Author: Kadampa Ryan

Happy Tara Day: How to ignite Tara’s fierce and raging fire in our life

Kadampa Ryan How to Rely Upon Tara, Tara Days

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

Praising Tara by her destroying opponents

Homage to you who by saying TRÄ and PHAT
Completely destroy the obstructions of enemies.
You suppress with your right leg drawn in and your left extended,
And blaze with a fierce and raging fire.

I think there are two ways we can understand this.  First, her wisdom blessings act like a fierce and raging fire that radiate out in all directions like a protection circle, dispelling all obstructions of enemies, keeping them at bay.  Second, because she is a Buddha she has universal compassion even for those who would oppose the Dharma.  To destroy the obstructions of enemies means she has the power to destroy the delusion obstructions and the obstructions to omniscience of her would-be enemies.  Geshe-la once famously said in Toronto that “Love is the real nuclear bomb that destroys all enemies.”  In the same way, Tara completely destroys opponents by destroying the obstructions to enlightenment on their minds.  This shows her skill in loving living beings while directing wrathful energy against their delusions.

Praising Tara by her purifying demons and the two obstructions

Homage to TURE, extremely fearsome one,
Who completely destroy the chief of demons.
With the wrathful expression on your lotus face
You vanquish all foes without exception.

Where do demons come from?  They are mere karmic appearances to mind, ripening from our negative karma.  The way to actually destroy all demons is to purify the negative karma that sees or appears anybody as a demon.  Nobody is a demon from their own side, they only become such when we view them with a deluded, contaminated mind.  This is how she purifies all demons.  It also says she vanquishes all foes without exception.  In Buddhism, there are no outer enemies, only inner enemies.  To vanquish all foes without exception, therefore, refers to her ability to vanquish the inner enemies of the two obstructions – delusions and their imprints.

Praising Tara by the objects she holds in her right and left hands

Homage to you whose fingers perfectly adorn your heart
With the mudra symbolizing the Three Precious Jewels.
Adorned with a wheel of all directions
Whose radiant light outshines all.

Buddhas hold different implements in their hands to symbolize their inner qualities and abilities.  Her hand in the mudra symbolizing the Three Precious Jewels indicates that she is the synthesis of all three jewels, and that she also performs the function of all three jewels.  She blesses our mind like a Buddha, she teaches and protects the Kadam Dharma, and she helps us like loving Sangha.  I’m assuming the wheel here refers to the Wheel of Dharma which outshines all because it enables us to escape from samsara.

Praising Tara by her crown ornament and the sound of her laughter

Homage to you whose very joyful and shining crown ornament
Radiates a garland of light;
Who, with your mirthful laughter of TUTTARE,
Subdue the demons and worldly gods.

Here, we can imagine that infinite light rays radiate out from Tara’s crown ornament, bestowing blessings and peace on all living beings.  We can then rejoice in her enlightened actions, wishing to gain the ability to do the same ourselves.  Mirthful laughter means a merry or amused laugh.  We should never underestimate the power of laughter.  More often than not, we take everything too seriously.  This makes us tight and our grasping stronger.  But when we can laugh at the absurdity of samsara, then it takes the sting out of it.  Samsara makes me laugh!  In particular, it is important to be able to laugh at ourselves and our delusions.  This is one of the most powerful ways of cutting the power of our delusions over us because we are able to view them from a distance and laugh at how ridiculous they are.  Being able to laugh at others in a way that also enables them to stop taking themselves or their samsara too seriously is a whole other level of skill at mirthful laughter.  Normally, people can take it wrong that we are laughing at them or their plight, and they can become quickly offended.  But Tara has the ability to use skillful mirthful laughter to even subdue demons and worldly gods, disarming their ill intent or pretension. 

Praising Tara by her accomplishing divine actions through the ten directional guardians

Homage to you who are able to summon
All the directional guardians and their retinues.
Frowning and shaking, with the letter HUM,
You rescue all from their misfortune.

In the Tsog offerings, we invite the directional guardians, evil spirits, zombies, givers of harm, smell-eaters and other such beings from the charnel grounds, offer them Torma and Tsog offerings, bless their mind, and effectively “enlist them” to help Dharma practitioners and flourish the Dharma instead of oppose them.  From a deeper point of view, we imagine that all of these beings are actually emanations of the principal deity sent into the realms of samsara to help the beings in every terrifying corner of the six realms.  From the letter HUM at the heart of the principal deity, light rays radiate out and invite these beings to come before the deity to then work on the deity’s behalf.  When we recite this verse, we can imagine Tara does the same, inviting all such beings from the charnel grounds who come before her, and then commit to working on her behalf to rescue all beings from their misfortune.  In this way, she also rescues these beings themselves from their misfortune by inspiring them to engage in virtuous actions of protecting practitioners.

Praising Tara by her crown ornament

Homage to you with a crescent moon adorning your crown,
And all your ornaments shining brightly;
With Amitabha in your top-knot
Eternally radiating light.

Here we can imagine different details of Tara’s form, recognizing them all as manifestations of her inner realizations.  Buddhas have the ability to manifest their mind as form.  When we engage in checking meditations of different deities, we focus on different aspects of their form recalling the inner realization it represents.  A moon in Buddhism symbolizes the realization of emptiness.  The ornaments of a Buddha’s body typically symbolize their inner realizations of the six perfections.  Amitabha in her top-knot indicates Amitabha is her spiritual guide.  Amitabha is the Vajra Speech of all the Buddhas, and is the same nature as Geshe Langri Tangpa, the author of Eight Verses of Training the Mind, our root text for Lojong practice.  Recalling this, we can generate faith that through our reliance on Tara we will be able to realize emptiness, complete the six perfections, and train in transforming adverse conditions into the path.

Praising Tara by her wrathful posture

Homage to you who dwell amidst a garland of flames
Like the fire at the end of the aeon.
With your right leg extended and left drawn in,
You destroy the hosts of obstructions of those who delight in the Dharma Wheel.

Buddhas engage in four types of enlightened action – pacifying, increasing, controlling, and wrathful actions.  Wrathful actions are forceful actions that skillfully differentiate between the person and their delusions or faults.  They are able to be ruthless with delusions while being loving with the person.  They are like a wisdom anger against the inner objects to be abandoned along the path.  If we fail to make the distinction between the person and their delusions, our wrathful actions are just ordinary anger and usually wind up harming living beings.  Pacifying and increasing actions are relatively easy to do without delusions, controlling actions can be done if we are free from attachment to the other person doing what we want, and wrathful actions can only be performed with compassionate wisdom differentiating clearly the person from their faults.  They also typically require the other person to have faith in us to receive well our wrathful actions, but this isn’t always necessary.  Buddhas are often surrounded by blazing wisdom fires indicating their ability to burn through negativities and protect others with great power.  When we recite this version, we imagine Tara radiates such powerful energy around her like the fire at the end of the aeon.  Her right leg extended symbolizes her ability to swiftly come to the aid of living beings.  Because she is the completely purified wind element, she can move as fast as mind to any object.  If we think of the moon, our mind is instantly there.  But how does it get there?  By being mounted upon winds.  Tara is the wind all virtue is mounted upon.  Her right leg extended shows her swift ability.

Happy NKT Day: Why we are encouraged to follow one tradition purely without mixing

Kadampa Ryan 7. Kadampa meaning of special days

The first Saturday of every April is New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) day.  Normally, on this day we generate a mind cherishing our tradition.  I’m sure there are many other people who will write about all of the different reasons why they cherish this tradition, and I rejoice in all of that.  But here, I am going to intentionally stir the hornet’s nest a bit by talking about a particular type of cherishing of the NKT, namely generating the mind that wishes to follow one tradition purely without mixing. 

One of the core principles of the NKT is while respecting all other traditions, to follow one tradition purely without mixing.  This is an extremely vast subject.  Venerable Geshe-la (VGL) explains in Ocean of Nectar that we need to be careful when introducing the subject of emptiness to those who are not ready because doing so can lead to great confusion.  I would say even more so, we need to be careful when introducting the subject of following one tradition purely without mixing, as this is a special spiritual instruction that can easily give rise to much confusion and doubt, including thinking that such an approach is closed-minded, anti-intellectual, and sectarian.  To many, this instruction can seem very strange, even cultish.  Many people might even wind up rejecting the NKT precisely because this is something taught within the NKT. 

This post (and the linked, more extensive document) attempts to explain the rationale behind this instruction so that people can be happy with putting it into practice.

What is the advice?

This is probably best summarized in Understanding the Mind, where Geshe-la says:

“We must be careful not to misunderstand the effort of non-satisfaction. Practising this effort does not mean that we should become dissatisfied with our tradition or with our main practice, and try to follow many different traditions or mix together many different practices. Every Teacher and every tradition has a slightly different approach and employs different methods. The practices taught by one Teacher will differ from those taught by another, and if we try to combine them we shall become confused, develop doubts, and lose direction. If we try to create a synthesis of different traditions we shall destroy the special power of each and be left only with a mishmash of our own making that will be a source of confusion and doubt. Having chosen our tradition and our daily practices we should rely upon them single-pointedly, never allowing dissatisfaction to arise. At the same time as cherishing our own tradition we should respect all other traditions and the right of each individual to follow the tradition of their choosing. This approach leads to harmony and tolerance. It is mixing different religious traditions that causes sectarianism. This is why it is said that studying non-religious subjects is less of an obstacle to our spiritual progress than studying religions of different traditions.”

Geshe-la also elaborated during the Dorje Shugden empowerment in 1995 when he said:

“Sincere practitioners of the Kadampa Buddhism of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine should understake as their heart commitment to cherish the Kadam Dharma, the doctrine of Je Tsongkhapa, and to practice and teach this to others without mixing it with other traditions.  We must take some responsibility to enable pure Buddhadharma to flourish throughout the world.  If we make the commitment to accomplish this aim, then this is called our heart commitment.  Keeping this heart commitment is the basic foundation for receiving Dorje Shugdan’s protection, blessings and special care continually.  Because Dorje Shugden is an enlightened being, he has compassion for all beings and is ready to to give his protection, blessings, and special care, but from our side we also need some necessary conditions.  These are to cherish Kadam Dharma, to practice Kadam Dharma purely without mixing it with other traditions, to teach Kadam Dharma without mixing it with other traditions and to take some responsibility to help pure Dharma flourish throughout the world.  Doing this as our commitment is the best method for receiving Dorje Shugden’s protection, blessings and special care continually.”

Following one tradition purely is spiritual advice, not a rule

Throughout all of VGL’s books, he gives countless pieces of advice about how to transform our mind into the enlightened state.  This instruction on following one tradition purely without mixing is likewise spiritual advice given to us by our Spiritual Guide.  Like all instructions, we are free to follow it or not.  It is our choice.  VGL explains in Transform Your Life that if we do not at present understand a given instruction, or do not see its utility, we should avoid various extremes.  To put the instruction into practice when we do not understand it or when we disagree with it would be one extreme (leading to a wide variety of problems).  To reject the instruction would be another extreme.  The middle way he teaches is to not reject it outright, but to put it aside for later when it does seem to be important or useful for our spiritual practice.  Once we see the instruction as something that is important, if we still have doubts we should follow his advice in Clear Light of Bliss when he quotes Buddha Shakyamuni as saying ‘do not believe me because I am called Buddha, instead verify for yourself.’  We should examine all the arguments with an open mind, contemplating deeply their meaning without any preconceptions or attachments to our view, and then only decide to put this instruction into practice when we ‘want to’ and we ‘see its value’ for our spiritual development.  This approach should likewise be used when it comes to the spiritual advice to follow one tradition purely without mixing. 

If we relate to this instruction like a rule imposed upon us from the outside, but we do not ‘want’ to follow it, then the result will be we generate resentment towards the rule and towards those who make it.  This then undermines our faith, we can generate all sorts of negative minds, and eventually this can destroy our spiritual practice. 

So, in short, when should this instruction be practiced ?  When we want to put it into practice.  Who does it apply to ?  Only those who wish to apply it to themselves.  All moral discipline is self-imposed.  We apply it to ourseleves because we see the benefit of doing so and the harm of not doing so.  We take refuge vows because we wish to center ourselves within Buddha’s teachings.  We take Bodhisattva vows because we wish to center ourselves within the Mahayana.  We take Tantric vows, because we wish to center ourselves within the part of the Mahayana that is the Vajrayana.  Specifically, our Tantric vows entail a commitment as to whom is our Spiritual Guide, our teacher.  We do all of these things from our own side because we want to and see the value of doing so.  We place limits on the sources of our spiritual understanding and practice (Buddha’s Hinayana teachings for those who have taken refuge and Pratimoksha vows ; Mahayana teachings for those who have taken Bodhisattva vows ; our Spiritual Guide’s teachings for those who have taken Tantric vows). 

VGL has added a fourth layer of vows for those who wish to be NKT teachers and officers, namely the internal rules of the NKT, which he has correctly labeled as A Moral Discipline Guide.  VGL said that for us, these vows are more important than even our Tantric vows.  It is our choice whether we wish to assume these guidelines as part of our moral discipline or not.  Nobody can force us to do so, nobody is requiring us to do so.  We do so because we wish to.  If we wish to do so, then we are authorized by VGL to teach NKT Dharma and be an officer in an NKT center.  If we do not wish to do so, then we are not authorized by VGL to do these things.  We may still consider him our Spiritual Guide, appreciate his good qualities, put his teachings into practice, etc., but we do not have these special authorizations to teach or be an officer.  The internal rules have many layers of meaning.  It is not up to anybody outside of us to say whether we have the intention of keeping the moral discipline of the internal rules.  Only we can say.  So if internally we wish to take on the internal rules as part of our moral discipline, unless there is a gross violation of these rules that requires action, it is up to us to use our own wisdom to decide how to put these instructions into practice.

What is mixing traditions? 

In order to understand this instruction, we must understand what it means (and what it does not mean) to mix traditions.  To understand this, we must first understand what it means to mix in general.  To mix means to combine two or more things in some way. 

What does it mean to mix our mind with teachings in general ?  To mix our mind with teachings means to familiarize our mind with the meaning of a teaching.  It is to gain an intellectual understanding of the meaning of a teaching and to believe (or appreciate) that meaning to be true for your mind and practice.  In Understanding the Mind, VGL states :  “Basically Dharma practice is quite simple because all we need to do is to receive correct Dharma teachings by listening to qualified Teachers or by reading authentic books, and then mix our mind with these teachings by meditating on them.”  In Joyful Path, VGL explains that we mix our mind with teachings (meditate upon them) in three different ways :  through listening to (or reading) Dharma instructions, through contemplating their meaning (analytical meditation) and through placement meditation on them. 

To mix spiritual traditions, therefore, means to do this process of mixing our mind with teachings in general with the teachings from more than one spiritual tradition.  If one is an NKT practitioner, to mix traditions would mean to mix one’s mind with teachings from the NKT and from a tradition other than the NKT.  The internal rules of the NKT state that the NKT will always be an entirely independent spiritual organization.  What distinguishes the NKT from other traditions is its three study programmes.  In the definition of the three study programmes, all three programmes state clearly that their content is derived exclusively from the teachings and commentaries of VGL.  Therefore, any teaching that does not come from VGL (either directly from him or indirectly through an authorized NKT teacher) would be considered as belonging to another tradition.  A clear test as to whether something is part of the NKT or not is whether it has been published by Tharpa Publications.  Any book or source published by something other than Tharpa Publications is necessarily from another tradition.   Any teaching received by a spiritual teacher other than one who is an authorized NKT teacher would necessarily be a teaching from another tradition. 

Mixing is not a black or white thing, but actually has many many levels of subtlety.  Just as there are many different levels of ignorance, so too there are many different levels of mixing.  It is impossible for us to be completely free from any mixing until we are a Buddha, so the question is not whether something ‘is’ mixing or not, the question is whether somebody has within their mind the intention and the desire to go in the direction of completely abandoning every last trace of mixing within their spiritual understanding and practice.  If one has this intention, then over time we gradually gain a deeper and deeper understanding of what it means to mix, and in this way we can gradually improve the purity with which we practice.  Wanting to do this is part of cherishing the NKT.

In short, the nature of the inputs into our spiritual understanding determines the nature of the outputs of that spiritual understanding (unless we have perfect discriminating wisdom, which none of us have, or at least I do not).  If we have only NKT inputs, then it guarrantees we will have only NKT outputs (internal realizations, teachings, etc.).  If we have NKT and non-NKT inputs, then our spiritual understanding will be a mix of multiple sources, which will result in a mixed output (or at least a great danger of this).  Therefore, unless we can claim we have a perfect discriminating wisdom and experience of NKT teachings, even if we do not want to mix, we will not be able to not mix on some subtle level if we read other tradition’s teachings.  This is especially true for those spiritual teachings that are quite similar to NKT teachings.  There seems less risk of mixing by reading Christian books than there is in reading books on Tibetan Buddhism, especially those books written by diciples of Trijang Rinpoche, even if they are also Dorje Shugden practitioners.

If we understand that the way in which we attain enlightenment is by mixing our mind inseparably with that of our Spiritual Guide, it is clear that if we mix our mind with the teachings of a different Spiritual Guide we will be mixing.  Our mind will be a ‘mishmash’ (as VGL calls it) of our Spiritual Guide’s teachings, of the other Spiritual Guide’s teachings and of our own thinking of how to combine these two.  It is possible for us to take VGL as our Spiritual Guide and continue to mix his teachings with those of similar (or dissimilar) traditions, especially when we are at the beginning of our practice and our discriminating wisdom and experience are undeveloped.  However, he still advises us against doing this.  But there are many pieces of advice he has given us that we are not yet ready to put into practice and he encourages us to put those aside for later.  The instruction on following one tradition purely without mixing is no exception.  However, there definitely comes a time in our practice where we want to start leaving these other sources behind and instead mix our mind completely and exclusively with the teachings of our Spiritual Guide.  By doing so, we can mix our mind more thoroughly with his mind, draw closer to him and his blessings, and eventually attain enlightenment.  It is clear that we cannot fully mix our mind with his if we are still partially mixing our mind with teachings from other traditions. 

I understand this is challenging for some

I understand that this instruction is challenging for many people because it seems contrary to our normal way of thinking about things.  My first teacher told me, “The things we find the most difficult at first later wind up being the teachings that bring about the greatest transformations in our mind.”  So I encourage everyone to investigate for themselves with an open mind.  In the early 2000s, I wrote the attached document in answer to questions some of my students were asking about this topic.  I try address every angle of the question.  If you still have some doubts or hesitations about this topic, I encourage you to look through the arguments presented, in particular work through the answers to the objections that arise.  If you still have questions about it, I’m happy to try provide my thoughts. 

Here is the table of contents of what is contained in the larger document.

This document is organized as follows :

  1. References within VGL’s teachings on this advice
    1. On following one tradition purely without mixing
      • From Understanding the Mind
      • From Great Treasury of Merit
      • From Meaningful to Behold
      • From the Commentary to the Dorje Shugden empowerment, Spring Festival 1995
      • From the NKT internal rules
  2. On sectarianism
    • From Joyful Path
    • From Clear Light of Bliss
  1. The mind with which we examine this question
  2. How to understand this instruction
    • Following one tradition purely is spiritual advice, not a rule
    • What is mixing traditions ?
    • What are the causes of mixing ?  Why do people mix ?
  3. Rationale for the spiritual advice to follow one tradition purely without mixing
    1. Considering valid reasons
      • Advantages of not mixing
      • Disadvantages of mixing
      • Disadvantages of even slight mixing.
    2. Contemplating useful analogies
      • Analogy of the burning room
      • Analogy of climbing a mountain
      • Analogy of a Formula 1 racing car
      • Analogy of commitment to a partner
      • Analogy of specialization
  4. Refutation of objections to not mixing
  • Objection 1.  We can gain a better understanding of a subject when explored from multiple perspectives
  • Objection 2:  We can gain a higher and deeper understanding of universal truth through synthesizing multiple systems of thought.
  • Objection 3 :  All religions say the same thing, just with different metaphors and means.  So what is the problem with me studying and reading other traditions.  Does that not also take me in the direction of enlightenment ?
  • Objection 4:  OK, I agree we should not mix traditions.  I am 100% committed to VGL, I know what we are all about and I don’t want to mix.  So what is the problem with me reading other sources ?
  • Objection 5:  But I do not have freedom because I cannot be an NKT teacher or officer of an NKT center if I still want to go to other things.  So I am not free to choose.
  • Objection 6:  But it can be argued that just because one is in a relationship with somebody else does not mean that they cease to be friends with other people and other women.  In the same way, it is not mixing or violating my commitment to my spiritual path by reading other books, etc., as long as I am clear as to who is my Spiritual Guide.
  • Objection 7: But we are Buddhist, so everything depends upon the mind.  Reading other sources is not from its own side mixing, it depends upon the mind with which we do it. 
  • Objection 8:  Come on !  Certainly you are exaggerating to say it is a fault to even read or be exposed to teachings from other traditions.  Don’t be so paranoid !
  • Objection 9:  It still seems very closed-minded to be so categorical in shunning anything that is non-NKT.
  • Objection 10:  OK, even if I agree with all of the above, certainly it is more skilful to say nothing, since people will misunderstand and leave the Dharma as a result of this misunderstanding.
  • Objection 11:  OK, I agree, something needs to be said.  But why do you have to do it in such a foreceful way. 
  • Objection 12:  OK, point taken.  But what makes an action skilful is whether the action does not undermine the faith of the other person when you engage in it.
  • Objection 13:  OK, fine !  Just tell me what I can and cannot do.
  • Objection 14:  If that is the case, then why do different teachers have different policies and standards on this one ?
  • Objection 15:  But how does your standard compare to that of the NKT as a whole ?  Are you more strict ?
  • Objection 16:  Wait a minute !  I can understand why there would be an issue with Tibetan Buddhism in general, but certainly it is not a problem with Mt. Pellerin.  After all, their teacher was also a student of Trijang Rinpoche, he is friends with VGL, and they are Dorje Shugden practitioners.  Are they not basically a Tibetan version of us, and we are a Western version of them ?  So their teachings can help improve our understanding of VGL’s teachings.  We are all talking about the same thing, so there is no mixing going on.  So it should be OK.  It seems we should at least make an exception with them.
  • Question 17:  OK, I understand all of this and it makes sense.  How practically then are we to implement all of this at the center given the sensitivities involved ?
  • Conclusion

Dedication

I dedicate any merit I may have accumulated from writing this that all beings may find the spiritual tradition that speaks to their heart, and that all beings may joyfully follow one tradition purely without mixing, regardless of what tradiction speaks to them.  I pray that those reading this do so with an open mind and understand that advice such as this is offered by Geshe-la out of his infinite compassion for us understanding what is spiritually the most effective way of progressing along the path.

Modern Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Lay people need to overcome sexual attachment too

Kadampa Ryan 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life

(8.69) Putting so much effort into beautifying it
Is just like polishing a sword that will be used to harm you.
It seems the whole world is pervaded by this madness
Because people believe beauty is only external.

(8.70) Having contemplated the piles of bones in the burial ground,
Once we turn our mind elsewhere
And see graveyard cities full of moving bones,
How can we find pleasure in them?

In Meaningful to Behold Venerable Geshe-la said that attachment to sexual pleasures is one of the most universal forms of desire. This attachment in our mind sows the seeds of the destruction of all our meaningful relationships.  So many people as a result of sexual attachment go off with other people or end their existing relationships. Then, they wonder why in the future none of their relationships are stable.

We want to find people attractive, and we can.  We just need to do it in the right way.  If we have attachment to people, we find them to be very attractive, but we view them in the context of what they can bring us.  Affectionate love naturally finds people attractive, but it is totally different because it does not seek anything for oneself – it just admires and appreciates the good qualities we see in the person we love.  Nothing is wrong with that.  We need to mentally make this distinction, because otherwise we will never abandon our attachment because we like finding others attractive.

If someone came to see us for some advice, and said to us that they suffer from strong sexual desire, what would be our advice? What would we say?  If we do not know, then it says something.  This is a big problem for people, so we need to internally realize some answers.  The reality is this is a huge problem for pretty much everybody, yet nobody talks about it.  We hide in shame with it or we even glorify it with poetry.  We all suffer from this attachment, but we are still all convinced it is our friend, and we react very negatively when somebody comes along and challenges our view.  Why?

It’s not just monks and nuns who need to work on sexual attachment, but lay people, too.  Thinking that this problem is one experienced only by the ordained is ridiculous, so naive, really if we feel this, so naive. Thinking, “I actually enjoy my sex life, I have a good sex life, I don’t have a problem with this. This is only a problem for the ordained.” Ridiculous.  If you want to see how much difficulty you have with sexual attachment, take a temporary vow of celibacy (3-6 months) and see how your mind does.  Just because lay people give in to their sexual attachment does not mean they don’t have a problem with it.

(8.71) Furthermore, we do not come to enjoy others’ bodies
Without acquiring material possessions.
We exhaust ourself in non-virtuous activities to gather these,
Only to experience suffering in this life and the lower realms in the next.

(8.72) When we are young, we do not have the resources to support a partner;
And later we are so busy that there is no time to enjoy ourself.
When at last we have accumulated the resources we need,
We are too old to indulge our desires!

(8.73) Some, under the influence of desire, work like slaves.
They tire themselves out working long days
And, when they return home in the evening,
Their exhausted bodies collapse like corpses.

(8.74) Some have to experience the disruptions of travel
Or suffer from being far from home.
Although they long to be close to their partners,
They do not see them for years at a time.

(8.75) Some, confused about how to earn what they desire,
Effectively sell themselves to others.
Even then they do not get what they want
But are driven without meaning by the needs of others.

(8.76) Then there are those who sell themselves into servitude
And work for others without any freedom.
They live in lonely, desolate places
Where their children are born with only trees for shelter.

We need to think about why we would give up our spiritual life to return to a worldly life.  People do.  They primarily do so because Dharma practice does not give them immediate rewards like worldly life can.  Their impatience for results kills their spiritual practice.  Very sad, actually.  They do so because they are not thinking about death.  We have to ask ourselves if it is enough to have a happy, comfortable life.  We have the opportunity to lead a fully spiritual life, become a spiritual guide, even.  This is the most meaningful existence a living being can have.  Why are we not interested?

Happy Protector Day: Viewing Our life as a Training Ground

Kadampa Ryan Protector Days, Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

The 29th of every month is Protector Day.  This is part 3 of a 12-part series aimed at helping us remember our Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden and increase our faith in him on these special days.

We are continuing with our discussion of how to rely upon Dorje Shugden during the meditation break.  In the last post we discussed how we can take personal responsibility for removing the faults we perceive in others.  In this post we will discuss how to view our life as a training ground for becoming the Buddha we need to become.

How can we understand this?  Dorje Shugden knows who we have karma with to be their Spiritual Guide.  We each have the karma to be the spiritual guide of certain beings.  Dorje Shugden knows this and he knows what karma we have with them.  If we ask him to do so, Dorje Shugden can manage our karma in such a way that he forges us into the Buddha we need to become.  Primarily Dorje Shugden provides us with favorable conditions and arranges everything to be perfect for our practice. 

But he is so powerful, he is also able to ‘use’ our negative karma and ‘transform’ it into the spiritual path.  We can adopt the wisdom view that he “gives” us now the problems that our future students will have so that we can learn how to use the Dharma to overcome these problems.  We have the negative karma on our mind to experience anything and everything.  Dorje Shugden is able to manage the flow of the ripening of our negative karma so that the negative karma which does ripen is that of our future students and it ripens in a context where we will be able to transform it into the path.

What are the benefits of relying upon Dorje Shugden in this way?  It will create indestructible karmic links between ourselves and our future students that will ripen in the form of us being their spiritual guide in the future.  We will gain the realizations we need to be able to help the beings with whom we have the closest spiritual karmic connections.  It will enable us to find great meaning in all of our inevitable difficulties in life.  Life will still be difficult, but these difficulties will be part of a larger project to forge us into the Buddha we need to become. 

Practically speaking, how do we view our life in this way?  The key lies in viewing everyone as an emanation of Dorje Shugden for our practice.  The view we adopt of others determines the qualities we draw out.  This is so because view itself is a creative action, it is not a passive observation.  We do not view others in a particular way because they ‘are’ that way (they are not any way), rather we view others in a particular way because it is most beneficial to them for us to do so.

The view we adopt is to view others as emanations of the Spiritual Guide.  We can maintain pure view of others.  We consider them to be Buddhas appearing in the aspect of ordinary beings so we can act normally with them.  By acting normally with them, we gain the realizations we need to attain enlightenment.  We can maintain pure view of their actions by considering all of their actions to be the supremely skillful actions of a Buddha.  For example, if they make some big mistake, we can view it as they make mistakes to teach us things.  If we assent to the appearance of others as being ordinary, engaging in ordinary actions, we will simply plant the karma which will give rise to the appearance of ordinary beings engaging in ordinary actions.   In this way, we re-imprison others into contaminated aggregates engaging in non-Dharma actions and us into a world of ordinary appearances.

If instead we imagine that others are by nature emanations of Dorje Shugden engaging in supremely skillful actions to lead us to our swiftest possible enlightenment we plant karma which will give rise to the appearance of others as emanations engaging in the actions of a Buddha.  In this way, we free others from contaminated aggregates and we create the causes for them to engage in the actions necessary to lead themselves to enlightenment. 

But how do we do this, especially when we see others acting in deluded and unskillful ways.  There are two key questions we can ask ourselves to be able to maintain this view:  First, what do their actions teach me?  Second, what do their actions give me in terms of an opportunity to practice?  Our answers to these questions point us to the wisdom that is able to receive perfectly reliable Dharma instructions and opportunities to practice from whatever others do. 

We can even do this same practice with our own body and mind.  If we assent to ourselves as being an ordinary being engaging in ordinary actions, it will creates the karma for the recreation of that appearance.  But if we view our ordinary body and mind as emanated for us to practice overcoming in order to forge us into the Buddha we need to become, it will plant the karma for that appearance to arise in the future.  For example, if we get sick, it is for us to practice with.  If we have a delusion, it is for giving us an opportunity to practice the opponents, and so forth.

This view is extremely beneficial for both ourselves and for others.  We are able to transform whatever happens to us into the path to enlightenment and we are able to receive the blessings of the spiritual guide through everyone.  It also karmically reconstructs others and ourselves into pure being.  By imagining that they are Buddhas engaging in a Buddha’s actions, it karmically reconstructs them so that they will later actually engage in enlightened actions and become a Buddha. 

In sum, the practice of Dorje Shugden can be reduced down into four simple ideas:

  1. Renew our spiritual motivation, that what matters to us is creating good causes for spiritual progress.
  2. Request with infinite faith that whatever happens to us (or others) is perfect for our swiftest possible enlightenment.
  3. Accept with infinite faith whatever subsequently arises as the perfect conditions we requested.
  4. In those perfect conditions, practice to the best of our ability.  To practice means to try to send our mind in the direction of enlightenment by striving to abandon our delusions and by cultivating virtuous minds.  It does not matter whether we succeed in actually doing so, what matters is that we try.  If we try, we create good causes which will ripen in the future in our ability to do it. 

We can use our reliance on Dorje Shugden to overcome all our delusions.  This practice was explained to me by the great Gen Togden many years ago.  He said we can overcome our anger through relying on Dorje Shugden by considering that anger wishes things to be other than they are.  When we rely on Dorje Shugden, we know they are perfect, so there is no basis for wishing they are otherwise, thus there is no basis for anger.  He also said we can overcome our attachment through relying on Dorje Shugden.  We think we need something for our happiness, but we do not know.  So we make requests to Dorje Shugden that if this is what is best, then please arrange it; if not, then we request him to please sabotage it.  Finally, he explained we can overcome our ignorance through relying on Dorje Shugden.  Dorje Shugden is a wisdom Buddha, so we can request him to bestow his blessings so we will always know what to do in all situations.

How to Engage in Vajra Recitation of Sadhanas and Listening to Teachings

Kadampa Ryan 3. Tantra

Just as there are three levels of mantra recitation – verbal, mental, and vajra – I would say there are three levels at which we can recite sadhanas – verbal, mental, and vajra. Mental recitation of our sadhanas is superior to verbal recitation, and vajra recitation of them is supreme. When we learn how to do this, it feels as if guru Heruka is reciting the sadhanas in our mind for us, like a blessing or an empowerment. We can do the same with listening to Dharma teachings, giving Dharma teachings, and contemplating and meditating on the Dharma.

Mantras are Buddha’s Speech and the Nature of Pure Winds

All of this is derived from Tantric Grounds and Paths. The short version is simple: mantras have four levels, form, speech, wind, and mind. The form is the written letters, the speech is the spoken mantra, wind is their nature before being spoken, and mind is their ultimate nature of bliss and emptiness. There are three types of mantra recitation – verbal, mental, and vajra. Mental recitation is superior to verbal recitation, and vajra recitation is superior to mental recitation. Verbal recitation is saying the mantra out loud with our speech, mental recitation is saying it with our mind, vajra recitation is listening to the mantra arising in our mind, understanding its conventional nature is pure wind and its ultimate nature is the bliss and emptiness of the Dharmakaya, or the definitive guru. So just as we say “Dharmakaya dreaming,” we can also say vajra recitation is “Dharmakaya speaking.” It is our definitive guru reciting the mantras in our mind as a blessing – quite similar to an empowerment. The Dharmakaya – the Truth Body of Guru Heruka – is speaking in our mind.

There is no reason why we cannot practice the guru yoga of the wind and mind levels of mantras. Indeed, doing so brings them alive and feels like an empowerment every time we engage in vajra recitation of any mantra. The definitive guru is speaking directly into our mind. The nature of speech is wind – in this case the pure winds of our guru mixed inseparably with our own. The duality between ourself and the guru has dissolved, we “listen” to him infuse his vajra speech in our mind understanding his winds and our winds and his mind and our mind are inseparably one.

Three Ways of Reciting Sadhanas – Verbal, Mental, and Vajra

So how does this connect to recitation of sadhanas? Just as there are four levels to mantras, so too there are four levels to sadhanas. Just as there are three ways of reciting mantras, so too there are three levels to reciting sadhanas – verbal, mental, and vajra. Geshe-la advises us to memorize our sadhanas so we can recite them mentally as opposed to just verbally because doing so is more powerful. In exactly the same way, implicit within the teachings on vajra recitation of mantras is the possibility of vajra recitation of our sadhanas. 

The nature of Dharma is speech, and the nature of speech is wind. All Dharma is the nature of a Buddha’s speech, which is the nature of the purified winds of our guru. What is a sadhana? It is the speech of our guru. It has a written level (the words on the page), a verbal level, a wind level, and a mind level. 

For me, the key link is a sadhana is a scripture. In Tantric Grounds and Paths, Venerable Geshe-la says, “Some scholars have raised the question: ‘What is the real nature of scriptures?’ This is very difficult to answer in terms of Sutra teachings alone. If we say scriptures are mind, then we have to explain how they can be communicated to others, but if we say scriptures are sound or visible form, we must explain how matter can express meanings. How can a sound, which is devoid of awareness, become an object-possessor? These problems can easily be resolved if we consider the Highest Yoga Tantra teachings on winds. The inner nature of scriptures is wind, which is conjoined with awareness. When the scriptures are recited they become sound, and when they are written down they become form.”

From this, it is easy to understand how we can engage in our sadhanas as vajra recitation of them. It’s exactly the same as mantras. Both are Buddha’s speech and both are the nature of pure winds. Both can be “listened to” (with faith) arising in our mind from guru definitive Heruka, like our guru engaging in the sadhana for us in our mind like a blessing or empowerment. When we actually try it, we will see how it can be done and how much more powerful this is than mental recitation alone. Mental recitation is engaging in the sadhana with our ordinary mind, vajra recitation is engaging in the sadhana with our guru’s mind. When we engage in vajra recitation of our sadhanas, it feels as if the guru is revealing to us the hidden meanings of the sadhana directly into our mind. The recitation of each word of the sadhana is like a request for blessings, “please reveal to me the meaning of this word” and the understandings that dawn within our mind when we do so are the guru directly infusing his pure winds and minds into our own. It feels as if he is engaging in the sadhana for us in our mind, carrying us to enlightenment, and all we need to do is enjoy the ride. When we combine this with the emptiness of our guru, the sadhana, and ourselves, we let go of our grasping at these three as being distinct. The are experienced as inseparably one.

How to Vajra Listen to and Vajra Give Dharma Teachings

When we understand this, it also opens up new ways of “listening to” Dharma teachings – or even to giving Dharma teachings as well. When we listen to Dharma teachings, we can not just listen to the words as verbal speech, we can ”hear them” as the pure winds of definitive Heruka arising from the Dharmakaya, and indeed we can do this with an awareness of the emptiness of the three spheres of the teacher, the teaching, and the listener. The whole teaching is a vajra recitation taking place witin our mind, mixing our winds inseparably with our guru’s pure winds, like an empowerment. As these pure winds course through our mind, they blow open the obstructions in our mind, directly revealing new understandings. It is like our guru going, ”and if you thought that was amazing, let me show you this…” This gives a whole new meaning to having our “mind blown.”

This is likewise true for giving Dharma teachings. Anybody who has given Dharma teachings has had the experience of feeling as if it was Geshe-la speaking through us. Ideas or explanations come out of our mouth which we have never heard or understood before. When we give Dharma teachings, we need to essentially get out of the way and let the guru teach through us. We can center ourselves in the Dharmakaya, let is ”speak” through us as pure winds, giving rise to understandings within our mind, and words out of our mouth. All four levels of the Dharma discourse are present – form (our students taking notes), verbal (our words), wind (Dharmakaya speaking), and mind (our mind remaining mixed inseparably with definitive Heruka). Verbal teaching is good (repeating Geshe-la’s words), mental teaching is better (sharing the understandings we have gained through our own contemplations and meditations), vajra teaching is supreme (allowing the guru to teach through us).

How to Engage in Vajra Contemplation

Normally when we contemplate the Dharma, we do so with our ordinary mind asking ourselves, ”what does this mean?” or ”how does that make sense?” or ”how does that work?” etc. This is a very good thing to do. Venerable Tharchin says listening to Dharma is trying to understand how the guru sees things. Contemplation is transforming that understanding into our own. We start to see things as the guru does. But there is absolutely no reason why we cannot engage in vajra contemplation instead. Instead of directing our questions of ”what does this mean?” and so forth to our ordinary mind, we direct the same questins to our guru. We ask him, ”what does this mean?” We are essentially asking him to reveal the meaning to us through his blessings. Indeed, Geshe-la directly teaches us that every time we get stuck in our meditations, we should image our guru at our crown or our heart, offer a mandala, and then request blessings to be able to understand. We then imagine we receive blessings and new understandings dawn. Where do these understandings come from? They arise from definitive guru Heruka inseparable from our own mind. We ”listen” to them arising in our mind, recognizing them as by nature the pure winds of our guru. Dharmakaya speaking.

To get some experience of this, we can train in reciting the Three Principal Aspects of the Path. The entire scripture is written from the point of view of Je Tsongkhapa speaking directly to us. It is a teaching. We can read it. We can memorize it and mentally recite it. Or we can vajra recite it, imagining he is speaking directly into our mind. We “listen to” him recite it directly into our mind, like a blessing empowerment. As he does so, he is revealing to us the deep meaning. He is showing us directly what he sees within our mind. Where does this speech come from? It arises from his Dharmakaya. The Three Principal Aspects of the Path are what the Dharmakaya has to say. Dharmakaya speaking. More profundly still, we can first dissolve Lama Tsongkhapa into our heart, mix his Dharmakaya with our own root mind to the point where we feel his Dharmakaya is our root mind, and then we listen to him give this teaching in our mind, revealing directly its most profound meanings. We can do the same with all of our scriptures.

We can even meditate in the same way. When vajra ”ah ha” moments arise, we can meditate on them, familiarizing ourselves with the new understanding so that we never forget it. But we don’t need to meditate with our ordinary mind. We can meditate with our guru’s mind. We can view these new understandings not as ”our” realization, but rather ”his” realization arising within our mind like an emanation. Part of his mind is in our mind. The object of meditation itself is his realization in our mind, or more profoundly, mixed inseprably one with our mind. There is only his mind, and on that basis we think our mind, our realizations. We can even ”hold” our object of meditation with his mind by using his completely purified and fully developed mental factors of mindfulness, alertness, concentration, and so forth. Why do so with our ordinary mental factors when we can do so with his?

Don’t be Afraid to Contemplate the Dharma

Sometimes people object to new ideas they haven’t heard before saying, ”where does Geshe-la say this?” And if he does not explicitly say something somewhere, it is default assumed to be ”wrong.” This is a premature conclusion which is actually quite harmful to our practice – it can be a form of holding onto wrong views or at the very least it can be closing the door to discovering the profound depths of the Dharma. We arrive at this default premature conclusion because we, quite understandably, want to rely upon our guru’s teachings and not make up our own lineage. We feel as if some new idea not explicitly taught must be making up our own lineage and since we don’t want to rely upon something unreliable, we reject anything that is not explicitly taught.

The key to overcoming our doubts of this nature is realizing there are three types of wisdom – the wisdom arising from listening, the wisdom arising from contemplation, and the wisdom arising from meditation. Listening refers to audibly listening to teachings or reading Dharma books. Contemplation refers to when we consider ourselves the teachings, including connecting the dots between the different teachings so that they become integrated into a coherent whole of our Dharma understanding. We need to realize how all of the teachings relate to one another and are not only non-contradictory, but mutually reinforcing. We contemplate the Dharma until we come to some sort of ”ah ha” moment, and then we meditate on that to familiarize ourselves with our new understanding so that we don’t forget it. We should not be afraid to ”contemplate” the Dharma, indeed, we are encouraged to do so.

But how do we know if our new understandings we discover are reliable? I have discussed this point with Gen Rabten, and we concluded there are four tests we can use. First, does this new understanding contradict any known instruction? Second, does the new understanding naturally follow from all known instructions? Third, we can request Dorje Shugden – the protector of the Dharma within our mind – to thoroughly sabotage this new understanding if it is wrong or be reinforced if it is correct. And fourth, does this new understanding take us higher up the mountain towards the peak of enlightenment (as opposed to just being an interesting, but ultimately irrelevant avenue)? If our new understandings satisfy these four tests, then we can have sufficient confidence that they are reliable at least as stepping stones to higher understandings. This doesn’t mean these new understandings should be considered ”definitive Dharma.” We very well may realize a few years later that the understanding was good, but not good enough. We discover some new nuance and our understanding becomes refined. We are encouraged to refine and refine our understandings over time.

Geshe-la encourages us all the time to ”make your own commentary,” and he explains how he does so when he describes how he develops oral lineage teachings. We rely upon the guru through vajra contemplation, we write down what we understood, we work with it through contemplation and meditation, fine-tuning it until it is exactly right. Making our own commentary is not meant to replace Geshe-la’s holy scriptures, rather doing so is our way of mixing our mind more deeply with what he has taught us. Our commentary represents our best possible understanding of what is being taught at the time we write it, and our commentaries will improve over time as our understanding deepens. Stepping stones. Parts of the path. What I have shared here is my understanding as it has been revealed to me. If others perhaps also find it helpful, all the better.

Modern Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Taking an Honest Look at Disgusting Human Bodies

Kadampa Ryan 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life

(8.57) If your main interest is in attractive forms,
Why do you not prefer to touch such things
As beautiful young flowers
Rather than desiring others’ bodies, which are just cages of filth?

We might object, we like to engage in sexual activities with others bodies because they are beautiful.  We are attracted to their beauty.  But flowers are also beautiful.  But they just don’t do it for us in the same that bodies do, do they?  We might like a pretty flower, but we don’t wish to engage in sexual intercourse with it. So it’s not the attractive form that pulls us in, is it? It cannot be just the attractive form because a young flower is an attractive form, it’s a beautiful form.

So what is it then? Again what is it about bodies? Compare that beautiful young flower with a cage of filth, we still go for the cage of filth. The cage of filth does it for us, flowers do not. Why? What is it that we’re actually interested in? Fascinating, isn’t it?  When we look and try find what exactly we are so attracted to, we find nothing.  When we try find what is worth copulating with, we find nothing.

(8.58) If you do not want to touch a place
Covered with impurities such as vomit,
Why do you want to touch the body
From which these impurities come?

(8.59) If you are not attached to what is unclean,
Why do you embrace others’ bodies,
Which come from impure blood and sperm
Within an unclean womb?

(8.60) You have no desire for the body of an insect, however small,
That emerges from a pile of dung;
So why do you desire a gross, impure body
That is produced from thirty-six impure substances?

(8.61) Not only do you not disparage
The impurity of your own body,
But, out of attachment to what is unclean,
You desire other bags of filth!

(8.62) Even pure medicinal herbs
And delicately cooked rice or vegetables
Will defile the ground on which they land
If they are spat out after having been in the mouth.

(8.63) Although the impurity of the body is obvious,
If you still have doubts, go to a burial ground
And reflect on the impurity of the corpses
That have been abandoned there.

(8.64) Once you have understood
That, when the skin is removed,
The body gives rise to great aversion,
How can you ever derive pleasure from it again?

We dislike anything, don’t we, that is filthy, unclean, contaminated, in some way. Such as the unpleasant things that come out of the body.  Yet the body is the very source of these things, the body is unclean, impure, contaminated. Again why do we like bodies that are by nature impure, unclean?   Why do we laugh when we hear these descriptions? Because we all do. … Why? Shantideva is just describing what our body is actually like. It’s filthy, it’s unclean. Why do we laugh?  We think perhaps the way Shantideva puts it seems absurd.  But is it?  Or is this not objective and our actual view is the one that is absurd.  I think reading descriptions like this make us nervous – we don’t want to take them on board because we don’t want to let go of our attachment, but we have to have some reaction, so we nervously laugh.  I think our self-cherishing feels cornered by Shatideva’s words.  I think we laugh because we don’t want to accept it, and we don’t want to look at it.  His words are true, and we try and spend our whole life pretending that they are not.

(8.65) The fragrance of another’s body comes from other sources,
Such as the sandalwood with which it is anointed;
So why are you attracted to a body
Because of scents that are not its own?

(8.66) Since in its natural state the body smells foul,
Would it not be better to have no attachment for it?
Why do those who crave the meaningless things of this world
Anoint this body with perfume?

(8.67) If the scent comes from perfume, such as sandalwood,
How can it come from the body?
Why be attached to others
Because of a scent that is not theirs?

(8.68) When left naked in its natural state,
The body is hideous, with long hair and nails,
Foul-smelling, yellowing teeth,
And a pervasive stench of dirt.

So perhaps it is the smell of the body that we’re attracted to?  No, that can’t be, bodies generally stink.  Perhaps it is the perfume on it. But if we like the perfume, then why are we attached to the body?  If we put perfume on a pillow, we wouldn’t be as attached. 

It is not the smell, so what is it, really?  We can see that Shantideva is engaging in a wisdom search for what, exactly, are we so attached to.  It is like trying to find an inherently existent object, when we search, we find nothing.  Here, Shantideva is using wisdom to search for what exactly it is we are attached to.  When we look with wisdom, we find nothing. 

Happy Tsog Day: How to Practice the Song of the Spring Queen (part 3)

Kadampa Ryan Tsog Days

In order to remember and mark our tsog days, holy days on the Kadampa calendar, I am sharing my understanding of the practice of Offering to the Spiritual Guide with tsog.  This is part 26 of a 44-part series.

HUM All you Tathagatas,
Heroes, Yoginis,
Dakas, and Dakinis,
To all you I make this request:
Like a lotus born from the centre of a swamp,
This method, though born from attachment, is unstained by the faults of attachment.
O Supreme Dakini, through the bliss of your lotus,
Please quickly bring liberation from the bonds of samsara.
AH LA LA, LA LA HO, AH I AH, AH RA LI HO
May the assembly of stainless Dakinis
Look with loving affection and accomplish all deeds.

The fifth and sixth lines of this verse emphasize that the spontaneous great joy we generated with the previous verse is by nature completely free from any grasping or attachment. Sexual bliss is very pleasant, but is characterized by a strong grasping at the experience. If we check our mind when we are experiencing sexual bliss it is not a peaceful mind. The great bliss of completion stage is by nature inner peace. Enlightenment is sometimes called the supreme inner peace of enlightenment. Great bliss is an inner peace that is so peaceful it is blissful. It is completely relaxed and spacious without the slightest trace of tension or grasping. It feels as if our mind has settled into a complete stillness and has no need or desire whatsoever to arise from that stillness because any movement would be away from the most pleasant experience possible to something less pleasant. This is why the mind of great bliss is the supreme mind of concentration that far surpasses tranquil abiding. There is no better mind for concentrating on virtue.

In all our tantric practices of transforming pleasant circumstances into the path the procedure is the same. We can take eating ice cream as an example. When we eat ice cream, we generate a pleasant experience on our tongue. Normally we then grasp at the ice cream as an external cause of our pleasant experience and generate attachment for ice cream as a result. But if we were to transform the pleasant experience of eating ice cream into the path using tantric methods, we would then mentally imagine we dissolve both the ice cream and our tongue into their ultimate nature emptiness while retaining the pleasant experience we are enjoying. When we are able to retain the pleasant experience without the appearance of the external object that we mistakenly thought was giving rise to the pleasant experience, we are able to meditate on the union of the pleasant experience and emptiness. Instead of giving rise to attachment, we realize we can generate pleasant experiences from within our mind and hold them regardless of what external objects we are exposed to. In exactly the same way, we can transform any pleasant experience, including the pleasant experiences of sexual activities.

When we recite this verse, we can mentally imagine that we dissolve our self, Vajraygoini, and the entire pure land generated around us into the clear light emptiness while retaining the spontaneous great joy we experienced and generated through the previous verse. This is exactly the same as we would do if we were transforming eating ice cream using tantric methods. This meditation on the experience of spontaneous great joy mixed inseparably with emptiness, like water mixed with water, functions to purify all the contaminated karma on our mind. As explained before, there are two types of obstruction to our enlightenment: delusion obstructions and obstructions to omniscience. Delusion obstructions are the tendencies similar to the cause to generate delusions from our past delusions. Obstructions to omniscience are the effects similar to the cause, environmental effects, and ripened effects of our past deluded actions. Once we have freed our mind from all the delusion obstructions, we attain liberation. This comes first. We then continue to meditate on the union of bliss and emptiness and gradually purify all the obstructions to omniscience. When that happens, we attain full enlightenment. In this verse, we imagine that in dependence upon our experience of the union of spontaneous great joy and emptiness we completely purify all our delusion obstructions and therefore attain liberation. The lotus referred to in the eighth line is once again Vajrayogini’s bhaga.

When we recite the ninth line, we do not directly visualize ourselves engaging in union with Vajrayogini as we have done in the previous verses, rather everything has been dissolved into clear light emptiness. In Understanding the Mind, Geshe-la explains there are two types of object, manifest and hidden. Manifest objects are objects that appear directly to our sense consciousnesses or to our mental consciousness. Hidden objects are objects that do not appear directly but can nonetheless be established through inferential valid cognizers. With this verse, when we recite the ninth line, we imagine that we are focusing on the emptiness of engaging in union with Vajrayogini. It does not appear directly to our mind, but we nonetheless experience its effect of spontaneous great joy. The experience of spontaneous great joy is the valid reason supporting the inferential cognizer establishing that we are engaging in union with Vajrayogini. In this way, we can understand that the meditation on the union of clear light bliss and emptiness is in fact the definitive version of engaging in union with a wisdom mudra. Normally when we talk about Buddhas we say there is the interpretative Buddha and the definitive Buddha. Interpretive Heruka, for example, is the blue deity with four faces and twelve arms. Definitive Heruka is the union of bliss and emptiness. In exactly the same way, interpretive reliance upon a wisdom mudra is everything we have been describing up to this verse, and definitive reliance upon a wisdom mudra is described in this verse.

HUM All you Tathagatas,
Heroes, Yoginis,
Dakas, and Dakinis,
To all you I make this request:
Just as the essence of honey in the honey source
Is drunk by swarms of bees from all directions,
So through your broad lotus with six characteristics
Please bring satisfaction with the taste of great bliss.
AH LA LA, LA LA HO, AH I AH, AH RA LI HO
May the assembly of stainless Dakinis
Look with loving affection and accomplish all deeds.

With this last verse, we continue to meditate on the union of spontaneous great joy and emptiness as in the previous verse. But here, we purify completely all our obstructions to omniscience. And thereby attain full enlightenment. When we attain enlightenment, we are able to perceive appearance directly as a manifestation of bliss and emptiness. Prior to enlightenment, we can meditate on a direct realization of bliss and emptiness, but when appearances once again appear to our mind, they appear to exist from their own side. When we attain enlightenment, this duality falls away and objects appear to us directly to be manifestations of their underlying bliss and emptiness. One way of thinking about it is we penetrate so deeply into emptiness that we find appearance. This is similar to the meditation on the clarity of mind. Clarity is so clear it can know any form. In the same way, the emptiness we perceive is so empty it can appear as any form. When we recite this verse, we strongly believe that we purify completely all our obstructions to omniscience and, as a result, the mandala of our self-generation as Heruka and Vajrayogini begins to appear directly to our mind as a manifestation of the bliss and emptiness we have been bathing in. We attain the resultant union of appearance and emptiness. We strongly believe that we have attained full enlightenment in dependence upon relying on the wisdom mudra Vajrayogini through the practice of Song of the Spring Queen, and we generate a feeling of profound joy experiencing the entire mandala as our body of great bliss and emptiness.

The fifth through the eighth line of this verse describe the practice of relying upon a wisdom mudra from the perspective of someone who has already attained the union of Heruka or full enlightenment. At present, when we engage in self-generation practice, we first generate the basis of imputation of our self as Heruka in Keajra in union with Vajrayogini. We then imagine that we identify with this Heruka and Vajrayogini as if it was ourselves. Wherever we imagine a Buddha, a Buddha appears. And certainly Heruka and Vajrayogini always abide in their pure land. Now try imagine how our engaging in self-generation practice is experienced from the perspective of Heruka and Vajrayogini in Keajra. From their perspective, it is as if countless tantric practitioners are like a swarm of bees who come and partake of the honey source that is their union of Heruka and Vajrayogini. They allow all living beings to enter into them and they share their great bliss with all of them. Here, when we recite this last verse, we imagine that we are Heruka and Vajrayogini in Keajra and that we invite all living beings to enter into us, like a swarm of bees, to enjoy the honey of great bliss that we are offering to them. In other words, we imagine we are experiencing things exactly as Heruka and Vajrayogini do. This way of practicing is incredibly profound and creates countless causes for us to be able to one day become a Heruka able to do this for others. It also creates the karma for us to more easily engage in the practices described by Song of the Spring Queen ourselves in the future. It is almost impossible to imagine how amazing all this is. We are so fortunate!

Five Meditations to a Perfect Blissful Experience of the Emptiness of the Self-Generation

Kadampa Ryan 3. Tantra

The emptiness section of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path takes us through a series of five meditations we can do with respect to any phenomena. To illustrate, I will use the self-generation of ourself as the deity:

1. Meditate on non-dual appearance and emptiness. We can do this by meditating on the four profundities. To meditate on the first two profundities, we think the self-generation we normally see does not, but the self-generation does appear, exist and function. To meditate on the second the second two profundities, we specifically meditate on non-dual appearance and emptiness. The self-generation is not other than emptiness, emptiness appears as the self-generation.

2. Meditate on dependent relationship. This has four levels: the self-generation arises in dependence upon causes and conditions, such as having received an empowerment; listened to, contemplated, and meditated upon correct instructions; and engaged in the mental actions of generating the mandala. It exists in dependence upon its parts, such as the charnel grounds, Mount Meru, the Celestial Mansion, the five wheels of deities, etc. The parts can also be divided into what appears – the mandala, what is understood – its emptiness, what is experienced – great bliss, what it is held by – our mind; and what is known – ourself as the deity. It also exists in dependence upon its basis of imputation, namely the collection of the parts, but the phenomena itself is not its basis of imputation. We make a distinction between the basis of imputation and the imputation and the imputation itself. It finally exists in dependence upon its mere name – Heruka is what we call ourself generated as the deity. At a more profound level the Dharmakaya in the aspect of the basis of imputation makes the expressive sound Heruka. It is the Dharmakaya speaking that is the mere name. The sign we have done this correctly is our self-grasping reduces or ceases, but our divine pride increases.

3. Meditate on negating the two extremes in a special way. We negate the extreme of existence by realizing it exists as a subtle dependent relationship, a mere name. The extreme of existence says if things exist, they must exist inherently. By seeing how something can exist as mere name/appearance, we realize how it doesn’t have to exist inherently to exist. We negate the extreme of non-existence by realizing when we see the self-generation we normally see does not exist, we are not left with nothing, we are left with a non-dual appearance of the self-generation and its emptiness. The extreme of non-existence says if things do not exist inherently, they do not exist at all. No, we can strip away the mistaken appearance and conception of inherent existence and something remains, namely the non-dual appearance and emptiness of the supported and supporting mandala.

4. Meditate on non-dual karma and emptiness. The self-generation arises from karma but there is no karma other than emptiness. The laws of karma describe how the emptiness of our person shape-shifts from a samsaric being into the self-generation (changing the basis of imputation of our I). The laws of karma are like the laws of fluid dynamics that explain how emptiness shape-shifts appearance. In economics, we make a distinction between static and dynamic analysis. Static analysis is how things appear in a snapshot of time, dynamic analysis explains how things change over time. Non-dual appearance and emptiness is static analysis, non-dual karma and emptiness is dynamic analysis. Each of the four main aspects of karma (ripened effect, environmental effect, tendency similar to the cause, and effect similar to the cause) are the laws governing this motion of the ocean of non-dual appearance and emptiness. Interestingly, when you look at the actual laws of fluid dynamics, you see these four effects.

5. Meditate on the non-dual bliss and emptiness (Tantra Prasangika view). This is not explicitly mentioned in the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, but since the uncommon characteristic of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine is the union of sutra and tantra, I would say it is implied. The Tantra Prasangika view combines the Prasangika view that all phenomena lack inherent existence with the Chittamatrin view that all phenomena are by nature our mind, while recognizing that our very subtle mind itself is the nature of great bliss. In the context of the self-generation meditation, what appears is the self-generation of ourself as the deity, what is understood is its emptiness, what is experienced is great bliss, all this is known/held/by nature our very subtle mind of great bliss. The emptiness of our very subtle mind of great bliss appears in the aspect of the self-generation. This object is non-dual with the subject mind of great bliss – they are two aspects of the same phenomena, like the gold and its coin.

We can do these same five meditations with any phenomena. This is how we cut the root of samsara. In this way, we realize the emptiness of samsara and nirvana. On the basis of these understandings, we can then reshape emptiness from samsara and its inhabitants into a pure land and all the deities.

Modern Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Why Are We Attached to Bags of Filth?

Kadampa Ryan 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life

(8.52) We might feel that what we are attracted to is not impure;
And yet we want to copulate with others’ bodies,
Which are just cages of bone tied together with muscles
And plastered over with the mud of flesh!

(8.53) We have enough impurities of our own
That we constantly have to contend with;
So why, out of an obsession with the unclean,
Do we desire other bags of filth?

From an objective point of view, a human body is just that – a bag of filth.  Can we deny this truth?  They are just cages of bone tied together with musles and plastered over with flesh.  This is manifestly obvious, and when put in these terms, absolutely disgusting. 

Yet our attachment makes us believe that these objects are pure.  And non-attachment informs us that they are not, that they are impure.  Yet we do not want to hear that.  We don’t even want to think about that because we think doing so will ruin our enjoyment.  So which is the mind that we are relying upon – our wisdom or our attachment? The attachment or the nonattachment? Attachment arises from ignorance, nonattachment from wisdom. Why is it that we do not even want to accept any reasoning that Shantideva is putting forward, why don’t we want to accept the absurdities that Shantideva is pointing out? Why not? Even though our wisdom is saying actually Shantideva is right, he is right.

Perhaps some people think that they are practicing Tantra by having sexual attachment. People say all the time, ‘look at those Dakinis’.  When somebody says this, they are just revealing that they don’t know what Tantra is all about.  Such a view of Tantra actually results in the most horrible of karmas – it creates the cause for the degeneration of Tantra in this world.  People who teach so-called Tantra classes are creating the karma that every time they find a pure spiritual path that teaches Tantra that they will take it for worldly reasons.  Or worse, they will encounter false teachers.  Such people will be amongst the last to be liberated from samsara.

It is impossible to practice Tantra on a basis of anything other than non-attachment.  Tantra is a transformation of the impure into the pure.  How can such a transformation take place when you are conceiving the impure to be pure?  It is our disgust for the contaminated objects of samsara that cause us to wish to generate pure forms with our minds. 

We can distinguish the mind of attachment from the mind of non-attachment by the direction it moves.  The mind of attachment moves outwards, towards the object, and becomes glued within it.  The mind of non-attachment is a withdrawing inwards as we let go.  This enables our mind to stabilize.

OK, now we look at the question, “what is it about bodies that we are so attracted to?”

(8.54) “It is the flesh that I enjoy.”
If this is what you like to see and touch,
Why do you not want it in its natural state –
When it is devoid of mind?

We already looked at this one above.  It is not the flesh we enjoy, if it was, we would equally enjoy having sex with a corpse. 

(8.55) Any mind that you desire
Can be neither seen nor touched,
And anything you can see or touch cannot be mind;
So why engage in meaningless copulation?

So then we say, we are attracted to their mind.  But if we are attracted to their mind, then we would wish to mix our thoughts with theirs in a conversation or think deeply about their writing, why bother with the sexual activity?  Why do we find their bodies attractive when what we are appreciating is their mental qualities?  It doesn’t make any sense.  Further, we may know people who have many mental qualities, yet we don’t find them to be attractive.  If it is their mental qualities we find attractive, then why do we not wish to have sex with “ugly” people with beautiful minds?

(8.56) Perhaps it is not so strange
That you do not realize others’ bodies are impure,
But it is very strange
That you do not realize your own is.

Do we think of our own body as impure?  No.  As a result, we have attachment to it.

If we were to contemplate the nature of our own body then of course we would realize it is impure.  We don’t typically see others bodies at their worst, such as when they are going the bathroom or when they stink.  But we do know what our own body is like.  It’s gross, really.  Yet others bodies are the same.  And even if they are not, since we know our own body is disgusting, why would we wish to do things with it?  Do we typically play with unclean, disgusting things?  And why would we want to rub something as unclean as our own body onto something else that we find to be beautiful?  Do we rub or excrement all over a clean marble countertop?

How many people reading this actually want to think in these ways.  There is so much resistance in our mind to even thinking this way because we know if we do, we will no longer derive the same sort of enjoyment we used to out of sexual activities.  But Shantideva already pointed out that the pleasure we get from sexual activities is not even remotely worth the effort or the negative karma. 

A Pure Life: Putting the “Mahayana” in Precepts Days

Kadampa Ryan Precept Days

This is part three 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.

This practice is called training and the eight mahayana precepts. The eight precepts themselves are specific moral disciplines that we train in. What makes them mahayana precepts is we train in this moral discipline with a bodhicitta motivation. Any virtuous activity can become a buddy safas perfection by engaging in that virtue with a bodhichitta motivation.

What is bodhichitta? Bodhichitta is a mind that spontaneously wishes to attain enlightenment for the sake of protecting all living beings from their suffering. It observes that all living beings are suffering, drowning in the ocean of samsara, and wishes to do something to help them. But it recognizes that at present we currently lack the ability to help living beings. We ourselves remain trapped within samsara, controlled by our delusions, and limited in our capacity to do much good to help people over a sustained period of time. We also frequently have no idea how to actually help people, and all we can do is perhaps offer them a shoulder that they could cry on. Observing this, we conclude it is not enough to simply wish others did not suffer, but we must ourselves do something to free them from their suffering.

If a mother saw her child drowning in a river, she would not merely wish the child not drowned but would actively dive in to try save her. But the problem is at present we do not know how to swim. So even though we would want to help others, we lack the ability to actually do so. We then ask ourselves, who does have the ability to help all living beings and lead them out of the ocean of samsara onto the island of enlightenment? Only a Buddha does. A Buddha possesses the omniscient wisdom that always knows how to help others, is able to continue to help others life after life without interruption unimpeded by their own death or the death of those they are trying to help. A Buddha is also able to emanate countless forms for each and every living being trapped within samsara. They are not limited by simply one body and one voice, but can emanate as many forms as living beings need to always be there with them 24/7 life after life. Buddhas also possessed the skillful means necessary to guide complicated samsaric beans how to enter, progress along, and eventually complete the path. Let us face it, most people reject the advice that they receive even if it’s exactly what they need to hear. Having skillful means knowing how to encourage people to engage in spiritual practices makes the bodhisattva’s task possible.

Understanding that only a Buddha has the ability to actually fulfill the compassionate wish to protect others from their suffering, we then make the firm determination that we ourselves must become a Buddha in order to help all other living beings. The primary wish of bodhichitta is the wish to help others, and the wish to attain enlightenment is the secondary wish we need to do in order to fulfill our primary wish. Geshe-la gives the analogy of wanting a cup of tea. If we generate the intention that we would like to have a cup of tea, we naturally get a cup, a tea bag, and hot water. This happens almost automatically and is a natural consequence of our primary wish to have a cup of tea. In the same way, when we wish to protect all living beings from their suffering, we then naturally get the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha that enable us to fulfill our primary wish. This happens almost automatically and without our having to give it much thought, we are simply driven by the desire to protect others and we naturally do what is necessary in order to fulfill that wish.

Each of the eight precepts by itself is a practice of world discipline. What makes it a mahayana practice of moral discipline is we engage in them with a bodhicitta motivation. When we explore each of the eight precepts themselves, I will attempt to explain how our observing that precept specifically helps us gain the ability 2 protect others from their suffering. But generally speaking, how does our practice of moral discipline help us attained enlightenment? 

To attain enlightenment, we need to purify our very subtle mind of the two obstructions. The two obstructions are the delusion obstructions and the obstructions to omniscience. Delusion obstructions are simply the delusions of our mind, and the obstructions to omniscience are the imprints of our past solutions and past deleted actions. Once we have purified our very subtle mind of the two obstructions, we will naturally attain enlightenment. In other words, enlightenment is already within us, we simply need to uncover it.

How do we purify our mind of the two obstructions? We do so by meditating on the emptiness of our very subtle mind where all of our delusions and their imprints are stored. When we directly realize the emptiness of our very subtle mind, it functions to uproot directly and simultaneously all of the contaminated karma we have accumulated since beginningless time.

How do we then gain a direct realization of emptiness? That depends upon our ability to concentrate our mind. In the Sutra teachings on tranquil abiding, we learn how to concentrate our gross mind. And in the tantric teachings regarding controlling our inner winds, we learn how to concentrate our very subtle mind. It is impossible to concentrate with our very subtle mind if we are incapable of concentrating with our gross mind.

Concentration is primarily a training in overcoming distractions. Distractions cause our mind to move away from our chosen object of meditation towards something else. If we do not mix our mind with the Dharma, it will have no power to transform our mind. Distractions are the thief that robs us of our spiritual life.  Geshe-la explains in Joyful Path of Good Fortune that distractions are of three types: mental excitement, mental wandering, and mental sinking. Mental excitement is when our mind moves to an object of attachment. Mental wandering is when our mind moves to another object of Dharma other than our chosen object of meditation. Mental sinking is when we lose the clarity or grip of our mind on our chosen object, but our mind has not necessarily gone to something else. In the beginning, our primary obstacle is mental excitement.

Why does our mind go to objects of attachment instead of our object of meditation? The reason why is our mind is naturally more interested in objects of attachment because we still believe them to be causes of our happiness and we have not yet realized that our objects of meditation are causes of happiness, rather we find them to be quite distance or perhaps even boring. Our mind will naturally go to wherever it feels it will be happiest. Why does our mind believe objects of attachment are causes of happiness? Simply habit. The habit of believing the lies of our attachment that external objects are indeed causes of our happiness. We are so accustomed to these lies that we do not even call them into question. If we are to overcome our mental excitement, we must stop being fooled by our attachment.

A good example is spam. We have all received the emails from the Nigerian Prince who promises to transfer us a bunch of money for safekeeping if only we give him our bank account numbers. When we first receive this email, we wonder maybe it is true, and we are tempted to send our bank information. But when we know clearly that this is a scam and a lie, we are no longer fooled and do not feel tempted to send our information. In fact, simply receiving such an email reminds us of the need to be careful to not be fooled by the many scams that exist out there. We may not be able to prevent such spam from arriving in our inbox, but we can cut the power or the danger of such messages by seeing them as the lies that they are. In the same way, our minds of attachment are like spam. They promise us all sorts of happiness if only we follow their advice. When we first encounter such lies, we are tempted and often do follow their advice. When we fail to find the happiness that they promised, our attachment then lies to us again and says we did not experience it because we did not do it well enough. So once again we believe the lie and follow it. We start to do this again and again, until eventually we have no choice and we follow such lies blindly believing them to be the truth.

But with Dharma wisdom, we can recognize attachment for the lie that it is. It is the spam of our mind. When the thoughts of attachment arise in her mind, we then see them for the lies that they are. The more they come, the more we strengthen our determination to not be fooled. Like with our spam, we might not be able to prevent such thoughts from arriving in our mind, but with wisdom we can cut the power of such thoughts over us in terms of controlling our behavior.

How do we game such wisdom and such power? Through training in moral discipline. The practice of moral discipline is quite simply seeing the dangers of engaging in negative behavior and then making the determination to not do so. It is a wisdom that is no longer fooled by the lies of our attachments. It sees through these lies and recognizes them as deceptive, trying to trick us into engaging in negative behavior thinking it will bring us happiness when in fact it only brings us more suffering.

So how then do we train in moral discipline? When the temptation to break our moral discipline arises in our mind, we remind ourselves of the wisdom that caused us to take the vow or precept in the first place. We recall how the minds of attachment encouraging us to break our moral discipline are in fact deceptive, promising us happiness but simply guaranteeing more suffering. The practice of moral discipline is not an exercise in willpower. If in our heart we still want to engage in the negativity, we may for a short period of time be able to refrain, but all we will actually be doing is repressing our attachment wanting to do the opposite until eventually our attachment grows in strength and it overwhelms our willpower.

Rather, moral discipline is the practice of changing our desires. By contemplating again and again how are delusions are deceptive and how our wisdom and virtues are non-deceptive, we gradually change our desires to no longer want to chase the objects of our attachment and be fooled by their lies, and rather we want to train in the opposite virtues which we know are reliable methods for bringing us the happiness that we seek.  It is easy to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts, but the actual training is keeping them in the face of our deluded temptations to break them.

When the temptations arise in our mind, we then recall the disadvantages of breaking our moral discipline, the deceptiveness of the attachments lying to us, and the benefits of observing our moral discipline and following pure conduct. Through engaging in these contemplations again and again and again, we gradually change our desires. We no longer want to follow attachments, we instead want to follow our wisdom and virtues. By gaining experience with these contemplations and in keeping our vows, we gradually build up tendencies similar to the cause within our mind that are familiar with this way of thinking. Then, when we are in meditation itself and objects of distraction, or objects of mental excitement, arise in our mind, we are not tempted to go follow them but rather we see them as deceptive. We are then able to more easily renew our determination to not follow our distractions and instead to keep our mind focused on our object of meditation.

It is for this reason that Geshe-la explains in Joyful Path of Good Fortune that the practice of moral discipline overcomes gross distractions and the practice of concentration overcomes our subtle distractions. We first need to overcome our gross distractions through the training in moral discipline and then we can overcome our subtle distractions through our training and concentration. By training in concentration, we can gradually gain control over our gross mind, which then creates the space for us to gradually gain control over our subtle mind through the trainings of learning to control our inner winds. Once we can control our inner winds, we will eventually be able to make manifest our very subtle mind of clear light. Once this mind is manifest, we can then engage in the meditation on the emptiness of our very subtle mind and purify our mind of the two obstructions and thereby attain enlightenment.

In this way, we can see the very clear connection between our training in the practice of the Eight Mahayana Precepts and our eventual attainment of enlightenment. When we see this connection, we can easily generate the bodhicitta motivation to take the Mahayana precepts. In this way, our practice of the eight precepts becomes training in the eight Mahayana precepts.