“LEAPING FROM THE PRECIPICE” WITH THE UNEXAMINED: Vajrayāna empowerments for the ‘unexamined masses’ and the question of their accordance with the Buddhist Tantras and samayas

The Great Master of Oddiyana [Guru Padmasambhava] warns:
“Not to examine the teacher,
Is like drinking poison;
Not to examine the disciple,
Is like leaping from a precipice.”

“If one does not practice secretly and hidden, then no matter who you are if you publicise it to everyone, in particular, if you reveal secrets to people who are not appropriate vessels, then you will not achieve the siddhis…
For that reason, Dromtonpa Gyalway Jungne also said when two people are entering the same mandala at the same time and requesting an empowerment, when teaching those two people the tantra or the sadhana, even if you are teaching the same sadhana, you don’t teach them together. You separate them and teach it individually. If you teach them both together then it becomes revealing secrets. So it is a very strict system like that.” —17^th Karmapa (Fifty Verses on the Guru, February 2024)

“According to the Tantras and great Buddhist masters, devotion is the root of Vajrayana practice, but blind devotion is not, it must be based on thorough, mutual examination, respect and requisite qualities of both the prospective student and teacher.”

Introduction
Today, is Guru Padmasambhava day in the lunar calendar, who along with the Indian siddhas, Tilopa, Saraha and Naropa, is considered to be the main source of Secret Mantra/Vajrayana teachings being transmitted into Tibet and Bhutan.

The bestowal of Vajrayana empowerments from Buddhist teachers in India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan to masses of people are now considered to be the norm. In fact, I have attended many myself, both in person and online. I used to think these were fine (even online ones), after all, many well-known teachers have given them many times and mind is vast as space. However, these days, after more research, study and experience, it is not so clear that such ways of transmitting the Highest Yoga Tantra, or even Secret Mantra practices in general is permitted by the root Tantras or the original lineage masters.

 As the 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa taught recently (see here and here), the Kālacakra Tantra (and other Tantras and important Vajrayana texts like Fifty Verses on the Guru) advise people to not only thoroughly examine a guru, but also to study the samaya requirements of Vajrayana empowerments, including how to examine and take a Vajrayana guru before taking a guru and an empowerment from them.  I realized that the vast majority of mass empowerments, online or in person, do not fulfil these basic and important requirements for their bestowal. It is noteworthy that the 17th Karmapa himself very rarely gives highest yoga tantra empowerments publicly.

Frankly, there are many teachers (whose lineage, inner qualities and authority to teach etc is questionable) giving secret mantra empowerments in person and online to people who sign up whom they have never even met or know.

According to the Tantras and great Buddhist masters, devotion is the root of Vajrayana practice, but blind devotion is not, it must be based on thorough, mutual examination, respect and requisite qualities of both the prospective student and teacher. There is no doubt that someone with vows, stable foundational practices such as refuge, bodhicitta and merit of devotion and generosity can receive empowerments, even if the vast majority attending do not. However, the question remains, why then give masses of people them as well? Especially if it is not permitted by the Tantras to do so. The answer seems to be money, power, praise, fame and followers, something the original Mahasiddhas were not interested in or motivated by at all.

In this short article below, I explore the reasons why that has become so, and also when and why mass Vajrayāna empowerments began in Tibet and Himalayan Buddhist regions.  Some people think there is flexibility when it comes to the Tantras or the Sutras on vows, Vinaya and so on, yet it is clear such things are non-negotiable/flexible, otherwise one would in fact be trying to change the words and spirit of the Buddha’s teachings themselves.   This is something the 14^th Dalai Lama has been criticized for doing recently by Indian scholar-translator, Niraj Kumar in his book Kālacakra Tantra: Volume 1. For example, when one considers the example of Kālackara and how it came to be given en masse in Tibet and China in the early 20^th Century, it is clear that they were organized (with Chinese communist backing) for political, social and entertainment reasons and are not really in accordance with the advice on such empowerments in the Buddhist Tantras.

In any case, in the spirit of the 17^th Karmapa’s recent teachings on Vajrayāna commitments and practice, I hope this article encourages discussion and study regarding these challenging (yet necessary) questions on this topic. It is not written to attack or harm Vajrayāna or the genuinely qualified teachers who transmit it to qualified students, but to ensure its protection and continuation. That is not to say, I will not attend any Vajrayāna mass empowerments in the future, because if the teacher and student are both qualified and have examined each other well, there is no issue. However, I would certainly be very cautious and weary about attending Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments (such as Vajrayogini, Hevajra, Chakrasamvara and Kālacakra) with masses of other people, who have not been properly examined by the teacher, and from a teacher who has not been thoroughly examined either.

Dedicated to the flourishing and preservation of the amazing and profound secret mantra Vajrayāna teachings. Music? Tribute to Nāropa and his lineage by Tsering Gyurmey ) and Kagyu Lineage prayer by Surya Devi.

Written by Adele Tomlin, 16th June 2024.

The classic master-student ‘examination’ and transmission: secret and only for the qualified

The classic example of a master-student relation in Vajrayana is that of Tilopa and Nāropa, or Marpa and Milarepa. The Vajrayana teachings were transmitted by these Indian (and Nepalese) Mahasiddhas into Tibet by themselves and their followers. However, the way they transmitted Vajrayana secret mantra teachings and yidam deity practices like Vajrayogini, Hevajra and so on, was direct one-to-one transmission, after both the student and teacher had spent significant time examining each others’ qualities for several years, in person.

For example, there are famous tales of Tilopa not giving Nāropa any teachings at all until he had shown his total confidence in him as a qualified guru with siddhis. First, by letting Nāropa serve him for three years like a slave, and then asking him to jump off a roof (which he immediately did, being instantly healed by Tilopa after doing so). Also, even Tilopa himself was told by his female yogini teacher to work as a slave to a lower-caste, materially poor Indian prostitute, while he ground sesame seeds during the day as a labourer.

Then there is the famed story of Milarepa forced to manually build alone a tower by his guru, Marpa the translator (who himself went through great personal hardship and health issues to bring the Vajrayana teachings from India into Tibet) to not only purify his horrific past negative karma, but to prove his confidence and faith in Marpa as his guru.  A far cry removed from the 5-star hotels and spas frequented by many so-called ‘masters’, ‘yogi/nis’ who attend Vajrayana teachings and empowerments en masse in Europe, North America, India or Asia these days!

Contemporary 21^st Century Vajrayana empowerments: social media popularity, no real lineage or authorisation and lack of examination of student or teacher

It goes without saying that hardly any thorough examination of teachers or students is happening today though. Not only have these mass empowerment and transmission events become more like social gatherings in person (with no secrecy or privacy at all), with teachers bestowing empowerments to people they have never even met or know personally, and who are not qualified at all to receive such teachings, but the students themselves have no chance to meet or personally examine the guru.

In addition, they have also become ways to generate social media followings and popularity, and thus privacy (and secrecy) regarding the process, the instructions and of the recipients themselves is not respected at all, with photos being taken even during the empowerments themselves and posted on social media without the permission (or knowledge) of the person/people in the photo. This happened to me a few years ago, and worse than that, such a photo (which even looked like it had been edited/or made to look ‘ugly’) was then used by anonymous people online (seeking to defend and enable the sexual and abusive misconduct of their Vajrayana teacher) to attack me based on my physical appearance! It does not get more degenerate and samaya-breaking than that, right?

Some people think that a teacher having a big name and following is sufficient to ‘examine’ a guru, but the Tantras, and Buddhist masters like 17^th Karmapa and Je Tāranātha, clearly state that it is not. The most important qualities are not worldly things, like name, fame, wealth and influence etc. but inner realizations, the most crucial of which are love, compassion for all sentient beings and a good understanding of emptiness/wisdom as well as a stable understanding and practice of renunciation and going for refuge.

Online empowerments are even worse (in many ways) with people not even having their video webcams on, never having met the teacher and vice versa, and the teacher themselves having no clearly detailed lineage, authority to transmit and teach, or they say ‘the Dalai Lama told me it was alright’, even when the Dalai Lama and Gelugpas do not even hold the lineage for those teachings.

For example, the 2nd Kalu Rinpoche (who incorrectly labels himself as the head of Shangpa Kagyu) started teaching Niguma Yoga globally in bite-size tasters. This was done despite the fact the actual living Shangpa Kagyu lineage lamas (all of whom are within the Karma Kagyu lineage, 12th Gyaltsab and 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche), from whom he received the whole transmission of Shangpa Kagyu from, did not give him that explicit authorization and with whom he now seems to have little (if any) contact. Rarely posting about them and their activities with any devotion, praise or respect (as is generally expected of someone in relation to their living gurus). Instead, Kalu Rinpoche regularly shares tributes and posts about the 14^th Dalai Lama and gives him long-life empowerments, despite the fact the Dalai Lama is not a historical, or current, lineage holder of Shangpa Kagyu at all. No continued support or extended practice classes is offered to people after these two day tasters either, which is particularly risky if people continue to practice alone as it is both a physical and internal yoga practice.

Some teachers spend time giving months of reading transmissions or Vajrayana empowerments (such as the Rinchen Terdzo given at Rumtek Monastery by Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche , see photo) for attracting followers and donations for their monasteries. Even though this is actually forbidden in the tantras to do that to so many unqualified people and Atisha and others have said it is forbidden to give the second and third empowerments to monastics. In addition, what is the point of such long reading transmissions, if most of the people there will never understand or practice them afterwards?

In fact, as the 17^th Karmapa recently taught, if a student enters a Vajrayana mandala empowerment at the same time as another student, even then the Vajra master should not teach the sadhana or instructions to practice together as that would reveal secrets, and that it must be taught one-to-one privately. However, as most people will know, the sadhanas themselves are rarely if ever transmitted to people after empowerments (never mind privately). Hence why many people write to me asking for sadhanas they have no prior transmission or permission to practice, and when asked to get that transmission have no-one to turn to for doing that.

Kālacakra Tantra mass empowerments in Tibet by Panchen Lama and then 14^th Dalai Lama

As I recently wrote about in this article, based on recent research by Kumar and Daignaner Duoer (2019), the mass use of empowerments for political, social and entertainment reasons, (or what the Dalai Lama calls ‘giving the blessing of the empowerment’ rather than an actual empowerment) can be traced back to the 9th Panchen Lama’s forced exile from Tibet by the Ganden/Gelugpa dictatorship (who were originally imposed on Tibet by the Mongolian army) in the early 20^th Century.

In 1923, due to disputes with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama over taxation imposed on Tashilhunpo, the Ninth Panchen Lama left Tibet and began more than a decade of exiled travel in Inner Mongolia and the Republic of China. The Panchen Lama took up with the seemingly progressive, anti-aristocratic privilege ‘friendly’ Chinese communists who requested huge Kālacakra empowerments in China and other places. These became extremely popular, yet the 13^th Dalai Lama and Dalai Lamas prior to him had not had any real interest in Kālacakra prior to that.

Sensing some political power struggle with the 9th Panchen Lama it seems, the 14^th Dalai Lama (again with Chinese communist support and backing) also then started giving the Kālacakra empowerments in Tibet en masse. An ironic move indeed, as the main Dro lineage Kālacakra holders at that time, were the Jonangpas, whom the Gelugpa had severely repressed, stole their monasteries and banned their texts, including the famed Jonang monastery of Je Taranatha. The Jonang had to relocate to Amdo, Kham as a result.

It is not clear from whom 14^th Dalai Lama got the Kālacakra teachings and empowerment from at that time either. Kumar told me that the Dalai Lama has stated it was from his tutor, Ling Rinpoche, who is not renowned at all as a Kālacakra lineage holder or scholar. Nonetheless, the many Kālacakra empowerments given by the 14th Dalai Lama are sometimes attended by thousands of people (such as can be seen in the photo above in Ladakh). Ironically, the Indian yogi, Nāropa is also said to have been the one who wrote the incredible Kālcakra Tantra itself in the 11th Century, in verse! One can only wonder what Nāropa who jumped off a roof to show his faith in the guru would think of these huge events.

However, it is noteworthy (as Kumar observes) that the 14^th Dalai Lama never teaches about the Kālacakra tantra itself, the Vajrayana samayas,nor the advice to fully examine a teacher and students as detailed in the Fifty Verses on the Guru, and also has given the empowerment at incorrect times.

Conclusion
Whatever the case may be, there are serious issues regarding this use of Vajrayana empowerments for worldly political power and wealth and followers accumulation, and entertainment purposes that continue to this day. One only needs to attend a Kālacakra empowerment in Bodh Gaya to see how thousands of people attend it, often without a clue as to what is happening, being instructed or given, with no stable practice or realisations and no understanding whatsoever of the Vajrayana commitments, vows and so on.

For some, it may seem offensive or wrong for anyone to say these things. However, the work of a scholar, translator and intellectual is not to shy from ‘causing offence’ but to research the historical facts and data, and make observations based on those. These rules are not debatable either. The advice given in Fifty Verses on the Guru and in the Kālacakra Tantra are authentic foundations of Vajrayana practice and cannot (nor should) be ignored or disregarded.

Some might even go so far as to say, what happened in Tibet with the Gelugpas being violently forced out of authoritarian power by the Chinese communists there is not only a karmic result of their horrendous and violent internal persecution and reign in Tibet of the other main lineages and Tibetans themselves, such as Karma Kagyu, Drugpa Kagyu and Jonang, but also due to the malpractice and misuse of the Vajrayana itself. The Dharma protectors and Dakinis are not influenced by worldly matters like name, fame or wealth at all and do not move in such worldly circles. They are interested in protecting the Dharma. As the 17^th Karmapa also taught if you use unseen beings, or protectors for worldly (and even negative) actions, then you will only be propitiating ‘worldly’ beings who promote negative actions, not Dharma protectors.

So did the Dharma protectors abandon the 14^th Dalai Lama and Gelugpas? Did their centuries-old propitiation of an unseen worldly ‘protector’ being (now banned by them) also lead to what has happened in Tibet?  If not, why did such ‘protectors’ not stop the Chinese communist takeover of Tibet? Rather, in a grotesque “turning of the tables”, from a situation where all Tibetan monasteries in Tibet had to place a photo of the 14^th Dalai Lama in their main temples, to one where even ordinary Tibetans (never mind the big monasteries) cannot even have a photo of Dalai Lama in their personal possession. Surely, one would have to be willing to ignore something rather karmically obvious indeed not to make a connection?

Sources
‘COURAGEOUS HEROIC EXAMINATION OF A QUALIFIED VAJRAYĀNA STUDENT AND GURU: The issue of samaya-breaking gurus and students, the necessary qualities of a qualified student and guru, who to avoid and follow after examination (Fifty Verses, 17th Karmapa, Day 6)

NECESSARY QUALITIES OF A VAJRAYANA TEACHER BY TARANATHA in”A HUNDRED BLAZING LIGHTS”

THE AUTHENTIC ROOTS AND FRUITS OF THE KĀLACAKRA TANTRA AND ITS AUTHOR MAHASIDDHA NĀROPA: Interview with Niraj Kumar (Dakini Conversations, Ep.7)

KĀLACAKRA AND THE DALAI LAMAS/GELUGPA. The 20th Century/Chinese communist roots of mass Kālacakra empowerments; the 9th Panchen Lama and Chinese support for the first public empowerments , the 14th Dalai Lama’s takeover of Kālacakra in Tibet and exile, inappropriate timing of the empowerments and the Gelugpa’s mass suppression of other lineages and texts

A TIBETAN TRAVESTY: DESTRUCTION AND APPROPRIATION OF KARMA KAGYU/8TH KARMAPA’S MANY MONASTERIES: Reasons why 8th Karmapa newly established many colleges and retreat centres, disrespect of his activities by Sakya teacher, Tsarchen Losal Gyatso, and case study of the Karma Kagyu Gatsel Karma Zhunglug Ling college and its stolen/forced conversion into Ganden Thosam Dargye Ling monastery by the 5th Dalai Lama/Gelug