Let me explain why I say this ☺ And why I would therefore love you to attend this Buddha Vajrapani weekend. Even if you have just started coming to the meditations and teachings of Buddhism, I think you will get a lot out of it because Buddha Vajrapani gives us spiritual power.
Times are not easy for most people. We could all do with a stronger source of inner power and resilience to deal with everyday challenges and to be ready for any and all future difficulties and catastrophes, both personal and global.
One of the first insights we gain from Buddha’s wisdom is that our happiness comes from our inner or mental peace – when our mind is peaceful, we are ok, we are happy, even when things are going wrong.
Another insight is that peace is our natural state! In which case, given that we’d prefer to be happy, what is causing our unpeaceful unhappy minds?! The answer is our delusions.
As Geshe Kelsang says: “ … as soon as anger, jealousy or desirous attachment arise they destroy our peace of mind like a sudden storm destroying the tranquility of an ocean.”
Delusions cause all our trouble, agitations, and mental pain, they destroy our inner peace continuously, and they lead to all the negativity in our minds, our lives, and our world. Whenever our mind is even relatively free from delusions, we feel fine, we feel positive.
“If we did not have delusions we would experience only peace and contentment.”
A third insight is that these delusions are not intrinsic to our mind:
“Our mind is like a cloudy sky, in essence clear and pure but overcast by the clouds of delusions.”
Delusions are like clouds arising from temporary causes and conditions that cannot harm the sky. If we learn to identify, reduce, and abandon the faulty thinking involved in our delusions, they will dissolve like clouds into the clear sky of our pure and peaceful mind.
How can Buddha Vajrapani help?
So what does Buddha Vajrapani have to do with all this? Buddha Vajrapani is the embodiment of the power and skill of all enlightened beings. Although his nature is love, his aspect is fierce to emphasize his ability to empower us to abandon our delusions and negativity. He can help us pacify all obstacles through the force of spontaneous great bliss. As Venerable Geshe-la says, Vajrapani’s function:
“...is to destroy the delusions of living beings by bestowing special power upon their body and mind. Delusions are our real enemies, and are called “inner obstructing demons.”
Whenever our mind is not peaceful, there is a delusion at work. For example, when you first wake up in the morning, are you happy? Or are you already casting around outside for something to blame for why you don’t feel all that great despite the fact that nothing has happened, you haven’t even gotten out of bed yet?! Rather than going out there to find the source of our unease, we can understand that nothing out there has the power from its own side to make us unhappy (or happy for that matter); there must be a delusion at work.
So we can do a few minutes breathing meditation to allow that unease to settle into the natural peace of our mind. At this point we can check, based on our current understanding of Dharma, which delusion it is that may be troubling us – is it annoyance, is it attachment, is it anxiety, is it jealousy, and so on? Because if we can identify and reduce this delusion, peace will be restored.
But before we even do that, we have a strong anti-delusion medicine that we can apply, one that gives us pretty much instant power to overcome our delusions. We can request Buddha Vajrapani to enter our heart and give us blessings. His nature is bliss and wisdom, which can dissolve away any delusion. And within that peaceful state of mind we can check to see which delusion was operating and apply its antidote, because all delusions find their antidotes in Dharma. Once we have received the empowerment, we can even identify with being him – never a victim, only a protector.
Let me give you an example. If, from the rumble strip of noticing that your mind feels troubled, you check within to detect where you are going wrong, you may discover that this feeling is arising from inadequacy or jealousy. So first you can do a couple of minutes breathing meditation to start settling the mind, let those unpleasant feelings begin to subside. Then you can request the power of all enlightened beings in the form of Vajrapani to enter your heart. You feel your mind mixes with his, you feel blissful and empowered, and your jealousy has dissolved away like mist in sunshine. Based on this experience, once you have the empowerment, you can identify with being Buddha Vajrapani -- and how can Buddha Vajrapani ever feel jealous?! Then within that blessed, peaceful, and powerful state of mind, you can apply the antidote to jealousy, which is rejoicing in others’ happiness. You can do something similar for any delusion that may be arising. This is a fool-proof method to overcome our delusions, the source of all our unhappiness. If everyone was doing it, our world would be totally fine.
Which all goes to say that with Buddha Vajrapani practice we have found a very powerful method to help us overcome our daily delusions and find lasting peace and happiness. And then of course we can help others.
Healing illness
There is also another reason why the world needs Vajrapani right now. As you’ll learn, the wrathful aspects of his enlightened body symbolize not only that he helps living beings overcome the enemies of their delusions, but that he helps us overcome so called “naga diseases”, which, as Geshe-la explains, “include cancer and other diseases caused by pollution.” And pandemics! So, along with explaining everything you need to know about Buddha Vajrapani and how to use the practice to increase our spiritual power, destroy our delusions, and help others, I will also be explaining a special healing practice related to this Buddha for any of you who are experiencing chronic illness.
The Empowerment
The empowerment consists of some explanation and a guided blissful meditation through which we connect to Buddha Vajrapani’s enlightened mind. By receiving these inspiring blessings, we can swiftly actualize our own potential for a fearless heart and gain the confidence we need to progress successfully along the spiritual path. Through the power of our courageous compassion, we can help to bring enormous relief to our suffering world.
Practicalities
The weekend is available online only and the empowerment is only available live (Saturday 10.30-1.30) and not by replay. The other sessions are available live and by replay. Hope to see you this weekend!!!
Let me explain why I say this ☺ And why I would therefore love you to attend this Buddha Vajrapani weekend. Even if you have just started coming to the meditations and teachings of Buddhism, I think you will get a lot out of it because Buddha Vajrapani gives us spiritual power.
The Empowerment
