The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Three: 3 (76 page)

Trungpa Rinpoche:
It is a question of sneezing and wiping your nose. You sneeze spontaneously, and after that you wipe your nose.

Q: Thank you very much!

Question:
First I would like to say that I thought that was a very nice Christian talk you gave.

Trungpa Rinpoche:
Thank you.

Q:
But being here and meeting many Christians, I find that they are always very defensive about the idea that Buddhists do not believe in any kind of reality or concept of God. And I try to pacify them by saying that I find in my readings that the Buddhists simply use different words. They capitalize the word
Self,
or they capitalize the word
That,
or they capitalize the word
Suchness.
I assume that has some special significance.

But today I had an interesting experience. I met a person from the Orthodox tradition who became a Buddhist, and that person communicated to me something you once said in his presence, which was that you had a certain affinity with the Orthodox understanding of the reality that the idea of God represents. I would like to hear you say something about that, and how you understand that whole idea.

TR:
The Orthodox tradition was actually the saving grace in my life at Oxford because its followers understand the notion of meditation, and they understand that meditation is not just doing
nothing
but also involves radiating one’s openness. The contemplative traditions within both Judaism and Christianity, particularly the Jewish Hasidic tradition and also the Orthodox Christian Prayer of the Heart, which I’ve studied a little bit, seem to be the ground for Eastern and Western philosophy to join together. It is not so much a question of dogma, but it is a question of
heart;
that is where the common ground lies. One of these days I am going to take my students to Mount Athos to see how the Orthodox monks conduct themselves.

Question:
I’d be interested in any comments you might have about the practice of deity yoga and how the visualization of deities brings about a change in consciousness.

Trungpa Rinpoche:
What kind of consciousness are you talking about?

Q: The change that’s produced by the deity yoga, by the practice of the deity yoga, from our normal awareness of the world. The question I’m asking is, where does this lead; what type of consciousness does this produce?

TR:
Everybody is a deity here. It is very simple. I think one of the basic points is to realize the ultimate concept of sacredness.
Sacred
in Sanskrit is
adhishthana,
which also means “blessing.” Adhishthana gives you open heart and a sense of wakefulness at once. It is taking place right now while we are having a conversation. Got it?

Q: Thank you, sir.

TR:
Well, unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, there is something called time, and we are running out of it, so we might stop here. I would like to thank everybody who took part in this, and especially the organizers of this conference. All of you have been so kind and genuine and good. Hopefully you can return again and contribute more, if you can. That will be a portion of the cake of saving the world. Thank you very much.

Talk given at Naropa Institute’s third Conference on Buddhist and Christian Meditation, 1983.

APPENDIXES

The Bön Way of Life

T
HE STUDY OF
Bön, the native, pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet, is a vast and largely untreated subject. Unfortunately, accurate information concerning higher spiritual training in Bön is extremely difficult to obtain; materials that are presently available contain only sketchy data, obscured by overlays of popular Buddhism. Moreover, in making inquiries of present-day Bön priests, one finds that they speak a great deal in Buddhist terms, drawing parallels between the highlights of their doctrine and Buddhist teachings.

An investigation of the Bön religion is further complicated by the existence in Tibet of “white Bön,” which amounts to a “Bön-ized” Buddhism. “White Bön” is basically an adopted form of Buddhism, but the Buddha is called Shenrap (see below); the Buddhist vajra is replaced by a counterclockwise svastika;
¹
and the bodhisattva is called yungdrung sempa, that is, svastikasattva. Where a text mentions
dharma,
the word
Bön
is substituted. There are Bön equivalent names for all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and also for the ten stages—or
bhumis
in Sanskrit—of the bodhisattva path. Many contemporary Bön believers are therefore not good sources of information concerning the pure tradition of their religion.

In fact, most of the original Bön texts were eventually destroyed or fell subject to heavy Buddhist editing. In the absence of surviving Bön philosophical sources, the cosmological understanding of Bön must be reconstructed from ritual texts that were left intact owing to their assimilation by Buddhism. Nevertheless, some Bön texts have survived, and it is possible to derive the fundamentals of Bön belief from these.

Bön,
which in Tibetan means “way of life,” is traditionally interpreted in the sense of “basic law.” The Tibetan name for Tibet is Bö, which is basically the same word. Moreover, until about the seventh century, Tibet was referred to by its inhabitants as Bön, Bö being adopted only later. This is verified by ancient scrolls found in caves in Afghanistan early in this century, as well as by ancient Khotanese scrolls which tell of taxes paid to “the great king of Bön.” Thus the name of the Tibetan religion was, at least archaically, synonymous with the nation itself.

The higher teachings of Bön were transmitted to the Tibetans by the sage Shenrap Miwo.
Shen
means “heavenly”;
rap
means “supreme one”; and
miwo
means “great man.” Shenrap lived long before the Buddha. The Shenrap myth refers to the Buddha, the teacher of wisdom; to Gesar, the teacher of war; to the Lord of Taksik, the teacher of the law of wealth; and so forth. All these are considered incarnations of Shenrap. The work of Shenrap still exists in Tibet in the form of some four hundred volumes, but it has undergone heavy Buddhist editing. A few of the books that have not fallen into Buddhist hands give some clue as to how the practitioner should proceed on the path of Bön.

Bön religion is concerned with the creation of the universe in such a way as to consecrate the existence of the country, customs, and habits of the Tibetan people. This is in contrast to the spirituality of Buddhism, which arises in the far more abstract context of psychological evolution.

The spirituality of Bön is founded in a cosmological reality: nine gods created the world, a world in which birth, death, marriage, and sickness all have their place. If the worshiper can attune himself to those gods through various ritualistic ceremonies, and through an understanding of these ceremonies, then he is in a position to fulfill whatever is demanded of him by the cosmic order.

The acquisition of spiritual understanding in Bön is based on the concept of tendrel, which means “cosmic law.” This is similar to the Buddhist term
nidana.
Both concepts present the flow of events as a causal enchainment. But whereas the Buddhist concept suggests the matter-offact nature of fate, tendrel gives much more the idea of an influenceable agency. According to Bön, anyone who attunes himself, through the appropriate rites and practices, to the movement of the interdependence of events is not in danger of being rejected by it. Understanding this interdependence, he can read its signs. By invoking the name of the supreme Bön deity in the appropriate manner, and also by including repetitions of his own name, he can call the gods to himself as allies and defenders.

The supreme divine principle of Bön is referred to as Yeshen. This supreme deity has the same quality of cosmic totality that is found in most theistic religions.
Ye
means “primordial” or “original”;
shen
means “divine,” “heavenly,” or “spiritual” but also has an anthropomorphic implication. The impression is of a divine ancestor.
Shen
also has the sense of “friend” or “ally,” so a benign quality is added. The ancestor aspect also brings the feeling of the richness of age along with the sense of divinity. Yeshen is seen as passive and peaceful, accommodating the idea of a final peaceful rest for the worshiper.

The energetic aspect of the sphere of the divine is represented by another principle—Se. Se, who is primarily vengeful in character, communicates directly with man. He creates the link between the absolute, divine plane and the relative plane of man. The point is that the practitioner of Bön must acquire the ability to see the Yeshen quality in every life situation. If he is able to do this, guidance for the further application of his practice comes from Se, who points him in the appropriate spiritual direction.

Se is a powerful warrior; the Bön worshiper calls him god (
lha
). The national king of Tibet also used
lha
for his title, partaking as well in the image of powerful warrior. In ancient times, the capital of Tibet was thus named Lhasa (
sa
means “place”), identifying the seat of the king with the seat of the god.

At this point it would perhaps be most useful to give some impression of the methods used for relating with Se and achieving union with Yeshen. Bön, unlike the religious outgrowths of the Aryan culture—especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism in their quasi-popular forms—gives little heed to the pursuit of salvation through the practice of austerities. Bön philosophy speaks of Yeshen as being reflected in the interplay between heaven and earth. Thus the Bön aspirant seeks magical power through union with the Yeshen nature as manifested in mountains, trees, lakes, and rivers—all of which are impressively present in Tibet. There is a strong orientation toward waterfalls, falling snow, clouds, and mist arising from the deep valleys, since all these are regarded as activities of Yeshen. Belief in the magic of these natural features is paramount.

In attempting to commune with Yeshen, the practitioner must first find the highest peak in the locale. He invokes the name of Yeshen in the lhasang practice, which is a purifying ceremony often performed on auspicious occasions (even by Buddhists) in Tibet.

To prepare for a lhasang, a fire is made of cedar needles. Offerings are made of the “three whites” (curd, milk, and butter); the “three sweets” (brown sugar, crystal sugar, and honey); as well as offerings of tsampa rubbed in butter with popped barley and chalices of barley beer, tea, and milk. Yeshen, Se, and the eight degyes (messengers of Se) are thought to descend from heaven on the smoke of the fire. The cedar is Se’s tree, and its wood and smoke are considered ritually pure. The ceremony is intended to bring the divine down into the sphere of human life, as well as to elevate the particular occasion into the sphere of the divine. The burning of the cedar needles is one of the main means of communicating with Yeshen. The devotee becomes absorbed in the smoke of the ritual fire. Certain messages are read from the patterns of the rising smoke; for example, slowly, gently rising white smoke signifies acceptance, while dark smoke that is constantly interrupted by wind signifies obstacles.

There are nine cosmos-creating deities (including Se himself), which figure as part of the Se principle. Only through the mediation of Se, or the other figures who manifest his principle, can the worshiper communicate with Yeshen. There is the sense that, if properly appealed to, Se could approach Yeshen to redispose the ultimate energy of the universe in a way more favorable to the worshiper. The other eight deities are the messengers, or degyes, of Se. The degyes might more accurately be regarded as types, or principles, than as individual beings, since each may have many local manifestations. Each degye also has a retinue of minions, attendants, helpers, and so on who act on its intentions.

The nature of these Bön divinities can be gathered from their associated practices and iconography. A general iconographical feature of Se and the degyes is the per, a kimono-like garment reaching to the ankles with wide, triangular sleeves and a pleat over each hip. The per was the garment of ancient Tibetan royalty. The warlike degyes wear armor beneath the per and helmets pennanted in their particular color. The pennants vary according to the status of the figure. Se wears a white per with crystal armor and helmet. White is associated with divinity; it is pure and contains all the other colors. He rides a white horse with turquoise wings.

The only female degye is Lu, who is associated with water. Bringing rain, she also brings fertility. Thus she is the patron deity of women, especially young maidens. Lakes and sources of springs where shrines have been built are sacred to her. Lu punishes with leprosy, rheumatism, and skin diseases. She can be propitiated with offerings of the three whites and three sweets. Lu is associated with snakes, blue-gray horses, and blue-gray mules. She wears a gown of feathers and seamless water-silk representing mist. She rides a blue horse with white stripes in water designs, and she holds a crystal vase filled with gems.

Tsen is the god of fire. He has the power of instant destruction. He is associated with speed and the accomplishment of actions—especially destructive actions. He does not kill his enemies externally, but, because of the swiftness of his horse and his quickness to anger, he is able to instantly enter his enemy’s body through the mouth or anus. Tsen is the patron deity of bandits and warriors. Harms associated with him are heart attack and death by accident. He is offended by making fire in inappropriate places, by roasting meat, or in general, by creating disturbances or disharmony in any particular environment. Offerings to Tsen are goat’s blood and goat’s meat. He is associated with brown horses and jackals. Tsen wears copper armor beneath his red per and rides a red roan. The general feeling of the image is of blood and fire. His moment par excellence for striking is at sunset. He holds a scimitar and a lasso.