Kalachakra Guru-Yoga: The Bountiful Field, Requests, Initiations

Respectfully I prostrate to you, my guru with a trio of inseparable bodies: a Dharmakaya of greatly blissful awareness, primordially fantasy-free; a Sambhogakaya possessing five, the reflexive appearance of your deep awareness; and a Nirmanakaya of enlightening dancers, emanated throughout the ocean of the wanderers’ sphere.

To build up positive potential, this is done in terms of a seven-part basic practice. The first practice is making prostrations. When you touch the three parts of your body, you think that this will build up the potentials for the body, speech and mind of a Buddha. One can then do a fully outstretched prostration, bend down to the ground or hold one’s hands in a respectful gesture. This is a practice better suited for the young, as it is more difficult as you age. In the preliminary practices, there is the practice of doing 100,000 prostrations. Tsongkhapa did three and a half million prostrations in conjunction with The Confession Sutra, or The Sutra for Openly Admitting Your Wrongs (’Phags pa phung po gsum pa’i mdo, Skt. Triskandhaka Sūtra, The Sutra of the Three Heaps), which involves the thirty-five confessional Buddhas. After this practice, Tsongkhapa gained non-conceptual cognition of these Buddhas. On a mundane level, doing prostrations is good for your health, as it exercises your body. Well-done prostrations – even if done only as three in the morning and three at night – can be very beneficial. When you do prostrations, you visualize the spiritual master in front of you and generate strong admiration and strong regard for him. You imagine all around you all other beings with limited minds together with all your former bodies, and all of you perform the prostrations together. This gives you a vast scope of mind, as it includes all others and all your past forms. If you are performing a kriya tantra practice, such as a fasting retreat, you would do a large number of prostrations at this point in the practice. 

One can do physical, mental and verbal prostrations. Physical prostrations involve visualizing emitting innumerable bodies and these bodies do prostrations. Verbal prostrations involve visualizing emitting innumerable faces, which make the verbal recitation of prostrations. Mental prostrations involve visualizing a broad, infinite plain, and each atom would be seen as a Buddha-field. You emanate innumerable bodies, which make prostrations to these innumerable Buddha-fields, while being mindful of the good qualities of the Buddha’s body, speech and mind. At the beginning of the Fifty Stanzas on the Guru, it states you should perform prostrations three times each day and night to your spiritual master. This practice here fulfills this requirement.

Next in the text is an eight-verse praise. The first set is praise to the male deity, and the second set is to the female deity. This is a requirement in mother tantra, and since Kalachakra is a mother tantra, this eight-verse or eight-leg praise is here. This is an extremely important set of verses.

Next is the basic practice of making offerings. This includes the actual offerings you have set on the altar: flowers, incense, perfumed water, lights, food and so forth. There is no need to go through the verses word for word as it is translated here. The basic point is that as you are making offerings, you need to have pure motivation. The giving of offerings for fame is inappropriate. One should keep one’s offerings private. Public offerings in memorial are appropriate. When you make an offering, you should be aware of the reality of the situation that’s occurring. There are three factors involved: the person giving, the object of the offering and the action of the offering. None of these truly exist as concrete entities. The whole process is only the imputation of names. One should not have attachment or grasping for true identities while making offerings. The presence of grasping or attachment makes the offering impure.

In terms of the field to whom the offering is being made and the thought behind the offering, there can be a gradation of benefit that can derive from the offering. If the offering is made with bodhichitta, even a small offering has enormous benefit. If you are reciting OM MANI PADME HUM and doing this to benefit all limited beings, then even if you recite it only once, the benefit will equal all limited beings. There is also a difference in terms of the object to whom one is doing the offering. The more highly realized the being, the greater the merit. When you make an offering, it is important that the offering pleases the one to whom you are giving the offering. When you offer desirable objects of the various senses, you should feel that it pleases the Buddhas and generates great bliss on their mental continuums. You should practice making offerings in a way that will make others happy. Likewise, offerings to your parents are especially meritorious. It is important to please your parents and to try to make them happy. If you cannot please them, at least do not become angry with them. People often become short-tempered as they get older, and if you encounter this with your parents, use it as a lesson in patience and tolerance. If someone becomes angry with you, you should try to tolerate it and not get upset. You can look at it as an opportunity to develop patience and tolerance. If you can remain calm or even happy in situations like this, it is very good.

One then makes a mandala offering, symbolizing a world system.

The next branch is openly admitting to having been wrong. If you look not only through this lifetime but at all your previous lifetimes, you have acted negatively and destructively since beginningless time. This has built up a great deal of negative potential. If you can openly admit to having been wrong and, with great regret, purify yourself of it on the basis of this lifetime, this would be very good. You should examine all the destructive things you’ve done in the past out of the influence of the three poisonous attitudes. You should openly admit these and feel great regret about it. In this way, you will be able to purify yourself by openly admitting you’ve been wrong, feeling great regret and setting the strong pledge not to repeat these actions. You should look at all the negative and destructive things that you have done towards the Three Rare and Precious Gems, your spiritual masters, parents and so forth, and feel great regret about this. You should rely on the force of bodhichitta and apply yourself towards removing the negative potentials you’ve built up. The various methods include reciting the Mani mantra, circumambulation, prostrations and even the effort of traveling to where the teachings are being given; these are positive actions that help purify negative potentials.

The text reads:

Every negative act and downfall I’ve made or caused others to commit from beginningless time, due to the untamed stallion of my mind being drunk with the spirits of the reckless three emotions of poison, and especially my actions breaking my bonds with the general and specific traits of the five Buddha-families – such as disturbing my guru’s mind or breaching his words – also my not safeguarding correctly the twenty-five types of tamed behavior and so forth, whatever disgraceful actions I’ve done, I openly admit, with a strong mind of regret and the promise to restrain from doing them again.

This finishes the first three branches: prostration, making offerings and openly admitting to your wrongs. The next branch is rejoicing in positive actions. 

The text reads:

I rejoice in the ocean of my own and others’ well-done deeds producing a bounteous foam of delightful results.

The fifth branch is making sincere requests for the rounds of transmission of the teachings to flow. The text reads:

I request you to let a monsoonal rain fall of three vehicles of Dharma suiting the thoughts and tempers of modest, middling, and supreme disciples needing to be tamed.

The sixth branch is to request the spiritual masters and Buddhas not to pass away. The text reads:

With a body of coarse forms that can appear to the face of those who look from this side of omniscience, please remain here without dissipation, unchanging and stable for hundreds of eons.

“Those who look from this side of omniscience” refers to those who are only looking for things in this life and are not farsightedly looking towards future lives. The implication in this line is that we admit our short-sightedness as to being only concerned with this lifetime and having behaved in an unruly fashion. Buddhas leave because the positive potentials of the disciples are too small for them to be able to meet the Buddhas and for them to stay. We feel remorse over our lack of positive potential sufficient for the Buddhas to stay and vow not to be so shortsighted in the future. We vow to undertake spiritual practices that will allow the Buddhas to stay and for us to continue to meet the great masters and their teachings. 

The seventh branch is dedication. One looks at all the positive potential generated from this type of practice and built up over all our previous lifetimes. We dedicate all this in order to become enlightened as Kalachakra to benefit all. The text reads:

I dedicate my network of constructive acts such as this as a cause for quickly attaining the enlightening state of a Kalachakra unified pair.

We will now look at the sadhana practice. First is the practice for building up positive potential. One calls forth the bountiful field, takes safe direction and then offers up oneself. In the sadhana, the cause for being able to make a dedication starts off with visualizing the bountiful field and taking refuge. The verses for taking safe direction are the same as in the guru-yoga. The explanation for this part of the guru-yoga is the same for the sadhana.

Next comes a verse where one offers one’s own body, speech and mind to the spiritual master. Having offered your body, speech and mind to the spiritual master, you request from him the preventive measures of the Dharma. The attitude one should have towards these preventive measures is that no matter what I encounter, I will sustain these teachings and apply myself until I attain enlightenment. You set the strong intention to see the teachings through to their complete and request the spiritual master to clearly set them forth. The importance of offering yourself to the spiritual master as Kalachakra is that all the protectors of Kalachakra, such as Vajravega, will protect you from all interferences and harm.

After focusing on all the positive potential generated by taking refuge and offering to the master as Kalachakra yourself, as well as that built up over past lives, you dedicate it as a cause for attaining enlightenment in order to benefit all limited beings.

The sadhana reads:

…never tainting them with my selfish aims’ stains.

This refers to dedicating one’s positive potentials for things in this lifetime: good fortune, health, long life and so forth. All of these are selfish, limited purposes, and you shouldn’t dedicate merit to this type of attainment. It is important not to make dedications in the wrong manner. There is a difference between an aspirational prayer – a prayer that is a wish for something – and a dedication prayer. One dedicates one’s merit to all limited beings as a cause for enlightenment. If you take safe direction before you do any task or activity, this makes the activity very strong and powerful. Likewise, taking safe direction before a practice makes the practice very powerful. By offering one’s body, speech and mind, you are giving up the notion that you have complete freedom to act in any fashion and will now act in a way to benefit others. 

Back to the Guru-Yoga text, it reads: 

From this moment on, till my purified state, I reaffirm my bodhichitta aim, heighten my pure resolve, and rid myself of conceiving of “me” and “myself, the possessor.”

This stanza came earlier in the text. This section of the practice is setting up the roots to train in the common paths of the mind, which will allow for success. This first verse refers to the three roots, or the three principal aspects of the path. “From this moment on” can refer to the text up to this point, which has dealt with the common paths. It is important to build up a network of positive potential and deep awareness to have success in the practices. The root for building up positive potential is strict ethical self-discipline. Following the other perfections, such as giving, without ethical self-discipline leads, for instance, to having wealth but in one of the worse states of rebirth. It is very important to keep in mind that the root for building up all positive potentials is keeping strict ethical self-discipline. Ethical self-discipline is the root for being able to build up the networks of positive potential and deep awareness, and the root of ethical self-discipline is having a dedicated heart. You can also gloss these lines as referring to the three roots: bodhichitta, the pure exceptional resolve and discriminating awareness of voidness. The root for building up a network of deep awareness is giving up grasping at things in terms of truly existent “I” and “mine.”

You can understand the three roots in this fashion. The root of both networks – positive potential and deep awareness, or merit and insight – is ethical self-discipline. The root of ethical self-discipline is having a dedicated heart of bodhichitta. This is the first root. The root of just the collection of merit is having the pure exceptional resolve. This root can also be seen as compassion. Compassion has two aspects: the wish to separate others from their problems and the intent to lead them out of suffering oneself.

Exceptional resolve is the second root, and the third is the root of the collection of insight, namely giving up grasping for inherently existing identities.

Now comes the three networks, or collections. The text reads:

For the sake of the three networks bringing enlightenment, I shall actualize the far-reaching attitudes of giving, ethical discipline, patience, perseverance, stability of mind, discriminating awareness, skill in means, aspiration, strength, and deep awareness.

This refers to the ten far-reaching attitudes, or ten perfections. The three networks are ethical self-discipline, positive force and deep awareness. Out of the six perfections, the far-reaching attitude of ethical self-discipline builds up a network of ethical self-discipline. The far-reaching attitudes of giving and patience build up a network of positive force. The far-reaching attitudes of concentration (mental constancy) and wisdom (discriminating awareness) build up a network of deep awareness. The far-reaching attitude of perseverance is common to all three. This is the way of classifying the six perfections into the three networks. 

We have called forth a bountiful field for our practice, and the actual way we will build up the two networks (bountiful stores) with this is the practice of the six perfections, or far-reaching attitudes. It is important when you study this to be able to integrate everything together and see how everything fits together. It shouldn’t be that what you study in the beginning of a text is seen as unrelated to what comes later in the text. For example, at the beginning of our discussion of this text, I referred to a section at the end of the text that covers the same points as those at the beginning. In this text, the prayer at the end refers to the same material as performed in the practice at the beginning. In terms of the benefits of the lam-rim, it was mentioned that you should see that nothing in the teachings is incompatible and that everything can be seen as personal advice and instructions. This comes down to the same point of being able to see how nothing is incompatible in a particular practice and how the beginning and end refer back to each other. In this text, we see the interrelation again between bodhichitta, ethical self-discipline and building up a network of ethical self-discipline. 

Patience is extremely important. It is the antidote or best remedy for hatred and anger. Anger builds up a very strong negative potential, whereas patience prevents this from occurring. In the Bodhicharyavatara, Shantideva says that there is no worse enemy than anger. Anger destroys whatever positive potential you’ve built up in the past. It is extremely important to have great patience and tolerance when building up positive potential, so that you don’t destroy it by becoming angry. The text also states that there is no greater ascetic practice than patience. 

In the Garland of Past Life Accounts of the Buddha, there is an account of when he was the great bodhisattva Kshantivadin, renown for patience. He was living and practicing in a thick forest. The queen of the land came to visit and requested teachings, which he gave. The king, aware of the true nature of the visit, became jealous and went to him. The king said, “You are known as the one who is patient, so I will test your patience.” He chopped off the practitioner’s arms and legs to see how he would tolerate that. The practitioner remained calm and was able to endure all of this. By the power of his virtue, he regained his limbs.

In the life account of Atisha, he had an attendant who was very infuriating and always did things that upset people. People would ask Atisha why he didn’t send this man back to India. He said that the man was his teacher in the practice of patience. Again, in the Bodhicharyavatara, in the chapter on patience, Shantideva uses the example of being hit by a stick. He asks who will you be angry with – the person or the stick. His analysis is very helpful. We automatically get angry with the person, but it was the stick that hit us, so we should get angry at the stick. Being angry at the stick is pointless, as it has no fault. Thus, we should be angry with the person who manipulated the stick. This person as well was being manipulated and forced to act due to his anger and other disturbing attitudes. Therefore, we should be angry at the disturbing attitudes on his mental continuum that caused him to hit us. His anger would not arise unless I did something to arouse his anger. Now, one should be angry with oneself. 

Therefore, when one arises in the morning, it is important to set a strong intention that “I will not become angry or provoke any anger.” If you are in a situation with someone who is very angry with you, and you are starting to lose control over your emotions, it is best to get out of the situation. If you allow yourself to become angry, it will cause problems and you may even become sick. At that point, you are unable to accomplish any spiritual goals, let alone worldly goals. Anger is something that with training can slowly be lessened and eventually eliminated. If someone strikes you once and you retaliate with many blows, that is inappropriate. The practice of tolerance or patience is very important. 

The far-reaching attitudes of mental constancy (concentration) and discriminating awareness (wisdom) are what will build up a network of deep awareness. 

The far-reaching attitude of perseverance is something that will help build up all the bountiful stores, or networks. Since perseverance is the root of being able to gain all good qualities, it is something that works in common for all the different types of bountiful stores.

The text reads:

I shall meditate now that all beings be endowed with happiness, parted from grief, have the joy of remaining always blissfully aware, and equanimity toward everyone as equal.

This is known as the “four practices for coming to abide in a Brahma state,” the four brahmaviharas. The word “Brahma” has the connotation of nirvana – a state beyond all troubles. If you practice these four, they will be a cause for being able to abide in the full state of being beyond all troubles. 

The text reads:

I shall hail them well with a wave of giving and, having spoken with pleasing words, cheer them with meaningful behavior and implant them with eminent advice by acting accordingly.

These refer to the four ways of being able to have a good influence on others, or the four ways to gather disciples. Giving here means an attitude of being willing to give everything. If you think of giving as just the actual physical act, that will not do. The Buddhas have perfected this far-reaching attitude of giving, and it is the attitude of being willing to give everything away. Since everybody likes to be given things and that will attract others to you, giving is the first way of having a positive influence on others. The word “well” has a great deal of meaning. Giving a fish a piece of bread on a hook is a way of giving, but not an appropriate one. It is not helpful to the fish. Giving in order to become famous also is not a proper way of giving. Giving a small gift hoping for something in return is also not proper. A bodhisattva gives without the slightest hope or expectation for anything in return. A bodhisattva gives with the sole purpose of helping others. If giving is mixed with even the slightest hope of wishing for something in return, this is not proper.

The second verse is speaking pleasantly. One should not speak cruelly or harshly towards others. Many speak harshly towards beggars, and even though they give them something, if they scold them, this is improper. Giving should be done respectfully. In general, it is important to speak in a pleasant manner, and what you say should not disturb others or make them upset. If you speak harshly or abusively, not only will humans avoid you, so will animals. 

You also need to speak meaningfully to others giving helpful advice. You can speak to others in a manner that will give them spiritual advice, but this need not be done in a formal manner. Geshe Potowa used to tell people stories about birds that contained spiritual values within them. In speech about non-spiritual matters, the less you speak the better. In spiritual matters, it is best to keep the talk short and to the point and not talk for a long time. When the Buddha set forth the teachings, he did so in a small number of words, as this was easy for people to put into practice and gain realizations. We speak too much, and people have difficulty putting it into practice. It’s important to speak and give teachings in accordance with what the listener can immediately put into practice and what will be relevant for them.

When a teaching is given, it’s the custom to outline the entire path from the commitment to the spiritual master to gaining a state of unity with no more training to be done. When people listen to this, they may be discouraged and say it is too difficult. When listening, you should not become discouraged but rather be encouraged that there is such a path and that one needs courage and willpower to undertake the trainings. You should take to heart all the different attitudes that need to be developed and attempt to put them into practice as best you can right now. You shouldn’t have the laziness of procrastination or putting it off saying, “I’ll practice it tomorrow or the next day.” Start right now. Whatever you hear, you should put it into practice immediately according to your own abilities. Once you start, think only in terms of completing it and going through the full course. You shouldn’t think about practicing for a couple of days or months and then drop it. This is the laziness of giving up. Rather than that, whatever you start, you should complete it and see it through to the end. In the corner of your mind, keep in mind that you want to achieve enlightenment very quickly, even in this very lifetime. On the practical level, you should start strongly and go through all the stages one by one and not give up. You are not going to become enlightened very quickly; it will require sustained effort.

The fourth practice is to act accordingly. Whatever measures you instruct others to take, you yourself need to practice as well. If you are a hypocrite and you say to do this or that and you don’t, that will never do. If you tell others to practice in a certain way and you yourself don’t do that to the best of your own ability, you will not have complete these four factors of being the most positive influence on others. All four methods are for making others happy and inspire them to have strong intentions to practice and improve themselves. These are the various stages for being able to influence disciples and help tame them, as Vasubandhu has referred to in the text.

The text reads:

I shall rid myself of the ten destructive acts: three physical actions, four kinds of speech, and three ways of thinking.

These verses are here to remind us to be mindful of the ten destructive or non-virtuous actions. To abandon or give up the ten destructive actions is the beginning of all our spiritual conduct. In the text by Chandrakirti, when he speaks of ethical self-discipline, the discussion starts in terms of gaining ethical clarity – knowing what is to be abandoned and what to be adopted.

The various destructive actions we might commit are actions of body, speech and mind. The most destructive ones are abbreviated into these ten.

First are the three destructive actions of body. The first is taking the lives of others. When you think in terms of yourself, the most precious thing we possess is our life. This is what we are the most concerned about losing. We wish to live our full life. If this is what we cherish the most, others are likely to feel the same. The taking of a life is the most destructive thing we can do and builds the most negative potential. Therefore, it is a great mistake to take the life of another creature or our own. This is true even for small insects. The result of taking the life of another is that your own life will be short and full of illness, and that you will be weak. Refraining from taking life results in a long life, free of illness and strength. If you can see all the disadvantages that come from killing and see all the advantages that come from restraint, you will vow not to kill again. Whatever action you undertake, if it has a vowed restraint associated with it, the positive potential will even be greater. If one undertakes an action with vowed unrestraint that “I vow to kill so-and-so,” this creates greater negative potential than just the action alone. One should be very mindful of what actions to adopt and what to reject.

The same is true of stealing or taking what is not given to you. This is a cause for becoming very poor. You should be mindful of the disadvantages of stealing and make a strong vowed restraint that you will not steal again.

The third destructive action of body is engaging in improper sexual activity or sexual misconduct. An example is having sexual activity with someone else’s partner, or adultery. One should take a vowed restraint against sexual misconduct. 

Next are the four destructive actions of speech. The first of these is lying. To lie is to change the facts. A situation may arise in which telling the truth may harm another being: for example, a hunter asking which way a deer went. First, you can stall by talking about other things one saw. One could say, “I didn’t ultimately see a deer,” which is true, as no ultimate deer exists. If you can stop telling lies and avoid situations in which one might lie, this is very good.

The second destructive action of speech is to use divisive language or to speak in a way to cause disharmony, to cause those who are together to come apart or those who are already apart to be even more distant.

The third is the use of harsh or destructive language, to insult someone. Calling someone a dog won’t make them one but could lead towards your rebirth as one. Much harm can come from harsh speech, so it is important not to speak abusively.

The fourth destructive action of speech is to speak in an idle fashion, to gossip. If you speak in an idle manner and say many meaningless things, this often leads to harm and should be abandoned.

You should abandon these four destructive actions of speech. If you do abandon them, there are positive results that follow in accordance with each. We have covered the destructive actions of body and speech.

The first of the three destructive actions of mind is covetous thoughts. Covetous thoughts are wishing for something that belongs to another. If you are always coveting the things of others, the result of this is that you will never be able to accomplish anything. If you can see that there is no essence in any worldly possessions and take little interest in them, you will get what you need. There is no account of any sincere practitioner who has starved to death. This has been attested to by the great Kadampa masters. You should work to rid yourself of covetous thoughts, because if you devote yourself to positive thoughts and deeds, you will get what you need as a result of that positive potential. If you are completely involved in coveting things and trying to get things to build up a material basis for yourself, then there’s never any end to that. You’ll never know any satisfaction. One can covet fame and wish to meet with important people. If you wish to gain realizations and so forth as other masters have done, this is not being covetous.

The second destructive action of mind is thoughts of ill-will or wishing harm to others. This is extremely destructive, and as a result bad things will happen to you. You should try to think well of others and that things go well for them.

The third is to hold distorted views. This would include thinking there is no cause and effect, no link between behavior and result, no past and future lives, no Dharma or no enlightenment. To deny all these things would be to hold distorted views. These sorts of thoughts destroy the ability of your positive potentials to act as a root for your happiness. Whatever good qualities and talents you have already developed will degenerate, and you will lose them. You’ll be unable to develop any further good qualities as a result of this. Wrong views held in common by a people can cause the physical environment to degenerate.

These ten destructive actions therefore are things we should all avoid and abandon. We should restrain ourselves from committing them. The stanza is a method for staying mindful of that. Now, when you do meditation – build up good habits of mind – the main thing that is involved is to keep a check on your mind to see if you have any of these destructive thoughts. You also see whether you have any tendency to engage in the destructive actions of body or speech. If you find them, apply the opponents to get rid of them, and if you don’t find them, rejoice and be happy. This is the main activity in terms of taking the preventive measures of Dharma. In other words, this is the main thing that meditation entails, namely building up good habits of mind by keeping a check like this.

The next section deals with giving up the five types of obstacles: regret, foggy-mindedness, mental flightiness, indecisive wavering and sleepiness. The text reads:

I shall remove the five obstacles: regret, foggy-mindedness, sleepiness, flightiness of mind, and indecisive wavering – they hinder my three higher trainings.

The first of these, regret, is an obstacle to the first of the trainings – the training in ethical self-discipline. Regret is something unspecified, since regretting negative actions you have committed is something positive, whereas regretting positive actions you’ve done is something negative. Regret is set as the first of the five obstacles. Its fault lies in that it is an obstacle to ethical self-discipline, the first of the three trainings.

The obstacles to single-minded concentration are the next three: foggy-mindedness, sleepiness and mental flightiness. There are two types of sleep – positive and negative. Going to sleep with positive intentions for the next day leads to positive sleep. Negative intentions prior to sleep lead towards negative sleep. Unspecified sleep means going to sleep with neutral intentions. Even if you go to sleep in an unspecified manner, that will be an obstacle to single-minded concentration. Foggy-mindedness refers to the mind being cramped or covered, such that it is difficult to think of anything. Mental flightiness is being under the influence of infatuated attachment or desire, when one’s mind shoots off to an object of attraction.

Lastly is indecisive wavering, where your mind is torn between two things and you can’t decide. This indecisive wavering is an obstacle to the training in discriminative awareness or wisdom. Therefore, it is something that must be abandoned.

Next in the practice is abandoning the four disturbing attitudes. 

The text reads:

I shall rid myself of attachment, hostility, naivety, and pride: the four disturbing emotions that anchor the root of my compulsive existence.

Attachment is being attached to things you find pleasant. Hatred or hostility is feeling repelled and wanting to get rid of things you find unpleasant. Naivety or close-minded ignorance is being bewildered and confused. These are the three poisons, and to them pride is added. These are the roots of compulsive existence or samsara. The three poisons prevent your good qualities from increasing. Pride causes you to lose the good qualities that you have and causes them to slowly diminish. If you are aware of the presence of these disturbing attitudes in yourself, you should not give in to them. As Dharma practitioners, the main thing we should try to do is meditation, and the basic point we should apply ourselves to is getting rid of or opposing our disturbing attitudes. It is not necessary to have a whole box of tools to be able to work on your mind and get rid of your disturbing attitudes.

Next is abandoning the four taints. The text reads:

I shall remove my taints regarding sensory desires, compulsive existence, lack of awareness, and outlook on life: four taints that cause my uncontrollably recurring existence.

These four taints – taint regarding desire, taint regarding the realms of existence, taint of ignorance and taint regarding right view – are the causes of samsara. The disturbing attitudes that are found in the desire realm are the first. The disturbing attitudes with respect to the higher realms – the realm of ethereal forms and the realm of formless beings – and likewise those that come from ignorance and revolve around having wrong views are collectively known as the four taints. The second of these, taint of samsara, refers mainly to the confusion found in the form realm (the realm of ethereal forms). There are two types of confusion in this category: one in the form realm and one in the formless realm. The beings in the desire realm have confusion that is directed externally, while beings in the higher two realms have confusion that is directed internally, as they are so absorbed in their single-minded concentrations. The root of the first two taints – desire and cyclic existence – is ignorance or lack of awareness. Therefore, ignorance is set aside as a third taint. There are twenty-two types of wrong or distorted views, and these as well are placed as a separate category, so the fourth taint is holding any of these wrong views.

In general, when you have the discussion of disturbing attitudes, there are five speculative ones (that concern your outlook on life) and five non-speculative ones (that don’t concern your outlook on life). Those that are non-speculative are longing desire, deep hostility, pride, ignorance and indecisive wavering. The five speculative disturbing attitudes are deluded outlook toward a transitory network, grasping at extreme outlook, holding a deluded outlook as supreme, holding deluded morality or conduct as supreme, and finally distorted view.

A deluded outlook toward a transitory network is looking in terms of various things on your mental continuum that do not exist as a truly existent “I” or “mine” and grasping at them as if they were a truly existing “I” and “mine.” There are two types of the deluded outlook toward a transitory network. One of them is when you grasp at things as being a truly existent “I,” and the second is when you grasp at them as being a truly existent “mine.” Both of these are explained as grasping for a true personal identity. When you grasp at the five aggregate factors of your experience as being truly existent, this is not an example of grasping at the transitory network. Rather, it is the grasping for the true identity of phenomena. Therefore, grasping at a transitory network should be understood as simply looking in terms of “I” and “mine” with respect to one’s own mental continuum and grasping at that as one’s true identity. Grasping at transitory network has two aspects: the aspect of the object that it is directed at and the aspect that it takes. The object it is aimed at conventionally does exist. The aspect that this grasping takes on is an aspect of things having a true existence or identity, and this is something that doesn’t exist at all. The great master Chandrakirti said with respect to this, “O yogis, this is the thing that is to be refuted.” This is the “I” that doesn’t exist.

You should study the great texts and come to understand what the disturbing attitudes are on the different planes of existence. Just as there are various disturbing attitudes in the desire realm, there are various disturbing attitudes in the higher realms, although there is no anger in those realms.

The categories that have preceded this point in the text are things to be abandoned: the destructive actions, the disturbing attitudes and the four taints.

The next category is the four gateways to liberation, and these are to be meditated on. The text reads:

A total absence, lack of a sign, lack of a hope, and lack of an action to affect things ahead: through these four gateways to full liberation, I shall actualize total enlightenment.

Voidness (emptiness) – the total absence of fantasized ways of existing – refers to the fact that by nature nothing has a true, findable existence. Lack of a sign refers to the fact that there isn’t anything that has a sign of a truly existent cause. Lack of a hope refers to the fact that things exist without a hope of having a truly existent result; although they arise from causes, there is no truly existent result. In the ritual of Guhyasamaja, there is a reference to these three: no truly existent nature, no cause and no result. Lack of an action refers to the fact that there is no truly existent activity or action. None of these four characteristics of phenomena – their nature, causes, results or activity – are truly existent. Therefore, you vow to meditate on the awareness of these four gateways to liberation. By means of this, you will realize enlightenment.

At the end of the preliminary practices and the seven-limb basic practice, there is what is called perusal meditation or building up a good habit of mind by reviewing. In this context, you go over all the stages of the lam-rim as a way to review or refresh them in your mind. One reviews from the teachings on the spiritual master to vipashyana or gaining an especially perceptive state of mind. The last nine stanzas are a substitute for this practice.

This part of the guru-yoga practice is very important as a way of building up a network of positive potential. The sadhana practice also builds up a network of positive potential like this: the analogy is that we are building up the environment and accumulating the causes for being reborn as a fully endowed human being. The Guru Puja also has an analogous section of building up a network of positive potential. One should note that this is an essential point of practice. Guru-yoga practices exist for all the yidams. Your understanding of the guru-yoga will apply to your understanding of the sadhana.

At this point in the guru-yoga, we have been building up a network of positive potential. This network is what brings about the fulfillment of your wishes. It states in a sutra that building up a network of positive potential allows one to be born as a human and to achieve the highest state of enlightenment. When you speak of a path of yoga, the word “yoga” means a practice that joins you or integrates you with the real thing. When you recite the text of the guru-yoga, you should be mindful of the meaning of the words you are reciting. 

Next in the text is the making of requests for inspiration, to inspire our mind-stream. The text reads:

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.

The spiritual master discussed in tantra is the one who gives you the actual empowerments or initiations, explains to you the meaning of the tantric texts and gives you the oral instructions. The oral instructions are explanations of things not obvious in the texts but which you can only know by relying on a spiritual master. Some texts refer to the three kindnesses of the spiritual master, and this refers to these three activities. Thus, the word “kind” in the first line refers to the lama having the three kindnesses. The necessity for committing yourself wholeheartedly to such a spiritual master is that you will be able to gain liberation from all your compulsively occurring problems. 

You can achieve a state of great happiness and bliss that is very long lasting. You can stay totally self-absorbed in a state of bliss for many eons. If you stay in this peaceful state of bliss, you are unable to help others, because your self-absorption causes you to ignore them. Bodhichitta is what keeps you from this state and leads you instead to enlightenment, where you can help others. In order to do this, you must commit and rely wholeheartedly on the spiritual master. In this way, you avoid the two extremes of compulsive existence and blissful self-absorption. This is discussed in Abhisamayalamkara. This refers to the third line in the text. Compassion or karuna in Sanskrit has the meaning of that which puts an end to or stops the happiness of being self-absorbed in the state of having pacified all your own troubles. It puts an end to the complacency of staying within the state of having all your own troubles pacified.

You should see the spiritual master as being all the sources of refuge incorporated within them. They are the source of all spiritual wealth, just as if all your wealth were contained within one large diamond. This is the meaning of the term “amalgam of the three safe sources of direction.”

There are four splendid things: the splendors of desirable objects, the splendors of liberation, the splendors of the Dharma and the splendors of jewels (wealth). The wish in “wish-granting” actually refers to all desirable things. When one speaks of the four splendid things, desirable objects refer to the worldly things that people want, and the root of this is worldly wealth. The splendors of liberation refer to either worldly freedom or the state of enlightenment, and the root of this is having the splendors of the Dharma. There is a Sanskrit word shri that is often translated as “glorious” or “illustrious.” This term has the connotation of someone who has all glories all together. To have full glory means to have all good qualities of character, long life, health and so forth. This line states that the spiritual master is the one source for obtaining all glory, the four splendid things.

In this stanza, one is making requests to the spiritual master to be able to gain quickly all the realizations, so that you can complete the paths of the mind for training yourself in terms of Kalachakra. Making requests for inspiration on your mind-stream is to make your mind more radiant and gain superior qualities. Here in this stanza, one is confirming one’s resolution for gaining all realizations by making these requests.

Reciting the Name Mantra of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The way of actualizing these requests is through the repetition of the name mantra of the spiritual master and imagining that lights and nectars flow into you. These purify you of all negativities and so forth. In the sutra system, one visualizes only rays of light, and these perform the purification process. In the tantric system, you have emanation of both lights and nectars. These purify all negativities and mental obscurations as they shower into your mind-stream. The way you visualize this is either having the lights and nectars emanate separately to you from the heart of the spiritual master or they flow out together like an illuminated fountain. At the heart of the master, you visualize a sun disc, on top of which is HUM in the center surrounded by the syllables of the name mantra, as in the text. Lights and nectars emanate from this visualization at the heart of the spiritual master. If this visualization is too complex, visualize the spiritual master in his worldly form instead of Kalachakra, and again visualize the same set of syllables except with a moon disc. The color of the syllables – white, yellow, red or blue – depends on the type of influence or activity you wish to derive. The four activities – pacification, increase, gaining control and wrathful – each has its own color.

When you look at this mantra (OM AH GURU VAJRA-DHARA, VAGINDRA SUMATI, SHASANA DHARA, SAMUDRA SHRI BHADRA, SARVA SIDDHI HUM HUM), it starts with OM AH and ends with HUM. OM stands for diamond-strong or vajra body. AH stands for diamond-strong or vajra speech. HUM stands for diamond-strong mind. These together refer to all the good qualities of the body, speech and mind of the Buddhas. Guru stands for the spiritual master, which derives from the Sanskrit word for “heavy” or “having weight.” This refers to the weight of all good qualities.

• In vajradhara, on the deepest level of meaning, vajra refers to the inseparability of voidness and bliss. Thus, the deepest level of meaning for “vajra” is the deep awareness of the inseparability of voidness and bliss. On the interpretive level, it is the symbol of a vajra that has five spokes. These symbolize the five aspects of deep awareness to be realized. Dhara means “he who holds that.”
• Vagindra means “he who has the power of speech.” This indicates the lotus family, and the head of this family is Amitabha, One of Infinite Light. Amitabha is the master of the infinite light of speech, which radiates out from him. This indicates that he has complete authority and richness of the enlightening speech of all the Buddhas. 
• Sumati means the “one with an excellent mind.” This refers to having the whole mind or heart of bodhichitta. This refers to the one who has mastery of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. The Tibetan rendering of sumati also has the meaning of “having excellent intelligence,” referring to Manjushri.
• Shasana-dhara means the “upholder of the Dharma,” Tenzin (bstan-’dzin) in Tibetan. This is on two levels, scriptural and realized. 
• Samudra means “ocean,” Gyatso (rgya-mtsho) in Tibetan. His qualities of having abandoned what should be abandoned and realized what should be realized are as limitless as the ocean.
• In shribhadra, shri means “glorious,” as previously described, in the sense of full splendor. Bhadra means “excellence.” There are the three qualities of learnedness, excellence and vigilance. “Excellence” here means having the deep loving concern of compassion and intense concern.
• Sarva means “all.”
• Siddhi refers to the actual attainments.

Taken all together, His Holiness is the source of all these qualities; compassion and intense concern (shribhadra), learnedness (sumati), mastery of speech (vagindra), upholder of the doctrine (shasana-dhara), mastery of the three trainings (samudra). He is the source of all good qualities of body, speech and mind. The mantra is a request to achieve all these attainments.

The main point when reciting this mantra of the name of His Holiness is to think that, whatever type of problem you have, the lights and nectars purify or flush out whatever hindrances or negativities you might have. You then become filled with all good qualities. You can visualize a sphere of light with the nectar in it or whatever way works for you. They purify you of your defilements.

Visualizations for Receiving the Inspiration

One can do this in four sets of seven or twenty-eight times. During the first set, the lights and nectars purify the defilements of your body. You look at all the negative potentials that you have from the past and see that these all come from your disturbing attitudes. There are many types of physical harm: sickness, disease, spirits and so forth. In this process of visualized purification, you imagine all these threats to your body leaving you in the form of harmful animals – snakes, spiders, scorpions and so forth. From your negative actions in the past, you are prone to many types of physical harm. Whether you are currently having them or will develop them in the future, you imagine that you are purified of all these harms or physical ailments. You also think of purifying all beings in the same way.

Since the tantric practices are so powerful, you can have various signs of success in actually doing this purification. The signs would be visions of this occurring in your dreams if these dreams are a frequent occurrence. You can also visualize the negativities exiting you in the form of a dirty liquid leaving your body feeling washed and cleansed. One can also be burdened by hindrances from your environment similar to pollution, and you can visualize being cleansed of these contaminations in the form of blood, pus or excrement leaving your body. All this filth that has affected you is coming out through your lower orifices. Signs in your dreams would be putting on fresh, new clothes, the sun is rising or you fly through the air. These are the types of visualization you do to cleanse yourself of negative potentials associated with your body. 

The second round of seven removes the negative potentials you have associated with speech. These you visualize as leaving you through your upper orifices – ears, eyes, nose and mouth. The negatives flow out like dirt overflowing from a vase being filled with clean water.

The third round of seven removes the negative potentials you have associated with your mind. These negative potentials and obstacles are visualized as a big, dark clump around your heart. The nectars and lights flush this out like a hose of water flushing a clump of dirt.

The fourth round of seven removes any traces of the obstacles of body, speech and mind all at once. These are washed out forcefully from the bottom, top and center.

The exact number of repetitions per round depends on the time available for practice. One could do hundreds or thousands of repetitions. An example would be washing out a container before placing very exquisite food within it. After being cleansed by this practice, you resolve not to dirty yourself again by committing negative actions. After this practice, you should feel joy at having cleansed yourself of past negativities and have a strong resolve not to reaccumulate negative potentials.

You continue reciting the mantra, and now you visualize yellow rays of light and nectars filling you. You should feel that all good qualities within you are increasing. If you do this practice for a long period of time, you will be able to purify yourself of your negative potentials.

The word “nectar” literally means “demon-defying.” There are four different types of demons or Maras: the demonic forces of the disturbing attitudes or delusions, demonic forces of the aggregates, the demonic forces of the Lord of Death and the Mara of the children of the gods. These are presented in the Prajnaparamita Sutras and are something you should study. The position in which Buddha Shakyamuni sits also represents that he has overcome the four Maras. The right hand pointing to the ground demonstrates his overcoming the disturbing attitudes. His begging bowl has within it the three demon-defying nectars: the nectar of immortality that overcomes death, deep awareness that overcomes confusion and the elixir of medicine that overcomes sickness. Nectar can have many meanings. A medicinal nectar can refer to something that combines method and wisdom, or to the unity of the clear light and illusory body. A nectar pill is taking method and wisdom rolled up into one in the aspect of a pill.

Therefore, when you perform the visualization of the lights and nectars along with recitation of the mantra, you imagine that it purifies you of all faults and negativities of body, speech and mind. It not only does this for you but for everyone else as well. It also fills you with all good qualities of body, speech and mind, as well as everyone else.

Next, we make requests to the master to confer upon us the four empowerments or initiations that will purify us of the four classes of obscurations. These are classified in this system as the “four drops” and will be discussed later on. In purifying the four drops, we will achieve the four types of Buddha Bodies. The four empowerments will allow us to purify the four drops leading to the four Buddha Bodies, and therefore we request receiving them. The text reads:

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.

You recite this request three times. From the heart of the master-deity, lights go out and bring all the male and female Buddhas of all the Buddha-families and all the deities of the mandala. The initiation deities give the initiations. The text reads:

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.

Last year, you received the seven initiations in the ceremony requiring a powder mandala. In other systems of anuttarayoga tantra, the deities of the actual mandala itself don’t confer the initiation. Rather, they emit out lights, which bring back separate initiation mandalas and deities who do the conferral of the initiation. Here the emanated mandala of the actual deity itself is the one that is going to confer the initiation. This is unique to Kalachakra. In this system, when you make requests for initiation according to the ceremony, you do this by the recitation of a mantra Om sarva dakini… In the guru-yoga, the request is made with the previous four-line verse. Of the five chapters of the Kalachakra Root Tantra, the procedure for initiation comes from the third chapter.

There are eleven initiations in total for Kalachakra. How do we get eleven? First are the seven initiations of entering like an infant or a child. The seven of entering like a child are: water, crown, hair ribbon or crown, vajra and bell, conduct, name and permission. In terms of the ritual of actualizing and making offerings to the mandala, you have in the initiation a mandala in front of you from which the initiations are being conferred. In the center is the Kalachakra couple, and he has four faces. The way the first two are conferred is that you, the disciple, are brought before the north face associated with enlightening body. There you are generated in the form of vajra body and are conferred the initiations in that aspect. The four consorts are the ones who confer the water initiation, and the five Buddhas of the five families confer the crown initiation. You are then led to the southern red face of enlightening speech and are generated as vajra speech. Here you are given the silk ribbon initiation by the ten powerful women or shaktis. You are then led to the eastern blue face of enlightening mind and are generated as vajra mind. First is the conduct initiation by the male-female bodhisattvas using thumb rings and bracelets, which are generated from deities, and then the name initiation by the male-female wrathful deities. You are led to the western yellow face of deep awareness and are generated as vajra deep awareness. The permission initiation is conferred by the spiritual master.

Seven Initiations of Entering Like a Child

In the Kalachakra, the first seven are concluded with a final water initiation analogous to the first initiation, which uses water from a vase, and here you have water from a conch shell that is placed on top of a victory vase. You have a water initiation concluding the first seven. In the water initiation, your five elements and the water from the vase are transformed into the five consorts. In the other systems, the first initiation transforms the aggregate of form and makes manifest the mirror-like deep awareness. It makes you able to achieve the accomplishments of Vairochana. Corresponding to this in Kalachakra, the water initiation purifies your five elements, and that allows you to achieve the level of conducting visualization practice with firm conviction (mos-spyod). It also plants the seeds for the bhumi called the extremely joyous one.

On the physical level, you generate the five places of the body into the five consorts of the dhyani Buddhas in order to purify the five elements. Next, the five places in the body (crown, forehead and so forth) are generated into the five dhyani Buddhas for the purification of the five aggregates. These are the two initiations at the northern white face with the disciple in the form of vajra body. From the mandala, the four consorts confer the water initiation, and the five dhyani Buddhas confer the crown initiation.

Next, the disciples are generated as vajra speech at the southern red face of Kalachakra. In this form, your ten energy-winds and ten energy-channels at your heart are generated into the form of the ten powerful ladies or shaktis. The ten energy-winds are divided into the five major winds and five secondary or branch winds in the other tantric systems. In Kalachakra, the individual names of the winds are the same, but they are not divided into two groups. The energy-winds are included in the category of speech. The seat or place where the energy-winds abide is around the heart, so the visualization takes place there. The vajra and bell initiation is conferred by the Kalachakra-Vishvamata couple. These two initiations allow us to perform the generation stage practices in terms of the central couple and the ten powerful ladies. On the complete stage, where it will be necessary to centralize and dissolve all the energy-winds in the central channel, these two initiations plant the seeds or impression that will ripen into the ability to do that.

The next two – conduct and name – are conferred in the blue eastern direction of enlightening mind with the disciples in the form of vajra mind. The agent behind the sensory apparatus, which wander after sense objects, and the agent behind all your compulsive behavior, the mind, are the two things to be purified by these two initiations. The first, conduct, is conferred using a vajra thumb ring, which is generated from a deity. In anuttarayoga tantra, the main thing that is done is taking desire as a path. The deepest meaning of a vajra is the deep awareness of a blissful consciousness inseparable from voidness. The vajra symbolizes this as the two, bliss consciousness and voidness, being inseparable, and the vajra is unbreakable. The vajra thumb ring is used to confer the initiation that transforms the sensory apparatus to a blissful consciousness enjoying their sense objects. Like the vajra thumb ring, which clasps around the thumb, when the sense organs contact the sense objects, this is clasped by the deep awareness of a blissful consciousness conjoined with voidness. This is the symbolism here, as any time you enjoy or experience any object within these systems of anuttarayoga tantra, the enjoyment of any object is simply the play of the deep awareness, which is a blissful consciousness aware of the absence of the fantasized. During this initiation, you are given a flower to wear, and just as a lotus grows out of the mud but is unstained by it, likewise your realization and deep awareness, which arises from contacting sense objects, is not stained by desire or attachment.

The name initiation is given by the wrathful deities using a bracelet. Ordinary actions, impulsive behavior and the sensory apparatus operate and function in terms of names. The purification of these relies on Akshobhya, who symbolizes the discriminative awareness of reality. The symbolism of the bracelet is that, just as it is tied around or constricts the wrist, likewise our ordinary impulsive actions cause us to be born in the lower realms, and the initiation constricts us or prevents us from falling into the lower realms. The impression left on us from these two initiations is that it purifies the activities and energy-winds of the sense organs experiencing their objects and allows us to obtain the fifth and sixth bhumis.

The seventh initiation in this set takes place at the yellow western gate, which faces deep awareness. The disciple is generated as vajra deep awareness. The permission initiation is conferred by the male-female Vajrasattva. Various symbols of the Buddha-families are used, such as a wheel. This is analogous to the procedure in other anuttarayoga systems. There are two aspects to this initiation: the actual receiving of permission and the appendage, the permission of the vajra guru. Also given is permission for the recitation of the mantras, in the form of the mantra syllables coming from the mouth of the guru-deity into the mouths of the disciples and dissolving in their hearts. There is the necessity for receiving permission to recite the mantras for use on the generation stage in order to gain the various actions and powers over others of influencing, pacifying and so forth. These include not just the four enlightened activities of influence, increase, control and pacification, but also the broader scope of gaining the eight common actual attainments of the sword, eye medicine, flying through the air, speed, movement and so forth. On the complete stage, this initiation lays the impression for the vajra recitation practice of seeing the energy-winds and mantra as inseparable.

There are various types of mantras: heart or essence mantras, close-heart mantras and root mantras. In Kalachakra, the essence of the practice is the state of unchanging great bliss. The close-heart mantra is to bring you close to the deity and to the state of attainment of that deity. In the Kalachakra system, this refers to coming close to the enlightened state of the great seal (mahamudra) of the devoid form. The root mantra will act as the root for achieving all the activity or enlightening influence of the deity.

The next is the appendage of the eye medicine, mirror and bow with arrow, which leave the impression and propensities for gaining a direct, non-conceptual perception of reality. The eye medicine is to eliminate your lack of awareness, so that during the total absorption period you are able to see voidness, either conceptually or straightforwardly. The mirror is for the subsequent attainment (the post-meditation) period of seeing all things like an illusion, like a reflection in a mirror. The bow and arrow signify that you will attain a direct, straightforward perception of voidness.

Following this is the initiation of the vajra guru, in which the disciple transforms into Vajrasattva with consort. Normally in other rituals, the vajra and bell are generated as symbols for method and wisdom, but here they are generated as deities. The way this is done is by reciting the first mantra, which cleanses them in terms of the six Buddha-families. Then the vajra and bell are purified into voidness by the recitation of the second mantra. The vajra and bell are then generated into deities with three faces and six arms. Empowering deities are called forth to give empowerment to the deities of the vajra and bell, offerings are made to them, and then they transform back to a vajra and bell. The initiation of the vajra guru, which is done with the vajra and bell, confers the close bond with the vajra and bell that you take in your hands and cross them in the embracing mudra.

These seven initiations are called “like those for entering as a newborn baby,” because there is a direct analogy with an infant. The infant is given a bath, its first haircut, its first ornament, a name; its ears are pierced and so forth. The permission is the permission to explain the teachings to others. The appendages are tied to this practice in the sense that, when you receive the initiation of vajra master, you are given close bonds of the vajra, bell and the embracing mudra. These will bind you to the attainment of enlightenment through this practice. Therefore, these are known as the things that will tie you to the practice.

This material on the initiations is given in the prayer at the end:

By receiving the seven purifying empowerments, may I soundly establish potentials for the seven levels of mind, cleanse myself of the seven stains, such as those on my elements, and gain the power to actualize the first stage yogas and common attainments.

Through receiving the seven initiations like a child, the propensities for achieving the seven levels of the mind are established. They purify the different stains that are associated with each of these parts. They plant the seeds of the generation stage and to attain the common siddhis. The result of receiving all eleven initiations is to enable you to gain control over the 21,600 karmic energy-winds.

Further Initiations

You need further permission in order to do a full retreat and full ability to teach and so forth. There are the four higher, the four highest and the vajra master initiations. The four higher initiations have four parts: vase, secret substances, wisdom with a knowledge partner, and name. The highest is also divided into four. These more advanced initiations are grouped as four giving eleven total initiations. The time the initiation is given is important. In the higher and highest initiations, the first of the four in each of these sets is called a vase initiation. These are conferred with a knowledge consort. After the four higher and highest initiations is the vajra master taking control, which is conferred with a vase in connection with a ritual dance. The procedure involves using the vases on the four sides of the mandala to give initiation to the vajra-holding monks and nuns who are present. The tantric-practicing monks and nuns who are present are given initiation from all of the vases, whereas the novice monks and nuns are given initiation with six vases. The male and female householders are given initiation at this time with just two vases. If the initiation is given in a very elaborate form, the height of the seats upon which these different types of recipients are sitting likewise varies whether they are ordained, novice or householders.

Therefore, if you are a fully ordained monk, this is the best basis upon which to practice. Although there are many householder bodhisattvas among the disciples of the enlightened Buddha, the ones to whom the succession of the lineages were conferred – a succession of seven patriarchs – were fully ordained beings starting with Kashyapa, Ananda and so forth. Of course, among the disciples of the Buddha, the householder bodhisattvas are innumerable. For the teachings to continue, it is necessary for them to be upheld by fully ordained monks, and for the auspicious reason of the long life of the teachings, the successors of the lineage were all fully ordained monks. No matter what type of basis you have, the tantric practices are extremely powerful and effective. However, if you are practicing on the basis of full ordination, then this is the supreme basis from which you can practice tantra.

When you have received all these initiations, finishing with the vajra master taking control, these make the energy-channels and winds flexible and able to come under your control. You are then able to eliminate all the defilements and attain the enlightened state of mahamudra. Through this process, you purify death and then rebirth. In purifying death and rebirth, this takes care of purifying the bardo as well, so in this system there is no separate presentation of taking Sambhogakaya as a pathway for purifying the bardo. You are empowered to do the generation and complete stage practices. The generation stage involves four practices or yogas: the supreme victorious mandala, the supreme victorious actions, the yoga of the drops and the subtle yoga. 

In the guru-yoga practice, you now dissolve the guru-deity into yourself, and then from within a state of voidness, you generate yourself as the full deity. Now, from the perspective of the sadhana, I will discuss the consecration and generation of the inner offering, outer offering, the calling of the guests, presenting them with the inner and outer offerings and the practices of the protection wheel and so forth.

There are two explanations of Buddhahood, the sutra system and the tantra system. In the tantra system, there is the explanation in terms of the four classes of tantra. Here we are describing the attainment of Buddhahood in terms of the anuttarayoga system, specifically that of Kalachakra. We all wish to achieve that state with all its qualities of body, speech and mind. If we keep this in mind and practice with the wish to achieve all the good qualities of the body, speech and mind of Kalachakra, we will achieve them. Therefore, it is necessary to see what the bases are to be purified, which are the external and internal bases, and actually do the purification through the practices of the generation stage and the complete stage. By means of gaining the realizations of the various methods for purifying these bases, we will actually achieve the results of this purification process – Buddhahood, or the mahamudra. It is for sure that if we practice like this, we will achieve this result. It is necessary to know the essential points of the path that we need to follow to achieve this goal. 

There are various texts that explain all the essential points, and although the texts themselves might present this in a very clear fashion, it’s very difficult to actually understand and follow what they are talking about. It is important to have someone show and explain to you the essential points. Some things you need to learn by demonstration, and if you don’t have someone to show you these things, it will be very difficult to learn them by yourself, no matter how smart you might be. This is why the spiritual master is so important. One must view the spiritual master as Kalachakra in order to gain realizations and practice in a productive way. The guru-yoga practice does not affect the guru, but rather allows you to be affected and gain realizations. The process is not personal in the way that, by behaving in a certain way, the master grants you realization, but rather that through your positive actions you gain positive results.

Certain texts begin by discussing the three types of wisdom. The Abhisamayalamkara starts with a discussion of omniscience, and the Bodhicharyavatara starts with a discussion of bodhichitta. Even though these texts begin by discussing the result in order to generate in the reader the wish to attain it, the root of all of this is wholehearted commitment to a spiritual master. All the texts later mention reliance on the spiritual master as the root for achieving the result. In tantra, as reliance on the spiritual master is even more strongly the root for gaining all realizations, the guru-yoga comes first.

When you have completed this section of the Guru Yoga, it is good to review the path of lam-rim in meditation. You can review the text The Foundation for Good Qualities or the text Three Principal Aspects of the Path. It is beneficial to do that at this point in the practice. 

[See: The Foundation for Good Qualities. See also: Three Principal Aspects of the Path]

The text reads:

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.

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.

When it says that the master is amalgamating infinite sources of safe direction, it has more meaning than just “a lot” or “everything.” It carries the connotation of space and implies “everywhere.” All that gives safe direction everywhere is incorporated in the Three Gems, which themselves are all incorporated into the spiritual master who is inseparable from Vajradhara. The word translated here as “amalgamating” then carries a much broader meaning. Before this point in the practice, you’ve built up the stores of positive potential, performed the seven-part basic practice and reviewed the lam-rim. Now you petition the lama, and he comes to the crown of your head. He dissolves into you, so that his mind and your mind become of one nature, one taste. As Milarepa said, “When I was able to see my own mind as being of one nature with my master and yidam, I was able to realize my own inner source of refuge.” Therefore, this is the kind of practice from which you will realize your own safe direction. In this state, in which you feel that your own mind and that of the spiritual master have become inseparable, you feel exhilaration and examine the nature of your own mind in this context. You see that from the point of view of cause, effect, nature or activity, they do not exist truly and unimputedly from their own side. They exist merely within the context of a process of mental labeling. In this state, you focus on the absence of all fantasized ways of existing with respect to the mind, and you have approached this through the four gateways to liberation.