Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute introduction to Tantric Buddhism, John Landaw fields questions and offers practical guidance on seed syllable meditation, a foundational Tantric technique. He distinguishes healthy self-appreciation from the delusion of pride, which closes the mind to learning, then explains why visualization meditation begins with a seed syllable—the first appearance of form from emptiness, which then transforms into the deity. Landaw covers common obstacles: visualization gaps and color perception are not initially important, but blockages in practice reveal areas of ego sensitivity that require patient, repeated exposure. He emphasizes consistency over duration, recommends balancing intensive retreat practice with daily sitting to maintain continuity, and advises practitioners to cultivate mindful awareness of their own motivation before attempting to inject positive antidotes. The session concludes with a guided loving-kindness meditation and dedication of merit.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 16 Intro to Tantra Day 3 no date.mp3
UUID: 18ce4238-70a8-44ab-ac0e-12a682abcade
Teacher: John Landaw
Collection: Introduction to Tantra (John Landaw)
Date: 1984 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~3,541
The wisdom of Tibet. Two of those volumes, one is called Tantra in Tibet and the other is called Yoga in Tibet, edited by him and I think with some commentary by the Dalai Lama. And the material found in those books are very good, especially the commentary, introductory material. The actual translations themselves are often, you know, you often have to have studied quite a lot to get into them. They’re often a bit more advanced, but the commentary material is very helpful.
So those are the part of the publishers. George Allen and in London, Allen and Unwin, and in America they’re published by Harper and Row, so I don’t know if in Australia you get the Harper and Rowe edition or you get the Allen and Unwin ones, I’m not sure. I think each company has a different sphere of the world there, and I don’t know which one, but it’s either Harper and Row or Allen and Unwin one of the two. So those are helpful books. Then there’s a book called Clear Light of Bliss.
And the author is Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, that would be good. Do you have that? And that starts with an explanation of the various channels, winds and drops, and gives a very detailed explanation of not only the nine round breathing, but what follows from that, and then relates that to the practice of Tantra. It’s a very detailed book. There’s parts of it that are quite advanced and difficult, but it gives a very, very clear overview of what’s involved in the text.
And then there’s one other book that I can think of to recommend, and that is also edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. And it’s called Death, intermediate state, and rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism. That’s the subject of the tapes. We’ve got that on tape too. That’s what he talked about.
Yeah. He gave two days of lectures. Yeah. That’d be excellent. Yeah, Because the reason that that’s related to is that, remember we were talking about Tantra as within Tantra there’s the transformation of death into the clear light experience, intermediate state into the, you know, the sambhogakaya, complete enjoyment body experience, and rebirth into the nirmanakaya or emanation body experience.
So this book gives a very good understanding of the basis which is being transformed. So if you have that basis, then you’re in a much better position to know what’s being transformed. So even though the book itself isn’t specifically Tantric, It does contain a lot of material which is part of the Tantric tradition, comes from the Tantric tradition. There’s a lot of very, very, very basic material on that. Some of it, a fair portion of it, is also repeated in clear light bliss.
There’s quite areas of overlap between that book and the other. And then all of those books have bibliographies, so you can use the bibliographies from those books for further works. And eventually, if I get a combination of free time and energy, then there will be a book out by Lama Yeshe. The tentative title is Introduction to Tantra by Lama Yeshe. Its probable title will be Vision of Totality vision of totality, and that will be an introduction to Tantra.
And that will be selections from the various teachings he gave in which he talks about some of the major topics of Tantra. And that will be a very, you know that that work will be designed not to be very advanced and obtrusive, but but much more accessible. Hopefully, it be out next year. Okay. So are there any points from from this weekend that you’d like to clarify a bit more or open up for discussion before the final meditation?
Pride? I think I think pride becomes a delusion when it’s it it gives rise to a certain kind of condescension towards others. One can realistically appreciate, for instance, that one is healthy and another is sick, or that one is richer and the other person is poor. But when one begins to despise another person because of that difference, then that’s pride. And also, there’s another way of understanding pride too.
One of the biggest Geshe Doga was mentioning this a lot very recently in this course I’ve been a Lam Rim course that I attended. And he said one of the biggest drawbacks of pride is that it’s an attitude which prevents us from learning more. In other words, pride is a puffed up, self satisfied feeling that automatically closes our mind towards receiving more knowledge, more wisdom. So we can judge whether we’re under the influence of pride if we have this tendency of turning off, you know, feeling, oh, we already know it. Know, I’ve heard Lam Rim a hundred times, why sit through a hundred and first, I already know it.
That kind of attitude, that’s pride. But the attitude which says, well, a year ago, I didn’t didn’t know anything about Rim, and now I know something about Lam Rim. That’s not pride. That’s just an accurate assessment of what’s happening. There’s a there’s an excellent American teacher, an American monk named I don’t know if he’s ever been to this part of the world.
And then the American his English name is Alan Wallace, but most people know him as Champa, Gelong Champa. Has he ever been around here? Has he ever come here? Excellent, excellent teacher. He’s if you ever get a chance for him to to visit, he’s the most excellent person.
What school is he? What would he do? He studied his major teachers were Geshe Rabten, Geshe Dhargyey. Those are his major teachers. But he also studied with the dialectical school in Dharmasala.
So this is Gelugpa? Yeah. I don’t know if it’s exclusively that. I don’t know if all his teachers are from the group of Jewish, but he certainly is fine. At least some of his teachers are fine.
But he’s excellent. He’s also a translator, very skilled translator. And that’s the reason why I brought him up. Was private, you’re just talking about? One of the benefits of studying dharma is you get this track like memory.
Anyway, it’s gone. It’ll come back. Any other? Is there any other? One small thing there.
Why a seed syllable? Why syllable? Usually, I think it comes from the fact that in the Tantric practice, you know, from the dharmakaya level, there’s this clarity, this clear open space, then in it the first thing that appears often is a syllable, like a letter, like PAM is free, and then the free itself transforms into the deity. So the seed from which the Deity arises is referred to as a seed syllable for that reason. Now why this is also called the seed syllable, I’m not actually sure, except that in see the description given here has been a very very general one.
But for instance if one practices specific tantras like the tantras of Heruka or Vajrayoginī, then this has a particular shape and is of a syllable. Often it’s called the short ah, so it has the sound of ah. So for that reason it’s called that. But here in this description it’s called the seed, it’s only visualized like a small seed or an AH. It relates to that, I think.
Yeah. I think we if we’re you know, if this if there’s something appealing about the seed syllable meditation, then it should be incorporated, especially into morning practice. You know, that’s the best time, much better than any other time of the day. And it can be incorporated by leading into it through any of the other breathing techniques that we’ve done, and then try to develop it to the point where one touches on a deep feeling within the mind, you know, a deep feeling of what’s called bliss or warmth or whatever, and then just allow the mind to rest in that state. And then, without trying to do anything extra, but just letting the mind become conversant with this state, this deep, aware, blissful state, then by itself, certain types of intuitive wisdom will arise.
So it’s a matter of conditioning the mind, you know, to make that part of one’s experience. Then one of the things that it does is that the level of dissatisfaction and restlessness that we ordinarily feel will tend to diminish because we have access to something which is deeply satisfying. So it becomes an antidote to that general pervasive restlessness that a lot of us feel. But it’s it it isn’t realistic to expect too much just just from a few times. It’s really something that It’s quite important to do these meditations with as little expectation as possible.
Oh, sure. You know, it really is quite important. Even sometimes one of the worst things that could happen to us is to get off on it right away, because then what happens is that for the next several times we have such a strong expectation of getting off on it, that typically nothing happens. We have one great meditation in a week or a month of lousy. So it’s better really to progress quite slowly.
And so that’s what it is. It’s just repetition. So Yeah. So what you’re saying is that you would defy us the last twenty minutes satisfaction with the Yeah. With the Trying.
Yeah. And recognizing that the, you know, the different grossnesses that you’re getting rid of, and then just having satisfaction at the end. Right. Trying to have the mind You see, during this meditation, it’s quite important. In the beginning, we tend to be up here looking down at what’s happening, but the the goal is that the mind actually dwells in that seed syllable, So that the experience, whether it’s understood as an experience of warmth or an experience of bliss, that experience becomes the mind’s experience.
So there’s a lot of rehearsal that has to be done, but if it’s done kind of slowly and progressively, then then there’s some chance that something will arise after a period of time. You have to see for yourself though whether the balance of five minutes and fifteen minutes is good. It might be a matter of balance of ten and ten, you know, do preliminaries for a little bit longer, including something like motivation, and maybe not, You know, you have to see maybe fifteen minutes just on it. Maybe it’s too much. Maybe it’s too much squeezing.
Maybe something gentler. But the main point is consistency. Yes, sir. Doing it every day, you know, rather than, you know, when you’re really interested, then doing it, and when you’re not so interested, then forgetting about it. But just, you know, set aside that time that you can reasonably expect to be free every day, then doing it then, even if it’s only ten minutes.
Just to reply to all of us. Just to think. Yeah. All all all people who are going to do it. Anyone who wants to, yeah, to do it.
There’s no there’s no commitment. One doesn’t have to do it, but one gets a feeling one wants to, sure. Did you mention? Yes. In the sea meditation, is perception of color very important?
I mean For the tubes and stuff like that, you meant? That kind and also the surrounding area. I mean, you know, do you progress, or does it sort of the fact that you perhaps see one color really indicate something? You know, I mean, I just don’t understand. I see.
Well, certainly in the beginning, the color is not terribly important, and whether you try to visualize it one way or another is not significant. They do say that later on, when a certain level of sensitivity is reached, then certain colors spontaneously come up, and these can mean something, but you you need, you know, you need to be together with the Lama to be able to get the interpretation. Well, that’s basically what I meant was, you know, do the colors obviously have some significance? Yeah. They will.
They they will, but it’s not as if they’re written in a book. Have a certain relation of the Rama, then he can let you know whether they’re significant or not, but they would be. And then see also, like, at more advanced levels, this is something that can be taken on and on and on, and at more advanced levels, one visualizes other syllables in addition to the one enabled at the various chakras, and each of them has their own respective color and so forth. Is there also some significance in the fact that perhaps in certain areas, visualization seems to cut out? Yeah.
Not a block, but a cut out, and then it’s very hard to visualize, say, the end of that, or it sort of seems to foam. Yeah. No, these have to do with blockages. These are blockages. They are blockages.
Are blockages, generally speaking. Notice in all forms of meditation, especially this one, that there are certain times that we’re treading on kind of dangerous areas. I don’t mean to be frightening when I say the word dangerous, but dangerous in the sense that some sensitivity, some ego sensitivity is being encroached upon. And in the beginning, the strength of that ego sensitivity is more than the strength of our practice. So we get to a certain area, and suddenly the mind shuts down, doesn’t want to go any further.
You know? How do you go from that? Just continuing? It’s just it’s just continuing. It’s just continuing.
Will you see the manifest I mean, obviously, if it sort of fades out in a certain area, there must be some mind related sort of mind block there. Mhmm. I mean, obviously, when you unblock that, they they would they have to be in. Well, you can actually feel it. It can vary.
Some people feel a real catharsis. They can even burst out to tears and really feel that they’ve gotten rid of something. Other times, it’s something that has to be worked on to continue again and again. Not a simple answer to it. But it isn’t surprising if sudden emotional states will arise that one hasn’t been in for a while, not just in this meditation, in any meditation, you actually start getting down to very sensitive points.
So that’s why it’s good to proceed slowly and gradually, you know, not to participate in any, you know, violent upheavals, but just to do it in a kind of gradual way, being able to incorporate. Like sometimes people do practices, and then at night they’ll have very strong dreams, and the meanings of those dreams will be quite obvious. You don’t have to take it to a psychologist or someone, but suddenly something will appear, and one has now incorporated something that has been in one’s being for a long time, but was never integrated, and often in a dream it will come clear. So that kind of thing happens to meditators as well. They start getting in touch with these subtler energies, and the seed syllable meditation, by bringing up this intuitive wisdom, and just allowing the mind to dwell in it, things will come up.
All kinds of things will come up. And sometimes the integration process is a bit painful, but, you know, you just have the fortitude to continue on with it, because it’s in the long run, it’s helpful. Well, yeah, within certain limits, I think, that sometimes the only way to practice reasonably is to have periods of time for retreat, and then during one’s ordinary life, to have a shorter period of time just to keep the engine running, to keep the battery charged. It doesn’t require so much time just to keep the battery charged. To really get in and taste something, then occasionally you have to give yourself periods of blocks of time, you know, take out a week or two weeks or whatever, try to immerse oneself in a particular technique, and then when one doesn’t have that time, then just keep up the energy, you know, through a mantra practice or something like that, something that keeps keeps the continuity there.
You’re more encouraging than you rather blithely talked about taking off two or three months. If you can take two or three months each year Well, that’s ideal if you can do something like that, but our life is so hard to do things like that. But you can when Lama Yeshe was giving courses, he tried to emphasize the fact that you could get a taste of an experience in one week or in two weeks, and then, know, you can devote yourself to it, you know, you can build up on that. You can definitely build up. But it always has to be balanced with realities of your everyday life.
But it shouldn’t be an excuse that because the everyday life is busy that there’s no ability to practice, because that’s not true. There are certain ways of abbreviating and simplifying the practice that can be done even in a weekend, even in a day. But the question comes how deep an immersion is possible. And that varies from person to person. Generally, it requires more time.
I think the simplest, most direct advice is to cultivate an awareness of one’s own mind. In other words, try to set a watch on one’s activities to realize that everything we do is motivated. Sometimes the motivation is very vague, sometimes it’s confused, sometimes it’s base, sometimes it’s positive, but it’s all motivated, that nothing that we experience suddenly springs into existence out of nothing, but we’re constantly preparing ourselves. We’re constantly preparing ourselves for our for the experiences we’re having, so to watch the mind as it grasps, you know, as it as it’s on the lookout, as it thirsts, and merely observe that it’s doing that. And by the process of observation, by occasionally asking yourself, Why am I doing that?
Just by doing that, a certain level of objectivity, a certain level of distance is gained. And a lot of habits, which previously held us very compulsively, a lot of them can be broken by interjecting into this objective space, interjecting something positive. But I wouldn’t immediately suggest trying to interject something positive. The immediate suggestion would be just to observe what is actually happening, largely because the habits tend to be unconscious, our behavior tends to be unconscious. We are driven by motives, but they stay on a very unconscious level most of the time.
So I think that would be the simplest and most direct advice. So maybe we can end. With a meditation. What I think I’d like to do is have a meditation, not a terribly long one, less than fifteen minutes, but something on the order of the metta, or the love meditation that we did the other day. So the way I would suggest proceeding, as usual, to calm the mind through the breathing technique, technique.
And then by using the power of imagination, and starting with oneself, actually see the transformation from unsatisfactoriness to a feeling of well-being, mental and physical. And with an appreciation of the happiness that’s experienced in that way, then try to emulate try to emulate the sun in the sense of radiating this white light energy of happiness to one’s neighbor and beyond, and actually feel the effect. Observe beings as they change from being confused to clear, from sick to healthy, from ignorant to knowledgeable, from insecure to secure, and allow the mind, one’s own mind, to be inspired by this change, thus allowing the radiance in one’s heart to grow and continue expanding the sphere of this love until one’s mind becomes universal. And then we can just proceed at our own pace. Now with the mind and the expansion of love, Think to dedicate whatever positive energy has been generated throughout the entire weekend so that all beings may be removed from their mental and physical suffering.
So that the spiritual guides, revealing true paths to higher rebirth, liberation, and enlightenment, be endowed with long and fruitful lifetime. That we ourselves may attain benevolent and qualified gurus in all future states of existence. That the precious teachings of Dharma continue to be a potent force, and that we ourselves, by progressively overcoming the hindrances, restricting the mind, eventually attain a state whereby we may effortlessly and spontaneously fulfill the wishes of others. Also, from my side, I hope that any of the things said this weekend by myself that may have been wrong or misleading, I hope all of these have left no trace on the mind. And anything that might have been said that was correct and helpful, may it serve as an inspiration, so that we may all receive these teachings once again from truly qualified spiritual guides, those who speak not merely from the memory of what they have heard, but from the depths of their own experience.