Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Preliminaries Practices 3 Levels Of
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Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Preliminaries Practices 3 Levels of Buddhism 1/ Hinayana (Meditation and liberation for Self enlightenment) 2/ Mahayana (Bodhisattva Mind and liberation to be able to liberate others) 3/ Vajrayana or Tantrayana (Non Duality Emptiness, All Phenomenon are Nirvana, Guru Yoga and Yidam visualisation, Mahamoudra meditation and liberation in one's life) 3 Refuges Taking refuge in the 3 Jewels is a ceremony or a self decision that marks officially the entrance in Buddhism, and when somebody wants to call himself or herself a Buddhist. Taking refuge in the 3 Jewels is the first step in Buddhism. Taking refuge in the 3 Jewels consists in repeating 3 times the phrases "I take refuge in the ..." with and for each jewel. Buddha (Doctor) Dharma (Medicine) Sangha (Nurse) 5 Precepts Engaging oneself in the 5 precepts is an important part of the Buddhist practice as it means that the person is trying to bring the Dharma into her or his own life and daily reality. It is a real engagement and a real daily effort to live with the guidelines of the Dharma, with integrity and compassion, and to follow the 5 precepts. Such a conscious and volontary engagement is also very helpful and meaningful in order to bring more understanding and experiences in one's own practice. Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Preliminaries Practices 1 - 17 The 5 precepts is about avoiding wrong actions and developping skillful actions. Undertaking the training to abstain from doing unskilful or negative actions. Avoiding 10 evil actions and developing 10 virtuous actions. The 5 precepts are based on non violence (in body, speech and mind, and about others living beings, material objects, and self) upon others and oneself. Non violence is about having positive, peaceful and harmonious relationships with others and oneself. Since the whole purpose of Buddhism is to liberate the mind from impurities and unskilful deeds, the action to indulge in intoxicants goes against the goal to attain a clear, calm and wise mind. Not Killing Not Stealing Not Lying Not Sexual misconducts or abuses Not Drugs or Intoxicants abuses There are also 8 precepts that can be temporary taken for lay retreatants or during a full moon or while a silent retreat. Hundreds of other precepts for monks that goes into the very detailed way of daily life (Vinaya basket). Hundreds of precepts for nuns. 4 Ordinary Preliminaries Turning the mind to the Dharma. Finding motivation to practice the Dharma. The purpose of the 4 ordinary preliminaries is to really enter in the practice as a Buddhist, which is about taking refuge in the 3 jewels, and to really be motivated to study the Dharma and practice the Path of liberation. The 4 ordinary preliminaries' purpose is to help the practitioner to find understandings and resources in order to really get into daily life practice, whether as a lay civilian person, or to become a monastic. The 4 ordinary preliminaries are consisting in reflections or meditations or discussions on the meaning and the consequences of one human life in our world, and in particular the 4 right view recollections in favour of the practice and dedication to meditation which is the core of what Buddhism teaches. The 4 ordinary preliminaries is about discovering in one's self the inner true motivation to practice. The precious rare human life easy to loose hard to obtain The certainty of death and the uncertainty of time of death or its circumstances The unsatisfactoriness of life with suffering and impermanence The law of causes and effects Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Preliminaries Practices 2 - 17 1/ The precious human life The precious human life is rare and easy to loose and hard to obtain. The precious human life is a gift and a chance in a time and in a space where the teachings and the teachers of the Dharma are available and authentic. The precious human life includes our own physical and mental abilities, and also our personal situation in society, with freedom, intelligence, resources and access to the Dharma. (HUMAN REALM, HUMAN REINCARNATION, SANGHA, DHARMA, LAMA, NIRVANA) 2/ Death and impermanence Death and impermanence exist for each one of us and no-one can escape this fate. There is a certainty of death and there is an uncertainty of the time of death or of its circumstances. Death and impermanence can be helpful in order to justify the urgency and the necessity to practice now and as much as possible. (BARDO, WHEEL OF LIFE, MARA, ANICCA) 3/ Insatisfaction suffering The whole idea of Buddhism is not to suffer, and not to be entangled into the unsatisfactoriness of life. (DUKKA, SAMSARA, NIRVANA, FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS) 4/ The Law of causes & effects The Law of causes and effects, of causes, conditions and consequences is what Karma is about. Our reality is a complex interactions and interrelationships of things. Everything is in Interdependence with other things. What we do matters, what we say matters, what we think matters. (KARMA, REINCARNATION, LAW OF CAUSES AND CONDITIONS, VIPASSANA) 4 Extraordinary Preliminaries Engaging in Vajrayana Tantric practices under the guidance of a spiritual friend (LAMA GURU) requires to be very motivated, to engage fully in the Bodhisattva way of life, and to find the perfect spiritual friend. The 4 extraordinary preliminary practices are supposed to purify the mind of past mistakes and impurities, and to dissipate the veils that obstruct the mind. The prostrations The one hundred syllabus mantra recitations The Vajrasattva purification meditations The mandala offerings Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Preliminaries Practices 3 - 17 The 4 extraordinary preliminaries also contribute to fullfil the 2 accumulations that are necessary and that allows the Vajrayana practice to be real and efficient. The accumulation of merit The accumulation of wisdom The 4 extraordinary preliminaries are a mixing of different activities that involves the body, the speech and the mind, and can be accomplished along with other practices that make the day very busy (prostration, recitations, dedications, offerings, mantras, sutras, meditations, mudras, chants, ceremonies, empowerments, readings, questioning...). The accountability of each of the 4 extraordinary preliminaries is generally made by using a MALA perl neckless. Along with taking refuge in the 3 Jewels (Hinayana), and after having been engaged into the Bodhisattva practices (Mahayana) of the 6 perfections (PARAMIS or PARAMITAS), the Vajrayana student is also taking refuge in the Lama Guru (Vajrayana). 2 types of meditations In order to engage into the Vajrayana practices, the student is also required to be well advanced in the understanding of the Buddhist teachings and concepts, and is also supposed to be well practiced in the 2 base types of meditations. These two types of meditation are practised along together and are improving one another. Concentration meditation (Samatha) Mindfullness meditation (Vipassana) The first type of meditation is the concentration meditation of the mind, focusing the attention of the mind in one only object like the breath or a single point, enabling the practitioner to acquire the ability to put its own mind into a stable and clear state of mind of concentration (Samatha). The second type of meditation is the mindfulness meditation or insights meditation, which consist of using the concentration state of mind in order to investigate the inner and outer self reallity and to develop insights about the patterns and the views of one's own mind. The mindfulness meditation is said to see things as they really are (Vipassana) without interfering, and it is also called in Tibetan Buddhism the "penetrating wisdom" or "clear seeing". Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Preliminaries Practices 4 - 17 4 foundations of minfulness The 4 foundations of mindfulness is a Sutra that explains how to practice mindfulness meditation, of the body and breath, of the sensations and perceptions, of the emotions and of the thoughts. Teachers and meditation practitioners agree to say that both types of meditation practices (Samatha and Vipassana) are very close to one another, and help one another, and the progress in each type of meditation enables the practitioner to make progress in the other type of meditation. Concentration enriches Mindfulness, and Mindfulness deepens Concentration. The Lama Guru The Lama Guru can be also called the guide or the teacher or the spiritual friend. The refuge in the Lama Guru involved the refuge in the 3 Jewels, in the BUDDHA, the SANGHA and the DHARMA, in the LAMA GURU person, as well as in the BHODICITTA desire and personnal engagement. The relationship created and accepted by both the student and the guide, is a very special type of relationship, compared to father and son, master and apprentice, and it is a relationship of complete trust and devotion, where the mind of the student and the mind of the guide are supposed to merge together like in a fusion to form one single mind. The Guru Lama is seen and considered by the student as the Buddha himself. The Guru Lama is said to be essential and determinant for the student to progress and eventually to become enlightened in one life time. The student is encouraged to see the guide as a venerable guru, who allows the student not to fall, nor fool himself, and who holds the keys, opens the doors, shows the way on the path, and gives the light in the dark. The Vajrayana path is said to offer to the students the possibility to be able to get enlighten in this one lifetime. It is also said to be a fast but difficult or even dangerous path, and that explains why the Lama Guru is mandatory, why a Lama Guru normally has few followers, and why the Lama Guru receives so much veneration from the scholars.