Self-created sadhana

[Zenji]

Being that I had the karmic misfortune to be born apart from my guru, I don't have the opportunity to receive a sadhana directly from him.  As a result, I've taken to creating my own daily sadhana.  I just don't know if I'm doing all the parts in the correct order (or even if there IS a "correct order" when doing your sadhana.)

I'll give you a brief outline, and perhaps someone can inform me of whether this is the natural progression, or if things need to be moved around in the order.  Here it is:

1.  Prostrations to the altar
2.  Lighting the light offerings/incense
3.  Multiplication/blessing the rosary Mantra
4.  Taking refuge/generating bodhicitta x3
5.  4 Immeasurables x3
6.  Refuge in the Guru x3
7.  Seven Limbs
8.  Outer Mandala
9.  Inner Mandala
10. Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa  (which contains 4 - 9)
11. Various mantras (White/green Tara, Avalokitesvara)
12. Vajrasattva 100 Syllable Purification Mantra
13. Dedications

Couple questions, does this look like a correct order to do things in?  Also, when should I include Setrap's mantra?  I don't have initiation, so I can't do black tea/serkym.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[awacs]

You should find a way to get a empowerment. It shouldn't be such a problem if you aren't in Iran or North Korea. Also there is a pray called "calling a lama from afar". http://khandro.net/prayers_callingthelama.htm
Concerning your saddhana don't do it. At best you'll be wasting your time. Late Kyabye Dilgo Khytntse Rinpoche said that trying to get result by practicing without empowerment would be like pressing a rock to get oil. http://www.snowlionpub.com/samples/GEST_Ch1.pdf

[Zenji]

So, by that logic, the Gaden Lhagyama, which does not require empowerment, is useless?  My prostrations made to the Buddha, with the aspiration of attaining the Buddha mind, are useless? 

As I have understood from Rinpoche, any practice, while perhaps not immediately benefiting me, creates the imprints to further my dharma practice in future lifetimes.

What I think Khyentse Rinpoche meant was for deeper tantric practices, like Mahakala.  I can chant Mahakala's mantra, I can dig up a sadhana to do for Mahakala, but without the empowerment from a guru, it would be like trying to navigate a dense jungle without a guide.

Any actions that turn the mind towards dharma could never be considered a waste of time.

[awacs]

So, by that logic, the Gaden Lhagyama, which does not require empowerment, is useless?  My prostrations made to the Buddha, with the aspiration of attaining the Buddha mind, are useless? 

We are not talking about practice that originated from lord Buddha, but practice you made up. I have no idea what Gaden Lhagyama is but if you can practice it without empowerment why would you want to come up with your own practice.

As I have understood from Rinpoche, any practice, while perhaps not immediately benefiting me, creates the imprints to further my dharma practice in future lifetimes.

Yes.

What I think Khyentse Rinpoche meant was for deeper tantric practices, like Mahakala.  I can chant Mahakala's mantra, I can dig up a sadhana to do for Mahakala, but without the empowerment from a guru, it would be like trying to navigate a dense jungle without a guide.

I don't know what he meant i know what he said.

Any actions that turn the mind towards dharma could never be considered a waste of time.

Ultimately yes, but it doesn't meant that you shouldn't pick most beneficial practice. In the time of death your mind will stay out of six sense base. If you watch your mind, you'll see that he is largely influenced by them. Mind is depicted in wheel of life as monkey jumping from one sense base to other (depicted as tree). When you die there will be nothing to stop or influence your line of thoughts. So if your mindset in that particular moment isn't extraordinary one, you will not be able to get favorable outcome no mater how many prostrations you did in this life.

So if you have a opportunity to practice higher teachings you should immediately put it into practice. If you fail in this life you will benefit from your virtuous deeds, but there is no way to tell when and how. And it could (and probably would) pass a countless aeons before we are reborn as humans again.

I have at the moment wounded bird. She hit a wall at full speed at fifth floor, and then fell into ground. I paid for her operation, and now she is with me in a place with holly images etc. Is this the way you are hoping for your virtuous deeds to manifest? Because it is the only way you can get it from samsara.

[Joey]

That sadhana arrangement is not bad at all

and according to Rinpoche, Lama Tsongkhapa's Guru Yoga does not require an empowerment for it to be effective, just sincerity and consistency because it is not a High Yoga Tantra.

Unfortunately for Mahakala, you need access to a High Yoga Tantra before you can practice it. High Level protectors like Vajravega, Chitipati and Mahakala requires at least a Hayagriva, Heruka, Vajrayogini, Guhyasamaja, Yamantaka etc.

Being near to a Guru does not mean you get extra teachings or anything -- if you dont practice the results will still be the same. Better to practice instructions that he gives to create the causes and to transform the mind than to be near the Guru and stagnate.

[Zenji]

awacs, the Gaden Lhagyama is not something "i made up myself", it is the Tibetan name for the Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa.  This sadhana is readily available in numerous places on the internet, with a ton of commentary and teachings by our teacher, as well as teachers from other schools.  I have read/listened to every piece of information that is available to me regarding this part of my sadhana.  This practice, which is not from Lord Buddha himself, is from the great scholar and yidam of Kechara House, Lama Tsongkhapa.


Joey, re: mahakala:  I know, I was just using that to illustrate a point, but thank you for mentioning that.

awacs, what it comes down to is this:  I don't have a bird flying into my house every day to do dharma, but every day I prostrate before the Buddhas, I sit my butt down on that cushion and think about how I can better myself and be of service to others, and make resplendent offerings to the Buddhas.  You can pay all the money in the world to save those dying birds, but at the moment of your death, where are the birds?  Where is the money?  If your motivation was pure, then they will be with you at the moment of death in the form of merit, if your motive is impure, then you are simply feeding your ego (Oooh, look at me! I'm -so- Buddha like, saving animals) and are destined to remain in Samsara, in one form or another.

[Joey]

awacs, the Gaden Lhagyama is not something "i made up myself", it is the Tibetan name for the Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa.  This sadhana is readily available in numerous places on the internet, with a ton of commentary and teachings by our teacher, as well as teachers from other schools.  I have read/listened to every piece of information that is available to me regarding this part of my sadhana.  This practice, which is not from Lord Buddha himself, is from the great scholar and yidam of Kechara House, Lama Tsongkhapa.


Joey, re: mahakala:  I know, I was just using that to illustrate a point, but thank you for mentioning that.

awacs, what it comes down to is this:  I don't have a bird flying into my house every day to do dharma, but every day I prostrate before the Buddhas, I sit my butt down on that cushion and think about how I can better myself and be of service to others, and make resplendent offerings to the Buddhas.  You can pay all the money in the world to save those dying birds, but at the moment of your death, where are the birds?  Where is the money?  If your motivation was pure, then they will be with you at the moment of death in the form of merit, if your motive is impure, then you are simply feeding your ego (Oooh, look at me! I'm -so- Buddha like, saving animals) and are destined to remain in Samsara, in one form or another.

well, there is also from the other point of view: saving the birds and actually doing it is better than just thinking about saving beings that is out of your reach at the moment

[SharpPudding]

I think Vajrasattva should be earlier in the sequence to repair before we do other things,...

 And don't just do the mantra, learn the visualization, Vajrasattva empowers himself in a sense, lights go out, blessings come back into the form, Vajrasattva becomes real. If you learn mudras and meaning of the mantra that is good too.  Don't be fooled, Vajrasattva is not just a beginner practice, he's the origin of the tantras. I love Vajrasattva, makes me so happy just thinking about him.

[awacs]

Am I the only one seeing this as wrong or what?

Since when Buddhas teachings can be mixed as articles in grocery store. If there are countless practices streamlined directly from holy beings where is the need for making up a new one.

Wtf? There is a 100 syllable mantra from practice for which you need empowerment, mixed with all other mantras from different practices of different Buddha families. Also a Tara's mantras. If you heap up parts from ten different planes on one place why do you thing it would fly? If you buy 9 articles in a market and slip between them one stolen does it make it OK?

But if you by your divine eye can make practices as you like, then you are no different than other holy beings who did it. So should we pray to you instead, o great holy Zenji lama, dispeller of illusions, destroyer of wrong views, protector of all beings? 

[SharpPudding]

 Awacs, most of the things in the list are things that are common to all Buddhist Sadhanas, usually they are not listed as separate things. So maybe I have this deity's sadhana, I will do all these things, including Vajrasattva, they are like the beginning and ending prayers,.. then the particular deity's stuff is in the middle.

 If Zenji does not have the instructions and what not for a particular deity then he can still do many deities as kriya (visualizing the deity as outside of ones self), saying their mantra, prayers, etc that don't require special instruction or the blessing, so maybe Avalokitesvara, Ksitigarbha, Medicine Buddha, of course Shakyamuni and several others. 

 People work with what they have and I wouldn't underestimate anyone without various empowerments, empowerments allow us to build on the trust in the lama, our confidence in the lama gives us confidence in the deity, in the practice, and without that blessing it's much harder, but nothing actually stops people from developing the qualities of these deities on their own.

 Yeah,.. you don't need the empowerment for Vajrasattvas mantra as far as I am aware,.. It's taught without the empowerment all the time. If I was going to pick out something to say,.. that's maybe not a good idea,.. it would be the multiplication mantra,.. which if it's the one I think it is Om Pade Pade Maha,.. etc,.. that's from the Hevajra tantra if I remember right,.. maybe it's not appropriate.

[Joey]

Am I the only one seeing this as wrong or what?

Since when Buddhas teachings can be mixed as articles in grocery store. If there are countless practices streamlined directly from holy beings where is the need for making up a new one.

Wtf? There is a 100 syllable mantra from practice for which you need empowerment, mixed with all other mantras from different practices of different Buddha families. Also a Tara's mantras. If you heap up parts from ten different planes on one place why do you thing it would fly? If you buy 9 articles in a market and slip between them one stolen does it make it OK?

But if you by your divine eye can make practices as you like, then you are no different than other holy beings who did it. So should we pray to you instead, o great holy Zenji lama, dispeller of illusions, destroyer of wrong views, protector of all beings? 

if we need to wait for empowerments before doing any sadhanas, i dont think we need to do any of them lol.

in every talk Rinpoche always tells people to do Lama Tsongkhapa's Guru Yoga and it does not require empowerments etc because it is powerful enough by itself especially when coupled with visualization. And Setrap's puja as well. And all the entry level mantras.

zenji did not make any new practice; its just a compilation of other sadhanas arranged in a way, the title is a bit misleading haha.

[Zenji]

Yes, I apologize to all for the misleading title.  I suppose practice routine might have been a better choice?

My rationale is thus:  none of what I had listed is high tantra as far as I know.  In fact, most of it is based on the 5 preliminary practices as proscribed by our Lama (I'm working on getting a nice mandala set so that I can finish all 5).  To clarify, they are 100,000 of each:  Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa, butter lamp offering, prostrations, mandala offering, and Vajrasattva.  These are the practices that my lama, his eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, has said explicitly. See: here around the 27:00 mark.  These practices are available on the parent website of the forums.

Perhaps I didn't detail enough in my original post.  I try as much as possible to get the visualizations and mudra right, especially for the mandala offering.

[Joey]

Yes, I apologize to all for the misleading title.  I suppose practice routine might have been a better choice?

My rationale is thus:  none of what I had listed is high tantra as far as I know.  In fact, most of it is based on the 5 preliminary practices as proscribed by our Lama (I'm working on getting a nice mandala set so that I can finish all 5).  To clarify, they are 100,000 of each:  Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa, butter lamp offering, prostrations, mandala offering, and Vajrasattva.  These are the practices that my lama, his eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, has said explicitly. See: here around the 27:00 mark.  These practices are available on the parent website of the forums.

Perhaps I didn't detail enough in my original post.  I try as much as possible to get the visualizations and mudra right, especially for the mandala offering.

if you can try to get the Lama Tsongkhapa boxed set from kechara.com's online shop it will help TONS!

[wmw111]

Hi Zenji,
Are you in Kuala Lumpur if you are please drop by the weekly pujas many people will be able to help you more.

You do not need initiation into Setrap practice or to do his Black tea offering. There is also a Setrap Box Set as well.

[Zenji]

Hi Zenji,
Are you in Kuala Lumpur if you are please drop by the weekly pujas many people will be able to help you more.

You do not need initiation into Setrap practice or to do his Black tea offering. There is also a Setrap Box Set as well.

Oh wow, thank you for clarifying that point, I didn't know that you don't need initiation for black tea.   I remember Rinpoche said that there's an order to how we do our practice, in regards to Lama, deity, protector, I just can't remember the order it's supposed to go in.  Does anyone remember which talk this was from/which order is correct?