Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khyentse Rinpoche opens this 47-minute weekend teaching by challenging students’ habitual conceptualisation through the lens of visualization practice. He begins with a direct debate: if visualizing yourself as ordinary is itself visualization, why is visualizing yourself as Avalokiteśvara different? The answer—that the latter cultivates compassion and transforms habit rather than reinforcing delusion—anchors his discussion of the four tantric approaches to deity practice. He then walks through the foundational framework of base, path, and result, explaining how developing and completion meditation work together to purify extremes of nihilism and eternalism. Using Avalokiteśvara as his primary example, Rinpoche outlines the four tantra systems—Kriyā, Caryā, Yoga, and Highest Yoga—showing how each relates to different temperaments and practitioner habits. He covers practical distinctions: Kriyā’s emphasis on external purity and visualization of the deity as refuge-object versus Caryā’s deity-and-self visualization as peers; then moves to the higher tantras where the practitioner assumes the deity’s role entirely. Throughout, he stresses the necessity of a genuine guru-student relationship rooted in real affinity rather than ritual alone, illustrating the point through Milarepa’s discovery of his root teacher Marpa. The teaching is dense and technical, pitched at practitioners already engaged in deity practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 WR.mp3
UUID: d19ee550-c11c-462a-a15a-353e346b7482
Teacher: Khyentse Rinpoche
Collection: Weekend Retreat (Khyentse Rinpoche)
Date: 1986 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.1 minutes
Words: ~4,342
Thing. You have a habit. This is not a visualization. This is something solid. When you jump on me, you can touch me.
Something like that. Right? But actually, it is a visualization. It’s just your visualization, your imagination. Your mind is accustomed by the habit of calling man or a human to someone who has two ear, two eyes, one nose, and like that.
And then you visualize Avalokiteśvara. Actually, there’s no difference. This is also a visualization. But you make a difference because Avalokiteśvara with four arms, white color, that kind of thing you have never seen before. It is very hard for you to imagine yourself with four arms.
So what does this visualization do? It changes your habit. It changes You visualize yourself as somebody, yourself, yourself, constantly. And that doesn’t bring you anything because you think that you are an ordinary. Now you visualize yourself as Avalokiteśvara.
That is another visualization. But this visualization brings you more compassion. You see, that is the benefit of visualization. Any more debate? No debate.
Maybe I should ask the question. Okay. What do you think? If everybody every sentient beings got enlightenment and left one sentient being, and how will he increase his bodhicitta mind? How will he have compassion?
He has to get enlightenment. In order to get enlightenment, he has to have bodhicitta. In order to have bodhicitta, he has to have compassion. In order to have compassion, he has to have sentient beings to have compassion. But all the sentient beings got enlightenment.
Okay. That’s a very good answer. Then any other? But the problem is if he knows that these are only a manifestation of Buddha. Which one?
That’s good. Then? Like Devadatta seeing Buddha as not Buddha? But what happens if he knows that everybody’s Buddha except him. Doesn’t want, that means he accept it.
Right? Just a Yeah. But he has to have some compassion back, and he has no object of compassion. And he knows that everybody’s Buddha. Then he will he will think that I’m deceiving myself.
Don’t forget. My ask my question the aspect of my question is, if he knows everybody’s Buddha, doesn’t that make any sense? If knows everybody’s Buddha, and that means that he knows that there’s no enemy. No. If he knows that everybody is Buddha, that means that he knows there’s no enemy, so there’s no anger.
Yeah. There’s no relative, so there’s no desire. Which means that he was never a sentient being. So I’ve been I’ve been telling lies, you know. He has this equal equanimity.
He perceives everything is equal. But the problem is he perceive the object as a Buddha. Oh, yes. That is possible. If some are, you know, if there is some cause and conditions, but we are talking about this.
Not even one single cause and conditions that makes him angry. He knows that everybody’s Buddha. That that’s what I said. I my my question was strict. You know?
You can’t be a sentient being. But is there such a thing in the Kālacakra? But actually, all this discussion is just something that cannot be arise. There won’t be any last sentient being. Will there?
But we’ll have to hope that’s what we are trained that way. Pardon? Maybe who knows? Maybe who knows? You are the one.
In that case in that case, for you, then this question is never exist. Right? This question of what happens if everybody became buddha? That question is never exist within your view. You still perceive these people as not buddha.
Right? But maybe in the fact, you are only one thing that is left here. Right? But again, this is my perception. But you don’t agree with this.
They never want to be Buddha. Then? What do you mean? They don’t want to be Buddha because they want to help sentient beings? Yeah.
That that that is not something new. That is not something new. You decided that this flower is beautiful. Right? It’s exactly the same.
But everybody have they decided this is ugly. That doesn’t change the fact. So continue with Khenchen’s four teachings, our mind should enter to the Dharma. And for that, we have to practice four common foundation. And our Dharma practice should be successful.
For that, we should practice in common for the foundation. And that I’ve explained you already yesterday. And now today, the third, our defilements should be apart from the path. So for this, we need two special type of meditation, which is developing meditation and completion meditation. Now developing meditation involves lot of visualization.
When we talk about Buddhist practice, have sort of three different way of understanding. The base, path, and result. This is what we have to understand. Base where you practice and the path which you practice and the result of the practice itself. Base or sometimes we call it ground.
According to the Mahāyāna, the base is nondual of relative truth and ultimate truth. And path is nondual of wisdom and method, and result is nondual of dharmakaya and rupakaya. And according to the vajrayana, the base is nondual of appearance and empty emptiness. And path is nondual of developing meditation and completion stage. And result is same, dharmakaya and dharmakaya.
Nondual of dharmakaya and dharmakaya. So you can also say that developing meditation is for purifying the defilement of grasping and defilement that which comes from nihilistic sort of developing meditation is to purify the defilements of nihilistic or ultimate sort of emptiness. And practice of completion stage is to purify the defilement of eternalist, sort of grasping on the relative truth. Because as I said yesterday, for the practice of Buddhism, one should not be extreme to either side of relative truth or ultimate truth. If one is too extreme on a relative truth And if you don’t understand, that means if one is too extreme on the relative truth, that means one don’t understand the relative truth.
And then if we don’t understand the relative truth, one will never understand the ultimate truth. So for that reason, we have two kind of meditation, developing meditation and completion meditation. Now you can also say that developing meditation is to purify or to accumulate, I think, to accumulate rupakaya or nirmanakaya. Completion meditation is to accumulate dharmakaya. Now, accumulated is just an explanation.
Actually, there’s nothing to be accumulated in the essence, in the reality. As like sun today, it’s a sunny day. Sun is there. But yesterday, we said there was sort of we also sort of agreed it was not a sunny day. So it doesn’t mean that sun is not appeared in this earth yesterday.
The sun was there, but the thing is that cloud has covered the sun. So we have this expression of cloudy or sun is today there’s no sun, not a sunny day. So if you want to see sun, then we have to purify the cloud. And then automatically we say, Now there is sun, once we finish purifying the cloud. Accumulation actually is the aspect of purification.
Especially in Nyingma or Nyingma lineage, they believe that Buddha-nature, which exists within us, has all the quality of buddha and that cannot be produced by even one single even one single Buddha’s quality cannot be produced by our accumulation. It is always there. It’s already there. Only thing is that we have not realized, and for that realization aspect, we call accumulate the nirvana. Accumulate or attain the nirvana.
But actually, the nirvana is already within us from the beginningless time. But on the aspect of purification of temporal defilements, we call it attaining nirvana. Sort of something you have got new. You have newly gained nirvana. Anyway, for this reason, we need this non dual method of completion and developing.
First, why these two two is nondual, developing meditation and completion? It’s because each of the developing has its own completion. Because it’s For example, if you’re beginning if you begin something, then that begin also has its own end. And if you end something, then that ending also have beginning. End of the beginning and beginning of the end.
So if you develop something, it has its own completion of that developing. And if you complete something, it has its own developing of complete complete completing something. So here in in most of the vajrayana practice, you will find lot of developing meditation. Now let us you know, I I really don’t know what kind of, you know, deity you usually practice. So I will just talk generally taking Avalokiteśvara as an example.
Since Avalokiteśvara is quite popular, you know, almost everybody know how to chant. I will take Avalokiteśvara developing meditation as example today. Okay, now first, whatever we develop. For example, we develop ourselves. We visualize ourselves.
Now this also we have, you know, in tantra, in vajrayana Buddhism, have four type of vajrayana Buddhism. Four type category or four type of method. Kriyā, Caryā, and Yoga and Anu Yoga Tantra. The highest yoga tantra. Kriyā Tantra or sort of the lowest or don’t know.
Law is not a good word. Do you have any other word? Kriyatantra. First, but then you don’t have to think so. You don’t have to practice Kriyatantra first.
Anyway, maybe I explain you, you will understand. Okay. In kriyatantra, you visualize the deity in front of you and yourself as an ordinary being who is deluded by all the ignorance, who has all the suffering, and who wants to get away from this suffering, and who wants to purify this delusion. And you take refuge under this certain deity. So then according to the kriyatantra, you visualize the deity in front of you and you think he is sort of your protector or the object of refuge as a boss, you as an attendant.
You understand? That is the kriyatantra. And for that reason, generally speaking, like Nyungne, fasting. Have you ever done this? Yeah.
Fasting. And this kind of this kind of practice mostly comes from kriyatantra. But it doesn’t all the nyungne doesn’t has to be kriyatantra because they are and I don’t know much about because I don’t know talks not fasting. You see? In Anu Yoga tantra, if you fast or if you torture your body, then there’s something wrong there.
Anyway, you will notice later on. But there’s no conflict again between the kriyā tantra and Anu Yoga Tantra. Anyway, according to the kriyā tantra, deity is in front of you or something different from you. For that reason, they also depend a lot on image. Image.
They put image as a object of your visualization. And they have offerings, and they most of the Kriyā Tantra, they avoid meat and alcohol, garlic, and this kind of thing. And they have lots of fasting and taking baths. Purification, lots of purification. Lots of outer purification as well as inner purification.
Lots of washing the face, washing the mouth, washing hand to be clean, you know, cleanness. It is also said that Buddha has taught this Kriyā tantra for the sentient beings who has similar habit of Brahman. The Brahman, are very careful about untouchable things. They’re very careful about not going to barber’s place or not going to shoemaker’s place. No obscuration.
They they have lots of this obscuration, concept of obscurations, and they only drink milk that comes from somewhere, I don’t know, sort of very clean, you know. They don’t even and that is actually good. I think we if we can do that, that we should do also because, for example, the Brahmins are Brahmins Most of the Brahmins I don’t mean these days, almost all the Brahmins of these days because these days there are lots of artificial brahmanas also. And there are also this family brahman. I’m not talking about those.
I’m talking about the practitioner, the brahmanas. They really avoid taking meat or garlic or wine because these are the substance that obscure you. And they avoid going and having contact with sort of obscured way. Sort of like butcher or a different race. For example, this happened many times in India because I have lots of Indian friends and sometimes Brahmin.
And then they don’t want us to come into their bedroom, sort of, because we eat ox meat or cow’s meat, you know. And then for them, that is terrible. And then should not come inside with leather shoe or leather bag, like that kind of thing. They are very, very careful about that. Anyway, they try to avoid all this kind of substance or environment that obscure you.
And they one of their main practices to tell the truth. Whatever happens, they tell the truth. No lie. That is the also call it which means the truth teller. So this is a very, amazing practice.
Of course, if you talk about the highest vajrayana, Anutala Yoga, these are unnecessary. You know, people usually despise, oh, this is this is very bad. People usually take it as a casting, you know, casting casting Oh, yeah. Majority of brahmanas also take it as a caste. But inner practice of brahman is very good.
Their main practice is sort of to tell the truth, to avoid the cheating and lying. So, even in buddhist prayers, when we make a prayer, sometimes you can find there are some prayers to those truth teller, Brahman’s, of prayer or to invoke them. Please, Brahman’s, help me. Because you have It is said that if you tell only the truth and if you have no lie, if you haven’t lied for many lifetimes or even for many days or many years, the power of the word will be very strong. So even you chant a mantra, most of the time when we chant a mantra, there’s not so much result because there is obscurations of mouth.
You know? We have speak lot of fake things, always tell lies, cheat people, and like that. So your mantra is also some part of your cheating, you see. So there’s not so much power. So if you only tell the truth, then that truth, that word from that person comes very true.
So this is why even you will know in the Hindu stories, those Brahmins, if they get angry to you, they can curse you and that curse can come. You see, their curse can come truly. You see, because of the power of the speech power of the speech. And that we believe in Buddhism also. For example, Buddha never once, nobody has ever disobeyed Buddha’s word.
Why? Because for hundred and hundred and thousand kalpas, he has never told any lie. So that’s why he has power of speech. So whatever he talks, it is obeyed by any different type of sentient beings. So you see, the Brahman’s, they have this kind of concept, which is very, very good.
And for those kind of for those who has habit of this kind of thing, kriyā tantra was taught. It is said. It is believed like that. Anyway, in the Kriyā Tantra, choosing the place is also very important. Like near Ganga river, near some stream, near spring, or somewhere very nice place, clean place.
Room also has to be cleaned. And the shrine offering, lots of offering, and then dates like full moon or new moon or that kind of thing. Lots of things got to do with that. And not contacting with this is very important in the Kriyatana. Actually, sometimes I feel that in this degeneration time we should practice kriyatantra more than any yoga tantra.
Because people Most of the people, westerners or easterners or all the Buddhists, they always aim high. I want Dzogchen teaching. I want Mahāmudrā teaching. I want Mahāmudrā. I want the great emptiness.
And then they go to one lama. If they made a good lama, then that’s very good. They made a good guru because good gurus are like a very good cook, you know. They can cook you very well. Good gurus are very good.
They can cook very well. Can cook you very well. Result, if if he is if he is the best guru, if he is the best guru, which is best cook, then he can cook you well. You know? That is the aim, you know?
But then, good guru. Guru is this tsa-wa lama. Do you know this word tsa-wa lama or root guru? This I told you yesterday also. We have this root lama.
For many of in this modern world, modern age, we are taught to be independent. So people really, most of the people don’t like to depend on somebody. That is a little bit sad because practice of Dharma is different. Of course, you should be independent if you travel or something like that, but this is something different. We need inner respect.
We need this loyalty to the guru. We need this devotion. It’s like I think it is almost, I don’t know, but I think it is something like marriage and love. Love is much more deeper than marriage. Marriage is just a ceremony.
These days, to be to become a student or to be your guru, people expect for some ceremony, sort of cut your piece piece of your hair, take refuge, and then, okay, he’s my guru. But then, I don’t know, that can become guru because that is another method. But root guru, there are lots of different types of definition of root guru. But one of the best, I think, is a guru or whoever, you don’t have to call a guru, anybody, a beggar, robber, thief, prostitute, anyone who someone who can introduce you, your mind, tells someone who can show you the path to get liberation and to get nirvana. By his or her showing this method, and if you have affinity and if you know that now this path can bring me to the liberation, and if you experience, then it means that this person is your guru.
For example, Milarepa went to, this famous Milarepa, he went to a Dzogchen lama first. And he received lots of teachings, but nothing happened. And then Mila Repa said, I have nothing happened for me. Not even one thing happened. I’m stubborn as before.
And then and then this lama thought, okay. Now this is not my student. So out of his omniscience, he told to Milarepa, it seems that you don’t have affinity with me. He told, this lama has taught lots of Dzogchen teaching to Milarepa. They didn’t do anything.
And then he said, okay, it seems that there is your lama is Marpa Lotsawa who has so much affinity with you from the beginning for many lifetimes. So you better go to southern Tibet and meet this lama, Marpa Lotsawa. Never heard of him. Marpa Lotsawa.
Never heard of him. But at that time, when this lama, Dzogchen lama, told that you you are guru. You are the guru who has affinity with you. It’s Marpa Lotsawa. And when he talks this when he mentioned this name, all his hair, Milarepa’s hair stood up, sort of.
You know? That means that there is some link. And then At that night, Milarepa went to southern Tibet. When he reached to south Tibet where Marpa Lotsawa is there, he was searching for Marpa Lotsawa. First he met a farmer who was actually Marpa Lotsawa himself, but disguised as a farmer, ploughing fields.
He didn’t recognize, but then when he saw this farmer, he had so much different feeling and so much closeness. And then later on, he realized that this farmer was Marpa Lotsawa. And then what did this Marpa Lotsawa do? He didn’t taught. He didn’t do anything.
He tortured Milarepa. The Dzogchen lama, the previous lama was very nice. He taught. He gave lots of teachings, but nothing happened. And he wanted to go.
Milarepa wanted to go. Milarepa, he thought, This is useless. This is really wasting time. Now this time, Marpa Lotsawa, instead of teaching, he was torturing him. But still he wanted to stay there.
You see? So guru has to do something. Guru has to be like that. Guru cannot be sort of appointed. Sort of someone can’t say, okay, he is your guru.
You are his guru. Sort of like I think so. But that can be also done. Because if it is necessary, that can be also done. But most of the time, a guru has to have some affinity with you, and you have to have some link with him.
And then guru doesn’t have to be sort of rich or high ranked because high rank and positions or richness richness won’t have to get enlightenment. Guru doesn’t have have to be old or matured or whatever because the wrinkles doesn’t have to get enlightenment. The guru doesn’t have to be young because muscles doesn’t have doesn’t get it. Have to get enlightenment. And guru doesn’t have to be a Tibetan or whoever.
Guru can be anybody. But again, you see, we have to be careful to put in fit in the society. You see? So where are we? Where are we?
About the Caryā tantra. Right? So then And kriyatantra, among the kriyatantra, you won’t find a lot of these male and female concept deities together. Most of the deities from the Kriyā Tantras are like Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Tārā, Cittamani, Hayagrīva, single ones, but not with a consort. This is the Kriyā Tantra practice.
What they do, first they take refuge, then they generate bodhicitta, and then they chant or This mantra. This mantra sort of mantra is involve Mantra is emptiness. Mantra sort of it while changing this mantra, we think that everything is emptiness, nothingness from the beginningless time. And then out of the emptiness in front of you, you as a very ordinary being who wants to seek who wants to attain enlightenment, then you visualize in front of a lotus or something, a moon disc or sun disc. That depends with the wrathful deity or peaceful deity.
If you are visualizing Avalokiteśvara, then a lotus, moon disc, and then a letter seed, and the letter seed becomes Avalokiteśvara. And then according to the Kriyatantra, you also should have an image of Avalokiteśvara. Then visualize that image as a real Avalokiteśvara. Then you do prayers. You recite the mantras.
And then after some after certain practice, after, you know, after certain amount of your practice, when you want to stop, then you stop. And when you finally want to stop all, then you request to remain on that image forever. Like that kind of thing. So this is what we call This is sort of a typical kriyatantra practice. Kriyā.
Actually, yeah, it doesn’t matter. Then we have now a little bit higher, supposed to be higher, Caryā tantra. Caryā tantra is not so much different from Kriyā tantra. But in some Caryā tantra, meats are allowed. You can eat meat or something like that.
But most of the Caryā tantra is similar to kriyā tantra. The big difference is in jarya tantra, deity, you visualize deity in front of you, and you visualize yourself also deity. And now not deity not as a boss, but as your friend. And then taking attainment or taking blessings from a friend, something like that. You see?
Visualize yourself as a deity and others also deity. So this is the jarya tantra. Then it has got lots of things to do with the lots of activity. Caryā actually means activity, you see. So then there comes fire puja, lots of fire puja, and then purification puja such as washing.
And then these are Caryā tantra anyway. We are still talking of the developing meditation. Then oneself develop Avalokiteśvara in front of you. One self also develop as Avalokiteśvara. Like that.
And now, do you do sometimes any puja or any sort of practice in a group? What do you do? What? Yeah. That’s quite good.
This is why I thought you should be doing Kriyā tantra. I think it must be a new yoga tantra. And you become a child. Then is there anything that has got to do with With the consort, Heruka Heruka Vajrasattva with consort.
So I if it seems that you are familiar with the Vajrasattva practice. I see. With four arms. This is more like a Some of you do Heruka Vajrasattva. Yeah?
Okay. Because I need to give you some example, you see? And if I talk about something other like, hey, vajra or that I can’t even talk here. But even I talk, you will have you will be confused. Then Caryā tantra.
And then yoga tantra is now much more sort of higher. Yoga tantra and any yoga tantra or the highest yoga tantra. Now this is what you are practicing, this Vajrasattva with a consort, go to do with consort. This is sort of highest yoga tantra. At that time, you are sort of boss.
You see? Now it is completely changed. So it is also said that anu yoga tantra, the highest yoga tantra, is taught to the sentient beings who has a similar habit of ordinary beings, which means that ordinary beings This is something going to do. This is very much influenced by Indian system, you see. In India, they have all this caste, brahman, king, ministers, and then ordinary.
Ordinary, like when they talk ordinary ordinary like shoemaker or like barbers, they do they eat everything, meat, garlic, everything. And then they contact with everybody. And they’re supposed to be sort of very if you want to put in a good word, they’re flexible. And if they want to put in a bad word, they are naughty sort of, you know.