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Our founder His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche taught that serious Dharma practitioners should aspire to receive higher tantric practices to make the most of our precious human life — to progress spiritually, to prepare for our next rebirth, and ultimately to achieve enlightenment in the fastest time possible.
Rinpoche was a strong advocate of Vajrayogini’s practice, in accordance to the tradition set forth by our lineage master His Holiness Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche. Pabongka Rinpoche explained that Vajrayogini’s practice is the best fit for practitioners of our time. In brief, this is due to her efficacy, brevity of practice, easier commitments, and the fact that modern lay practitioners are often too busy to engage in lengthy daily sadhanas (meditational prayers).
Rinpoche further explained that during the Kaliyuga, or the degenerate times, certain tantras that Buddha taught over 2,500 years ago have become much more potent over time. Among these are the set of Highest Yoga Tantras (Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantras) which include deities such as:
- Vajrayogini
- Heruka Chakrasamvara
- Yamantaka
- Cittamani Tara
- Chenrezig Gyalwa Gyatso
- Kalachakra
- Hevajra
These deities are more efficacious and their practices lead to quicker attainments during our degenerate era. These tantras are generally classified into two types — Mother Tantra and Father Tantra. Mother Tantra focuses more on clear light, while Father Tantra focuses on the generation of the illusory body. The tantras themselves are not defined by whether the deity is male or female but by the method through which we gain enlightenment — either through utilising the clear light methods or the illusory body methods. Within the class of Mother Tantras, one of the most supreme is Vajrayogini, and her practice is considered to be extremely powerful.
If you aspire to receive higher tantric practices in Kechara, here are some things you should know.
What is an initiation?
In order to engage in tantric practice, especially Highest Yoga Tantra, we must first receive the appropriate initiations or empowerments from a qualified guru. The initiation plants a special blessing in our mind, which is necessary to engage in the practice. We also receive the associated vows and commitments, which help our tantric meditations to be successful.
Tsem Rinpoche explained that during an initiation, a practitioner symbolically enters the mandala of the deity, and the lama arises as the actual deity and plants a special seed of bodhicitta in the practitioner’s mindstream. By holding their vows and commitments and engaging in the daily sadhana of the particular deity, the practitioner nurtures that seed to fruition — spiritual progress on the path to Buddhahood.
There is a difference between receiving initiations of lower tantric deities and higher tantric deities — in terms of commitments, sadhana length, complexity, etc. Higher tantric practices have more vows, more commitments, longer sadhanas and more complex visualisations. These require more from a practitioner but produce more far-reaching results compared to lower tantra.
Preparing for higher tantric practice
Tantric practice requires a firm foundation, without which we will not progress in our practice. Tsem Rinpoche always emphasised the importance of having a firm grounding in teachings and practices before embarking on the tantric path. Here are some guidelines to help you prepare.
1. Study
- Lamrim (Stages of the Path to Enlightenment)
We offer Lamrim classes over a two-year period based on the text called Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand which is an experiential guide to transformation according to Buddhist teachings. Before attending this programme, students must first complete the Buddhism for Beginners course.
Learn more: Dharma classes at Kechara
- Three Principal Aspects of the Path
Composed by Lama Tsongkhapa, this teaching summarises the three most important subjects outlined in the Lamrim — renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. Without at least an intellectual understanding of these three topics, tantric practice will not be effective.
Without renunciation, we cannot develop bodhicitta. The bodhicitta motivation is what actually makes tantric practice effective. In addition, without an intellectual understanding of emptiness, the most critical parts of the tantric sadhana will not be successful either.
Watch video:
→ Three Principal Paths Part 1 — Renunciation
→ Three Principal Paths Part 2 — Bodhicitta
→ Three Principal Paths Part 3 — Wisdom
- 50 Verses of Guru Devotion
Composed by the great Indian master Ashvaghosha, this text outlines how we should devote ourself to our spiritual teacher. Guru devotion is extremely important in the practice of tantra. The advice outlined in this text forms an integral part of tantric practice.
Further reading: Complete Commentary on 50 Verses
Other Recommended Teachings:
- Bodhisattvacharyavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life)
Written by the master Shantideva, this text is considered one of the most famous Mahayana texts detailing the path of a Bodhisattva, covering both how to develop bodhicitta and how Bodhisattvas practice.
- Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, Wheel of Sharp Weapons and other Lojong teachings
The Lojong or Mind Training teachings help us transform everyday experiences which normally lead to negative karma, into experiences that overcome negative habituations and aid in our development of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path.
Tsem Rinpoche specifically recommended the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (read Rinpoche’s commentary here) and also the Wheel of Sharp Weapons (partial commentary here).
2. Vows
Pratimoksha Vows — The most basic form of the pratimoksha vows are the Refuge Vows. These are vows to not engage in the 10 non-virtuous actions which cause us to create negative karma. They are the foundational principles of being a Buddhist. The vows also come with 12 commitments, which are actions that we should commit to in order to progress on our spiritual path.
The category of Pratimoksha Vows also includes the lay vows and for monastics their ordination vows. However, for tantric practice, only the refuge vows are a must.
Watch video:
→ Taking Refuge: The Formal Ceremony + Vows
Bodhisattva Vows — There are 18 root and 46 auxiliary Bodhisattva vows. They help us to develop bodhicitta in our mind and keep that motivation throughout all our daily actions. The Bodhisattva Vows are always given during highest tantric initiation. Once we have taken these vows, we have started our journey on the Bodhisattva path until we attain enlightenment.
Watch video:
→ The Bodhisattva Vows Part 1 (Root Vows)
→ The Bodhisattva Vows Part 2 (Secondary Vows)
Tantric Vows — These vows are similar to the Bodhisattva Vows in terms of having root and secondary tantric vows that we must uphold until we achieve enlightenment. The tantric vows mainly emphasise vows that foster the realisation and perfection of the union of wisdom and skilful means, and accomplishing simultaneously the goal of oneself and others.
If you aspire to receive higher tantric practice in Kechara, you should train first in holding your Refuge Vows and study the Bodhisattva Vows. A proper explanation of the Tantric Vows can only be given after you have received initiation.
Further reading: Vows: The Roots of All Attainments
3. Integrity
Integrity is a fundamental aspect of Dharma practice in general, but even more so in tantric practice. Integrity means being honourable to do what we have said we will do and what we need to do.
This means having integrity in our daily life, for example completing our commitments to family and work. It means being on time for deadlines, not burdening others with our responsibilities, and keeping our promises. With special regard to our spiritual life, it includes keeping our vows, our guru devotion, and our commitments.
4. Commitments
While vows are usually promises to refrain from engaging in certain negative actions, commitments are something we promise to engage in. There are many commitments in tantric practice. The most important of these is to engage in daily guru yoga and sadhana. The purpose of taking initiation is to receive permission to engage in the sadhana of the particular Buddha-deity, also known as the yidam (meditational deity).
If we keep our commitments and engage in the sadhana daily, we can gain quick attainments or at the very least, accumulate tremendous amounts of merits and purification of negative karma. If we break our daily sadhana commitment, the blessing of the practice is cut and we accrue tremendous negative karma.
5. Guru Devotion
One of the daily tantric commitments is to engage in guru yoga. It exemplifies the importance of devoting ourselves to a qualified spiritual guide. This means that we must take refuge in, listen to and apply our guru’s teachings. It also means fulfilling any relevant personal instructions we may have received and following any advice that was given.
If you are in Kechara but are uncertain who your guru is, read this article: The Guru Protocol: A Guide to Knowing Who Your Guru Is.
6. Other Preparations
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Have an Altar. Tsem Rinpoche encouraged everyone to create affinity with Vajrayogini and the causes to receive her initiation. This includes setting up and maintaining an altar to her. By making daily offerings, prayers and prostrations at this altar, we create the causes to receive her practice.
The main objects on an altar are representations of the body, speech and mind of the Three Jewels. For an altar to Vajrayogini, this would include an image of her (representing the body; it can be a statue, thangka, printed image, etc.), a Dharma book (representing speech) and a stupa (representing mind). You can make sensory and water offerings daily, along with other offerings such as light, incense, food, etc.
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Daily Prayers. As sadhana commitments are integral to higher tantric practice, we should get accustomed to engaging in a daily sadhana. The current daily practice for everyone in Kechara, regardless if you have higher tantric initiation or not, is the Diamond Path. This can be done without initiation.
Rinpoche recommended everyone to practise this daily to prepare ourselves for higher tantra. Even though we don’t have specific commitments at the moment, we should treat our daily practice as if we do. Apart from creating the habit of doing daily prayers, we will also benefit from the practice itself.
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Transform the Mind. This means being committed towards lessening and eventually eradicating our negative and destructive habits like anger, jealousy, the excessive need to be right, being comfortable doing just samsaric endeavours, and so forth.
This ability comes from first understanding what these destructive habits or afflictive emotions actually are, and then learning and practising the techniques to lessen them. Studying the Dharma teachings outlined above is the first step.
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Never Give Up. We should never give up on our spiritual practice, sadhana, guru or other spiritual commitments for whatever reason. If we do this, we end up breaking all our vows. Hence, we should never threaten or even joke about giving up when we are down or in a bad mood, as this can open the karma for it to happen.
If we allow our minds to go up and down and always think about quitting, this means we are not ready to take the next step of receiving higher tantric initiation.
Happily Engage in Dharma Work. We should have a positive and happy attitude when carrying out our Dharma work (karma yoga). Dharma work in this context includes both full-time and voluntary work.
As Rinpoche has extensively explained, we shouldn’t have the attitude that the Dharma centre is indebted to us for the work we have done. Rather, it is the other way around. We should feel grateful to have the opportunity to do Dharma work as this purifies negative karma and accumulates merits.
Who is qualified?
These are the basic pre-requisites that one must fulfil in order to be considered for higher tantra in Kechara.
- Devotion to Tsem Rinpoche & Kechara. You should be committed to practising Rinpoche’s teachings, following his instructions and being an active member of Kechara.
- Taken refuge & consider Tsem Rinpoche as your root guru. Root guru here means the guru who has made the most significant impact in your spiritual practice.
- 10 years or more in Kechara. This is the minimum duration of time that you should have been active in Kechara studying and practising Dharma.
- Kechara member. You must hold a valid membership with Kechara.
- Active volunteer/participant. You must be consistently volunteering or participating at Kechara House in Petaling Jaya or Kechara Forest Retreat in Bentong at least three times a month (on average) over the last two years.
- Uphold your vows and commitments. You must be carrying out any instructions and spiritual advice that you have received from Rinpoche, and upholding your vows and commitments well.
- Commitment to a daily sadhana. You must be able to consistently maintain a daily sadhana, either one given to you by Rinpoche or the Diamond Path that Rinpoche compiled.
- Dharma is your priority. Relationships, family, career, business, and other worldly distractions are not an obstacle for you to fulfil your spiritual commitments.
- Stable mind and practice. You should have enough Dharma knowledge to be stable in your practice and will not easily give up when facing difficulties.
- Completed at least one preliminary practice.
- Completed the study of Lamrim Level 1 & 2.
In a nutshell
Higher practices propel us towards enlightenment, but we must prepare ourselves to receive them so that we can achieve enlightenment in the fastest time possible. Having a firm foundation and grounding in what has been explained above is a must for serious Dharma practitioners aspiring to make the most of our precious human life.
If you aspire to receive higher practices in Kechara, you should start preparing and training yourself as outlined above. In the future, when the opportunity to receive such practices arises, those who meet the pre-requisites will be invited to attend.