Introduction to Tantra: The Transformation of Desire (13 page)

Vajradhara

Inspira tion a nd the Guru

TH E NEED FOR I NSP I RATI ON

BEFORE WE CAN BOARD THE LIGHTNING VEHICLE of tantra, we have to understand why it is both necessary and possible to abandon our ordinary, limited view of ourselves and generate in its place the enlightened self-identity of a fully evolved being. We have to realize that our low opinion of ourselves, which keeps us trapped in the cycle of perpetual dissatisfaction, only arises because we are ignorant of our basic, essentially pure nature. By generating the prerequisite renunciation, bodhichitta, and wisdom, and by delving into the clear nature of our mind, we create the space in which true self-transformation can take place.

Yet it is not enough merely to know why such self-transformation is necessary and possible; we must also generate the strength and confidence that will enable us to follow this radical approach to fulfillment. In other words, we need to be inspired. We have to know that the attainment of enlightenment —completion, buddhahood, totality, or whatever we want to call it—is not only a theoretical possibility but something that people like us can and do actually achieve. In the Buddhist tantric tradition the source of this inspiration is the guru (or lama, in Tibetan): our teacher and spiritual guide. And the root of the tantric path is unifying oneself with this source of inspiration through the practice of guru yoga.

At the moment, we are temporarily incapable of dealing effectively with the problems created by our egotistical mind. To help solve this problem, Shakyamuni Buddha taught methods for breaking out of our ego-prison and identifying ourselves with the enlightened beings of the past, present, and future. Such enlightened beings have achieved a state in which there is no separation or distinction between high and low; there is only the complete equality of the enlightened experience. The practice of guru yoga prepares us to enter this unified experience of complete fulfillment. Through seeing ourselves as one with our spiritual guide we banish the self-pitying thought: “The buddhas are so exalted and I am nothing in comparison.” Instead, we learn to identify our innermost mind with that of our guru, who is seen as inseparable from everyone who has already achieved complete awakening.

It is through the practice of guru yoga that our limited wisdom grows to completeness. The guru’s energy of great compassion, great love, great wisdom, and great skill take seed in us so that we ourselves come to embody these limitlessly beneficial qualities. We ourselves become the guru and, as such, can give immeasurable and inexhaustible help to all beings. If we do not generate the qualities of a true guru within us, how can we provide ultimate benefit for anyone else? We cannot even help ourselves properly.

TH E I NTERNAL AND EX TERNAL GURU

The tantric texts often mention that all realizations come from the guru. This is true, but we have to understand that “guru” has two different levels of meaning. The relative, objective guru is the teacher who, by communicating with us in different ways, shows us how to act so that we can discover our own totality. But on a deeper, more subjective level, our guru is none other than our own inner wisdom, our own fundamental clarity of mind.

Look at the different ways in which people respond to the same spiritual teachings by the same teacher. One person may not even intellectually understand the concepts contained in the teaching. Another may be able to understand them but be unable to penetrate their inner meaning. And there are those who can reach beyond the mere words and concepts and experience total unification with the teacher’s wisdom and compassion. These reactions are all due to the various individuals’ having achieved different levels of intellectual and spiritual evolution. The more in touch they are with their own internal guru, the more profound their understanding of the teachings will be.

Practically speaking, there is only so much the relative, external guru can do for us; he or she cannot guarantee that we gain insight and realizations. But our inner guru, our own clear wisdom, can accomplish everything. The practice of guru yoga, therefore, is primarily a method for learning how to listen to this inner guru.

Ordinarily, even though we do possess this inner voice of wisdom, we do not listen to it. We do not even hear it! We are too busy listening to the garbage conversation of our gross dualistic minds. We are so accustomed to this that even when wisdom does arise, as an intuitive insight, we often reject it. By practicing guru yoga we are able progressively to cut through our superficial ways of relating to the world and make contact with the innate wisdom at the heart of our being. When we have done this, then we can communicate deeply with the outer guru as well. But as long as we are out of touch with our inner guru, no matter how profound the teachings of the outer guru may be, we will never be able to integrate them.

But we should not interpret this to mean that the external, relative guru is unimportant. This is not true; he or she is vitally important. Although it is true that the tantric teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha have been in existence for 2,500 years, do they exist for us if we have not yet met a qualified tantric master? Are they real for us or not? Despite the extensive explanations of such realized adepts as Naropa, Marpa, and Tsongkhapa, can we say that tantra is a reality for us before someone has introduced it to us? Of course not. And the same is true for the teachings of sutra as well; the fact that Buddha taught the four noble truths a long time ago does not make them true for us. They only become part of our reality once we have realized them, and this depends upon having met a guru who can show us their truth clearly in a way we can understand. If we do not have the living example and inspiration of the external guru, our inner wisdom will remain weak and undeveloped.

TH E SP I RI TUAL GUI DE AND MODEL

For the teachings of enlightened beings to reach us and for their insights to make an impression on our mind, there should be an unbroken lineage of successive gurus and disciples carrying these living insights down to the present day. As a member of this lineage, the spiritual guide who makes the four noble truths come alive for you does so through his or her inspiration or blessings. Familiar with your character and aptitudes, such a guide can make these noble truths so clean clear for you that your mind itself becomes the path of realization. This is what is meant by inspiration or blessing—just this. And the practice of guru yoga, or guru devotion, is nothing more than opening ourselves to this inspiration.

Furthermore, we need an experienced guide to show us exactly how to put the teachings we receive into practice. We will not get anywhere if we try to learn from a book, hoping to figure things out by ourselves. The information may all be there, but nearly all tantric texts are cryptic, revealing their meaning only when studied together with the explanations of a skilled practitioner, and it is not easy to know just how to go about implementing this information. We need someone to show us, to give us a practical demonstration. This person is the guru.

Such an experienced guide is crucial when it comes to following tantra because tantra is a very technical—internally technical—system of development. We have to be shown how everything fits together until we actually feel it for ourselves. Without the proper guidance we would be as confused as someone who instead of getting a Rolls-Royce gets only a pile of unassembled parts and an instruction book. Unless the person were already a highly skilled mechanic, he or she would be completely lost.

The main reason that religion in both the East and the West has degenerated so much nowadays is the rarity of meeting good spiritual examples. If people never meet highly realized beings they have no way of knowing the limitless possibilities of their own human consciousness. It is not enough that there are texts recording the deeds and accomplishments of past masters. By themselves, such stories cannot inspire us very much. In fact, they may only increase our feeling of remoteness: “Buddha and Jesus lived such a long time ago,” we may think, “and their purity belongs to another age. It is impossible for someone like myself living in this degenerate twenty-first century to attain anything resembling their level of purity.” Or we may reject these accounts of past masters completely, dismissing them as fairy tales fit only for gullible children.

The only way we can lay to rest these feelings of doubt, incapability, and cynicism is by coming face to face with someone who has activated his or her highest potential. Only then do we have an example of purity and spiritual evolution we can actually see and relate to ourselves.

Thus the outer guru is of utmost importance. We need the example of someone who, while human like ourselves, has developed beyond the bounds of what we presently think possible. When we see someone who has reached beyond selfishness, who has transcended the petty concerns of this world while still living in the world, who speaks and acts from intuitive wisdom and who is truly dedicated to the welfare of others, then we can have faith and conviction that these attainments are possible for ourselves as well. Otherwise, if our only models are those of greed and aggression, our vision of what we are and what we can become will be sadly limited.

A good model is important not only for those interested in following a spiritual path. The most urgent need in the world today is for peace and harmony, and we all feel this need, whether we call ourselves religious nor not.

But peace cannot be brought about through mere words, and it certainly will not come about through force. Instead, we need the example of those who have made peace and harmony the center of their lives. It is only the example of such people, living lives of strength and purity, that will convince a disillusioned world that peace—internal and external—is truly possible here and now.

TRANSMI SSI ON TH ROUGH EMP OWERMENT

For us to progress along the tantric path to complete self-fulfillment there must be a meeting of the inner and outer gurus. Our own enlightened potential must be energized and inspired by contact with someone who has already developed this potential to the full. Each tantric
sadhana,
or method of accomplishment, focuses on a meditational deity who embodies a particular aspect of the fully evolved, enlightened mind. And just as the ordinary, egocentric mind creates its own limited environment, the fully realized mind of the deity creates its own transformed environment within which it functions to benefit others. This combination of deity and transformed surroundings is known as a mandala and if we wish to actualize a particular deity within ourselves we must first be introduced into his or her mandala by a qualified tantric master. Only then will our subsequent practices of self-transformation have the possibility of succeeding.

Each tantric deity has its own unbroken lineage of practitioners. To be authentic and reliable this lineage must have had its source in the fully enlightened experience of a true master. Furthermore, this experience must have been passed down to us through an unbroken succession of adepts, each of whom attained realizations by accomplishing the practices of this deity. The strength of tantra—which has the literal meaning of “continuous” or “continuity”—lies in its preservation and transmission of the enlightened experience through a continuous, unbroken lineage of practitioners.

Therefore, it is necessary that we establish contact with this vital lineage of transmission if we wish to transform ourselves, and the way this contact is made is through initiation, or empowerment.

Receiving an empowerment serves to awaken a special type of energy within us. By establishing an intimate communication with the guru, it arouses our potential to travel the tantric path to completion. Initiation is a shared act of meditation; it does not mean that some exotically dressed monk from Tibet is magically going to confer incredible powers on you so that you can control snakes and scorpions! We should not think of initiation in this way. Nor should we be preoccupied with the external aspects of the ceremony—the prayers, chanting, bell-ringing, and so forth. What we must understand is that initiation has great inner significance.

There is a marvelous story about the highly accomplished tenth-century Indian yogi Tilopa and his disciple Naropa that illustrates the essential nature of a tantric empowerment. Naropa was longing to receive empowerment from Tilopa and for years requested him repeatedly. But Tilopa, whose behavior was often outrageous and unpredictable, never satisfied these requests. Sometimes he pretended not to hear Naropa; other times he answered him with apparent nonsense. But still Naropa persisted.

One day, after twelve years during which Tilopa put his disciple through countless frustrating and dangerous situations, the two of them were walking through an arid wilderness when Tilopa suddenly announced, “Now the time for initiation has come. Offer me a mandala!” In this context a mandala is an offering symbolic of the entire universe, and the mandala traditionally presented to the guru as a request for empowerment is generally constructed from precious and beautifully arranged objects. But there in the desert there was nothing. The only thing that Naropa could do was urinate on the ground and shape a crude mandala from the wet sand. Tilopa accepted this unusual offering and conferred the empowerment by smashing it over his disciple’s head! Naropa’s mind was so magnetized by this unorthodox initiation that he immediately entered into a deep and blissful state of meditative absorption (samadhi). Much later, when he eventually arose from this profound samadhi, his guru had disappeared. But Naropa had received what he had waited so many years for: an actual transmission of enlightened insight.