Expert: Laurie McLauglin - 12/21/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi there!

Please excuse the directness 

I recently joined a Tibetan Buddhist Centre in my hometown. I have always been very interested in Buddhism and the various approaches of the different schools. I have gained a lot of insight from the centre I have joined but I now seem to find the Tibetan form too ritualistic and complicated. My initial intention was to join a Zen Centre but the closest and most accessible one is the Tibetan centre; the main in my Zen centre in my country is over 300 kilometers away; however, since enquiring further I have discovered that the Zen Centre has sent someone down to my part of the country to start a centre here. He currently holds weekly Zen practice classes at his home. My question is would it be negative or perhaps create bad karma if I decide to leave the Tibetan centre and join the Zen one? The reason I'm asking whether it might create negative Karma is because the Monks and Nuns at the Tibetan centre have been very good to me, they've even given me a gold Buddha statue and instructed me on how to set up a shrine in my room with various icons of Arya Tara, Vajrapani, Amitayus and of course Shakyamuni Buddha etc so I really do not want to insult them in any way. Could you perhaps advise me on this?

Thanks in advance

Kind Regards

Clint

ANSWER: Hello Clint -

Thank you so much or letting me answer your question.

To the best of my understanding of things, the answer is a qualified no. Changing from one Buddhist Center to another should create no negative karma. And you being there allowed the monks and nuns there to practice compassion and other virtues so that is something to rejoice about it seems from my side.

The qualifications are 1) it is recommended if you keep going back and forth between various Buddhist pracitces it can slow down your progress. It is like having several paths up a mountain and when you switch to another path you start down the hill a bit till you catch up with where that particular group is. if that makes sense.  I understand that in your case you had the inclination to practice Zen but chose Tibetan because it was closer.  But if in the future you keep jumping back and forth that would not necessarily create bad karma but again would slow down your practice. The other qualification 2) is your intention. As you probably know, ones intention is very important in Buddhism. So if you intention to join the Tibetan Center was positive and your desire to leave is positive (in order to practice a path that better suits your nature) then from my side, and my understanding, there should be no negative karma created.  However, if you are leaving, for example for some negative intention of speech, mind or body, then you you will probably accumulate some negative karma.

But if you approach the sangha and let them know you are leaving and why and your intentions are positive, then from my side I can see no negative karma coming out of such an action, especially if practicing Zen will deepen your Buddhist practice and help you develop more insights and help you become a happier person and therefore able to help others better.

As far as the Buddha they gave you and the rest of the holy objects you have, they are holy objects, some say images of Buddhas actually contain the Buddha and others say that seeing a Buddha image creates an imprint to help you get back to the dharma in your next life, so you are beholden to treat them with great respect and even though Zen is a more austere practice, these items for your alter and the Buddhas need to be treated with great respect and not be thrown away, put on the floor or mistreated.

I hope this helps answer your questions - If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

In the mean time I wish you much happiness and hope that your practice deepens and grows quickly and more quickly.

Namaste - Laurie



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

QUESTION: Thank you very much for your answer Laurie it has certainly helped a lot! The main reason I decided to join a Buddhist centre and to explore Buddhism was that I wanted positive change in my life, to change negative mental attitudes. I have OCD you see and so far I have found the Buddhist way of looking at life to be very helpful in dealing with OCD and anxiety disorders in general, so I guess my intention was/is pure. I come from a Catholic background so I am very much aware of the sanctity of the Buddha statue etc as in the Catholic faith there is an overlap with Buddhism when it comes to the respect shown for representations of Holy Beings so my respect for the Buddha image and other Holy Beings is intact. The main issue I have at the moment with Tibetan Buddhism and it’s rituals is the emphasis on Tantra or Vajrayana which a practitioner eventually has to get to, yet upon doing further research and reading several texts on the original teachings of Buddha I can't find ANY correlation between the Vajrayana practices of Yidam (Deity) self generation etc, unless I am mistaken? I have of course asked at my current centre about this and the explanation they gave is that the Deities are not to be regarded in a polytheistic way but rather as emanations of the original Buddha, representing different aspects of compassion, loving kindness etc in a similar way that the Wrathful Deities do such as Vajrapani for instance. So my second question would be: What do you make of the Vajrayana practice and the whole Deity self-generation meditation? Where the practitioner meditates and then visualizes him/herself becoming the Deity, (in this case it would be Vajrayogini or Heruka since they are considered the highest Tantric Deities or Tantric emanations of Buddha Shakyamuni). Is it a legitimate teaching of Buddha or was it absorbed into Tibetan Buddhism from their native religions such as Bon? Thank you for your patience and clear answers.

Kind Regards

Clint

ANSWER: Hello again Clint -

Glad to hear that the last answer was of help to you.

That is cool to know that Buddhism helped with your OCD.

I have PTSD and it has helped me with that too.

I was also raised Catholic.

Well, as far as Buddhism and Vajrayana, going to a Zen center or even exploring Theravaden practice might suite you better.  The Theravaden's do not as you probably know embrace the Vajrayana.

Here is how I understand it - It may not be right, but this is how I understand it.  Just like Jesus supposedly taught different things to His inner circle of disciples, as shown in the Gnostic texts, from those things he taught to the general population, so the same is true with Buddhism.

As I understand it, in his wisdom, Buddha taught the Vajrayana texts after his passing into Parinirvana because he knew that these teachings were difficult and not suitable for most folks.  In fact the tantric teachings were kept secret for many, many years.  It was really not till Buddhism came to the West that they began to be practiced by more of the general Buddhist population.

Various Tibetan Schools teach various things, but most of them believe that Buddha did teach from Tushita heaven.

There are two major Buddhist Cannons, the Therevaden Cannon which believes that Buddha said all he had to say already and is now closed.

The Tibetan Buddhist Cannon believes that it is still open and that Buddha can still give teachings from wherever he is and if they pass certain tests, can be actually added to the Cannon.

According the the Tibetans, all sentient beings preceive reality as we do due to past experiences and conditioning - or karma.  And so there are 6 realms and different levels or "dhatus" of reality or states of samahdi.

That is why it is taught that Asanga got the five great works from Maitreya in Tushita for example.

All this goes to say that depending on each person's karma, some folks will resonate with some parts of Buddhism and some will resonate with others.

So, that is why Buddha taught tantra later, because when he taught it, people were ready karmically to receive it where before they had not been.

From my side, as far as the logic of Tantra, it totally is logical.  From my side, if Buddha said everyone has Buddha nature, basically Tantra is simply the quick path to Enlightenment and Buddha out of compassion taught it to us. so instead of taking 3 great countless aeons to become Enlightened, as it took Buddha, he taught us how to do it in between one and six lifetimes with Tantra.

Now, it might resonate with me so easily because I spent my adult life working in technical theatre and watched people day in and day out assume a character and assume the qualities of that character for a few hours and then let than go and be themselves again.

And so the idea of taking on the qualities of a Budddha and using our own energy to become Buddha in order to become enlightened more quickly totally makes sense and is logical.

But that simply might not resonate with you at all and as you know Buddha said to try Buddhist teachings out and if they do not work for you at the time, then just let them go and every once in a while revisit it.

As far as visualizing Heruka and Vajrayogini, these are both Mother Tantras which according the Berzin Archives "emphasizes practices involving the energy-winds for arising in subtle forms known as illusory bodies (sgyu-lus), which are the immediate causes for achieving a Buddha's Corpus of Forms (gzugs-sku, Skt. rupakaya; Form Body)".

There is also Father Tantric dieties which according the the Berzin Archives are "to access clear light mental activity ('od-gsal) and focus it with blissful awareness on voidness, as the immediate cause for achieving a Buddha's omniscient awareness or dharmakaya (chos-sku).Examples of father tantra are Guhyasamaja (gSang-ba 'dus-pa) and Vajrabhairava (rDo-rje 'jigs-byed), also known as Yamantaka (gShin-rje gshed)"

But as I understand it, one can take any Buddha as their Yidam diety.  I have chosen Akshobhya because I resonate so strongly with him. And since I had to take Guhyasamaja before I could manifest as Akshobhya, I suspect that Akshobhya is a Father Tantra practice which makes sense since I resonate more with the Father Tantric explaination above than that Mother Tantra.

But my guru, for example resonates more with the Mother Tantras.

Again from my side, I love the idea that I get to practice actually becoming a Buddha rather than going through the 10 Bhumis or the 10 stages of becoming a Bodhisattva in order to get there.

Also I like it because it gives practitioners, especially celebate monks and nuns a chance to use their sexual energy in a positive way - to become a Buddha - instead of the destructive ways that the Catholic priests sometimes do.

And yes, I do believe it is a legitimate teaching of the Buddha who gave us this practice out of his compassion.

Although I am not a scholar on Tibetan religion, I know that His Holiness the 14th Dalia Lama considers Bon as the 5th School of Buddhism. So I do know know if Buddha himself taught the Bon people about Tantra and that is how it came into what we commonly now know as Mahayana Buddhism or if it was divinely inspired or humanly inspired.

What I do know is that the teachers I follow teach it and so far I have no reason to believe that they are teaching something that does not work.  These are some amazing teachers and everything they have told me up to now has worked for me and so I have a precident to trust them when they say Tantra works.

I myself have only dabbled in Tantra and have not taken it as a formal practice yet, but plan to when I go to the Monastery - but that is me and my karma and my imprints - it might not be right for you.

I hope some of this helps answer some of your questions.  Please don't hesitate to contact me with any further thoughts and questions - in the mean time I wish you nothing but happiness on your path.

Namaste - Laurie


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

QUESTION: Oh, thank you so much Laurie! Yet again, your answers gave me clear insight! You mentioned that you did technical theatre well that is quite interesting as I am an opera singer, still studying but getting there. Now that I understand it better I will certainly continue at the Tibetan Centre I am at. I was just curios about Vajrayana but now understand it better after your explanation and also reading about it more as it did seem a bit weird to me at first.

Thank you again!

Peace and Light
Clint

Answer
Hey Clint -

I hope you had a great Christmas

Thanks for writing again.

That is cool that you are doing opera.  I used to stage manage opera at Palm Beach Opera for a couple of seasons and really enjoyed it.  If I ever went back to stage management again it would probably be for opera.

I have been singing all my life and did study for a very short time and had my singing teacher not left, I too might have made a career out of the opera.

That is great that you now feel more comfortable at a Tibetan Buddhist center and if you go and it keeps feeling better and better, that is great but if you still feel instinctively that Zen is a better match for you, then when you get a chance you should definately explore that.

It is taught that once one has chosen a particular Buddhist path, one should not switch until one has a really good foothold in that path, but if you are still in the exploration mode, then it is fine to keep looking until you know you have found just the right path. Does that make sense?

Well, I wish you nothing but happiness in your spiritual journey during 2011 and don't hesitate to ask any questions if you have any down the road and I will be happy to try to answer them for you.

And in the mean time much success on your operatic path, break a leg and - in boca del lupo!

Namaste - Laurie