Three Types of Empowerment

The Function of Empowerment

Empowerment is to ripen or mature our buddha nature. Even though all beings possess the Buddha nature, without receiving empowerment it is not posspible to receive blessings and accomplishments through a particular practice, just as it will never be possible to get oil by pressing sand.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama says:

"When an empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind—the Buddha nature—that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.

Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of the five families. In particular, you are ‘ripened’ within that particular family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain Buddhahood. 

In addition to these aspects, Patrul Rinpoche adds that empowerments:

1) Repair violated and broken samayas,

2) Enable you to meditate on all the paths of the generation phase, the perfection phase, and the Great Perfection.

3) Prevent obstacles and errors from arising, 

Allow all your attainments to develop more. and more. 

In general, there are three types of empowerment:

• The ground empowerment
• The path of empowerment
• The result of empowerment

The ground empowerment is so called because when the nature of mind, sugatagarbha, is realized, this constitutes the "empowerment" of nirvana, and when it is not realized, this constitutes the "empowerment" of the three worlds of samsara. 

This nature is actually what is to be matured in the ground empowerment of the path empowerment. 

The path empowerment is divided into three: ground, path, and result:

• The ground empowerment of the path empowerment
• The path empowerment of the path empowerment
• The result empowerment of the path empowerment 
  

The result of empowerment: In the very instant following the result of the empowerment of the path, one gains mastery of the wisdom of omniscience and has authority over everything in samsalra and nirvana.

When other sources refer to ground, path, and fruition empowerments, they most The Function of Empowerment

Empowerment is the process of ripening or maturing our Buddha nature. While all beings possess this Buddha nature, without receiving empowerment, it's impossible to receive the blessings and attainments of a particular practice, much like trying to extract oil from sand.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama states:

"When an empowerment is conferred upon you, it is the nature of your mind—the Buddha nature—that provides the foundation upon which the empowerment can ripen you.

Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the Buddhas of the five families.  Specifically, you are 'ripened' within the family that aligns with your personal predisposition for attaining Buddhahood."

In addition to these points, Patrul Rinpoche explains that empowerments:

 * Repair violated and broken samayas (sacred vows).

 * Enable you to meditate on all the paths of the generation phase, the perfection phase, and the Great Perfection.

 * Prevent obstacles and errors from arising.

 * Facilitate the development of your attainments. 

Generally, there are three types of empowerment:

 * The ground empowerment

 * The path empowerment

 * The result empowerment

The ground empowerment refers to the realization of the nature of mind, sugatagarbha.  This realization constitutes the "empowerment" of nirvana. Conversely, the lack of this realization constitutes the "empowerment" of the three worlds of samsara. This nature is what is matured in the ground empowerment of the path empowerment. 

The path empowerment is also divided into three:

 * The ground empowerment of the path empowerment

 * The path empowerment of the path empowerment

 * The result empowerment of the path empowerment

The result empowerment: Immediately following the result empowerment of the path, one gains mastery of the wisdom of omniscience and authority over everything in samsara and nirvana.

When other sources refer to ground, path, and fruition empowerments, they usually refer to what Patrul Rinpoche presents as the ground empowerment of the path empowerment, the path empowerment of the path empowerment, and the result empowerment of the path empowerment.

In this context, Patrul Rinpoche explains:

"The empowerment we receive when first introduced to the mandala by an authentic Vajra Master is the ground empowerment."

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Footnote:

Vajrayana offers countless skillful and powerful methods that, when practiced correctly, can significantly accelerate the processes of accumulation and purification. It is crucial to have pure motivation and understand that Vajrayana practice is not intended to increase one's ego, power, or self-interest.

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. Your support helps spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheel in the world.

Aspiration for Bodhichitta:

May the precious Bodhichitta, which has not yet arisen, arise and not diminish, but rather increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit:

By this merit, may we swiftly attain omniscience. Having overcome the enemies of wrongdoing, may we liberate all beings from the ocean of existence, with its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

Granting an empowerment in Vajrayana Buddhism.

Granting an empowerment in Vajrayana Buddhism. 

During an initiation we are introduced to an aspect of ourselves that already exists within us but that we have yet to recognize, and it is the activation of this recognition that we call 'empowerment' or 'initiation.'. This is the real meaning of abhisheka.

Sanskrit Abhisheka, or granting an empowerment, refers to the Vajrayana ritual that awakens the special capacity for primordial wisdom (Tib. yeshe) to arise in the mind of the disciple. 

It is called 'empowerment' because when we receive it, we are empowered to follow a particular spiritual practice and so come to master its realization. 

It is said:

In the Secret Mantra Vehicle, there can be no accomplishment without empowerment.

For that would be like a boatman without oars.

And also: Without empowerment there's no accomplishment;

You can't get oil from pressing sand.

Empowerments can only be granted by qualified vajra masters and require the students receiving them to maintain the specific vajrayana precepts (Sanskrit: samaya) on the basis of the refuge and Bodhisattva vows. 

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche reminds us of the real meaning of 'empowerment':

"The most common description of abhisheka is that it is a transfer of power during a ceremony to give recipients the authorization to hear, study, and practice the teachings of the vajrayana; we therefore “receive an empowerment. 

But the problem is that receiving an empowerment suggests someone is giving us a power we previously lacked and is a long way away from the true spirit of tantric initiation. 

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche writes: Abhisheka is a Sanskrit term, and its two fundamental meanings have been translated into Tibetan as torwa and lugpa. 

Torwa is usually translated as “dismantling” and refers to the cocoon of ignorance in which we are wrapped and that needs to be dismantled, and lugpa is translated as “pouring”—as in “pouring blessings”—and more obliquely, as “discovering our Buddhanature. 

The Function of Empowerment

Empowerment is to ripen or mature our Buddha nature. Even though all beings possess the Buddha nature, without receiving empowerment, it is not possible to receive blessings and accomplishments through a particular practice, just as it will never be possible to get oil by pressing sand.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama says:"When an empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind—the Buddha nature—that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you. 

Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the Buddhas of the five families. In particular, you are ‘ripened’ within that particular family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain Buddha hood. 

In addition to these aspects, Patrul Rinpoche adds that empowerments:

1. Repair violated and broken samayas,
2. Enable you to meditate on all the paths of the generation phase, the perfection phase, and the Great Perfection,
3. Prevent obstacles and errors from arising, 

Allow all your attainments to develop more and more. 

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work?
Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you please consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?

Please support us with your donations via PayPal here: https://bit.ly/3ywRH2N

 *Footnote
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. 

It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen
May it arise and not decrease.
But increase further and further.
 
Dedication of Merit
By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.
Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings
May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death. 

 *Note
I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).
Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful
distributors and/or studios
The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.
 

Abhiseka, The Secret Transmission of Vajrayana.

Abhisheka is a Buddhist ritual of anointment or consecration that involves pouring a liquid offering on a deity or practitioner. It's a significant moment in the journey toward enlightenment.  

In Vajrayana Buddhism, an empowerment or consecration (Sanskrit: abhiseka) is an esoteric initiation or transmission of secret teachings performed by a tantric guru (vajracharya) to a student in a ritual space containing the mandala of a Buddhist deity. 

The initiation is traditionally seen as transmitting a certain spiritual power (Sanskrit: adhisthana, Tibetan: jinlap, sometimes translated as "blessings") that allows the tantric yogi to reach enlightenment swiftly or to attain other yogic accomplishments.

Many tantric practices are commonly said to be secret and are only to be revealed after ritual initiation.

Other tantric practices may be openly known but are only considered to be effective after being initiated into the proper mandala, which corresponds to a specific practice.

The secrecy of teachings was often protected through the use of allusive, indirect, symbolic, and metaphorical language (twilight language), which required interpretation and guidance from a teacher.

The teachings may also be considered "self-secret," meaning that even if they were to be told directly to a person, that person would not necessarily understand the teachings without proper context or initiation.

In this way, the teachings are "secret" to the minds of those who are not following the path with more than a simple sense of curiosity.

Because of their role in giving access to the practices and guiding the student through them, the role of the Vajracharya guru or lama (who himself must have been initiated by a previous guru of a specific lineage) is indispensable in Vajrayana. 

In Tibetan Buddhism

What is abhisheka used for in Buddhism?Initiation: In Vajrayana Buddhism, abhisheka initiates practitioners into deity-focused practices. 
Purification: In esoteric Buddhism, abhisheka is a purificatory rite that signifies a change in status. 
Empowerment: Abhisheka symbolizes the empowerment of a practitioner or sacred object. 

How is abhisheka performed? Practitioners are anointed with water, practitioners make vows, practitioners chant mantras, and practitioners are introduced into a mandala. 

What are the different types of abhisheka? 

Master consecration: One of the four classes of abhisheka

Secret consecration: One of the four classes of abhisheka

Knowledge of prajna (“wisdom”): One of the four classes of abhisheka

The fourth consecration: One of the four classes of abhisheka. 

Abhisheka is also practiced in Hinduism and Jainism. 

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 *Footnote
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. 

It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen
May it arise and not decrease.
But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit
By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.
Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings
May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

*Note
I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).
Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful
distributors and/or studios
The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

Why Practicing Arya White Tara?

In Tibetan Buddhism, White Tara is a bodhisattva and goddess who represents compassion, healing, and longevity. 

Compassion: White Tara is associated with maternal compassion and is often depicted, with a young face. She is said to see all suffering and cries for help in the human world. 

Healing: White Tara is associated with healing and is sometimes depicted in a trinity of healing deities. 

Longevity: White Tara is associated with lengthening one's lifespan so that they can continue practicing the Dharma. 

Purity: White Tara's white color symbolizes purity, wisdom, and truth. 

Absolute Truth: White Tara's white color also indicates that she is Absolute Truth. 

Essence of the Buddhas: White Tara is often referred to as the Mother of all the Buddhas and is said to be the essence of the past, present, and future Buddhas. 

White Tara is worshipped in Tibet and Nepal and is second in popularity only to Avalokiteshvara. 

She is often depicted with eyes in the palms of her hands, on the soles of her feet, and in the center of her forehead. She also holds a lotus flower in her left hand, which symbolizes the past, present, and future Buddhas. 

What's the difference between White Tara and Green Tara? 

Green Tara and White Tara are two of the most popular forms of the Buddhist goddess Tara, and they differ in color, posture, and what they represent: 

Color: Green Tara is emerald green, while White Tara is white. 

Posture: Green Tara is in her royal ease posture, with her right leg extended forward. White Tara is in the Vajra-paryanka posture. 

Lotus: Green Tara holds a blue lotus, while White Tara holds a white lotus. 

Eyes: Green Tara has two eyes, while White Tara has seven, with three on her face, two on her palms, and two on her legs. 

Representation: Green Tara is often depicted as a young, mischievous girl, while White Tara is depicted as a mature woman.

Focus: Green Tara focuses on eliminating obstacles and overcoming fears, while White Tara focuses on healing, serenity, and extending life. 

Symbolism: Green Tara's color symbolizes her connection to nature and her role as a protector. White Tara's calm energy symbolizes nurturing, peace, and a mother's love. 

Practices: Green Tara practices focus on accomplishing activities, while White Tara practices focus on pacifying illness. 

Together, Green Tara and White Tara represent unending compassion around the world at all times., serenity, and extending life. 

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work?
Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you please consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?

Please support us via PayPal here:
https://bit.ly/3ywRH2N

*Footnote
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful

distributors and/or studios

The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

 

Mahakala is a fierce Dharma protector of Vajrayana Buddhism

The six-armed Mahakala is a fierce protector and guardian of the Dharma. He is a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, and is a key figure in Tibetan Buddhism. 

Appearance

Mahakala is often depicted with a dark blue or black body, six arms, and two legs. He wears a tiger skin skirt, a crown of skulls, and a garland of severed heads. He also has three eyes, bared fangs, and a beard. 

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Hands

Mahakala's hands hold various items, including a curved knife, a skull cup, a trident, a damaru drum, and a lasso.

Consort 
Mahakala's consort, Shakti, has one face and two arms. She wears a skull crown and many ornaments. Her right hand is behind Mahakala's neck, and her left hand holds a skull cup filled with demonic blood. 

Role

Mahakala's primary role is to help people overcome obstacles to enlightenment. He is a principal protector of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism. 

What is the meaning of six armed Mahakala?
Six-Armed Mahakala (Tibetan: Gon-po Chag-druk) A protector who is a wrathful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the Mahakala can be depicted in many forms. There are various aspects of Mahakala, the meditative practices associated with this protector being popular in all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

What does the Mahakala symbolize?Mahakala symbolizes the wrathful aspect of the compassionate mind, transforming energies such as anger into a powerful compassionate force. Mahakala is a Dharmapala, a protector of religious law. He is always depicted as an extremely fierce and terrifying deity. 

The word Mahakala is a Sanskrit word. Maha means 'great' and Kala refers to 'time or death'.. Mahakala means “beyond time or death.

Name

Mahakala's Sanskrit name is Sadbhuja Mahakala, and his Tibetan name is Chadroukpa.

What are the weapons of Mahakala?

Mahakala has four arms, three eyes, and is of the brilliance of 10 million black fires of dissolution. He dwells in the midst of eight cremation grounds (smasana). He is adorned with eight human skulls, seated on five corpses, and holds a trident (trisula), a drum, a sword, and a scythe in his hands.

Is Mahakala good or bad?

But Mahakala is actually a protector deity, and meditators have long relied on his powers to help them through difficulties of all kinds in their daily lives. He represents our natural ability to promote what is sane and decent and to eliminate what is unreasonable and harmful.

What is Mahakala practice?

For the advanced tantric practitioners, Mahakala fulfills the four enlightened activities. These activities are pacifying interferences, increasing favorable circumstances, gaining control over situations, and, if all else fails, destroying obstacles with wrathful force.

What does Mahakala protect?

Through adornment with terrifying features, Mahakala can protect people from their worst traits and fears.

What are the benefits of Mahakala?

Repeating the Mahakala mantra may eliminate all barriers to prosperity, confusion, doubts, and ignorance. He can destroy all encroachments from the adversary, demons, evil, and dark magic. As a result, his technique has been developed by numerous individuals in Tibet.

Why is Mahakala black? 

Mahakala is generally depicted as black in color. Since all the colors get dissolved into black, all the names and forms melt into the deity as well. 

This symbolizes the embracing and encompassing nature of the deity. The color black also represents the absolute or ultimate reality and the nature of Mahakala.

How to pray to Mahakala?

Sternly protect the doctrine of the Buddha! Sternly praise the height of power of the Jewels! Please quell all bad conditions and obstructions, and grant us quickly whatever siddhis we wish. 

Is Mahakala enlightened?

This particular form of the deity Mahakala is the enlightened protector of the Hevajra tantras, a cycle of teachings personified by the tiny blue deity Hevajra in the central roundel of his crown. Mahakala's fierce appearance and grisly attire represent the means to overcoming negativities on the spiritual path.

What to offer Mahakala?

A large Four-Armed Mahakala torma offering rose high above the upper tier. The lower tier held the eight traditional offerings: argham, padyam, pushpe, dhupe, alokhe, gendhe, newidye, and shabdha (pure drinking water, water for bathing, flowers, incense, light, food, scented water, and music).

Do you cherish our devoted work? 

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We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in 2008, we have been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 16 years. 

We have exceptionally constrained support and do not receive subsidies or funding from people in general.

Please help us develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you but all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us enhance our work and accomplish more for a better and brighter future.

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisenMay it arise and not decrease. But increase further and further. 

Dedication of Merit 

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then. 

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoing. May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

*Note. 

I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and/or studios

The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

 

 

 

 

The Great Manifestation of Avaloketishvara Bodhisattva - Mahakala

Mahakala is one of the most popular protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism, and he is also sometimes used as a meditational deity (yidam) in tantric Buddhist yogas. 

He is depicted in a number of variations, each with distinctly different qualities and aspects. He is generally depicted as a wrathful deity. 

What is the meaning of Mahakala? Mahakala: “Great Time." Mahakala is one of the most popular guardians in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. 

Here he tramples a corpse while wielding a flaying knife and a blood-filled skull cup, signifying the destruction of impediments to enlightenment. 

In the crooks of his elbows he supports a gandi gong, a symbol of his vow to protect the community of monks. His principal companions, Palden Remati and Palden Lhamo, appear to his left, and Legden Nagpo and Bhutadamara are at his right. 

At lower left is Brahmarupa blowing a thighbone trumpet. He is especially revered by the Sakya order, which commissioned this work. 

This thangka, one of the earliest and grandest of this subject, can be related to murals preserved in the fifteenth-century Kumbum at Gyantse monastery, central Tibet, likely painted under Newari direction.

Mahakala appears as a protector deity in the various traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism, like Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Shingon, and Tibetan Buddhism. 

Numerous traditions of Mahayana Buddhism rely on Mahakala as a guardian deity (Dharmapala, "dharma protector"). Mahakala is one of the most popular protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism, and he is also sometimes used as a meditational deity (yidam) in tantric Buddhist yogas. 

He is depicted in a number of variations, each with distinctly different qualities and aspects. He is generally depicted as a wrathful deity. 

Mahakala is also an important deity in East Asian Buddhism, where he is generally known as a protector figure. In Japanese Buddhism, Mahakala transformed into a more friendly wealth and luck deity, known as Daikokuten.

Mahakala is commonly regarded as the emanation of different beings in different cases, such as Hevajra, Vajradhara, Amitabha, and Avalokiteshvara or Akshobhya Buddha.

Different tantric cycles, like Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara, each contain Mahakala as an emanation of their central Buddha deity. 

Mahakala is almost always depicted with a crown of five skulls, which represent the transmutation of the five klesas (negative afflictions) into the five wisdoms. 

He also wears a garland consisting of fifty severed heads; the number fifty is in reference to the number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet and is symbolic of the pure speech of Buddha. 

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Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development? 

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in 2008, we have been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 16 years. 

We have exceptionally constrained support and do not receive subsidies or funding from people in general.

Please help us develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you but all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us enhance our work and accomplish more for a better and brighter future.

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisenMay it arise and not decrease. But increase further and further. 

Dedication of Merit 
By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then. 
Having defeated the enemies wrongdoing. May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

*Note. 
I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).
Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and/or studios
The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.