Day 10
Emanations in the Pure Land
During the delightful Vajrayogini empowerment – like a blissful dessert after the extensive and elaborate empowerment of Heruka – Gen-la Kunsang said we all have emanations of Vajrayogini in our life. She told the story of Kusali who encountered a woman heavily burdened with disease. It was only when he purified his mind (through Vajrayogini's blessing) that he attained wisdom eyes and was able to see that the woman was in reality Vajrayogini. And she promptly took him to the pure land!
So who's taking us to the pure land?
Here at the Festival, the whole experience is designed to do precisely that – help us draw closer to the pure land of Keajra, the pure land of Heruka and Vajrayogini. The stewards in the temple, the temple cleaners, those making the offerings, the cooks, the servers, the food carriers, the festival organizers, the Kadampa Internet folks bringing the festival to you at home, the temple and grounds patrollers keeping us secure, the receptionists – hey, even the cab drivers, and the B& B managers – they are all helping us to draw close to the experience of the pure land, functioning in our life as emanations.
At the Festival it is as if we are surrounded by emanations of Vajrayogini, everyone, even the ones we find difficult, helping us to purify our mind, open up our wisdom eye, so that we can see that Keajra is right here, right now, right where we are.
Gen-la Kunsang quoted Geshe Kelsang who said: Vajrayogiini's pureland is definitely here. And we are on our way there. As Gen-la Khyenrab stressed in his Q & A, the most important thing to do is to practice steadily, regularly, without worry, without grasping at results, happily, and with great confidence, knowing that the result of experiencing the pure land will definitely come in time.
Day 11
Imagining Clear Light
The rains that had been fairly absent so far finally arrived in full force last night and kept on through the morning. People arrived rather soggy into the sanctuary of the temple where Gen-la Kunsang drew us even deeper in to a sense of peace, warmth and security by pointing us in the direction of the clear light of bliss. As she gently and joyfully described this inner light that naturally resides within us it felt as if the temple itself was like our heart chakra and we were sharing together the peace of the clear light mind.
In the afternoon she described the Yoga of Sleeping. In this subtle practice we use the natural absorption that takes place when we fall asleep to help us access the pure and blissful clear light mind. Through the power of this mind we can quickly actualise our potential for enlightenment and become Buddha Vajrayogini. She stressed that to begin with we train using our imagination but gradually the imagined pure land of Vajrayogini will become an actuality.
As the afternoon teaching progressed, through the windows of the temple, we could see the veil of clouds becoming thinner, lighter, brighter. We could easily imagine that it wouldn't be long till the clear sky that is always there just behind the clouds would reveal itself.
Just like our clear light mind. In imagining it, we become aware of its existence, just on the other side of the clouds of ordinary appearances. And we are inspired to engage in the practices sutra and tantra that will blow those clouds away – revealing our pure nature that was always there.
Day 12
24 Hours of Meaningful Life
On the final day of Gen-la Kunsang's deeply enjoyable teachings she described the 11 Yogas of Vajrayogini. Using these Yogas we can transform every facet of our life, even our sleeping, into a blissful path to enlightenment. Through this we can have 24 hours of meaningful life every day. This, she said, is Geshe Kelsang's kindness to us.
At the Festival, wherever we look, we see meaningful activities unfolding. People acting in service of others, people discussing, meditating, people transforming enjoyments. And we see directly the sense of joy and lightness that mixing your mind with Dharma brings. This is one of the reasons why Festivals are so important: they make actual spiritual realisations seem possible and they definitely make them seem desirable. Seeing the Dharma deeply affect thousands of people simultaneously gives us the sense that world peace is indeed possible.
Of course, every now and then we may find ourself in the grip of a delusion – even at a Festival! But what better place to confront the darkness in our mind than at a Festival? Where immediately, for example during the teachings, you are given medicine for your mind. Gen-la quoted Geshe-la saying, Remembering emptiness every day is our daily bread. Otherwise, Gen-la said, when we get stuck into an object of delusion we are like a dog with a bone. When we remember emptiness we remember that the self (and the object of delusion) that we normally see doesn't exist and we can relax and let go of the bone.
Gen-la concluded her teaching by thanking everyone who attended. She made particular mention of all those who had worked so hard to organise the Festival. What great meaning to have given the experience of a meaningful life to so many!
Finally she led us in dedicating on behalf of world peace and for the long life of Geshe Kelsang. See you in Portugal, she said.