Expert: Laurie McLauglin - 2/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am very interested in becoming a Mahayana Buddhist and am curious as to whether or not there is a process to becoming one? a ceremony or a rite?  also, what sort of rituals, chants, or meditations would I need to partake in to fulfill my religious duties?  Sorry if these seem like stupid questions, I just want to be fully informed before I decide to become a Buddhist.

ANSWER: Namaste –
I am very happy that you are interested in possibly becoming a Mahayana Buddhist. Thank you for letting me answer your questions. I will answer them to the best of my knowledge, currently.

You question has an easy part and a hard part.

I will answer the easy part first: How to become a Mahayana Buddhist

In order to become a Mahayana Buddhist, you must, when you are ready, take the Refuge Vows. By taking these vows, you are stating that you are going to turn for your refuge to The Three Jewels: the Lord Buddha, himself; Dharma: The teachings of Buddha and Sangha: Some say that Sangha is just the Buddhist spiritual community, but more accurately, Sangha means those in robes; the ordained and/or those who have had a direct realization of emptiness.

Taking refuge means that we depend on these three jewels to help guide us along our spiritual path and to provide refuge or shelter for us from any negativities we encounter while on the path. One can take refuge with a monk or nun but it is suggested you take refuge with no one lower than a geshe.  A geshe is someone who has earned the equivalent of a doctorate in Buddhist studies.

In most of our Mahayana practices (rituals) , we begin the practice by reaffirming our refuge vows.  The verbiage of the vows is always a variation on this: “ I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha (sometimes also called The Supreme Assembly). By virtue of my giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings.”

The other part of your question is more difficult: What rituals, chants or meditations does a Mahayana Buddhist do.

As you know, a Mahayana practitioner is someone who wants to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings, but there are many different types of Mahayana practices, each with their own rituals.  They range from the simple and austere Zen tradition which focuses on meditation, the Pure Land tradition which focuses on chanting to the elaborate and colorful Tibetan Geluk (Gelug or Gelugpa – I believe all these are synonymous) tradition which is what I practice.  And even within the Geluk tradtion, there is the Nalopa (I think) which is what His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama practices (and is my tradition) and the New Kadampa Tradition, which is very similar, except the one the Dalai Lama practices still uses much of the traditional Tibetan customs and chants in Tibetan, plus they do not do the Dorje Shugden practice, because His Holiness, the 14th Dalia Lama feels it is not proper. Whereas the New Kadampa Tradition chants almost exclusively in English and has westernized its practice more than the Nalopa tradition and they do the Dorje Shugden practice. Besides the Geluk, there are also three other Tibetan Mahayana traditions; Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya. Then there is a Chinese school, Hua-yen, Japanese, Nichiren.

So, you see there are a variety of choices and things to think about when deciding which Mahayana practice would work best for you.  It is recommended pretty much across the board from every tradition I have spoken with that one should not jump from one practice to another, but research till one finds the one that feels right for them and stick with it. The reason is that so much if what they all teach is so similar but they all use different vocabulary and the differences are often small enough to be confusing if you switch traditions and time will be lost in ones practice getting up to speed and understanding the differences. And time to lose is one thing we don’t have in developing a spiritual practice.

I would be happy to answer any follow up question you might have and wish you much happiness as you travel down the Buddhist path.

Laurie


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: as I read through your response I'm just going to jot down a few more questions I have so I'm sorry if it seems a little sloppy in coherency.

-where would I find a geshe in my area?
-do the Refuge Vows have to be taken in a temple?
-do i need any particular tools for meditation?
-are mala prayer beads used in the zen tradition?

In my mother's life she was at one point a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist but I think for me the Zen tradition is what I am most interested in.  I thank you so much for all the time you took to answer my questions, this has really helped me a lot.  I spent my entire life being angry and hateful and just in the past few months I have started to find peace and I think that buddhism could really be a great aspect of my life.  I am very excited to begin learning.

Answer
I rejoice in your decision to engage in a spiritual practice to help you let go of your anger and such.

By the nature that Buddhism requires you to study the nature of your mind and find out where anger really comes from and how to eliminate it, I think you should get the answers you are seeking from it.

To answer your questions in order, I may have misled you in my answer - The Zen practice as far as I know does not have geshes.  They do have the equivalent but they are called by another name which I do not know. If you are interested in learning more about Tibetan Buddhism before definitely deciding on Zen and want to speak to a geshe, I would suggest you check out a website such as www.fpmt.org.  That is the Mahayana group which I belong to. It stands for The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradion.  You should be able to locate a geshe in your area from that website.  I am not familiar enough with Zen Buddhism to know where to find a Zen Master in your area.

Again, I can answer your question about where one takes refuge in the Tibetan tradition.  Often, refuge vows are given in a Gompa, which is a meditation hall where most of our practices occur, but it is not required that refuge be given in any specific place.  Unfortunately, I do not know for a fact where refuge vows are given in the Zen tradition.

Do you need any particular tools for meditation. In the Zen tradition you need a zafu - that's your meditation cushion and usually one has a tiny simple alter that one has at home as a focal point for meditation. As far as I know, in Zen, when one is meditating in a group setting, there is not always an alter used. In the Tibetan tradtion, we also have meditation cushions.  Tibetans are a lot more elaborate in their rituals and such and therefore our alters at home are usually much more ornate and in the gomapas where we meditate in groups, they are very ornate.  All alters of course must have an image of Buddha but Tibetan ones often have dharma books, a stupa and brightly colored cloths.

Of course in order to get the most out of meditating and the Mahayana practices, one neeeds a guru or a spiritual teacher that can lead your toward your own enlightnement.

I have a very good friend that is Zen and he lived with me for a while - and I do not believe he had a mala.  But I do not know if it is traditional for Zen practitioners to have one or not.  Thqt of course can be answered by someone who specifically practices Zen. As far as I know though, malas are not speficially required for meditation unless one wants to meditate while saying a mantra then they are helpful to allow you to count how many mantras you have said.  There are practices in Tibetan Buddhism where this is very important.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions and I wish you much happiness and success in your new spiritual journey