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.

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).