As you may have read in this last article, In case you’re wondering about Highest Yoga Tantra, the general advice is that if we have some foundation in renunciation, bodhichitta, and the wisdom realizing emptiness, and faith in our Spiritual Guide, then we are good candidates for receiving Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments and entering the quick path to enlightenment. Carrying on with that Q & A …
Am I ready for Tantric empowerments?
“How do I know if I’m advanced enough? I don’t feel very advanced.”
Some people feel they need to be a highly accomplished meditator before receiving an empowerment and engaging in Tantric practice. Perhaps you’re thinking: “But I can barely concentrate!” “I still get angry.” “I don’t understand emptiness properly.” “Surely Tantra is for people far further along the path?”
In reality, however, receiving empowerments is the beginning of a relationship with Tantra, not the end result of mastering it. We learn as we go, and that relationship can deepen year on year. What matters most is sincere interest, faith, and a wish to progress spiritually for the reasons given in that last article. As another long-term practitioner put it:
I can testify that even receiving the empowerments when you don’t feel fully “ready” is still very beneficial!
“Do I have to believe everything before I start?”
Some people worry they need complete certainty before receiving an empowerment. They wonder: “What if I still have doubts?” “What if I’m not sure about reincarnation?” “What if I don’t understand about my subtle energies or what a Pure Land is?”
As you have probably heard, Buddhist spiritual practice does not require blind faith. In fact, Buddhism encourages investigation and an authentic gradual understanding. Belief grows naturally through familiarity and personal experience rather than being demanded upfront.
“Am I in fact good enough?!”
I actually want to address the possible subtext to this question “Am I ready?” – which is that nowadays we often think “I’m not good enough.” Not just at spiritual practice … at anything! We can be excessively self-dismissive. And this is where Tantric practice is so incredibly important – it is the perfect psychological and spiritual medicine for this guilt and self-criticism. By dissolving our ordinary limited ego into emptiness (its true nature) and arising as a radiant Deity, we forcefully shatter the illusion that we are inherently flawed or doomed. Do this enough times and it sticks; we find we have entirely let go of the mistaken and suffering versions of ourselves and developed a deeply empowered and authentic self-confidence.
Here I want to quote a recent conversation with a good friend – they were just thinking aloud, but in a typically helpful way:
“I asked a non-Buddhist (Podcaster) friend recently, why do people increasingly not see meditation as part of a 360° approach to improving overall wellbeing these days, especially with the challenges people are experiencing with their mental and emotional health and wellbeing?
He said (and I paraphrase): ‘People fear that if they turn in to look at their minds, their worst fears will be confirmed, that is, ‘I’m really not good enough, I’m anxious, I’m deeply limited etc.’
People are so unconsciously identified with limiting thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that the very idea of attaining enlightenment is beyond their conscious comprehension, and therefore empowerments are at best some temporary relief, not a doorway to the quick path to enlightenment. What path is open to that person who never questions – or has the tools to question – their unconscious beliefs?
The solution – as you know! – is that when we exercise the courage to look at our own minds with compassion and curiosity, we soon discover these are just familiar thoughts, feelings, and subsequent limiting beliefs. They don’t indicate who we essentially are, only what we have been – up to now – unconsciously familiar with and mistakenly identifying with.
Buddhism is about making the unconscious conscious, and in the process undoing the mental habit patterns that keep us feeling stuck in that cycle of limitation and suffering. In the process we come to consciously experience the truth of how we exist – starting from our pure potential and natural good heart, right through to being mere appearance not other than the emptiness of all phenomena. (Ed. And from there, a Tantric Deity).
As we relax and embrace the Dharma, we come to experience the nature of our mind – the substance within which limiting beliefs manifest – and realize that these thoughts were only ever content, not some inherent truth, like insubstantial clouds in the boundless sky of our minds. The more we do this, enlightenment moves from impossible to possible to inevitable.”
Therefore, using both Sutra and Tantra, as Venerable Geshe-la suggests in the free book Modern Buddhism, we can be confident that we can purify and transcend all our faults and limitations:
There are many different levels of purifying our mind. The subtle mistaken appearance of our mind cannot be purified through the practice of Sutra alone; we need to engage in the practice of Highest Yoga Tantra. When we completely purify our mind through Tantric practice, our world, our self, our enjoyments and our activities also become completely pure – this is the state of enlightenment. Attaining enlightenment is therefore very simple; all we need to do is apply effort to purifying our mind.
Does it come with commitments?
“Do Tantric empowerments come with commitments?”
Venerable Geshe Kelsang says in his awesome commentary to Vajrayogini practice, called The New Guide to Dakini Land:
To practice the instructions explained in this book we require special inner conditions. First we should train in the common spiritual paths, the practice of Kadam Lamrim, and then receive the empowerments of Heruka and Vajrayogini. Having received these empowerments we should strive to maintain our vows and commitments purely.
“Will I be taking on commitments I can’t keep?”
People are often nervous about promises, vows, and commitments, and this comes from a good place, a respect for spiritual commitments. We also don’t want to set ourselves up for failure, particularly if we already feel we’ve failed at other parts of life. I remember thinking before my first empowerments, “Am I ready?”, “What if I mess up?”, “What if I can’t do everything perfectly?”
For starters, we are not promising to keep all the vows and commitment to the letter, which in any case is impossible until we gain actual Tantric realizations. Geshe Kelsang has said that if we maintain the intention to keep our vows and commitments purely, we are keeping our Tantric commitments.
In other words, we are promising to keep the intention to practice them. They are not heavy luggage – Venerable Geshe-la has said it’s like carrying a purse, not a suitcase. Maintaining this intention keeps our path to enlightenment perfectly clear, whereas losing this intention creates roadblocks.
I would say that in general receiving Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments is a commitment for life and people want to be prepared to do a regular Sutra and Tantra Dharma practice, however short, that will upgrade over time. This is very doable, meaningful, and enjoyable, so providing people keep the wish, it is not going to be a problem. Our regular practice can be simple at first, but consistent. If time is an issue on any given day, we have a four-line prayer that takes moments but sustains the intention to practice.
Related to this, as I mention here, in the Kadampa tradition of Je Tsongkhapa we aim to sow the five seeds (3 Sutra, 2 Tantra) together every day – we may emphasize different seeds at different times, but we touch on all five.
“Do I need to learn the vows and commitments before receiving the empowerment?”
Receiving the empowerments ripens our minds so that our subsequent study is fruitful. We will have time to study and practice Tantra once we have the empowerments on our mental continuum. We can know some of the general Tantric principles before we receive the empowerments, such as by reading the second half of Modern Buddhism; but it is after the empowerment blessings or initiation that we are qualified to listen to or read the full commentaries and commitments and learn exactly how to put them into practice. This is with help from our teachers and the many qualified and experienced Highest Yoga Tantra practitioners in our tradition.
It helps to understand why these commitments (Samaya) exist and how they function as a support rather than a punishment – they are not supposed to be considered a restrictive burden but rather the very engine of rapid spiritual transformation. The main 19 commitments are all part of self-generation as the Deity – I’ll let you in on one of them, the commitment to generate bliss six times a day.
“What if I break my commitments?”
Someone asked me if they’d “go to hell” if they broke these commitments. I remember having that question myself before receiving my first Tantric empowerment, and almost delaying it as a result (I’m glad I didn’t).
The answer is that, to break Tantric commitments, you have to totally give up the intention to ever keep them, which is quite hard to do. Also, you can purify anything. To be on the safe side, we can recite the “four-line prayer” (mentioned above) six times a day, which takes less than a minute and acts as a daily reminder or even practice of our commitments.
We also receive the Bodhisattva vows during an empowerment because only would-be Bodhisattvas are qualified to practice Buddhist Tantra. Again, we make the promise to keep the intention to practice these, not the impossible promise to practice them perfectly from day one. Though not obligatory, in an ideal world we also have the Pratimoksha vows in our mind, lay or ordained, as Geshe-la explains in Tantric Grounds and Paths.
Thinking about future lives, it’s very good to have these empowerments on our mental continuum in case we do ever end up back in the lower realms. Life is short. Moral discipline is important. Whenever we engage in any of the ten non-virtuous actions we create the cause for a lower rebirth. So it’s worth pointing out that even if we slip up in general with our moral discipline and end up in a lower realm, these empowerments will serve as a protection for us and help us get back to the human realm. Practicing Highest Yoga Tantra is a very powerful means of creating positive karmic imprints, building massive merit, and rapidly expanding the scope of our inner Dharma protection.
In other words, don’t be scared of empowerments or commitments. You’ll be fine. More than fine. Just keep a good heart and the wish never to abandon this precious practice, even if it does take years to really get going on it.
More on its way. Your comments are very welcome! And if the experienced practitioners amongst you notice that I’ve left anything out in explaining the vows and commitments, of course please let me know, along with any other helpful advice you may have for the readers.
