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Essentials of Tantra in Terms of Hologram

Theory
unedited transcript

Session Three: Preliminaries and Empowerments


This morning we were talking about the meaning of the word tantra to get a general
introductory picture of it. We saw that there are two meanings one is the warp of a loom
upon which all the threads of the themes of practice from sutra are interwoven as the different
levels of meaning that the different arms and faces of the Buddha-figures represent. That also is
the case with respect to the mandalas the buildings and environment in which these Buddha-
figures live. All the architectural features of them as well have many levels of representation. By
visualizing them, we have a method which helps our minds to expand toward the goal of
omniscience and also toward the goal of integrating and networking together all the different
realizations and factors that we develop on the path.

We also saw the other level of meaning of tantra was an everlasting continuity. This
continuity is referring to the various Buddha-nature factors that will transform into the different
corpuses or bodies of a Buddha. These can be discussed from a basis, path, and resultant level,
dependent not on the factors themselves, but dependent on the amount of obscuration that
prevents them from functioning fully.

To practice tantra we need to have gathered together the threads to weave them together this is
from one side of the meaning of tantra. From the other side in terms of Buddha-nature factors,
these everlasting continuities we need to energize and activate these Buddha-nature factors. In
other words, we need to provide the circumstances for these factors to grow and for eliminating
the obscurations. We need to strengthen, for example, our network of positive force. We do that
primarily by directing it toward enlightenment with bodhichitta before, during, and after
positive actions, the dedication is very important and certainly with safe direction as the
general direction.

We discussed in a previous evening that safe direction is getting a direction from the third and
fourth noble truths primarily: the true stoppings, the true paths that lead to them, and the resultant
state that is free of these obscurations that had these true stoppings. We are aiming toward that as
indicated by the Buddhas, who have achieved the true stoppings and true paths in total the third
and fourth noble truths and the Dharma, which is that actual state itself, and the Sangha, who
are the aryas, those who have achieved some true stoppings and true paths, not the whole thing.
We have causal safe direction, which is gaining that direction we have to go in that direction
gaining that direction from those who have achieved it already; and there is resultant taking of
safe direction, or refuge, which is getting that direction from our own future attainment of the
Three Jewels, in other words, the true stoppings and the true paths.
It is that second one [taking of resultant safe direction], which is very important here in not only
Mahayana, but also in tantra, because in Mahayana then we are aiming with bodhichitta at our
own enlightenments, not the enlightenment of Buddha Shakyamuni, not enlightenment as a
universal, general thing, but were focusing specifically on our own future enlightened state
further down the stream of continuity of our own mental continuums. So in terms of tantra, we
are aiming at this resultant tantra, the resultant state, the fully purified state of our own mental
continuums with their Buddha-nature factors the mental continuum is also an everlasting
continuity, it is also a tantra thats our focus: our individual, specific, personal, enlightenment.
Thats important to keep in mind. I really only learned that recently that this was the case. I never
knew that, but that was pointed out to me by Doboom Rinpoche, a great lama.

The intention, of course, is we are motivated by compassion, we want to be able to benefit


everybody and eliminate their suffering and our intention is to reach that state, that future
enlightenment. And then what will be the Buddha activity, lets say the influence that were
going to exert when we reach that state? It is to benefit all beings. That is the intention, and the
intention is to follow that as a path to reach that state. We will benefit others as much as possible
as the way to build up more and more positive force to reach that goal. That is very crucial in
tantra, because in tantra what we do is not only in general going toward that safe direction, not
only going toward our own personal individual attainment of enlightenment, but we imagine that
we are there already, by imagining that we already are like a Buddha, based on these Buddha-
nature factors that we all have.

We need to weave these threads together and strengthen the positive force of the whole system
with safe direction, constructive actions that build up more and more positive force, and
renunciation very important. We need to turn from the whole first two noble truths: suffering
and its causes. That refers to ordinary appearances, the ordinary samsaric way that we are, the
whole systems generating a samsaric hologram rather than a nirvanic hologram. We need to
renounce that, which means, I want to be liberated from that. Not only do I want to be liberated
from that, which means a true stopping of that, but Im very willing to turn away from that.
Its that turning away, which is the crucial mental factor thats involved with renunciation turn
away, I dont want to do that. I want to head toward a true stopping of that.

The far-reaching attitudes are going to strengthen our network of positive force by weaving them
together. Also we want to strengthen the network of deep awareness by focusing on voidness as
much as we can with whatever level of understanding we have and applying that both
conceptually and eventually nonconceptually. In addition, we need to try to strengthen these
networks by a healthy relationship with a qualified spiritual master. This is absolutely essential
here, because from this healthy relationship with a spiritual master we gain inspiration thats
usually translated as blessings, but thats an inappropriate translation term from another
religion we gain inspiration the word literally means an uplifting, a spiritual uplifting
which energizes the potentials.

We speak of it now in terms of potentials. We were speaking before with the analogy of the
subtlest creative drop that can generate the samsaric type of hologram or a nirvanic type of
hologram. In order for it to make that transformation so that its doing the nirvanic one with
holograms of Buddha-figures and so on the whole system needs to be energized, you have to
put more energy into it.

What fits in very nicely here is system analysis and systems theory. I forget the technical terms,
excuse me. We have an open system, which is what an organic system is, in other words a system
in which there is energy, some sort of input coming in and output coming out, like an organism:
food and energy goes in and waste products and activity comes out of it. If we have a system like
that, which is functioning as a network of many components, then such a system is a again, I
forget the technical word but the Buddhist jargon word for it is self-arising, which means
self-organizing. In other words, if you throw a certain amount of energy into the system, then all
of a sudden it will reach a transition point and the system will rearrange itself and operate on a
higher level or it could rearrange and devolve and go to a lower state of organization.

A simple example is, you lose your right arm and your whole system reorganizes so that you can
use your left arm to do things. But similarly with rebirth, then the whole karmic configuration is
going to slightly change. A different energy is going to come foremost and the system is going to
rearrange with the aggregate factors of the experience of a dog, or a cockroach, or a human, or
whatever. The system will rearrange, the whole system of the five aggregates really very
fascinating when looked at from that point of view. But also we can have the system reorganize
rearrange, this self-arising rangchung (rang-byung) in Tibetan reorganize on an arya level, or
on an arhat level, or a Buddha level, a bodhisattva level, all these different levels. A certain
amount of energy has to go into that system input in order for the output to be on a whole
different level.

So, to be able to make progress on the path we need to build up this network of positive force.
That is whats going to energize it. You build up that positive force through all this constructive
behavior and meditation and these sorts of things, but you also strengthen the whole system, you
energize the system with the healthy relation with a spiritual teacher. Inspiration that comes from
that healthy relation with a spiritual teacher is one that causes our disturbing emotions to
diminish, not one that stimulates and fosters our disturbing emotions, like attachment and
jealousy and all these sort of things. It is very important that the relationship be a healthy one,
working within the appropriate parameters, qualifications.

The level that weve just been discussing is the level which is common to sutra Mahayana
practice. If we go on in terms of tantra practice, then we need to have a firm conviction and
belief in the benefits of tantra based on correct understanding of how it works to bring us to
enlightenment and how its more efficient than the sutra methods alone. Without that
understanding and conviction in the tantra method, we dont really know what were doing.

Although there can be a certain energizing of our system based on practicing on the foundation
of presumption in terms of the ways of knowing (blo-rig, lorig), presumption is when we
assume that its true, and that it will work, and that its a good system, based not really on
understanding it, But my teacher said it was so, and I believe my teacher as a valid source of
information, so I guess its OK, this type of thing. Although we could proceed like that
proceed on the basis of what in the West would be called faith nevertheless, that is not the
most stable foundation in terms of a valid way of knowing that supports it. Presumption is not a
valid way of knowing. There has to be some reason why we presume something to be true, and
just to take it on the authority of somebody else without really understanding it is not as stable as
understanding it. If we understand what tantra is all about, how it works, and so on, and if in
addition we have inspiration from the spiritual teachers and the lineage and so on, that: All
these great masters have followed this method and it has worked, and I have Buddha-nature
factors just as they do so it could work with me as well if I put in the effort.

In connection with this, one sort of side point is that in several tantra systems there is the practice
of going to a pure land you want to go to Dakini-land, or some sort of pure land so that
everything will be perfect. This type of pure land practice is something which one has to be very,
very careful about, because it can easily degenerate into, I just want to go to Paradise, where
everything will be lovely and nice, and Bambi will be there and it will be like a Disney-perfect
world, but its not like that. Thats not the idea. The idea of a pure land there are many levels
of pure land in terms of the deepest pure land is actually the clear light state of mental
activity. Thats the actual pure land, where everything is conducive for being able to reach
enlightenment. Thats what a pure land is everything is conducive for reaching enlightenment.
So the ultimate pure land is the clear light state of our own mental activity. If we can stay there,
then were really in a pure land, thats a Dharmakaya level. Its explained of a pure land that on a
more Nirmana- and Sambhogakaya level of it, we speak of a state of rebirth, although its not
quite a samsaric rebirth.

But the point of it is that one goes there and really, really works hard for reaching enlightenment.
You dont just sit around and enjoy yourself. Its a place where you really work hard. You
meditate all the time. Everything is conducive, which means that you dont have the usual type
of samsaric body, so you dont have to take so much time in being, as Shantideva would say, the
slave of this body you have to take care of it, you have to feed it, you have to put it to sleep,
you have to dress it, and you have to make money in order to support it, and you have to go seek
partners to give it some sort of sexual stimulus and all of this stuff you have to pay taxes, and
its such a drag having to take care of this type of body that we have, so that Shantideva says
were really the slave of it, having to take care of it all the time. A pure land is a situation in
which we dont have any of that, because we dont have the usual type of body. We dont have to
eat, we dont have to sleep, we dont have to work, we dont have to do any of this samsaric
stuff. Its not that we just sit around and have a good time by the swimming pool, but we work in
meditation and practice all the time. That is whats meant by a pure land practice.

We need to have a firm conviction and belief in what actually is tantra practice; what is it
working for, how does it work. Even just this little example of what really is a pure land and why
would I want to go there, why would I want to achieve that, and in order to put our hearts fully
with a valid cognition, a valid way of knowing, into our practice of the path. That is quite
important before really jumping into tantra.

We also need to try to strengthen the two networks with our uncommon preliminary practices
that are specific to tantra uncommon means not shared with sutra Mahayana. This is whats
usually called ngondro (sngon-gro) in Tibetan. Ngon means before, dro means to go,
so its what goes before, what comes before. This is like preparation. Its very interesting
what term you use. If you use the word preliminary, then you might say, Its beginning level
and I dont really want to do that. Im advanced, so lets skip these preliminaries and get to the
real thing. If we think of the term more in terms of preparation well, if you want to make a
journey you need to prepare, get all your stuff together then its not something that you can do
without. Its something that is very important.

There are many styles of doing these special preliminary practices, which are usually a hundred
thousand repetitions of various practices. We often come across the standard practices as outlined
in Kagyu or Nyingma, which can be four or five. There are many lists of them, but the most
common ones are prostration its usually done together with refuge and bodhichitta, which
would be either counted or not counted as something separate; Vajrasattva, thats the recitation of
the hundred-syllable mantra with purification; mandala offerings; and guru-yoga, which is
reciting a verse or a mantra of the spiritual teacher and making a bond yoga means a bond
with the body, speech, and mind of the teacher, those faculties, to try to gain some inspiration to
uplift our potentials.

In the Gelug tradition there are more preliminaries than that. People often think the Gelug has
less, but it actually has more. In the Gelug tradition there are nine commonly practiced
preliminaries. We have prostration, and then refuge and bodhichitta is counted as a separate one,
Vajrasattva, mandala offering, guru-yoga done with the Migtsema (dMigs-brtse-ma), the five-line
verse for Tsongkhapa. In addition, we have a practice called Samayavajra, its the name of a
Buddha-figure, Damtsig-dorjey (Dam-tshig rdo-rje) in Tibetan, which is for purifying any
obstacles that might arise from weakening our samaya samaya is an important word that
means a close bond, the word damtsig in Tibetan so you have a close bond with the teacher, a
close connection, thats damtsig. Anything that might have sullied that connection, its very
important to cleanse away, so theres a mantra that you repeat a hundred thousand times with a
visualization of Samayavajra.

There is Bhuji Vajradaka, Zachey-Kadro (Za byed mkha' 'gro), which is a daka dakas and
dakinis this is a daka that eats away your negative potentials, literally za-chey it eats. This
is a practice in which you have a little burner with some coals and you have white sesame seeds
and you burn a hundred thousand times, a hundred thousand little handfuls of these seeds with a
mantra into the fire to burn off negative potentials with a visualization that goes with that. Then
there is the offering of a hundred thousand water bowls; and then, the ninth one is the making of
a hundred thousand tsa-tsas. Thats the most difficult. A tsa-tsa is a little clay tablet its
usually translated as votive tablet, whatever that means. You have a mold that you put clay
into, or the Tibetans would have used mud, and it makes a little clay tablet with a Buddha image
on it, and you dry it in the sun. And of course, you have to have a place to store a hundred
thousand of these. You dont throw them in the garbage afterwards or recycle them. So that is
certainly the most difficult of the nine preliminaries that are done in Gelug. So its more, rather
than less in Gelug.

These preliminaries, doing a hundred thousand is just a round number as it were, a lot of people
get into numbers, the counting game, but you could also count up to a hundred thousand, thats
not the point here. Its not an exercise in counting or an exercise in arrogance, Ive done so
many. How many have you done? Rather we want to build up more and more positive force to
get our system to jump to reorganize on higher levels.
In the non-Gelug traditions, we generally do all these preliminaries together as an event, do them
back-to-back, one after another. But the Gelug tradition is one in which one doesnt do these
things like an event, although one could, but most people just do them here and there, as they fit
into their own personal schedule of development. Its the same thing with these three-year
retreats in the non-Gelug systems. Basically what it is, is a smorgasbord you know what a
smorgasbord is, where you have a little bit of a lot of different dishes, like a buffet so its sort
of like a buffet in which you do the major practices of your lineage three months of this, two
months of that, four months of this and so on so that you go through the repertoire of the major
figures and do the short retreats of each, back-to-back as a three-year event. And you learn to do
the rituals of them, and play the musical instruments, and do a bit of yoga and so on. In the
Gelug tradition its not done that way. In the Gelug tradition you do the short retreats, one at a
time, whenever they actually fit into your schedule. So you dont go thought the whole repertoire
and learn it at once, although one could, but its not done that way.

There are many different ways of doing these practices. Its not necessary that it be a hundred
thousand, it could be a lot more. In fact for these major practices like prostration, and safe
direction, and bodhichitta, and Vajrasattva, and mandala offering, and the guru-yoga you
continue to do them all the way up to a very advanced stage in the practice, in the sadhanas.
Sadhanas are the tantra practices sadhana is Sanskrit and means to actualize, so its a
way of actualizing yourself as a Buddha-figure, or self-generation is another term thats used
for it. In these practices, in which you go through like an opera of visualization, the sadhanas [are
like] the script, and you go through the script, and you generate the holographic opera of
different points. And in those points you always have these preliminaries as part of it, these
preparatory practices, Vajrasattva and so on. During the course of the sadhana, in the appropriate
time, youll be doing voidness meditation, bodhichitta meditation, and all these different
meditations.

Its interesting also the way that one practices in tantra, and this I think is quite important to
know, especially when you do a ritual as a group practice. In the rituals this is why Im talking
about these sadhanas at various points that are there, that youre doing generating
compassion, love, etc. and during the sadhana itself, we dont actually go through the lines of
reasoning to build up these states. You dont do anything like analytical meditation on voidness
or stuff like that.

The point is that we need to have sufficient familiarity that we can just generate the state based
on reminding ourselves. Youve worked a lot with these lines of reasoning to generate
bodhichitta the seven-part cause and effect, everybody has been my mother, and so on youve
worked through four-point analysis and other things from voidness meditation, so that youre
really familiar with it and so you just have to read the words in the sadhana and maybe take a
few seconds and youve got it, youre able to go there, generate that state of mind and actually
feel it. This is another reason why tantra practice is rather advanced.

If were not able to do that, then our practice of sadhana particularly if were doing it out loud
degenerates into chorus practice of singing without much going on. Although of course there is
benefit from choral reading and following a ritual without any meaning being associated to it in
terms of continuity, calming down, being part of a community, these sort of things and one
must not denigrate that; it does have a place and a benefit. Nevertheless, we can gain much more
benefit from actually doing it with meaning. The way that the meditation is done is to remind
yourself of this state of mind, having worked on it before in a more analytic type of meditation,
so that in the sadhana youre just able to actually go there.

So thats the ngondro, the special preliminaries. Then we need to have an empowerment,
sometimes translated as initiation, but empowerment is much closer to the term. The
Sanskrit term has the idea of sprinkling associated with it its both planting seeds and
watering them. The Tibetan word, wang (dbang) actually means empower, so empowering
these Buddha-nature factors. Either we water them, strengthen them, and plant new factors that
will supplement them, or we empower them.

The main purpose of an empowerment is to activate the potentials of Buddha-nature. Weve


added more and more energy into the system through the preliminaries, the preparation the
ones that are common to sutra and the ones that are uncommon and we have this relation with a
spiritual teacher, especially the one thats conferring the empowerment, so that theres inspiration
as well, which is going to help energize the system. The empowerment ritual itself is going to
activate those potentials so that they can really start to grow and also purify some obstacles or
obscurations. Therefore, just being there and attending is not really the optimal level of receiving
the empowerment.

You can say, well, you do have mental continuums so theres some influence, Its not as though
were a rock or a chair that is there at the empowerment, so theres some influence, but the main
thing that we need in an empowerment is to have a conscious experience during the ritual. Were
not talking about some mystical experience with French horns in the background and rainbows
and stuff like that. Were talking about a conscious experience of an understanding of voidness or
of Buddha-nature in the Gelug system its of voidness, in the other systems theres more
emphasis on Buddha-nature based on prior study and practice, and induced more strongly by
the ambience of the empowerment, the ritual, and inspiration from our belief in the qualities of
the master conferring it.

Whatever level that our understanding of voidness is, we need to bring that to the fore during the
empowerment when it says, Now imagine you have a blissful awareness of voidness whats
called inseparable voidness and bliss at various points during the empowerment. That is
really quite crucial, because doing that in that ambience with that inspiration and the whole scene
going on around us, if theres sufficient preparation, then that will activate these potentials. That
is really the key to what an empowerment is and why we need that ambience that is created there
and the presence of the great spiritual master who inspires us.

If the empowerment is by somebody who doesnt inspire us, again, its much weaker, it doesnt
really work so much. So that inspiration and if its more strongly based on confident belief in the
qualities of the master, understanding of the tantra practice, its not just hearsay, I hear that
thats a pretty good guru, but Ive never met the person before, but having some acquaintance
with this teacher, or with people who have been acquainted with this teacher, is really important
here.
Also there is no receiving of an empowerment without the taking of vows. This is emphasized
very much. So the empowerment also is an occasion for taking the various sets of vows, or
reaffirming them, purifying them if we have weakened them before. If we speak in terms of the
Gelug tradition, we need some basis of lay vows. That usually is not just the refuge vows, but
very often theres the five lay precepts. You dont have to take them all by the way, one will do
obviously more than one is better, but some basis of lay vows. Then, within all four classes of
tantra there are four classes of tantra, different categories and styles of practice in all four of
them we take the bodhisattva vows, and within the two higher classes of tantra we take the
tantric vows. The four classes are kriya, charya, yoga, and anuttarayoga tantras, and in the two
higher ones, yoga and anuttarayoga tantra yoga and highest yoga tantra we also take the
tantric vows.

The vows are important because they give a shape to the development of the potentials. To
awaken these Buddha-nature potentials and develop them more and more, and remove more and
more of the obscurations from them, you need to set certain limits which will shape their growth,
beyond which we will not go. See, limit and boundary always sounds like a negative word,
doesnt it? Something we want to rebel against. Better to say we give a shape to it. You want to
set a shape and, Im not going to go beyond this shape into amorphous vague-land. For
instance, that shape might be in terms of tantra vows to do voidness meditation every day,
Im not going to go beyond that, because if I really want to shape the way that its growing. I
need to really keep it within the bounds of the understanding of voidness. We need to have
repeated familiarity; otherwise that hologram of that understanding isnt going to appear. You
have to grease the pathway, in a sense, more and more with this understanding of voidness, so
that eventually, even without effort, its going to activate.

In terms of the bodhisattva vows, Im not going to praise myself and put down others because
of attachment to fame, and love, and attention, and all that sort of stuff. Im the greatest.
Everybody else is no good, so come to me! this type of advertising. That would be very
inappropriate, because that is not only very ego-based, but also people become suspicious if
theyre in the least bit savvy, Whats behind this person trying to sell themselves so much?
Im the greatest bodhisattva, come to me. I will help you, or your money back guaranteed.
Come for a Kalachakra initiation and we will give you free, at no extra charge, a Chenrezig
initiation at the end. Everybody else will just give you the plain initiation by itself. We dont
want to advertise like that, do we? It would be a bit suspect. So these vows are very, very
important.

These are the basic features of empowerment. There is a lot more that can be said, but I think
thats sufficient. Since I know that many people will be considering taking an empowerment
soon here, perhaps there may be some questions. I should also point out there are three types of
ceremonies that often are indiscriminately all translated as initiation, but theyre really quite
different.

There is the lets use the Tibetan words wang, thats the actual empowerment. This empowers
you to visualize yourself as a Buddha-figure, basically. It activates Buddha-nature potentials and
now we can visualize ourselves as a Buddha-figure, the self-generation. Without it, then one can
do so-called inspirational practices or devotional practices with Buddha-figures in front of you,
but you cant actually visualize yourself as one anybody can visualize anything they want, but
the point is how effective will it be, and the empowerment will make it effective.

Then there is the jenang (rjes-snang). Jenang is sometimes translated as permission, but
thats only translating the second syllable of it. The first syllable means subsequent. So its
subsequent permission, subsequent, after the empowerment, subsequent to the empowerment.
Serkong Rinpoche said that its like the empowerment gives you a sword and the subsequent
permission is like sharpening the sword. In those type of ceremonies theres a gaining of
inspiration and uplifting of body, speech, and mind and all together of the Buddha-figure. Its not
with a mandala thats laid out, usually a drawing or a sand mandala. Its not with red protection
strings; its not with the red ribbon that you wear on your forehead as a blindfold. You can tell
whether its a wang or a jenang by the paraphernalia thats used during the ritual. In the Gelug
tradition, jenangs are usually given with a torma, this cake made of tsampa, barley grain with a
little picture, a painting of the Buddha-figure stuck on top on a stick or a toothpick and a little
umbrella over it, and then youre touched on the head, or imagine youre touched on the head by
that. Thats the paraphernalia with which its done, the ritual implement. So it strengthens what
weve gotten already.

In theory, if one wants to do it properly, the way that Tsongkhapa outlined, then one would not
receive a jenang before receiving a wang, but in practice many people confer these jenangs for
people who have not received a wang. Again, if you want to follow it precisely according to the
way that Tsongkhapa taught, then in those situations, if somebody has not had a full initiation,
then with the jenang youre only able to visualize the Buddha-figure in front of you, not yourself
as the Buddha-figure. If you have received an empowerment of any figure in, lets say kriya
tantra, the first class, then if you receive a jenang of another figure, lets say youve received the
wang of Chenrezig, well then thats OK if you receive the jenang after that of Tara, you can
visualize yourself as Tara, as long as youve had a wang of some figure in that system, that class
of tantra. That holds true for the higher classes. If youve received an empowerment in the
highest class of tantra anuttarayoga, lets say the Kalachakra initiation then you can take any
jenang from that class or any class beneath that and visualize yourself as that figure. Thats how
the system works according to Tsongkhapa. There are slightly other versions and of course there
are always situations in which the teacher gives special permission for people to visualize
themselves as this figure from the jenang, even if they havent received any wangs. but if one
wants to follow Tsongkhapa strictly thats not optimal.

The third ritual is called the ngagtu (sngags-btus). Ngag is mantra, and tu (btus) is to
collect or gather. This is a very interesting ritual. Its quite rare. The only one that I
encountered who ever did it was Serkong Rinpoche. He only did that twice in all the years that I
knew him. But this is a ritual for confirming the mantra and the spelling of the mantra. The way
in which things were transmitted was orally; nothing was written down after the Buddha taught.
Things were only put into writing about 350 or 400 years after the Buddha. So the only way that
things were preserved was orally. People memorized it and then gave it on to the next generation.
Even when things were written down, they had to be copied by scribes, so errors can come into
that.
By the way this whole thing of oral transmission then if we look at the history of Buddhism
and realize that this is the way that the teachings were passed down, then we can appreciate the
custom that the Tibetans still honor which is getting the oral transmission of a text, the lung its
called in Tibetan. This is very important that you have the unbroken oral transmission of the text,
having been recited from one generation to the next generation. Whats important here is that the
transmission be done without any mistakes in terms of the words. Thats quite interesting
actually. I had always thought that the transmission had to be done by somebody who actually
understood the text and realized the text. Although you could find that explanation and that of
course would be optimal, that is not actually the criterion for a valid oral transmission. Criterion
for it is that its free of mistakes, of actual verbal mistakes of the text.

Just somebody who was there, who has a deep connection youd have to have a really close
bond and deep connection with the ones that youre giving it to; that needs to be there, it cant
just be anybody then that would be sufficient for constituting an oral transmission. If on top of
that they understood and realized the meaning of the text, thats even better. That was how the
teachings were transmitted. The Tibetans feel very strongly that this needs to be continued, that
you do gain inspiration from that. The inspiration is again I had thought it was only the
inspiration that, Heres somebody who actually understands it, but I think that thats icing on
the cake, as it were, but the main thing is, Here is inspiration that theres no mistake in the text
and its correct.

The mantra, which is Sanskrit, is an item that is most open to mistakes, especially since the
Tibetans really garble the Sanskrit pronunciation of them, so that in many cases its almost
unrecognizable to an Indian: vajra becomes bendza. You take it from there into Mongolian
for example and vajra becomes ochir. When you try to do these mantras in Chinese, my
goodness, the sound structure is so different, you really get quite an unrecognizable sound. So
how do you transmit the mantras so that theres not going to be a mistake. For this you need the
correct spelling, and here you have the ngagtu.

Its really quite fascinating. The way that its done is the Sanskrit alphabet is very
mathematical, the way in which its constructed, in terms of the letters will be into classes the
gutturals, and the cerebrals, and so on, the sibilants it depends on which part of your mouth you
make them in. There are rows and columns of the letters that are according to a linguistic
analysis of the letters. Thats how the Sanskrit alphabet is set up, its very neat the vowels as
well. You set up a grid with powder on a metal plate, a round plate which is called a mirror, but
its a round plate. Then you take powder from the different grid squares and write the letter on
the mirror surface. So the grid is specified very much, the consonant is the fourth one in the
fifth row with the third vowel. There are coordinates that are going to specify the consonant and
the vowel, and you go through the entire mantra, syllable by syllable, and write it out with the
correct spelling, and this is how it was not garbled. If, as a Sanskrit scholar, you look at the way
the Tibetans spell the mantras, unfortunately mistakes have come in anyway. Nevertheless, this is
the main system which is used for guaranteeing the correctness of the mantras, and again, you
get inspiration, This is the correct mantra.

So we have these three different ceremonies or rituals done progressively, usually, if one is going
to do a particular Buddha system very fully. Often we dont have the opportunity to get all of
them. To give them all the same name of initiation again whitewashes it, sort of waters it down
its an empowerment, a subsequent permission, and a gathering of the mantra.

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