What is deity meditation in Tibetan Buddhism?

 by Lama Sherab Dorje, at the 1st Buddhism in America Conference 1997

(A participant asked Lama Sherab Dorje what he thought the average person in America would find appealing about "trying to visualize themselves as some guy wearing strange clothes and a funny hat?")

Lama Sherab Dorje : Nothing at all. I wouldn't find that appealing. And that's why I kept emphasizing that that's not the point here at all. The point really is that this technique is available to help you understand that emptiness is both the starting point and the arriving point of all Buddhist meditation. This visualization practice is a brilliant technique to help you recognize that. It emphasizes it at the beginning, it emphasizes it throughout the visualization, and it emphasizes it at the end, as you allow the mind to rest in its nature.

This technique is available for people. It uses so much of your being that it's very, very powerful.

People who get a taste of what the technique is can appreciate it as a very powerful way to work toward the core understanding that is at the heart of all traditions of Buddhism.

I think it's crucially important to help people understand what is really going on with Tibetan Buddhism meditation, becaue if it remains at the level of watching a beautiful performance of other people doing their meditation by chanting and dancing and so forth, it's a nice show but ultimately it's not a technique that is very helpful for us. So I personally try to emphasize it. I think in the past people feared that, although deity visualization practice might work for people who are already hard-core, serious Tibetan Buddhist practictioners, that somehow it'll just be too confusing to people who are just interested in Buddhism in general and want to know how this works. I disagree with that completely and think there is a lot more that can be done by people who have experience in the practice to help others understand how valuable it is.

(Noting that there are many different techniques, a member of the workshop asked if one should identify one technique and stick with it, or select the meditation technique that is best for the individual's practice.)

Lama Sherab Dorje : In all Buddhist practice, you work with developing concentration and focusing or quieting your mind in order to achieve greater insight. So, in a sense, it almost doesn't matter. On the other hand, when you are introduced to something, you may feel that it is working for you. I can work with mind on the basis of this. I can see concentration growing within me because my mind just naturally wants to focus on this, whether it's a candle flame or a statue or the breath within oneself or the picture of the deity that one generates within one's mind.

When you have this kind of visualisation practice, it's a smorgasbord. It's the whole thing. So if you take it like a training course, if you work with a teacher and learn this kind of practice, of which there are thousands, you may feel a close connection to one particular teacher, and so it makes sense to work with that person.

(A participant asked if there were more active or physical ways of mandala practice.)

Lama Sherab Dorje : Absolutely. You've seen the sand mandala practice. There is a great tradition of what's called Cham, or " lama dancing" where the mandala is created and visualized in the process of moving as the deity, of seeing oneself as the deity in movement rather than just sitting there. When you sit on your cushion and do a visualization such as the emanation and collection of light, you don't have to sit there like a statute because this picture that you have is at rest. You are free to move around, stretch your legs, whatever. You're not locked into being this thing. Again, the whole point is to break away from ideas of solidity.

I remember this person asking a lama once, "I'm Vajrayogini and I'm holding this hooked knife up there, and what happens if my hand get tired holding up this knife, picturing myself as Vajrayogini holding this knife?"

And he says, "Well, put it down! You don't have to hold it up there. There is no rule about that."

So yes, there is a tradition of lama dancing.

And if you have ever heard of the New Year Festival like Mani Rimdu, where dance performances are put on by lamas, that's exactly what it is. There's one which is the dance of subduing different kinds of obstructing forces and of bringing the teachings of Dharma to Tibet. But all of that internally is a meditation on breaking through obstructing forces in the mind. So the lamas are meditating on that as they are dancing and the dance becomes an expression of concentration and of wisdom-mind.

(The final questions concerned the use of mandalas that the meditator made for himself or herself and the advisability of embarking upon this practice without a teacher.)

Lama Sherab Dorje : I think there is a tradition of these teachings that comes from the enlightened masters themselves, that expresses a kind of architecture or road map of enlightenment; the different expressions of wisdom-mind with different kinds of buddhas. And I do think that there's a purpose and wisdom behind those choices.

If you feel capable of duplicating that wisdom as a source map that you want to create for yourself, then that's what all these masters who came later did. They created new mandalas and new expressions that came out of their own wisdom understanding. On the other hand, if you're saying, Can I just work with a bit of this and a bit of that because I like to visualize this deity, or this particular thing resonates with me and I find that helpful? Can I just pick and choose in that sense and not have to do the whole practice like that, I think the answer is yes. Of course. But whether you can take a bit from this mandala and paste it onto that one in a kind of computer-age image, I don't think that would be helpful.

I think it's important to get introduced to a deity with the help of a teacher. It will give you more confidence that you really know what you are doing.



Nick: Rinpoche, my question is, because you are not supposed to visualize yourself as a deity if you haven’t had the initiation, do you then just visualize yourself in your ordinary form?

Rinpoche: You can generate yourself as an American guy or an Australian guy! I think Lama’s explanation might be based on people who have received a Highest Tantra initiation such as Heruka.

If you haven’t received a great initiation, you can think that the refuge merit field, whether you have visualized Heruka or Vajradhara, melts into light and is absorbed at the point between your eyebrows.

This is what is normally explained in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and in other commentaries. The texts explain that even if you cannot visualize the merit field melting into light and absorbing into you through your crown, you can think that it absorbs into you at the point between your eyebrows and then blesses your body, speech and mind. The blessing can be received in this way.

In the case of the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha meditation, when I checked with Denma Lochö Rinpoche, Rinpoche said that even if you haven’t received a great initiation, which means from one of the lower tantras or from Highest Yoga Tantra, you can still visualize yourself as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha.
This is an exceptional case because Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is the founder of the present Buddhadharma. This was Rinpoche’s answer, though I’m not sure whether every lama would say the same thing. I asked the question because in the early Kopan courses we started this tradition of becoming Guru Shakyamuni Buddha.
You become Guru Shakyamuni Buddha for a little while, and then become a sentient being again. For a little while you are high, and then you have to come down....

This was Denma Lochö Rinpoche’s answer. When I then asked about visualizing yourself as Medicine Buddha, Rinpoche said that in the case of Medicine Buddha, you might first need to receive a great initiation. I think that Lama’s advice was for people who had already received a great initiation of Highest Yoga Tantra, such as Heruka.

Student:If we were at the empowerment last night, are we empowered to visualize ourselves as Vajrasattva if we haven’t received a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation?

Rinpoche: No, you are only permitted to visualize your nose as Vajrasattva!
The blessing of the holy body, holy speech and holy mind, which is called a je-nang, or permission to practice, is actually supposed to come after a great initiation, according to Lama Tsong Khapa’s Great Graduated Path of Tantraand the main tantric scriptures. This short initiation, the permission to practice, is based on having first received a great initiation. This is why the meditation during the initiation involves generating yourself as a deity.
Of course, this is not strictly true because during the preparation for a great initiation, there is the inner initiation. After the bodhisattva and tantric vows are granted, in the case of Highest Yoga Tantra, or just the bodhisattva vows in the case of the lower tantras, an inner initiation is given to generate the disciple as the son of the vajra master.

The term “son” is not used in dependence upon the characteristics of the body but of the mind. This term is used because it is normally the son who becomes the king.

The daughter becomes the queen, but does not become the king. Because this example is applied here, the disciple is called “the son of the vajra master,” but it has nothing to do with the body.

The ordinary form of the disciple melts into light and goes through the mother’s body into the womb, where the disciple then generates into the deity. Before this, however, the disciple has not necessarily received a great initiation.

Initiations like the Vajrasattva je-nang should be based on generating oneself as the deity. The foundation should be the disciple generating as the deity after having taken the vows. On that basis, the blessings of the deity’s holy body, holy speech and holy mind are then granted.
This is why, generally speaking, you should have previously taken a great initiation, which permits you to generate yourself as a deity and to practice tantra, either the yoga with signs or the yoga without signs of the lower tantras or the generation and completion stages of Highest Yoga Tantra.


Therefore, if you have previously taken a great initiation, either of one of the lower tantras or of Highest Yoga Tantra, you are qualified to receive the complete blessing, the complete je-nang, when you take any of the blessings of the deity’s holy body, holy speech or holy mind because you are allowed to do all the meditations of generating yourself as the deity and so forth.

Otherwise, without a great initiation, you receive some blessing rather than the actual je-nang, and the blessing that you receive depends on the qualities of the lama and on the devotion of you, the disciple. In dependence upon the disciple’s devotion and the lama’s qualities, the disciple receives at least some blessing, some protection. The lama visualizing the disciple as the deity can give some protection to the disciple.
Through the disciple’s devotion and the lama’s qualities, the disciple receives some blessing of the deity, but not the complete je-nang.

If you can take a great initiation, it means that when you take all these short initiations, or blessings of the deity, you then receive the complete jenang, or permission to practice.

Of course, after you have taken a great initiation, either of the lower tantras or Highest Yoga Tantra, you have to attempt as much as possible to keep the samaya vows.

To be able to keep everything purely, first of all you need stable realization of the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment.
With stable concentration, you then practice the yoga of the generation stage, in which you look at everything as pure. You look at your own body as the deity’s holy body, the place as the deity’s mandala and so forth. On the basis of the lam-rim, you are able to keep vows, including tantric vows, more purely.

With stable realization of the generation stage, everything appears to us as pure—our own body and those of others appear as the deity’s holy body, and the place appears as the mandala of the deity.

By looking at everything as pure, as manifestations of the deity, you then see everything as pure. Without this realization, we constantly collect negativities because in every second we see so many objects as ordinary.

After discussing this point, two geshes reached the conclusion that it is better not to practice tantra because otherwise you collect so many negativities in each second through seeing objects as ordinary. Since it is impossible to keep difficult vows such as seeing everything as pure, they thought it better not to take a great initiation of tantra. Their conclusion is that taking a tantric initiation creates more obstacles to achieving enlightenment.

Lama Atisha responded that the view of the two geshes was like a blind yak eating grass. When a blind yak eats grass, because it cannot see all the grass that is available, it eats just a small part of what is there.

Lama Atisha said that the two geshes made their comment because of their lack of knowledge that there is a powerful practice of purification called Vajrasattva with which you can purify these negativities.

Lama Atisha explained, “Practicing Vajrasattva is like throwing one stone and chasing away a hundred birds.” Vajrasattva, a powerful purification practice, can be used to purify at one time all the negativities collected from breaking the subtle tantric vows, which are very difficult to keep. Even though you have collected negativities like a car collects dust when left out in the open, Lama Atisha advises that you can wipe them all out at once by doing Vajrasattva practice.

Therefore, the conclusion is that even though we are unable to keep all the tantric vows, especially the subtle ones, after we have taken a great initiation, if we do the powerful practice of Vajrasattva we can still achieve enlightenment.


Student:Could you give some instructions as to how you should practice if you have not had an initiation and cannot visualize yourself as a deity?

Rinpoche: You can visualize Vajrasattva on your crown or in front of you and do the meditation. Not being able to visualize yourself as the deity doesn’t mean that you do not have an object of concentration. Your meditation object is Vajrasattva. When you do the practice, Vajrasattva is the main object of meditation.

Christina Lundberg: If you took the Vajrasattva initiation as a great initiation, during the mantra recitation and the sadhana, do you see yourself as your own special deity saying the Vajrasattva mantra?

Rinpoche: If you have taken a great initiation, you can see yourself as Vajrasattva.
If the Vajrasattva is from Highest Yoga Tantra, which means embracing the wisdom mother, you need to have had a great initiation of Highest Yoga Tantra. A lower tantra initiation is not enough.
The single aspect of Vajrasattva, which means the father alone, is a lower tantra aspect, but I’m not sure whether it belongs to Charya Tantra or Kriya Tantra. It needs to be checked. Kriya Tantra has three divisions: lotus race, tathagata race and vajra race; I think lotus race is the lowest division.

To visualize yourself as a Kriya Tantra deity, I’m not sure whether, strictly speaking, you need to have received the initiation of that deity or of one from a higher race. It is something that also needs to be checked.

If the single aspect of Vajrasattva belongs to Kriya Tantra, I think it would be okay to visualize yourself as Vajrasattva if you had received a great Chenrezig initiation.
If it is Charya Tantra, however, I don’t think that a great Chenrezig initiation qualifies you to do that. It needs to be checked.

If you have received a Yamantaka or Kalachakra initiation, for example, you can visualize yourself as Vajrasattva father-mother. In a great initiation of Highest Yoga Tantra, you visualize Vajrasattva during the vajra master initiation. Therefore, if you have received a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation, you can definitely visualize yourself as Vajrasattva fathermother and recite the mantra at your heart.

As I explained before, having received a great initiation in the past means that you are fully qualified, so you actually receive the complete je-nang, the permission to practice a deity. Otherwise, in dependence upon the lama’s qualities and your devotion, you receive some blessing of the deity; but you do not receive the complete permission to practice, the complete blessing of the deity. This is always specified by the lama during the initiation.

Actually, the strict way of giving je-nangs is by restricting them to people who have received a great initiation. People who haven’t received a great initiation are not meant to hear the meditations of generating themselves as a deity. There is a tradition of certain je-nangs—the initiations of long-life deities, for example—being given publicly by great lamas, such as the tutors of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
During the jenang, however, the lamas specify the meditations that the disciples are and are not allowed to do if they have not received a great initiation. There is a tradition of giving je-nangs in this way, but to be really strict, only people who have received a great initiation should be there. It seems to mainly depend on the lama. I think from the initiations I’ve given, I’ll be making many visits to the hell realms.

The permission to practice given last night does not qualify you to visualize yourself as Vajrasattva; it was not a great initiation.
To visualize yourself as Vajrasattva father-mother you need to have received a great initiation, which involves the vase, secret, wisdom and word initiations. These four initiations definitely plant the seeds of the four kayas, which we need to achieve in order to do perfect work for all sentient beings.

At the very least you need to receive the first one, the vase initiation, which gives you permission to visualize yourself as a deity. Unless you receive that, whether from the lower tantras or from Highest Yoga Tantra, you cannot visualize yourself as a deity.

For example, His Holiness Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche used to advise that it would be better for people to take the great Chenrezig initiation before they do nyung-näs, because they are then more qualified to do nyung-nä practice. Their nyung-nä practice then becomes perfect. Rinpoche emphasized that I should give the great Chenrezig initiation before nyung-näs. In one way giving the initiation also helps the lama to keep the vow not to reveal the secrets of tantra. There is no question of this with the great lamas, who are enlightened beings, but it helps Mickey Mouse lamas like me.

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