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The
Correct Attitude of a Vajrayana Practitioner
by
HH Kunzig Shamarpa Rinpoche - #1
The
Vajrayana tradition is a quick path to liberation. Vajra
symbolizes power which means Vajrayana is very effective.
Many people have the wrong perception towards Vajrayana,
assuming that it is no difference from the application
of magical curse or psychic power. In actual fact, "YANA"
is a quest for liberation of the mind and practicing magic
and psychic power will not lead us to liberation. If we
practice Vajrayana with this wrong view, we are sure to
accumulate very bad karma. It is true that in Vajrayana
there are a lot of mantra-reciting tantras, but these
definitely are not magic or psychic. We must understand
this uniqueness of the Vajrayana tradition.
The
first criterion in practicing Vajrayana is to start with
Hinayana. Hinayana contains the basic teachings of the
Buddha and these teachings are not repeated in the Mahayana
or Vajrayana. Therefore, the practitioners of the Mahayana
of Vajrayana must begin from the basic teachings of Hinayana.
What
are Buddha's basic teachings?
The
most important ones are meditation and vinaya or discipline
and practitioners of the Mahayana or Vajrayana must learn
these through Hinayana.
The
practice of meditation has two levels and the first is
the "samatha" meditation which trains our mind
to be calm, peaceful and stable. In the Hinayana teachings,
the Buddha emphasized a lot on the practice and techniques
of samatha meditation. Mahayana or Vajrayana practitioners
should acquire such foundation.
Vinaya
is self-discipline. In short, it is to refrain from the
10 unvirtuous acts. These 10 unvirtuous acts include all
the bad karma that arise from ego-clinging. The opposite
of the 10 unvirtuous acts is the 10 virtuous acts. These
virtuous acts are the root of old merits. I am not going
to elaborate on them here and those who are not clear
of the 10 virtuous acts can refer to the sutra.
At
the same time, we must understand that the human body
is difficult to obtain and is very precious. This precious
human body is a tool to liberation but it is very vulnerable
and short-lived. In this world, there are a lot of dangers
which can easily destroy such bodies. We do not know at
all of our karmic force and how long we are going to live.
The
reason for rebirth in samsara is ego-clinging.
All
emotions arising from ego-clinging will not be virtuous
and with such self-centred ego, there is no way to perform
virtues. All the karmic activities will not be virtuous
and each of these bad karmic causes will lead to rebirth
in lower realms for ten thousands of times. If you can
contemplate on this fact, then you will be able to realize
how precious the human body is. In the innumerable times
of rebirths, the chance of being reborn in the human realm
is one to ten millions. Therefore, now that you possess
the precious human body, please do not waste it. You must
make use of this precious human body to practice. Unless
you are already enlightened or else there is no way to
be completely liberated.
The
above is the first requirement of the basic practice.
Next, to be a Vajrayana practitioner the second requirement
is to be equipped with great compassion. That is to say,
in order to practice Vajrayana, one must be a Bodhisattve.
Bodhisattva means a person with bodhicitta and compassion.
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