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.

Luna Kadampa asked what does NKT Day mean to each of us.  I recently received a letter from my former spiritual stomping grounds about some apparent “set backs” at the center.  I realized I had my answer to Luna’s question:  What NKT Day means to me is the love I feel for my family and for the people and Sangha of the Swiss Romande.  Here is my reply letter.

To my vajra family,

I have heard that there have been some significant changes in the Swiss Romande area lately.  I can understand how this can sometimes lead to difficult transitions, both externally and internally.  It has taken me a good four years to transition from the life I had to my new life now to get to the point where looking back I realize clearly how all the changes that happened were the best things possible.  Change is sometimes very hard, but not only is it inevitable, we need it.

One thing I have realized is even if my own practice slips, Venerable Geshe-la’s does not.  I have received Dorje Shugden empowerments from him, and during the empowerment he made special promises as and requests to Dorje Shugden that he look over me every moment of every day from now until I attain enlightenment.  So even when I forget about him, he never forgets about me.  Even if I do not realize how or why, I can be certain that whatever happens to me is arranged by him, and therefore is exactly what I need.  Recalling this, my job is to figure out how it is perfect and go from there.  The same is true, but on a much more significant level, when it comes to Dharma centers.  Venerable Geshe-la is the founder of all of the centers in the Swiss Romande.  He has granted empowerments of Dorje Shugden in the area.  He has made promises and requests to arrange everything for everybody in the region.  There is no doubt that everything that happens there is arranged by him, and therefore is perfect for the swiftest possible enlightenment of all concerned.  This is true whether we remember Dorje Shugden or not.  Our relying upon him just helps us realize how and why it is true, and gives us the strength and energy to capitalize on our new found opportunities.

For me, when I am in doubt about whether what has happened is perfect, I generally practice purification in the context of my Dorje Shugden practice.  I request to please purify all of the negative karma between Dorje Shugden and myself and between Dorje Shugden and everybody else.  I request that all of the obstructions be removed and purified so that (1) everything that happens is perfect for our practice, (2) all of the obstuctions are removed so that I/we can realize how it is perfect, and (3) all of the obstructions are removed to that we have the opportunity to share our perspective on things.  This has always worked for me.

So when I heard there were some changes, I did some purification practice, and the following are the “answers” that came to me:

• The conclusion of all Dharma is to assume personal responsibility for the world around you.  What this means in the case of each person will vary, but the conclusion is equally valid for everyone.
• Dharma sometimes may externallly appear to confront a setback, but internally it could be flourishing more.  The real measure of the progress of a center is whether the realizations of the practitioners is increasing.  Perhaps at present there is an external envelope of progress possible, but this just means everyone shifts to internal progress.
• It is essential that we eliminate our attachment to external conditions for our practice, in particular having our own practice in any way be dependent upon other people practicing.  Even if you are the last soul on earth practicing Dharma, what difference does it make?  You are still going to die, things are still empty, delusions are still deceiving you, negative karma is still binding you.  What other people are doing is irrelevant to your own decision to practice your heart out. Our practice should be entirely internally driven.
• We need to think about our view of the center.  Do we see the center as providing a service to ourselves or do we see the center as a vehicle through which we can provide services to others?  We need to be VERY careful with this that this is a PERSONAL question we ask ourselves, not a litmus test against which we judge others involvement in the center.
• We only make progress by being pushed to higher and higher levels.  In this modern world, we are all very lazy.  We only make progress when we are pushed to do so.  Since we are so easily attached to our present conditions, Dorje Shugden has no choice but to pull the rug out from underneath us from time to time.
• Size doesn’t matter!
• It is vital that the services provided by the center be useful, otherwise the center won’t last.  Figure out what people’s probems are, have the center provide the services that enable them to solve those problems.
• Don’t get mad at others because they are not living up to your expectations of what they are supposed to be doing to make the center flourish.
• Never give up because samsara will never give up against you.
  Feeling of community and family are glue that holds a center together.  Common purpose, harmonious, mutually supportive, non-judgemental, non-manipulative, cool and relaxed, not quincee, happy with what people do do not unhappy about what they don’t do, leaving people free to come from their own side, working for the sake of the community without resentment or expecting anything in return.  Above all, be the example we want others to be – and a big part of this is learn how to turn to the sangha for help.

There is not a day that has gone by since I have left that I have not prayed for the Dharma in the Swiss Romande.  I have no doubt that these latest developments are exactly what is needed.

So in the aggregate, what has really changed?  Will it require some rebuilding?  Yes, but did not Marpa make Milarepa (or was it Tilopa and Naropa, I can’t remember) keep tearing something down so that the other could rebuild it again?

We will forever be vajra family, no matter where we might be distributed in the world. In my heart, the Swiss Romande is my home and all of you are my family.  I don’t know if I have the karma to ever be able to come back to the region, but my feeling is we will all be together again in our old age, helping support each other as we die and go off to the pure land.  Until then, we just keep the faith, keep laughing at our samsara, and as they say in the U.S., “keep on truckin'”

With love and laughs,

Ryan

The following are some key insights I have had recently. None are too big, but each is useful.

1. Sometimes people are reluctant to change course because to do so would be to admit that they made a mistake in the past. So instead of admitting that, they continue along the same mistaken course. To help these people, help them feel that the decision they made in the past was right for then, but now things are different so it is only normal to make a new choice.

2. Before people will listen to your solutions, you first have to demonstrate to them that you ‘get it’, that you understand exactly their problems. If they feel you don’t get it, then they will automatically assume that the solutions you propose will not solve their problem (which they feel you don’t understand). But when you show and demonstrate to them that you do indeed get it, that you do understand their problems, then when they hear your solution they are much more inclined to listen to and believe your solution.

3. I have been very anxious to hear about the results of certain things in my life. It has become a preoccupation. This is a mistake. I need to just hand my life over again and again to Dorje Shugden and request him to arrange things when the time is right. Until then, I need to accept that he is keeping things as they are for a reason. My job is to then discover that reason by learning what can be learned from the experiences I am having.

4. It is counter productive to ask somebody to do something if they are not going to do it. When you do this, and they resist/rebel/say no, they develop the habit of rebuffing you. This puts your in a situation where either you back down and lose all credibility or you have to up the ante and force the situation. If you do the latter, then you keep your credibility, but you often generate resentment. If you are right in your request, and at their core the other person knows you are right, they do not generate resentment when you force it, but rather they generate respect for you that you have conviction, wisdom and strength. But if you are not right, then they will generate resentment. So better to only ask people to do things when you are right and you are prepared to force it if necessary. Otherwise, leave people free to make their own choices.

5. The practice of the Yoga of Buddha Heruka is the synthesis of VGL’s new book Modern Buddhism, which itself is the synthesis of the Ganden Oral Lineage, which itself is the synthesis of the entire Kadampa path, which itself is the synethesis of all of Buddha’s teachings. So by practicing this sadhana you are directly practicing all of Buddha’s teachings and fulfilling all of your Kadampa commitments. It is truly amazing. I feel as if it is VGL’s greatest gift to the modern world. It is short, yet complete. I feel like I could take this as my daily practice for the rest of my life and lack nothing. I can incorporate everything into it, just in different places. The explanation in the new book is like the ‘best of’ VGL’s teachings, his best, most practical, most skilful explanations. Just as Eight Steps was his gift to me for parenting, this new book is his gift to me for this new period in my life of becoming a diplomat.

One of the biggest challenges of my life is I have no regular access to teachings.  When this happens, the danger is slow motion degeneration and losing of your practice.  When we receive teachings, it provides us with fresh prespective and new ideas, we receive powerful oral lineage blessings and it helps us restabilize and improve our motivation to sincerely put the instructions into practice.  The general experience of most people who do not have regular access to teachings, even if by correspondance, is they lose their practice and they gradually become reabsorbed into samsara.  Their life then passes them by and then they die.  At the time of their death, they then realize that they had an unequaled opportunity to advance along the path, but they squandered it and now it is too late.  I do not want this to be me!!!

Practically speaking, though, I also have a karmic responsibility to my family. To not live up to that responsibility would be extreme and actually a non-faith in Dorje Shugden who has provided me with the life I have. So that is out of the question. Therefore, my challenge is to find a way to maintain regular access to teachings while still fully embracing my family and work responsibilities.

Besides the obvious things of ‘do what you can’ to listen to correspondance teachings, go to festivals or special events that you can get to, the real task is to find a way to receive teachings every single day.

We can do this in dependence upon our view. I have talked at great length in the past about how we can and should view our whole life as taking place within Dorje Shugden’s protection circle. In this way, we know that everything that arises is perfect for our practice. This enables us to fully accept our situation as being perfect and this then bestows upon us the wisdom to know how to transform whatever conditions we have into opportunities to practice.

In the same way, we can also view everything that arises as our spiritual guide giving us direct teachings. It is not just an issue of it being perfect for our practice, but everything that happens IS a direct teaching. The ultimate nature of everything is the Dharmakaya, so it is perfectly valid to say that all that arises is by nature guru Tsongkhapa. His function is to be the supreme spiritual guide. If I maintain this view with complete faith, then he will enter into everything that arises and through this faith I will receive direct teachings, oral transmission blessings and inspiration through everything. It is only because we do not impute lama tsongkhapa on everything that it does not function for us in this way. But if we maintain this faith and conviction, everything will for us literally become him providing us teachings, blessings and inspiration. We will always be receiving direct teachings!

I need daily teachings, and through my faith in this view, I can actually receive them directly from JTK through everything that arises in my life. This is probably one of the most important views and attainments one can acquire because with it we will always directly be with our spiritual guide and the risk of gradually losing our path will go away.

Another idea I have been working with a lot during this period is the idea of reality existing as many different parallel dimensions sorted according to their degree of karmic purity.  An object in one dimension will reflect as something else in another dimension, like the example of the glass of water viewed by a god, a human and a hungry spirit.  Some objects will not be able to appear at all in different dimensions (or states of existence).  My job in life is to build my pure land.  The pure land is, in effect, like a spiritual black hole which has the power to gradually draw in all beings into the heart of Heruka.  A black hole is a supremely massive object which bends the fabric of Space-Time tremendously, like a very heavy ball being placed on a very elastic fabric (creates a funnel-like shape), so anything that comes into its orbit will gradually get drawn into its center.  This is what I need to transform myself into.  As beings come into my orbit, they are gradually drawn into deeper and deeper levels of spiritual purity, culminating in the complete purity of the Dharmakaya inside my heart.  The Pure Land is my wisdom, compassion, spiritual power and skilful means reflecting itself in different ways in different levels or states of existence.  Specifically, in increasing order of karmic impurity:

1. The Dharmakaya, simultaneously inside the nada and being the fundamental nature of all of the other appearances.
2. The nada – completion stage meditations, Enjoyment Body.
3. The seed letters of the body mandala – uniting and purifying the winds with mantra, a more condensed, Enjoyment body like form of the Body mandala.
4. The body mandala itself – heal the subtle bodies of all living beings so that their winds may flow effortlessly into the central channel at the heart.  Emanation body.
5. The celestial mansion – bring all beings into a Kadampa Buddhist temple so that I may teach them the Dharma.
6. Mount Meru – different levels of pure land that beings can reach.
7. The continents – completely purified version of the three thousand worlds.
8. The protection circle – this is like an event horizon for a Black Hole.  Once in, you never leave; and only purity is allowed in, impurity cannot enter.
9. The charnel grounds – These are like a halfway point between the realms of samsara and the pure land.  They are a version of the three thousand worlds completely purified reflecting into a karmically more impure state.  Their nature is Heruka and the Dharmakaya, but they appear in samsaric type ways – strange, seemingly contaminated type appearances.  Your job in the charnel grounds is to have ordinary type appearances appear, but you understand them to be by nature Heruka revealing the path. 
10. The six realms of samsara in reverse karmic order, from the highest god realm to the deepest hell.  For the beings who inhabit these realms they see this as their samsara, but from the perspective of Heruka this is likewise part of his pure land, and he appears himself, reflects himself as ordinary emanation bodies.
11. Dorje Shugden’s protection circle.  This surrounds everything, including the six realms of samsara, and he has the power to make everything that occurs inside be completely perfect for the karmically swiftest possible enlightenment of all beings. 

This is the pure land that it is my project to build.  I transform myself into this funnel-like, black-hole like pure land with all of its different levels, reflecting myself differently in each one of these dimensions/states of existence so as to gradually gather and draw all beings into the complete purity of the Dharmakaya in my heart (and all pervasive).  From one perspective it is a drawing into the center, like the black hole analogy.  From another perspective, it is a gradually settleing of the waves of my mind.  The whole universe is by nature the ocean of my mind, and all appearances are different karmic reflections on the waves of my turbulant mind.  As I gradually settle or make still my mind these waves become less extreme, less gross, less contaminated.  The hell realms are the most extreme, then less and less so through the other realms of samsara, the charnel grounds, the purified three thousand worlds, the pure lands, the celestial mansion, the body mandala, the seed letters, the nada, then finally the complete stillness of the ocean of the Dharmakaya itself.  Chakrasambara means the gathering and purifying of all phenomena into the wheel of great bliss and emptiness.  Everything settles into the stillness and purity of the Dharmakaya, like violent waves gradually subsiding into a completely still and clear sea of great bliss and emptiness.  Everything has always and will always be by nature only mind in a very pure Chittamatrin sense.  But the ocean of the mind takes the form of different states of existence according to the purity of the karma that is ripening.  These different levels are not discreet states, but is rather a seamless continuum.

We move ourselves (and help others move) through these different levels of state of existence according to two rules (which are actually two different aspects of the same thing):

1. You experience the world you pay attention to.  If you pay attention to and exaggerate the appearance of faults, that is what you will experience; and if you pay attention to that which is of quality, that is how you will experience your world.
2. You move into the world you create karma with.  It is not enough to be in one state, we want to move into the increasingly pure states.  We do this by choosing to generate and then believe the point of view of the next state.  So for example, we can transform our samsara into the charnel grounds by understanding that by nature everything which appears to our mind is actually Heruka revealing to us the stages of the path and providing us with opportunities to practice it.  If we generate this point of view and believe it to be true, then we create karma with that level of existence.  This then enables us to karmically transport ourselves into a new realm of existence.  We may still appear to others to be in their realm, but our experience will be different.  We do the same thing when we engage in our generation stage meditations, our body mandala meditations, our mantra recitations, and finally our completion stage meditations.  Ultimately, the karma we create depends primarily upon our intention, so we move through these different levels or states of existence with a bodhichitta motivation (which itself is the quintessential butter that comes from chruning the lamrim).

A lot of people get confused how one practically surrenders completely to the spiritual guide.  It seems as if you would become a lifeless zombie frozen incapable of acting.  The reality is it is the exact opposite.  Right now we are a lifeless zombie incapable of acting since we are completely controlled by our delusions and have never tasted the enlightened experience of being all living beings.

It can seem like surrendering means you no longer make any decisions.  But this is wrong.  You do make one decision, over and over again:  the decision to surrender and submit to the spiritual guide in all of his aspects.  This is the best decision to make in every situation we find ourselves in.  I will repeat, this is the best decision to make in every situation we find ourselves in.  There is no situation in which this is not the best decision, and if we make any other decision in any situation, we are making the sub-optimal decision.  Any other decision is a product of our ignorance.

Given that things are empty, when reduced down to its essence, every situation has three components:  what is appearing, how we respond and what direction we are heading in (towards what destination are we moving).  What is appearing is dependent upon our past karma.  How we respond is dependent upon our present wisdom.  What direction we are heading in (towards what destination we are moving) is dependent upon our aspiration.  In all three of these domains, our spiritual task is to learn to surrender/submit completely to the spiritual guide.  With respect to what is appearing, we need to actively and continously surrender/submit completely to Guru Dorje Shugden.  With respect to how we rspond, we need to actively surrender/submit to Lama Tsongkhapa.  With respect to what direction we are heading in (towards what destination we are moving) we need to actively surrender/submit to Guru Father Heruka (or Vajrayogini as the case may be). 

Most of our worries in life are about what is appearing.  We are such externally-oriented beings.  As times become increasingly impure, this will only become more so the case.  For this reason, I believe that reliance upon Dorje Shugden is already and will increasingly become our primary and most important refuge.  Dorje Shugden has the power to control what karmically ripens, both externally and internally.  Normally, samsara is uncontrolled karmic appearance.  When we surrender/offer all of our karma into Dorje Shugden’s care, then he becomes the master of our universe, he becomes the Director of our (Truman) show.  It is so simple to do:  generate a pure intention, and request ‘please arrange whatever is best.’  By ‘best’ we mean, what is best for the swiftest possible of enlightenment of all living beings, understanding that our own enlightenment is an essential condition/pre-requisite for their enlightenment (the means to the end).  We have to get to the point where we actually don’t want to make the decision ourselves.  We want him to decide everything for us.  We have our own plans and our own goals, and we grasp onto them and become very attached to them.  We generate enormous stress for ourselves through this.  What freedom to let all of this go!  We need to be like a good soldier who is ready (indeed eager because he has complete confidence in his general) to go wherever he is to be deployed and to perform whatever mission is asked of him.  For a lot of RTs, they surrender themselves completely to VGL in terms of letting him decide where they go and what they do.  They are happy to do so because they trust his omniscient wisdom.  But for the overwhelming majority of us, it seems as if we are on our own in this respect.  But this is not the case.  We too can enjoy the same enlightened direction in our life by learning how to surrender/submit to Dorje Shugden.  I try have no plans of my own, no agenda of my own other than to surrender/submit to Dorje Shugden.  There is no stress, no anxiety, no worry, just an adventurous heart ready for whatever the Protector ripens next.  There is no basis for aversion to anything (for example the baby crying when I am trying to mediate or do my journal).  My ignorance makes me attached to my wishes, and I suffer when they are thwarted.  My faith in Dorje Shugden helps me let go of that aversion and be happy to assume responsibility for whatever the situation he emanates for me calls upon me to do.  No questions asked, no hesitation, no worry, no second-guessing, no frustration, just the peaceful equanimity of a confident faith that the Protector has taken charge.

I am running out of time, so I will have to explain later how it works to surrender in terms of how we respond and the direction we are going.  But briefly, the way we respond to all situations is to oppose orthogonally the nexus of delusions arising in any given moment.  This as well can be done quite simply through making simple requests such as ‘reveal to me what I should do’ or ‘please give me the wisdom to know how to respond’.  Likewise, we can simply ask ourselves, ‘what would VGL do?’ or ‘what would Lama Tsongkhapa do?’ much like Christians ask what would Jesus do.  Then we do that.  He has perfect wisdom and perfect skilfull means, so really these two types of request are just two sides of th same coin. 

In terms of what direction we are going, our job is to make ourselves useful to others.  Our final goal is the complete freedom of all beings.  This is what we are working towards.  To bring this about, we need to recognize that we have imprisoned all beings in the samsara of our creation (our contaminated dream).  Thus to free them we need to gather and dissolve all our appearances into the bliss of the Dharmakaya (transform ourselves into Chakrasambara).  As a way station or an interim step in that process, we likewise transform ourselves and our entire empty world into Heruka’s pure land.  Heruka’s pure land is like a funnel which gathers all appearances from the deepest hell to the highest pure land gradually inwards towards the Dharmakaya inside the nada inside Father Heruka’s heart.  From the Charnel grounds into inside the protection circle, then into the celestial mansion, then into the deities of the commitment, body, speech, heart and great bliss wheels.  Then into Father Heruka himself, then into his indestructible drop, then into the nada.  When you enter into the nada, it is like a magic portal that when you pass through the entire interpretative mandala dissolves behind you and you emerge into the infinite expanse of the clear light Dharmakaya.  It is then that you realize that the entire path to enlightenment was like an unwinding of the contaminated karmic ball of knots we have been creating since beginningless time.  We release ourselves (and all beings) from the infinite chains of our past deluded deeds.  It all unwinds and dissolves and we emerge united with all beings in inseparable and irreversible freedom.

We are the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa.  Our principle defining characteristic is our union of Sutra and Tantra.  One of the most important things for us to do as Kadampas is to realize this union.  I have worked extensively in the past on the union of the Lamrim and our generation stage object.  But just as important, we need to realize the union of the Lamrim and our reliance upon Dorje Shugden.  Ultimately, it is the power of our lamrim minds that gives our reliance upon any deity its meaning and power, therefore it is very important to enjoy meditating on this union.

What follows is not the definitive union, but simply the union as I currently understand it.  As practitioners, our job is to contemplate the relationships between the different aspects of our practice so as to unite them.  When we realize their relationship as perfectly harmonious, mutually reinforcing and non-contradicory, and when we get a special feeling of wisdom, then we know we are on the right track.  We can work with this over the course of our whole lifetime, gradually deepening our understanding and realization of these connections.

To gain an understanding of the connections, you just malke internal requests that it be revealed to you the connection or relationship between a particular lamrim meditation and an aspect of your practice, like reliance upon Dorje Shugden.   Then see what comes.

Briefly, here is a start of my understanding:

1. The real nature of Dorje Shugden is the spiritual guide.  He is my spiritual guide in the aspect of Dorje Shugden.   The spiritual guide manifests himself as Dorje Shugden in order to provide us protection.  Frankly, I think this is my favorite aspect of the Spiritual Guide, his most useful aspect in terms of helping us solve our daily problems.  I need to surrender myself completely to my Spiritual Guide in the aspect of Dorje Shugden and request him to take over completely the ripening of the karma for myself and all the beings of my dream.
2. I have a precious human life in which I can create very powerful karmic connections with the great protector Dorje Shugden.  With these connections, he can care for me and protect me in this and all of my future lives, creating the perfect outer and inner conditions for my training leading to my eventual enlightenment.  If I can make my reliance upon Dorje Shugden irreversible, my attainment of enlightenment is guarranteed.  He will not let me not attain enlightenment!  I will put myself on an uninterrupted fast track to enlightenment.
3. I can die at any moment, which means I must use every moment of my life to develop deeper and closer karmic connections with Dorje Shugden.  I don’t know how long my opportunity to become closer to his holy being will last, and I cannot afford to waste a minute of it.  The biggest risk of death is losing our practice.  If we lose our practice then we may need to wait aeons before we start practicing again, and as a result we will have to suffer from delusion and karma for a very long time.  Dorje Shugden is the our best protection against this risk.  His job is to arrange and maintain the outer and inner conditions for our practice.  In other words, he can protect us through the process of death, the bardo and rebirth so that we can continue with our practice in our next life.  Our death is actually his finest hour, where our reliance upon him can make the most difference.  Who else would I trust for this most important moment of my life?  He can maintain the continuum of my practice beyond this life, and life after life, until I attain enlightenment.  He is my insurance policy against losing my practice. 
4. If I do not have strong reliance and protection from Dorje Shugden, not only will I likely succumb to delusion within this life, but more dangerously I will fall into the lower reams at the time of my death.  I currently respond with delusion when extreme hardship arrives.  There is no more extreme hardship than death.  If I respond to death with delusion, I will fall – at which point I will lose everything.  I have completely neglected purifying my negative karma, therefore I no doubt have a mountain of it remaining on my mind.  What hope do I have of not falling?  It is only through my reliance upon Dorje Shugden that I can avoid this fate.  One of the main ways he helps us is he can control what karma ripens.  He arranges conditions for us by ripening the karma on our mind in special ways and sequences to create the experience of ‘perfect conditions.’  Just as he does this for us in life, he can do this for us during the death and rebirth process, protecting us against lower rebirth and propelling us to another life in which we can practice.  Absent this help, my mind alone is not sufficently trained to ensure that I do not fall.  I am not trying to go all fire and brimstone, but this is the reality of the situation.

I will continue with the rest of the relationships between the different lamrim meditations and our reliance upon Dorje Shugden in future posts.  For now, these are the ones moving my mind the most and that are the foundation for all the others.

The function of a Dharma protector is to arrange all the outer and inner conditions of our lives so that everything that happens to us is perfect for our swiftest possible enlightenment.  But Dorje Shugden is more than just a Dharma protector, he is also a wisdom Buddha.  It is not enough to just know that the outer and inner conditions of our life are perfect for our enlightenment, but to be able to take full advantage of these conditions we need to understand and realize directly how (or in what way) they are indeed perfect.  When we have the wisdom which realizes how our conditions are perfect, then we can fully take advantage of them and move most swiftly to enlightenment.  The blessings of Dorje Shugden bestow upon us this wisdom of realizing how the conditions he has emanated for us are in fact perfect.  Then we are not only happy with everything, but can use everything most effectively to advance along the path.

When we realize the emptiness of ourselves, all beings and Dorje Shugden then we realize that his power is not limited to just arranging perfect conditions for ourselves and bestowing upon ourselves the wisdom realizing how our conditions are perfect, but we can also invoke him to accomplish this same function for each and every living being.  We pray to him that he arrange all the outer and inner conditions for each and every being so that whatever happens to them is perfect for their enlightenment.  He can then bestow upon us the wisdom that sees directly how whatever arises in the life of any living being is in fact perfect for their enlightenment.  Then, we can share our point of view with others, helping them to see their lives and challenges as gifts from all the Buddhas designed to quickly deliver them to the bliss of full enlightenment. 

From our perspective, Dorje Shugden is the same being as the wisdom Buddha Manjushri.  Manjushri appears in two aspects, as Je Tsongkhapa to lead us along the path and as Dorje Shugden to arrange all the conditions of our practice.  It is therefore impossible to reject one without rejecting the other two.  Since we all agree that Manjushri and Je Tsongkhapa are perfectly reliable Buddhas, since Dorje Shugden is for us just a different aspect of this same being, Dorje Shugden is also perfectly reliable.  We cannot reject him without rejecting the others.  Since we cannot reject the others, we cannot reject him.