“It is said that there is no more effective practice than Vajrakilaya for overcoming obstacles and protecting ourselves from hindrances to practice.”
Over the last couple of days, including yesterday, the Dharma Protector day, the monastic sangha at Palchen Chosling monastery have been performing the Mahakala Cham (Dance) at HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche’s Palchen Choling Monastery, in Ralang, Sikkim.
Today, for the new moon, there was a live broadcast of much healthier looking, 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche performing the red vajra crown ceremony. I have written about the red vajra crowns of the two of the most important Karma Kagyu heart sons, Kenting Tai Situpa and Goshri Gyaltsab before here.
The Vajrakīlaya empowerment teaching: Chogyur Lingpa’s revelation and the Vajrakilaya mountain in Tibet
I tuned in accidentally online just after the red crown ceremony had finished, and 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche was about to perform the torma empowerment of Vajrakīlaya (the whole empowerment can be viewed online here). I had no idea such an empowerment was planned (it was not publicly announced), and though I have taken the empowerment of Vajrakilaya a few times previously from other Vajra masters, and was outside, I decided to try and take it in a reasonably quiet spot sitting at a table outside a cafe in their garden area.
The 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche began the empowerment by explaining that in Sikkim there are many Dharma practitioners, and they all have the wish to achieve the ultimate result of practising Buddha Dharma. in degenerate times, demonic beings (Maras) will try and bring obstacles and block people practising Dharma with things like sickness and bad health, and that they would especially do that to authentic practitioners. Rinpoche then explained that one of the best practices for neutralising and ‘cutting through’ such attacks was that of Vajrakilaya (Dorje Zhonu).
He explained that Guru Padmasambhava knew when he came to Tibet and Dharma practitioners would face many obstacles in the future, and so he gave many teachings in Tibet and explained how these would be hidden and revealed by tertons/treasure-revealers. Among the teachings Padmasambhava hid, it is said that there is no more effective practice than Vajrakilaya for overcoming obstacles and protecting ourselves from hindrances to practice. There were various Vajrakilaya practices that were revealed by tertons.
Rinpoche then explained that Vajrakilaya he would bestow today was from a close lineage, only a few generations ago, revealed by the great terton, Chogyur Lingpa. It was also revealed at a very special place in Tibet, a mountain that is said to be in the shape of the deity Vajra Kilaya himself. It is also said that the treasure teaching was revealed from the right arm of that deity in the shape of a mountain. Also, the teachings that were revealed have extensive and shorter versions, and this is a shorter one, mainly given with a torma. This empowerment had been bestowed on 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche several times by the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje at Rumtek Monastery.
Halfway through the empowerment, a woman sat down right next to me and started staring at me and taking selfies of herself, even though there were many other seats around outside. It seemed to be a symbol sent from the deity himself! Move away from such women, which I did. I felt the wrath rising up though ha ha ha .
After moving away to another spot, and the stunning torma was bestowed I had intermittent visions of the 17th Karmapa inseparable from Vajrakilaya with flashing wrathful eyes. After it had finished I felt compelled to leave the cafe immediately and went back to where I was staying, still in union with the deity and chanting the mantra, where a secret blessing vision union of the 17th Karmapa, as Vajrakilaya himself was then bestowed and the empowerment finished off so to speak! Terrifyingly blissful ha ha ha.
I felt very grateful and fortunate to get the empowerment and opportunity to renew and make the connection with the deity Vajrakilaya again, after some gap from visualising him and reciting his mantra.
Chogyur Lingpa, the Karmapas and Vajrakilaya
As I wrote about here and here, the 14th and 15th Karmapas had very close connections to Chogyur Lingpa. In another article I wrote in 2022, The Karmapas, Vajrakīlaya and Chogyur Lingpa’s “Dagger of the Seven Profound Cycle” (Zabdun Phurba) pulls together some resources on the history and origin of Vajrakīlaya, the Chogyur Lingpa termas and the connection to the 14th, 15th and 16th Karmapas. To conclude the article, I shared my own personal ‘vision’ of the 16th Karmapa and the Vajrakīlaya deity at a drubchen in Nepal, and his prophetic message that seemed to predict the tragic (and bizarre) death of Nyingma master, Khatog Rinpoche, in Pharping, Nepal in November 2018.
Chogyur Lingpa, as many of you may remember, was also the treasure-revealer who revealed 150 years ago Guru Padmasambhava’s prophetic teaching regarding the incarnations of the Karmapas up until the 21st one, for more on that read here. In particular, he stated that the 17th Karmapa would be ‘one mind with Tai Situpa’, which turned out to be 100 percent accurate!
The full Crown ceremony and torma empowerment can be watched here: