So now going back to the explanation of the deity, or the protector, the mindset towards the deity. If it is a belief of the non-Buddhist belief, that you worship certain deity, or some sort of gods, spirits, you wish some sort of a magical power, fortune, result, in return by making an offering, by offering prayers, by dedicating your time.
But in a Buddhist context, there is, there is a distinction. We, as a Buddhist practitioner, the very purpose of practicing a deity is to reduce the fixation to ourself. That is the sole purpose.
Of course, the magical, and then blessings, it will come by itself, over the time. But the main sole purpose, the distinction mindset, of being a Buddhist practitioner defines, you know, and that comes down to, the definition comes down to the intention of practicing a deity. Not just a, with the Bodhisattva vow, but also, by practicing a deity, to reduce the fixation.
So now, if you talk about what is the fixation? The fixation of our own mind. The fixation of our sensorial level of feeling fixation, seeing fixation, and then we have also, we have our jealousy, ego, attachment, ignorance, and so on, we have all the negativity, isn’t it? So the sole purpose of practicing a deity is to reduce the, the fixation over the time, step by step. If you force yourself, then you will fail.
Many people, including myself, when we begin our deity practice training, we want to “achieve” something overnight, and that kind of a mindset doesn’t work. So the deity, the teachings of the Lord Buddha, should be part of our life, step by step, without any sense of force, nor obligation. Because if you have a sense of force upon yourself, or sense of obligation to do practice, and then you lose the sense of joy in the teachings of the Lord Buddha, which lose the purpose of practicing Dharma eventually.
So therefore, sometime, you take a few steps back, and to reflect the reality of the suffering little bit. And why you are connecting with the teachings of the Lord Buddha, questioning the very existence of the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and why you are actually practicing. Time to time, question a little bit is important. So then you can re-energise and reconnect with the Dharma even more greater than before.
Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche
Six-Armed Mahakala Teaching and Empowerment in HK – 4th Feb 2023 (2h 10′ 48”)
Comments are closed.