Deity Generation | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

A Natural Purification

March 6, 2018 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching called Compassion, Love, & Wisdom by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

One of the techniques commonly practiced on the Vajrayana path is generating oneself as the Deity. When generating as the Deity one actually arises in a pure form, a form that is free of desire, a pure and fully enlightened form. Through mantra and visualization and recitation you allow yourself to arise naturally in a form that is an enlightened form and is considered a form of the Buddha. Arising in that pure state the mind is free of all the impurities such as desire and conceptualization and of the things that it does, and all perception is then seen as pure as well. We visualize the perception in a pure way and come to understand that the perception we have is innately pure. From that a natural purification takes place.

Many techniques are used and the result of these techniques is the wisdom we seek, not the techniques themselves. We are not collecting techniques. We are not collecting empowerments, we are not collecting things. That is not the wisdom. The wisdom we seek is the result of the pacification of constantly arising desire within the mindstream. It is the pacification of the mind expressing itself in an impure form. It is the pacification of the results that we constantly experience of erroneous belief. That is pure wisdom. Having obtained that wisdom one is actually liberated from cyclic death and rebirth. How is that?

Well, we have this idea about what happens. You collect all this wisdom and then some guy shows up. It’s probably going to be a guy, because guys are big this year. This guy shows up and is probably going to wear white. Don’t you think that white is good? I mean in this culture we think about white a lot so he is going to wear white. He is going to show up and he is going to say you have accumulated enough wisdom and now you are – sounds like Bill Cosby doesn’t it – and now you are fully enlightened. I bet it is Bill Cosby. So now you are fully enlightened and having been fully enlightened then I am going to take from you the need – now I am beginning to sound like an evangelist – now I am going to take from you the need to reincarnate in some future existence. We have some kind of dream that something like that is going to happen: we will be anointed and we will have stars on our crown and all this kind of thing. According to the Buddha’s teaching that is not what is going to happen. I am sorry. The Hallelujah chorus is a beautiful piece of music, but they are not going to play it when your moment comes, so don’t be waiting for a sign like that.

When we talk about the kind of wisdom that is necessary to accomplish the awakening that is so treasured and so desired, we talk about the elimination and pacification of all things that produce the causes of cyclic existence. The Buddha says that we actually take rebirth in a compulsive way and that compulsion is based on desire. When that desire is eliminated and pacified because the nature, the true nature, is understood and the belief in self as being inherently real is done away with, that very cause for us to take rebirth in this compulsive way is gone. There is no necessity to take rebirth. However, the Vajrayana path contains all of the Mahayana hopes and ideals; we achieve a state of realization that is ultimately of benefit to all sentient beings, not only ourselves. Having achieved that stability of mind, the realization of the natural state through practice, having poised ourselves on that pristine moment of pure cognition, that which is called innate wakefulness and yet has within it no conceptualization, we then can choose to return again and again and again in an emanation form in order to be of benefit to sentient beings.

Pure Form – Deity Generation

January 14, 2017January 14, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

We are involved in Vajrayana. We go much further in our practice than this thinking about nature and this going around in circles and this logic and this theory and this philosophy. We go further than that. We actually engage in practices in which one generates oneself as a pure consciousness form, which is the deity or the particular Buddha that you generate yourself as when you do your practice.

Let’s say that you generate yourself as Chenrezig. Chenrezig is a pure consciousness form. He displays and demonstrates all the pure qualities and activities associated with the deity. The emphasis associated with Chenrezig is indicated by his posture, his color and the things that he’s holding in his hands. In generating ourselves as this pure deity form, we have in our hearts the seed syllable surrounded by the mantra. The seed syllable, the mantra and the deity all emerge spontaneously out of shunyata, or the void.

We do this in Vajrayana to indicate something that is a very important aspect of this teaching and of our practice. First, it is important to understand the philosophy and the logic associated with the Buddha’s teaching because [then] one can knock down the dependency on the perception that defines self and other. One can break up a good deal of the rigidity associated with the automatic involvement in these extensions and exaggerations of perception. One can break up the experience of perception itself through meditating and contemplating on the illusory quality of self-nature. One can meditate on emptiness and try to find self in every object in the world and, perhaps when one is finished, one can lay down the game in a sense. After doing all this, one would have attained a certain degree of awareness of emptiness and also an awareness of the emptiness of self-nature, and an awareness of the emptiness of the nature of phenomena. Then one’s mind could become stable in that it would not be so automatically involved in the processes that are functions of the assumption of self. Yet, is that the same as supreme realization? Is that as far as it goes? Do you break down things, and after you’ve broken them down, sort of sit there with them?

Perhaps we can come to understand that, in Vajrayana, we are given something else, and that something else is very hard to describe. It is recommended that we do the above process, but it’s also recommended that we meditate on shunyata. It’s recommended that from that meditation on shunyata we arise spontaneously as this pure form. What is a pure form? A pure form is actually a form that is an illusory image of a self, an entity, which is based on the assumption of emptiness. It is not based on the assumption of self. You are based on the assumption of self. Everything about you is based on the assumption of self. All your karma is based on the assumption of self. Everything you see, everything you feel is based on the assumption of self. But this pure deity form arises from shunyata and arises as the seed syllable, as the mantra and as the form itself, bearing all the pure qualities, all the pure attributes and all the pure activities of an illusory, gossamer-thin form that arises based on the assumption of emptiness.

So we do not stop with the assumption of emptiness or with breaking up the ordinary view and perceptions; but rather, we, in generating ourselves as the deity, have an even more profound experience of emptiness. Because the deity arises from the voidness, shunyata, you should meditate on emptiness before you generate yourself as the deity. The seed syllable that is the first birth is the condensation of the body, speech and mind of such a pure form. It is based on the assumption of emptiness. It has in it all the qualities that arise spontaneously from that awakened state, condensed into the seed syllable. The mantra is the same, having all the activities and qualities that arise spontaneously from this empty state, from shunyata. So from that, we are led to believe that one should not stop merely at breaking things down so that the game no longer computes, but that there is a more profound state. There is a more profound awareness that allows for miraculous birth. It allows for a miraculous birth in order to bring about miraculous activity, in order to demonstrate miraculous qualities such as compassion, which is completely consistent with emptiness, the same as emptiness, united with emptiness, inseparable from emptiness. Through this practice, through this miraculous birth, we actually purify our perception. Not through breaking down the game alone, but through actually utilizing these condensed manifestations of emptiness, one’s perception is purified to realize the illusory quality of all phenomena, to realize the union, the sameness of formless and form, to realize the spontaneity of experience and to realize also the infallibility of pure view.

You should then practice every single practice that you do, and examine for yourself and contemplate and meditate as you have been instructed, with the understanding that in every generation, in every accumulation of any kind, you should try to realize the profound, incredible opportunity, if you will, to go beyond that into the astonishing pure view and to realize for yourself that the generation of the deity is the same as emptiness.The deity arises from emptiness, it indicates the assumption of emptiness and that you also arise from emptiness. Yet the mistake that you make is the assumption of self. Every compulsion comes from that. Every perception comes from that. Every experience that you have and all experiences that you have had are artificial constructions that come from that. Every piece of your lives, your experience, your consciousness, even the senses, if you think this way, cannot be trusted, because they are based on a false assumption.

This is why you have the opportunity to generate yourself as the deity and to practice this profound method. It is so you can view the sameness, the suchness, the purity, the pristine luminosity that is the nature of all phenomena, as well as of the self. It is so you can view the indistinguishability between the two based on the assumption of emptiness.

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Perception”

Like Milk with Water

December 18, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhism Differs from Other Religions by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

When we begin to practice the Buddha dharma and really engage in practice, we begin by practicing generation stage teaching. And what that means is you learn to generate yourself as the deity. You learn to dissolve your ordinary constituents. Boom. You just dissolve. This is your visualization. And then you give rise to yourself as a seed syllable, and then from the seed syllable, you become the deity. Tara, Vajradhara, Manjushri. Any of those. You become that deity, and you give rise to Vajra pride. It’s not like “Ha Ha. I’m the deity and you’re not.” It’s the realization of your nature and the nobility of that. And you become that very deity, and you begin to develop the qualities of that deity by reciting the mantra and practicing the hand implements. Eventually when you accomplish the deity, at that very moment you come to understand that you are not separate from that deity and that deity is your very nature.

As we move on to practice the Guru Yoga, we realize that the teacher on the throne that we revere and think has great wisdom and great bodhicitta, has special qualities. When you really accomplish Guru Yoga, you mix your mindstream with the Guru’s mindstream like milk with water. And they become so inseparable that in the end you realize that your own root guru is the very display of your mind. How amazing! That’s how deep this path is. And to practice it superficially is crazy. You can do that anywhere else. You can be superficial anywhere you want to, but to come here and practice, you should practice deeply.

Please take to heart aspirational prayers, and developing the habit of making aspirational prayers. Please start there right now, and give rise to the understanding that all are the same in our nature, and that we all wish to be happy.

The happiest people in the world are people who are happy in their own mind. Those that have awakened and have realized, are filled with the streaming bliss of the bodhicitta. There’s no unhappiness. There’s no drama. There’s no BS. You see? And that’s how we know we’re making it.

Vajrayana

December 12, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Tools to Deepen in Your Practice”

When we are in love with our own minds—which is a lonely way to go, I have to tell you—when you are in love with your own mind, you can’t believe that you’re supposed to substitute anything for that stuff in your head, because it’s so phenomenal. It’s so impressive. It’s amazing what you can do with neuroses! I mean. . . Unbelievable! When you really believe in phenomena, like a child you can build it like blocks and do anything. But that accumulation of knowledge is practically worthless on the Vajrayana path when it comes to actual accomplishment. Sure you need to learn a lot in order to get to the point where you are practicing, and so we do have to accumulate some knowledge. But when you really want to accomplish, it’s wisdom that you must accomplish. And that wisdom is pure perception, the view—letting go of ego-clinging, opening up the grasping of the five senses, allowing oneself to view the emptiness of space.

What about the other leg or the other eye of Vajrayana which I said was compassion or method? When we practice early on in Buddhism, like when Lord Buddha taught, he taught that we should do no harm, that we should never harm any being. That was one primary level of vow taking that we should all take. Now, in Vajrayana, there is less emphasis on pure stark teachings like that, and more emphasis on something maybe a little bit more complicated. How can I put it?

It’s like this. In Theravada Buddhism, when you are accomplishing Dharma, what you are doing is purifying the mind and allowing the mind to relax. Ok. That’s a necessary step, a necessary stage. And part of that is to do no harm, to awaken to the realization that all sentient beings are equal in their nature and that they all strive to be happy, while not knowing how to be happy. For that reason, we should have compassion for them. We shouldn’t harm them because we know that each one has the Buddha seed.

In Vajrayana, that is already assumed. Everything in Vajrayana is built on the layers underneath it. Like Vajrayana is built on Mahayana, Mahayana is built on Theravada Buddhism. And they all become a little more fancy, explained, and mystical as they ascend.

In Vajrayana Buddhism, for instance, we can expect that there will be practices in which there are wrathful deities. And we can expect in Vajrayana Buddhism, when you ask your teacher a question, you’ll get a frank answer. Now in Theravada Buddhism, there is not the same binding to the Guru. Your teacher is more like a companion on the path. A teaching monk, let’s say, can point and say, “This this,” “Accomplish this,” “Do that,” “Do that,” “Do that,”and guide you, and have encouraging words for you along the path. Whereas in Vajrayana, for the same reason that we accomplish wrathful practice, we sometimes have wrathful teachers. And we think to ourselves, “How can that be? I thought Buddhism was the peaceful religion? I thought you guys didn’t fight?” Well, we don’t. That’s not what is happening here.

In Vajrayana Buddhism, the assumption is of the emptiness of all nature and the emptiness of dualistic existence. Therefore, I cannot find where I end and you begin. Who are you that you are different than I am? It’s not possible. Simply because of the clothing that you put on? The face you put on? Simply because of the ideas that you have about self-nature being inherently real? Should I accept that? No. And therefore, in Vajrayana, we have very active kinds of practices. We have Vajrakilaya, who’s like a pointy phurba on the bottom. You generate Vajrakilaya when you want to remove obstacles. And Vajrakilaya can look very fierce. In one visualization, in his two hands, he’s holding a phurba, a pointed knife, just like himself, and he’s rolling it around and he’s looking really wrathful. And he’s got all his wrathful clothes on. He’s got sometimes tiger skins and elephant skins and human skins and you think, “Whoa, what is that? I don’t know about this religion?” And that’s because originally, like in the early stages of Buddhism, in Theravada Buddhism, you want to relax the mind, purify the mind, do no harm and your accomplishment is more self-oriented.

Now in Mahayana and particularly in Vajrayana, we already assume that all phenomena is empty of self-nature. We already assume the truth of the unsurpassed primordial view. We already assume that all beings are essentially the same “taste” in their nature. We assume that. And yet, we cannot assume that there is no phenomenal reality because we seem to find ourselves in it. And you can’t go into a state of denial about it because we could prove you wrong. I could just stick a pin in your foot and boy, that’d show you. You’d get it real, real fast!

So we find ourselves here in Vajrayana. We are aware of this amazing reality that is the fundamental sphere of truth. At least somehow we are aware of it, somewhere, a little bit,ok, just a tiny bit, the sphere of truth. Yet at the same time, we find ourselves in phenomenal reality. We see the sufferings of the physical dimension, particularly the human dimension which are old age, sickness and death. We see all these things. And so while we understand on some level the emptiness of phenomenal nature, we have not yet accomplished enough to be able to hold the sphere of truth so smoothly that there are never obstacles. So in that case, we practice the wrathful deities. The wrathful deities are active in phenomena and yet we assume their nature to be the same as the Buddhas, the same as our Root Teacher; and eventually, let’s say if one were to accomplish Vajrakilaya as his or her root deity, eventually, we would understand our nature as Vajrakilaya.

In fact, when we say that the Buddha is awakening, the Dharma is the method, enlightenment is the result, we can also say that the Dakinis are the activity of the Buddhas, and the Protectors and Wrathful Deities are the active expansion of the nature and of realization. We’re practicing all of these deities; and they’re all arising from emptiness and they all dissolve into emptiness. What we’re actually doing is engaging facets of our own nature.

Bodhicitta and Generating the Deity

June 20, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in response to some comments from one of her students:

Gonpo: To say one “generates” this or that — deity or Bodhichitta – is a type of that materialism. Kind of like, “wow, look at me!” Our great Vajrayana teachers like Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo help is cut through such materialism. Help us cut ego, relax mind, do nothing maybe! I don’t know, but my understanding from Jetsunma is that the Bodhichitta, our Buddhanature isn’t where the work needs to happen. Our habits are.

Jetsunma: Your statement Gonpo, bears a little comment. “Yidam generation stage” is indeed Vajrayana. In the generation stage one generates the qualities of the yidam, mixing one’s mind so as to gain the mind aspect. One generates the handheld implements and their meaning to gain the qualities and activities of the Deity. Say your generation stage is Bodhisattva Manjushri. The implements are meant to be generated with a deep understanding of their meaning. Like Manjushri’s sword of wisdom is seen to cut through ignorance. The text he holds is a symbol of wisdom, purity of mind. All yidams are practiced like that. Now say you are practicing a yidam in yab/yum posture. What are you practicing there? The union of compassion and method! Or also called “wisdom and display” which also means one must accomplish the meaning and the concerned activities as your own very display in samsara.

All yidams, deities are the very door to liberation, and that is the great blessing power they offer. They are not ordinary, they emanate from primordial awareness, the profound Buddha Nature. Why is this? In their great compassion their sole concern is to liberate beings from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Therefore, if one generates any yidam their first and primary concern should be the same. To benefit and liberate all motherly beings from suffering.

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

OM AH RAPATSANA DHI!