heart wrote:JohnJ wrote:pensum wrote:That is the sort of thing that it is probably best not to openly talk about in a public forum. It is called "Secret Mantrayana" for a reason. I'm sure though that if you do a bit of research or ask your lama you can find out the reasons without much trouble.
Interestingly enough, we did ask our lama, Garchen Rinpoche, and he told us we could receive empowerments over the Internet, even HYT. He told us the essence of empowerment is generating Bodhicitta and understanding that it is the same as the mind of the deity. If your teacher requires you to injest a substance or participate in any ritual physicality, than I encourage you to do so. I would also ask your teacher if he or she believes it is productive to quote Buddhist scripture on the Internet like a college campus evangelist. It is good to know our teacher's opinions on these things.
Recordings and live streams are different. Did you really ask Rinpoche if you could receive an empowerment from a dvd or a youtube video?
/magnus
In this particular quote I was referring to an earlier statement that without consuming a physical sacramental substance one could not receive empowerment by livestream, recorded or not.
As to recorded empowerments however, I did not ask Rinpoche if one could receive empowerments by just any recorded video from any teacher on youtube or through a dvd.
I did ask a question regarding Rinpoche's empowerments specifically, and it was relayed back to me that my question was translated and given to him. His response was relayed back to me in a letter and was clear. For some empowerments the recording had been blessed by Rinpoche and specific instructions given from him for the recording to be left online. One could receive empowerment by these authorized recordings only.
It was also clear that he meant this for no other teacher, and that he didn't mean this across the board for all that had been recorded from him. For instance, there are some very low quality sketchy recordings by him on youtube that were obviously done without his knowledge... I don't believe personally that a recording without his knowledge carries his blessing, based on what was told to me.
I was then told that the proper way to distinguish between what was authorized and what was done without his knowledge was to make sure that the recording was placed online by the Garchen Institute or a direct affiliate, such as Gar Drolma.
Others on this forum have also asked this question and received his reply, and the response that I recieved mirrors their own.
When I have had the very brief opportunities to interact with Rinpoche, this is not a question I explored in person, so I am relying on a message being relayed to his translator. The response back to me did not leave any room for my personal doubt. I can understand why it may be difficult to accept this, and so I encourage you to also ask this question in the same way I did, or even in person if the issue weighs very deeply upon you.
If instructions to the contrary are given in the future, I will accept them gladly.