Archive Result

117

Soundfile 20071007GRGRVaj5

Speaker Gehlek Rimpoche

Location Garrison

Topic Vajrayana

Section 3-4-5

Transcriber John Thornton

Date date on which you finished this transcript

Again, we have to remind ourselves, briefly develop bodhimind. When we say for the benefit of all beings one would like to become enlightened, it is an abbreviated statement and we expect the individual to remember the teaching from yesterday. We would like to study the vajrayana path and enter into it bodhimind. We spent a lot of time already on developing compassion and bodhimind. That is traditional. There is no time to go over it all every day, but when you say that statement we expect the individual to come up to that level and to generate bodhimind and take this teaching.

We were talking outlines, the four outlines. One is making fit to practice; that is where we are. In the vajrayana, the gateway or the doorway is the initiation these days. These days we call it, “initiation,” I am not sure whether it is the right translation or the wrong translation. I have no idea. A lot of people seem to be making different terminologies. Some translators are calling it empowerment, all kinds of different terminologies. Some people are calling it full-fledged initiation. Some people call it empowerment. So not only the translators are making different translations, but also people who are giving initiations and things like that are using all kind of different terminologies. That is why I say we don’t know what is right and what is wrong in English. Here it is our job to explain what this is all about and you have to find out for yourself and use the terminology. This is what we have been doing. So we hope to get some kind of something at the end of it. Here at the initiation I saw a number of people using different terminology. Even in the Gelupa tradition alone, I think Gunjenpuja uses one terminology, Thurman uses another terminology and Jeffrey Hopkins uses another and everything else. Then in the Kagyu and Nyingma use different terminologies. But no one changes the Tibetan language, because it is coming from Tibet. So everyone uses “dbang,” but pronounce is “uang” in Tibetan. That is what I thought we were calling initiation, so who knows.

Within dbang itself, there are a number of things, as far as I remember. There is something called dbang and then there is rjesgnang, but pronounced “ janang.” That I thought was empowerment, but a lot of people are using it a different way. Time-wise it takes 2 or 3 hours, maximum. Then full-fledged initiation takes a day or two days or whatever. Then there is “Gom lung.” It is almost like the Tara blessing that we do. You have a meditation and then an oral translation. There are a number of those. So basically where people normally get confused is the shorter version and the long version of the initiation. One is dbang and the other is rjesgnang. Rjesgnang is the shorter version, which is not a true dbang at all.

Traditionally, no one should be able to give or receive the shorter rjesgnang without receiving a full initiation. That isw authentic to the tradition. There are a lot of reasons why. Part of that we call creating a base of the rjesgnang. Normally when we give a rjesgnang, the people generate in the form of a yidam. I use “yidam.” Some people call it “deity,” or something, but language is so funny. When you go to Southeast Asia- Malaysia, Singapore, all those areas, there every street corner has a deity. They call it deity and they come into town and do all kind of things, cut their tongues and all kind of things. These are not fully enlightened deities, but just local spirits or ghosts or whatever. All of them fall in the category of the hungry ghost realm out of the six realms. So if you use “deity” as a terminology that makes it very confusing for a lot of people. So in the Tibetan language it is clearly defined yidam. “Yi” is mind and “dam” is commitment, so it is mental commitment if you translate. If you keep on saying mental commitments, maybe it is mental commitment, but if you call it mental commitment, it may not work well, so that is why I use yidam. Then there is no confusion. The other possibility is the dharmapala. There is a big difference between the yidams and the dharmapalas. So we avoid using deity or anything else to make things clear. The third one is the local spirit you have and then the ghosts. So I prefer to use yidam for the time being, until someone comes out with a very good name that is also agreed to by many others.

When I look back at Trumpa Rinpoche, he is not like me, he is very good in English. Still, he uses a tremendous amount of Tibetan language. I began to appreciate it tremendously although we would like to have it in English. But then we get aay yidam? It comes out of tantra. You have sutra and tantra right? These are Sanskrit language, Buddha’s words. Talking about vajrayana is called tantra. Non-vajrayana is called sutra. There are again questions, depending on what school you are looking at. Then there is Topical, and are they considered sutra or not. Basically, we can say all are the Buddha’s words. We say “tantra” and others may use other words like “mystical tradition.” The difference between the Hindu and Buddhist tantra is very hard. Atisha said in India there are a few people left who can make a distinction between Hindu and Buddhist tantra. So it is that difficult. So we normally say what makes the Buddhist practice is the refuge. We say what makes mahayana is bodhimind. What makes dharma is karma. It is extremely hard to say the difference between. However, there are probably different things that are all there. Since we did not know about it, they have Hindu Tantra. We do know about Buddhist Tantra, so it would be out of our place to talk about Hindu Tantra.

According to the Buddhist tradition when we say tantra we have to rely on the word coming out of the Buddha. That is the first ground we have to establish. If it is not coming out of Buddha, no matter what it is, there is a big question. So there have been a lot of confusion on this in earliest Tibetan tradition. So the final conclusion is when you can trace the tantra in the Kagyu and then when the word was stated by the Buddha then it is considered tantra. And within the tantra, for each of them, Buddha did not give a statement in the buddha like the buddha statue we see. In each of these, Buddha arises in the form of that particular yidam. In Yamantaka Buddha arised in the form of Yamantaka and gave that tantra. Buddha rises the same in the form of Guyasamaja, or in the form of Heruka, and the others. The Heruka was given in Mount Meru. Not only that, the mandala is not closed. It is still open, still living. So with that reasons we say the Heruka tantra works faster and better in the degenerated age, because Buddha did not close the mandala.

However, in each, the Buddha took the physical form of each principal yidam, manifested the whole mandala, and made a statement about this particular yidam, where it came from, who is it, what is its purpose, where is its mandala, what is the retwhat is the path, all of those the Buddha has stated. That is what we call tantra. I have a little book here written by one of the Mongolian scholars. He has made one statement here. He said, it is coming out of a reliable mantra, and was explained by reliable mahasidas, that is the mandala. That is the statement. In other words what makes you fit to practice Vajrayana is that you have to receive the initiation. That is not enough. The initiation should be initiated to a mandala, which is stated in a reliable mantra, stated in a reliable tantra, and explained and experienced by reliable mahasidas. So there are a lot of conditions.

There could be a lot of mis-information, that is why they are making it very limited. This one sentence is loaded with words, with meaning. It is explained in an absolutely reliable tantra, experienced and explained by a reliable mahasida to authenticate it. Otherwise, you know, it can be anything. In order to enter into a Vajrayana you need a mandala. The word “mandala” is a Sanskrit word translated as the center of all, the center of activities. Here the center you are talking about is the center of very existence. Whichever the mandala is, whichever the deity is, whichever the yidam is. That the environment existence and is called the center of the mandala.

All mandalas are heavily guarded. It is worse than a military installation. It is a funny thing. I believe it is also on the psychological level too. But I do not mean that it is not reality. It is also reality. Sometimes these are very heavily guarded.

If I remember correctly, one time in Deli I was giving a teaching on the Ganden Lha Gyema. There is a secret teaching on the Ganden Lha Gyema and I was doing the secret teaching. Paul York came in there and I said okay we are not talking about a completion stage, so I said Paul is okay. Two days later Paul had a nightmare in the night. He said he was in some kind of military establishing. There was a bunch of guys chasing him around with guns saying how did you get in here, who are you.

So when I say it is heavily guarded, it is. The reason is probably secrecy. If you lose secrecy, it loses power, so the secrecy has to be maintained. Losing the secrecy would be a downfall to any individual. Not only is it a downfall it is the second most important downfall. The number one down fall is disrespecting your guru, the vajra master. In the commitments in general these two are separately mentioned as very strong commitments. So we have to be careful

So how does one get into the mandala is by receiving an initiation. But again any body can give an initiation, but it should be by a qualified teacher. If an unqualified teacher gives you an initiation it is not only a downfall to the teacher himself, but I don’t know how it works with the receivers. Even with the qualified master is giving the initiation, I am not sure how many receive it. I was told once about when His Holiness was giving Kalachakra initiation somewhere, when it was over, he said, well we have done the Kalachakra, but I don’t know how many received it. Maybe 20 people out of thousands there received it. You know Kalachakra is sometimes given by His Holiness to 20,000 people. Why don’t they receive it? They don’t know what is happening. That is what it is. That is number one. Number two: the prerequisites are not there. The Kalachakra His Holiness is giving comes from Geshe Ling Rinpoche who received it from_______, a contemporary of Pabongka in Drepung. _______gives the Kalachakra only two times. So he gave it in the back of the Potala where there used to be an open field with thousands of people. Dejekala Rinpoche, unlike Pabongka, speaks softly and you don’t here. When he gives Kalachakra, a thousand people hear? No way. He uses a damaru, but you can’t hear the damaru sound. I raised the question, how did that work? I don’t recall which teacher said, it is an exception! It is a special case.

So this is the opportunity for us to talk a little more about an initiation and a mandala. The best illustration I can give you, is the architects that make a diagram and then a little model. For me that is the image, what we call a mandala. The reality is when the building is completed and function and people are living in it, I don’t think it is just a building. It is a complete town or village or city or whatever. That is the mandala. What the tantra gives is the dimensions, shapes, principles, environment and inhabitants. All of these are given in the tantra statement. That is why some are solitary deities, some are more deities. When it is said from a reliable Tantra, no one cooked it in between saying it would be nice to have another person or monkey standing here, then it is not reliable. In other words, you should not create a new age mandala. If you do, it is not going to be authentic. The mandala is nothing but the structure or map representing the ________. When you say the mandala is the center it is not these diagrams. It is the mandala itself. What happens is the material representing the true reality of the pure land of this or that deity. Commonly known in Tibet earlier is three or four mandalas. One stands for a cloth drawing, “Radi.” The second one is the “Disen.”

That is what we nowadays call a sand mandala. This is total misinformation. Originally in Tibet it is always the jewels and the semiprecious stones, which are ground, and that powder is made into a mandala. Even up to 1954 – 1955 that was going on. When we came to India, we began to use the sand, because we did not get jewels. So then people started calling it a sand mandala. That is what we call “radi desen.” These are the two commonly known mandalas. It is interesting, this year our monastery wanted to go to Malaysia. They wanted to do something and this year they have the opportunity. They would like to have an exhibition of Malaysian culture, which includes Buddhist culture. Of course the most important Malaysian culture is the Muslim culture. So there is a Theravidin and a Mayahanan section in the Buddhist Council. For the Mahayanan, they called and said we would like your monastery to come. So I said, “Who will pay the ticket?” And they said, “The Malaysian government will pay and you can bring 14, 15 or however many monks you want to bring.” I made sure they carry a return visa to India before they went to Malaysia. Then the Malaysians said we can not give you the travel money unless you have an American visa. Then it started and they were not there because they could not get a visa to get in. That is how they deal with Tibetan monks. Can you believe it? This happens all the time.

Then the Malaysians said, “This is a fund-raiser.” So they got there finally, and someone asked what did they build. So took a picture and had monks measure it and he had a photograph and the measurements. Finally the Malaysians said they wanted to raise $68,000 to pay for the structure and the mandala. I said, “I don’t know how I am going to raise $68,000.” Then a wealthy Chinese guy said, ”Rinpoche, I heard about you and hear you are here with these monks to raise money.” I said< “Yeah, I am looking at $68,000.” He said, “Others came, the previous Karmapa came and entertained us and I gave them $50,000, so I will give you $50,000.” I said, “Okay, the rest is easy.” He did not want a sand mandala, he wanted a jewel mandala for himself. So I said okay you bring the jewel dust and we will make the mandala. So the Malaysians knew, so they knew it should be jewel dust. He did it and now he is keeping the Avalakotishvara mandala in his house. All the whites are diamonds, the red is coral and the green are emeralds. He brought the jewels. So somehow these traditional culture people, they knew. Now they get the sand from America, silica dust. There is a huge warning if you use this there is danger of getting cancer. The monks had no idea. It is not the sand mandala, it is the jewel dust mandala. The third mandala is the body mandala. The fourth mandala is the samadhi or “Somjeyouke,” mandala which is the visualized or imagined mandala. The word stands for stable thought. Then you have those jigsaw type of mandala, hand carved three dimension puzzle type of mandalas, called a “lula.” These are not used for initiation. It is a model and for understanding the mandala, and as far as I know they are not supposed to be used for initiating people into the mandala. But you know there are 16 different Kagyu traditions and some of them may use it. As far as I know they are not supposed to use it for an initiation. So that makes four different types of mandala used for initiations: Radi, Disen, Dkyil, (body), and Somjeyouko (stable thought.). It may be that you can use a lula for a self-initiation, but this three dimensional mandalas are not for first entering the initiation. Although, I saw one huge silver mandala like that in the Potala, and they explained that one of the panchen lamas used it for initiations. As far as the normal writings are concerned, they are not used for initiation. Then nowadays there is also a photograph mandala. This is new. Photographs, posters and all that, they are new these days. Now we have the photograph. So these are the mandalas. Then you have the mandala house. Mandala house is normally used because you know mandala is not supposed to be openly shown before people are ready to enter the mandala. It is hidden. That is why you need the house. The design of the houses is supposed to be fitting the design of the mandala itself. So it is the cultural influence again. The mandala house looks like an old Chinese design. It all looks like Chinese design. But the Tibetan version is a little heavy, not so flexible and light. Almost the design is the same, but when you look at it in Tibet it is solid, heavy, big wood, and gilded. In China it is smaller and more flexible. My guess the Tibetans tried to copy the Chinese, but we don’t make it as delicate as they do. So the cultural influence is tremendous. I don’t know why there is no Indian culture there. You know like in the teachings we put in the throne, which is the Indian culture, but then the decorations are the Chinese culture. So the Tibetans have collected culture from India, Chinese and Mongolia and combine them together, The Tibetans used to say we collect wisdom from India, cloth from Mongolia and food from China! That is what they used to say. Maybe it is true. So that is the mandala. So how many initiations are there? We know there are four initiations. The first is called powa or vase. Then this Mongolian guy uses the word, gunda chandu , the relative body-mind initiation. Then the absolute body mind, he divides it that way. We say vase, wisdom and word. Each teacher names them differently, even with in the Gelupa tradition. Why is it called the vase initiation, or the water path. You see one with a water spout and one with out. With a spout is called an activity vase. One with out is called the initiation vase. What is the difference? It is not the spout. If you don’t have a vase you can use two glasses of water. The difference is whoever is taking or giving the initiation, has to generate a complete mandala in the vase itself. So you generate the vase from emptiness and the mandala and then generate it within it. Both are one mandala. They look different, but they are made into the same thing. Then you melt the mandala completely and it becomes in the form of water. You have to go through the ritual completely and generate it. Just like the sadana. Sadana is a Sanskrit word. We call it “bage.” “Ba” is self and “ge” is generating. So generating in the form of the yidam. We have divisions, you know. Layman’s state, control of wisdom state, etc. We are all at the layman’s state. In this state we generate things by saying the sadana word and slowly building up within your mind. That is the generating state for us layman, slowly building on top of another. So you slowly generate the mandala within the vase. Then you invite wisdom and then you make offerings and then you say mantra. That is why during the normal initiation it takes a long time for preparation. We are supposed to do that slowly. So we make offerings, make requests, and finally dissolve the mandala into water. That water is used for people entering into the mandala. The activity vase is not that. The activity vase is used for protection. Each sadana has its own protector and the activity vase is used for them. Each has a different yidam with its own protectors. There are special protectors almost in the category of a yidam, and they are used in the activity mandala and then offerings and requests, and they are melted into water. Then to mark that you find little hand implement pictures hanging on the spout. So whether it is the chopper or the club or whatever, this is a mark or sign that this is generated. But you know sometimes we put them there and we forgot to take it out! This is not a good one, when the protector is melted into the form of water. Also there is a vase with five Buddha families’ hand implements. Essence of the vase initiation is the five Buddha families. It is not only an introduction, but authorizing the individual to work within the five buddha families. This is the Indian culture influence. So there are reasons. Those buddhas are divided. You know we can divide them into hundreds of thousands or into five. So when you divide the caste into five you have five buddha families. You have lotus, jewel, vajra, activity and one more, the central buddha caste or family. Each of them has a little emblem. So the mandala vase has the emblem of the five buddha families. But then every initiation you don’t need it, like in the Heruka initiation. There are a lot of exceptions here. So in the vase initiation some have eleven some have five, it depends on the deity. Whatever initiation one receives is mad permanent in that person by water. That is why it is sometimes called a water initiation in the lower tantra, but in the Mahayoga Tantra it is called a vase initiation. Every time you get that vase put on the head and water out of the vase, however, whether it is eleven or seventeen or whatever. However, the Kalachakra is different, I think there are seven initiations. I don’t’ pay much attention to Kalachakra because it is very complicated. Now this is in the Mahayoga Tantra case. If you look into Kriya, Charya, Anuyoga and Mahayoga tantras. There are four categories of tantra. “Maha” is big yoga tantra. So the difference is Kriya, Charya and Yoga tantras have one initiation that is divided into two-water and cloud initiation. Yoga tantras sometimes have one more, sometimes a vajra master. According to this if you are practicing completely all the path, you have to receive all the four initiations in Mahayoga Tantra. The three last initiations are not in the lower tantras. In the Mahayoga Tantra you have three additional initiations. When you have Kriya Tantra, there are only two initiations: the water and the cloud. The cloud will be the last one. The Action Tantra has vajra, bell and name initiation, plus water and cloud, so it makes five. So Kalachakra has upper four and vajra initiations, 16 in all. Kriya and Charya have only two. Even Tara has a full initiation; I am looking for it. So it depends on the tantra. Now the question comes who can receive the initiation. It is normally someone well-trained in the mahayana path. That person can receive the initiations. Initiation is an introduction to the mandala as well as authorization. It is almost like we are introduced to someone. My idea is – it is slightly different in here and in old Tibet. In old Tibet, beggars shout outside the door and say “give me something.” Some times they come to your door praying Tara or saying something. Some times they used a chu. Chu is also used as a begging tool in Tibet. Lamas were very interesting in the old time. People go to them and say, “Do something for me.” And they say, “Okay.” One of the beggars went to Chappe Du Rinpoche and said, please give me a chu. Rinpoche said, okay, what for? The beggar said, “I am going to central Tibet and I need to beg food on the road so I need a chu.” So Rinpoche wrote a chu for him and said, have you ever taken refuge? The beggar replied, no. The lama said, “Okay,” and he wrote a chu for him. The chu said, in the upper part of the village old men should come down and ladies come up from the lower part of the village and I should receive tea and sampa like rainfall.. Then the next verse said, I have never begged to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, but I will pray to the landlords until I die! Somehow the beggar goes to the householder. He begs to a householder and the householder, who doesn’t know him, doesn’t give him anything. After a while he says, okay go give him something. I look at what we do like that. When you are normally praying you are out there shouting I want enlightenment, etc. An initiation is an introduction, so it will be inappropriate for you to be outside shouting and inappropriate for the yidam to ignore you if you are begging for enlightenment. You can communicate with the yidam. So the initiation is establishing communication with the principal of the mandala. When you do retreat, you do constant sadanas every day, then you are working within the family and gaining the trust of the head of the family. Then one day you are allowed to come inside one day and work within the family. You come inside and you get the trust of the head of the family. You get much more say and you are valued more than someone who was just introduced and wants this or that. So I see it in that level. The word “bsnyan” is used as the word for retreat, saying mantra. It means here getting closer, in this case getting closer to the yidam and getting his confidence. In one way you say getting the deity in control, but you are getting the confidence of the principal of the mandala and becoming more valued. That is what I see as a retreat, doing the sadanas, the closeness to yidam. That makes a difference. The initiation is not given to anyone without the prerequisites. Even at that moment, though they have received the initiation, at that moment we have to give refuge again, because the refuge vow is the base of all vows. It is a must, absolutely necessary as a base. By taking refuge vow you have a refuge commitment too. The person who gives you the vow, the person who gives the vow is supposed to be pure at that moment at least. So you should be taking a pure vow from a pure source. Even taking refuge during the initiation for great people it is no difference, but for me it is a hall of a difference. You know people say three yanas: hinayana, mahayana and vajrayana. Can’t say it is wrong. But traditionally the three yanas are shamakayana, practicayana and mahayana. First two are part of hinayana. Shamakayana is people who listen and practice. Practicayana are people who are self-liberating people who practice with out a teacher-in between the times of two buddhas. They are soothsayers and the deer park is where the soothsayers have fallen because they have fallen. The basis of the mahayana is bodhimind. If you have bodhimind you are mahayana. If you don’t have bodhimind, you are not mahayana no matter what you do. Lunden Lama was a very simple teacher with torn clothes who was very well known, and everyone went to see him. So Lunden Lama had in mind in his next life to become king of Shambala. One day when he was old and in his 80’s, Lunden Lama wanted to see the Panchen Lama who is supposed to be the ruler of Shambala, but he couldn’t go. He sent someone with a nice gift and a message, “Please check for me whether my wish will be fulfilled.” The Panchen Lama said what wish? And picked up his dice and tried to see what Lunden Lama wanted. Then the Panchen Lama said, “Oh I didn’t know this simple monk had such a big desire.” This was reported to Lunden Lama who thought, “I will become the king of Shambala in my next life!” Sometimes the simple man wants to be a ruler, like Gandhi. Someone once said, it is not so simple to support a simple man ( like Gandhi!)