primarily need to do two things: purify our motivation for why we want to see the light and generate a mind of faith. A good heart and a mind of faith are the keys that unlock the blinds in our mind, enabling the light of our guru’s blessings to flow directly into our heart and mind. The sun of our guru’s blessings is always shining and providing a degree of warmth to our home (otherwise it would be as cold as the vacuum of space), but how much brighter and warmer will it become when we open our blinds?

So wherever we imagine a Buddha, a Buddha goes because they are already actually there. Technically, what is happening is when we imagine (with a good heart and a mind of faith), we make manifest within our own mind the Buddha that is actually there – we open the blinds of our mind and allow the light and warmth to pour in. The Buddhas from their side of course want to do this, this is the whole reason why they attained enlightenment in the first place.

Where it gets really interesting is when we consider the emptiness of all phenomena. Are the things in our life ordinary samsaric things or are they all emanations? The answer is they are neither from their own side, but they can become either depending upon how we mentally project/relate to them.

For example, I can make a request to Dorje Shugden, “please take care of and protect my family always, from now until they eventually attain enlightenment; and please bless me with the wisdom to see and understand directly how you are doing so.” I then – correctly – imagine that he is doing precisely that. In dependence upon my good heart and my mind of faith, when I look at what is happening in their life, I will gradually come to see directly how he is doing exactly that for them. If I ask Guru Heruka Father and Mother to please parent my children through everyone and everything they encounter, then Heruka Father and Mother will enter into everything (technically, they are already there in everything, but it is my good heart and mind of faith that make them manifest within my mind, gradually at first but then eventually through direct perception) and accomplish exactly this function.

So even though I am not able to be with my family all the time, I know people who can, namely Dorje Shugden, Heruka, Mother Tara, Medicine Buddha, and so forth. My good heart and mind of fatih, combined with my prayers and correct imagination, will make them manifest in their lives and in my perception of their lives, gradually at first but then eventually through direct perception.

The power of this is limitless. Eventually, through my own training in the stages of generation and completion stage, I will impute my own “I” onto the Dharmakaya and all the Buddhas doing all this for all living beings. At first, they are accomplishing their function through the power of my prayers and my karma with the people in my life, but later I will experience it as if it is “me” doing it – not the Ryan me, but the enlightened me. I will feel and experience it directly as I am with each and every living being every day, bestowing blessings and guiding them along the paths to enlightenment as swiftly as their karma will allow.

When I think like this, not only will all my worry and concern go away (well at least as much as I actually believe these instructions, I still have negative karma of holding onto wrong views and deluded doubt obstructing my belief), but also both my bodhichitta and appreciation for the Tantric path will explode in power. I find that spark within me that enables me to be like a child at play, confident in the knowledge that I will soon bring my samsara and the equally empty samsara of everyone I know and love to an end and nothing can stop me from doing so.

Amazing!

A Pure Life: How to Skillfully Train in the Eight Mahayana Precepts

Kadampa Ryan Precept Days

This is part two of a 12-part series on how to skillfully train in the Eight Mahayana Precepts.  The 15th of every month is Precepts Day, when Kadampa practitioners around the world typically take and observe the Precepts.

Most of us know the teachings Geshe-la has given on the correct attitude to have towards our vows and commitments, but sadly we sometimes don’t really believe him when he explains it.  We still tend to think of them in absolutist, black and white terms, when in reality each vow has many, many different levels at which we can keep it.  We think in terms of our ability to “keep” our vows instead of viewing them as trainings we engage in. 

When we go to the gym, there are all sorts of different exercise machines.  Each one works out a different muscle, and each person who uses the machine uses it at a different level (different amounts of weight, different number of repetitions, etc.).  But everyone in the gym uses the same equipment.  It is exactly the same with our vows.  Each vow is something we train in, not something we are already expected to be able to do perfectly at the maximum.  Each vow focus on strengthening different mental muscles, but doing all of them strengthens the whole of our mind.  We each train in the vow at different levels according to our capacity, but we know the more we train, the more our capacity will grow.  Everyone in the spiritual gym trains with the same vows regardless of our level.  In almost every way, the correct attitude towards a physical exercise regimen is exactly the same attitude we should cultivate towards our spiritual exercise regimen of the Eight Mahayana Precepts, and indeed all of our vows.  I often find it helpful to read the sports training literature, especially that of long-distance tri-athletes.  Our journey is very long and will require almost unthinkable stamina, but we must recall every Iron Man Champion was once a baby who couldn’t even lift their head. 

Geshe-la explains there are four main causes of the degeneration of our vows and commitments.  These are known as the ‘four doors of receiving downfalls’.  He says to close these doors we should practice as follows:

  1. Closing the door of not knowing what the downfalls are.  We should learn what the downfalls are by committing them to memory.  We should learn how they are incurred.  We should make plans to avoid such situations.  In this series of posts, I will try explain all of these things for each of the Eight Mahayana Precepts.
  1. Closing the door of lack of respect for Buddha’s instructions.  We can protect ourselves from this primarily by training in the refuge vows.  Refuge is not a difficult concept.  When we have a toothache, what do we do?  We turn to the dentist.  When we have a legal problem, what do we do?  We turn to a lawyer.  When we have an internal problem with our mind, what do we do?  We turn to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.  Dentists can fix our teeth and lawyers can solve our legal problems, but only the three jewels can help us with our inner mental problems.  In particular, we need to contemplate the benefits of each of the Eight Mahayana Precepts.  We need to think about how much better our life would be and all the karmic fruit that flows from training in them.  When we see the value of keeping the Precepts, we will naturally have respect for them.  Geshe-la said we should contemplate as follows:

“Since Buddha is omniscient, knowing all past, present, and future phenomena simultaneously and directly, and since he has great compassion for all living beings without exception, there is no valid reason for developing disrespect towards his teachings.  It is only due to ignorance that I sometimes disbelieve them.”

  1. Closing the third door of strong delusions. The reason why we engage in non-virtuous actions is we are currently slaves to our delusions.  They take control of our mind and then compel us to engage in harmful actions.  We may voluntarily participate in the process, but that is only because our delusions have so deceived us, we actually believe their lies.  Largely, the Eight Mahayana Precepts oppose our delusion of attachment.  Our attachment does not want to keep the precepts, and frankly views them as standing in the way of our fun.  We cannot keep our vows through will power alone.  Perhaps we can for Precepts Day itself, but if in our heart we still want to engage in these behaviors, what we will really do is simply do slightly more negativity before and after Precepts Day, so for the month as a whole, it is exactly the same amount of negativity.  That’s obviously not the point!  Our goal should be to train in the Precepts and gradually expand the scope of keeping their meaning throughout the month and indeed throughout our whole life.  To do this, we need to want to keep them more than we want the objects of attachment they oppose.  We are desire realm beings, which means we have no choice but to do whatever we desire.  The only way to sustainably train in moral discipline is to change our desires away from delusions and towards virtue.  This is primarily accomplished through a sincre and consistent practice of Lamrim.  Lamrim is a systematic method for changing our desires from worldly ones to spiritual ones. 
  1. Closing the fourth door of non-conscientiousness.  We should repeatedly bring to mind the disadvantages of incurring downfalls, and the advantages of pure moral discipline.  These have been explained in the previous post, and the specific karmic benefits of each Precept will be explained in the explanation of each Precept.

In brief, Geshe-la explains, we prevent our vows from degenerating by practicing the Dharma of renunciation, bodhichitta, correct view, generation stage, and completion stage. 

It is important to be skillful in our approach to all of our vows, including the Eight Mahayana Precepts.  We should not have unrealistic expectations or make promises we cannot keep.  It will happen to all of us in the early stages of our Dharma practice that when we are at some festival and feeling very inspired, we make these outlandish vows that we (at the time) intend to keep our whole life.  Then we get home, try at first, but eventually are forced to abandon the vow.  Gen Tharchin says when making promises, we should ask ourselves, “what can I do on my absolute worst day?”  We promise only to do that.  On any given day we will most likely do better than our promise, but then we will not actually break it.  It is a bad habit to make spiritual promises which we later break.  We will all make all sorts of what I call “beginner’s errors” with this one.  It does not matter.  When you break the promise, realize your mistake, recalibrate your promise and try again.  Eventually you will get the right balance. 

We should adopt our vows gradually, as each can be kept on many levels.  In this way, we can gradually deepen the level we are able to keep the vows.  If we are a teacher, we should explain the vows well and not encourage our students to promise to keep them all perfectly from the beginning.  Getting the correct attitude towards our vows is well over half the battle.  But keeping the vows gradually does not mean that we can temporarily put to one side the vows that we do not like.  We have to work with all the vows, gradually improving the way we observe them.

Finally, Geshe-la says we should begin to practice all the vows as soon as we have taken them.  Then we practice them to the best of our ability.  Geshe-la says we should never lose the determination to keep our vows perfectly in the future.  He says by keeping the intention to keep them purely in the future we keep our commitments, even if along the way we repeatedly fall short.  I can’t remember who, but some wise person once said, “the day you can keep all of your vows and commitments perfectly is the day you will no longer need them.  It is because we can’t keep our vows and commitments perfectly that we do need them.”  This is useful to always keep in mind.

All of that being said, the Eight Mahayana Precepts are unique in our training in moral discipline because on Precepts Days we do strive to keep them perfectly. On Precepts Days we make a point of emphasizing the practice of moral discipline and we strive our best to observe the vows as purely as we can. The literal meaning of many of the precepts is quite black and white, we either keep the vow or we do not. In this sense, we can say it is an exception to the otherwise gradual approach we take to our practice of moral discipline. But if we look beyond the literal meaning of the precept, we realize that they all also have many different levels at which they can be kept. Further, we can gradually expand the scope with which we engage in our precepts practice by observing their essential meaning throughout the month, not just on Precepts Days. In any case, we should not worry but always simply try our best. If we break our precepts, we can learn our lesson, retake them, and try again.

Happy Tsog Day: Motivation for doing series

Kadampa Ryan Tsog Days

In Guide to Dakini Land, Geshe-la explains Heruka said, “Practitioners who sincerely practise the tsog offering without missing the two ‘tenth’ days of each month will definitely be reborn in Dakini Land.” A tsog offering is, in effect, an enlightened party. When ordinary beings throw a party, they gather their friends and enjoy objects of delight. In a tsog offering, we generate ourself and others as the Guru-deity, gather together, and collectively accumulate vast merit that is in turn dedicated to gaining Dharma realizations and accomplishing spiritual goals for the sake of all living beings.

Once we take rebirth in the pure land, we will be able to receive teachings and empowerments directly from Heruka and Vajrayogini and be able to swiftly complete our spiritual training. A pure land is like a bodhisattva’s training camp, and once reborn there we will never again take an uncontrolled samsaric rebirth. If we wish to help those we love, we can send emanations – almost like drones or avatars in a video game – into the realms of samsara, but from our perspective, we remain safe in the pure land. Once we reach the pure land, our eventual enlightenment is guaranteed. Geshe-la explains many different ways to guarantee that we attain the pure land, such as reaching tranquil abiding on the generation stage object, reaching the fourth mental abiding on the Mahamudra, or dying with a pure mind of compassion. But the easiest and most certain way of reaching the pure land is to maintain our commitment to practice the tsog offering without missing the two tenth days of each month. Heruka himself explained this. Thus, practicing the tsog offering is like an insurance policy for attaining the pure land. What could possibly be more important than this?

The “tenth” days here refers to the 10th and 25th of every month when Kadampa practitioners traditionally engage in a “tsog” offering in the context of the practice Offering to the Spiritual Guide. If we miss a tsog day, we can just make it up on the weekend. If we cannot do it at the center, we can just do it at home on our own. If we cannot do it with physical offerings, we can just do it with imagined ones. If we do not have time to do it and our other daily commitments, we can just imagine our tsog puja indirectly fulfils our other commitments. If we do not have time to do it, we can just do it more quickly. If we cannot do any of that, Venerable Geshe-la says we can just double our normal daily mantra commitment. The point is, we should try find a way to remember tsog days.

To help mark the tsog days myself, and hopefully help others do the same, I am writing this 44-part series of blog posts which I will post on every tenth day over the next two years. During January, which is Heruka and Vajrayogini month, I will post separately on the 10th and 25th since they are Vajrayogini and Heruka day respectively, hence 44 parts instead of 48 parts.  This series will share my personal thoughts and reflections on engaging in the Offering to the Spiritual Guide sadhana with tsog. Geshe-la encourages us to “make our own commentary” to our practices to try deepen our understanding of them. When Shantideva wrote Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, he said his purpose in doing so was to consolidate his own thinking about the bodhisattva’s path, and if others received benefit from his explanations, then all the better. In the same way, I do not pretend that this explanation is in any way definitive – for that, we have the book Great Treasury of Merit – rather, I will share what my current understanding is of the practice. I write it to help consolidate my own experience and understanding of the practice, and if others also find benefit, then all the better.

In my mind, writing and posting this series of posts is my tsog offering to my spiritual guide. By writing it, I offer my practice, my faith, and my effort to try help the Kadam flourish in this world. I pray that those who read this will be inspired to always engage in tsog offerings every tenth day for the rest of their life, and thereby guarantee that they take rebirth in Keajra Pure Land. Once there, may they quickly complete their spiritual training and begin liberating all living beings from the vast, terrible ocean of samsara’s sufferings. 

Vows, commitments, and modern life:  Avoid committing the five heinous actions.

Kadampa Ryan Vows, commitments and daily life

Committing the five heinous actions.

The five heinous actions are actions that are so karmically awful that, barring some very unique circumstances, if we commit them, it is guaranteed we will take a lower rebirth in our next life.  The five heinous actions are:  killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing a Foe Destroyer, maliciously wounding a Buddha, and causing a schism within the Sangha.

There is little chance of us committing the first four, but it is quite easy to do at least a similitude of the fifth.  Anytime we engage in divisive speech with respect to anybody within the Sangha, we are committing a similitude of this action.  If we are a teacher or a senior member of a local center who has some degree of authority, we need to be especially careful to avoid this.  This happens most frequently in the context of discussing who is doing what work for the center.  Every Dharma center on the planet is understaffed and overworked.  There is not a single exception to this rule, I am sure.  This fact can quickly lead to resentment by the people who “do all the work” against those who “just come to the center as consumers and leave.”  Usually those who “do all the work” start talking badly about the “consumers,” and they use the Dharma they have learned to judge other members in the Sangha.  When they talk to the “consumers” they quite often will use the Dharma as a means of trying to manipulate the other person into doing more, or they will whine and complain about how they have to do all the work and nobody is helping out.  This, I think, is a nearly universal story in Dharma centers around the world.  It’s quite natural, when you think about it.

But it is also completely the wrong way to approach things.  The work of a Dharma center is by definition infinite.  We are, after all, working continuously until all the problems of all living beings for all their lives have been solved.  No matter how much more the people of a center “contribute” there will always be more work to do that needs to be done.  Clearly, the solution can’t lie in just getting people to work more.  What is required is a change in the center’s cultural attitudes towards working for the center.  If we relate to working for a center as “chores” and “tasks that grudgingly must be done” then our optic is completely wrong, and it is this attitude, more than anything else, that is creating obstacles to people stepping up and working for the center.  When we feel manipulated or judged, what do we do?  We resist and resent.  Others are no different.  So even if our manipulations succeed in getting the other person to do more or give more, they will be doing so out of guilt or resentment, not joy at the opportunity. 

If we were told we could go into our favorite store, and we had a half an hour to grab anything we wanted, what would our attitude be?  Our biggest concern would be not having enough time and not being able to grab enough things.  This is exactly what our attitude should be towards working for a center.  A Dharma center is a karmic gold mine we are given the keys to.  Each thing we do to help a Dharma center literally creates infinite pure karma because the center exists for the pure benefit of infinite living beings.  Just as it is a bit of work to pick up the items we want in the store as we race around, so too it is a bit of work to pick up the karmic gems from helping out.  We wouldn’t begrudge the effort it takes to pick up and put in our cart a new watch, so why do we begrudge the minimal effort it takes to create such pure karma for ourselves?  If other people don’t want to take advantage of the opportunity, that is unfortunate for them, but it is their choice.  It is because we want them to seize the opportunity that we must not try manipulate them to do things for the center.  Our manipulation will create obstacles more than anything else. 

Instead, we should show the example of somebody who joyfully is doing everything they can, and instead of bemoaning having to do everything we just feel lucky to have the opportunity we have.  When others see our joy and our enthusiasm, they will quite naturally seek to join in the fun.  And even if they don’t, what difference does it make to you?  Perhaps centers need to adjust their expectations of what all can get done, and some things will have to be set aside.  Such is life in a world of finite resources and time.  But we should use all these constraints as fuel for our bodhichitta, thinking not “others should help out more” but instead think, “I wish I could have emanations of myself so I could do even more.”  When people ask us to do more than we can reasonably do, our answer should not be frustration, rather it should be, “You know, I would really love to be able to help you with that, but I first need to do X, Y and Z so I can’t.  I wish I could, though.  Sorry.” 

Conflict and tension will arise in any human grouping, and it will do so in centers and in any grouping of Sangha.  But how we resolve such conflict and tension can vary considerably.  If we find ourselves “taking sides” or “choosing personalities over substance” or we find ourselves talking badly about others behind their backs, we are on very thin ground.  In general, it is best to reaffirm mutually agreed upon principles that both sides of a given conflict agree on, and then let them apply the principle themselves.  It is better to acknowledge, squarely and honestly, the legitimate views of both sides, even if that runs counter to our desired final objective.  Usually it is best to first encourage people to communicate with each other in a constructive manner before trying to resolve the substance of the matter, but we always speak in terms of “see past how the other person is talking and instead focus on the merits of what they have to say.”  It is almost always better to be a mediator of a given conflict than a protagonists in it, but when we find ourselves as one of the protagonists we should conduct ourselves in a forthright manner and affirm that we seek to resolve the dispute on the substantive merits of the matter at hand, not something extraneous like a dislike of the personalities involved.

Happy Tara Day: Why we turn to Tara

Kadampa Ryan How to Rely Upon Tara, Tara Days

This is the second installment of the 12-part series sharing my understanding of the practice Liberation from Sorrow.

Going for refuge

I and all sentient beings, until we achieve enlightenment,
Go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.   (3x)

Je Tsongkhapa explains the primary causes of going for refuge are fear and faith.  Fear of lower rebirth, samsaric rebirth, or solitary peace; and faith in the three jewels to provide us protection from these fears.  When we engage in Tara practice, even though the refuge prayer we recite is the same as in so many of our other practices, we should mentally generate a specific faith in Tara, understanding her function.  In particular, Tara promised Atisha that in the future she would provide special care for all of his followers.  Atisha is the founder of the Kadampa tradition, and all Kadampas take his Lamrim as our main practice.  Tara is, in many ways, the Buddha of Lamrim.  Her mantra reveals that her main function is to bestow upon our mind the realizations of the initial, intermediate, and great scope of Lamrim, thus protectingus from lower rebirth, samsaric rebirth, and solitary peace.  Viewing her as our spiritual mother and the Buddha of Lamrim, we go for refuge to her with deep faith.

Generating bodhichitta

Through the virtues I collect by giving and other perfections,
May I become a Buddha for the benefit of all.   (3x)

The way we generate bodhichitta is different for each practice we engage in, even if the words we recite are exactly the same.  Of course, our compassionate wish to become a Buddha for the sake of all living beings is the same, but the specific flavor of the bodhichitta we generate will depend upon the practice we are doing.  The difference is identified in how the practice we are about to engage in contributes to our enlightenment based on its uncommon function.  Tara helps us in ways that are different than say Manjushri or Avalokiteshvara, and so generating bodhichitta for Tara practice is different because it is informed by how she helps us.  The more clearly we understand her function, the more precisely we will understand how reliance upon her will help move us towards enlightenment, giving our bodhichitta prayers a unique Tara-like flavor.  What is Tara’s function?  She is our spiritual mother, she helps us gain Lamrim realizations, and she swiftly helps us dispel all fears.  We need a spiritual mother, the lamrim realizations, and fearlessness in order to progress swiftly towards enlightenment.  Wanting these things and understanding her power to help us attain them, we generate bodhichitta.

Generating the four immeasurables

May all sentient beings possess happiness and its causes,
May they be free from suffering and its causes,
May they never be separated from the happiness that is without suffering,
May they abide in equanimity, without feeling close to some out of attachment or distant from others out of hatred.

As with bodhichitta practice, our practice of the four immeasurables should also have a Tara-like flavor when we recite them.  To do so, we should not just generate the four immeasurable wishes in a generic sense, but we should try align ourselves with Tara’s four immeasurable wishes for all living beings.  How Tara feels and experiences these four immeasurable wishes will be informed by her own understanding of her function and how she helps people realize these four wishes.  If we are to align ourselves with Tara’s blessings, we need to not only generate faith in her, but we need to align our motivation with hers.

When Tara thinks may all sentient beings possess happiness and its causes, she does so as a spiritual mother would.  When she thinks may they be free from suffering and its causes, she does so as somebody who has the power to dispel all fears would.  When she wishes everyone never be separated from the happiness without suffering, she does so as somebody who has the power to bestow the lamrim realizations of freedom from lower rebirth, samsaric rebirth, and solitary peace would.  When she wishes everyone abide in equanimity, she does so as a mother would who loves equally all her children and wishes only that they also love each other.  As you engage in the four immeasurables, ask yourself, “how would Tara feel these wishes,” and then try to feel them in the same way she would.  This will make your practice particularly powerful and align your mind more precisely with her blessings.

Inviting Arya Tara

From the supreme abode of Potala,
Born from the green letter TAM,
You who liberate migrators with the light of the letter TAM,
O Tara, please come here together with your retinue.

Potala is her Pure Land.  Definitive Potala is the clear light Dharmakaya of all the Buddhas.  An enlightened mind is the union of the completely purified wind and mind.  The completely purified very subtle wind is the vajra body of the Buddha, and the completely purified very subtle mind is the vajra mind of the Buddha.  When bodhisattvas are progressing along the Tantric grounds, they imagine that out of the Dharmakaya their vajra body (or illusory body) emerges out of the Dharmakaya.  Their very subtle wind takes the form of a seed letter of the future Buddha they are to become.  For Tara, her seed letter is the green letter TAM.  Once a Buddha attains enlightenment, they send out countless emanations and blessings to help all living beings – these are their emanation bodies.  Taken together, this verse means from her inner pure land of Dharmakaya Potala, she emerges as her enjoyment body in the aspect of a letter TAM, which then sends out infinite light rays in all directions ripening and liberating all living beings, who then appear in the aspect of countless Taras surrounding her and the twenty one Taras.

Prostration

Gods and demi-gods bow their crowns
At your lotus feet;
O Liberator from all misfortune,
To you, Mother Tara, I prostrate.

Typically, gods and demi-gods bow to nobody thinking themselves superior to all, but when they are in Tara’s presence, they spontaneously bow their crowns out of respect a her lotus feet.  They do not do so out of fear or political loyalty, but deep respect understanding her to be the Holy Mother of all the Buddhas.  When we recite that she is the Liberator from all misfortune, we understand that she has the power to liberate all beings who are now around us in the aspect of Taras, and we imagine that all beings spontaneously bow down to her out of love and respect to her as our spiritual mother. 

The feeling this evokes for me is like in Game of Thrones with Daenerys Stormborn liberated countless slaves from their masters, and tens of thousands of them spontaneously started calling out to her as Mhysa, their liberating mother.  Tara is our Mhysa, and we imagine all living beings surrounding us feel the same loving respect. 

On Mixing Dharma and Politics – Not Letting Political Differences Divide the Sangha

Kadampa Ryan 4. Practicing in Daily Life , , , ,

For a lot of Americans, the political changes happening in the United States right now are deeply troubling. The same is true for a lot of non-Americans who see what is happening. Yet at the same time, there are a lot of other Americans who are pleased with what is happening. The same is also true around the world.

There is also no doubt within the global Kadampa Sangha we have many examples of people who are both pleased and displeased with the changes that are occurring. Yet let’s be honest here, the Kadampa community on the whole does tend to skew left politically, so I would guess there are many more people who are troubled by what is happening and others who are afraid to voice their support for fear of being judged by their spiritual community.

Perhaps because it is part of my job, I have given a lot of thought to the question of the relationship between Dharma and politics. On the one hand, VGL is very clear we should absolutely not have any mixing of Dharma and politics at all. When religion and politics mix, the politics do not become more enlightened, rather the religion becomes more political. The spiritual path is primarily about future lives. The Dharma has a lot of opinions about delusions and karma, it has absolutely no opinions about who’s in power and what direction they are taking a given country or the world. This causes many Dharma practitioners to fall into the extreme of thinking we shouldn’t think or talk about politics at all for fear of mixing the two. There are others who come to this same conclusion because each time politics is mentioned in Dharma circles it usually ignites a firestorm, like stepping on a bee’s hive, creating unnecessary division within the sangha. There are others still who might not share the dominant political views within the Kadampa community and when they express views that are contrary to the dominant view, they get attacked for being a bad Kadampa or something – how can you possibly support what is going on and be a good Kadampa??? Call it Dharma cancel culture if you want. This hurts, so they conclude it is better to just say nothing.

On the other hand, VGL is also very clear that our job is to attain the union of Kadampa Buddhism and modern life. He said he has given us the Kadam Dharma, we know modern life, our job is to unite the two. Politics and what is happening in the political realm is unquestionably part of modern life. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend things like wars, revolutions, or major political developments that are affecting the lives of billions are not happening. This is especially true in democratic countries where power is first and foremost vested in the people. Politics is fundamentally about how power is shared and used. Power is inextricably part of modern life. Protecting others creates the causes for power. We cannot both protect others and not accumulate power. How we use the power we have is fundamentally a political question. Democratic systems are political systems – governing how power is shared and used.

So how can we reconcile all this? I would say by relying upon the wisdom realizing emptiness, remembering without inner peace outer peace is impossible, training in the instruction that everybody is welcome, and doing our part to uphold the internal rules of the NKT.

Each one of us has a different karmic point of view on what is happening in the world. There is no one single correct karmic perspective, there are just countless different ones. As a result of this different karma, we will each diagnose the ills of the world through different lenses. We are quite literally seeing different things, or at least different angles on the same thing depending upon our karmic positionality. Since we each see the world in different ways, it is entirely natural, normal, and not a problem that we will each have different political opinions about things. This creates some space in our mind to accommodate different political views among people who share a common love of the same Dharma.

VGL was very concerned about world peace and we should be too. We have Temples for World Peace, World Peace Cafe’s, and he often taught without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. In Toronto during the Iraq war, he famously said, “love is the real nuclear bomb that destroys all enemies.” So does this mean all Kadampas must be peaceniks? He also taught it is possible to kill virtuously if it is protecting even more others. Many Kadampas have different opinions about the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and elsewhere. What is the Kadampa solution to all this? Inner peace. Our job is to internally be at peace with the world and everything that happens in it. Being at peace with everything does not mean being aloof or doing nothing, rather it means we are able to maintain our inner peace with whatever appears. If we are internally at peace with the world, we are already experiencing world peace even if war is raging all around us. How do we become at peace with the world as it is? By removing any and all delusions we have about whatever is appearing. We don’t deny what is appearing in political realms, we just do the inner work to be at peace with whatever is appearing.

VGL also extensively taught about how within the Kadampa community that “everybody is welcome.” Because the world will appear to us in different ways according to our karma, we will quite naturally have different political views and opinions – and we will act on those views and opinions, even if that means some Kadampas find themselves on opposite sides of various political aisles. What matters within the Kadampa community is not what your political views are – the Dharma doesn’t have a single political point of view on any question – rather what matters is are you applying the Dharma to overcome whatever delusions you might be having with respect to what is appearing in the political realm. For some, that will mean supporting whatever is happening, for others that will mean fiercely opposing it with every fibre of their being. And both are perfectly OK as long as each person is countering whatever delusions are ripening within their mind. After the George Floyd murder, many within the Kadampa community (like much of the rest of the world), became very concerned with questions of diversity and inclusivity also within the Kadampa community itself. Some others thought this was mixing Dharma and politics and many divisions within the sangha emerged. My answer to this is “everybody welcome.” That doesn’t just mean everybody is welcome regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, and so forth, but also regardless of their political views. If we make it seem like only certain political views are welcome in Kadampa communities and consistent with the Dharma teachings we are, in my view, fundamentally betraying one of VGL’s main legacies of purifying the Dharma of politics. Good Kadampas fight their delusions and yes the delusions in the world, but they can do so from any political point of view they happen to be coming from. As a spiritual community, we MUST create the space for people of any political persuasion to feel entirely welcome. Otherwise, we are not practicing “everybody welcome.” And again, to be honest, this primarily means creating more space for right-leaning views and eliminating any trace of cancel culture within Kadampa communities towards those who might hold different political views.

Finally, within the Kadampa community itself, people will have a wide variety of different opinions about how power is distributed and used within the Kadampa community itself. Some will criticize parts as being too authoritarian, some will criticize other parts as being too rebellious, some will criticize the pricing policies or how the profits are spent, and others will criticize how we take care of our sangha members in retirement. Some will feel threatened when any decision made is questioned, others will feel like they don’t have the space to say anything for fear of being exiled or fired. All of this is entirely natural and not even slightly a problem. VGL has given us the internal rules for navigating all such questions. It is our constitution. VGL has said he wants the International Kadampa Buddhist Union to be entirely democratic. Each one of us will have a different positionality or role within the internal rules, but we all equally take on the internal rules as part of our moral discipline of being a Kadampa. We should each fulfill our role within the internal rules as faithfully as we can, upholding the internal rules above our own individual interests or perspective. There will naturally evolve different schools of thought about how we interpret the internal rules, some strict constructionists, others originalists, others still viewing it as a living document. This is no different than how judges interpret the constitution in different ways. No problem, all that is normal. We each fulfill our role within the internal rules with the least delusions and the most wisdom we can muster. We fulfill our role within the internal rules in a way that is consistent with the Dharma we have been taught. We need to create the space for this tension within the Kadampa community. Democratic systems divide power, with each part checking and balancing all the others. It’s not a problem that different people will have different views about the decisions being made (and how they are being made). This is a feature of the system, not a bug.

Politics is an inevitable part of modern life, even within the Kadampa community. We do not need to fear political differences within the Sangha about what is happening in the world or even what is happening within the Kadampa community. What we need to fear is delusions and contaminated karma, we need to fear ordinary appearances and conceptions. We don’t mix Dharma and politics, but we do engage in our politics in a Dharma way. Because we each will have different delusions with respect to what is appearing, we will naturally support or oppose different things and that is perfectly OK. As long as we are all fighting delusions, we are building inner peace. From this inner peace, outer peace will naturally emerge.

Vows, commitments, and modern life:  Don’t disrobe others (even indirectly)

Kadampa Ryan Vows, commitments and daily life

Taking away saffron robes. 

This can be incurred directly only by those in positions of power in monastic communities.  If such a person, with a bad motivation, expels monks or nuns from the monastery by taking back their robes they incur a root downfall, even if those whom they have expelled have broken their ordination vows.

Fortunately, in modern times, instances of this happening are quite rare and extreme.  The reality is we don’t need somebody else to expel us, we implode upon ourselves just fine! 

In reality, though, there are subtle forms of this that happen in centers all the time.  It doesn’t take the form of expelling ordained people or taking away their robes, but it can take more subtle forms of making certain sangha members feel like they are not welcome, or not part of the “in crowd” at the center.  If we look at the life of Jesus, we see one constant pattern:  whatever situation he was in, he would find the person who was the most excluded and disdained and he would go straight to them and cherish them with particular attention.  He wouldn’t hang out with his most loyal and devoted students, but he would actively show the example of active inclusiveness by seeking out the most despised (tax collectors, prostitutes, gentiles, etc.).  We should be just like that.

It is very easy and very natural for us to spend most of our time hanging out with the people we like, talking behind the backs of the people we don’t like, and generally ignoring everybody else.  But is that consistent with what we are being taught?  Is that the best way to use the very limited time we have to be with Sangha?  Now of course we shouldn’t go to the other extreme of ambushing en masse every new person who walks through the door or every wall flower who is quietly observing from the corner.  We, of course, need to be skillful.  But the point is in every moment of every day, whether we are in a center, at work or amongst friends, we should have a special radar on the lookout for anybody who might be feeling excluded, and we should make a special effort to be kind to them and make them feel included.  They just want to be happy too. 

This vow also advises us to cut others some slack.  Dharma is a mirror with which we can identify our own faults not a magnifying glass for judging other people for their faults.  If we don’t understand how the Dharma is supposed to be used as a mirror, there is a real danger that the more Dharma we learn the more we become judgmental of others.  People often feel guilty about their mistakes and their delusions, and if we judge them for their shortcomings instead of “changing” they will most likely just go away so they don’t have to confront our judgment.  This is another subtle form of exclusion. 

Another subtle example of transgressing this vow is flirting with the ordained.  Because the Dharma is so beautiful, it is very easy for people to develop feelings of love or attraction to our Dharma teachers or ordained sangha friends.  This actually happens all the time, even if subtly.  We need to remember, just because somebody has become ordained does not mean they do not still get horny or feel tempted when people flirt with them.  This weakens and can eventually lead to them breaking their vows.  Of course, it is ultimately their responsibility to keep their own vows, but just as we would not offer a former alcoholic a drink, so too we should not tempt (even sub-consciously) somebody who has taken a vow of celibacy. 

How to Make Definitive Prayers and Requests to the Buddhas:

Kadampa Ryan 3. Tantra, 4. Practicing in Daily Life, 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden , , , ,

From one perspective, all Dharmakayas – the truth body of a Buddha, the ultimate, definitive Buddha – are the same nature of the union of bliss and emptiness of all phenomena, like the different spaces within different empty bottles that when broken merge together seemingly indistinguishably. But we would not say there is just one Dharmakaya – that would be grasping at singularity with respect to the Dharmakaya.

Yet, at the same time, we can and do distinguish different Dharmakayas. There is Heruka’s Dharmakaya, Dorje Shugden’s Dharmakaya, Medicine Buddha’s Dharmakaya, Tara’s Dharmakaya and so forth. But we would not say there are entirely distinct Dharmakayas, as that would be grasping at inherently existent plurality of Dharmakayas.

Now we could say from the perspective of Guru Yoga there is just one Dharnmakaya, the Dharmakaya of our spiritual guide, and all other Buddhas arise from that. But even that is grasping at a singular of our Guru’s Dharmakaya. Our guru is a mere name that emanates all the Buddhas and all the Buddhas come together to form our guru. Both are equally true, just from different perspectives.

We might think, “OK, that’s interesting, but it seems like a philosophical point with no practical value.” Not true.

When we dissolve all things into the Dharmakaya, we should not lose track of whose Dharmakaya we are dissolving things into. Dissolving all phenomena into different Dharmakayas accomplishes different functions. Each Buddha accomplishes a different function in dependence upon the specific bodhichitta they generated as bodhisattvas on the path. For example, Tara promised to help all Kadampas with their Lamrim practice and to provide protection from diseases and so forth, Dorje Shugden promised to help arrange all the outer and inner conditions necessary for our swiftest possible enlightenment, and so forth.

The essential point of the union of appearance and emptiness according to highest yoga tantra, as I understand it at least, is the subtle conventional truths of objects are ultimate truths that abide inside emptiness. Inside the emptiness of the table is the subtle conventional truth of the table, the mere name table. We do not say emptiness in the abstract, it is always the emptiness of something, in this case the emptiness of the table. Inside the emptiness of the table is still the mere name and function of the table. There has always only been an empty table, yet it still accomplishes the function of a table. The name and function of a table does not cease when we realize its emptiness, but they exist and abide inside its emptiness. It remains a mere lack of inherent existence, but of something that does something.

The same is true of the emptiness, or truth bodies, of the different Buddhas. We can think of it like ice cream. Mint chocolate chip and cookie dough are both equally ice creams, but they definitely have different flavors. In the same way, the Dharmakaya of Heruka, the Dharmkaya of Dorje Shugden, the Dharmkaya of Medicine Buddha, and the Dharmakaya of Tara all all equally Dharmakayas, but they have different names and functions. Emptiness itself may not do anything, but all empty things have specific names and functions.

What is the practical value of this understanding? The main value is it removes completely anything and everything that obstructs the different Buddhas from bestowing their blessings on our mind and accomplishing their functions in our life.

For example, imagine you are experiencing a very difficult situation in life. If you dissolve everything you normally see that is creating such difficulty for you into Dorje Shugden’s Dharmakaya, we are not just saying none of these appearances exist. Dissolving everything into emptiness is not just a profound way of putting our head in the sand, thinking it will all go away if we don’t look. Dissolving everything into Dorje Shugden’s truth body is a way of offering that which is giving us trouble to Dorje Shugden, requesting him to transform it into a cause of our enlightenment and to perform his function to arrange all the outer and inner conditions necessary for our swiftest possible enlightenment. After we have dissolved the appearances into his Dharmakaya, when they re-emerge we will see and understand them from Dorje Shugden’s perspective. We will have the wisdom to see how this difficulty is exactly perfect for our swiftest possible enlightenment. Dissolving everything into his Dahrmakaya is a way of purifying the contaminated karma giving rise to the obstacles in the ocean his truth body. So the karma giving rise to those appearances which are indeed obstacles will be purified and even our external situation might change.

We might say how is this any different than just requesting Dorje Shugden to accomplish his function with respect to our difficult situation? It’s not different, it’s just a more powerful and more profound way of making the request. It is more powerful because it is making the request free from any obstructions grasping at inherent existence of ourself, Dorje Shugden, or our difficult situation. No obstructions to our request means more power to receiving his blessings. It is more profound because this is how we make definitive prayers and requests. Dissolving the disturbing appearance into Dorje Shugden’s Dharmakaya is how we definitively make a prayer and request to him to accomplish his function in our mind and life. Subsequent to our request, all appearances that arise will be experienced directly as the fulfillment of our prayer and request, gradually at first, but then later completely. What was experienced as an “obstacle” will now be experienced as “perfect for our practice.”

The exact same thing is true for the Dharmakayas of all the different Buddhas. Dissolving all phenomena into Heruka’s Dharmakaya subsequently transforms all appearances into objects of compassion and non-dual appearance and emptiness. Dissolving all sick people and sickness into Medicine Buddha’s Dharmakaya subsequently transforms all appearances into objects of healing outer and inner sickness. Dissolving all things into Tara’s Dharmakaya subsequently transforms all appearances into objects of Lamrim, and so forth.

It is not unlike making mandala offerings. When we make a mandala offering, we offer all objects of attachment, aversion, and ignorance to our spiritual guide, freeing our mind from such delusions. Dissolving all phenomena into the Dharmakaya is like making a definitive mandala offering. Dissolving all phenomena into the different Dharmakayas of the different Buddhas is like making definitive mandala offerings requesting the specific blessing and function of each Buddha.

Making our offerings, prayers, and requests in this way takes them to a whole new level, increases their power, and enables us to train in the union of faith and emptiness every moment of every day. Faith and prayer are emptiness in action.