Geshe la took a slight detour today from the general grain of this season’s Dharma talks on the 4 Noble Truths and how to practise in the Mahayana tradition by giving students an introduction to Vajrayana (tantric) aspects of Mahayana Buddhism.
Geshe la explained that whilst the practice of tantra should be kept secret and is very much a matter between a tantric master and student, these concepts may be helpful to those of us who are beginning to learn more about Buddhism in the Vajrayana tradition. Geshe la noted students’ general interest in this area, which is natural given the tradition in which we at Maha Tare Buddhist Centre practise, especially where they see many unique items at the Centre including mandalas, thangkas and other ritual implements such as the vajra and bell, the damaru drums, etc.
In the course of the lesson, Geshe la explained the differences between the concepts of : –
a) Taking refuge in the Triple Gem (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha) which is the first step to becoming a Buddhist, in which one takes the firm conviction in the Buddha, His teachings (the Dharma), and the ordained community who preserve and teach the Dharma (the Sangha) as being the sole way towards liberation from samsara. The concept of taking refuge is applicable across all schools of Buddhism.
b) The concept of an Empowerment or Initiation (Tib: Wang) which essentially grants a “license” to an initiative to practise a particular tantric deity’s path as one of the routes to exiting samsara, which is unique to Vajrayana.
c) The concept of an Oral Transmission of a particular mantra associated with the practice of a certain specific tantric deity (Tib: Lung), which is given together with an Empowerment, but which essentially has two components, namely the mnemonic aspects of the mantra being transmitted, and also the meaning behind that mantra which is to be meditated upon during such practice.
This summary sets out Geshe la’s teachings in considerable detail. It is hoped that this will benefit all who attended the teaching this morning, as well as those who may not have been able to attend.
TAKING REFUGE
Geshe la began the lesson by taking students through the Refuge Prayer, which is important for setting the motivation of students before each Dharma session. The prayer in the Tibetan language is set out phonetically in English below, along with its English translation.
Sangye chö dang tsog kyi chog nam la
‘In the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha’
Jang chub bar du dag ni kyab su chi
‘Until enlightenment, I go for refuge.’
Dag gi jin sog gyi pai sönam kyi
‘By the merit of practicing giving and so forth,’
Dro la phen chir sangye drub par shog
‘To benefit all sentient beings may I attain Buddhahood’
One will notice that the Refuge Prayer carries the hallmarks of the Mahayana tradition, in its aspiration for one to go to the Triple Gem for refuge “until enlightenment”, and “to benefit all sentient beings”. As students may recall, that is the touchstone of the Mahayana tradition, apt for practise by those of greater scope.
In the course of explaining the importance of refuge in the Triple Gem, Geshe la also explained that practising in our tradition, we sometimes also have rituals that involve offerings to and beseeching of beings in other world systems to help us create positive conditions such as good luck so as to assist our temporal existence, and explained that this is not inconsistent with the refuge that we take in the Triple Gem.
Geshe la emphasised however that the status of the Triple Gem must be foremost in our hearts despite times where we may invoke the help of godly or other spiritual beings who may not themselves fall into the category of Buddhas (佛) and Bodhisattva（菩萨).
Geshe la explained that spiritual beings in Vajarayana Buddhism can fall into three broad categories, namely (i) the fully enlightened Buddhas and Boddhisattvas e.g. Amitabha Buddha (阿弥陀佛) and Chenresig or Guanyin Bodhisattva (观音菩萨), (ii) Enlightened Dharma Protectors e.g. Palden Lamo (吉祥天母) and finally (iii) other Unenlightened (Worldly) Protectors who were oath bound to protect the Dharma and Dharma practitioners. It is therefore important to distinguish their status in our hearts and their respective roles in our practices. It is only categories (i) and (ii) that qualify as meditational deities or yidams (本尊).
Geshe la took the chance to also illustrate this by reference to the Food & Smoke Offering Ritual that will take place tomorrow on Sunday 1 August 2021, which dates from the time of Guru Rinpoche, which involves offerings to all categories of spiritual beings including those in category (iii) above, many of whom had been malignant and against the spread of Buddhism in Tibet during the time of King Trisong Detsen and Guru Rinpoche. Tomorrow’s ritual will have the added benefit of appeasing other spirits that remain malignant and who do not fall within any of the 3 categories outlined above, many of whom create the conditions for negative events for those of us in this human world, including the current epidemic which we presently witness. Geshe la took the chance to remind students of the benefits of partaking in that ritual tomorrow.
EMPOWERMENTS/ INITIATION
Geshe la then explained the relevance and importance of an Empowerment (or also called an Initiation) before one is qualified to undertake any form of tantric practice, which in its simplest introductory terms, involves the meditation that seeks to transform oneself into that particular enlightened tantric deity complete with all of his or her qualities.
Geshe la outlined that without an Empowerment/Initiation, any attempt to practise as such will not bring any benefit.
Geshe la explained, however, that there are several preliminaries or prerequisites to the practice of tantra.
First, a tantric master and disciple will often have years of interaction, during which they would observe each other. This is because there are certain vows which the initiate must keep, and the master must assess the student’s suitability for such practice. Geshe la recounted the story of the Mahasiddha Milerapa, and how his master Marpa observed Milerapa for many years before becoming confident that Milerapa was a worthy disciple to receive tantric empowerments.
In the many years of mutual observation, Milerapa exercised patience and accumulated merit and wisdom along his path before he was deemed eligible for empowerment, after which he had success in his practice very quickly and attained enlightenment.
Second, the student must have a strong enough understanding of the 3 aspects of the path, namely generating sufficient commitment to renounce cyclic existence in samsara, development of bodhicitta (compassion – the altruistic attitude to benefit others) and a basic cognition of the emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena. Geshe la emphasised the importance of accumulating knowledge of the sutras and basic concepts of practice by reading texts such as our lineage founder Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim Chenmo (The Graduated Path to Enlightenment). It is also for this reason that Empowerments are often preceded by teachings that touch on the 3 principal aspects of the path, such as Shantideva’s The Path of the Boddhisattva.
Geshe la then cautioned that whilst there are many people who are fond of attending empowerments given by different tantric masters, students should be careful because apart from being conscious that one does not obtain an empowerment simply by physical attendance at a ritual, it is also important for students to understand that both the tantric master and student must have the right motivation before such an empowerment has any effect to confer the rights to practise that relevant deity’s tantra. These would include a willingness on the part of the master to give (and for the initiate to receive) tantric vows.
Geshe la also emphasised the importance of understanding the lineage from which the tantric master had received the relevant empowerments for that relevant tantric deity. By way of example, Geshe la mentioned that most empowerments in relation to Chenresig, whose practices include the Eight Precepts, can be traced back to Gelongma Palmo (吉祥比丘尼), a princess who had renounced her life of royalty and who became ordained, and eventually attained the 10th level of the Boddhisattva in the lineage of Chenresig after very arduous meditational practices and set-backs including having been stricken with and recovering from leprosy. It was Gelongma Palmo who gave empowerments to many students thereafter from Nalanda University, which lineage remains alive today in many who practise in our tradition.
Geshe la reiterated the importance therefore of ensuring that one is able to trace any tantric lineage all the way up to its bona fide originator, which include enlightened saints such as Gelongma Palmo and the 500 arhats who live from the time of the Buddha.
ORAL TRANSMISSIONS
Geshe la then went into explaining the significance of oral transmissions of mantras or sadhanas. These are often given alongside and during Empowerments, but they are a very important tool to certain yogic practices. In essence, they are what power one towards success in these practices – it is not sufficient for one to know intellectually what is needed for practise and physically practise; these mantras are a key ingredient for ultimate success in such practices.
Geshe la gave the example of a qigong master in Hong Kong who in the 1990s gained acclaim for being able to levitate. But whilst he could levitate, he was not able to fly or do more than that. The qigong master then visited Beijing one day and had the good fortune to meet Shyadong Rinpoche, a reincarnated lineage high lama, who hails from Qinghai. Rinpoche had been ordained from the age of 5, and was a very learned scholar in amongst other things, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim teachings, and had also received and kept (as a result of his lineage) an impressive suite of empowerments.
Shyadong Rinpoche told the master that whilst he did not practise qigong, he had a few mantras which he thought may have been relevant to such practices (the Mahasiddhas and tantric yogis of India had similar yogic practices), and transmitted them to the qigong master. What happened subsequently was miraculous – the qigong master was able to take his qigong practice further, and thereafter became a Buddhist and a disciple of Rinpoche.
Geshe la emphasised however that the oral transmissions to give greater efficacy to one’s practices of mantra has two elements. Whilst one may receive the oral transmission to practise in that one can get benefits chanting it mnemonically, its efficacy also depends on whether one understands the meaning or teaching behind the words.
For instance, one may have a lung to chant Om Mani Padme Hung, and one may understand it literally as meaning “Hail, the Jewel in the Lotus”, but its true meaning must be understood and reflected upon as one practises. For an explanation of Om Mani Padme Hung, please refer to Geshe la’s blogpost from the recent past.
We end this summary by wishing dedicating all merits from this teaching to the benefit of all sentient beings.