Kalachakra Six-Session: How to Practice the Main Points

Next comes the making of request to our spiritual master. This involves thinking of the benefits of committing ourselves wholeheartedly to our spiritual master and the drawbacks of turning away from whole-hearted commitment. These are things that we can learn with our general studies. We should be mindful of all these benefits and drawbacks when we make the request to our spiritual master with the next verse: 

O kind guru, amalgam of the three safe sources of direction, when I rely on you with my entire heart, in a healthy manner, you’re a wish-granting spring spouting the milk of everything constructive and good in compulsive existence and the peace beyond. I request you bestow on my mind-stream inspiring strength.

With this verse of request, think of the various benefits of wholehearted commitment and disadvantages of turning away. In this way keep the close bonds with the spiritual master, as described with the Fifty Verses on Guru Devotion. Then do the recitation of the name mantra of His Holiness. We can also recite om mani padme hum, imagining the mantra going around and sending forth lights and nectars from the spiritual master that fill us with inspiration. In this way make the request for the initiation. 

Then imagine from the heart of the spiritual master various initiating gods and goddesses emanate, holding vases and so forth in their hands and they confer this initiation of the deity upon you. 

The way in which the initiation is given into this particular deity system is that the disciple is generated in the form of a vajra body, speech, mind and deep awareness. We receive the different sets of initiations from each of the four faces of the deity. The first set of initiations includes the seven initiations of entering like an infant. Above the seven are four more of the higher and highest initiations, comprising the 11 initiations into this system of cycles of time.

These initiations make all the energy-channels and winds in our body pliable and workable, so that we have the empowerment to do the meditations and practices on the two stages of the path. The way that we do this is to imagine that from the heart of the guru deity emanate the deities of the mandala, and they confer the initiations to us. This purifies us of all the various negativities and so forth. 

By doing all the meditations and practices, we can eliminate the 21,600 impulsive energy-winds, and in the course of doing that completely deplete the material substance of our body. Thereby, we achieve the state of enlightenment in the form of the deity, Kalachakra, Cycles of Time.

The verses regarding this are: 

I request you, O Guru Kalachakra, confer on me fully all the empowerments, inspire me please to cleanse away obscuration from my four family-traits and thus to achieve a Buddha’s four bodies. 

Empowering deities emanated from your heart, together with the male and female Buddhas and their surrounding figures from your mandala palace, confer the water, crown, ear tassel, vajra and bell, tamed behavior, name, and subsequent permission empowerments, and then supremely confer the two sets of higher and highest four empowerments and the empowerments of a vajra master.

By means of these, the energy-channels and winds of my body become flexible and fit. Empowered to meditate on both stages of practice, I gain the good fortune to fully deplete the twenty-one thousand six hundred winds of my karma, plus every bit of my body’s corporeal matter, and thus to manifest in this very lifetime a magnificent Kalachakra enlightenment endowed sevenfold.

After this the initiation is given. We recite the verses starting with:

Having made my requests with respect from my heart to you, my guru, O great Vajradhara, master amalgamating infinite sources of safe direction, I request you bestow on my mind-stream inspiring strength.

At the end we can recite the prayer such as the Yonten Zhigyurma, The Foundation for Good Qualities. We can also recite any other prayer that allows us to go through a perusal or glance meditation of the lam-rim, the graded stages of the path. 

After doing that, we recite the next verses beginning with:

By the force of request, through my strong plaintive yearning, my root guru, great Kalachakra, alights on the crown of my head.

Gladly merging with me, we become of one taste. All phenomena – causes, effects, natures, and actions – like an illusion or dream are, from the start, utterly devoid of solid reality.

We make requests to the spiritual master to dissolve into us. We imagine that the spiritual master becomes inseparable from the deity and becomes smaller and smaller and dissolves into light, and enters through the crown of the head, and dissolves into our heart. In this way, we imagine that all appearances contract and our body, speech and mind become inseparable from the enlightened body, speech and mind of the spiritual master deity.

At that point we focus on voidness, the total absence of all fantasized ways of existing. Doing this type of meditation is the definitive level or deepest level to be attained in this practice to integrate ourselves with our spiritual master, or guru yoga. Likewise, it builds up the great potential of deep awareness and this is known as the supreme type of protection.

One of the root tantric vows is that we should be mindful of voidness three times each day and each night. Doing this practice prevents breaking that vow.

The basis to be purified are the external and internal cycles of time as we have previously described, and the path that will do the purification is to establish the alternative cycles of time. It is done here on the generation stage level, in terms of generating ourselves in the form of this deity, of Cycles of Time. 

The text describes this “like a surfacing bubble,” and we arise within this state of voidness or absence of the fantasized. We arise on a lotus, above which is a moon disc, a sun disc, a disc of the north node planet, and a disc of the south node planet. Above this, we arise in the full form of the deity Cycles of Times, complete with all the 32 major marks and the eighty exemplary features. 

The text states: 

Within a state of this absence, like a surfacing bubble, comes a water-born lotus with petals outspread. On its corolla are stacked symbolic discs of a moon, a sun, Rahu, and Kalagni.

On top of this, the text further describes the whole generation until we arise with the motherly partner. The text states:

These mix into one in the form of a syllable HAM, from which I transform and arise, Kalachakra, imbued with the lustrous hue of a sapphire, blazing with brilliance, having four faces and twenty-four arms.

To symbolize the vajra of supreme, unchanging blissful awareness and the actual state devoid of impossible ways of existing, my first two hands hold a vajra and bell, while embracing my motherly partner.

Doing this type of practice, arising as the deity holding the vajra and bell and embracing the consort fulfils the three remaining practices to bind us with Vairochana. This includes the practices of the vajra and bell or sealing partner or mudra. We also completed the fourth of the close bonds with Akshobhya, the spiritual master, when we visualized him. All four of these close bonds to Akshobhya are therefore complete.

The description continues in the text, and it goes on through the generation of our motherly consort, the mother of all variety of things, Vishva-mata:

My remaining lotus-hands on the right and the left are arrayed with insignia such as cleaver and shield. My right leg is red and outstretched, my left one white and bent: dancing on top of a Mara and Rudra, I am elegant with hundreds of artistic tones.

My body, adorned with copious jewelry, like the vault of the heavens beautifully studded with clusters of stars, stands amidst an effulgence of five-colored stainless light.

Facing me, the Vanquishing Master Surpassing All, is Vishva-mata, saffron in color, four faces, eight arms, holding a variety of insignia such as cleaver and skull-cup, with her left leg outstretched, and embracing me, the vanquishing master surpassing all.

Thereby, we have the generation of the main couple.

Then, continuing, the text states:

We are encircled, in the cardinal and intermediate directions, by eight shakti maidens on petals the number of the auspicious signs.

On the eight petals of the lotus that we are standing on, surrounding us, are the eight shaktis, or powerful women in English. The eight powerful ladies represent the perfections or ten far-reaching attitudes, such as generosity, moral discipline, patience, joyful courageous perseverance, single-minded concentration and discriminating awareness of voidness or wisdom. 

Next come verses of praise beginning with:

I prostrate to you, O glorious Kalachakra. With a nature of voidness and compassion, you neither take birth in the three planes of existence, nor perish away. Your enlightening bodies, as ways of knowing and what are known, possess the same source.

Then after the praises, the powerful ladies and so forth dissolve into light and into us. Then we ourselves dissolve as well into light, and then within this state of voidness, the absence of fantasized ways of existing, we arise once more as Kalachakra, the simple deity of one face and two arms. The verses are as follows:

The shakti maidens, as well as our seats, melt into light and dissolve into me.

I, as well, melt into light.

Within a non-objectified state of voidness, I arise once more as a Kalachakra, with one face and two arms.

It is at this point that we would engage in the completion stage practices. This is something that will be explained in brief later on in these teachings. If we are into doing the completion stage practices, we would put them here.

Offerings

Then the next is the verse for giving away the body, all our possessions of the three times and all our positive potential, giving this away to others. 

The verse:

My body and likewise my wealth, and as massive a network of constructive acts as I have built up throughout the three times, I give, from now on, without sense of a loss, to help limited beings, who have all been my mothers.

In doing this, we imagine giving away all our material things to everybody without regret. We also give away all the positive potentials that we have built up. By doing these two things, this fulfils two close bonds with Ratnasambhava: the practice of giving material things and giving Dharma, or in this regard giving away our positive potential. 

When we’ve given away all our things to others, our body, possessions and so forth, this is theirs to do with as they wish. If we wish to make use of it, make requests on our own behalf. However, this isn’t anything that we should feel proud or boastful about. We shouldn’t flaunt it in the face of others when we give them something. Also, don’t feel that by giving away all our things to others that we are not allowed to make use of anything anymore. We are now in the service of others, like an attendant; however, if we think about it, a servant is still entitled to food. We would give food to our attendant. We would be entitled to make use of our things, but with that kind of attitude towards it.

Vows

In the next section of the text is the recitation of all the various vows and things that we have taken. There is a short or longer version in the text. The verses state that we will uphold all the vows that we have taken. We can recite all the vows at this point; however, we can do that in short with the following verse: 

I shall not transgress, even in my dreams, the most minor training concerning the prohibitions that keep my pratimoksha, bodhisattva, and tantric vows pure. I shall practice in accord with the Triumphant Ones’ words. I shall fully uphold all the verbal and realized hallowed Dharma, without exception, as gathered in the three sutra vehicles and four tantra sets, in exact accord with the meanings that the Triumphant intended. I shall totally liberate wandering beings by means that suit each.

This verse states that we will keep all the vows of the individual liberation, of dedicated beings and of the vajra vehicle. We will not break them even in a minor way in our dreams. In doing so, this keeps the close bond with Vairochana to practice the morality of refraining from non-virtuous actions. It also keeps the bond with Vairochana by promising to “totally liberate wandering beings by means that suit each.”

It also fulfils the close bond with Amoghasiddhi to keep all the vows. By the promise to uphold all the teachings of the vehicles, this fulfils the three close bonds of Amitabha to keep up the various teachings of the two outer, the two secret or hidden and the three vehicles of all the various teachings. When we study, we will know this fulfils the 19 close bonds with the five Buddha-families: six with Vairochana, the four with Akshobhya, four with Ratnasambhava, three with Amitabha, and the two with Amoghasiddhi, a total of 19.

If we are doing the recitation of the extensive form of all the vows, we would do this before any verses of dedication. 

Dedication

Then, after that is the dedication for us and all beings to be able to achieve the enlightened state as the deity of cycles of time, Kalachakra. There is a dedication prayer and after that there is a saying of auspicious verses.

To review, if we are engaging in completion stage practices, they are done after the verses that end with:

Within a non-objectified state of voidness, I arise once more as a Kalachakra, with one face and two arms.

There are two stages in the completion practices. The first is called individual collection and the second is mental constancy. It states in the verse of the text:

May I accustom myself to the six-branch practice – the yogas constructive for the start: individual collecting and stability of mind; those constructive for the middle: the paths of breath control and holding; and those constructive for the end: subsequent mindfulness and absorbed concentration.

The first stage is practiced either in the middle of the night in total blackness or during the day in an enclosed area that has no roof. We sit and stare upwards towards the upper end of the central energy-channel and focus on the inside of the hollow open tip of the upper end of the channel. Eventually, an image will appear there of a very tiny, thin black hair or line. Inside that hair we will get the arising of a tiny voidness form. Later, there are various practices for bringing that from down the channel and so forth. However, this appearance of a voidness form is the first stage of individual collection.

The actual voidness form is not achieved until the second stage of mental constancy. There are various practices that are done in subsequent stages that involve the energy-winds and so forth. When we reach the fifth stage of continual mindfulness, we attain a real voidness form. 

We then have this form, this actual voidness form of this small Kalachakra couple through this practice at the navel. At that point, we start to do the practices of stacking up the various drops of the supreme of non-shifting or non-emitting blissful consciousness. In other words, the white and the red substances are not emitted; however, in the form of this deity couple we start to stack the 21,600 drops. 

The 21,600 white drops are stacked within the male deity starting from the bottom going up. Within the female deity, from the top down, we have the stacking of the 21,600 red drops. This is similar to what was described before about the symbolism of the deity, of drawing the white substances upward and the red ones downward. At the completion of the stacking of the 21,600 drops, we have the complete depletion of the rough material, the gross form of our body, and we achieve enlightenment in the form of this couple, Kalachakra. This is achieved in the last stage of single-minded concentration.

This is a practice of achieving enlightenment through a voidness form on the basis of depleting a rough body, and it is done within the context of a rough body. Therefore, it cannot be done in the context of a mental body, as we have in the bardo. It isn’t a practice of having a Sambhogakaya, a Body of Full Use, as a pathway for the achievement of enlightenment in the bardo or in-between state. Because of that, there is no need in this practice to have a separate purification for the bardo. Rather, we simply purify birth and death and in doing so we purify the bardo within that process. Therefore, this is a general abbreviated state of this practice.

This concludes this teaching on this six-session practice. This is something that is extremely precious that we can practice either in the expanded or more abbreviated form. Whichever we do, it is a very precious thing to engage in. It was written in accordance with the wishes and requests of His Holiness the Dalai Lama by the great holder of the Ganden throne, Ling Rinpoche. This concludes the discourse on this practice.

Now, let’s have a little quiz. What is the difference between a dedication and aspiration prayer?

An aspiration prayer is thinking of the good wish to help. A dedication prayer is the pledge that we will achieve enlightenment to actually be able to help.

The difference is not the goal of what is prayed for, but whether there is an object involved or not. When we have a dedication, we take some sort of object such as the potential built up from something and we actually dedicate towards a goal. There has to be a basis. The aspiration is simply the wish for something to happen, such as wishing to achieve enlightenment. If it is a dedication, then it is pervasive. 

For instance, we take the potential from doing our daily recitations, making an offering of butter lamps or giving medicine to someone who is sick. These types of actions represent all the positive potentials built up, and we dedicate all of that. That is a dedication prayer. We have to have some sort of object that acts as a basis for the dedication, whereas a regular aspiration prayer is just the wish “may something happen.” 

We can take the potential built up over these last few days of my teaching and our listening and we can dedicate that: May all beings achieve the state of enlightenment as the deity Kalachakra.

You mentioned the subtle and gross generating stage. What are the signs of achieving or completing the subtle and gross?

For the rough generation stage, we would be able to visualize completely, with total clarity, no mental wandering or anything like that, the entire mandala with all the environment and deities of the Kalachakra world system. To be able to do that for one-sixth of a twenty-four-hour period, or four hours perfectly is the sign of completing the rough generation stage.

Then we need to be able to visualize with total clarity the entire mandala with all its deities and everything inside a tiny drop the size of a mustard seed on the tip of our nose. We can even visualize the difference between the white and black of the eyes of every single deity within that mandala. To be able to do that, likewise for one-sixth of a twenty-four-hour period perfectly, is the sign of the completion of the subtle generation stage.

That is one of the points involved when we sit in the seven-fold posture of Vairochana with our eyes focused downward towards the tip of our nose. Practicing that helps us to be able to do the subtle stage various practices of visualizing things on the tip of our nose. Let’s put aside the idea of doing all the visualizations perfectly for four hours; even sitting here for one or two hours listening to the teachings on this deity system is something that we find very difficult. However, if we practice and train ourselves, things will improve. Practice like this slowly and over a long period of time.

Can you explain the transformation and symbolism behind the hum and the he?

It’s difficult to discuss this fully without getting into a whole discussion of Sanskrit grammar, the study of that, and the language. We have the presentation of hi and hum, with the entire path put together into that. In general, briefly, we can say that the hum and the hi are the method and wisdom and they come together to form ham as the unity of these two. Out of that we have the generation of the deity. That sums it up.

The hum can also be blue. It doesn’t really matter if both of them are blue. It signifies the achievement of a state that is unchanging, in terms of the path of method and wisdom.

How should one visualize the purification of the Vajrasattva in this practice?

We have a small Vajrasattva couple on our head. In the center of our heart we have the mantra and then nectars flow from that and wash away any negative potentials built up from mistakes made in the recitation of the mantras.

The eight powerful ladies and so forth have no impurities that would need to be cleansed. What we are purifying are the various obscurations in ourselves that would cause us to have impure, or ordinary, appearances of them. 

Can you briefly describe the breathing for these six-session visualizations?

This is something that is extremely complicated, that requires a great deal of explanation and can’t just be summed up in a simple manner. It is like when we begin school in kindergarten and proceed through each grade on a gradient. This would be as if we were beginning with a very advanced college course rather than the first level. At each grade and level there is more and more that has to be mastered and it is very extensive. 

As we go through these six stages of individual collection and mental constancy, there are more points. With breath control it becomes more complicated with holding and continual mindfulness and single-minded concentration. In short, it is the same process for being able to actualize a very tiny voidness form within our subtle energy system. By going through the stages to be able to actualize that and by joining that inseparably with a mind of unchanging blissful consciousness, we then work with a larger outer voidness form. Then we work with the process of stacking up the various drops for dispelling the 21,000 obscurations. In terms of stacking up these red and while drops, we actually achieve enlightenment. This process is a very complicated thing that is very extensive, but in brief that is what is going on.

It involves various practices of tummo, energy fires; it also involves breathing such as vajra breathing. It involves all these things within the context of the central energy-channel. It is just like how within one school building there are many levels in which the study material becomes more complex and there are numerous subjects at one time as we move through the various classes. Likewise, we have all these different practices within the central channel. If we look at the prayer at the end of this six-session practice, it has a brief summary of the stages.

Does the subtle deity have all the people in the environment? Are all mandalas specific with people or the land?

Yes, they have both the people and the place where people are at; although, they are deities and not people.

I have a question about the dissolution of light at the end of the practice and the eight ladies. Do they dissolve into light one at a time?

We can have the eight ladies dissolving at once into us and then we can dissolve gradually into clear light. We can do it in terms of the usual practices where we have a hum in our heart and the body dissolves into the hum and the hum dissolves part by part up to the dot on the top.

At the beginning of the teaching, you talked about being without aspect very briefly and the consort being with aspect. At the beginning of the text it refers to the mother as being aspectless. Is that a different meaning of aspect or is that meaning that her aspect is void?

The form of the deity is with aspect, the deity being the consort here. However, the aspect refers to voidness and the consciousness, the deep awareness which is a blissful consciousness of voidness. It has two different levels of meaning.

We do not always have a lot of time to do the whole of the practice. What are the most important things to pay attention to when we are doing the six-session guru yoga?

The main thing is to see the spiritual master, His Holiness, as inseparable from this Kalachakra deity. Other important points are to do the prostration and offerings, the requests, and then the recitations of mantra while imagining purifying nectars and lights coming forth and purifying us. These are the main aspects to emphasize if we are doing a brief type of practice. This is sufficient.

We should keep mind that in Tibet the great masters would be able to do the entire meditation of all the essential practice, such as all the points of the lam-rim, in the time that it took to set one foot in the stirrup, swing the leg over the saddle and put the other foot into the other stirrup. We can practice in an instant like that in thought and in great detail, but this is something that comes slowly with practice. This is the way to start, slowly with the main points.

It is not something that has to be difficult. It is very easy. This is physical, verbal and mental. We visualize His Holiness the Dalai Lama in front of us and we first do prostration. Physically, we can actually do prostrations. Verbal is in terms of thinking of all the good qualities and talents of His Holiness and saying words about those incredible qualities. The mental is to be just mindful and think of these. 

The second step is to make offerings. If we don’t have anything around, then just imagine that we are offering His Holiness some tea, water, bread or anything like that. We can say it in English as well: “Have some bread, or tea, or these lovely flowers.”

The next step is to honestly admit that the negative things we have done in the past were wrong and to feel some regret about these things. Then, we should rejoice in all the positive things that we and others have done. We then ask His Holiness to please teach, to please set flow rounds of the transmission. Ask him never to pass away and think of these positive things we have done and the positive potentials to be to achieve enlightenment.

Then do the recitation of mantras, either the Kalachakra mantra or om mani padme hum. We can also do this as we are going around during the day. It doesn’t have to be something that is always formal. The main thing when we do the recitations is to have the aim in mind that we are doing this for the benefit of everyone. If this is aimed at everybody, the potential that is built up is as extensive as is the number of beings that it is aimed at. Just saying a mantra once, when it is aimed at everyone, becomes an extremely powerful practice for building up a tremendous amount of potential. That is the basic way of doing it; it is not a big deal and we don’t have to make something formal out of it.

Also, when we take three meals a day, transform and bless this with om ah hum and offer it to His Holiness. His Holiness is complete, as are all the Buddhas. There is no difference between His Holiness and the Buddhas, as he is indeed a Buddha. Therefore, if we offer to His Holiness, then it constitutes making offerings to all the Buddhas. 

Even if we cannot do this Kalachakra mantra, then recite a lot of om mani padme hum. Do you want something even briefer than that? Is that okay? We can do this at any time, before or after a formal session, or even just doing that six times daily would constitute a six-session practice. That would be okay.