Deity Practice

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>From the Introduction to _Creation and Completion: Essential Points of

Tantric Meditation_ by Jamgon Kongtrul.

>THE TIBETAN TEXT translated here is a concise yet thorough exposition of

>the essentials of Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice by one of the most

>brilliant minds of that tradition, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye

>(1813-1899). The Tibetan title of the text is Iam zhugs kyi gang zag Ias

>dang po pa la phan pa'i bskyed rdzogs kyi gnad bsdus, "The Essential

>Points of Creation and Completion That Will Benefit the Beginner Who Has

>Entered the Path." It is known to Tibetans simply as Kye Dzog Ne Du

>(bskyed rdzogs gnad bsdus), or "Essential Points of Creation and

>Completion." Creation (or development) and completion (or perfection)

>refer to the two stages of meditation involving deity visualization

>practice, a meditation technique for which Tibetan Buddhism is widely

>known. The text is not a specific meditation in itself, but rather

>describes the meaning and effect of such practice, and in doing so the

>essential Buddhist outlook on the nature of mind and reality. It describes

>with masterful clarity the profound view and vast method within which

>meditation practice must occur.

> Jamgon Kongtrul designed this text as a guide to meditation practice.

>snip<

>

> In terms of practical application, many Tibetan scholars, such as

>Jamgon Kongtrul, have simply classified all those teachings and practices

>into the two approaches of Sutra and Mantra, representing, roughly,

>exoteric and esoteric. The Sutra approach encompasses the general methods

>and ideas expressed in the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. -snip-

> The techniques that are taught in the tantras are the visualization of

>enlightened forms (deities and mandalas), and the cultivation of the

>subtle energies of the psycho-physical body, along with the recognition of

>the ultimate inherent nature. That is to say, the two stages of creation

>and completion that are the subject of the text translated here.

>

> DEITY PRACTICE

>

>Tibetan Buddhist spiritual practice centers around the deities in its

>devotional rituals and meditation techniques. It may be disconcerting for

>those who have heard that Buddhism is a "non-theistic" religion to

>discover an elaborate system of worship with a pantheon of goddesses and

>gods. It is for this reason that some other Buddhist schools have

>considered the Buddhism in Tibet to be corrupt or untrue to its original

>forms. However, these deity practices are deeply rooted in the very

>foundations of Buddhist thought and represent an exceptionally skillful

>use of technique to evoke realization of those ideas on the deepest

>levels.

> One can impute emptiness logically when an independent reality of the

>self or of other phenomena is sought and not found. One also experiences

>it directly through meditation when the mind abides without ideas of

>existence or non-existence or both or neither. Meditators experience

>emptiness as a kind of fullness. Emptiness allows for the unimpeded

>radiance of intrinsic awareness. In the experiential sense, then, it is

>not only a lack of something, but also a quality of knowing, or pristine

>cognition, a luminous quality that is the actual nature of the mind that

>can be experienced once the veils of concepts and emotions have been

>cleared away. This experience is often referred to as "clear light" or

>"radiance" ('od gsal) and also as "compassion." It is not something other

>than emptiness, for without emptiness it could not occur. It is the

>radiance-awareness that is the primordially pure basis of all

>manifestation and perception, the buddha nature.

> This very nature of mind was always already there and is never

>corrupted or damaged, but only covered up by confusion. As such it is the

>basis of spiritual practice, and also the goal or result. For this reason,

>Tantra is called the "Resultant Vehicle," because the approach is to

>rediscover the result already within. Buddha is not found anywhere outside

>of the intrinsic state of one's own mind. In the traditional breakdown,

>then, of ground, path, and fruition, the ground is one's own true nature,

>the fruition is the discovery of that, and the path is whatever it takes

>to do it. Kongtrul describes the identity of ground (basis) and fruition

>when he says:

>

> The basis of purification is the eternal, non-composite realm of

> reality that fully permeates all beings as the buddha nature.

>

>Since every aspect of ourselves is intrinsically pure, the path can employ

>any method to bring us back to our own nature. The deities used in tantric

>practice are a manifestation of this pure nature. In one sense, they exist

>as a method to undermine our pathetic projection of ourselves and our

>universe as flawed, a way of connecting with our true human/buddha nature.

>At the same time, they are that nature.

> Due to the complex process involved in engendering and maintaining

>a sense of a substantial self and of the world around us, we have lost

>touch with our basic nature. It is often explained that the actual

>emptiness nature of mind is misconstrued as a self, while the clear or

>radiant aspect is projected outward as the separate, external world of

>others. As the confusion proliferates, the concepts of duality, feelings

>of attachment and aversion, and consequent karmic actions and imprints

>become self-perpetuating. Thus it is called cyclic existence (samsara),

>and it is "characterized by the experience of suffering." But the

>essential nature of emptiness and clarity has never for a moment been

>absent.

> In contemplative practice we can watch this process in our minds

>moment by moment and recognize how we create our world. Then there is the

>possibility of creating it consciously. Now, because of the complications

>of our confusion, we visualize the world and ourselves as a mixture of bad

>and good, creating a constant tension of dissatisfaction. But we could

>choose to regard it as continuously manifesting the basic purity of

>emptiness/awareness. The deities represent an alternate reality that more

>precisely reflects the innate purity of our minds. In any case we

>visualize and create a world with its beings. The tantric approach is to

>use whatever we have, whatever we do already, as the method. So we use

>this capacity of projection and creation, which is really the unimpeded

>radiance of mind, as the path of meditation, but with a radical shift.

>Instead of imperfect women and men we have goddesses and gods embodying

>the buddha qualities. Rather than run-down houses are brilliant palaces in

>divine configurations. The whole sorry world, in fact, is the buddha realm

>of magnificent glory manifesting as the mandala pattern of enlightened

>mind.

> Emptiness and pure awareness allow us to do this. Deity

>visualization may seem contrived, and it is acknowledged as such, but if

>the fact that we create our own version of reality is deeply understood,

>it is very reasonable. We perceive water as something to drink, a fish

>perceives it as something to live in. We perceive the world now as impure,

>but we might as well see it as pure, which is closer to the truth if one

>considers its essential nature. The deities are forms displaying the

>immanence of buddha nature in everything. All the different ways of

>relating with deities are ways we already have of relating to our

>experience. In this sense, the practice of deity meditation is a skillful

>way of undermining our ordinary mistaken sense of solid reality and moving

>closer to a true mode of perception.

> The natural array of perceptions and feelings that arises can be

>regarded differently through deity practice. For instance, in Jamgon

>Kongtrul's last example of transformation, when desire arises it arises as

>the deity, and we relate to it, or to ourselves, in that form. The deity

>shares some familiar characteristics with desire, has the same energy, but

>is by nature a pure manifestation, untainted by ego's complications. The

>deity in this meditation might be an embodiment of pure (com)passion, such

>as Chakrasamvara, and thus represent an aspect of enlightenment. But also

>the process itself recaptures and demonstrates that the essential nature

>of the neurotic thought is none other than buddha nature, whatever its

>shape. By creatively using forms that recall innate purity, the habitual

>mistake of relating to thoughts and emotions as other than pure is

>reversed.

> This does not mean that tantric deities are merely an abstract,

>symbolic form representing something other than themselves. This would be

>a dualistic concept again. They are enlightened form, and they are

>intrinsic as part of buddha nature. Even the specific forms are understood

>as an integral part of awareness. This is a difficult point to comprehend.

>Jamgon Kongtrul refers to this truth when he says:

>

> The basis of purification, which is this very buddha nature,

> abides as the Body with its clear and complete vajra signs

> and marks.

> A similar form is used as the path and leads to

> the fruition of purification: that very divine form which

> existed as the basis.

>

>"A similar form...used as the path" is the deity visualized in creation

>stage meditation. Such practice leads to the realization of that divine

>form as it already exists within the true nature of mind. The idea of the

>intrinsic qualities of enlightenment, including actual physical

>attributes, can be found in such early texts as the Uttaratantra and other

>sutras and commentaries associated with the teachings ascribed to the

>Third Turning. Qualities and activity manifest from the fundamental

>enlightened nature in response to the needs of sentient beings, and yet

>are inseparable from that very nature, not something added on to it. In

>the Uttaratantra, thirty-two specific attributes of the form manifestation

>are listed, concluding with the reminder that they are intrinsic and

>inseparable:

>

> Those qualities of thirty and two

> Are distinguished through the Dharmakaya;

> Yet they are inseparable like a gem's

> Radiant color and its shape.

>

> Different dimensions or manifestations of the enlightened principle,

>buddha, are traditionally called "Bodies" (kaya). The most common division

>is into three Bodies. The Body of Reality (Dharmakaya) is the ultimate

>true nature, beyond concept. Buddha nature refers to the same thing when

>it is obscured by the incidental veils in sentient beings. Although itself

>without form, this Body of Reality manifests spontaneously in ways to

>benefit beings, just as our intrinsic awareness radiates naturally from

>emptiness. The enlightened manifestations are called "the Form Bodies"

>(Rupakaya). They are the "Body of Perfect Rapture" (Sambhogakaya), only

>visible to those of high realization; and the "Emanation Body"

>(Nirmanakaya), the actual manifestations of the Buddha to our normal

>perceptions. The Buddha Shakyamuni is said to be such an Emanation Body.

>The deities visualized in Tibetan meditation practice for the most part

>represent the Body of Perfect Rapture. When visualized for purposes of

>meditation or ceremony, the deity is called yidam, that which binds the

>mind.

> It is taught that the practice of visualizing them plants the seed

>for the later manifestation of form bodies for the benefit of beings at

>the time of enlightenment. This is why the seemingly simple approach of

>directly apprehending the empty, radiant nature of mind is not enough. The

>Body of Reality alone would be the result of that apprehension. But that

>would be, in a sense, emptiness without form, and would accomplish only

>one's own purpose. The Body of Reality must be accessible somehow to

>sentient beings in whom it is still hidden. That is the natural function

>of the form manifestations. It is still necessary to work with the whole

>phenomenal world, form and emptiness inseparable.