Some informations about Tibet

Tibetan Buddhism derives from the confluence of Buddhism and yoga which started to arrive in Tibet from India briefly around the late eighth century and then more steadily from the thirteenth century onwards. Indian Buddhism around that time had incorporated both Hindu yogic and tantric practices along with the classical teachings of the historical Buddha who lived around 500 BC. It acknowledged that there were two paths to enlightenment (complete transcendence of identification with the personal ego). One path that was taught in the sutras according to the historical teachings. The heart of sutra practice was based on morality, concentration, and wisdom (not identifying with the personal ego). The other path, which has become the cornerstone of Tibetan variations, was tantric. This practice blended the sutra teachings with techniques adapted from Hindu systems of yoga and Tantra.

Tantric systems transform the basic human passions of desire and aversion for the purpose of spiritual development. Rather than denying such primal urges, Tantra purifies them into wholesome and helpful forces. It is very much like trying to deal with a wild horse charging towards you. One way is denial: put up your hands and shout out, "Stop, stop!" Probably you will be bowled over by the animal. Another, more clever, approach is to step aside and then jump on its back as it loads past you. In such a case, you have a chance to start coaxing it to move in certain directions, and over time you may be able to direct it into a stable. Truthfully, one needs some skill in both self and acceptance if one is to be successful with tantric work.

Tibetan Tantra (also known as the Vajrayana) incorporates the major aspects of both the Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist teachings. It is basically an extension on these esoteric themes. Hinayana and Mahayana are two schools of Buddhist practice that basically have similar goals and techniques but somewhat differing philosophies. For instance, Theravadin Buddhism (known for its Vipassana meditation) is a Hinayana teaching and Zen Buddhism is a teaching Mahayana. Tantra itself has various schools which can be grouped by the relative emphasis they place on working with exoteric and esoteric practices.

Tantra The tantric path includes the following steps:

Lamrim (literally, stages of the path) These are crucial topics for reflection and contemplation and also the meditations and activities that should naturally follow on from them. The Lamrim embodies the necessary prerequisites for Tantra. It is set out as a progressive set of steps.

Relying Upon a Spiritual Guide (learning from someone already on the path) The Preciousness of Human Life (the importance of using life for something valuable) Death and Impermanence (uncertainty of death and the unsatisfactory nature of this world) The Danger of being Reborn in a Lower Realm Taking Refuge from Samsara (the endless cycle of grasping and eventual disappointment) Karma (the law of cause and effect which works in this world as well as at esoteric levels) Developing Renunciation for Samsara (integrating understanding and spiritual values) Developing Equanimity (accepting, and seeing past, both good and bad experience) Recognizing that all beings are as Precious as our Mothers (the beginnings of bodhichitta) Remembering the Kindness of Others Equalizing Self and Others (realizing that we all want, and deserve, to be happy) The Disadvantage of Self-Cherishing The Advantage of Cherishing Others (loosening the hold of ego through caring) Exchanging Self with Others (this is the core practice for developing bodhichitta -- it involves developing the wish to voluntarily take on others' problems and give them freely one's own happiness in exchange. A sketch of the technique is as follows: breathe in others' as black smoke woes -- let it settle into the heart, then breathe out all one's own happiness as white light -- let it expand to fill all the cosmos. A practitioner should imagine and rejoice at the effect of both the in-and out - breath. For, on the in-breath, the reality and weight of all the problems in this world sink into the heart and help to dissolve the ego. Likewise, the out-breath brings relief and joy to all others.) Developing Great Compassion Taking Responsibility to Relieve Others' Burdens ( "self exchanging with others" in action) Sharing One's Own Good Fortune with Others Bodhichitta (the desire to attain full enlightenment for the sake of all beings) Tranquil Abiding (developing advanced stages of concentration) Seeing Superior (developing emptiness -- that is, non-identification with the personal ego) Common Tantric Preliminary Practices beginning These are the activities that are unique to the Vajrayana path.

Prostrations (physical prostration, visualization and prayer for taking refuge) Vajrasattva Meditation (visualization and mantra recitation for purification) Mandala Offering (visualization and prayer for developing and gaining merit surrender) Yoga Guru (visualization, mantra recitation and prayer for developing devotion and receiving blessings) Generation Stage of Tantra preparatory These are practices that uses much imagination and visualization. They prepare the psychological and psychic groundwork for the spiritual energy that will be developed and harnessed in the probation following completion practices.

Beginning Meditation (visualization of oneself as a deity in the center of a mandala full of other deities) Subtle Meditation (visualization of a body mandala which corresponds to points on the subtle nervous system) Completion of Stage Tantra These are very advanced meditations that primarily uses subtle energies known as winds (chi and prana are some other names for this energy). These winds normally circulate throughout the psychic nervous system. When they are collected into a central place they provide great stability and clarity for the meditator. The normal collection point is commonly known as a chakra. It corresponds to a node or psychic plexus in the nervous system and acts as a link between the psychic, or astral level of existence and our normal level of experience.

Tibetan yoga employs a simplified version of the metaphysical structure that is used in Hindu yoga. According to the Tibetan scheme there are three realms to consider in spiritual practice. These correspond to the Emanation Body (this world), the Body Enjoyment (the astral dimension), and the Truth Body (a dimension that is much deeper -- that is, much more subtle -- than the astral).

Isolated Body, Speech, and Mind (progressive isolation of consciousness from this level of reality) Illusory Body (development of an astral body. Consciousness now is based in the astral not the physical) Clear Light (development of a very subtle consciousness at the Truth Body level) Union or Full Enlightenment (linking the Truth Body consciousness to the Enjoyment, or astral Body) Meditation on emptiness is integral throughout this practice. A simple way to understand emptiness is as follows. In the physical world, the personal ego has a relative span and will cease when the body does. So on to it, the soul, or Enjoyment Body, is much more important since it will continue on after death. Thus saying the ego or self is empty means it is better to ground awareness in the soul and experience the ego as a garment, rather than only experiencing the ego and having no real connection with the soul. Thus emptiness is a statement about priority -- we should consider the bigger context of our experience in order to live more wisely and wholesomely.

The same principle applies as emptiness of progressively higher levels of reality are experienced. Hence, when the Body Enjoyment, or soul, becomes a living reality for the meditator, she or he continues to take it as relatively real and keeps grounding awareness in the encircling context. The context, or deeper level, for the soul is the Truth Body (which is just a more subtle version of the soul). So as a meditator realizes the Truth Body, the Body Enjoyment becomes the new object for meditation on emptiness.

To recapitulate the entire process: at the beginning we have a body and mind (the personal ego or self). Next year astral body (Enjoyment Body) is developed and it is as if the physical body and personal egos have become the "body" and the astral body has become the "mind". Next a very subtle body (Truth Body) is developed and the final result is that the astral body becomes the "body" and the Truth Body becomes the "mind". At each stage of this sequence, the "body" is subjectively experienced as being empty by the "mind".

What is the experience of emptiness like? At the beginning level of physical body and mind, emptiness means that one does not identify with any experience whatsoever. Any sight, sound, or other sense is recognized and honored for what it is, but it is not clung to. Similarly, all thoughts and feelings are also taken in this way -- as being real and valuable, but not as being in one's possession so that one does not cling to the experience of them. It is as if all experiences, whether external (in the world "out there") or internal (inner thoughts, hopes, feelings, and desires), are viewed as clouds passing by. The reality is the sky which the clouds float by in. And if the sky is noticed, it too is taken as just another cloud wafting by. The result of this amazing relationship to one's experience is an enormous sense of relief, peace, and clarity. At first it seems that one will die if one does not cling to experience, but after awhile it becomes apparent that one continues to live on anyway. We are more than just the experiences that we engage in.

The same process applies at progressively more subtle levels of experience. The contents of experience become more and more amazing and wonderful (to our normal way of thinking) but the most skilful way of relating to them still remains the practice of mindfulness (emptiness meditation). So once a Yogi creates an astral body and reality can experience at that level, he or she works at non-identification with the astral body. And similarly, once a Body Truth exists, meditation continues on its emptiness as well.

Dzogchen This is also a very advanced teaching whose end result is the same as for the tantric path. Its techniques and emphasis are a bit different. Primarily, Dzogchen underscores direct perception of the fundamental nature of reality. So instead of working to create higher energy bodies such as the astral body, it seeks to ground awareness directly back into the Truth Body. And as mentioned above, this Body reaches the limits of human experience and expression so that its subjective experience is one of all-emptiness. That is, there is nothing more to be said about this level with the common tools of human experience -- words and emotions. The main practice is similar to Zen meditation and consists of holding a constant openness to all perceptual experience. For such practice to lead to more subtle insight, however, a Dzogchen practitioner needs to receive empowerments (transmission of spiritual energy) from a qualified teacher. These act somewhat as a self-correcting guidance system to help a meditator to gradually open to the deeper dimensions of reality. Some Dzogchen meditations are similar to visualization and energetic tantric practices. The basic prerequisites for Dzogchen are similar to Tantra.

Tibetan Buddhism in Relation to Other Buddhist traditions The relationship amongst the major schools of Buddhism can be understand in terms of the four-fold classification shown in the following table.

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