Because the whole purpose of practicing a deity is to reduce our sensorial level of attachment, you know? So that’s the sole purpose. So by practicing deity, we reduce the sensorial, you know, what we like in taste, what we like in smell, like to hear, you know? What we fear, what we like, and all of that. So it’s to reduce the fixation.
As you reduce the fixation, and then the practice becomes more subtle. As the practice becomes more subtle, then you are introduced to the recognising the nature of the mind. Otherwise “wanting to recognise the nature of the mind” doesn’t work. Me telling you “how to recognise the nature of the mind?” doesn’t work, you know?
So, like an example, Tilopa and Naropa, you know, when we think about the, all the “Ooh, Mahamudra!” They think that everything is so beautiful. Oh of course it’s not beautiful! Tilopa give a big slap with the slippers, and then the Naropa recognised the nature of the mind! We think that “Ooh, somebody is sitting on the throne, and gives teaching, and then this person have a lotus coming from his head, and recognise the nature of the mind”. You know, we assuming like that, right?
We assume like everything to be “perfect scenario”, but it’s not. Like Gampopa, he recognised the nature of the mind when, when he was on his way to meet Milarepa, you know? He asked his Dharma friend, the navigator, “which, which is the direction of where Milarepa is residing?” And he said “Oh this side”, and then the Gampopa, he put his head, head in that direction and then he, the next morning when he woke up, and then he recognised the nature of the mind. Things like that, you know?
So that’s that. So, yeah.
So the practice, the deity practice, really doesn’t matter whether the deity has like four arms, six arms, two arms, doesn’t matter the arms, or how many, how they appear, you know, sometimes in the deity, they say “Ah, if you practice this one for three months, you will be enlightened!”, some say “Ah, if you touch this one, you will be enlightened within one week!”, “if you hear this sound, you will be enlightened!” And all these things.
It doesn’t matter. I mean, all of that is beautiful. All of that is to inspire, encourage us. It has a blessing. But at the end, it comes down to how you progress yourself, you know? So not only “everything depends on the guru” or the “master”, also it depends on you, how you cultivate willingness.
So what I’m trying to say, I had just went to a history lesson. So, what I was trying to say is that, you know, even all this Niguma’s teaching, like Dream Yoga and all of that, is actually based on the teachings of the Lord Buddha. So she just find a different method to bring us more like, enhancement. Enhancement? To bring you little bit more faster, you know?
So everything is based on the teachings, method, of the Buddha Shakyamuni. And then she just find a way, you know, to bring it little bit, you know, closer to our understanding, little bit more faster with her own technical experience, that sort of thing.
Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche – Niguma Yoga Event in HK
Kadoorie Centre, Shek Kong, Hong Kong – Sunday 12th February 2023
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