Description
To be allowed to order and read this writing one needs to have recieved a full four-fold Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment.
Unless one has recieved empowerment it is not permissible to study Buddhist Tantric texts for “historical” or “academic” reasons. People who have not recieved empowerment have no business reading Buddhist Tantric texts.
In general, and in brief, there are two classifications or levels of the Dharma teachings called Sutra and Tantra. Sutra is a Sanskrit word which means string or thread and refers to a certain genre of Dharmic literature.
One may in one sense call the Sutra teachings and the practices thereof the preliminary teachings and practices, as a stable foundation and general mastery of Sutra is a requirement for the study and practice of Tantra, similarly to how one has to build the ground floor of a house before one can start one the top floor. Another metaphor is that Tantra is an aeroplane and Sutra is like the runway. Trying to practice Tantra without a certain mastery of Sutra would be like starting to build a castle ontop of a frozen lake.
So, in this sense one may say that the teachings of Sutra are the initial, foundational or preliminary teachings while the teachings of Tantra are the subsequent or advanced teachings.
While anyone who is interested can freely study and practice the teachings of Sutra the higher or Tantric teachings have certain preliminaries which one has to pass before one can properly practice Tantra. This is like not giving a small child a scissor, a generally very useful tool but a tool that can be used to harm self and others, until the child has proven that it is mature enough to properly handle a scissor. Unless one is properly prepared one easily harm both self and others through Tantric teachings.
Tantric practice is performed within a system of four consecrations, also know as initations or empowerments (abhiṣeka). These are initiatory levels in which the blessings and powers of the buddhas are bestowed and you bind yourself to the path. Through the four consecrations, you progressively learn the four levels of Highest Yoga Tantra practice called, the four yogas.
The preliminaries of Tantra are in brief; having manifested the higher of the two types of bodhicitta, (aspiring bodhicitta and action or actual bodhicitta), by the stages of the path which leads to this, which is extensively covered in the Lamrim (the graduated step by step path to enlighement) writings. This is very important as it is said that if one practices Tantra without Bodhicitta instead of becoming a Buddha one will become a demon. The second preliminary is what is called empowerment, enthronement, abisheka.
So, the preliminaries of tantra are in brief; 1) having manifested or at the very least committed to action bodhicitta by the bodhisattva vow (and before one can take the bodhisattva vow one has to first take the refuge vow) and 2) receiving abhisheka, empowerment, enthronement of a Tantric buddha deity from a qualified lineage holder.
The Tantra Bestowing the Initiation of Vajrapani states:
“Those who have not fully attained the spirit of the bodhisattva intention should not enter and not even see the mandala.”
(Tantric teachings are related to what is called a mandala.)
Regarding the second point, Abhisheka, it is a very important part of Tantra. It may be called the gate to Tantra. Abhisheka is the indispensable initiation which precedes authentic Tantric practice, the ritual act of permission and transmission of the practice of a Tantric Sadhana (means of accomplishment.)
Without having received abhisheka studying and practicing Tantra is considered stealing and abusing the knowledge given by the buddhas. The buddhas give Sutra teachings freely to all who ask and give Tantric teachings to those who commit to Bodhicitta, meaning the three sets of vows.
Taking empowerment without having first thoroughly studied the text called Fifty Stanzas of Guru Devotion, and deciding that one can live accodring to these fifty stanzas, one is either very uninformed or very foolish. Moerover, it is said that if one studies or practices Tantric teachings without having recieved the blessings, the energy, of the empowerment there will be no worthwhile results, it would be like trying to drive a car without gas. Apart from not recieving worthwhile results, it is furthermore said that if one were to meditate on Tantric teachings without having accomplished the preliminaries of generating Bodhicitta and adhering to the vows one would instead of becoming a buddha become a demon. This is not mere words, if one has some experience and understanding of the workings of karma it is easy to see how this is so.
Stealing Tantric teachings from the Buddhas have the following karmic results: 1) as one did not respect the words and wishes of the Buddhas, other people will not respect ones words or wishes 2) as one stole from the Buddhas, took what is not freely given, others will steal from one and abuse what one gives, and futhermore one will lack opportunity of recieving, being freely given, dharma teachings in the next life 3) the dharma protectors will take notice of one and will work to sabotage one’s invovement in samsaric affairs and their success with the intent that the person will abandon the samsaric life and enter the path of dharma, they will futhermore work to sabotage the practice that one is not allowed to practice and work to redirect one to a level of dharma practice that is more appropriate for one at the moment.
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