Visualization

I have a stack of questions here in front of me. Let me try to answer some of them during the course of explaining what will happen today during the first day of the actual empowerment. Following the Visualizations One thing to keep in mind about what is going on here is...

For the remainder of this seminar, I’d like to not follow a strict structure, but just answer questions you might have about tantra and let a wider picture of tantra unfold from that. Can Visualization Help with Dealing with Disturbing Emotions?  When, on a practical level,...

Clarification of Points about Kagyu and Sakya Teachings There are many different traditions, for instance in Kagyu there’s the tradition of two streams merged together, which refers to having both sutra and tantra mixed together within the mahamudra teachings. The disciple...

Although tantra practice is extremely advanced, many Westerners receive tantra empowerments without proper preparation and begin tantra practice without deep understanding. Most, at first, see only the surface features of tantra, such as its emphasis on ritual, its profusion...

Sadhana Practice in Our Own Language  Do you think it would be good to do much of our sadhana practice not in Tibetan but in the language that is easier for us to understand, like English or Norwegian? If we look at the way that the Tibetans practice their sadhanas, they...

Purification of the Environment and the Offerings  In our discussion of this practice, The Yoga of the Spiritual Master Inseparable from Avalokiteshvara, we’ve done the safe direction and reaffirming our bodhichitta motivation and the four immeasurable attitudes. Then, we have...

Visualizing the Spiritual Master When it comes to visualizing the objects of safe direction, of refuge, then we visualize the spiritual master in the form of the yidam (the Buddha-figure) or in the form of Shakyamuni Buddha. However, more comfortable here would be in the form...

Review of the Qualities of a Spiritual Teacher A guru is a great teacher, a great spiritual master or mentor, someone who is not only able to teach from knowledge of the texts but is also able to teach us by his or her own example. A living example of what Buddha has taught, a...

Visualizing the Closely Bonding Being After having dissolved the objects of refuge, we now want to build up the two enlightenment-building networks – the two collections – because that was one of the five trainings of pledged bodhichitta. We again visualize our guru-yidam. Are...

Review We have spoken about how it is possible to follow and practice tantra at a Dharma-Lite level in which we are thinking only about this lifetime and doing the practices in order to benefit this lifetime alone. In this case, our goal or objective is to attain enlightenment...