Unfortunately, there are few people that really know what they are doing amongst the Indian diaspora and Western practitioners. The symbolic meaning of something like the Devi Mahatmyam requires significant teaching and study to unfold. As I mentioned on a related thread, I think Vajrayana makes explicit many things which are only implicit in Hindu tantra. As a result, in general I think Western buddhists are better educated about what they are doing than Western hindus. In my experience a lot of the Hindus are more concerned with the emotional charge than with really understanding what's going on.Yudron wrote: Well, I went to a Hindu Saraswati puja a couple of nights ago so that I could understand more of the similarities and differences. It was really lovely, and seemed to run like I imagine a Buddhist sadhana practice from the outer tantras would be, and had some very similar symbolism to a Buddhst Saraswati practice. I say "I imagine" because I have never been to a puja from the outer tantras, so I don't really know. I would argue that for me the practice was a Buddhist one, or because I hold a Buddhist frame of reference. The people around me, eyes closed, palms up, seemed to be seeking rapture.
Not so confusing. We spend lots of time with partners, friends and family serving them as if they were really existent. This is the same thing. You perform the practice because that is what pleases the deity and it is done in a mood of love and devotion. The elaboration just becomes a way to express more fully your love.Yudron wrote: So, I don't really understand this kind of language, but it seems that if one wants to do Kriyayoga practice as such one remembers the view of the inseparability absolute and relative truth, while simultaneously exerting oneself at an elaborate sattvic practice, as though it was really really true. No wonder hardly anyone specializes in these practices in Vajrayana Buddhism anymore... for most of us this would be wicked confusing!
Chenrezig is another name for Shiva, and vice versa as far as I am concerned. The iconography is nearly identical, the wrathful form of both is Mahakala, It's clear to me that there is shared genesis.Yudron wrote: So, you are right Karme, only a wisdom lama can determine who to accept as a disciple and what to advise them about their practices. I think it would be pretty easy to make Chenresi another god in the Hindu pantheon, if if hasn't already been done. Would it be of some benefit, sure! But, would bring the same fruition of Buddhist Vajrayana? I kind of think it would be a different fruit?
One can be a Buddhist and yet hold a dualistic view of Chenrezig. Will such a practitioner achieve the fruition? Unlikely. What is important is the meditational view.