Lion's Roar Podcast transcript of discussion and guided practice
MARIANA RESTREPO: Welcome. I am Mariana Restrepo, Deputy Editor at Buddhadharma. It is my pleasure to introduce Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön a first generation American of Cuban-Spanish descen. Lama Yeshe has completed the traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat, and has been a full-time practitioner of Buddhism for over 18 years, teaching and translating Dharma texts and oral teachings from Tibetan to English.
Lama Yeshe is passionate about helping Western students integrate the practice of Buddhadharma into their daily lives. Today, we will speak with visualization practice, particularly focusing on the practice of Chenrezig, also known as Avalokiteshvara, bodhisattva of compassion, thank you for joining us today.
Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön: Thank you, Mariana, it’s a pleasure to see you.
Oh, so I think let’s just jump right in. And can you tell us who is Chenrezig, and what is the significance of Chenrezig practice within Tibetan Buddhism?
Well, I suspect all of these questions are going to be bigger than that time we have, but to get right to the point, Chenrezig is the embodiment of enlightened compassion. This means the compassion of the buddhas, the bodhisattvas, all realized beings, and also, the very nature of our mind, which is imbued with love, compassion, wisdom, power, and so forth.
The practice of Chenrezig has a special place in Tibetan culture. You could say that the mantra of Chenrezig, OM MANI PEME HUNG, is almost the soundtrack of Tibet, and it is a very prominent practice of Tibetan Buddhism.
When you look at centers in the Americas and Europe, most centers of Tibetan Buddhism will have practices of Chenrezig and Tara, as building blocks that people can begin to practice from the moment they enter the center for the first time and can transport them into deeper levels of Vajrayana practice as well.
So Chenrezig is an embodiment of compassion, not only as an abstract idea, but from the first moments of entering into any Tibetan Buddhist Center.Can you talk a little more about those core principles or the qualities that Chenrezig embodies and how we as practitioners can cultivate them through our practice.
Well, Chenrezig, like all yidams–yidam is a Tibetan word that literally means something like captivating the mind— are living representations of qualities that are already present as the nature of our mind.
And so, what's important about these qualities is to recognize, first, that they're always present. We may not always be as aware of their ever-presence. But that is a purpose of the practice to put us in touch with—the presence of these qualities in our own mind and the minds of other beings, in the environment, the omnipresence of enlightenment everywhere.
So, all Vajrayana practices have those qualities. Chenrezig is a special practice in large part because it is so accessible. It is accessible in that it is a fairly straightforward practice, whether you do a more elaborate form, or shorter form, or an even more concise form. And it is also accessible in the sense that you can go to almost any Tibetan Buddhist Center and find people who are practicing it on any given week. So that's also a valuable thing to be able to have that accessibility.
Read companion article online at Buddhadharma: A Practitioner's Guide
Switching to, the second part of our conversation, what is visualization? What is visualization practice? How does it work and how does it help us?
Vajrayana practice is, you could say, actually an application of Mahayana principles. The Mahayana is one of several approaches to liberation and buddhahood in Buddhism and the Vajrayana is a subset of Mahayana practice.
And then, a very obvious element of Vajrayana is what's often translated as visualization. I want to start from the get-go by telling you, I'm not a fan of that translation. The Tibetan word is sam, which is the exact same word we use for thinking or reflecting or any kind of mental activity. So I typically like to translate and render that term as imagination.
And the reason for that–you can hear it right in the English “visualization,” which makes it sound like there is one sense happening, the visual sense. Vajrayana practice is meant to be a full sensory experience: what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, what you touch, and what your heart feels.
So visualization is actually a lot more than the English word makes it sound like. It is an imaginative process. You could say it is a very poetic way of connecting with the teachings in an experiential manner. And the reason we do that is precisely because a lot of the teachings can feel very intellectual or can feel sometimes distant for us or just not present.
Vajrayana practice is a very direct, almost audacious way of connecting with the qualities of Buddhahood, right now. Rather than say I'm going to keep up my practice and then at some time in the future, I'll attain this state, Vajrayana starts from the premise of the buddhanature is present now.
From the perspective of the buddhanature, there's no difference between our mind and the mind of Chenrezig, for example, so let's work with that right now. Let's put ourselves in the place of experiencing that here and now. And this is something that can be healing and a real catalyst for developing on the path.
Imagination is an interesting in a way of looking at it. How would, when I think about, maybe I think about imagination or maybe our listeners will think, I do not know, daydreaming, isn't this the opposite of meditation practice. Like, we're trying to concentrate. We're trying to train the mind. So how is that type of imagination? I mean, different from kind of just distracted day training.
That's a fantastic question Mariana because that is at the crux of what's happening here. And again, this is why I like to think of Vajrayana as like a poetic of practice.
If we think about a poem, say a sonnet, any beautiful structured poem, it is not the same as sort of sitting down and just writing a bunch of letters on a page. It has a certain number of syllables and maybe the last words rhyme.
There's something about that structure–the rules, meter and rhythm, rhyme, that constrainand they also create the space for even more creativity. Rather than limiting creativity, the structure of a poem enhances it and Vajrayana does a similar kind of thing.
Because very specific kinds of imagery are used, particular colors, a certain number of arms, hands, faces, a particular physical posture, that's like the structure, the meter, the rhythm, etc in a poem. So it is not like you're just daydreaming and any kind of random image works.
What's more, for me personally, I found this style of practice actually more helpful for concentration. For example, if I am trying as a beginner to focus on the breath, I may be distracted from that breath, 100 times in the space of a very short period of practice.
Whereas the Vajrayana practices, because they are so diverse—they’re so detailed—the mind can travel over the entire image of Chenrezig, for example–the eyes or the hands, the jewel that the hand holds, the lotus, the moon seat, whatever it might be. And the mind is traveling, so there is a sense of more ease, a sense of more freedom, but throughout that entire time, the mind is still concentrated on Chenrezig.
Whether it is Chenrezig's hand or Chenrezig's crown, or whatever it might be, it still is Chenrezig. So, there's still a sense of that shamatha aspect, retaining a recollection, that's happening at the same time.
That brings me to my next question and, a lot of beginner meditators or even some words these meditators will say well I cannot meditate, like I'm always distracted like I cannot not think, right? Um, but that's not, what visualization is about and so how does visualization compliment other forms of meditation or spiritual practices? Can you expand a little more than that?
Yeah, I mean I think one thing that's helpful to know with Vajayana is that it is built up on the foundation of Buddhist practices that are more widely available.
So having some measure of practice with breath meditation, or vipassana, or the four foundations of mindfulness, these are actually helpful supports for Vajrayana practice. A lot of times in Tibetan Buddhist centers, people might jump right into Chenrezig, and that's also feasible.
You can develop shamatha and vipashyana within the context of Vajrayana practice or you can continue to refine what you've developed in other meditations. So, what happens is to the extent that we're able to maintain a sustained awareness on that full imagination, that full experience of the particulars of, in this case Chenrezig practice, that's the shamatha aspect. There's that quality of concentrating that does have a little more fluidity, a little more movement to it.
And then, at the same time, there's the knowledge, the recognition, which again grows out of the foundation in our studies of the Dharma, that recognizes it is not a flesh and blood creature. it is not just a figment of our imagination. It is emptiness appearing in the form of Chenrezig and here.
it is important to recognize that emptiness, especially in the Vajrayana, the stress on emptiness is on something more like an infinite potentiality, not just this void where something just springs out. But it is an expression of emptiness. So, those two things together, bring the vipashyana aspect—knowing the nature of Chenrezig—together with the shamata aspect—resting in the particulars of the imaginative practice. And you can even develop the practice to a very much more developed, advanced stage, the unity of shamatha and vipashyana, holding the mind together on both of those aspects.
What are some common challenges that beginners might encounter when starting this type of practice and how can they overcome them?
Another fantastic question. I think one thing that is common all around. I teach these practices in the Americas, Europe, and especially in Asia, and no matter what culture people come from, it can be difficult to generate the image to mind.
There's lots of picturea, thangkas, images that people can purchase on a card or something, or get on the internet that have the correct proportions. But if we try to basically photocopy that I mentioned to our mind, we're not creating the image, the mind’s creative and energy is not as involved.
So at first it is difficult to remember the elements of Chenrezig—for example, how many arms, what is he holding in this arm? In that arm? What posture? And that's pretty common for people to have. Another thing that is a little different from culture to culture. It might seem foreign or too exotic. Sometimes people will say, can I have something that's more relevant to my own culture, my own experience?
Actually, that strangeness of the yidams is actually valuable. Vajrayana practice, like all Buddhist practice, is a process of building intimacy. But when we're talking about a yidam like Chenrezig, we're building an intimacy with a presence.
Just like you might meet your best friend, on the first day you meet them, you do not know you're their best friend yet. You’re just getting to know them. You're recognizing what they look like, what they act like, you're learning their voice. Same kind of thing with yidam practice.
So for both of these elements, that sense of maybe a little distance or maybe being frustrated in developing the image to mind, it is a question of familiarity, developing intimacy. it is not something to be frustrated with. it is actually a good way to start being compassionate to ourselves, maybe having a little humor with ourselves in that. It can be a little frustrating and it can take some time, Seeing this as a process of having a closer and closer deeper relationship develop.
When we see it that way, that can overcome those initial hurdles of: what is this image? Why am I doing this? How do I even get this to be something that's present to mind? and so forth, by seeing it as a process and being curious about how it will develop for you.
So you mentioned, not just like creating a photocopy of his image in your mind. So would you say that perhaps a good approach is not just kind of trying to imagine or visualize just the images as a whole but start, step by step maybe like focusing on one aspect of the deity. Maybe start kind of like creating damage kind of part by part or how would you approach, how would you recommend to a beginner that they start to get familiarized with this process of imagination of the day?
Well, at first, of course, there's a general description which is a good place to start. And the Kagyu lineage in particular we value a one-to-one connection with the teacher so I cannot stress enough how important it is to be able to have access to a teacher. It does not have to be the highest teacher in the land. It can be someone who's just familiar with it, maybe even another sangha member who knows the practice, so you can ask questions.
Everybody's different. Some people will work better going from the big picture so to speak, to the details, get the shape right, get the color right. Get the numbers, right? How many arms, how many hands? How many feet? How many heads sometimes? And other people will be the exact opposite, more detail-oriented. They want to hone in on, find a detail and fill in those details bit by bit.
That's another of the strengths of Vajrayana practice, we can bring our own preferences, our own inclinations to the practice, but it helps to work one-to-one with a teacher to sort of develop that practice and fine tune it, individualize it, for ourselves.
Can you talk about how this type of practice, especially in the Vajrayana incorporates what we call the three doors, the body's speech of mine and, you also mentioned the differences. Personally when I started my path and Buddhism, I was attracted to Tibetan Buddhism because I have a very active mind. And so it was very good to have, what you mentioned, those kinds of parameters, that was keeping me engaged not just like, sitting with my body, but also engaging my mind and even something as a chanting practice also, with speech. So can you talk about how those elements come together into Vajrayana practice?
Yeah, that's such an important element because Varjayana stresses the unity of body speech in mind. So of course, in any meditation practice, we're likely to be taking a particular posture, perhaps a cross-legged posture or sitting in a chair or whatever it might be. We might also be saying something before and after the meditation, like prayers, and we might be using our mind during the meditation to focus on something. Vajrayana is striving towards a unity of body, speech, and mind.
So, for example, in the Chenrezig practice, your body has a particular posture, you are maybe holding a mala in one hand and moving the beads as you recite the mantra with your speech, and the mind is engaged in this imaginative practice. it is bringing all of those three doors, the three gates, alive and present to mind, present here and now in the practice.
That's a key element of Vajrayana because it relates to that sense of bringing the fruition into the now, into the present. Vajrayana practice is meant to be more akin to the fruition. These images and so forth are meant to reflect the form, kayas or experiential bodies of the buddha. Seeing that there is that close connection, we also see that close connection that we see in the enlightened body, the enlightened speech and the enlightened mind experience of buddhahood.
And there's something again that is in some ways a little more constraining, you're doing a lot of things at once. And out of that structure, and out of being held in that structure, there's an immense freedom that comes from that, immense alignment with our own nature, that feels very harmonious.
And so one last question for those who are new to this type of practice, how do you recommend incorporating visualization or imagination and Chenrezig practice in particular into their daily lives.
Well, that's one of the Important elements in Varjayana practice—that it not stay on the cushion.
So, especially with a practice this elaborate–and Chenrezig is one of the simpler practices, but it is still quite elaborate—it is good to start on the cushion. You might start with a very simplified form of the practice just to get your feel for it. And get, kind of like an appetizer for the full practice, get the interest in that practice and then you might go to a center where you can see the full practice text, get instructions on the practice which is important.
Usually with Vajrayana, you want to have instructions and a reading transmission. Someone will lead the text to you to give you, or hand you down the blessing of the breath of the practice. For some practices, there might be an empowerment involved with Chenrezig, that's not typically necessary, although it is nice to have.
But it is good to start with something very simple. If you have a guided practice, you can follow that. It might take five or six or seven times, depending on your inclination, to do it several times before it starts to come alive for you. Having a picture as a support, having an audio file that you can follow, that sort of guides you through it at first, in a very simple way, is a good way to get your feet wet.
And from there, that can serve as a building block, for looking at the practice text, which has basically more words that walk you through the mindsets. Vajrayna is using words as a way to spark a mindset, or an attitude, that we bring to the practice. So you might be then driven to use the practice text to bring those mindsets to your formal practice.
Part and parcel of the practice, as you'll see at the end of any of the formal texts, is to recognize when you get off the cushion is: you do not leave Chenrezig back there. Part of the time on the cushion is to recognize that ever-presence of Chenrezig, in your own mind and in others.
Then we start to be curious about how other things may actually be expressing as Chenrezig, in ways that sometimes are very obvious—the kindness of a stranger opening the door for you might be a simple thing. Or it might be someone who gets under your skin, but helps you to develop patience. Or to look at ways you might be able to act more in alignment with your own wishes for yourself. So we start to look for those qualities everywhere in our lives and to welcome experience from that mindset of everything being enlightened body, speech, mind, and activity.
Lama Yeshe, it was a pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much. It is always a pleasure to meet with you and it is a great honor to be joining you all today.
And now Lama Yeshe will guide us in a short Chenrezig visualization practice.
Guided Imaginative Practice of Chenrezig An Introductory Meditation Compiled by Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön
To begin with, just arrive at a comfortable posture for the body
Allowing an active repose
And settle into awareness
Sensing your body loosely
Your environment, and any beings near you.
And then to begin, we'll start with a refuge and bodhicitta, the first of three sacred principles indispensable to all Mahayana practice, namely (1) bodhicitta; (2) sustained awareness as the body of the practice, and then (3) dedicating the merit.
We begin by taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, out of that sense of wishing for ourselves to be happy, without the interruption of pain or loss, fear or oppression or uncertainty, turning to the Buddha Dharma and Sangha for protection and support as we traverse the path to be able to provide this for ourselves and others.
Out of that experience that we have, we recognize that other beings—our friends, family strangers, rivals, pets, animals everywhere we look, and even beyond our imagination—we can cast our net as wide as we like, recognizing the shared wish of beings, just like ours, to be happy and free of suffering. Touch into that with tenderness, and hold all beings in that loving solidarity.
This mindset is what drives us to express the words of refuge-bodhicitta, which is usually done three times. The important thing here is the mindset.
In the Buddha, his teaching, and the fellowship most excellent
I take my refuge until enlightenment
By the merit of generosity and other transcendent virtues,
May I attain buddhahood for the sake of all that lives.
(Translation by Karma Yeshe Chödrön.)
Now holding this twin mindset of refuge and bodhicitta close, you can direct the attention to the space in front, slightly above our heads, and imagine a warm white light shining forth, imagine warm white light shining forth filling space, slowly taking shape as Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara, the One with All-Seeing Gaze, embodiment of enlightened compassion.
With a clear white body, Chenrezig smiles, looking upon the world with tender eyes.
With four hands, the first pair are joined in prayer position at the heart, holding a jewel
The second right hand holds a crystal mala, or rosary, and the left holds a white lotus
Chenrezig is adorned with silks and precious jewels, a deer skin draped over the left shoulder,
And the Buddha Amitabha at the crown of the head.
Chenrezig sits in vajra posture, a stainless moon as a backrest.
And for the beginning, just know that each of these features symbolize the infinite excellent qualities of buddhahood. As you develop you might go into more detail about each. To begin. just know that Chenrezig is the essence of all sources of refuge, the reflection of your own mind’s true nature.
You can sustain continuous awareness on any part of Chenrezig or the whole experience, and within that awareness, recognize that Chenrezig is an expression of emptiness, like a rainbow. Sustaining the vivid experience of Chenrezig's presence here and now is the shamatha aspect.
Allow yourself to not be limited only by the visual, but have a full sensory experience. Maybe you have more sensitivity to sound, or smell, or taste, or touch Allow all of these to inform the imaginative practice. And then open to the feeling of being held and warm, loving affection, free of judgment, rich in understanding. You might touch into the warmth of being seen, being held in boundless compassion, feel the safety of Chenrezig’s embrace, and resonate with the enlightened qualities Chenrezig represents. Then you might expand the imaginative practice.
At any point, you can pause this practice and spend more time to develop more familiarity with any element.
For now, imagine that Chenrezig's body radiates five colored light:
White green, yellow, blue, and red
Imparting all the excellence of enlightenment as the lights fill you,
All beings,
And the space around you
So that everything reverberates with joy and love, courage and ability
The lights washing away all suffering, illness, and strife
Clearing the mind of any impediments to expressing its true nature freely
Experience yourself and all beings and the form of of Chenrezig
The environment as of Chenrezig’s pure realm
Recollecting that Chenrezig, the environment, inhabitants, including yourself
Are all empty yet appearing,
Appearing, yet empty.
This is vipashyana aspect of the practice.
Now, holding all of this sensory and heart experience, you can recite the six syllable mantra for as long as you wish. The six syllables are OM MANI PEME HUNG
The continued recitation of the mantra sounds like this:
OM MANI PEME HUNG
OM MANI PEME HUNG
OM MANI PEME HUNG
OM MANI PEME HUNG
When you're finished with the recitation for however much you would like to enjoy it
Imagine that Chenrezig blazes with light
And the environment, the beings around you, Chenrezig, and yourself
All dissolve into a pinpoint of light at about the level of the center of your heart
And rest there briefly until the light melts into emptiness, infinite potentiality.
From there, sustain open awareness of that expanse of infinite potentiality
As long as you're able.
When thoughts arise.
Pause.
Let them move, without pushing away or pulling close,
Staying present with whatever arises moment to moment.
Then, connect with the ways that resonating with Chenrezig has affected you today.
Perhaps an openness of the heart.
Sensitivity of understanding.
Wise responsiveness
And the sense of resilience being fed by a limitless stream of resources.
Allow the longing to manifest enlightened compassion to grow into your most cherished wish, motivating even your simple everyday actions.
And when you're ready to move into your day
Imagine that you arise in the form of Chenrezig
Be curious about life
Experiment with welcoming your experience
So that all that you see is the form of Chenrezig
All sound is experienced as the six-syllable mantra
And all thoughts, concepts ideas, and so forth are the play of enlightened mind
When you're ready to do so, dedicate the merit, which is the positive energy, the onward momentum, generated by this practice, to the cause of buddhahood for all beings.
Having attained omniscience by this merit,
May I defeat the enemy, wrongdoing,
And liberate all beings from this ocean of suffering
With its surging waves of birth, aging, illness, and death.
(Translation by Elizabeth Callahan.)
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