HIS GREAT COMPASSION THE BUDDHA also emanated
as Chenrezig, a form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
Practices such as the Chenrezig and Tara sadhanas can
be approached by someone leading an ordinary life, and
the Chenrezig meditation is uncommon both in the ease
of its performance and the blessing that it bestows.
It too is development stage practice, and regardless
of which yidam is practiced, this practice is important
because in it we work with our attachment to "I" or
"I am." As long as we have the idea "I am my body,"
we cannot obtain Buddhahood. The Vajrayana teaches precise
and skillful methods to transcend or abandon this clinging,
and all of these involve changing one's attachment to
Instead of conceiving of oneself in an ordinary body,
one visualizes oneself as Chenrezig. For example, one
thinks, "I am Chenrezig, my form is that of Chenrezig."
However, one does not think of the deity's body as solid
or material, made of flesh and blood like one's ordinary
body, or made of metal or stone like an idol. One thinks
of it as appearance that is inseparable from emptiness,
like a rainbow or like a reflection in a mirror. Although
the visualization of oneself as Chenrezig is a mental
attitude, it has been said that one's attitude can change
phenomena. This means that if one maintains, over a
period of time, the conviction that one is the deity,
one will eventually become the deity.
There is a story to illustrate this. Near the town
of Madras in India were many forests, and within them
were small villages where many families lived. In one
village the children always played near the house of
an old woman who lived all by herself. Whenever she
came outside, the children taunted her and threw stones
at her. She became very depressed about this, and angry
as well, until one day she remembered hearing that one
can change phenomena by means of one's attitude. She
thought of all the tigers in the forest, animals known
to eat people. So the old woman began to think, "I am
a tiger, I am a tiger," and after a while she actually
became a tiger. The children were terrified and their
families moved from the village to somewhere else.
If such a transformation into a worldly form is possible,
then transformation into the form of Chenrezig is even
easier, because the yidam exists as a yeshe sempa, which
means wisdom being. With faith, aspiration, and the
proper attitude--with meditation on one hand and actual
compassion on the other--transformation can actually
occur. Because of this, it is possible to obtain liberation
in one lifetime if one's practice is strong enough.
Since the practice of Chenrezig is so easy, it is regularly
done at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra and at all Karma
Thegsum Choling centers, and there is great blessing
in many people chanting together. But it can be done
on one's own as well, and one can recite the mantra
OM MANI PEME HUNG at any time one wishes--while walking
around, while eating, while working, any time at all.
Anyone can learn about the mantra and the Chenrezig
meditation by requesting lamas such as Khenpo Karthar
Rinpoche to explain it.
The practice of tranquillity meditation, or shamatha,
is common to the teaching of both the sutras and the
tantras, and it can also be performed within tantric
practice. During the Chenrezig meditation, one can direct
one's awareness to the body of the deity, or to the
syllable HRI visualized in the heart of the deity, or
simply to the sound of the mantra as one recites it.
Any of these, especially the latter, will give rise
to extraordinary tranquillity.
Insight or vipasyana meditation can also be combined
with Vajrayana practice. If one recognizes that it is
the mind that creates the body of the deity, and that
the mind is empty--and if one comes to actually experience
the inseparability of these things--then an insight
develops that becomes the essence of prajnaparamita,
the perfection of wisdom.
If one wishes to gather the accumulations of merit
and awareness, one can do so by visualizing the syllable
HRI in the heart of the deity, surrounded by the deity's
mantra. Think that countless rays of light emanate from
these syllables, and they shine in the ten directions,
which are the four cardinal points, the four points
between them, and the two points above and below. On
the end of each ray of light are beautiful offerings
that please the five senses--forms, sounds, smells,
tastes, and tactile sensations. One offers these to
all the Buddhas and their sons, who return them as blessings
in the form of rays of light that dissolve into one's
heart. It is said that there is no more profound means
than this for accumulating merit.
One can also visualize the syllables in one's own heart,
with rays of light emanating to the ten directions to
touch all sentient beings, transforming their bodies
into the body of the deity and purifying their obscurations.
One visualizes that all sentient beings, who have become
like Chenrezig, are reciting the mantra OM MANI PEME
HUNG, and the entire universe hums with its sound. It
is said that there is no more effective means than this
for purifying obscurations.
The visualization of oneself and all sentient beings
in the form of Chenrezig is the development stage, and
this is method. Recognizing that both the visualization
and the form visualized are empty is the fulfillment
stage, and this is wisdom. One should always combine
these two aspects of practice, method and wisdom.
Finally one visualizes that the entire universe and
all sentient beings in it are in the form of Chenrezig,
which melts into light and dissolves into oneself. One's
own body, as Chenrezig, then melts into light and dissolves
into the syllable HRI in one's heart. The HRI dissolves
upward and finally disappears into emptiness. Remaining
in this meditation is said to be the most profound way
to realize emptiness and Mahamudra, and this is the
practice of the fulfillment stage itself.
The development and fulfillment stage practices of
Chenrezig are easy to do, easy to understand, and easily
explained, and no matter how long one practices it,
its benefit will continue to grow. If in the future
one should do a three-year retreat, then meditation
upon other yidams will be all the easier because of
one's experience with the methods and visualizations
In America we make a great deal out of highways, and
we depend on them to get where we are going. We need
to understand, therefore, that the development and fulfillment
stages of tantric practice are the highway that all
the siddhas of the precious Kagyu have traveled to reach
enlightenment and full Buddhahood, with incalculable
benefits for sentient beings. It is only fitting that
we travel the same highway.
Taken from a teaching given by Kalu Rinpoche titled "Following in the Footsteps
of the Great Kagyu Forefathers," given at Karma Triyana
Dharmachakra on the weekend of October 24, 1986. It
was translated by LamaYeshe Gyamtso and edited by Sally