The Maitreya Sangha Way

 

Maitreya Sangha Dharma Centre practitioners follow a form of Vajrayana teachings.

Vajrayana, is known in English as the Path of Immutable Spiritual Power, the Secret Mantra, the Adamantine Vehicle, or the Way of the Vajra. It is a form of tantra which seeks to awaken spiritual power by the most direct means possible, through pure realisation and direct experience.

    The view of the Vajrayâna  is that all things in the phenomenal world have the potential to lead us to enlightenment and thus it attempts to utilise the sacredness of all experiences as the most direct method to realisation, the attainment of shûnyatâ , and enlightenment.

A special quality of the siddhas , ‘accomplished perfected ones’, (Vajrâcharyas ), is their ability to skilfully use any aspect of the world as a vehicle to liberate themselves and others. This is often referred to as ‘skilful means’, implying the efficacy of the method used. Consequently their methods for the attainment of enlightenment are diverse and unpredictable, shocking and misunderstood by the unenlightened.

The Vajrayâna path  is the fastest yet hardest way to traverse the way, and very few can maintain the necessary purity and one-pointedness, whilst remaining immersed in the material world with all it’s allurements and distractions from the spiritual path. Such philosophy, like all philosophy, must be applied with special wisdom to withstand the otherwise distortions of the lower self and its desires and justifications for that which it is attached to.

As Geshe Klesang Gyatso  rightfully states in his book Clear Light of Bliss: [i]

 

Attachment itself, because it is a delusion, cannot be used directly as a path. Even in secret mantra it should ultimately be abandoned. The true practice of secret mantra, in which the bliss arising from attachment meditates on emptiness, overcomes all the delusions, including attachment itself.

 

We must therefore look very honestly at ourselves when justifying the consumption of those things we are attached to. Are we truly using them as a mechanism to meditate on emptiness, or have we merely succumbed to subtler versions of the addictions of the unenlightened man?

 

    In the Buddhist Tantric tradition , or Vajrayâna, the goal is to transmute one's imperfections and ordinary awareness by means of non-ordinary and also extraordinary methods. Be prepared for a rigorous journey, the Vajrayana involves complete and utter transformation of the self. Known as the most electrifyingly apocalyptic pathway available, anyone seeking to tread it must first surrender their ego to the highest good and be based in a firm discipline of renunciation.

 

The Way of the Vajrayana.

The Hinayana and Mahayana paths teach enlightenment as a journey from confusion (ignorance) to ultimate awareness. The Vajrayana path of enlightenment proposes a discovery into the realisation of that which already is; but has just not yet been seen.

In Vajrayana philosophy enlightenment is regarded as completely manifest and self evident in all aspects of life. The world, the body and one’s state of mind are all vajra-like, primordially pure and self liberated from dualistic confusion.

The Mahayana and Hinayana paths see that one must detach oneself from the world and all transient things therein to obtain enlightenment. The Vajrayana path involves a far more diverse and unpredictable method of attaining enlightenment. In contrast to the former, it acknowledges the sacredness of all experiences within the world, as well as the underlying voidness of all phenomena. With this approach everything in one’s life becomes workable and can be included as a stepping stone on the path of liberation.

This is the basis of the philosophy that relates to the practice of practitioners having to live in amongst the world, with the option of sexual relationships and sensual pleasures, the choice to grow one’s hair long for example, whilst still attempting to uphold the virtuous aspiration toward complete liberation from such, potentially binding things. (Hair is seen by other Buddhist paths as a symbol of ego and therefore it is a strict precept of those monks to shave their heads.) All things in the phenomenal world have the potential to lead us to enlightenment and thus many aspects of our material lives are used as a mechanism to bring us closer to the realisation of that supreme state.

The special quality of siddhas, ‘accomplished perfected one’s,’ the Vajracharya’s, is their ability to skilfully use any aspect of the world as a vehicle to liberate themselves and others. This is often referred to as ‘skilful means’, implying the efficacy of the method used. The Vajrayana path is the fastest yet hardest way to traverse the way and very few can maintain the necessary purity and one-pointedness whilst remaining immersed in the material world with all it’s allurements and distractions from the spiritual path.

 

Matreiya Dharma Sangha practitioners lives are immersed in the philosophy that living in the material world and handling all the challenges and tests therein is not only beneficial for the attainment of enlightenment but, through the correct utilisation and mastery of them, (life’s challenges) they in fact constitute much of the training whereby the state of enlightenment is attained.

The circumstances of material living, which are listed as; money, material comforts, sex and the physical plane law, are all seen as testing grounds, which through a correct understanding and mastery of, enable the disciple to become an adept in the world, having perfected himself/herself through the training in all of life’s processes. This necessitates a proper understanding of the law of karma and working with it to cleanse sangskaras, tendencies from past lives. This is a most esoteric work.

As a consequence of his battle to understand and utilise the formed worlds as a mechanism to enlighten, the practitioner gradually begins to discover the great spiritual powers and insight latent within him/her, the necessary powers that he/she must call upon in order to rightly master the ever gruelling play of samsara (phenomenal world of transience). Through the profound insight that he/she is gradually re-united with he/she begins to understand the nature of suffering that besets the entire panorama of sentient lives and thus is compelled to strive relentlessly to relieve that suffering. And thus a bodhisattva is made.

 

It is through such training that the entire purpose of form is unfolded and it is gradually seen that the very reason for it’s existence is as a mechanism to lead to enlightenment. The journey of enlightenment is about greater awareness of the nature of phenomena and all the comings and goings of entities that constitute the universe. This encompasses the essential life (essences/ sentiencies) that constitutes the vast entity of Space. As a consequence of this realisation, our consciousness becomes grander and vaster and more evolved, radiance grows in brilliance, and love abounds as a Buddha re-emerges from the essence of our beings.

 

At Matreiya Dharma Sangha aspects of the Mahayana doctrine are also utilised as a mechanism for liberation. It is seen, in Mahayana Buddhism, that one must detach oneself from these material things, internally, to thereby view them clearly for what they are. Thereby one pierces through the illusional layers of the outer seeming in order to come into communion with the hidden and the veiled, essentially, the real.

 

Such philosophy, like all philosophy, must be applied with special wisdom to withstand the otherwise distortions and concretisations that inevitably set in when reasoned with the rigid, dualistic mind. After all, She, the goddess Wisdom (Prajnaparamita), is the patroness of the Vajrayana and prajnaparamita, transcendent wisdom, is the goal of the aspiring Vajrayogin/i. (Vajrayana incorporates working with devas, dakinis and nature spirits, that are the feminine component of nature.)

 

Within the immersion into the material world, the practitioner on the path must view with great care the activities and interactions they engage in. As the Vajrayana path is about the fast and pure attainment of enlightenment anything which obscures or hinders this attainment must be wisely viewed with caution, and most probably avoided.

 

At Matreiya Sangha Dharma, therefore, discriminative wisdom is utilised, combined with an essential understanding of the law of karma to correctly choose which form of material activity is beneficial and which is not. The entire life of the aspiring Vajrayogin/i is looked into with a magnifying glass in order to reveal the true karmic implications of his/her action and thoughts and as to their usefulness or otherwise in relationship to the Ultimate Goal and Plan.

 

It is however immensely open minded and fluid in it’s approach to such questions. If such a thing is destructive, and causes harm to oneself or any other living being/s, more harm than it causes good or revelation, then such an act would not be encouraged. Like the act of drinking alcohol and meat eating, which is condoned by many Vajrayana practitioners and teachers. Both these activities are viewed as a means to overcoming one’s own concept of ‘purity’, something which is seen as illusional and dualistic.

 

The drinking of alcohol would be seen as a more harmful act than good when considering that it destroys any link to the Dharmakaya (Spirit) along with any clarity and calmness in the aura, making it virtually impossible for one to meditate effectively. In order to achieve the proposed goal of destroying prideful self-concepts in their disciples, the Matreiya Dharma Sangha Centre uses other, far less alluring and far more effective methods.

 

Eating meat has a similar negative effect on the auric body, whence the light in the aura is gradually muddied and thickened to such an extent that the clear-light reflection upon the lake of Illumination can no longer be viewed with clarity. We must also consider the weight of karma produced through the involvement of meat eating, something which causes much suffering to sentient beings.

 

Matreiya Dharma Sangha Centre utilises wiser methods in order to overcome the dualistic attachment of the concrete mind, that which is the given reason for meat eating by many practitioners and teachers. Personal interrelationships, lifestyle habits, material comforts, money and physical plane law are all areas whereby the prideful and dualistic ideas, desire and aversion can be thoroughly tested and transmuted.

 

Here one’s whole life can be turned upside down in such a fashion in an attempt to reveal and illumine the obscuring mental functions of pride, attachment, desire and aversion. As pride is seen as the biggest killer of disciples on the path to enlightenment great importance is placed upon its gradual but essential transmutation upon the Matreiya Dharma Sangha Buddhist path. The gradual transmutation of pride into (true) humbleness is of great importance on the path to awakening Buddhahood.

 

 “As a student of the Vajrayana path we cannot carry with us any hidden reservations.”

The path demands total commitment, total hearing, total contemplation and total meditation. Without such things the path will remain ‘secret’, in that you can not comprehend it and that the greater truths can not be revealed to you for your consciousness/vessel has not the poise, resilience or faith to contain them.

 

The disciple on the Vajrayana path must have an aspiration based on solid foundations of discipline. It is essential that we work to purify our motives and intentions all the time. One feels so much better when they are working and thinking of others, rather then being worried for themselves all the time. One great Tibetan master advised that as practitioners on the path, we should check our motives for doing things three times a day. A good practice and a very revealing one to maintain.

 

First and foremost we must have unshakeable conviction in the truth of the teachings. Students must have a clear perception of their teacher as the embodiment of enlightenment. We must realise that the Vajrayana teachings are inseparable from the Vajra Master.

The guru is considered the source of all blessings. The aspiring Vajrayana yogin/i regards the guru as the Buddha himself.

 

Conclusion

The Vajrayana reveals to us the profound purpose of our existence through contacting the tathagatagharba (Buddha-seed) that lies within and throughout every layer of all that is. The Vajrayana is the complete path, introducing one to a direct experience with the essence of that which all whom look for liberation seek. The unveiling of the myth comes to life in every being and it is for we are immersed in bliss.

 

"The realm of the tantras, of the Vajrayana, is an exquisite realm, the aesthetic realm par excellence. It is the vehicle of beauty, wherein dharmakaya (spirit) manifests it’s sambhoga (soul) beatitude as the irresistible beauty of emanation, drawing all living being through its field of bliss into their own evolution perfection as Buddhas.” [ii]

 

“To make this perishable body the abode of the Imperishable, the temple of the Mind - just as the flower makes its impermanent form the abode of timeless beauty ­ this is the task of (wo)man according to the teaching of the Adamantine Vehicle (VajraYana).” [iii]

 

There is countless more thoughts, descriptions and  instructions to add. This is Just a beginning…to an Infinite End…The Vajrayana.

 

Meditation on the Vajra

Visualise the vajra spinning in front of you. Visualise yourself as the vajra. What is the vajra to you, what does it mean to you and how do you utilise it’s power?

 

I am an aspiring Vajrayogin/yogini, I meditate upon the vajra as the essence of my being and the Vajrayana as the mechanism whereby I can again be immersed with that essence - nirvana, sunyata, absolute bliss, the nameless state, indescribable by word.