Empowerment Was Important to Me
By D. Sandy, Guest Contributor
A few months ago, I finally took the step I had been contemplating over the past few years as a practicing Buddhist. One of my elderly relatives who has constantly been my guide advised me to undergo the empowerment ritual saying it would lend more depth to my spiritual practice. Fortunately, I took this advice very seriously and went through this initiation and today, I can truly say that it has helped in my spiritual development.
During the empowerment ritual, my teacher explained that this is an initiation into deity practice. I won’t go into which deity or who my teacher is. I just wanted to share my experience and why I think it is worthwhile to those who are ready.
Mantra Practice and Empowerment
My teacher said an important part of empowerment is to plant the seeds and encourage nurturing through the sadhana and mantra practice. In my experience, the moment of transmission, instantly trained my mind to concentrate, develop and practice.
Although at the time of empowerment I did not fully comprehend all the words spoken—I don’t know many of the words delivered in Tibetan—in hindsight I can say that today, after months of practicing since empowerment, there have been many tangible benefits.
Before, my mind used to be filled with too many thoughts of things happening at office and at home and I used to find myself worrying over several things. Although I realized that was not possible to do anything about certain things beyond my control, it used to be difficult to refrain from thinking about them. This interfered with practice and concentration. Empowerment helped me through that somehow. Now, when I sit or do mantra, I can concentrate fully.
Deity Practice Changed Me
As I began deity practice at this new, deeper level, I could feel these unnecessary thoughts simply going away. It was as if my mind, constantly engaged, was slowly transforming from a conflicted me to a mind willed with deity. As the burden of all these thoughts reduced, I began noticing a slow change in my personality and attitude, too. My friends say I’m more relaxed and smile more.
Previously, whenever I had a small illness or physical discomfort, I used to keep on stressing about the pain and discomfort I was going through. Since, I began empowered practice, I can truly say that I’m now more of an interested observer in that pain, detached enough to see it as healing rather than sickness.
Empowerment Improved My Attitude to Other People
Another important change, perhaps the most important one, my attitude towards other people has changed for the better. All my life, I have always been quick to observe the flaws of other people around me and on quite a few occasions, even got into intense arguments with many people. Sometimes, I would not say anything openly, but would carry an ill feeling in my heart that did not allow me to interact well with certain people, or just ate away at me.
Now, I find myself mellowing in my response to people. This didn’t happen consciously. I wasn’t trying to change my way of dealing with people. But, I have stopped finding fault with others. During any interaction, I now concentrate on doing the best possible from my side and if at all things don’t go exactly the expected way, I am able to look for the mistakes I made rather than blindly assuming it was all the other person’s fault.
In other words, it is as if during the ritual of empowerment, my reacher planted the seed of clarity and today, with my spiritual practice, I am watering the sapling that has grown from that seed.
4 thoughts on “Empowerment Was Important to Me”
Leave a Comment
More articles by this author
Search
Latest Features
Please support the "Spread the Dharma" mission as one of our heroic Dharma Supporting Members, or with a one-time donation.
Please Help Support the “Spread the Dharma” Mission!
Be a part of the noble mission as a supporting member or a patron, or a volunteer contributor of content.
The power of Dharma to help sentient beings, in part, lies in ensuring access to Buddha’s precious Dharma — the mission of Buddha Weekly. We can’t do it without you!
A non-profit association since 2007, Buddha Weekly published many feature articles, videos, and, podcasts. Please consider supporting the mission to preserve and “Spread the Dharma." Your support as either a patron or a supporting member helps defray the high costs of producing quality Dharma content. Thank you! Learn more here, or become one of our super karma heroes on Patreon.
D. Sandy
Author | Buddha Weekly
BW can you please contact me so I may be able to contribute? You have my permission to move my old postings…
Hi Bodhi,
Sent you an email and have set you up! Namaste
Lee
I recently read Garchen Rinpoche’s comments on the “Samadhi Empowerment.” In it, he teaches that when needed, self-empowerment is acceptable with practices and mantras that speak deeply to us. The prerequisite is simply right intention and sincere bodhicitta.
All too often, there may be no opportunity to get an empowerment in person. Many empowerments are rarely given or only given in larger cities where there are established Dharma Centers.
Garchen Rinpoche has also taught that online empowerments have the same effect as in-person, as long as the intention and bodhicitta are there. But even then, some empowerments simply are not available–so a method of self-empowerment is extremely valuable.
Hindu Tantra has methods of self-empowerment for mantras. Garchen is the first lama that I know of to reveal that Buddhist Tantra also has such an option.
Garchen is such a Jewel! And his credentials are unimpeachable. I believe he is pointing the way forward that will supercharge the spread of Dharma to those who otherwise would be left in the “Dharma backwaters” from lack of being in the right place or having access to the right teacher with the right teaching that they want and need.
I highly recommend Garchen’s “Samadhi Empowerment” teaching. It’s openly available online.
Yes, and thank you for your comment. We’ve mentioned Garchen Rinpoche and other teachers but we always caution people to check with their own lineage and teachers. Some lineages are super strict.
Garchen Rinpoche — and we certainly agree — always stressed that Bodhichitta is the main requirement to chant mantras.
However, just to be clear, this isn’t self-empowerment. (At least not the formal term. The formal term Self initiation or self-empowerment refers to people who have completed a mantra counting retreat and who wish to renew their vovws and empowerment on their own.)
I think this is a terminology thing. Garchen Rinpoche said it’s fine to chant mantras if you have Bodhichitta. And, that’s absolutely true. Empowerment is usually four-fold: vase, secret, and so on. Vase refers to body empowerment, secret to mantra.
The difference is, anyone can chant a mantra with Bodhichitta intention (I would maybe caution against highest yoga tantra mantras, since the practices are much more nuanced. But certainly, for Kriya tantras the mantra guideline would apply).
HOWEVER. this means you frontally generate. You visualize your Buddha in FRONT of you. YOU DO NOT VISUALIZE YOURSELF as Buddha — that requires the Vase empowerment, which includes a guided visualization and the blessing of teacher. It’s not because it’s dangerous, just because it’s got no value if you don’t know all the details of the visualization. (Just to be clear, though Garchen Rinpoche and other teacher do empowerments (including vase) online, especially for Tara, Avalokiteshvara and so on. So that certainly would be full empowerment. In this case he asks you to visualize the vase touching your head (that’s a symbolic gensture). And, when he sprinkles, you visualize feeling the purification, and son on. It’s all guided). BUT — with that, you get a teaching, guided you on how to practice (which is important if you’re going to do more than chant the mantra).
Mantra is the speech (most practice involves body, speech and mind.) So, if you have no mantra lung or empowerment, yes, you certainly can chant it and it’s a blessing and generate merit if you have Bodhichitta. But you do not self generate or do the inner body or completion practices which require full empowerments (because of training, not because it’s a “secret” Garchen Rinpoche in that same feature explained what secret really means. It’s not about being a private club. It’s about learning to do it the way lineage masters successfully accomplished over the many centuries.
So, yes, we certainly encourage people to chant mantras, and to frontally generate, and to generate Bodhichitta, and first to Take Refuge in the Three Jewels, and dedicate the merit to the cause for Enlightenment for the benefit of all beings (Bodhichitta intention.) That, itself is a complete practice and a highly meritorious one.
The generation and completion practices are the things for which empowerment is mandatory. Speech empowerment is not mandatory, just recommended when you have the opportunity. (I strongly suggest you also dedicate the merit of your mantra chanting to the opportunity for empowerment from a qualified teacher — and by the way Garchen Rinpoche gives empowerments online.)
For instance, I chanted Tara’s mantra for two years (this is 30 years ago) before my aspiration manifested (I dedicated the merit to the cause for Enlightenment and for me to have an opportunity for empowerment). Almost exactly two years, and I had the rare opportunity to attend His Holiness Sakya Trizen empowerment (the 41st). This was 30 years ago, but I still treasure the memory.
Hope that helps. In kindness, Lee