COMMENTARIES ON: THE SIX SESSION YOGA THE SHORT SADHANA OF THE SOLITARY HERO VAJRABHAIRAVA THE SHORT SADHANA OF VAJRAYOGINI by Kyabje Gelek Rinpoche Only to be read after having obtained a highest yoga tantra initiation A Jewel Heart Transcript ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is mainly the transcription of the Ann Arbor vajrayana weekends may and June 1996. Rinpoche then gave an explanation of the short vajrayana practices that nearly everyone in the vajrayana sangha has a commitment for. Added to that are additional teachings given during the winter retreat 1997/1998. These short teachings help to understand what one is doing as long as one hasn’t yet received a complete teaching. It also is an easy stepping stone to the more detailed teachings. The teachings are to be read only by those who have received an initiation in one of the maha anu yoga tantras. The transcription was done by Hartmut Sagolla; the drawings of Buddha Vajradhara and of Yamantaka are by Marian van der Horst; the drawing of Vajrayogini has been received from Gelongla Thubten Chöpel. Nijmegen, 2nd edition April 1998 Marianne Soeters © Gelek Rinpoche/Jewel Heart 1997 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................................... 1 CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 1 I THE SIX-SESSION YOGA..................................................................................................................... 3 II THE SHORT SADHANA OF THE SOLITARY HERO VAJRABHAIRAVA [YAMANTAKA]23 III THE SHORT SADHANA OF VAJRAYOGINI................................................................................ 55 IV GLOSSARY......................................................................................................................................... 87 Buddha Vajradhara I THE SIX-SESSION YOGA Refuge In my heart I turn to the Three Jewels of Refuge. The text starts with taking refuge and generating bodhicitta. While doing that, you generate the refuge field in front of you, which is Sakyamuni Buddha. When the text says, ‘In my heart I turn to the Three Jewels of Refuge’, it does not mean that you visualize the object of refuge in your heart. When you visualize Buddha Sakyamuni you think that his mind is buddha, his speech is dharma, [his body is sangha]. Speech is communication and where does that come from? Where do his teachings come from? They come from his internal spiritual development. In order to communicate, you [need] experience. His experience is his spiritual development. Therefore it is dharma. In visualization the dharma is often represented by a book. The book can represent dharma, but itself is not dharma. It is knowledge. However, you can write a book based on your own experience. That’s why the true teaching of Buddhism has to be personalized, has to be experiential. Otherwise it is just book knowledge. Traditionally, nobody dared to write a book unless they were really sure what they were talking about. Today, everybody writes anything regardless of understanding. These days it is a big question whether book knowledge is really true spiritual knowledge. Many authors of today’s spiritual books probably don’t know much about the subject, and it is anyway mainly put out by the editors. In the Tibetan tradition they used to say that earlier in India, in the eighth and ninth century, any master who wrote on a spiritual subject had to undergo a review. In the monasteries they had an annual book review and if a book was judged to be bad, they would tie it to a dog’s tail and let the dog run around with it and the author had to follow. That’s how they disgraced the authors at that time. The reason why they did this was not to disgrace the authors but in order to maintain the purity of the written word. The Tibetan tradition will tell you that. Atisha wrote his famous text Lamp of the Path in Tibet for the Tibetans, but he also sent a copy back to India for review. And everybody [there] is supposed to have praised it and at that point the teaching tradition tells you that if it had been a bad book they would have tied it to a dog’s tail and let the dog run around with it. Nowadays, we don’t have this system. We do have book reviews, too, but the critics don’t know what they are critiquing, particularly in the field of Tibetan literature. Whether it is in the field of politics, economy, history, culture or religion – the critics have no idea. So we lamas have been lucky enough. Sensible critics will restrain themselves, because they are afraid of rebuffs. They let you do whatever you want, except for Bob [Thurman]. The critics have no idea about crazy wisdom either. That’s why we have freedom. That’s the true situation. We always get good reviews, because the 4 Three main short vajrayana practices critics don’t know much about it. It would be good to get some healthy criticism, but the critics don’t know what to say. The easy way of visualizing here is the ‘jewel system’. This combines all the three refuge objects in one figure. Buddha’s mind is buddha, his speech is dharma and his body is sangha. If someone, instead of visualizing Sakyamuni Buddha at this point wants to visualize the refuge tree, there is no objection to that. The refuge tree may be a little complicated here. When you practice the Lama Chöpa it is easier, because the text leads you through the visualization of the [merit] tree, step by step. When you are saying the words it is easy to generate the picture in the mind. To instantaneously generate a refuge tree might be a little difficult. However, if you are used to it and see it clearly, okay. If you can’t, simply thinking it is there and just seeing some little red and green dots, will probably do. Here what is expected is either Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorjechang or Buddha Sakyamuni’s form. Preferably, the refuge is focused on Buddha Sakyamuni. He is the most important guru of ours. Whether he is alive or not, the teachings we are following are his teachings. So Buddha is the most important guru of the buddhists. Your own guru may be kinder than Buddha [as the Lama Chöpa says] to you as an individual, but that does not mean that your guru is more important than Buddha. So it is a very good idea to focus on your guru as inseparable from Sakyamuni Buddha. That is more important [at this point] than [focusing on] Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorjechang, although that is also perfectly okay, because you have Sakyamuni Buddha at Lama Lozang’s heart level. Buddha Vajradhara is Buddha, there is no difference. But the physical appearance of Buddha Sakyamuni is the historical appearance, more or less. I don’t believe he really looked like that, with a little lump on the head, but still, very similar to that. The 32 major and 80 minor marks, I don’t know how much that refers to the psychic level and how much it is the real physical appearance. Probably it is 50%-50% mixed. That is my presumption. Nobody in traditional teachings has said that. It is my presumption. So Buddha Sakyamuni is recommended here. Vajradhara and Sakyamuni are both nirmanakaya [here]. Don’t make it more complicated than you need to. Just focus on Buddha Sakyamuni. But if you want you can also visualize the Lama Chöpa tree or buddha Vajradhara or your own guru’s form, everything is fine. So much about the object you visualize, in this case Sakyamuni Buddha. When you say the line for the refuge you have the visualization and you know what refuge means, so you have to apply that. If you can’t do that six times, then at least do it once and the other five times just simply say the words, that will probably do. In the next line you apply the refuge. Generating bodhimind May I free suffering beings and place them in bliss. Here you are building a commitment to free all beings from suffering. Audience: The idea to promise something that you cannot fulfill is an ethical problem for me. Rinpoche: I don’t think so. The fourth line says, ‘that I may complete the enlightening path’. So, you want to complete the path in order to fulfill your commitment. Anyway, what makes you think that karmically you cannot complete the path in this life? What makes you so sure? You would be underestimating yourself. Whenever you have such thoughts you actually are deciding that you are incapable of obtaining enlightenment for yourself, therefore you then think how is it possible to make a commitment you cannot fulfill and then you conclude that it would be ethically wrong to promise that. So the problem really is that you are underestimating yourself. In contrast to this self-defeating position buddhas and bodhisattvas are making statement after statement that each one of us is capable of obtaining enlightenment within our life-time. Don’t underestimate yourself. Don’t take that personally. I say all that to your face, but even then don’t take it personally. A The short Six-session yoga 5 dharma teaching is such a thing – you have to pinpoint where the problem is. If you take that personally, while I am addressing everyone, then it becomes a problem. So don’t take anything personal, but on the other hand, do take everything personal, too! Every way and means of becoming a fully enlightened buddha in this life is available to us. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is right in our midst as a ready-made TV-dinner. It is there. Whether you take it out of the fridge and put it on the oven, whether you take the trouble to open the packet and pick up a spoon or chopsticks, whether you make use of it or not, is up to you as an individual.