Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute introduction, Kyabje Rinpoche opens with two stories that expose tantric misconceptions: a student who received Vajrasattva empowerment thinks he has no impurities to purify; another visualizing as Dorje Jigje can’t pour tea because his arms hold implements. Both show that tantric visualization is imaginative, not literal reality. He contrasts sūtra and tantra: sūtra pacifies gross faults through discipline and meditation; tantra addresses subtle faults. Mantra protects the mind from ordinary appearances through divine visualization, he explains. Tantra is the resultant vehicle—we bring Buddhahood’s qualities into the path now. The talk covers essentials: completed preliminaries, a graduated path through three disciple capacities, the empowerment ceremony where genuine engagement matters (not passive attendance), and the binding vows that follow. Aimed at those preparing for tantric practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-02-25 – 3A – Introduction to Tantra – KR.mp3
UUID: cfc41baa-051b-4332-ba43-4f27fbc053a7
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Tantra Introduction
Date: 1989-02-25
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,702
You know, in which I told the story about one student who attended a Vajrasattva empowerment. Having received the Vajrasattva empowerment, now I’m Vajrasattva. And, you know, we used the that practice to make to do a purification reciting the 100 syllable mantra. And he said, well, you know, I’m Vajrasattva, I don’t have any impurities. Therefore why bother practicing?
So then the teacher said, you know, that this is for to think that you’re Vajrasattva, you aren’t really Vajrasattva, this is for a meditational practice that in fact you have impurities. But we’re using this meditation as a means to remove these impurities. So Rinpoche says that, you know, that we’re in the case of we’re engaging in these various visualizations, meditations, that these are, you know, that you should concern yourself with your individual meditation practice, that these are actually only imaginative practices. They’re not, we’re not in fact this deity. We’re seeking to become that deity, but in, it’s an imaginative practice in this meditation and that you shouldn’t worry about, you know, you’re concerned about your own meditation and not worry about the how others are how it’s affecting other people.
You know, how that’s for yourself. It’s your practice, your meditation practice, and not to be concerned or worried about how it’s affecting other people. So we should be concerned with others from the point of view of developing compassion and love, wanting to bring them happiness and remove their suffering. This is difficult. So there’s a story about one lama who was giving an empowerment.
It’s quite usual during the empowerments to have many tea breaks and, you know, people, they everybody drinks tea. And one of the students who was attending the empowerment was in the process of visualizing himself as a Dorje Jigje. Dorje Jigje has many arms and each of the arms he holds an implement in his hand. He holds a wheel, an arrow, spear, many different implements. Every hand is filled with some implements, even though he has many hands.
And so usually one of the students helped to pour the tea. So he went to go pour the tea but he found that all of his hands were filled up with all these implements. So he went to the teacher and he said, Now which hand should I use to pour the tea with? And the teacher said, Your hands really aren’t filled that they’re really empty and you can just take all of it with your hands. Question?
So we’re talking about discussing secret mantra. And when we in the term secret mantra, the word secret refers to the fact that that the teachings of of secret mantra are not to be revealed and that they ready are to be carried on in private. With respect to the meaning of mantra, within the two areas of the two vehicles of sūtra vehicle and the tantric vehicle, With respect to the activities of body, speech, mind, the various types of actions that we engage in, that sūtra is mainly concerned with the cessation of destructive actions of body and speech. So within the sūtra vehicle, the course bodily non virtues or destructive actions are subdued or brought to cessation through the practices of the moral disciplines that is the Vinaya, and the practices of meditative stabilization, a calm abiding. And the the course the course destructive actions of the mind are brought about are are pacified through meditative the higher trainings in meditative meditative stabilization and wisdom.
So these bodily these defects of body, speech and mind obviously I made a mistake initially when I said that sūtra is mainly concerned with only body and physical and verbal or body and speech. It also includes mind but it’s mainly concerned with the subduing or the pacifying the course faults of body, speech and mind. The course faults of body, speech and mind through these various through the moral discipline, calm abiding and the meditative stabilization, higher training and wisdom. Whereas within the tantric vehicle, there is there is the pacification of the subtle faults of body, speech and mind. So, within the tantric vehicle we are mainly is mainly directed at the the pacification of the subtle faults of of body, speech, mind.
Now the word mantra, the essential meaning of the word mantra is that which protects the mind. Now, what what is it that mantra is able to protect us from? What is it how What does it protect the mind from? It protects the mind from ordinary appearances. That is the ordinary the various ordinary appearances of the world.
It does this through the cultivation or by meditating on the supported that is the deities, ourselves as a divine being, and the supporting that is our environment as being non ordinary. This is this is why the mantra vehicle is often referred to as the resultant vehicle. That is to say we take while we’re still involved in the paths of training, we take the fruit or the effect of the vehicle that is the actual place and the place and qualities of Buddhahood and bring them into the path into the present situation. So therefore, it’s often referred to as the resultant vehicle, taking the result into the path itself while still training. So in order to actually gain entrance into this vehicle, we must it’s the only doorway is the empowerment.
We must receive an empowerment that is initiation. And as we have explained that according to the various levels of tantra, are various empowerments or initiation. We’ve talked about the four levels that is action, performance, yoga and highest yoga Tantras. If we just simply take an example of action tantra by receiving an empowerment with an Action tantra, this empowers us or gives us permission whereby we are able to engage in practices of that path. We’re able to read the text, study the text concerning that particular tantra.
We’re able we’re allowed to recite the mantra of that particular tantra. So in each of the the levels of tantra, it’s necessary to attain the permission to be able to engage in their practices. You know, within, as we explained, within the action tantra, this also applies to performance tantra. By receiving the empowerment, we are allowed to engage in the practices of that particular path. If we do not receive the empowerment, then we are not allowed to engage in these practices.
The same for yoga tantra, engaging in the various rituals of yoga tantra, and again for highest yoga tantra, meditating on the deities, reciting the mantras, etcetera, is the empowerment which is the giving of permission allowing us to engage in these practices. So for each of the the levels of tantra, we it’s necessary for us to receive a a an empowerment. As a prerequisite for actually receiving the empowerment, it’s necessary to have completed the preliminaries. Once having completed the preliminaries, then we are allowed to receive the empowerment. Upon having received the empowerment, then there are various pledges and vows according to each of the deities which is necessary to uphold.
Having having received the empowerments and having received the empowerments, having received the the the upholding the the pledges and vows, then we resort to an isolated place and and perform the retreat reciting the required number of mantras of of the of each of the respective deities. Having in retreat situation, we’re completing the required number of recitations of mantra with along with the the associated contemplations. Then having upon completion of that, we engage in a we perform a fire offering, a burnt offering or fire offering. And the reason that we perform the fire offering at the is to be able to accomplish the powerful attainments or these siddhis, siddhis of the respective deities. There are two types of siddhis.
There are the common and uncommon siddhis. Within the common siddhis there are the four, peace, the siddhis of peace, activity, control, the what’s the fourth? Increase. Those aren’t very good translations, but they’ll do for now. I’ll check up.
Increase. And then the so there are four common types of powerful attainments. And then the one, the uncommon type of powerful attainment that is the supreme powerful accomplishment, attainment, or siddhi is Buddhahood. So if we take if we exemplify these four common powerful accomplishments. The first was peace and if we use as the basis of having performed the the retreat on White Tārā.
That through this practice and with the completing ceremony of the fire offering that we attain the uncommon powerful accomplishment of peace and this would involve the peace is the pacification of any life obstacles such that we are able to gain a long life. The increase would be would be the increase in our positive potential. The control would be that we’re able to bring about a to collect around ourselves a retinue and be able to influence other people, a retinue of the circle of disciples. And we’re able to exert influence over them. And then the the last is wrath.
What did I say? Activity. This would no. I’m sorry. When I said exert influence over others, just let me straighten this out.
Okay. Yeah. I said activity. I think I think I’m right this second time around. Okay?
Peace and then increase and control and that’s why I’m substituting control for activity before and then now it should be wrath, wrath and this involves the power of overcoming one’s enemies eliminating the the control, the So, the elimination of one’s enemies through the through the power of wrath. So, these So, there’s peace, increase, control and wrath as the four common special four common powerful attainments. Then the uncommon special attainment is the is the state of Buddhahood. In order to actually accomplish these powerful attainments well, it’s necessary to have an have as a preliminary completed the the retreat in in accordance with all the prerequisites of that retreat in accordance with the rules or the regulations of that particular retreat and then perform the and perform the fire offering. Then before we’re able to do that, then we have to have received the empowerment and to be keeping our vows and pledges.
And before we’re able to receive the the empowerment, we must be a suitable vessel, a proper disciple, a student. So as a preliminary to as as the way of becoming a proper vessel or a correct student who is who has the capacity to actually receive the empowerment, one should have a have exposure I guess for now exposure to the graduated path. One should have received teachings on the graduated path. That is the one should have progressed through the three capacities of disciples, of students, that is to say the small capacity, middling capacity and great capacity. And one should have a, best one should have actually generated the awakening heart, bodhicitta, but even without that one should have at least a sense or some feeling for the three principal aspects of the path, having a feeling for these three capacities.
And this enables you, empowers you to, be a proper vessel in order to receive empowerment. Previous to having previous to actually attaining the level of the great, being of great capacity, we must attain the level of the being of middling capacity. And this is, the being of great capacity is the actual development of the awakening heart. Previous to that, we developed the being of middling capacity and that is the desire to be liberated from cyclic existence. And as preliminary to developing the the the capacity of the middling being, that is the developing a desire to be liberated from cyclic existence altogether, we must attain level of the capacity of initial level or small capacity.
And this is that having putting more emphasis on future lives as compared to the present life. Of the two, the present life and future lives, we more emphasis and more effort is made in bringing about happiness for future lives. And between the two worldly pursuits and spiritual pursuits, that more emphasis is placed upon spiritual pursuits. So, having proceeded in this fashion of the three developing the capacity of the three levels of beings, having contemplated and studying the studied the dharma, one approaches a fully qualified vajra master who one has faith in and requests empowerment. So, having, requested initiation or empowerment from from a qualified Vajra master, one actually, attends the empowerment ceremony.
In order that we are able to actually attain the the empowerment, it’s more than a matter of sitting there. It’s a matter it’s it’s more than simply a matter of attending the ceremony. One must actually engage in the in the empowerment itself. The the master will give various instructions, give various explanations. For example, in if if it’s an action tantra, then he it’s necessary that we take the Bodhisattva Vows, and he will explain the Bodhisattva Vows, and these should be listened to well and thought about what is the meaning of these.
Additionally, he or she, the Vajra Master, will give various instructions on visualization practices, and we should not it’s necessary to the best of one’s ability to seek to engage in these various visualizations, these these various our imagination. And this is the way we actually attain the empowerment. If we simply sit there without making any effort from our side to to receive the empowerment, we will not receive it. So if we simply attend the the empowerment ceremony with, you know, kind of space out, then we will not attain the empowerment. We actually have to, you know, if we don’t listen and we don’t try to perform to the best of our ability the instructions as as being given by the by the Vajra master, then we will not we will not attain the empowerment and not having attained the empowerment, we will not receive the capacity to be able to actualize the goal of that particular tantra.
So so in attending the empowerment ceremony, it’s very necessary that that we listen well and that we make effort throughout the entire ceremony. It’s not sufficient to only receive make effort during part of the ceremony. For example, in the receiving a an action tantra, empowerment, there are three initiations which are given the water, flower and crown initiations. If we receive one and we don’t receive the other two, then we aren’t we haven’t received the capacity to accomplish the fruit of that particular deity. Likewise, if we receive two of the three, we have, we don’t receive the capacity.
We have to receive the complete, in order to receive the complete empowerment we must receive, attain all three, in this case, initiations or empowerment to complete in order to have the complete potency or capacity. So So we must, obviously, we must listen very carefully and try to follow the ceremony very carefully. And, you know, it becomes, especially apparent when we go up into the the higher levels of tantra when there’s more initiations being given. For example, within performance tantra we’re taking six initiations. We’re taking the flower, water, crown, vajra, bell and word initiations.
So, and we must receive all six of these completely. So, also before receiving the empowerment, we must perform we must investigate the lama, the Vajra, the Tantric lama who we’re going to receive the empowerment from and investigate to as to see whether we can actually follow the instructions of such a teacher that we it shouldn’t be we shouldn’t just run into this blindly, but it’s necessary to involve involves investigation as to whether this lama is fully qualified or not, whether we’re going to be able to follow his instructions or not or her instructions. Once having received a an empowerment from a from a lama, then if we were to become a do you know, later on, if we were to become angry at that person, then this would be a cause for being reborn in Vajra Hell.