The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

Returning to the mask theme, some thoughts about Vajrayana meditation.

There are many meditative techniques in Vajrayana Buddhism ranging from the simple to the complex but they all have the same, basic function: for you to realise, and abide in, the nature of mind. Some methods are faster, some are slower and take a more circuitious route, we all have different capabilities and personalities, but the purpose is the same.

One of the main types of practice is commonly described as 'deity' meditation but this really is a damaging and incorrect label, in my opinion, and should be dropped. Not only does it make Buddhists sound like eternalists (no different from followers of theistic religions) it also belies a misunderstanding of the purpose of the kind of meditation to which it refers: which is to make a meditative view (i.e. the union of clarity and emptiness) a waking, living reality, rather than an abstract, mental concept which people discuss in coffee bars or in blogs.

Where the word 'deity' comes from I don't know. The correct word for this kind of figure in Tibetan is yidam - literally something which 'holds the mind'. In other words it refers to a meditational method of establishing concentration - not to a separate being outside of one's self.

It is true that in some forms of Buddhist tantra placations and offerings are made to such figures but this is to be understood in the context of that particular class of tantra: such actions are performed from the point of view of that figure's being real, again to establish concentration and view; on an ultimate level the understanding is that the yidam is not separate from one's own, enlightened mind.

When we undertake yidam meditation the point is not merely to adopt another mask - 'I am Avalokiteswara, look at me!' - or a different number of arms, heads, legs, ornaments, etc. These are symbols, all of which describe something of the nature of the yidam, actually the very nature of one's own enlightened mind, which we reflect upon during our meditation. The real point in idenfitfying one's self with a particular yidam is to remember that one has always been the yidam and that one's mind is essentially the same: and to make this view an experiential reality. We literally 'live the view' in all our activities, and don't merely reserve meditation for our daily Mystic Half Hour on a comfy cushion from dharma-tat.com in our special, cosy little place, swathed in maroon blankets and clutching at beads like some swami of suburbia.

So: in a sense one could say that we are swapping the mask of our conventional, artifical, workaday self* for the real face that lies beneath, even though it may appear from a superficial level to be the other way round.

Why so many shapes and sizes?

Our personalities are different. Some people's minds are attracted to the look and feel of one kind of image, for others it may be different. Some people are gentle and refined, others are a bit more rough around the edges. It's like musical tastes, isn't it? Some prefer peaceful music, others like thrash metal. Whether a meditational figure is smiling or snarling, bedecked with garlands of flowers or skulls, the purpose is the same: to remember the mind's true, enlightened nature. Whatever floats your boat, as they say.

When we look at the many thangkas for which Tibetan Buddhism is so famous, it is useful to view them as mirrors: when we look at them, we see our real face reflected back, not some image different to and separate from ourself. With this view, on undertaking yidam meditation, we remember that our body, speech and mind are the body, speech and mind of a Buddha, and always have been.

If we abide in strange, superstitious and eternalistic views about these images representing exotic and terrible gods and goddesses 'out there' in the great blue yonder then why practice Buddhism?


*Paradoxically, the everyday 'me' - i.e. the person we think of as 'real' is the contrived, constructed figure in this scenario.