Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute session on Introduction to Tantra, John Landaw explores how tantric practice differs from earlier Buddhist approaches by transforming desire rather than rejecting it. He begins by reviewing the three foundational prerequisites for tantra—renunciation, bodhicitta, and the wisdom of emptiness—then focuses on the essential role of a qualified guru as a living bridge to one’s own enlightened potential. Landaw distinguishes three attitudes toward sensory desire: the Hīnayāna approach of control and avoidance, the Mahāyāna path of protection through compassion, and the tantric path of utilization and transformation. He illustrates this through an analogy of the peacock digesting poison to enhance its beauty, then explains how tantric practice—centered on dissolving ordinary self-image and arising with the pride and clear appearance of a meditation deity—turns sensory objects into vehicles for wisdom rather than obstacles. This session is pitched at practitioners new to tantric Buddhism with some grounding in foundational teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 13 Intro to Tantra Day 3 no date.mp3
UUID: 1e49dfa7-2715-45a0-a4f5-04e2951df614
Teacher: John Landaw
Collection: Introduction to Tantra (John Landaw)
Date: 1984 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~4,836
So just to say a few more introductory remarks about about tantra, to have an idea of a little bit of the scope of its practice, and then then maybe we can use the rest of this this last lecture hour for discussion and questions and things like that. Briefly, we’ve mentioned some idea of what the prerequisites for the practice of of tantra are. And we’ve mentioned in terms of the Sūtra path, these prerequisites can be abbreviated into the three principles of this renounced mind, the mind that wishes definitely to emerge from a cycle of unsatisfactory existence. The mind of the cultivation of the excuse me, of the motive, the enlightened motive of bodhicitta, the wish to benefit others through the attainment of the might, and the generation of the correct view, the wisdom which realizes the true way in which things exist, sometimes known as the wisdom of emptiness. And again, I think it’s very important to repeat, even if it means repeating it several times, that when we speak about the wisdom of emptiness, we’re not thinking that the wisdom of emptiness means that nothing exists or that reality is nothingness, but rather that in order to gain a correct view of reality, it’s necessary to empty out all of the mistaken, incorrect projections we have about things, that it is our mistaken views, our projections, which keep us alienated others, keep us alienated from reality in general.
So on the basis of having trained mind, at least to some extent, in these three principal paths, then the practice of Tantra depends primarily on having met a qualified Tantric master, having met a qualified guru, someone who himself or herself is within the lineage of tantric insight, who has trained in the practice of tantra, who is keeping the vows and the commitments pure himself, and who also is someone with whom we have a some kind of connection. Now in terms of this, there are stories in the past of disciples who spent years and years observing a particular Guru to see if he had the proper qualities and if they had the proper relationship between them. And then when the guru excuse me. Then when the disciple decided that indeed this guru was a faultless guru, someone with whom he felt he had a good connection, then the guru would spend a long time observing the disciple to see if from his side there was also the proper connection. Now these days, often, we don’t have that kind of luxury, especially if we live in a place which is quite far away from where qualified gurus come, and we don’t always have the luxury to pick and choose and to wait.
However, it is said that once our mind is is qualified to receive the teachings, once we have the interest in receiving the teachings, that this automatically attracts, somehow, the teacher. But even if we were in a place which normally would seem to be impossible to receive teachings or to establish a contact with the Guru. If our mind has developed to the point that we are suitable trainees, then this itself, sooner or later, tends to attract teachers. And of course, now the situation is much different because now there are quite a few very highly qualified gurus from various traditions who are living in countries outside of India, Nepal, living in the Americas, and Australia, New Zealand, parts of Asia, Europe, and so forth. So the and also travel is much easier these days than it used to be, so it’s also possible to go and to visit where Gurus are.
But the true purpose for finding a Guru is to be able to find one’s inner Guru. In other words, the external guru is someone, through his or her behavior and teachings and so forth, stands as a living representative of the enlightened mind. Through our contact with such a guru, we become introduced to our own potential, enlightened mind. The true guru is one who can help us gain contact with our own inner guru. There are some people who, because of strong contact with the lineage in previous lives, can find that inner group in this life without too much obvious need for a teacher.
Even a small contact can accomplish this. But for most of us, we need some kind of living example, some whom we can understand as the representative of the state of the mind. Otherwise, if we try to follow the path solely on our own, then it’s a little bit like a sick person trying to prescribe himself medicine, but being ignorant of medicine, prescribing himself all the wrong things. And therefore, instead of getting better, just get sicker. So if our habituation up to this point has been such that we don’t really have an understanding of how we’ve gotten involved in cyclic existence and how we can liberate ourselves from it, then trying to be our own guru before we’re ready is really just a form of arrogance.
But through meeting with a proper guru, then it’s possible for the wisdom mind to awaken, and then it is possible truly to take refuge in oneself. So we have to see for ourselves at which point of spiritual progression we are. We shouldn’t think on one hand that everything comes from the guru and that we are nothing, that we are completely immersed in ignorance. That would be one extreme. And the other extreme would thinking that we know it all and we don’t need a guru.
That would be another extreme. So our spiritual path is best if we can hit the median point between the two, realizing that we have an innate source of wisdom within us, but realizing as well that we have need of a guide to introduce ourselves to this inner wisdom. The guru, the tantric master, has a specific place within the practice of tantra, and sometimes the way it’s described is by an analogy that the guru is like a lens or a magnifying glass through which the the rays of the sun of the enlightened mind gets focused onto our own mind stream. So the guru then is understood as being like a medium through which these rays of blessings are focused so that there’s actually an effect made upon our mind. The guru has this concentrating, focusing quality.
The guru also, by his or her behavior, occupies a certain middle ground between the goal that we are striving for and the place we are at the present moment. This is often one of the most profound contributions of a guru, is that a guru represents two things at once to our mind, a true guru. If he or she has the power to inspire us, it’s because of the qualities of the goal that the Guru is manifesting. In other words, if we feel that we have a limited mind, limited compassion, limited wisdom, then the inspiration of the guru is that he or she represents someone who has expanded those positive qualities. And therefore, there comes up within us a desire to attain the state that the guru has attained or the state which the guru is emblematic on.
But at the same time, if the guru existed only in a most perfect state, then it would be very, very difficult for us to establish a relationship with that group. In other words, we might think that he or she is completely untouchable, that maybe such a person was always enlightened or was enlightened maybe in Tibet, and that was some experience that’s not available to us. But one of the most profound activities of the guru relates to his or her humanness. We can see in the guru the human qualities that we ourselves possess. This is part of having this kind of karmic relationship of some sort.
And so we don’t think that the guru is some kind of superman who’s come from another planet, but is rather someone who has grown out of the same situation in which we are presently engaged. And therefore, the guru serves as a bridge or a link to the enlightened experience. As a matter of fact, sometimes in a relationship with a guru like this, it’s hard to tell which is more profound, the guru’s enlightened qualities or the guru’s so called human qualities. On a personal note, I remember when I very first became interested in in Buddhism, it was mostly through readings. I didn’t receive any formal teachings until many, many years later.
And actually, most of the readings were in the area of Zen Buddhism, in fact, the writings of Alan Watts and so forth. And I was very much taken with pretty much everything that I read, but I had this I had this real trepidation when I would read phrases about, you know, the enlightened being has overcome desire, for instance. And I would think, well, what does that mean? Because desire, the way I understood it, seemed to be so much a part of being alive. Having desires seemed to be synonymous with having interests, being alive.
And I thought, well, maybe maybe this state of enlightenment, the state of Buddhahood, the state without desires, maybe it’s some kind of perfect pristine state. Maybe it’s a little bit like like a statue. A bit wooden, know, unfeeling. Perfect in the sense of unruffled and unmoved, but unfeeling without desires. And so even though I was very attracted to what I read and it seemed to embody some kind of very clear, valid psychology, this was always a fear behind in my mind, that there was some kind of removing of life force involved in this process.
Now the thing that cleared it away was not so much any further reading that I did, but actually meeting gurus, meeting beings who were, at least from whatever limited point of view I had, if not fully enlightened, were certainly a lot more enlightened than I was, and who were training in these very teachings that I had been reading about. And it was a very it was a it was a tremendous relief to see their warmth, their humanity, their sense of humor, their earthiness. And I could under I could begin to understand then that when they speak about removal of desires and so forth, there is a polluted desire which is being removed. There is a something polluted which is being cast out of the mind, but the mind still retains a very, very warm, a very compassionate, very earthy and humorous quality to it. So I have a little bit more to say about desire from another point of view a little bit later.
So the guru, the relationship with the guru then becomes extremely important because it’s through this that we meet the lineage in a living representation. So it’ll actually have some meaning to our life rather than being some kind of abstract ideal. So then through the meeting with the guru, we receive teachings in general, advice in general, and specifically, in terms of the practice of tantra, we receive what’s known as empowerment, or sometimes translated initiation. And as mentioned yesterday, this is a meeting of the minds. The Guru creates an atmosphere in which the disciple can begin to contact subtle, potentially enlightened qualities of his or her own mind.
The Guru creates that type of environment and then is able to plant a seed in the disciple’s mind, enabling the practice to proceed successfully. And then from the taking of that initiation or empowerment, then there are certain types of commitments, which usually have to do with having received that empowerment, then doing certain practices that at least keep the power of that initiation from fading. Dalai Lama referred to such practices once as having a battery, being given the battery, and just making sure that the charge, that it doesn’t lose its charge, that its charge is always there. Now those initial type of practices may not actually obviously take anyone anywhere, sort of like the battery’s outside of the car. It’s not moving anything, but it’s keeping the energy up.
It’s making sure that that seed doesn’t rot. You know, it keeps the power. So usually the commitments have a certain minimal level just to keep the power of the empowerment alive. And then in addition to that, then one is introduced to what we might call the actual practice, the sadhana, which then is like putting the battery in a car and actually making some kind of movement with one’s mind. So those are certain types of commitments that we receive.
But the general commitments, in addition to that, have a lot to do with keeping a certain type of standard in front of the mind. And this standard is explained in terms of different vows and so forth. But basically, what it what they are is reminders of what we now embark upon. So they have to do with such things as continuing to cultivate respect for the Guru. Since we could imagine if we receive, we’re all set to receive Tantric empowerment and Tantric teachings.
We have Tantra renunciation, Bodhicitta, wisdom of emptiness, and all the preliminaries, and we receive the empowerment from the Guru, and we’re entrusting ourselves to that kind of care and engaging in all of these subtle practices, then the whole edifice that we’ve erected would come tumbling down if suddenly we were to develop hatred or strong disrespect for the guru. The whole foundation of what we were doing would crumble. So these commitments have to do with such things as being able to maintain as pure a view as possible of the guru and of the particular meditation of deity to which we are introduced, and so forth, and many others. But they all point to keeping the mind in the proper conducive space. Now the practice of Tantra can be divided in in many ways.
One classification are the so called four classes of Tantra. We very, very briefly mentioned them the other day. These these are usually known by their Sanskrit names. So the first level is is called Kriyā, k r I y a, which I think is sometimes translated as action tantra. And the second is known as Caryā, c a r y a.
That c has a c h sound, so it could also be spelled c h a r y. Caryā, which is sometimes I think that’s sometimes translated as performance. I’m not exactly sure that they might shift those two translations. It might be performance comes first, action comes Have to see how they do it in the books. But anyway, the first is Kriyā, the second is Caryā.
The third is called Yoga Tantra. Does anybody know that? Do you know that name? Yoga tantra. And the last, the fourth, the highest is Anuttarayoga.
Anuttara. I’m not exactly sure. Think it’s a n u t t a r a. Anuttara yoga. That means highest yoga.
Highest yoga. Sometimes that last one is also called maha, which means great. Maha or Anuttarayoga. The n a h a is put in front. But whether it’s maha, Anuttarayoga or Anuttarayoga, it means the same thing.
Highest Yogatantra. And there are different ways of differentiating these classes of Tantra, but one way of differentiating them has to do with the level of desire that we can take into the path. See, from the point of view of the Sūtra path, then the out of ignorance grows this type of desire, desire to have what’s pleasurable, the desire to avoid what is unpleasant in the psychological sense. And these kinds of desires keep us bound to the wheel of cyclic existence, You know? So we can we can understand it.
For instance, ordinarily, we’re led around by our senses. We see something beautiful, and we desire it. We see something ugly, we desire to be separated from it. And the same thing through all our senses and through the mind itself. So it’s as if we’re tossed about by these various desires.
And also, the desires give us the desires seem to be there to be satisfied in the sense that when we want something, when we desire something, there’s like an unspoken assumption that by getting that thing, if it’s positive, if it’s beautiful, or by getting rid of it, if it’s negative, that somehow we’ll be made more happy, somehow more satisfied. But when we check the way our life goes, we see that that’s not the case, that these desires tend to feed on themselves. They don’t bring a kind of lasting satisfaction. In fact, the stronger our desire, usually what that means is the more we’re dissatisfied. And so when we talk about cyclic existence or the existence created by ignorance, we’re very much talking about this circle of desires, of grasping at something, wishing to gain security, wishing to gain happiness from it, and then to realize that the object just doesn’t have that power to really touch us deeply enough to give us the satisfaction we want.
So desires just seem to give rise to more desires. We never seem to know satisfaction. And then in addition to that, as was indicated before earlier, desires have a certain they cultivate, in a sense, a certain dull quality to our consciousness. It doesn’t appear that way at first. It appears initially that when we are under the influence of some kind of strong desire, that we’re more alive, we’re more alert.
You know, that kind of bug eyed look when we see something that we desire. You know, we sort of come alive for it. But in the process of consuming that object, or taking it, or possessing it, or having it, in that process, when our desire has this kind of overwhelming quality to it, the mind tends to sink into a certain dull, unresponsive state. It’s as if we we space out. Sometimes you can see pictures of people when they’re experiencing, you know, great pleasure.
If you look at the pictures, sometimes it’s hard to know whether they’re conscious or not. You know, they just seem so blown away by what they’re experiencing momentarily that they sort of drift into a space of dullness or forgetfulness, and then later awaken from it. And then the object is gone or finished or destroyed, used up, whatever, and then the desire has to come up again. So with the ordinary type of mind, desire induces not only a feeling of dissatisfaction, but also a certain type of dullness to the mind. First, has a tendency of exciting the mind, and then it has the quality of dulling the mind.
Now the this type of approach to desire, this type of description to desire, is a description which is very applicable when we’re at the initial stages of the path, and we’re trying to break free from our habitual blind behavior. And we’re starting to gain some kind of understanding that it’s through the actions of our body, speech, mind that we create either experiences of happiness or unhappiness for ourselves. And so we start making a check over our senses, over our body, speech, mind, checking what’s happening. And the initial response is to draw back a little bit or try to gain a certain distance, especially from these habitual desires. So when we look at the initial approach of the Buddhadharma, there is often a withdrawal that is emphasized.
Removing oneself from enticing or overly exciting objects of the senses, being very moderate, and so forth, as an attempt to break the stranglehold that sensory objects have on our mind. So that type of approach is very applicable, especially at the beginning stages when we’re trying to break out of old habits. Now at later stages of the path, especially as we develop the Mahāyāna ideal, in which the concern is not merely overcoming my suffering and experiencing my happiness, but the mind is beginning to turn out outwards and take in the situation of other beings, then this type of spiritual approach of the earlier stages where the emphasis is on avoidance of sensory objects is replaced to some extent by a compassionate attitude. So that one would be willing, in fact, to have contact with what is disturbing on one hand or exciting or enticing on the other hand, one would be willing to have contact with that if, through it, one would be able to benefit others. The initial attitude is more like an attitude of withdrawal from the world in order to protect oneself.
The second attitude is more like a return to the world with a very strongly compassionate attitude. And the attitude of compassion then is what protects us. Having our mind turning outward in that way is what protects us from the ups and downs of ordinary life. So for instance, a bodhisattva, someone on this level, is someone who is depicted in in in, you know, in in paintings as someone sitting on an open lotus. And the symbol of the lotus here is very significant because, as most people know, lotus is something tends to grow in muddy swamps.
But the way it grows is it lifts itself up above the surface of the muddy swamp and it opens itself up, then the interior is completely immaculate, perfectly clean. So that’s a symbol for the Bodhisattva who even though he or she lives life right within the swamp of cyclic existence, right within the midst of all of the things that the other practitioner would tend to avoid, still, because of the extraordinary compassion that Sacha Bodhisattva has, or she is protected from the defilements and is immaculate. So they say sometimes the bodhisattva is in the world but is not of the world. And the protective quality there is the quality of compassion. Now, I believe it was His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, the head of the Nyingma tradition, who once gave an analogy about these different styles of practice.
He said, on the initial level, the so called Hīnayāna level, when one is interested primarily in one’s own welfare, then the attitude could be like a person who has a garden, and in the garden a poisonous tree is growing. And the entire practice is one of attempting to uproot this tree and carry it to as far away from one’s garden as possible, to throw at them. An uprooting of all of these potentially dangerous desires giving rise to delusions. The Mahāyāna approach, the second one that’s mentioned, is like the person who has such a who has an antidote so that even while tasting the poisonous fruit from this tree is protected from experiencing the poisonous result by the strength of the antidote. And so that’s like the Mahāyāna practitioner who has such overwhelming compassion, is so willing to experience whatever there is to experience within cyclic existence for the sake of benefiting others, that he or she is protected from the poisonous result.
Now the Tantric practitioner then becomes like well, they they say that peacocks are birds which can eat plants, which are poisonous to most other animals. And when they eat it, instead of becoming poisoned, it just makes their coloring even more beautiful. I’m not sure whether that’s a true story or just an image, but certainly there are some animals that eat plants that are poisonous to others without being affected. So let’s accept it as a true example. The peacock has this type of reputation.
So the tantric practitioner is a bit like this type of peacock, who can actually eat the poison, eat what would be poisonous to others, take desire, take these sensory desires, and instead of them having a detrimental effect, they can actually be digested into the spiritual path. So the Hīnayāna practice, in brief then, is one of control and avoidance. The Mahāyāna path is one of overwhelming compassion. And the Tantric path is one of utilization and transformation. Maybe this would be a good point to just have a short break for a stretch and so forth, and when we return, I’ll just continue on this.
Let me stay in a little bit longer. So one of the things that we try to accomplish on the tantric path is to transform sensory objects from being things which keep us wrapped up in cyclic existence, keep us wrapped up in our ordinary, petty identity and so forth, and use them instead to arouse the mind of wisdom, the mind appreciating emptiness, the lack of all incorrect, harmful projections. So for instance, one of the recurring aspects of Tantric practice, for instance, is making offerings. I was looking over here on the altar because, for instance, there’s seven water bowls and a candle shown, and you’ll see sometimes on certain altars, there’ll be more than one row of such offerings, and they’ll also be very, very elaborate. Instead of just water bowls, each one will be filled with, some will be filled with scented water, some with flowers, some with incense.
Basically what they will be is filled up with objects of all the various senses. And in the scope of the practice itself, these sensory objects undergo a transformation. Now, it’s not so much that the objects themselves undergo a transformation. What is significant is that our attitude towards them undergoes a transformation. So the style of practice here is not to avoid contact with beautiful sensory objects, but to transform one’s attitude about them, to make them part of the spiritual path.
So typically, the way the practice will run is, first, the practitioner tries to get down to the very essential nature of his or her own mind. In other words, tries to approximate this clear light experience, the dharmakaya type experience. And so basically what’s involved here is to overcome the ordinary appearances of oneself. And when Lama Yeshe was teaching about Tantra, he very much emphasized that what we really have to get rid of here at this point, what’s the the basic enemy to be overcome, is our own limited, what he called self pitying attitude, this attitude of self pity. This ordinary conception that we have of ourself as some kind of limited individual, a certain limited, negative attitude of oneself, of one’s capabilities.
So typically in the practice we will try to dissolve that ordinary view, that ordinary conception, attempting to reach some clear potential of the mind, this undifferentiated state, clear light. And then having allowing the mind to identify very, very closely with this clear, undifferentiated state, and then arising from it with the pride of being the meditation deity. Some people because some people feel that this word pride is so much connected with a deluded state of mind, deluded pride, they don’t use the word pride, they use dignity, arising with the dignity of the deity. If that’s helpful, that’s okay. The actual word is pride, indicating that there is both a deluded pride and another kind of pride which more has to do with self esteem or self confidence or self worth, which is not a deluded quality at all.
So in the tantric practice then, there are these two intertwined practices of overcoming ordinary appearances at one hand and establishing divine pride on the other. Now that first one, overcoming ordinary appearances, what that results in is the creation of the clear appearance, meaning the clear appearance as the deity. So the twin practices then are generating a clear appearance and generating this feeling of divine pride. Now remember, if we haven’t gone through a reasonable background in understanding emptiness, in dissolving our false self image, then this clear appearance of oneself as the deity and pride of being a deity is just another ego trip. So for it not to be another ego trip, we really have to get below the level of the ordinary ego.
We have to see through its illusory qualities. We have to soften up this concrete view of self and gain this, at least an approximation of this undifferentiated state of mind, this clear, expansive state of mind. And then, the mind that’s experiencing that can then appear in the form of the meditation Deity. Because we understand the Meditation Deity as being emblematic of the state of enlightenment to which this clear mind is aspiring. So instead of being an ego trip, we’re just merely taking the future result into the present moment.
We’re drawing on a quality that we already have in potential form. Then, after this type transformation of oneself takes place, then there is a similar transformation.