Expert: Alex Wilding - 10/1/2011

Question
Hi Alex,

I'm interested in worshiping/venerating Kurukulla. The other day, I came across the Sadhana for Kurukulla. In the introduction it states that one should have an "empowerment" performed before attempting to practice the Sadhana. What is an empowerment? Is it expensive? Would I need to travel far to get it? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Tim,
An empowerment (sometimes called "initiation", but that has potentially misleading connotations) is a ceremony in which an authorised person (the lama or guru, who may well have done some fairly intense practice on this deity) "introduces" you to the deity concerned. This can be a relatively simple ceremony taking maybe an hour, or for some deities it may be extensive, take two or three days, and only be open to people who have already shown that they have significant commitment to the practice – there is a spectrum.
Kurukulla is not an uncommon deity, but is not particularly common either. I have not received her empowerment, though I know somebody who does do the practice. My guess would be that the empowerment would be one of the relatively simple ones.
Since she is not all that common, getting the empowerment will be a matter of luck, persistence, and resourcefulness, so you might indeed need to travel to get it, depending on where you are. If you are in regular contact anyway with a lama who holds the transmission, it may be as simple as approaching and asking (perhaps a few times!).
No, it should not be expensive. What often happens is that if a lama has agreed to give such an empowerment there may be quite a number of people (5? 50?) who would like to take it, and these people will all make offerings of some size, appropriately for the circumstances – questions like who is paying for the whole trip (if there is a drip), whether the lama who is supporting a monastery or monasteries, and so on and so forth. If the empowerment is just one event that is part of a whole tour, and if there are quite a lot of people taking it, and offering of $20 or $30 or $50 (depending on your currency!) might be quite appropriate. If the lama has travelled 1000 miles just to spend three days giving the empowerment to 2 people before going home – that would be quite expensive!
Much will depend on what communities you may already be in touch with or maybe thinking of getting in touch with, and what facilities there are near you. If you let me know where you are based, there is a (slim) chance I may be able to give you a few pointers.
Good luck
Alex