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Cycles of Time and
Karma
The word kalachakra means cycles of time, and the
Kalachakra system presents three such cycles -- external,
internal and alternative. The external and internal cycles deal with
time as we normally know it, while the alternative cycles are
practices for gaining liberation from these two.
The structures of the external and
internal cycles are analogous, similar to the parallel between
macrocosm and microcosm discussed in Western philosophy. This means
that the same laws that govern a universe also pertain to atoms, the
body and our experience of life. The practices of the alternative
cycles also follow this structure so as to allow us to engage with
and surmount these forces in an efficient manner. Such mimicking is,
in fact, one of the distinguishing features of the anuttarayoga
tantra method.
Time, in Buddhism, is defined as a measurement of change.
For example, a month is the measurement of change involved either
externally in the moon circling the earth or internally in a woman
going from one menstruation to the next. Such changes are cyclical
in that the pattern repeats, although the events of each cycle are
not completely identical. Externally, the universe passes through
cosmic, astronomical, astrological and historical cycles.
On an internal level, the body goes
through physiological cycles, many of which bring about associated
mental and emotional cycles as well. Furthermore, just as universes
form, expand, contract, disappear and then form once again,
individual beings pass through continuing rebirths with repeated
conception, growth, old age and death.
Normally the passage of time exercises a debilitating effect. As we
age, our sight, hearing, memory and physical strength gradually
weaken and eventually we die. Due to compulsive attachment and
confusion about who we are and how we exist, we take rebirth without
any control over its process or circumstances, each time having to
relearn everything we knew before. As each of our lives unfolds over
the course of time, karmic potentials from our previous actions
ripen at appropriate astrological, historical and life-cycle moments
into the various events we experience. Some of these are pleasant,
but many are not. We seem to have little choice about what happens
in life.
In short, the external and internal cycles of time delineate
samsara -- uncontrollably recurring rebirth, fraught with
problems and difficulties. These cycles are driven by impulses of
energy, known in the Kalachakra system as "winds of karma."
Karma is a force intimately connected with mind and arises
due to confusion about reality. Imagining that ourselves, others and
everything around us exist in the way our mind makes them appear --
as if with concrete, permanent identities established from within
each being or thing -- we act on the basis of this confusion with
attachment, anger or stubborn foolishness.
We think, for example, "I am definitely
like this, those objects or persons are certainly like that, I must
possess these things as mine and get rid of those that bother me,"
and so on. Any physical, verbal or mental action committed on the
basis of such a rigid, confused way of thinking builds up karmic
potentials and habits.
Under appropriate circumstances, these
potentials or "seeds of karma" ripen in the form of
compelling impulses to repeat these acts, and to enter into
situations in which similar actions happen to us. We can readily see
this if we examine carefully the impulsive behavior behind the
personal and historical events we experience. How many people
blunder from one bad marriage to another, and how many countries
from one crisis to the next?
Karmic potentials, in fact, give rise to a broad array of
impulses that affect our lives. Collective karmic potentials from
previous actions of a huge number of beings -- including ourselves
-- give rise, for example, to the impulse for a universe to evolve
with specific environments and life forms into which we and these
beings subsequently take rebirth. These collective potentials also
give rise to the impulses that drive the physical and biological
laws that govern that universe -- ranging from the weather patterns
of its planets to the life-cycle habits of each species on them.
They also account for the impulses behind the instinctive daily
behavior characteristic of each life form.
Within this context, individual karmic potentials, at the
appropriate juncture in each being's internal cycles -- namely after
each death -- give rise to the impulse to take rebirth in a specific
environment with a particular body. This impulse is relative to a
particular evolutionary point in the external cycle of a universe.
We cannot take rebirth as a dinosaur in a primeval forest when this
life form and setting are already extinct.
All these factors that ripen from karma
work harmoniously together to provide the "container" within which
we experience the ripening of other personal karmic potentials in
the form of the impulsive behavior behind life's events. Born in a
nation at war, we impulsively become a soldier, bomb enemy villages
and one day are killed in battle. The many levels of external and
internal cycles of time intertwine in a complex manner.
In short, time has neither beginning nor end. There has always been
and will always be change, which can be labeled as the passage of
time. Universes, civilizations and animate life
forms continually arise and fall. The form they take depends on
the actions, and therefore the minds of those who precede them. This
is why there is a harmonious fit between the bodies and minds of
beings and their environment. Someone is born as a fish to
experience life's events in water or as a human in air, not vice
versa.
Because the minds of beings are under
the influence of confusion, however, the bodies, mentalities and
environments that result from the karmic actions they commit have a
constricting, detrimental effect on them. These factors limit their
abilities to benefit themselves and others. People living during the
medieval plagues could do little to counter the horrors they faced.
Liberation
from Cycles of Time
The alternative cycles of time entail a graded series of meditative
practices of anuttarayoga tantra. They serve not only as an
alternative to the external and internal cycles, but as a way to
gain liberation from them. The possibility of gaining liberation
from time, however, does not imply that time does not actually exist
or that someone can live and benefit others outside of time. Time,
as a measurement of change, also occurs as a measure of the cycles
of actions of a Buddha.
Liberation from time means ridding
ourselves of the confusion, and its instincts, that repeatedly give
rise to the impulses, or karma, that render us at the mercy of the
ravages of time. Once free, we are no longer adversely affected by
external winter darkness, eclipses, wars and so on that periodically
recur. Nor are we restricted by the type of body that is under the
control of periodic biological forces, such as hunger, sexual urges,
tiredness or aging. As a result of the full understanding of
reality, it becomes possible, instead, to generate cycles of forms
that benefit others beyond any limitations imposed by time.
The process begins with the Kalachakra initiation. Properly
empowered, we engage in generation and then complete stage
meditation practice in the form of the Buddha-figure called
Kalachakra. Through these two stages, we access and utilize the
subtlest level of our mind to see reality. Remaining continually
focused on reality with it eliminates forever confusion and its
instincts, thus bringing liberation from the external and internal
cycles of time.
This is possible because our basis
tantra, our individual clear light mind, underlies each moment
of experience and, like time, it has no end. Once our subtlest mind
is freed from the deepest cause giving rise to the impulses of
energy that perpetuate cycles of time and bondage to them, it gives
rise, instead, to the bodies of a Buddha, in the form of
Kalachakra.
The Spread of
Kalachakra
In deciding whether to take the Kalachakra empowerment, it is
helpful to know the origin of these teachings and the history of
their spread. We then have confidence that its methods have been
tested and proven effective over time.
According to tradition, Buddha taught the Kalachakra
Tantra more than two thousand eight hundred years ago in
present-day Andhra Pradesh, southern India. The rulers of the
northern land of Shambhala were the main audience and
preserved these teachings in their country. In the tenth century,
two Indian masters, in separate expeditions, attempted to reach
Shambhala. On the way, each experienced a pure vision of that
land in which he received transmission of the Kalachakra
empowerment and corpus of material. Each spread these teachings
in India, with only slight differences in their presentation.
One of the last tantra systems to
emerge historically, Kalachakra quickly achieved prominence
and popularity in the monastic universities of the central Gangetic
plain and then, shortly afterwards, in those of Kashmir. Four styles
of practice eventually emerged. Masters from these areas taught
Kalachakra in northern Burma, the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, but
it died out in these areas by the fourteenth century.
Together with Tibetan translators, Indian teachers also transmitted
Kalachakra to Tibet. There were three primary transmissions
between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, with each lineage
passing on a different blend of aspects from the four Indian
versions and introducing further slight differences due to
translation. Lineages, combining different components of these three
transmissions, have passed down to the present through first the
Sakya and Kagyu, and then also the Gelug traditions.
Since the Nyingma school of Tibetan
Buddhism transmits only Indian texts that reached Tibet and were
translated prior to the early ninth century, there is no direct
Nyingma lineage of Kalachakra. Later Nyingma masters, however,
have received and conferred Kalachakra empowerment from other
lineages, particularly that of the nineteenth-century Rimey or
nonsectarian movement, and written commentaries on all aspects of
the teachings. Moreover, there is a Kalachakra style of dzogchen, or
great completeness practice.
Among the four Tibetan traditions, Kalachakra is most
prominent within the Gelug. The study, practice and rituals of
Kalachakra first received special attention in the fifteenth century
at Tashilhunpo, the monastery of the early Dalai Lamas and later the
Panchen Lamas in central Tibet. In the mid-seventeenth century it
spread to what the Manchus soon called "Inner Mongolia," where the
Mongols built the first monastic college dedicated specifically to
Kalachakra. By the mid-eighteenth century there were
Kalachakra colleges at the Manchu imperial court in Beijing, then
Tashilhunpo, Amdo (northeastern Tibet) and so-called "Outer
Mongolia."
During the nineteenth century the
Tibetans and the Mongols of Inner and Outer Mongolia transmitted
Kalachakra to the Buryat Mongols of Siberia and they, in turn,
at the beginning of the twentieth century, spread it to the Kalmyk
Mongols on the Volga River and the Siberian Turkic people of Tuva.
As in other Mongol areas and Amdo, large sectors of the major
monasteries of each of these regions devoted themselves to
Kalachakra practice.
This enthusiasm of the Mongols, Amdo people and Tuvinians for
Kalachakra is perhaps due to their identification of their countries
with the fabled northern land of Shambhala. For more than a
century many Russians also have embraced this belief as a result of
their contact with the Buryats and Kalmyks. Madame Blavatsky
and Nikolai Roerich, for example, gave Shambhala a
prominent role in theosophy and agni yoga, the esoteric traditions
each respectively founded. Agvan Dorjiev, the Thirteenth
Dalai Lama's Buryat envoy to the Russian imperial court,
convinced the last czar, Nikolai II, to sanction construction
of a Kalachakra temple in St. Petersburg by explaining to him
Russia's connection with Shambhala.
Kalachakra has also received prominent attention in the
medical and astrological institutes of all four Tibetan Buddhist
traditions within Tibet itself, Mongolia and other parts of Central
Asia. This is because the calculations for compiling the Tibetan
calendar and determining planetary positions, a large part of
Tibetan astrology and a certain portion of Tibetan medical knowledge
derive from the external and internal Kalachakra teachings.
The Mongolian calendar, as well as
astrological and medical systems, subsequently derived from the
Tibetan ones. Kalachakra is thus the Buddhist equivalent of
the "patron-saint" of these sciences.
Kalachakra and
the Line of Dalai Lamas
Many people wonder what is the connection between His Holiness
the Dalai Lama and Kalachakra, and why does he give this
initiation so often. His Holiness modestly claims there is no
special relation between the line of Dalai Lamas and Kalachakra,
despite the Dalai Lamas being considered incarnations of one of the
Shambhala rulers.
Nevertheless, the First, Second,
Seventh, Eighth and the present Fourteenth Dalai Lamas have taken
strong interest in the Kalachakra system. Since the time of
the Seventh Dalai Lama in the early eighteenth century, Kalachakra
ritual and meditation practices have been specialties of the
Namgyal Monastery, the personal monastery of the Dalai Lamas at
the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
There is no restriction on the number of times the Kalachakra
empowerment may be given during the lifetime of a master and
there is no special reason why His Holiness the present Dalai Lama
confers it so frequently. His Holiness has said he is happy to give
it when requested, provided the circumstances are conducive.
Since 1970, he has conferred the
empowerment in numerous places in India, as well as in North
America, Europe, Mongolia and Australia. Several other great masters
of the Gelug, Kagyu, Sakya and Nyingma traditions have conferred it
widely as well. It makes little difference from which lineage the
Kalachakra initiation is received. They all empower us to study
and practice the vast array of its teachings.
Kalachakra and
World Peace
We always hear that the Kalachakra empowerment is for world
peace. Some people even choose Kalachakra over other
anuttarayoga tantra systems because of this association. But
what exactly is the connection between Kalachakra and peace, and why
do so many people attend? Although empowerments for other tantras
are intended for only a small number of disciples at a time, there
is a historical tradition of conferring the Kalachakra initiation to
large crowds of people.
Buddha first gave it to the king of
Shambhala and his entourage of ninety-six minor rulers. In time,
their descendants conferred it upon the entire population of
Shambhala in order to unite them against the threat of a
possible invasion and avert annihilation. This is the origin of the
association of the Kalachakra empowerment with world peace
and the tradition of conferring it upon large numbers of
participants.
According to the Kalachakra presentation of historical cycles,
barbaric hordes periodically invade the civilized world and try to
eliminate all possibilities for spiritual practice. A future
invasion is predicted for the year 2424 of this common era, when it
is said there will be another brutal world war. At that time help
will come from Shambhala to defeat the barbarians. A new
golden age will dawn, with everything conducive for spiritual
practice, particularly of Kalachakra. All those who have
previously received the Kalachakra initiation will be reborn at that
time on the victorious side.
The highest motivation for receiving the
empowerment is to be able to practice the Kalachakra methods
now in order to achieve enlightenment in this very lifetime.
Nevertheless, people have traditionally flocked to the initiation
with the motivation of planting karmic seeds to connect themselves
with this future golden age so as to complete its practice then.
Shambhala
Since Shambhala plays a prominent role in the Kalachakra
system, most people are curious to know what Shambhala
actually is and where it is located. It is undoubtedly from a
distortion of the name "Shambhala" that the Western romantic writer
James Hilton has derived the myth of Shangri-la -- a
hidden paradise on Earth. Although there may be a place in this
world representative of Shambhala, that is not the actual fabled
land. Shambhala cannot be found on this planet or even in
some distant world. It is, however, a human realm in which
everything is conducive for spiritual practice, particularly of
Kalachakra.
Meditation masters have written guidebooks, in both Sanskrit and
Tibetan, for reaching Shambhala. They describe the journey as a
physical one only up to a certain point. The sojourner must
subsequently repeat millions of mantras and other special practices
in order to arrive at the final goal.
The journey to Shambhala, then,
is primarily a spiritual one. The aim of receiving Kalachakra
initiation is not to reach or be reborn in Shambhala,
but, like all other mahayana, or "vast vehicle" Buddhist
practices, is to gain enlightenment here and now for the benefit of
all. The empowerment plants the seeds enabling us to reach this goal
and helps purify some of the grosser internal obstacles that would
prevent its attainment.
Assessing Our
Preparation for Receiving Empowerment
Suppose we develop interest in Kalachakra based on knowing
something about the special contents of its teachings, its history
and relation to world peace. We still need to decide whether we are
actually ready to receive empowerment and embark on its practice, or
whether it is better to attend as a well-informed and admiring
observer. The most reasonable course is to base our decision on how
well prepared we are.
Although hundreds of thousands of
prostrations, repetitions of the hundred-syllable Vajrasattva
mantra and so forth are extremely helpful, the main
preparation is training in lamrim -- the graded pathways of
behaving, communicating, thinking and feeling that lead to
enlightenment.
The first step is to take the safe, sound and positive direction in
life indicated by the Buddhas, their teachings and the community of
those well-advanced in that direction. Usually translated as "taking
refuge," this is the direction of working on ourselves to overcome
problems and gain the qualities necessary for benefiting others as
fully as possible. Putting this direction in life means leading our
life on the basis of understanding and confidence in the laws of
behavioral cause and effect. To avoid suffering and problems, we
refrain from acting destructively, and to experience happiness, we
act in a constructive manner.
The most important preparation for tantra is striving to
develop the three principal pathway attitudes, or outlooks on life:
renunciation, bodhichitta and the understanding of
voidness. Renunciation is the willingness to give up problems
and their causes, and is based on a strong determination to be free
from the suffering they engender. For example, because we are
totally disgusted with being lonely and frustrated, we are willing
and determined to give up not only our unhealthy relationships with
others, but also our negative personality traits and confused,
distorted self-image which make our relations nonfulfilling.
Bodhichitta is a heart that is
set on achieving enlightenment -- overcoming all shortcomings and
realizing all potentials -- for everyone's sake. It is motivated by
love and compassion for all beings, and a sense of responsibility to
help them as much as possible to overcome their problems and attain
lasting happiness. Voidness means an absence of fantasized
ways of existing.
Normally, we imagine ourselves, others and all phenomena to exist in
impossible ways that do not accord with reality. We mentally
fabricate fantasies of varying levels of subtlety and project them
onto ourselves and onto everything and everyone around us. For
example, on one level we imagine we are born to lose, we can never
succeed in establishing or maintaining a satisfying relation with
anyone, and that the other person or external circumstances are
never at fault when things go wrong.
On a more subtle level, we are
preoccupied with ourselves, thinking we exist as some solid "me"
inside our head whom we fear no one will like and everyone will
reject. Confusing these fantasies with reality, we act out of
ignorance and the insecurity it generates. Even before any conflict
arises, we are so nervous and self-conscious that we ensure the
relationship fails. Our behavior not only builds up and reinforces a
pattern of karmic potentials for problems to ripen in future
relationships, but also triggers the ripening of past potentials in
the form of present rejections.
Before entering tantric practice, we need to understand that
at least the grossest levels of our projections do not refer to
anything real. No one is a born loser and no relation is doomed to
failure. Such understanding comes from an outlook on reality, or
"correct view" of voidness, corresponding to at least one of
the mahayana systems of philosophical tenets Buddha taught --
chittamatra or one of the several madhyamaka ones.
According to these systems, not only ourselves, but everything is
devoid of existing in fantasized ways. The particular systems differ
primarily according to the level of subtlety of fantasy they
address.
As further preparation for tantra, faith and confidence are
needed in the tantric methods in general, and particularly in those
of its highest class, anuttarayoga, as constituting the most
efficient and effective means for attaining enlightenment. Anyone
having this confident belief, the frame of mind of the three
principal paths and a background in lamrim is called a
"proper vessel" for receiving the Kalachakra empowerment. We
must judge for ourselves if we are sufficiently prepared.
Overview of
the Initiation
The initiation process spans several days, with the first day being
a preparation ceremony, followed by usually two or three days of
actual empowerment. The most important part of the initial
procedures is taking refuge and the bodhisattva and
tantric vows. Without all three, we cannot actually receive
empowerment, although we may witness it and derive great benefit.
The empowerment itself involves a
complex procedure of imagining ourselves transforming into a series
of special forms, entering the mandala of the Buddha-figure
Kalachakra, and experiencing in it a sequence of
purifications and the awakening and enhancing of potentials for
future success in the practice.
The mandala is an enormous
multistoried palace, in and around which are 722 figures, including
a principal couple in the center. The master conferring the
empowerment simultaneously appears as all these figures, not just as
the central one. Thus, throughout the process we visualize
ourselves, our teacher and our surroundings in a very special way.
The steps of the initiation are extremely intricate and, without
familiarity, the visualizations involved can be quite perplexing.
But if, as a proper vessel, we take the vows with full sincerity and
at least feel, with strong faith, that all the visualizations are
actually occurring, we can be confident that we are receiving the
empowerment.
With this basis secured, the next step
is seeking further instruction and then trying, as sincerely as
possible, to travel the full path to enlightenment as presented in
the Kalachakra Tantra.
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