In my early years as a Buddhist I lacked clarity on what was meditation and what was practice. To some extent I now realise this lack of clarity reduced the value of my practice.
In some traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism, Mahamudra meditation is the path to achieving an enlightened or wisdom Mind. This is not a state of Mind. It is a transcendental experience or state of being. The word mahamudra symbolises the nature of Mind.
The objective of Mahamudra meditation is to achieve what is known as a Clear Light Mind or Luminous Bliss. "Luminous Bliss" is the title of a definitive book on Mahamudra Meditation by Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche of the Kagyu tradition. His main centres are in Melbourne, Australia and New York and he features in Ken Wilbur's recent book Integral Spirituality. The Kagyu tradition maintains achievement of the Mahamudra state leads to enlightenment through purely meditative practices. This is a form of tantric practice, moving through many phases.
Other traditions, such as the Sakya tradition that I follow, advocate a different tantric practice approach. Both practices offer the possibility of enlightenment in a single lifetime.
This is where my confusion evolved. I did not set about discovering the differences between meditation and practice until I did my retreat in Eastern Tibet a couple of years ago. I will now attempt to pass on my limited understanding to you.
In a previous post I described the sadhana, the text for undertaking a specific practice. There is a beginning, where we acknowledge our teachers, purify our current state and declare our motivation to do the practice for the benefit of all sentient beings. Then there is the middle, on which I elaborate later, and the end, which is the dedication of any virtue and merit that may have been earned for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Now – about the middle.
The main part of the practice consists of a number of elements in what can be considered as an active meditation. It is active in that the meditation focuses on a specific aspect of the Buddha's teachings and involves visualisations and mantras. Mantras are usually counted on a 108 bead mala.
The visualisations generally involve bodhisattvas such as Chenrezig (Compassion), Tara (Healing), Dzambala (Prosperity or Wealth), Manjushri (Wisdom) and the wrathful deities Mahakala and Vajrapani. The term wrathful is a bit misleading, and they are also known as the dharma protectors. Their role is to protect one from illusions, negativities and the assaults of various spirits that may result in corrupting the dharma practice. As such, they are benevolent rather than malevolent.
The picture is of Chenrezig, also known as Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit . The Chinese Buddhist emanation is female in form and known as Quan Yin or Kwan Yin. The two guardians or supporting bodhisattvas are Manjushri, with the sword of wisdom, and Vajrapani.
In order to undertake these practices, one must be initiated into the lineage of teachings by a qualified teacher, usually a Rinpoche or Tulku. A Tulku is a being who has been recognised within their tradition, and quite often by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as a reincarnation of a previously recognised teacher. Traleg Rinpoche is one such being.
The visualisations themselves are quite often very complex, but the objective behind them is really quite simple. As we all know, in traditional meditation it is difficult to stay in the meditative state for extended periods, even if measured in seconds. The tantric approach says that if you are concentrating on a visualisation which in itself has many aspects, and you are reciting a mantra and counting on a mala, whenever your concentration strays, you can come back to another aspect and regain the concentration. While this does not meet our western understanding of meditation as being "relaxing and calming", it is meditation or contemplation in its own right. In envisaging oneself as the bodhisattva, you are not worshipping (in western terminology) the bodhisattva. Rather you are training your Mind to develop the attributes of the bodhisattva.
However, do not expect to get up from a tantric practice in a touchy/feely relaxed state of being. The practices are active and you come out of them embodying the active aspects of the bodhisattva on whom you've been practicing. Personally most of my daily practices, and my retreat in Eastern Tibet, are around Vajrapani Bhutadamara, a particularly powerful aspect of Vajrapani. The visualisation is on the removal of illnesses, obscurations, negativities and evil spirits. After half an hour of him, you are ready to take on anything!
My feeling is that the tantric approach is well suited to my western background. There is still the dichotomy of doing versus being, and at times I have to remind myself to BE Vajrapani rather than DO Vajrapani.
I hope this provides some clarity on aspects of Vajrayana tantric meditation.
Thus ends this post. May whatever virtue or merit that derives from this posting be for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Yours until next time, Vajramate.
3 comments:
Hello!
When you say, "This is believed to offer the possibility of enlightenment in a single lifetime rather than aeons as in the Mahamudra approach", presumably you are aware that authorities such as His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa would disagree with you? In this link [ http://www.dharmafellowship.org/library/essays/mahamudra-dzogchen.htm ] it says, "The uniqueness of Dzogchen or Mahamudra is the rapid way in which meditation can lead to an experience of Enlightenment in this very lifetime"!
Namaste!
Thank you for this alert. I was relying on the information from Traleg Rinpoche's book and had not researched further. Also, I did not intend to give any indication that any one approach is better than another. My intention in this blog is to talk of those things that confused me early on my path - and obviously there are many that still do - as a means to help others recognise their own confusions and not to be deterred by them. Yours in dharma,
Of course. Are you aware of what the Rimé movement has to say about Rangtong and Shentong? As far as I understand, all true paths lead to the same place.
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