Vajrapani

There is one simple way of spiritual cultivation that is above all others.

And there is one way, within that way, which is above all others.

And that is Vajrapani. Primal Buddha, the Buddha of Power and Protection, of Tantric Insight and Endless Energy.

Welcome. To the Nature. Of the Real.

VAJRAPANI

Kinda reminds me of the chief Pokemon
Are Pokemon based on Buddhism?

Don't think I want to worship pokemons, no offense

originally posted by: Raggedyman

Don't think I want to worship pokemons, no offense

If you ask me, it could be quite an improvement in the field of theologies...

Pokemons are so cute!


a reply to: Fevrier

I must admit I fail to find the logic behind worshipping this guy - especially since Hinduism's pantheon is just flooding with thousands of gods. Every single aspect of one's life, even the house, is claimed to be governed by gods.

Why do we have to diffuse these qualities and vices on the existence of gods? Why can we not simply take responsibility of these aspects of our lives by ourselves?

Not a reproach, just a honest philosophical question.

Greetings and Salutations- Why not just 'cut to the chase'? In 'The End' it is going to be whatever You THINK it is.. You can claim any religion™ or philosophy or ??? (give it a name) but if You're looking for 'Salvation' the ONLY place that resides is "within"... You ARE 'The Creator' working Your way back to whence You came, The One Infinite Creator, where We all end up some sooner than later.

So any monies, any thought, any 'time' (Your most valuable asset) should be spent in the 'worship' of You, or the "Other You".. Even Siddhartha Gautama, The Great Buddha HimSelf let this be known. "Don't believe in anything....not even from Me..." If that doesn't resonate try "The Tao that can be told/typed is NOT the Eternal Tao.."

* It should also be known that "Worship" equals 'War Ship'.

namaste

Thank you for the OP, but I don't think that ATS is the right place for advertising such an advanced practice which anyway require a personal level of realization, and a personal transmission from one's own lama.
All the best,

So, I'll reply from last to first.

The Vajrapani mantra can be practiced by anyone, and will grant that personal level of realization. Second, I do not subscribe to lamaism, so the mantra itself is the transmission. No lama is higher than the mantra.

Next, Jimnasium - you choose a very limited and ultra-popularized quote by Shakyamuni (Gautama), who ultimately taught no-self, letting go of one's own views and perceptions. That is why he told people to let go even of the view of him being correct, because by holding on to that view, they would be unable to understand that actual practice of the truth that he taught. As for salvation, mantra is pure sound-form, it is an essence of Mind, it is not within or without, but certainly, it is far more within than the localized consciousness that you identify as "yourself". Yes, mantra is more you than you are. As for the eternal tao, it cannot be typed in discursive thought, but it can certainly be expressed in signs, sounds, and consciousness forms, thus typing is also none other than that. In this sense, a mantra is exactly a perfect expression of what you call the "eternal tao".

Moving on, swanne - you are not, as in hinduism, diffusing qualities and vices onto external forms, although the practice of giving away all your qualities and vices and thus finding some emptiness - can be a very good practice. Nor are you identifying various formal aspects of your life with a certain deity. Vajrapani is Primordial Buddha, the sense of that being transcendence through primordial aspects, through the very aspects which are also present in your own being. The difference is the degree to which these aspects are present, and how useful they are in the present. This does not involve belief or worship - it is a simple practice of gaining concentration with a mantra, a perfect sound-form which activates those qualities. Now, the idea of taking responsibility for your karma, internally and externally, with all its appearing forms - is a very good idea and a very good practice. The only wrong part of it is that unless you also take responsibility for your primordial nature, and come to understand it in all its various archetypal aspects, both internally and externally - such as the nature of mind, such as fully cultivating the body to its spiritual capability, such as coming to fully know and understand the esoteric structure of the body, such as being able to be fully and continuously active within reality, beyond your karma and illusory self - see, all these things, unless you come to actually fulfill them, you're really just a regular human being completely bound by karma. So again, it's not about the external worship of things, it's about the actual realization of your own nature and its activities - and the first problem you have right now is believing you are a separate and unique self, a name, a form, and so on - and this keeps you from understanding that the basic lesson of mantra, or of a Vajra deity, is that you are one and the same, no self here, no self there, just Vajra nature.

And thus, the basic nature of the problems exposed here: belief that this is about some small self, personal self, individual self, worshiping a bigger self, a deity, whatever you want to call it. Or the idea that spirituality is exclusively about finding something within, something personal, the REAL YOU.

None of these are accurate, and if you never practice mantra, you'll really never have the power to know this. And yet, that Vajrapani mantra I gave is so short that anyone can practice it. And reap the immediate benefits.

Good luck.

replying so I can come back to this page easily to read later.
Thanks for posting.

a reply to: Fevrier

Same as the other reader of the thread. I am replying so I will easily find this post again. Thank you kindly.

a reply to: Fevrier

thank you, this information is great and I will try to meditate with some youtube mantra sound. Do you have any good examples, because there are a few videos but I don't know which ones sounds right?

a reply to: UniFinity

Why would you meditate with something external and random, like a youtube video, instead of meditating internally with the mantra itself, which leads to inner concentration and can create a life-long practice that is available to you anytime.

a reply to: Fevrier

Yes, I get what your saying. But I like to help myself with external sound because I have tinnitus and it is easier in the beginning that way for me and after a while when I get used to the sound there is no need for that. And I like to get the spelling right because I am not an english speaker.

You suggest I drop that and just do it? I had always wandered how mantra works anyway. Is spelling even important or is just the intent and one pointed concentration which comes with any mantra the point?

a reply to: Fevrier

hmm you have very interesting post history. I have now learned a lot about mantras and other things from your post and thread history from your profile.

For anyone who is also interested in spiritual matters I suggest reading his posts. They are in general very detailed and with wealth of information. I hope you will publish more articles on your blog.

a reply to: UniFinity

The very best way is to interact with the mantra directly. The short Vajrapani mantra is simple and supportive, so you will have no trouble.

Mantra is perfect sound-form, it is a primordial archetype that has an a perfect empty essence , and it also represents the Vajra body of a Buddha.

The Vajra body is the indestructible, ultimate body, with all qualities and all aspects fully present.

So a mantra is mental nature, it is also the activity of the voice - the endlessly spontaneous sound-form, and it also cultivates and activates the body, in a particular way, in the sense of cultivating your own body and your own karma towards that perfect archetypal Vajra body, which is in fact no different from you.

That is the whole point of Buddhas, that they are not external beings, persons, they are archetypes that you can understand and identify with, because they don't represent something different from you, but the perfection of all beings.

And a mantra is the basic essence of that. Within the primordial nature of mind, when you truly awaken to that, the sound of mantras is abundant there.

So it's really not about the intent. The spelling of Sanskrit, if it hasn't been wrongly modified, is spoken as written, because Sanskrit is transliterated into roman alphabet. So the sounds are as written.

Your intent, certainly, can be full of qualities, and the intent itself is cultivated by mantra just like anything else. Intent is not that important, in general, but rather more fundamental qualities, such as your presence, your awareness, your ability to spontaneously let go, to wish for good things for everyone, to have endurance and determination in your power, and so on.

Intent is more of a conceptual thing, in samadhi (empty concentration), it tends to melt. So samadhi is far more important. With samadhi, you have power beyond intent. And all other qualities.

a reply to: Fevrier

thank you, great info!

I would like to ask another question.

there is some form of yoga with which aspirant is tuning in to the internal sounds of your real being. This yoga is called nada yoga. This sound is also present within me when I practice pranayama and it is changing the tune or pitch if I concentrate on it and those are different sounds from tinnitus which I already mentioned in previous post. When I am doing this practice it does not feel unpleasant, but it can be very intensive. Sometimes there can be a lot of pressure sensed all over my body. Like somebody drop a ton over my head.

It is said that the one who can hear internal sounds should focus on them and this is the fastest way to samadhi for such individual.

So in a way this is like a mantra? Are there teachings in buddhisem about nadi sounds? Have you heard anything related or do you have any comments about this?

Unless you are in annutara samyak sambodhi, the perfect state of Buddhahood, any sounds you may hear internally or externally are not the ultimate nature itself.

The problem with yoga is that it focuses so much on this idea of "your own real being". I get it. We all want to return to our own true nature, but the distinction we have to make is that this karmic being was never a perfect expression of that nature in the first place.

Yes, the nature is within, but when you listen, you really hear the sounds of your localized, karmic consciousness.

That pressure is, in a way, the left side energy of the body starting to penetrate through right side karma.

But you have to understand, none of this is "your self", or "your being". If you become enlightened, it's just this being, nameless, without origin or time, not mine or yours.

So, that being said, mantra is above your inner sounds, and certainly a faster way of gaining samadhi. Much faster. Simply take mantra as your inner sound and concentrate with it, you'll see the results very quickly.

I just read up on Nada Yoga. It is not per se enlightenment level. It does not go beyond consciousness, and does not realize the emptiness wisdom nature of sound, but takes sound as a thing in itself.

Yes, there are sounds within the body, but I'll tell you this. Even profound silence is really just your localized consciousness playing with itself. The real nature of sound is just basic space, wisdom awareness and emptiness.

And Vajrapani in particular goes way beyond that, being Vajra nature directly.

All beings have Body Voice and Mind. The mantra of body voice and mind is

Om Ah Hum

Om corresponds to body, and consciousness.

Ah to voice, and wisdom, and sound, and activity.

Hum to mind, and Vajra power.

The universe is not just Ah. And in fact Ah is beyond the universe.

But you certainly should keep doing breath retention, or breath control, or however you may call it.

Uniting the breath and mantra is the quickest way to get samadhi - gentle stopping the breath and allowing your mantra concentration to rest in the breath body.

a reply to: Fevrier

wow, this is very helpful, thanks!

Could you elaborate on quoted statement or just point me to something which could help me understand it better, please! Because this is something which is interesting to me and I think it would help me understand what is going on inside, under the hood. The way you described this is very weirdly on the spot for me personally and how should I say, spidy sense is tingling haha.
I always had a filling that all sounds in my case are energy related because when meditating I can feel different energy points in my body (ida, pingala,...) and with it the changing sounds from left to right side and increasing pressure. That is way I was learning about nada yoga, but until know I have not read anything similar, so I would like to know more.

That pressure is, in a way, the left side energy of the body starting to penetrate through right side karma

Otherwise, I do not consider this sound as special or my real being. I just learned a lot, because they have given me a way to concentrate on one pointedness till now and still do. I know that I don't know much and there is probably nothing to know in the absolute sense, but until I realize that within I am stuck to learning about what the mind is and can do, with the tools available. So I like to experiment a lot with different meditations and feel it out. The same will go for Vajrapani method described here.

I am sorry to steal this thread with my buzzing. If you prefer we can continue with private messages. But there is little interest in such threads as it is and I think it is good that there is more information available for all even at the cost of going of the track a little. Maybe someday it will be of some use to some other curious soul.

Fevrier, thank you for sharing!

I have always been awed by the depiction of Vajrapani in his wrathful state.

Your post on Medium and considerate responses here have been very inspiring.

Thank you for dedicating your time to spreading wisdom, compassion and truth!