OVERVIEW OF YIDAM PRACTICE Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
In Tibetan, we refer to Dorje Phurba or Dorje Shonnu; in Sanskrit, his name is Vajrakilaya or Vajrakumara. All the victorious ones have [[[enlightened]]] body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities. The condensation of all the activities is Karma Heruka.
For example, Amoghasiddhi represents one of the five families of the victorious ones. When Amoghasiddhi emanates in an extremely wrathful form, he is known as Karma Heruka, who accomplishes wrathful activity. When Karma Heruka further emanates in an even more wrathful form to tame the wild and untamable, he is called Dorje Phurba, Vajrakilaya. Primarily, he enacts the four activities: peaceful, increasing, magnetizing, and subjugating. However, Vajrakilaya also perfects the supreme activity, and everything is included within this.
Many of the Indian panditas attained accomplishment [practicing] Dorje Phurba. In the snowy land of Tibet, many became realized based on Phurba. The Nyingma lineage has three main wrathful deities: Mamo, Shinje, and Phurba. In Tibet, these three — Ma, Shin, Phur — are considered “the fence of the Dharma,” which is extremely important.
Ma, Shin, and Phur protect the doctrine, and if the practices of these three slip, especially that of Shinje, that will ultimately be the main cause for degeneration of the Dharma. Amongst these three, there are very few accomplished practitioners of Shinje and Phurba, and Shinje siddhas are the most rare. Regarding Shinje practice, I once asked Kyungtrul Rinpoche, our root guru, “Why will the doctrine in Tibet degenerate?” He answered, “Because there are not many accomplished Shinje practitioners. If there are not many siddhas of both Shinje and Phurba, the fence of the Tibetan Dharma collapses, and negative influences can enter.” That is what the old lama said.
He also said, “Now times are peaceful, but there are foreboding signs that the doctrine in Tibet will decline. There used to be many Shinje siddhas before, but I do not hear of so many these days. What keeps the fence of the Dharma strong are these three, Ma, Shin, and Phurba. Without these, there will be degeneration. Before in each district, there were practitioners of Shinje; not so much anymore.”
Vajrakilaya is the single form that embodies all buddha activity in an extremely wrathful way, and he can grant both the common and supreme accomplishments. Through practicing Phurba, we can attain realization of the wisdom deity and capture the dharmakaya throne within this lifetime — that is how great Phurba is. In essence, Vajrakilaya is not other than Samantabhadra, because the identity is Samantabhadra. The way of appearing is as the five buddha families, and the manifestations are the buddhas of the six realms. The identity or essence of any deity is not other than Buddha Samantabhadra.
Source
[In Tibetan, we refer to Dorje Phurba or Dorje Shonnu; in Sanskrit, his name is Vajrakilaya or Vajrakumara. All the victorious ones have [[[enlightened]]] body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities. The condensation of all the activities is Karma Heruka.
For example, Amoghasiddhi represents one of the five families of the victorious ones. When Amoghasiddhi emanates in an extremely wrathful form, he is known as Karma Heruka, who accomplishes wrathful activity. When Karma Heruka further emanates in an even more wrathful form to tame the wild and untamable, he is called Dorje Phurba, Vajrakilaya. Primarily, he enacts the four activities: peaceful, increasing, magnetizing, and subjugating. However, Vajrakilaya also perfects the supreme activity, and everything is included within this.
Many of the Indian panditas attained accomplishment [practicing] Dorje Phurba. In the snowy land of Tibet, many became realized based on Phurba. The Nyingma lineage has three main wrathful deities: Mamo, Shinje, and Phurba. In Tibet, these three — Ma, Shin, Phur — are considered “the fence of the Dharma,” which is extremely important.
Ma, Shin, and Phur protect the doctrine, and if the practices of these three slip, especially that of Shinje, that will ultimately be the main cause for degeneration of the Dharma. Amongst these three, there are very few accomplished practitioners of Shinje and Phurba, and Shinje siddhas are the most rare. Regarding Shinje practice, I once asked Kyungtrul Rinpoche, our root guru, “Why will the doctrine in Tibet degenerate?” He answered, “Because there are not many accomplished Shinje practitioners. If there are not many siddhas of both Shinje and Phurba, the fence of the Tibetan Dharma collapses, and negative influences can enter.” That is what the old lama said.
He also said, “Now times are peaceful, but there are foreboding signs that the doctrine in Tibet will decline. There used to be many Shinje siddhas before, but I do not hear of so many these days. What keeps the fence of the Dharma strong are these three, Ma, Shin, and Phurba. Without these, there will be degeneration. Before in each district, there were practitioners of Shinje; not so much anymore.”
Vajrakilaya is the single form that embodies all buddha activity in an extremely wrathful way, and he can grant both the common and supreme accomplishments. Through practicing Phurba, we can attain realization of the wisdom deity and capture the dharmakaya throne within this lifetime — that is how great Phurba is. In essence, Vajrakilaya is not other than Samantabhadra, because the identity is Samantabhadra. The way of appearing is as the five buddha families, and the manifestations are the buddhas of the six realms. The identity or essence of any deity is not other than Buddha Samantabhadra.
