only during the reign of two of them: Buddha Shakyamuni and the last, who is a manifestation of Buddha Manjugosha. Other than that, Vajrayana doesn’t really happen. Why is this? The methods of Vajrayana appear only during the right time, when emotions are visibly manifest in a very blatant and crude way. Our present era is one of these times.
When the emotions are very strong and rough, the potential intelligence within them is equally strong. Strong emotions create big problems. Whenever there are more problems and turmoil, there is an opportunity for strong insight to take place. This opportunity is available right now. Now is the time when the methods of Vajrayana can be utilized. Based on the very profound and swift methods of Vajrayana, it is possible to attain true and complete enlightenment within this very same body and lifetime. If we don’t do this within this lifetime, it is said that it will occur within three, five, or at most sixteen lives; that is, if one doesn’t break one’s samaya and develop impure perception, turning against the teachings. Thus, Vajrayana practitioners are guaranteed to reach enlightenment within at most sixteen lifetimes.
The general teachings of the buddhas are more a matter of developing a placid, uncomplicated state of mind free of strong emotion. Precisely because of this emphasis, there is no presence of a strong intelligence. This doesn’t provide the opportunity to realize the wisdoms and swiftly attain enlightenment. Using the general methods one must journey along the path for three incalculable eons, which is a very, very long time. This route offers a very gentle, steady journey toward enlightenment that is relatively uncomplicated and certainly safer than Vajrayana.
Right now, however, we have the opportunity, rather than suppressing negative emotions, to realize their natural purity. To apply this, and to truly understand Vajrayana, you must have a strong intelligence, otherwise you cannot pick up the methods. You need a very sharp innate intelligence in order to eliminate or break free of the conceptual frame of mind. Conceptual mind wants to make you stay within the boundaries of concepts.
Vajrayana practitioners should not belittle the emotions. Emotions are like smoke, and if there is smoke, there is also fire. In other words, when you look at somebody who has very strong emotions, that person may also have a lot of wisdom. Who knows? Such a person may perhaps, through skillful methods, be able to realize the original wakefulness within the emotions. Such a person may be able to make tremendous progress on the Vajrayana path. That doesn’t mean that one should get caught up in the emotions, of course. When we are overtaken by emotions, we are exactly the same as an ordinary person: we are not progressing on the path.
Please don’t misunderstand this point. What I just said is that in Vajrayana practice we appreciate the emotions. I don’t mean that you necessarily have to create more emotions. Don’t be thinking, “When I’m in front of my master, I should show some aggression; then maybe he’ll teach me Vajrayana.” Please don’t go looking for trouble!
We don’t have to create emotions at all. Rather, within the naturally arising emotions we find a certain strength, a certain intelligence. That strength can be realized as the fuel of original wakefulness. Imagine the opposite of that—someone who is never angry, never irritated, never depressed, and never delighted; who has no thought of wanting to hurt others and no thought of wanting to help others either. That type of personality is listless and complacent, content with being dull.
We don’t have to worry about becoming like that, because it won’t happen: right now we live in a time of very turbulent emotions. Perhaps in the future this type of emotional placidity will arise again. It’s said that when Buddha Maitreya comes there will be a gradual absence of disease. The human life span will lengthen so that people will experience no worries about being sick or uncomfortable. There will be plenty of food, so that whenever one wants to eat one can just reach out and take some. There will be no need to apply effort to take care of oneself, so there will be no hope and fear about one’s own existence. One can just sit back and relax without having to worry about a thing. Since there won’t be many emotional disturbances, there will also not be anyone who is a suitable vessel for the Vajrayana teachings. Therefore, the Vajrayana teachings will not be given.
We are not at all in this situation nowadays, of course; we are in the opposite situation. Emotions are abundant. As we apply these skillful methods of Vajrayana to eliminate confusion, less and less confusion arises, especially through our having recognized the basic nature of original wakefulness. Some of these methods cut off the ears of confusion; some of them tear off the arms of confusion; some peel off the skin of confusion. Through the use of these methods, fewer and fewer moments of confusion will arise, until confusion is totally gone.
Please make a distinction between illusory experience and the belief that illusory experiences are real. These are two different points. Illusory experience has already happened; its scenery has already been produced. That’s what we live in right now. We’re not yet able to be free of illusion from one moment to the next. What we need to deal with, our point of critical action, is something other than that. We can turn away from and eliminate the belief that illusory experiences are real. It’s as if we have already fallen asleep and are already dreaming. There is nothing to do about that. But within the dream, we can confront our belief that the dream is real. We are able to recognize that it is just a dream, that it’s not real. And once we discover that the dream is just a dream while dreaming it, then it is possible to wake up. Do you understand this analogy? In the dream, you are dreaming. And if you know that what you are experiencing in the dream is just a dream, then you can look for a method to wake up. But you don’t know how to wake up. You realize that it is the dream state, but you lack the method to wake up. So in the dream, you look around to seek the method. Seeking the method is also part of the dream. Then you might meet the dream master inside the dream. You request the method from that dream master, and the dream master teaches you. That teaching is also part of the dream. But because you apply the dream teaching, you arrive back into the original state. That is like having woken up. The dream teacher gives you a dream method to actually wake you up. So then you wake up. You are not really getting the awakened state from the dream teacher, because the dream teacher is also a dream. But you get the method from him, you utilize it, and then you wake up.
In a similar vein, the Buddha once said: “I never taught the Dharma. I am not teaching the Dharma now, and in the future I will never teach the Dharma either.” As with many teachings, there are many levels of understanding this statement. There is the expedient level of meaning as well as the definitive meaning. We shouldn’t necessarily cling to every single statement as being the ultimate truth.
Having recognized mind essence, we utilize various types of methods to perfect its strength. We need to progress by strengthening the insight aspect. Developing this strength is difficult, but we should not give up. Soccer players who want to participate in the World Cup train ceaselessly. They try to perfect their strength to qualify for the World Cup series. It’s a basic requirement that you have to be a human being to be a World Cup player. You could train a monkey to be a World Cup champion, but he won’t play because he is a monkey. A monkey will only perform his own activities. In the same way, you need first of all to recognize mind essence. And it is that recognition of mind essence, the strength of that, that needs to be perfected gradually through various methods.
The Vajrayana depiction of deities in union shows us that means and knowledge are both necessary. Unity is the nature of the deity—the unity of emptiness and experience. The experience aspect appears as the male, while the empty quality is the female. Not understanding the real significance of these deities in union, one may think, “Why are the deities always in union? Aren’t they ever satisfied? It seems as if they’re stuck together!” Actually, this symbol means that intrinsic to emptiness is a state that is totally untainted by any obscuration, which manifests as bliss indivisible from emptiness. That is the purpose of depicting the deities as naked. Their fully developed attributes of bliss symbolize that the deities of our aggregates, elements, and sense factors are totally revealed in their purest nature through the recognition of empty bliss.
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