54 posts tagged “dharma”

Last year, roughly, I was taught to count the days, this year, counting enables me to do a great number of things. D. calls out the number of steps as we ascend or descend. I count out the coffee pouring into my glass from the machine. I use timers to cook. Timing is distance, is space, is going somewhere, is getting places. Great, great gratitude for the gift of counting.

Frits Staal maintains, that the chanting of the mantrams from the vedas is very much like bird song. When I studied Sanskrit, at university, I learned the chanting technique, although, of course my accenting and pronunciation are rubbish. Once surrendered to the chanting, it does become empty of meaning, and the sound becomes a sound in which all of nature resonates. This fragment is taken from the Rg Veda and is chanted by brahmins from South India, a part of the subcontinent, where recitation traditions have survived intact up to this day.

We may understand the inconceivability of deepest truth and thus of a mentor’s actions in two ways. If we take the deepest truth to be “self-voidness” – the absence of impossible ways of existing – straightforward, nonconceptual understanding of voidness is beyond conceptual thought, words, and so forth. If the deepest truth refers to “other-voidness” - an understanding of reality with a clear light mind - its direct realization is beyond all grosser levels of mind at which conceptual or verbal thinking occur. Inconceivable, then, does not mean unknowable. It merely means that the fullest understanding is beyond the level of conceptual thought.

Whether we take the deepest truth as self- or other-voidness, the appearances of a mentor’s actions as the play of voidness are conventionally true phenomena. Appearances’ being the play of self-voidness means that conventionally true appearances arise as knowable, comprehensible phenomena only because they are dependently existent. If they were independently existent, they could neither arise nor be known or comprehended. Appearances’ being the play of other-voidness means that giving rise to conventionally true appearances is the natural activity of the clear light mind, just as giving rise to rays of sunlight is the natural activity of the sun.

From: Alexander Berzin; Relating to a Spiritual Teacher

Taken from Alexander Berzin

Moments of conceptual thinking (rnam-rtog), specifically moments of verbal thinking, simultaneously arise, abide, and disappear, as does writing on water. No effort is required to dissolve them, which is the meaning of the term automatic liberation (rang-grol, self-liberation). Thoughts automatically free themselves, in the sense of disappearing simultaneously with arising. When we abide in this state of simultaneous arising, abiding, and disappearing, we abide in the “natural state of the mind.” It is sometimes described as the space in between milliseconds of thought or as the open space underlying thoughts.

When the texts describe that this level of mental activity does not make distinctions into “this”s and “that”s, they mean that it does not make distinctions into truly existent “this”s and “that”s. They do not mean that this level of mental activity lacks distinguishing (‘ du-shes, recognition) of what anything is. It merely lacks the conceptual cognition that actively labels something with a mental construct, such as “table.” It cannot be that rigpa knows nothing. After all, when fully operational, rigpa is the omniscient awareness of a Buddha.

[...]

Dzogchen is an extremely advanced and difficult practice. When described as effortless (‘ bad-med), this does not mean that as beginners, we do not need to do anything – just sit, relax, and everything will happen all at once. Effortless refers to the fact that thoughts automatically disappear simultaneously with their arising: we do not need to make an effort to make them disappear. Nevertheless, we need to recognize and realize this fact. Effortless also refers to when we realize essence rigpa, then, based on prior mahayoga and anuyoga practice, the energy-winds effortlessly dissolve and an appearance of ourselves as a rainbow body in the aspect of a Buddha-figure effortlessly arises.

Thus, although the dzogchen literature primarily speaks from the points of view of the resultant stage and of those for whom it happens all at once, we need to gather the causes for success before we are able to practice dzogchen successfully. In other words, we cannot dispense with practicing the common and uncommon preliminaries, receiving empowerment, keeping the appropriate vows, and practicing a certain amount of mahayoga and anuyoga meditation.

Now, however, we may practice a facsimile of dzogchen meditation to familiarize ourselves with the method. Focusing on the simultaneous arising, abiding, and disappearing of thoughts, on whatever level we can, is helpful for overcoming anxiety, worry, anger, and so on. However, we need to try to avoid fooling ourselves into thinking that this is the actual, deeper level of dzogchen meditation. We need to try to avoid the mistake of thinking that everything is already perfect and so there is no need to change destructive patterns in our attitudes or behavior.

The Nature of the Mind is from the very beginning void or empty and without any self or concrete substance. But one should not think of mind as being a mere nothing because it has the clarity and the limpidity of a mirror. This clarity exists unobstructedly and without interruption, just as the moon may be reflected in the water in various ways. Thoughts arising in the mind are the way in which the Nature of Mind manifests itself. but just as one must understand the reflections in order to understand the nature of the mirror, so one must examine thoughts to see where they arise, where they abide, and where they go. However, when one looks into this matter, one discovers that there is no place where thoughts arise, abide, or go. Nothing can be affirmed and what one finds is void or emptiness. This is the real character of the mind. Now, even though this may be the case, thoughts continue to arise without interruption. Therefore, what one finds is a primal awareness of pure presence (rig-pa’i ye-shes), where there is no duality opf emptiness on the one hand and clarity on the other. This primal awareness is natural and spontaneously self-perfected. At the level of mind (sems), one does not find this non-duality because mind, or the thought process, operates in time and conditioning, while the state of of pure presence or intrinsic awareness (rig-pa) lies beyond mind and its limitations.

[Excerpted from The Cycle of Day and Night, translated and edited by John Myrdhin Reynolds, Station Hill Press, Barrytown NY, 1987]

At the age of fourty-one, Machig Labdron stayed in a retreat cave in Chipug which was blessed for practice. On the fourth day of the last month of spring, in the middle of the night, the majestic Lady Tara appeared, surrounded by numerous dakinis. She bestowed on Machig the four initiations of the five primordial Buddhas according to the Udumvara Tantra…

Thereupon Machig composed a hymn of praise to each of the five Buddha families and later improvised another one in twenty-one stanzas to Tara herself. She then addressed Tara as follows: “You have shown me great kindness and given me the most extraordinary power of initiation and blessing. Yet I don’t know if a woman like me, not particularly bright, and of feeble capacities, will be able to accomplish the benefit of beings…”

Tara smiled, then after a quick glance at the dakinis of her entourage, she said: “Yogini, do not feel discouraged! In the course of previous lives you have studied and mastered the meaning of the scriptures of Sutra and Tantra. So today it is sufficient for me to reveal this meaning to you through mere symbols. You are a mind emanation of the Great Mother Yum Chenmo: we are inseparable. You are the wisdom dakini, the sovereign of the Vajradhatu and the source of the liberation of all phenomena. Don’t lose heart. Keep your determination.”

But Machig replied: “How could I possibly be an emanation of the Great Mother, inseparable from you? And in what way am I the source of the liberation of all phenomena? And where is the residence of the Great Mother?”

Tara answered, “Yogini, although in your innermost heart there is clear knowledge about the past, listen carefully and I’ll explain it to you. The one known as the primordial Mother Yum Chenmo is the ultimate nature of all phenomena, emptiness, the essence of reality, free from the two veils. She is the pure expanse of emptiness, the knowledge of the non-self. She is the matrix which gives birth to all the Buddhas of the three times.

“However, so as to enable all sentient beings to accumulate merit, the Great Mother appears as an object of veneration through my aspirations and prayers for the sake of all beings. And so, through the power of my wishes and compassion, from the dharmata there appears bright light in the shape of an orange-colored bindu marked with the syllable MUM, ablaze with light. In turn this transforms into the Great Mother Yum Chenmo, golden in color, with one face and four hands, sitting in the vajra posture, her body beautiful with all the major and minor marks of a Buddha. Surrounded by her princely sons, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions, Yum Chenmo resides in the Gandavyuha sphere of the celestial pure land of Akanistha, in a marvelous celestial palace.

“From my heart there radiates a greenish-black ray of light marked with the syllable HUNG and it enters into the Mother’s heart, awaking her. Then it radiates out again gathering the power of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and it dissolves agiain into the Mother’s heart. Instantly, she transforms into a sky-blue dakini with one face and four hands. She is the sovereign of Vajhradhatu. From her body, speech, mind, qualities and activity appear innumerable manifestations. Among these, the mind emanation is the bluish-black Vajra Lady with one face and two hands who subjugates all demons. On the crown of her head is a boar’s head emerging from her hair. Her splendor illuminating the three worlds, she gathers all the dakinis under her power. She sets all demonic forces to work as her servants; she is the source of the liberation of all phenomena.

“Now this Vajra Lady, who subjugates all demons for the sake of all sentient beings, took numberous births in appropriate times and places. She mastered the Pitakas and accomplished tremendous deeds for the sake of living beings. Finally she took birth in Tibet. She is no other than yourself, Shining Light of Lab.”

Source:

Edou, Jerome. Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod. Snow Lion Publications, 1996, pp. 151-152.

When somebody tells you something that really hurts your mind, that is the most beneficial thing for your mind because it goes straight in your heart and touches your ego.

This is what shows you, like a mirror, like a teaching from the Buddha, one’s own mistaken thoughts, especially the ego; it shows that there is ego, and because there is ego, it hurts.

If there is no ego, then it would never hurt. When people say what your mistakes are, or say words which hurt you, that is the real Chöd practice. This is what makes you see your “I,” the emotional “I” – in Western psychological terms – the object of ignorance, the root of samsara, which is holding this “I” as truly existent.

Normally one is not aware of this, but by doing the practice of Chöd, inviting the spirits, they create violence and it makes you see the “I,” the object of ignorance, the object to be refuted – the truly existent “I” – clearly. They show the “I” to you very clearly and then you are able to recognize that it is false, an object of ignorance; you are able to use your reasoning, logical reasoning, that the “I” doesn’t exist because it is a dependant arising, or merely imputed. It is merely imputed relating to the aggregates, the base, etc. There are so many other reasonings you can use. You recognize the object to be refuted at that minute. That it is what doesn’t exist at all; it is totally non-existent.

This is similar to Chöd. When you are in an environment with the conditions of people who use harsh words, or who bring up your mistakes, this is so helpful.

[This is also true] in Iraq and those places where there are many killings and enemies. There are two sides attacking each other and the Americans are supporting one side. The other side is the enemy to the USA, so they are killing this outside enemy. But you see, here, our practice is killing the inner enemy. Those “outside enemies” are sentient beings, the most precious, most kind sentient beings, from whom one receives all past, present, and future happiness, liberation and enlightenment, everything: they are the most precious, most kind ones.

What we should practice is killing the inner enemy, the delusions, and the only way to do that is with dharma practice: to achieve liberation, to achieve ultimate happiness, everlasting happiness, cessation of all the sufferings and no more rebirth, old age, sickness and death, all the sufferings of each of the six realms.

So [we do this] not only to achieve liberation for oneself, but also to achieve enlightenment, great liberation, for the benefit of all sentient beings.

In the world, they are killing so many sentient beings, who are the most kind, most precious ones, the source of one’s own past, present, and future happiness, thinking the enemy is outside and killing them.

What we need to practice is killing the inner enemy – the delusions. We need to make war with the delusions and defeat them.

Chöd, “cutting through” is a symbolic, some say shamanic, practice from Vajrayana Buddhism. Its symbolism is meant to conquer mortal fear and to face the demons in one’s life square-on, cutting through one’s connection to them, to achieve liberation. So “ego” is cut. When identification with the finite mind-body complex is let go of, then the pure awareness is set free to perceive reality as it really is. The whole world becomes potent as a place of blessing power and awareness.

When Pa Dampa Sangye came to Tibet, he found the people in the county of Tingri, which is near Mt. Everest on the Tibetan side, to be especially amenable to his instruction. He therefore settled in Tingri and established a school of Yoga practice there. A young Tibetan woman named Machig Labdrön (1055-1153) was one of those who became his disciple. Machig and Pa Dampa Sangye are generally viewed as the founders of the Chöd system. However, it would appear that Chöd itself is a blending together of Pa Dampa Sangye’s teachings and Machig’s native inheritance. Fairly soon after her meeting with Pa Dampa Sangye, the Tibetan woman Machig Labdrön went to live in Central Tibet, where she took up residence in a lonely cave and set herself to practice meditation. Chöd is a subtle blend of the Buddhist path to enlightenment (as represented by the Mahamudra-master Dampa Sanggye) brought from India, and an ancient form of Shamanic ritual (introduced by Machig Labdrön) that was native to Tibet. It was the merging of these two streams which resulted in the actual emergence of Chöd as a practice used by yogins today, in their desire to gain Enlightenment by the shortest possible path. Machig herself said:

“My system of Chöd consists of the intrinsic teachings of Mahamudra. This Mahamudra cannot be explained in words. Yet, although it is beyond verbal expression, it may be indicated (by means of the symbolism of Chöd).”

Chöd is a spiritual practice conducted by the yogini (or yogi) alone in the wilderness, where she must learn to face every fear and every bit of ego-clinging within herself. Indeed, to accomplish this, she (or he) is instructed to deliberately go to places that inspire supernatural dread. Traditionally, once the yogini has found a wild and lonely spot, which is supposed to be a place that seems imbued with power or reportedly haunted by spirits, not to mention wild beasts, she sets up a tent. Erecting this tent is not a casual act—it is done ritually, and each of the four tent-pegs is driven into the ground, while mindful of the symbolic act of empowering the four directions: east, south, west and north, each having a specific color and meaning. As night falls, the yogini will begin to sing the ancient melodious chant, signifying the start of the meditation. She must face the spirits of nature, the “elementals,” and the ghosts of the dead, which the ritual evokes, and dominate them; or, failing that, be dominated in turn, which might mean becoming possessed, possibly leading to madness or even death. A good spirit is one which radiates love outwards from itself towards all others with whom it is connected. And the “higher” the type of spirit, the more it is intrinsically connected with all sentient beings. An evil spirit, on the other hand, is one which has become closed upon itself, isolated from the whole, and lives tightly turned inwards on its own neurosis. The tighter and darker becomes the suffering of that spirit, the more demonic its nature. But according to the Adepts of Chöd, nothing is permanent. A spirit lost for a time in one of the hideous “lower realms” of suffering, may always be healed (either through time itself, or by the intervention of the Chödpa) and gradually lifted up into the Light. Thus the work of the Chödpa, as of the saint who prays constantly for the welfare of others, is to transform spirits of darkness into angels of light.

The yogini in her tent calls the various spirits of the land to her. These she then must treat in different ways. The higher beneficial spirits, she may commune with for healing disease, and to do so she will establish a relationship of peace (Tib: zhi-wa, Skt: santika) between herself and those which come within the sphere of her influence. She may establish a similar relationship with the ghosts (preta) of the dead, but the more confused or troubled ghosts of the spirit world she must help to guide and, as it where, “raise their vibration” (Tib: rgyas-pa byed-pa, Skt: paustika) if she is to free them from their suffering. Tormented spirits, and elementals, have to be subdued (Tib: dbang-’dus, Skt: vasya) and directed. The really evil entities she must learn to dominate, exorcise (Tib: drag-shul, Skt: marana) and ultimately liberate. All of this the yogini (or yogi) accomplishes through the means of her Chöd-practice. To accomplish Chöd-practice it is a prerequisite that one develop an unconditional love for all. Such a love cannot be limited only to those we like, or approve of. Unconditional love means especially a love full of compassion for those who we least would want to be intimate with. For if we are going to heal others at all, we shall have to be intimate with them. We will have to share their pain, as also be able to empathically soothe and alleviate their confusion, their suffering, and their active negativity. Chusang Rimpoche made something of a joke of this. “The novice Chödpa,” he said, “is so eager to offer his very own body, to nourish and help the poor misguided evil spirits. But comes along just one mosquito, and then where is his love and compassion for all sentient beings?”

The practice of Chöd means that the yogini or yogi meditates in such a way as to become, stage by ever deepening stage, absorbed into the whole process of surrendering and offering one’s body and self. This selfless offering only really occurs when the practitioner is finally absorbed into trance (samadhi) through the use of the ritual, aided in particular by the steady beat of the drum and bell. The adept of Chöd, uttering a secret mantra, then leaves his body, mounting the sky in the aspect of the Secret Gnostic Dakini, and there, in the mind-made-body (manomayadeha) of the Dakini, Who is black as night itself, she severs the metaphysical mind-body complex so as to offer it to the communing spirits (lha-dre), good and bad. What is really given to the spirits to feast on, is the energy used to bind the Ego in the mind-body form. In devouring this, they become liberated, as does the Siddha herself. The “offering up of one’s body” in this fashion is done not in this world, but in the spirit dimension of virtual space. If done properly, it can effect healing, and many a Chödpa has been called in to arrest the course of a plague or epidemic. Chödpas have also been requested to make their offering-of-self on behalf of the dead. Thus, in Tibet, we frequently see Chödpas present on the occasion of a funeral.

What common folk think of as a demon is something very, very big, and colored deep black. Who ever sees one of these is truly terrified and trembles from head to foot,” said Machig Labdrön. “Nevertheless, no such demons really exist apart from the mind!”

The truth of the matter is this: Anything whatsoever that obstructs or limits the attainment of Liberation is a demon. Even our loving and affectionate relatives can become “demons” for us, if they are obstructing our spiritual evolution. Thus the greatest of all “demons” is actually the Demon of Ego, which is your own sense of a permanent, independent self, separate from all others. If you do not slay this clinging to a self, then good and bad spirits (lha-dre) will just keep lifting you up and letting you down.

Machig Labdron defined four types of psychological “demons” that must be exorcised by the practitioner of Chöd.

The first is what she called the Tangible Demon (thogs bcas bdud), which is the error of mistakenly grasping at the objects of sense-perception as if the world were an objective reality separate from consciousness. We have to come to experience the fact that all “outer” appearance takes place within Mind. As long as the neophyte has not realized the holographic and entirely subjective nature of existence, and continues to view phenomena as something other than Mind itself, then reality is a “tangible demon” which must be cut through.

The second of her “four demons” is called the Intangible Demon (thogs med bdud). This is not external, but rather, stands for the positive and negative thoughts, feelings and impulses, which are within ourselves. These reactions and emotions, such as pain, fear, jealousy, greed, dislike of others, and so forth, are an Intangible Demon that has to be slain. The adept who accomplishes overcoming this inner demon is described as fearless.

The third is the Demon of Manic-Inflation (dga’ brod bdud) or of “Exultation”, which can be born from acquiring occult powers or special blisses in the meditation experience. Manic-Inflation is a sense of power, a heightened sense of spiritual worth or supernatural ability. It is the presumption of spiritual superiority. In meditation it is common to be thrilled by the energy and feeling of magnified glory, by the divine grace flooding through all the cells of one’s being. There is nothing wrong with such bliss, but the adept has to become unattached to the experience.

The fourth demon described by Machig Labdrön is the Demon of Pride (snyem byed kyi bdud), the Demon of Ego itself. This latter, she said, is the root of all the other three, for ultimately the Demon which must be killed is our own self. As soon as one cuts off the Demon of Ego, all other demons are simultaneously conquered. Immediately the Demon of Ego is slain, the person becomes Enlightened at once.

Though Chöd may appear on the surface like a shamanic rite, the Yoga of Chöd follows the same process of mystical development as in other systems of Buddhism. Machik Labdrön herself explains this as follows:

“Once the yogini has recognized the non-existence of inner and outer phenomena, after the psychic energy (prana-vayu) has entered and started to rise up the central nervous system (avadhuti), then she will begin to experience extraordinary states of ecstasy and [eventually] the Clear Light itself. Knowledge of the three times, and clairvoyant perception of events near and far, will begin to emerge. Having attained the uncreate Clear Light, then the yogini will acquire an ability of mind to aid vast numbers of sentient beings everywhere… The instruction lineage that explains how to accomplish this is that called the Chöd of Mahamudra.”

To cut the ego off at the root, where it is rooted in the unconsciousness, and likewise to cut off the five root afflictions—greed, hatred, confusion, pride and avarice—is the real meaning of Chöd. For the yogini this means also to cut through hope and fear, all of which possesses and controls ordinary individuals just like good or evil spirits. To be free of that, is to be Liberated. This is the ultimate value of Chöd.

For ordinary individuals, Buddhahood seems very far away indeed. However, for Dzogchen practitioners it is not so very difficult. All other paths, both within and outside of Buddhism, are like the preliminaries for Dzogpa Chenpo, the Peak Vehicle. Dzogpa Chenpo includes all the other ways and teachings and is complete in itself. All other Dharmas find completion in it and lead to it like rivers emptying into the great sea. Other Dharmas have conflicting viewpoints; Dzogchen resolves them all. Dzogpa Chenpo is the extremely short, swift, direct path to total enlightenment in this lifetime. It is without great hardships. Other paths are like roads leading to a distant house; Dzogchen is like being in that house. This amrita-like Dzogchen Mengak Nyengyud of the Vidyadhara (Rigpa-Holding)

Lineage is the most precious and refined essential quintessence of all possible teachings. It allows us to perceive the most subtle levels of how things are and how everything actually manifests and makes it possible for us to swiftly become totally realized, fully awakened, free. If we practice it now, there will certainly be immense benefits for Westerners everywhere in the future.

There are infinite subtle and profound detailed explanations about all the Buddhist teachings and about Dzogchen too, but it all depends on meditation practice. That is the most essential thing.

One must experience the teachings for oneself and present one’s own experience, understanding, or realization to a realized master, one’s own kind teacher, in order to receive the master’s assessment and advice. The teacher cannot simply present realization to you. But an authentic, qualified Dzogchen master can easily guide a suitable disciple in the nyongtri manner to the attainment of supreme accomplishment without many hardships or detailed teachings and intellectual explanations and study. All the teachings will be included in those indispensable personal pith-instructions. Therefore, one should rely totally on that.

Gyalwa Longchenpa says about Dzogpa Chenpo: “It is in perfect accord with all teachings, and is supreme.” It is the purpose of this Dzogchen practice to clearly establish a View that leads directly to realizing that the very nature of one’s own mind is the absolute nature. We must not be satisfied with mere intellectual understanding or knowledge about it. That will not free or liberate us. We must develop great, unshakable, inner certainty concerning that fundamental intrinsic nature. All the various practices are the means to developing, progressing, and stabilizing that certainty.

This simple yet profound practice, connected with trekchod (cutting through) meditation, is explained in Patrul Rinpoche’s Tsiksum Nedek (Three Vital Points Which Strike the Essence).

Even if Gyalwa Longchenpa or the primordial Buddha Kuntuzangpo were to appear suddenly before us in a marvelous vision of rainbow light, that would be nothing compared to having before us Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Chatral Rinpoche, living Buddhas like Padma Sambhava himself, who can speak Dzogpa Chenpo directly into our ears. These great teachers are the peerless living lineage-holders embodying all the deities, teachers, and teachings.

The Tibetan mandala of the Dhyani Buddhas consists of four stages around a central stage, the central stage being the local expression of the bindu-seed in its Dhyani-Buddha form. The four surrounding stages, the remaining Dhyani-Buddhas, can be seen in many ways, the four phases of the day (dawn, noon, dusk and midnight); the four directions; four stages of life (birth, mid-life, old age and death), the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter), the four ancient elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire). This fundamental structure pervades our earth plane existence. However, these Dhyanis are not external entities who have reached the Buddha state of enlightenment, but rather projections of the highest potentials of that which exists as our inherent base emotions and psychological structures in normal day-to-day consciousness (termed the “skandhas”, generally translated as “aggregates of consciousness” or “psycho-constituents of reality”, being Form, Feeling, Perception, Intention and Consciousness together comprising an individual’s total life experience).

The Buddha nature lies within! We are already there, but this inherent state of our being is hidden from us through misunderstanding and by not being able to control our sensory input (due to ignorance).

The Dorje is a Tibetan spiritual-magickal implement of great beauty and utility. It encompasses both art (as an artistic-archetypal representation of the ultimate spiritual dynamic) and function (as a form-energy transceiver, an active meditative-ritualistic component). While “dorje” and its corresponding Sanskrit term “vajra” are generally translated as “thunderbolt” — a useful symbol for this device as it was archaically the thunderbolt of Indra, the Hindu Jupiter — the true meaning is actually far more comprehensive. The dorje represents the highest spiritual power, that which is irresistible, invincible, indestructible and inexhaustible — free from conflicting emotions.

In Tibetan “do” means “stone” and “rje” means “master”, and the “master stone” is considered to be the diamond: for its nobility, purity, clarity and ultimate hardness. The Master Stone is of course the Philosopher’s Stone or prima materia of the Alchemists, and this symbolism is apropos for the dorje. The secret of the Philosopher’s Stone is that anyone who attains it can no longer use it for base purposes such as riches and immorality as it will leave them spiritually dead. In its symbolic-artistic form the dorje is a sceptre, the emblem of supreme, sovereign power, hence the “Diamond Sceptre”. Its form corresponds directly to its function. There are three stages of the dorje, the seed, the lotuses and the mandalas. With many meanings that will appear to the astute meditator, a good place to start is to think of them as speech, mind and body, respectively. Concomitant with the three stages, the dorje can also be seen as an instrument describing universal polarities, as two mirror-image sides emanate from the central point.

The central sphere is the seed or “bindu” of the universe, corresponding in Western spiritual tradition to Kether at the apex of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It is sometimes represented as an outward moving spiral of energy, just as the Tree of Life can be represented as spiraling out from Kether.

From the undifferentiated unity of the central seed spring two opposing lotus blossoms, representing the dual nature of manifest reality as perceived consciously. Each has eight leaves, and these can be understood as the fundamental binary code of our interactions with the universe.

From each lotus blossom emerge five ‘rays of power’ which converge at a higher point. This is the three dimensional world we inhabit as incarnate humans, again with its dynamic polarities represented by the two sides of the dorje. From end on these five rays can be seen as the fundamental mandala of the Dhyani Buddhas (or Tathagatas — “liberated ones”). However, these Dhyanis are not external entities who have reached the Buddha state of enlightenment, but rather projections of the highest potentials of that which exists as our inherent base emotions and psychological structures in normal day-to-day consciousness (termed the “skandhas”, generally translated as “aggregates of consciousness” or “psycho-constituents of reality”, being Form, Feeling, Perception, Intention and Consciousness together comprising an individual’s total life experience).

Form/Corporeality = Aksobhya - Wisdom of the Great Mirror (Non-Attachment to Manifestation)
Feeling = Ratnasambava - Wisdom of Equality
Perception = Amitabha - Distinguishing Inner Vision
Intention/Volition = Amoghasiddhi - All-Accomplishing Karma-Free Action
Consciousness = Vairocana - Wisdom of the Universal Law

The two sides of the dorje can be seen not only in the polarities of male and female, night and day, hot and cold, but also as the most dynamic of our localised, perceived polarities: Matter and Spirit. And matter and spirit can be reconciled in the thunderbolt of awareness, where we become the undifferentiated singularity of enlightenment and perceive all as One, subjective and objective combined as a fundamental awareness. This is the ultimate Tantric doctrine, and the supreme path of Buddhism is termed the Vajrayana, or the Diamond Wisdom: One Taste.