Beginning tantrayana

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Refugee
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Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:30 pm

Beginning tantrayana

Post by Refugee »

Greetings.

How do you define the relationship to a Lama that you have received empowerments from? Do they automatically become your tsawei lama, also considering this person may be the only accessible lama for me? Is it always a choice or can it be circumstantial(karma)?

** Is there a point when beginning that wanting to know more can be a hindrance, and one should do the practices and let things unfold even though there is confusion rather than pure perception?

Thank you 🙏
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conebeckham
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Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Beginning tantrayana

Post by conebeckham »

Refugee wrote: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:47 pm Greetings.

How do you define the relationship to a Lama that you have received empowerments from? Do they automatically become your tsawei lama, also considering this person may be the only accessible lama for me? Is it always a choice or can it be circumstantial(karma)?

** Is there a point when beginning that wanting to know more can be a hindrance, and one should do the practices and let things unfold even though there is confusion rather than pure perception?

Thank you 🙏
as for the first question, this will depend on lineage.
In Geluk and in Sakya, generally, the root lama is the one who gave you Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment.

In Kagyu and Nyingma, it may be that same Lama, or it may be a lama who gave you a "Direct Introduction" to mind's nature, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it, such that you "grasped" the meaning successfully.

As for the second question, it very much depends on the individual and the relationship. But in general, knowledge for it's own sake may be detrimental if one does not establish a well-grounded practice. Frankly, practitioners who start with "pure perception" are as rare as stars in the daytime, IMO. I think it's better to learn, and practice, concurrently, but to maintain a daily practice is most important.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Refugee
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:30 pm

Re: Beginning tantrayana

Post by Refugee »

I appreciate your response conebeckham. Very helpful, thanks for taking the time.
TrimePema
Posts: 366
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:16 am

Re: Beginning tantrayana

Post by TrimePema »

conebeckham wrote: Thu Nov 08, 2018 9:09 pm
Refugee wrote: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:47 pm Greetings.

How do you define the relationship to a Lama that you have received empowerments from? Do they automatically become your tsawei lama, also considering this person may be the only accessible lama for me? Is it always a choice or can it be circumstantial(karma)?

** Is there a point when beginning that wanting to know more can be a hindrance, and one should do the practices and let things unfold even though there is confusion rather than pure perception?

Thank you 🙏
as for the first question, this will depend on lineage.
In Geluk and in Sakya, generally, the root lama is the one who gave you Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment.

In Kagyu and Nyingma, it may be that same Lama, or it may be a lama who gave you a "Direct Introduction" to mind's nature, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it, such that you "grasped" the meaning successfully.

As for the second question, it very much depends on the individual and the relationship. But in general, knowledge for it's own sake may be detrimental if one does not establish a well-grounded practice. Frankly, practitioners who start with "pure perception" are as rare as stars in the daytime, IMO. I think it's better to learn, and practice, concurrently, but to maintain a daily practice is most important.
Daytime comes from a star, though :stirthepot:
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conebeckham
Posts: 5711
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Beginning tantrayana

Post by conebeckham »

TrimePema wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:49 pm
conebeckham wrote: Thu Nov 08, 2018 9:09 pm
Refugee wrote: Thu Nov 08, 2018 8:47 pm Greetings.

How do you define the relationship to a Lama that you have received empowerments from? Do they automatically become your tsawei lama, also considering this person may be the only accessible lama for me? Is it always a choice or can it be circumstantial(karma)?

** Is there a point when beginning that wanting to know more can be a hindrance, and one should do the practices and let things unfold even though there is confusion rather than pure perception?

Thank you 🙏
as for the first question, this will depend on lineage.
In Geluk and in Sakya, generally, the root lama is the one who gave you Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment.

In Kagyu and Nyingma, it may be that same Lama, or it may be a lama who gave you a "Direct Introduction" to mind's nature, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it, such that you "grasped" the meaning successfully.

As for the second question, it very much depends on the individual and the relationship. But in general, knowledge for it's own sake may be detrimental if one does not establish a well-grounded practice. Frankly, practitioners who start with "pure perception" are as rare as stars in the daytime, IMO. I think it's better to learn, and practice, concurrently, but to maintain a daily practice is most important.
Daytime comes from a star, though :stirthepot:
Indeed, but only one.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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