At the Summer Festival this year, Gen-la Dekyong said something astounding.  She said that Venerable Geshe-la admits to having only one realization:  “Faith in the wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa.  But this is enough.”  This was a message she emphasized many times during her teachings.  It was clear that her main and indeed only practice is reliance upon her Spiritual Guide.  This is our Guru’s main practice, and so therefore all of his teachings should be viewed through this lens.

How can we understand this?  First, we must understand who is Je Tsongkhapa and second we understand how faith alone is enough.  Who is the wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa?  He is the synthesis of all three jewels in Kadampa form.  He is the embodiment of all good in Kadampa form.  He is the union of all of the compassion, wisdom and spiritual power of all of the Buddhas in Kadampa form.  According to Highest Yoga Tantra he is known as Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka.  Guru means he is by nature our Spiritual Guide.  Sumati means he is the Je Tsongkhapa of Sutra.  Buddha means he is Buddha Shakyamuni.  Heruka means he is Buddha Heruka, in particular Dharmakaya Heruka.  Each of these four are aspects of one being, him.   In short, he is the embodiment of the Kadampa path of Sutra and Tantra.  For us Kadampas, he is the highest and supreme object of refuge.   Within our tradition, we view all of the different deities as being emanated by Je Tsongkhapa.  The main deities on the Kadampa path are Buddha Shakyamuni, Buddha Vajradyara, Manjushri, Avalokitehsvara, Vajrapani, Dorje Shugden, Heruka and Vajrayogini.  Reliance on Dorje Shugden deserves particular mention.  We are to very clearly understand that Je Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden are actually two different aspects of the same being.  So it is impossible for us to deny one and affirm the other.  Venerable Geshe-la has also made it very clear that we are to realize this dual nature of Je Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden.  All of the polemics with the Dalai Lama/Dorje Shugden issue can be seen in this light.

Why is faith in him enough?  We can understand this by understanding the relationship between faith and realization.  Faith begins with believing faith.  Believing faith is we believe in an object of Dharma based on valid reasons.  Valid reasons derive from logic and our own personal experience of the truth of Dharma.  When we have believing faith of an object of Dharma, such as cherishing others is the root of all happiness and cherishing ourself is the root of all suffering, then we naturally come to admire that object of Dharma, marveling at how incredible it is!  This is admiring faith.  When we admire something, then we naturally want that thing for ourself, for example wanting to have the realization that sees the truth of cherishing self and others.  This wishing faith then naturally leads to effort in our practice to gain this realization.  From our effort comes the actual attainments, in this case our realization of exchanging self with others.  So the meaning here is faith alone sets in motion this chain of events, which fall naturally and automatically like dominos.

So why is faith in the wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa alone enough to assure the final attainment of enlightenment?  Because the wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa is the very embodiment of the Kadampa path.  By generating believing faith in all of his amazing good qualities of body, speech and mind we will later naturally and automatically eventually attain all of the attainments of wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa within our own body, speech and mind.  The book Great Treasury of Merit is our root text for generating believing faith in all of his good qualities.  From this it is clear that faith alone in the wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa “is enough.”

It is quite significant that our Spiritual Guide has admitted to only one quality.  He is doing so to reveal to us that this is the most important thing.  It is not unlike Christians whose main practice is faith in Jesus.  Since Western and modern culture are profoundly influenced by Christian norms and values, it seems only natural that the adaptation of Kadampa Buddhism to the modern context would function best when faith in the supreme object of refuge of the path is the main and sufficient practice. Realizing this fully will take the tradition light years ahead in terms of being able to seamlessly integrate Kadampa Buddhism into modern life.  Gen-la Dekyong said that the mission of the tradition is to attain the union of modern life and Kadampa Buddhism.

This has helped me recall that reliance upon the Spiritual Guide is the sole activity on the path.  But more than this, it has deepened this understanding tremendously because it provides exact specificity as to how we are to do it – namely by generating faith in the wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa.  Thus I am going to make this my main practice at least between now and Portugal.  I’m excited to get started!

Spiritual power is the power to overcome the objects to be abandoned (in particular our delusions), either within ourself or within others.

So what are causes of power?

1. The mind of contentment. Power follows the principle of need. All objects of abandonment promise some fruit of samsara. Samsara has power over us to the extent to which we feel we need its fruit. When we have no need of its fruit, it has no power over us. Delusions convince us that we need the objects of our delusion, therefore to cut their power we need to realize that we do not. In this context, the one who is the most content with whatever arises is the one with the most power. We can be content with what we have by knowing how to transform everything into the path and wanting only spiritual development. We essentially ‘need’ nothing from anybody nor anything. We have within ourselves all that we need, therefore noone or nothing or no delusion has any power over us. A true conqueror.

2. Empowering others. If we empower others, we create the cause to grow in power ourselves.

3. Protecting others. When we protect others in any way (external or internal) we grow in power because people assent to our authority and position.

4. Being a good example. Within Western socieities, most power is referrent power, meaning people want to be like you, they want to emulate you. For this to happen, you need to transform yourself into somebody worth emulating. You need to have control over your own mind, delusions and life. In this sense, a successful family life and career are important.

5. Be a source of useful wisdom. It is meaningless to know useless information, but mastery over useful wisdom gives you real power as people come to you for advice. Useful wisdom is that which helps people solve their real problems. Principally, this means their internal problems, but not exclusively so. You also need to know practically how to solve our outer problems since people are initially preoccupied with those and they still grasp at them as being the real problem.

6. Mastery (or at least skill) with the four actions of pacifying, increasing, controlling and wrathful actions. From our own side, we have no power with these. Our ability to complete the four actions depends almost entirely upon the strength of our faith and reliance on Dorje Shugden. The stronger our faith and reliance upon him, the more we can invoke his four actions.

7. A pure motivation. Everything depends upon a correct motivation. With a good motivation, people naturally trust us and we align ourselve with the power of all of the Buddhas. The scope of our motivation determines the power of our purpose. The highest motivation of great compassion and bodhichitta gives unlimited power to all of our actions.

8. Respecting those in positions of authority, in particular our mentors or teachers. When we respect those in positions of authority and work to fulfill their wishes, we create the causes for others to do the same for us in the future. Since our purposes are pure, we seek assistance to fulfill our pure wishes. In particular, showing this respect to our mentors and teachers is important since the primary basis of power within a Western context is referrent power. By showing respect to our teachers and mentors, we create causes for others to show us similar respect when we are their teacher or mentor.

9. Understanding emptiness. When we understand emptiness, we understand that the only thing that needs to change is our own mind. Our mind is the creator of all, therefore if we change our mind, we can change everything. If we have the power to change our mind, we have the power to change everything.

Of course our goal is to attain liberation and enlightenment in this lifetime. But that goal seems so far off and so unattainable (this I need to work on), that sometimes it is not a very motivating goal because it seems undoable. In contrast, getting to the pure land when I die (or before) definitely seems something that is doable, and VGL has said that it is possible for me (and I have received other signs). So for me, this seems quite doable, and as such it drives me. Reaching the pure land itself has almost the same effect as liberation and enlightenment, because once we reach it, we are free from uncontrolled rebirth, our enlightenment is guarranteed, and all of our experiences are pure.

In reality, reaching the pure land is not as hard as it seems. We do not have to die to reach the pure land, rather it is just an issue of completely changing our conceptions of what appears with unshakable and self-reproducing convictions. If I have complete, 100% conviction that I am in the pure land, I actually am in the pure land. A pure land is, in essence, a tantric bodhisattva training ground. In a pure land everything teaches us the truth of Dharma and everything functions to bring us closer to enlightenment. This is what makes a pure land a pure land.

So how can we abide in the pure land now. It is an issue of firmly believing in a few key views. First, if I believe that everything that arises is emanated by Dorje Shugden and in fact the entire universe has forever and always been emanated by him, then he enters into everything. I see everything as emanated by him. This means I strongly believe that everything that arises is a perfect condition for the enlightenment of myself and others. With this conviction, I will then be blessed with the wisdom blessings to understand how this is the case. I will know not only that it is perfect for the enlightenment of myself and others, I will know how and why. I will know what I need to practice and I will see the conditions I have as perfect for practicing exactly what it is that I need to practice. Experientially, I will be in the pure land.

Additionally, the world I normally inhabit is a question of view – nothing more. Viewed from an ordinary point of view, it is samsara. When I maintain this view, I suffer from what appears. If, instead, I view what normally appears as the charnel grounds, strongly believing everything to be part of Keajra, then for me, that is what it will be. Ordinary beings view this as samsara, I choose to view it as the charnel grounds. If I maintain absolute conviction in that conception of things, again, Heruka will enter into everything. I will then receive his blessings through everything. I will see how everything either teaches me some aspect of Dharma or gives me an opportunity to practice something I need to practice. From the point of view of my experience, I will be in the pure land.

Finally, the key to building and maintaining this experience is to be able to transform whatever I experience into the path. There are two things I normally experience: suffering and pleasure. Normally, when I experience suffering I generate aversion and anger and when I experience pleasure I generate attacment. Instead, when I experience suffering, I use all of the practices for transforming adverse conditions into the path (we do this most of the time since most of our experiences in samsara are of suffering). And when I experience pleasure, I need to transform this with the practices of tantra. I need to spend some time contemplating the different ways in which I can transform pleasant experiences into the path. I have less expereince of that, even at the conceptual level. So I need to do some work here. But the point is there are many ways of doing so, most notably in the tantras. If I can master both of these – transforming unpleasant experiences with lojong and transforming pleasant experiences with tantra, then I will be able to transform whatever I experience into the path. Everything I experience will push me closer to enlightenment. Again, I will make it to the pure land.

I, of course, need to practice all three of these methods simultaneously, but I also think there is a certain sequence to them. First, that it is all emanated by Dorje Shugden or taking place within his protection circle. Then I see things as the charnel grounds. Then, within this conception of my reality, I will experience things. As I experience these things, I transform them with lojong and tantra. If I do all three of these things, for all practical purposes, I will experience my reality as being the pure land. Just as the pure land is not technically liberation and enlightenment, but practically has the same function; so too, with these convictions I may not technically be n the pure land, but practically it will have the same function. By gaining more and more experience with these three, I will always be happy (since I will feel as if I am already in the pure land) and I will very quickly transport myself to the actual pure land.

In short, the pure land is not another place, it is rather another point of view.

Since all things are empty, the world is, at a very profound level, what you believe it to be. Wherever you imagine a Buddha, a Buddha definitely goes. Wherever a Buddha goes, they accomplish their function. A Buddha has the power to fulfill all pure wishes. Conditions are neither perfect nor imperfect, they are as perfect as the way we view them.

I request Dorje Shugden to control everything, literally everything, in my world forever and always. I do this with the clear knowledge that his function is to arrange all outer, inner and secret conditions so that they are perfect for our swiftest possible enlightenment. He accomplishes this function on the side of what appears by manipulating what karma ripens and on the side of conception by blessing our mind with the wisdom to understand and realize how things are perfect for our enlightenment. A condition is perfect for our enlightenment because (a) it gives us an opportunity to train our mind in exactly the thing we need to train our mind in to advance to the next stage of the path, and (b) because it reveals to us the truth of the Dharma. Since all other beings are empty, I can request Dorje Shugden to accomplish his function not only for myself, but for all the beings of my dream.

In dependence upon this request, if I believe that Dorje Shugden is indeed accomplishing his function for myself and for all the beings of my dream, that will become my living reality. For all practical purposes, by believing this to be the case it becomes true (all of the attainments I desire arise from merely remembering you…). From an experiential perspective, it will feel as if I am already abiding within Dorje Shugden’s pure land.

Once I firmly believe this to be the case, then my subsequent practice is to (1) strive to understand how things are indeed perfect for both myself and for others and (2) to then apply effort to train my mind in the Dharma in the way that seems the most appropriate given the circmstances. There will be zero basis for anger. Anger is the mind that wishes things were otherwise. Why would I want them to be anything other than perfect? There will be no basis for attachment because if conditions change, and my faith follows suit accepting that things continue to be perfect, then I can easily let go of whatever existed before. There will be no basis for ignorance because Dorje Shugden is a wisdom Buddha and the principle way in which he removes all obstacles and arranges perfect conditions is by bestowing upon us the wisdom that realizes how what is arising is in fact perfect. So we realize the emptiness of all things. In this way, pure reliance upon Dorje Shugden eliminates all anger, attachment and ignorance – just as all delusions find their opponent in the larmim, so too do all delusions find their opponent in pure faith and reliance upon Dorje Shugden.

If I am unsure how some appearing condition is perfect, I should (1) recall that Dorje Shugden is controllng and arranging everything, (2) accept that it is only my ignorance and delusions that prevent me from seeing and understanding how what is appearing is perfect, (3) generate a pure motivation wishing only to train my mind to become a Buddha, and (4) request wisdom blessings to understand what this new appearing condition reveals to me about the truth of Dharma or provides me with an opportunity to train my mind. On the basis of this new understanding, I then apply effort to practice in the way that seems the most appropriate.

To generate this pure motivation, I should recall that from their own side things are neither good nor bad, but it is thinking that makes them so. Therefore, all problems come from the mind. There are no problems other than the ones our mind creates for ourself. Our ignorance and delusion create all our ‘problems’. Our faith in Dorje Shugden and our wisdom frees us from this mistaken conception. All delusions find their opponent in the Kadam Dharma. Therefore, the solution to all problems is to be found within the Kadam Dharma. My ability to solve my own problems, therefore, is entirely dependent upon making the Kadam Dharma my exclusive mental habit. Likewise, my ability to help others is exclusively grounded in my ability to help them change their own mind with respect to what is appearing to their minds. If I know that everything that arises both for myself and for others is in fact, forever and always, controlled by Dorje Shugden. Armed with this wisdom, I can then come to understand how everything is perfect for others. Then I can share my perspective on what is appearing to their mind. They can then also come to see how what is appearing to their mind is indeed perfect. Then they will not have any problems anymore. My ability to effectively share this point of view, however, is entirely dependent upon my own personal experience of the instructions. Realizations come only in dependence upon blessings. Blessings come only through personal experience of the instructions, not abstract theoretical knowledge of the Dharma. Therefore, others will only receive benefit to the extent that I myself have personal experience of the instructions and this special wisdom arising from faith in Dorje Shugden. Put simply: all problems come from the mind, all solutions to all problems come from personal experience of the Kadam Dharma.