Tantric Techniques (31 page)

mental energies thereby strengthening the mind, one’s problems become more manifest. He says:
a

During the first three mental abidings, or placings of the mind on the object of observation, the greatest faults are laziness and forgetfulness. Thus, as we have said, it is very important to rely on the antidotes to these during this time. If, during these three mental abidings, you are so be-set by laziness or forgetfulness that even though you rely on the antidotes—faith, aspiration, exertion, and mindfulness—you do not succeed in overcoming the faults, you must analyze the situation. There are many such cases in which meditators cannot conquer the difficulties and can-not go on. A very sharp person can do her or his own analysis at this time. Otherwise, as in the Ka-gyu-pa tradition, you offer your realization
b
to your teacher—that is, you tell her or him about your meditation. Your teacher will then tell you what to do. The practice of offering one’s realization to a spiritual guide comes at this point in the nine mental abidings. Thus, if you arrive at the third mental abiding and, because of a predominant afflictive emotion such as hatred, are unable to progress to the fourth mental abiding, you ask for advice.

In cultivating meditative stabilization, one must draw the mind inside. At that time, whatever is strongest in the mind will become manifest. For example, a person much accustomed to hatred is unable to advance because hatred becomes manifest when she or he cultivates calm abiding. When this person is not cultivating meditative stabilization, however, hatred does not become manifest because the mind is distracted.

Most people have a particular afflictive emotion, and some also have unusual diseases which impede progress at this time; thus, it is necessary to reduce these. To do so, it is necessary to set aside the previous cultivation of calm abiding and engage in the cultivation of love, for instance, by way of analytical imputed special insight. There is no

a
Gedün Lodrö,
Calm Abiding and Special Insight,
74.

b
rtogs pa phul ba.

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stabilizing meditation
a
here, just analytical meditation
b
to reduce the force or vibrancy of the hatred. One must rely on the antidotes to hatred from the viewpoint of many reasonings. No stabilizing meditation is permitted at this junc-ture because it would only cause the afflictive emotion to return. Thus, the meditator must analyze.

The great danger I see is that because the mind has become much more powerful than usual, one could mistake this for profound spiritual realization such that when, within this state, afflictive emotions manifest strongly, one could mistake them for expressions of spirituality. This may be one avenue leading to systems of corrupt ethics in which “gurus” have unlimited sex, greed, and even rage. Rather than agreeing with the manifestations of one’s afflictive emotions, one needs the full force of the tradition, either in the presence of a competent guide or in knowledge of techniques transmitted in the tradition, to counteract the situation. The process is clearly fraught with dangers, such as in Jung’s calling for confronting contents but not identifying with them.

Many of the preliminary practices in Action Tantra yoga that place the practice within an ethical tradition make one accountable to that tradition and thus provide a context in which peer-pressure can operate to prevent aberrations. Also, the intense altruism cultivated in the presence of the deity imagined in front of oneself frames relationships with others, thereby creating an effective counterforce when previously unmanifest afflictive emotions come to the surface. In addition, it may be that the techniques of expelling and binding obstructors provide a more forceful method of controlling these impulses, given that the prime technique is to melt them into the clear light. However, as mentioned earlier, the dangers of suppression and distorted manifestation that could at-tend such techniques should not be belittled. Over and over again, the tradition in general praises compassion and realization of emptiness as powerful techniques for restoring balance to the mind; thus, it makes a great deal of sense to attempt the practice of calm abiding
after
gaining some progress in developing compassion and rough knowledge of the emptiness of inherent existence. This may be the astuteness behind the frequent call for a practitioner to have

a
’jog sgom
.

b
dpyad sgom
.

Mantra Repetition
127

developed recognition of suffering, realization of the imminence of death, experience of compassion, and some understanding of emptiness before being considered a suitable receptacle for tantric initiation. Tsong-kha-pa’s student Gyel-tsap
a
speaks eloquently about the need for such practices prior to receiving initiation:
b

It is necessary to practice the common path, ranging from contemplating the difficulty of gaining the leisure and fortune [that in a human lifetime provide conditions for practicing the doctrine] and their meaningfulness through to generating your mind altruistically toward the supreme of enlightenments as well as the deeds of the six perfections— giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom.

If your [mental] continuum has not been well trained by means of those paths, you will not have eliminated attached involvement in this lifetime, whereby your wish to practice the doctrine will not be firm. Since nothing more than verbal faith will have been generated, a full entrusting of your mind to the sources of refuge will not come.

Since firm ascertainment with respect to actions and their effects will not have been gained, you will become a coarse practitioner, without the refinement of keeping even any vow. Since an actual sense of reversal of attitude away from cyclic existence will not have been generated, your seeking liberation will be merely intellectual. Since you will not have generated a nonartificial aspirational intention to become enlightened, which has love and compassion as its roots, your being a person of the Great Vehicle will be merely in name.

Since a strong wish to train in the general deeds of Bodhisattvas will not have arisen, the actual form of the vow of the practical intention to become enlightened will not be generated. Since pure understanding of general calm abiding and special insight will not have formed, you will err with respect to subtle meditative stabilization and will

a
rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen,
1364-1432.

b
How to Practice the Two Stages of the Path of the Glorious K
ā
lachakra: Quick Entry to the Path of Great Bliss
(
dpal dus kyi ’khor lo’i lam rim pa gnyis ji ltar nyams su len pa’i tshul bde ba chen po’i lam du myur du ’jug pa
), Collected Works of Rgyal-tshab Dar-ma-rin-chen, vol. 1 (Delhi: Guru Deva, 1982), 2a.2/91.2.

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not generate ascertainment of the view of selflessness.

In particular, your assumption of the general and specific vows of the five lineages will also have become a mere verbal repetition of [what] the master [said when giving the vows], and thus a strong wish to keep the pledges without deterioration and a strong wish to attain the state of Vajradhara will not have arisen. Therefore, purification of the mental continuum through the paths common to Mantra and the Perfection Vehicle is a necessary prerequisite.…Understanding this, [a master] should not in any form bestow the profound initiations on a beginner whose mind has not been purified in the least.

Gyel-tsap’s admonitions make clear that this form of “Eastern yo-ga” at least is not amoral, as Jung thought (above, p. 67).

It seems to me that a similar admonition to cultivate the basic paths would be appropriate before attempting to achieve calm abiding, whether in the S
ū
tra or the Mantra systems. Such paths provide a foundational framework of techniques for avoiding problems. They bring with them a greater possibility of success when faced with manifestations of inner turmoil brought out by the practice of meditation itself, since greater concentration strengthens a mind embedded in distortion.