Developing The Right Attitude To Receive An Initiation

by His Holiness the Sakya Trizin

The teachings of the Buddha are the source of all happiness and benefit. Among his teachings, the most important is the practice of compassion. Compassion is the life force of all virtuous qualities. Avalokiteshvara is the manifestation of all the Buddha’s compassion, and so the initiation of Avalokiteshvara is among the most important teachings of the Buddha. 

In order to receive this precious initiation, the very first thing that we need to do is to create the right motivation. Everything depends on our motivation. If our motivation is associated with our defilement, then it can cause harm. If our motivation is neutral, neither good nor bad, if we just receive the initiation out of curiosity, then no benefit is gained from it. But if our motivation is good, then just to hear just e line of the teachings brings enormous benefit. 

Good motivation has many levels. Generally, people receive teachings in order to overcome obstacles and difficulties in this life, to have success in their lives. Although their motivation is good, they are not practising the real Dharma. For it to be proper Dharma, it should at least not be for the sake of this lifetime alone. If we are attached to this life, it appears like Dharma, but in reality it is merely another means to achieve worldly gains. It is not Dharma. For it to be the real Dharma, it should at least be for our next life, not merely for this current one. 

This life is like water bubbles that can burst at any moment, and it is not worthwhile being attached to it. Eventually we will die and this life will be over. When we die, our physical body will be dispose in one way or another. But our mental consciousness is something that cannot disappear, because it is intangible. It continues into its next life, and where it will go is determined by the deeds that we have performed. If we committed negative deeds, then our mind is predetermined to fall into the lower realms. And if we have performed good deeds, then it will go to higher realms. 

And so, out of fear of falling into the lower realms and wishing to continue to be born into the higher realms, we practise the Dharma. This is good motivation, but it still belongs to samsara, the cycle of existence. It is not proper renunciation. Of course, there is a difference between higher and lower realms, but as long as we’re still in the cycle of samsara, we’re not free from suffering.

So any attachment to the higher realms is similar to eating sweet poison. Some poisons are very sweet in taste, but they have harmful effects. So we need to develop renunciation thoughts, and in order to do this, we must realise that all of samsara, whether it be the higher or the lower realms, is not worthy of any attachment. 

Our motivation should be for the good of others. Just as much as we wish to be free from suffering, every living being also wishes the same. And so to have attachment to our own purpose is wrong, we must think of the good of others. Furthermore, we believe in rebirth – we keep changing lives, each with a different body, family and place. Our lives keep changing, rotating, and so every single living being has been our own very dear father and mother. Abandoning them just to seek our own benefit, our own liberation, is not right. 

Having attachment to our own purpose is e raising the enemy’s child. When we raise the enemy’s child, the child will be very pleased temporarily, but eventually it will bring us harm. Likewise, clinging to our own purpose can be temporarily pleasing, but eventually it will bring us harm. So our motivation should not be for the sake of this life, for a higher rebirth, for our own liberation, but rather for the sake of all living beings. All sentient being wish to be free from suffering and to attain happiness. But, due to ignorance, the majority of beings are experiencing suffering. Some are momentarily happy but are creating more and more causes of suffering. 

So we must generate compassion for all sentient beings, and when genuine compassion arises, then we cannot remain idle. We need to make the effort to save beings from samsara. As ordinary persons, we are very limited and cannot help sentient beings. The way for us to help others is to attain enlightenment. Once we have attained enlightenment, even in a single moment we can save countless beings. 

And therefore, the sole purpose of receiving an empowerment such as that of Avalokiteshva should be to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. So the first thing we need to do is to have such motivation. Also, with the right conduct, we should receive the teachings just like a patient receiving advice from his doctor. The guru is like a doctor, the Dharma is like medicine, and we are like patients. Our defilements are very severe illnesses. By receiving the teachings, we are receiving treatment, and the people surrounding us are like medical assistants. 

It is with such an attitude that we should be receiving the teaching. 

Specially for higher Vajrayana teachings such as Avalokiteshvara, it is not proper to be in ordinary appearance and surroundings. We must think that where we are is not an ordinary place, but that it is a pure realm. The guru is not in ordinary form but in the form of the deity, and all other disciples are also in the form of the deity.

16 The teaching is that every single being possesses Buddha nature. In a sense, the true nature of our mind was never stained with obscurations. It is pure and has been pure right from the beginning. And so every single being has a chance to become fully enlightened if the right method is used. It is just like seeds, which have the potential to grown into a crop if meet with the right conditions. Although every sentient being possesses Buddha nature, we cannot see it at the moment because our minds are covered with obscurations, like the obscuration of defilements and the obscuration of knowledge. And so we’re caught up in samsara.

As long as we’re in samsara, we’re never free from the suffering of the lower realms and of the higher realms. The lower realms, of course, have the greatest suffering, but the higher realms also have suffering. In appearance, they have a mixture of happiness and unhappiness, but if we examine carefully we find that it’s not real happiness – it’s just a different form of suffering. 

The only way to be free from suffering is to practise the holy Dharma. But in order to practise the Dharma, we need a base. Although every being has Buddha nature, human beings have the best chance to become free from suffering. Especially those who are endowed with all the prerequisites, who have freedom from the unfavourable places and who have the favourable necessary conditions. All together, there are eighteen prerequisites. From many points of view, human life is very difficult to obtain. 

Therefore, due to our own merit and our sincere prayers, we were born as human beings and we have all the prerequisites. This is a condition that is r more precious than the wish-fulfilling jewel. It is said that there is a jewel called the ‘wish-fulfilling jewel’ which, if you pray to it and make offerings, can fulfil all our wishes, all our material needs, clothes, shelter, medicine, etc. But our present human life is far more precious than the wish-fulfilling jewel, because the latter can only fulfil our material needs. It cannot give us higher rebirth, personal liberation or enlightenment. But through this human life, by using it as a vehicle, we can attain a higher rebirth, personal liberation, even full enlightenment. 

But just having this precious opportunity of having a human life with all the prerequisites is not enough. We have to make the very best of it. If we lose this opportunity, it will be very difficult to get another chance. And so we have to make great effort, and we have to do this without any delay. The Buddha said that all compound things are impermanent. This means that everything that depends on causes and conditions is impermanent. Our life has no definite life span, and there are many external and internal factors that can shorten our life. There is very little that can prolong our life. 

No one can determine when we will lose this life – death can strike today, tomorrow, at any time. We normally think that we won’t die any time soon, because we are favoured with good health, good conditions. But this is not solid reasoning – death could strike at any time. And so therefore, we have to think of impermanence, of the complete certainty of death and the complete uncertainty of the time of death. 

And at the time of death, there is nothing that can help us. No matter how rich we are, no matter how learned or powerful we are, nothing can help us. The only thing that can help us is the Dharma practice that we have done during our life. And so we need to be very diligent, we need to practise the Dharma without any delay. Our main practice as ordinary beings is to very strictly follow the law of karma. 

Everything that we experience now, happiness and suffering, has not been created by an outside cause. The only cause for it is our own previous deeds. So if we want to be free from suffering, then we have to abstain from the cause of suffering. And the cause of suffering is our negative deeds caused by our defilements. Likewise, if we wish to attain happiness, we have to create the cause of happiness. And the cause of happiness is the virtuous deeds performed without defilements and with good inspiration. We need to follow in our everyday life the law of karma by abstaining from negative deeds and by practising virtuous deeds. 

Also, the great Lord Buddha, who possessed infinite wisdom, compassion, and skillful means, bestowed an enormous amount of teachings. Beings are all different, we all have different mentalities, different propensities, different defilements, different levels of understanding. In order to suit every kind of personality and every level of understanding, the Buddha also gave different kinds and levels of teachings. The highest one is the Vajrayana teaching. Vajrayana itself has different levels of teachings. The Four-Arm Avalokiteshvara empowerment belongs to the highest level of teaching, in which Mahamudra and Great Compassion come together – wisdom and compassion.

In order to receive such an initiation, one needs to request it from our teacher by offering him a mandala offering. And then, we need to purify ourselves in order to be suitable vessels for the teachings. Just like any container needs to be cleaned so that whatever we pour into it doesn’t spoil, we need to purify ourselves from all our negative deeds. 

The way to do this is by performing the Seven-Fold Prayer. The first thing we do is to visualise the Guru in the form of Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara, surrounded by all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, just like a pile of clouds. And then, in front of ourselves, all sentient beings reciting the Seven-Fold Prayer. 

The first part of the Seven-Fold Prayer consists of confessing all the negative deeds that we committed since beginningless time. To do this, we need the four powers. The first power is the power of object, that is to say to whom we confess – we are relying on Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas to help us purify our negative deeds. The second power is the power of remorse – we need to deeply realise that the negative deeds that we have committed are a great mistake. We need to feel strong remorse, as if we had taken poison by mistake. The third power is the power of antidote – we confess our faults, realise our great mistakes, and we make the staunch resolution never to repeat these again, even if it costs us our life. The fourth power is the power of remedy – through our confession, all our gross negative deeds have been purified. 

In the second part of the Seven-Fold Prayer, we rejoice in all virtuous deeds. Starting with the Buddhas, the Shravakas, the Pratiekabuddhas, all those who have gone beyond, and then extending it to ordinary being including ourselves, we rejoice in the virtuous deeds that have been performed by all, without any kind of jealousy, any competitive thoughts. 

And then the third part is to hold in mind the absolute bodhicitta. There are two kinds of bodhicitta – that of the relative enlightenment mind and that of the absolute enlightenment mind. Here we are dealing with the absolute enlightenment mind, the absolute reality of all phenomena. This we cannot realise through rituals – we need to realise it through meditation. We make the resolution to meditate on ultimate reality and, just like the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas meditated and attained realisation, we also resolve to meditate and attain realisation.

The fourth part is that of taking refuge. This is very important, because when we enter the Dharma path, the first step we take is to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This is necessary because, for example, if we need to go to an unknown place, the first thing we require is someone who can show us the way, a guide. Similarly, we take refuge in the Buddha as a guide to show us the way to liberation and enlightenment. And then, we ourselves need to travel on the path. This the Buddha cannot do for us, and so we take refuge in the Dharma as our actual path, because it is through the practice of Dharma that we attain liberation. And then, if we are going to undertake a long and arduous journey, rather than travelling alone, it is helpful to have companions. So we take refuge in the Sangha as our companions in the Dharma path. Out of compassion for all sentient beings, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha from this moment until enlightenment. Our ultimate goal is to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. 

In the fifth part, we cultivate the relative enlightenment mind. There are two kinds of enlightenment mind: the wishing enlightenment mind and the entering enlightenment mind. First, the wishing enlightenment mind. It means the sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. We create this wish in front of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. 

And in the sixth part, we create the entering enlightenment mind. This means not merely wishing for enlightenment, but actually resolving to enter the Bodhisattva’s way of life, just like the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas followed the path, we also resolve to follow it. We make this a vow. 

And finally, in the seventh part, we dedicate the merits. By confessing, rejoicing, taking refuge and creating the enlightenment mind, we have acquired an enormous amount of merit. And so, while this is still fresh and hasn’t been damaged by opposite paths, we dedicate it for our purpose of attaining liberation for all beings, thus protecting it from weakening or deteriorating, but rather helping it to keep increasing.

Holding these visualisations, we recite the Seven Fold Prayer. Through this we purify our negative deeds and accumulate merit. We also receive the refuge vow and the Bodhisattva vow at the same time. And so this prayer is very important. 

In this way, we receive the initiation of Avalokiteshvara. In conclusion, we meditate on Mahamudra. The root of emptiness, nirvana, the suffering of samsara, all of this lies in the mind. If we try to examine the mind, it’s not something that we can see with our eyes. Mind is not something that we can touch with our hands. Mind has no colour, no shape. Mind is neither one nor many. So it’s naturally emptiness. And since it is devoid of self-nature it is never born. It cannot remain, it cannot reside. Since it does not reside, likewise it doesn’t cease. So it is devoid of rising, residing and ceasing. 

And it has no base, no root, and it is away from all descriptions such as existing or non-existing, or both or neither. 

So it is just like space. Space was never born, never residing, never ceasing, unaffected by the elements, and it covers everything. Mind is just like space. So without interference of thoughts, we remain in this state of Mahamudra. We meditate on this for a moment. We have received Avalokiteshvara’s transcendental wisdom initiation. Our mental obscurations have been purified, and now we can meditate on transcendental wisdom. 

In conclusion, we promise to keep our samayas and vows, we make a mandala offering for thanksgiving and we dedicate the merits.